CAtuned Minte30 BMW
Igor Polishchuk
The idea came to me a while ago. Always loved the sedan or 4 door e30’s. Wanted to build one in a race / street spec. Without any extra’s such as A/C or heater or any power amenities. With a modern power plant of course. Something with a proper manual gearbox. I’m sure that makes any true enthusiast along with The Manual Gearbox Preservation Society pretty happy.
At first the build wasn’t planned for 2016. I had found the sedan by way of a random guy walking in to our shop asking if we wanted to purchase a bmw that he didn’t want. As he put it his wife didn’t want his daughter driving it any longer because they felt it wasn’t safe. I found the car sitting lonely under a tree in the rain. The battery was drained. The passenger side had the doors damaged from a parking lot mishap and no working power steering. It didn’t take much to buy it and it only took a jump to get it started.
The car sat in our back lot for a few years. We didn’t touch it. I had been collecting parts for an e30 build and it just kept pushing me to do the build. Every Time I would look at it was calling my name. I drew what I wanted to do on some paper and had a rendering done. From that moment I knew exactly what I wanted to do.
There was no time to lose. It was time to get to work and hope we get it all done in time for sema.
To save time the car went to our Off-road shop for the full on cage and reinforcement treatment.
Once we got the car back it was on to bodywork & Paint.
Paint did not come as easy as we had wanted. The 1st painter made huge mistakes and left us scrambling to start over and find another way. After we re-painted the car as a whole and things were finally good. We were left with 3 weeks to finish the car before going off to vegas for sema.
And no this didn’t mean we cut corners. We just worked as a team to accomplish the impossible hours. Without rest we pushed on, although at times loopy and loosing grip on reality.
Bavarian Restoration has and will continue to be our number 1 source for instrumentation.
They took our idea’s and made it a reality. The cluster and euro clock are E46 M3 inspired with all new everything.
They personally came out to test the wiring on our swap, help with needed connections and much more.
With the suspension finished, Brakes were done and bleed. The interior was coming together nicely. It was time to do the headliner, door panels, seats and the awesome Momo Steering wheel. We installed the S54 with the transmission and wiring was going according to plan. The exhaust was getting welded. We were scrambling to get the final touches on the car. The small details always take for ever.
We were super happy to have partnered with Chasebays.
They supplied us with a boosterless setup, power steering cooler, engine oil cooler, lines and much more.
We received our 2M Autowerks E46 M3 S54 Velocity Stack Kit with the stacks custom powdercoated in black.
All the software was provided via RK Tunes and we got it stared at first try.
Special thank you for phone support from Kassel Performance
Hard Motorsports Supplied us with the world renowned CAE Shifter.
When it came to the cooling system we went with the best and that’s CSF along with Spal electric fan!
We finished off the suspension with a custom setup from Magnus Racing Team
Test drive time came with no surprise. The car drove amazing and had more power then we could imagine.
A Nice burn out was bound to happen & it did:
We managed to get in the top40 at Sema with Battle of the builders. The car has done amazing at all shows and events. From Bimmerfest to local gatherings to countless magazines from across the world. Lot’s more coming for the car. We have done some changes on the car like going to full manual windows and round headlights, different wheels. What would you like to see next?
Thank you for looking over our build. We had a lot of fun with this one.
Bringing radical and off the wall ideas to life.
Till next time:
@catuned
#catuned
@catunedbook
@catunedoffroad
@Motulusa