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Took advantage of the time off to have a real good tidy up / clean out and sort in the garage. Managed to get enough stuff onto shelves, into cupboards and in the bin to find the convertible again. Now dusted off and started up (first time!!) she’s off for a WoF in the morning. Fingers crossed.

Must be that time again things have started to brake. First a phone call help flat tyre and sure as eggs the space saver turns out to be soft. Next the drivers door won't lock with the key so the pull it apart and its toast lucky had some old bits hanging around Not so much a repair but fitted an aux cable and connections fromthe radio to ash tray. Have left the rear vent problem for now a coffee is in order I feel.

Yeah there's a few "While I'm there" jobs. I took the opportunity to do full CCV system replace, both intake elbows, valve cover gasket, both heater pipes, all the o-rings on the oil filter housing screw-on cover, dipstick o-rings, and of course intake manifold gasket which was rock hard both times. Both receipts ran me about 300USD from FCPEuro, but not all the parts were Genuine BMW. No "special" tools required from memory, but you will need a torx socket set and I found a set of gasket picks useful for getting the broken ends of the heater pipes out of the head, and I found a mix of 1/4'' drive (access is tight on some of those nuts) with a wobble joint and bigger stuff was needed to remove the nuts on the intake mani. Be prepared to be horrified at the state of the plastic pipes...

Yip,i think ill start with the starter before removing the gearbox again,coz when the starter is tightened the engine does not turn but when the starter is a bit loose,not fully tightened,it makes a grinding noise....thanx for the advice guys .

If you are pricing up parts, alot of us import from overseas as the dealer prices here are crazy. I use schmeidmann.com and alot of others use fcpeuro.com. Just make sure you make each order total below $400nzd so you dont have to pay any gst or customs taxes.

I just have the all in one aerosol can puncture repair. Never used it though. Do they work?

Thanks for the info guys, much appreciated. I've been to Winger and priced up the coolant/waterpump/thermostat so that's the next project once work starts up again in the new year. I managed to score a decent (albeit also high k's) second hand shock from Pick a Part just to get me through a WOF and running for now, I'm looking around at new shocks to redo all of them, after the engine is happy. I'll do the mounts and such then too. Currently she's overcooling on the motorway (sadface) so really want to address the thermostat first. Ran the codes on the scanner at work (forgot to say, I'm a heavy diesel apprentice) and I'm getting code 123 for Electronic Thermostat Control which I'm guessing is due to it not closing properly, should be sorted with the replacement. There was a couple old misfire codes too, but I cleared them and drove for about 100kms to do some chores, scanned again and haven't come up again thankfully, may have been old. I'll check the plugs when I get a chance anyway. Then I need some new rear tyres, these ones are a great manufacturer but the left rear is very unevenly work, bad alignment, and there's no chance the other is going to pass another WOF, so time to retire (pardon the pun) them soon. But if a list to get through, but we'll get there! They weren't very helpful with the history of the car sadly, I'll have to give it all a look over once I get the change.

A tyre pump powered by the cig lighter socket, and a can of tyre slime will do just fine. I've had several punctures without a spare and the pump was always enough to get me to a tyre shop. Have yet to use the slime. The low tyre pressure sensor will warn you well before the pressure gets too low to drive on, so you can pump the tyre back up and drive carefully to a tyre shop, if the warning goes off again then you've got enough time to pull over and pump it up some more

Hey Arma I have done it a couple of times, the job does take a while but is easily doable over a weekend for a novice. There is nothing hard about it if you are already familiar with bleeding the cooling system and fixing the oil filter reservoir housing leak. You will wreck the CCV system while you are in there- it will all be old and brittle by now unless recently done- so factor that replacement while you are in there. You will need to do both heater pipes too.

Don't. The M10 is not, in standard form, a performance engine. Solid, reliable, and responds very, very well to forced induction, but it is an old engine and compared to most modern engines, heavy, uneconomical and slow. (In stock form.) So is the M20B20. It combines the bad bits from the M10B18 and the M20B25 - it's bigger, a tighter fit in the engine bay, heavier, still not a performance engine by any means, and uses a lot of fuel. The M20B25 is a better engine in that it provides more performance, but other comments still apply. The M20 also responds well to forced induction (in particular). If you feel you must change the engine, look for a simple swap like a M4x. 16 valves, perkier performance, better economy, and still provides a tuning route should you wish to go that way. I'm still keen on the idea of a M43 in an E30 (fantastic economy, good performance in a lightweight car like an E30, simple) but I'm just a bit odd like that. ? If not a 4-pot swap, there are much better (and very well-documented) 6-cylinder transplants. M54s are popular for good reason. However, any 6-cylinder engine (imho) spoils the natural balance of the 4-cylinder cars. There's a good reason why BMW stuck with a 4-cylinder engine for the E30 M3 rather than develop the M20 engine for racing.

Did the previous owner do the CCV and the vacuum hoses. I am doing that job at the moment on an E46 328i.

Kia ora Jacob. Yes, definitely get the correct coolant, as the other stuff can be damaging to some of the bmw's aluminium parts. Trans coolers have been known to fail from using the wrong coolant, which instantly lunches your trans, and fills your engine with milkshake. As for shocks, in my experience the bmw stock shocks dont last long. You also want to replace them in pairs. Personally I would be going for decent aftermarket shocks like koni or bilstein as they do make a difference. With your high kms I would check the rear ones too. With the car safely jacked up (use jackstands to be safe) unbolt the lower bolt that holds the bottom of the rear shock to the hub. Then just compress it by hand to see just how munted they are. Welcome to the e46 life.

To all the doubterz and ones who dont have faith in the Bimmer fellow brotherhood....yous owe me a Fizzy Bubblech...?

An easy check is to see if there any any cracks in any visible hoses/pipes, especially the intake pipes after the MAF, going to the inlet manifold.

Yes, it is an old internet thing mocking Honda fanbois. An M54 is slightly more technologically advanced than "VTEC yo", and has no distributor. Get it scanned, that's the trick- by someone who knows their stuff. It may be throwing nonsensical codes that an unknowledgeable scan operator will take as legit.

Important thing about the BMW coolant is it has the right lubricants and corosion inhibitors and stuff in it. Runs you about $40 for 2 bottles. There's about 9 million pages on the web about why not use aftermarket, if you want to read... and, you're welcome!