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is the future of RWD vs FWD discussion the new E46M3 SMG vs manual discussion?

They still build cars to meet the needs of the market. I suspect the only reason they dont make a FWD econobox like everyone else, is because of VWAG. VW and Audi already have the FWD market covered. BMW doesn't have any other brands under its hat, so of course it's lumped with econoboxes in its own lineup. BMW wont stop making "fun" ///M cars, even if they are AWD. The only thing a RWD car does better than modern AWD cars is skids/drifts, and whoop de do.

put the engine in the back then

Errr, Mini?

She's a beauty! Anyone contemplating a tidy e30 for $5k would be mad not to consider this at $7k given the work that's been done that is absent with those around $5k!

doesnt make sence having the car RWD when two of the drive wheels will be electric before long anyway. would make for a hell of a lot of weight out the front you lot would complain about that then. Have drive a bunch of modern FWD cars in my new job, the Golf GTI i hate to admit is light years better than the rest, a phenominal car, and i can honestly say i cared not that it was FWD.

Yeah I think that’s extrapolating it a bit far. I’m certain BMW are not seeking to compromise on the quality of driving or ownership experience of their brand by building econoboxes. Building FWD cars does not by definition place them in econobox territory, or have I misinterpreted your post? They will certainly build cars for the market they expect to buy them. The X2, and the 2 series ‘Active Touring’ are good examples of this. Are they econoboxes? Avert your eyes if you must; (it’s true, I can barely look at them for their ugliness), Mercedes is making a good show of it with their strange hatchbacky A-wotsit these days, without compromising their brand. Hey, they’re even picking up Subaru fanbois as they climb into grown-up-hood! ? The company will always change to survive; sometimes the change causes consternation with the brand loyalists. You should read Naim Audio loyalists sweating the small stuff over the company’s evolution to remain relevant, successful, and growing. Sadly many of us (Naimees, I’m one) miss that we’re a very small niche group amongst a large market, as Dave rightly points out above.

Well, you see, I have a number of E30s so I am familiar with the overall concept. I also have a high-level of 3D perception and visualisation, so from the various photos showing the details I can put it all together in my head.

While doing the vanos, my valve cover which I'd painted in crinkle black hadn't held up. Got it blasted Casting is pretty crap Ground back the worst bits Got it powder coated. You can see the imperfections, but its a lot better than what it was. While doing that, figured I should get the front subframe done too. Had that blasted, reinforcement plates welded in, and then powdercoated. While doing all that, found that some moisture got around the rubber that holds the front sway bar. Some interesting corrosion there Sway bar was powder coated, and replacement mounts were ordered.

Got a dog. We fit in the touring, and everyone is happy about it Got tailed one night by a random. Pull into a car park and he followed me. Had a good yarn. Turns out he only lives a few blocks away. Decided to do the vanos seals at the start of last year, so ordered all the bits from Beisan Systems, and some cheap timing locking kit from Ebay. Guides all say to set everything to top dead center and lock it in place. Well... that's fine on a stock system, but turns out I couldn't use the crankshaft lock due to my different combo. Having a look online on this, several people said it shouldn't move. So pulled it all apart, couldn't undo the nut and rounded it off. Got a unit from Kerry, and he kindly rattle gunned the nut off. Replaced the seals, and then went to put it all back in.... and what do you know, the crank had moved while doing the work. Not wanting to risk anything, I pulled the motor and did it on the stand. Mmm delicious oil in my intake Back on the stand Cleaning up the parts of burnt on oil. This was done while the wife was out. Boil a pot of water. Place part inside. Add laundry power. When you stop seeing bubbles on the surface, add more. As per the vanos unit above, it cleans parts up really well While taking it apart, broke one of the guides All back together. Built a garden shed (No car parts allowed says the wife)

