gjm

This is the pic I saw... I like the look. Nicely understated.

Thanks Murray.

Great info - thanks. If this happens it'll primarily be a car for our daughter so a smaller engine is certainly preferred. Ron's comments about the Z4 are happily accepted - in a perfect world that might be the aim now. As it is, that'll have to wait for quite a bit later. Is there any sort of preventative fix that can reasonably be done to prevent the y-connector failure?

I can see that. I have half an eye on a 1.9 manual with a hard top, but wanted to learn more - as much as possible - before even thinking of going to look at it.

I need to come and eat at your house!The reason I was asking is because I've seen an E30 wearing them, and it looked very nice indeed. Leaving aside (for the moment) all the fun of a 5-stud swap, I wondered if the 7-series rims might be a little heavy for an E30.

Your experiences, from ownership or from driving. I'm sure there are many parallels in terms of running gear and especially engine/gearbox that can be drawn with contemporary models. Please though - no hearsay or conjecture!

They're a factory-fit on the E38, but maybe most people decided to go with something else?

Does anyone know what these weigh? Could even be a possible call to see if anyone has a set available. At some point. Maybe.

Had a 'proper' suspension alignment done on the 320d a few days ago. It seems it was going in a straight line more by luck than judgement, or by virtue of everything being wrong coincidentally pointing the car back in a more-or-less straight line.

That's really sad news. I've heard of three potentially relevant causes for valve spring failure: Over-revving (although I don't see how this would break a spring - maybe localised heat build-up?) Poor quality metal used in manufacture Rust on the spring (which can result in failure in the same way a stress fracture would) Could the spring have been exposed to damp while the engine was in pieces?

That looks like really good vfm. I was looking at a similar 4x100 set up on 300mm.de: 300x24 front and 294x19 rear using Porsche Boxster ATE calipers with all mounting kit supplied, but that's 50% more (before shipping).

US$100k, NZ$150k, give or take.

Lots. Alpina built two models based on the E31: 97 850i/Ci-based B12 5.0 cars with 350PS (345hp) offered exclusively with an automatic, and 57 850CSi-based cars with a 6-speed manual or an optional Shift-tronic transmission. The B12 5.7 Coupe was based on the 380PS (375hp) 5.6-liter V12 850CSi but with a slightly larger displacement 5.7-liter V12 with reprogrammed ECUs and modified intakes to develop 416PS (410hp) and 570Nm. Minor changes were made to the front suspension, and the Alpina got 18-inch wheels with 245/40 tires front and 285/35 rear. There were some cosmetic upgrades like the vented carbon-fiber hood, front spoiler and a blue-background for the instrument dials. Price: one was offered this time last year for US$250k.

Sam - please could you let us know what the outcome is? It'll save anyone else interested having to go through the process of asking and so on.

Very, very cool.

Just... noisy. To be honest, I don't know, but I suspect while driving straight.

FL E30 316 - noisy diff at <170000km. Serious, or is a change of gear oil likely to sort it?

Just 'another day'...

The Ford guys in the UK are getting 325 and even 330mm under 16" rims when using AP 4-pots.

Does running out of brakes imply requiring more pressure, greater nodulation, or simply a lack of brakes? Good fluid will help make the best of the mechanical parts. Something like Endless, or similar.

Thanks John. I thought there had to be something like that or everyone would be doing the relatively easy swap. I was thinking the mounts were a long way up the strut! Nice pic of an 'after' on G's website:

This is kind-of related to recent discussions around 5-stud set ups, and the front sway bar topic where mounting of the front swaybar was discussed. The simplest (and allegedly purest) way to update a 'normal' E30 to 5-stud is to fit M3 suspension. That's potentially one of the more expensive ways to do it too, requiring acquisition of some fairly rare parts. (Let's put E36 M3 / Z3 etc setups to one side for the moment.) A "benefit" of a 5-stud conversion is the availability of other rims. If that is the only reason, regardless of the route taken it is probably more economic to buy any rim of suitable offset, and have them welded and re-drilled if the pcd isn't 4x100. Another benefit, judging from the swaybar discussion, is the ability to mount the swaybar on the strut bringing the benefits Ron describes here. Would it be possible to fit aftermarket M3 struts (or coilovers) with original 4-stud hubs, or would this lead to issues with rim clearance? Or is the hub mounting different on the M3 to the other E30s? Apologies if this is an eye-rolling question - I wanted to get this down while I remembered. I don't immediately have time to trawl RealOEM!

I think you're missing the point, Ron! Not that I'm sure what the point is...

Guy recently broke the walk of death speed record, something that's more complex than it first appears. He said at the time that after 11 years racing the IoM TT, the racing was losing its edge and excitement

Would you consider something that needs spacers?