[Jaypatel]

Hello everyone,
New to the form
im planning for an project for turning an F30 to a f80 or a E90 to E90 m3 complete conversion, i know alot of people will suggest to go buy an m3, but buying an m3 in India is almost 3 times the price in USA. even if i plan to import it from usa the import duty and tax and registration would come out to the same thing.
so after a lot of research i have came to conclusion it would be cheaper to convert an F30 to F80
conversion will be including everything from the m3 on to the F30 chassis.

buy an F30 or E90 locally as (i do not need to register the car after conversion as it already has registration)
strip the F30 to its chassis and install everything from the salvage m3 on the F30 chassis.

what do you guys think of this project
would it be better to do a e90 to e90m3 or a f30 to f80 conversion?
is it possible and what are some major difficulties i will be facing?
has anyone tried this before?
what are the differences between the F30 and F80
and the E90 and E90 m3

i really appreciate everyone's suggestions and help in taking this project forward.

thank you

[floydarogers]

Originally Posted by Jaypatel

...

what are the differences between the F30 and F80
...

The differences are much more than you'd think. That's why pretty much every BMW forum that has such threads advise that "buy an M3" is the only reasonable way to go. You should search for those threads; there are many.

The differences start: all four fender clips (body). Both bumpers. The complete rear suspension, including subframe and all links, differential, half-shafts and wheel carriers. All front links and carriers. All brakes. Master brake cylinder. Obviously, engine, transmission, clutch, driveshaft, ECU, radiator(s). Wiring for differential. Wiring for sport mode etc control, if DCT then that wiring for control.

There are sure to be other minor things. And that's not even getting to the paint (different colors for M) and interior tweaks (pinstriping on seats), sigils, etc. M3 is 4-seater, not 5-seater so rear seat.

[IDBGOD]

If anything I’d probably go the e90 route since they are older models and the cars and parts can be found for less.

As was said above, there’s a lot more than you think. In fact an f80 shares almost nothing in common but basic interior materials with an f30, its a completely different car from the ground up. By the time you replace the engine, transmission, suspension, diff, body etc it just isn’t economically feasible at that point.

Now you can certainly make an f30 “look like an f80” cheap enough...but a full conversion is pretty much impossible without huge expense...and that’s why almost everyone in return will say if you want an M3 just buy an M3.

I suppose if you have a good mechanical friend who can basically do all the work for you for nothing and take all the parts from a salvaged M3 it’s a start. But I still in no way see how a full conversion would be cheaper then buying a used one. That’s a ton of labor and parts, coding, etc and there are bound to be issues that show up that will also cost you along the way. In the end also it still won’t ever be vehicle recognized or worth as much as a real M3 either regardless to how much you sink into the conversion. Either way best of luck in your project.

[DFW_M]

I owned 3's since 2006 -- E90, F30...
The biggest surprise after owning an F80 for a while was how different it is from the F30. Aside from a similar looks, they are COMPLETELY different vehicles. There is NO way you can make a F30 be a F80, unless you spend ridiculous $$$