At the same time as doing the heater core, I thought I might as well do an electric sunroof conversion. I ended up cocking this up quite substantially. I drilled through the holes in not quite the right places, so the motor would only be held in with 2 bolts. I'll be doing this properly later on, but for now you can review my cock ups. So you need the electric motor mount. These are riveted into the copper bracket that houses the wires. I just drilled out the rivet heads. Electric on left, manual on right. I found pretty quickly that the electric motor needs a bit more space, so cut a section out of the copper to match. Now in theory, you are supposed to be able to just bolt the black mount back onto the copper plate, and then just screw in the motor. For whatever reason, this didn't quite work for me. But I thought I had done rather well considering I had the front of the touring headlining hanging down so far during all the work. Ended up just dropping the headlining and removing it. It now lives on my back wall I continued to struggle with this. Ended up rounding out the electric motor gears as I didn't disengage them properly when manually winding it to test the sunroof opened and closed. This is the unit mostly apart And of course some classic sunroof rust. After this I just left the sunroof in place, and there is nothing connected to move it currently. Will come back to this hopefully later this year.

Gosh, it's been 2 years since I last updated this, so there will be a few updates coming in. Since no one ever chimed in to my previous post, I ended up doing a lot of my own guesswork and have made some assumptions since, which will come through in updates over the rest of the year.I finished swapping in the 2nd engine, and vanos was definitely not kicking in properly, as I felt I had lost low down torque, and when holding the accelerator steady, I could feel the car surging just while cruising at 50km/hTo celebrate the car being back together, I put some weaves on and took some photos.

What a change from their marketing of only a few years back!

Date: 19 Mar 2019 Distance: 258970km Beneath Grey Thunder in dry dock I: stripped nekkid, awaiting new clobber. Empty rack, no ARB or LCAs. Photo Credit: Jon Mechaniker. 1. Steering. Replaced tie rods (inner and outer - OEM), lock washers, boots. 2. Suspension. Replaced Lower Control Arms (OEM) and LCA Bushes (e36 solid). Installed freshly painted 19mm front ARB, with gen BMW bushes. I'll find a 20mm bar eventually. New end links. 3. Shifter. Replaced all the bushes, and a Z3 1.9 short-shifter. New gearbox mounts. And changed the gearbox oil to the right grade. I'd run it on diff oil by mistake... 4. Aligned. It was aligned given so much work on the steering/suspension. Report: It’s been a gorgeous day in Wellington, blue skies, no cloud, warm and sunny. I decided to drive back from Auto 38 in Newtown over Alexandra Road/Palliser Road/Hawker st/Majoribanks St to town. Car is transformed. First impression: the short-shift courtesy of the z3 1.9 shift lever - along with all the other bushings and stuff - is groovy. Very short crisp gate. - The steering is smooth, even, and it tracks straight. No more pitching into understeer. Handling is improved - even with 19mm front bar - though now with new (genuine) bushes and HD endlinks. It's more progressive and the rear end mostly follows the front! The gearbox bushings have improved things, with less drivetrain lurch (in concert with the fresh diff mount from a couple of months back). I'm looking forward to engine mounts. It's much easier to drive, now. More predictable. It's smooooooooooooth. And quieter. Yes, despite my plans and intentions, this job was wallet-mechanic'd. Jon at Auto 38 has done a brilliant job. Efficient, communicative, reliable. I'm just not getting the opportunity to spanner myself. I have complete confidence in Jon and Keren. If you're looking for a great independent workshop in Wellington, give them a call or visit. They'll see you right. Beneath Grey Thunder in dry dock II: New LCAs, Bushes, Tie Rods & Boots, ARB, Bushes, End Links installed. Photo Credit: Jon Mechaniker. Next steps: Prepping and painting the 14" basketweaves. EDIT: and sort out the horns, and install the sport steering wheel! EDIT II: Future job is sump gasket and oil filter to block gasket. Deferred this time.

Pulled car apart, didn't see subframe damage. reassembled car. ?‍♂️