- Taking cars of years past, and throwing current-day
technology into them isn't new. But doing so can strike
a nerve with purists. So, what do you do when you
want to put a modern twist on a classic BMW from
the 80's, a BMW E30 M3? Well, you go off and solicit the help of a bunch of college kids
who've never restored a car in their life, of course. And you tell them that
there's a BMW's newest S55 M3 motor's in it, of course. And you tell them that
they only have 11 months to build the car, and when they're done, they gotta drive it to Vegas for SEMA, and be in the Battle of
the Builds, of course. Well, sit back and relax, you purist dogs because we're going bumper
to bumper on the first ever S55-Swapped E30 M3! (imitates trumpet) (upbeat music) The E30 M3 has been a hot
commodity over the past few years. And while there's always
been a hardcore E30 loving community out there, more
collectors have recently taken a liking to the 80's sports car. Part of the reason for
the E30 M3 craze is, well, BMW never really made a ton of 'em. And finding low mileage,
unmodified versions of the boxy Bimmer is rare. But also car enthusiasts
have come to realize that the E30 M3 is the foundation the M3 empire was built on. It has historic significance. A race car at it's core. It's a homologation special
build for group A racing. BMW designed the race car
first then modified it to make it legal on the streets. In fact, it's posted more track
wins than any M car to date. And that's saying something
because the M stands for Motorsport, i.e. racing! (upbeat music) So let's imagine that you got
a 1988 E30 M3 at your disposal and you're thinking about
doing an engine swap. You know the history behind the car, the cult following it
has and how opinionated them vivarium car loving purists are. But that didn't stop my boy,
Cory Rowan, from throwing BMW's latest and greatest engine
into this 31 year old E30. (upbeat music) Back in 2016 Cory was approached
by CRC to do a car build as a means for a charity promotion. At the time, Cory was already in the midst of collecting parts to
do a build on his '88 M3, so he pitched an idea that
he'd been toying with. Swapping out the 109,000
mile S14 engine in his E30 M3 with an S55 motor from
the current F80 generation of M3/M4 Bimmers. There have been a lot of
different motors swaps into the E30 Chassis over the years, S50, S54, LS. But there's one that had
not been done, the S55 swap. And to add a little bit
of excitement to the mix in true SEMA car fashion, he
wanted to complete the car on an impossible deadline,
in less than a year, to be built in his own
one and a half car garage. No problemo. Cory wanted to find a way
to engage some younger car enthusiasts who wouldn't
normally have the opportunity to do a build of this scale. Finding some hardworking students
who would see the project through it's entirety would be tough. But, luckily, Cory also participates in the World Racing League, and knew some hardworking youngsters who had volunteered on his WRL pit crew, so he asked them, and they got on board. Of course they did! Practical learning
experience at it's finest. Over the course of the 11 moth build, over 20 mentors helped out on the project. From fabricators to suspension gurus. A lot of auto love went into helping these youngsters build this car. So the project was set, and the Honest Assembly Team was formed. So where do you begin? (upbeat music) First thing's first. Start breaking things down
so you can build it back up. Just like I do in the
mirror every single morning. The '88 M3 was disassembled
down to the frame with every nut and bolt
categorized and cataloged. With the car down to it's bare bones, the team went to work on the body. The original panels
weren't in terrible shape, but there were 108 dents
that needed to be addressed. Just knowing that number gives you a clue into how these guys work. The car was media blasted
down to bare metal, and finished off with this
silky smooth white paint. The underbody got the full treatment, too, with all new panels and fasteners. The livery is DTM inspired. A throwback to the 80's when
certain teams didn't have money to do full livery so
they just kept it simple with the two-toned red
and white color scheme. I like it. I like it a lot. (upbeat music) Every single plastic and
rubber piece on the car was replaced with a brand new equivalent, including the door, trunk, and hood seals. The M3 got a carbon fiber
spoiler, and a gurney flap. But keeping true to the
original intention of the build, no obnoxious fender
flares or overdone bumpers were put on the car. When a car comes perfect from the factory, there's no need to mess it up. Any and all new old stock
parts that could be found were put on the car, including
the Bosch headlights, and Hella tail lights. The tail lights came
all the way from Egypt. Now, I'm only assuming that
they came out of a tomb, next to a mummy. Custom front and rear sub-frames
were fabbed in SLR Speed built custom arms
specifically for this car. Custom 18.85 inch Forgeline
center lock wheels were made for the build. Why center lock? Race cars need freakin' center locks. Doy! You don't have time to be
undoing all kinds of bolts when you're trying to win the race. (upbeat music) The frame itself was also modified with hidden chassis reinforcements. Where are they? I don't know. They're hidden. Little, secret reinforcements
all around the car. Shh, don't tell anybody. How about we go take a
peak inside of this Bimmer? You care to join me? Please, after you. (soft music) Now, because this car was
