What do you get when you take a BMW E30 and a GM LS engine? Well, technically, there are a lot of answers, but we’ll simplify it for you – EPIC! Via our friends at OnAllCylinders, we bring you Project GMW, a monstrosity of an E30.

Smokey’s Dyno and Performance out of Akron, Ohio, built a prime example for pretty much everybody that is aspiring to do an LS E30 build. From the wide stance, to the boxy over-fenders, Smokey’s E30 looks very similar to an E30 M3, but sadly it isn’t a real M3 – BMW purists would probably have kittens if it was, though! Real E30 M3 or not, this thing is badass and means business.

Earlier in May, the Smokey’s crew brought the car out to the ECTA Ohio mile to ultimately shake the car down, but also to try and set a record. Business co-owner, Brandon Maisdonski, took the car up to a reasonable 118 MPH on the first run, and after feeling how good the car was, he decided to go for 155 on the next run. 153 MPH through the traps was the final result, and so close to that 155 MPH mark, but it was a great achievement for the crew with all the time invested in the little monster of an E30.

Getting this car prepared, for the Smokey’s crew, was no easy task – an entire week of long days and late nights, sometimes even working on the car until 5AM. All of the hard work that Masidonski and his crew put in definitely paid off – just look at the car! 

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The interior is has a roll cage for added strength and rigidity, as well as safety, while the factory BMW seats were replaced with a pair of comfortable and supportive Sparco racing seats. The rest of the interior seems rather factory, besides the Nardi steering wheel, and insanely clean for how old the car is.

Underneath the hood lies what really makes this car wild – a fresh LS3 crate engine that has been bored to 408 cubic inches. Trick Flow, who jumped on the project along with Summit Racing, assembled the engine with forged rods, crank, and pistons. A set of their 245 heads and sit atop the block and a stage 4 camshaft articulates the valvetrain. A custom cold air intake routes fresh air to the FAST intake manifold with a 102mm throttle body.

Since the car was purpose-built for top speed racing and for road courses, a manual transmission fit the build perfectly, because they need certain gears to make the car perform how they want it to. The Smokey’s crew went with an RPM Hybrid transmission to handle the power they’ll be making and mated it to the LS3. To get the engine and transmission fitted seamlessly in the car, the Smokey’s crew built their own engine mounts and transmission mounts and had a custom length driveshaft made. Because there are no readily available parts for an LS-swapped E30, Stainless Works custom fabricated a complete exhaust for the application. 

Speaking of exhaust, Stainless Works built this exhaust with forced induction in mind. Yes, after the Smokey’s crew reaches their goal of 600 naturally-aspirated horsepower, they’re going to throw on an STS rear-mounted twin turbo kit for ultimate speed and thrills – in fact, that’s their next step of the build – all the crew has to do is install the kit. Depending on how the car reacts with the twin-turbo setup, the Smokey’s crew is going to run the kit between 10 and 18 PSI.

The car also has some heavy suspension upgrades that will be truly shaken down later on this month at Mid-Ohio – we can’t wait to see how this car handles on a road course! Props to the Smokey’s crew for building such a versatile and unique BMW E30 – we love track-focused builds like this one and it’s always refreshing to see an import with some American muscle tucked under the hood.

Here’s a video of Project GMW on the dyno before it was ran at the Ohio mile, and hopefully it will hold you over until the twin-turbo kit is installed – enjoy!