gonna be displayed at SEMA, any and every piece of
the interior was either replaced or restored. Cardinal red, Napa leather
all the way from Germany land made its way onto the seats. Black Nap leather was used
to wrap the steering wheel, console, pillars and dash. Take a closer look at the
stereo, and you'll see a brand new old stock Nakamichi RD-460 because nothing's cooler than listening to piano by candlelight
in your S55 Swapped E30. (soft piano music) Everything in here is tasteful and simple, keeping true to the original M3 design. Even the upgrades make sense
with the BMW Motorsport golf ball shift knob. I think it's a very nice touch. It feels cool like a golf ball. Going to the country club, it's 1988. "Hey, where'd you get that future engine?" Don't worry about it, Biff. How about you work on your short game 'cause there's a charity
golf scramble this weekend, and I'm sick of carrying your ass. (upbeat music) Now, if you have a keen
eye, you might be thinking, "Hey, that cluster isn't a
standard E30 M3 cluster." Good eye, Biff. It's not. They decided to take the
entire working F80 cluster, and adapt it to the E30 dash. They used the F80 cluster,
F80 wiring assembly, and, yes, the F80 M3 S55 B30 motor. And now my favorite part of every episode of Bumper to Bumper, I
just wanna point out that this is the key, and
just like on a new M4, you don't have to put it anywhere. It's just gotta be in the car with you. (starts engine) Yeah. I would drive this. Ready to get into the meat
and potatoes of this pupster? Please, after you. The F80 S55 motor you
see before you was pulled from a wrecked 2015 M3. I can only assume that the
driver was doing some hot, bubbly stuff that he or she
wasn't quite ready to do. Know your limits. The stock S55 is a 3 liter
in line six that uses two mono scroll turbos. That's good for 425 hrsprs
and 406 pound feet of twerks. After some mods, which
I'll talk about soon, those numbers got bumped
up a bit to 550 hrsprs and 560 pound feet of twerk. If you take a look at
the available free space in the engine bay, you'll quickly notice that there isn't any. Getting this motor in
here was no easy feat. To make sure the engine would
fit, they needed a little help from their friends, and by friends, I mean a donor car. This was a planned move
done early on in the build so that body and chassis
work could get done while they figured out engine
mounds and stuff for the S55. Not only were they able to
work two problems at once, if they happen to make any
mistakes on a 325 donor, it wouldn't be that big of a deal. I mean, Max, the editor of
this show, has an E30 and, quite frankly, they're a dime
a dozen, unlike great editors. Max, I love you, buddy. Before the motor got dropped in, they first tackled the wiring. Eugh, it just makes me
nervous because swapping a wiring harness from one car to another, and making everything play nicely together is really, really hard and very boring. The F80 ECU needs to talk to
a bunch of individual modules from door sensors to the
clutch safety switch, so the team got a little
help from BPM Sport where they were able to hack
into the ECU Jessie style, and remove codes and
any unnecessary censors. Keeping this Twin Turbo
six banger from overheating are six different kinds of F80 coolers with some custom piping. Four rustless fans, and an
after market controller. CSF supply the charge
cooler and heat exchanger, and they painted it
white to match the car. It's nice. The fit and finish is gorgeous. The thing looks OAM, which
is my favorite kind of build, and I really appreciate
that instead of going with that blinged out look,
they went with a more subtle, wrinkled black finish. (upbeat music) After 11 months of work,
the team made their way from Denver to Las Vegas for
SEMA, still working on the car each time they had to stop for fuel. And once they'd made it to SEMA, only minutes before the
first round of judging for Battle of the Builds, the
car was finished but untested. And for a car to make
it through competition, it's got to run. After a few late nights
of literally sneaking into the Convention Hall to work on the car, the first time it fired up was
literally on the red carpet in the Convention Hall, to
which someone quickly called out over the Convention Center
PA, "No cars are allowed" "to be started in the hall." Oops. The car ended up placing in the top 12 in Battle of the Builds, top
3 in the young guns class. A hug accomplishment for anyone, let alone a group of
booger nose college kids. To be fair, I don't know
if they have boogers. You can't please everyone. Trust me, I've tried. But I think the honest assembly team did the old school M3 right. They didn't just pull
off a sweet engine swap. They did a full nut and bolt restoration. Maybe the most gratifying
success for the team was winning Best Modified at Bimmerfest. A sign that the build was
excepted by the community of E30 enthusiasts. An if you remember, at the top of this, outside of giving some college students the once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity to build a SEMA car, they built the car to bring awareness to the Morgan Adams Foundation,
a local Denver organization that helps children affected with cancer. A cool car built to help a great cause. Thank, Cory of Visfire, for
bringing the E30 out today. To find a list of the
20 mentors and partners that helped with this build,
and learn how you can donate, visit honestassembly.com, or on Instagram @Honest Assembly. (tires squeal) Guys, thanks for watching this
episode of Bumper to Bumper. I'm Sexy James. Bye. That's what it says. (upbeat music)
