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Stumbled upon an awesome writeup about this lady called Valeria Giordano, dubbed the 'Queen of the Clownshoe'. Not your regular neighbourhood grandma. Has amassed a collection of 8 (so far) in all sorts of different colors, tinkers on them herself, uses them to help folks learn to drive manual and even offers them to the local high school auto shop for students to practice on. Such an awesome story, gotta love it. Something to aspire towards, eh @Kees? :D

I'd imagine it's this ?

All the hooning around was a good excuse to bust out the camera and take some glamour shots though.

Yep have messaged him, will likely pick it up on the weekend if it has had the rust repaired properly/is as rust free as he claims.

Tried the Turtle Wax headlight kit on the original headlight that was not replaced by insurance. The kit includes a heavy duty polishing compound for lighter UV damaged headlights in addition to the wet sanding kit, being conservative I just went with the polishing compound option with the sealant and I'm very happy with the result. It's not perfect but for the level of effort vs result I'm more than happy to recommend the product, from memory it was one of the cheaper restoration kits.

I decided to go the whole hog and change out the master cylinder to better suit the new setup. The new item is from a M3 with MK60 ABS pump which has a 25.4mm front and 22.2mm rear bore. Side benefit of the later model master is the ports for pressure sensors, will integrate them into my custom electronics for monitoring at some point. The swap out will change the (calculated) front bias from 63.4% to 60.5% and should firm up the pedal feel. It's all completed now and the brakes certainly have a very solid feel so pretty happy with the result for sure and was well worth the effort, seat of the pants test suggests braking performance is improved but could be related to how solid it feels. Now for the story in pictures ... first up was the booster and master sourced from Ebay / https://mpartsworldwide.com/ at a pretty reasonable cost even with the shipping. Removal of the 318 item and a side by side comparison reveals that the M3 uses two M12x1.0 ports and the 318 item is one M12 and one M10. I sourced an adapter from Ebay (and unfortunately their international shipping program ugghhh) which is USA made and adapts M12 to M10 bubble flare directly on the master. The other issue is the reservoir from the M3 was filthy and I could not remove the filter successfully to clean it. Ordered a replacement reservoir along with fresh grommets. My alternate plan was to use the reservoir from the 318 but it turns out the retaining screw on the M3 item inserts from the other side making this not possible without machining, who would have thought !! While having both units out I also compared all of the critical dimensions, and successfully confirmed they were a like for like fitment 👍 Disassembly of the M3 master for a full clean, based on what i saw in the reservoir. Can not source replacement seals unfortunately so re-assembled. That's really about it, reassembled everything and bled the system ... happy days !!

Pretty sure I've seen this done before......

I’m extremely saddened to say a dear friend of mine and great contributor to bimmersport suddenly passed last week. To me he was Sanjay but you will know him as ssbmw. He had a wealth of knowledge on bmw stats in nz. He would eat, drink and sleep the brand and love to talk with anyone who shared the passion. Bimmersport was a great outlet for him to share his knowledge for which he was regular contributor. A huge loss to all.

Right Sweet as. Kms aren’t too much of a concern as engine and gearbox most likely won’t be used, and suspension bushings would be old by now anyway regardless of kms. Mostly after something reasonably rust free with good paint which this appears to be. As far as being overpriced goes definitely is but I have negotiated price well below the asking price. But considering other coupes with terrible paint are listed for anything from 6-10k and then need 6k+ of paintwork this doesn’t seem to bad to me especially at the price I’d be buying it at.

That’s an awesome 130! I’m not in the market but that would be bought immediately if I was. A credit to you!

Aside from lots of blue, the first thing I saw was "Voted NZ’s most trusted used vehicle dealership." Who voted for them?

Seems to have gotten around the country. This was taken with mine about 8 years ago in dunedin when a friend had it. Only hand like 40k in the clock then I think.

I'm a big fan of the M20's character / sound (I'm assuming B20 vs B25 isn't too different - I may be off the mark there). M42 / M44 however will be a little quicker than a 320i and should also feel lighter / pointier up front and more eager to rev - I suspect it would a better contrast to your beast. While the weight balance of a 325i / 318is may not look much different on paper, I was genuinely surprised how much less 'push' there was driving an M42 swapped car vs mine back to back - mine felt clumsier once you started to push on a bit.

The description is hard to read and makes little sense to me. It's a 530 shell with slightly modified M5 engine and brakes. What the heck does n500 have to do with it?

I remember reading about this car and people telling me about it as well. This is what I know. Was a genuine Alpina built from a 850csi - so it was a super rare Alpina B12 5.7- putting out 410 bhp; 30 more horses than a standard 850csi. Written off in a crash in the uk. A guy called Rice buys it and swaps what he can into a 850csi. Rice who owns a number of E31’s sells them all to Kiwi Alan Ferguson ( about 14 years ago). Alan sells off collection - and this car is sold to an Aussie. That gentleman is paralyzed in a racing accident around the same time in an E39 M5 - so the Alpina never actually leaves NZ shores. Car sold to a group associated with Alec Cartio who is LA based, and is one of the world’s flag- bearers of E31’s mainly 850csi’s. Car sold on BAT.

M54s are cheap. Almost everything is the same swap wise, it's just slightly more wiring involved in the adapter harness and having drive by wire. It's relatively easy and considering the amount of effort of doing a swap and cert etc, a better overall option for a more modern engine and power/torque is more than enough for an e30.

Hi all, I have no idea how to check the wheels I want for my car. All I know is that I require staggered 5x120 wheels. How do I check the dimensions/ width of the wheel that suits my car? I currently have Niche wheels but they are slightly bent... The wheel setup I am running is: 225/40/18/92/Y front 245/35/18/92/Y rear Pilot sport 4 if that matters. And also, if you have any wheel brand recommendations that would be great. Thank you!

Figured as much. I've bought enough e30s over the years and in at least the last 5 years they ALL have rust, its just how much of it.

Although expensive the Quickjack 5000TL has been great. Have just kept them on the ground for a while. Finally got around to putting up the wall mounts. Definitely recommend the wall mounts for saving space in the garage.

Did a Bimmersporter buy it? Bahaha 🤣🤣🤣

Number plate rings a bell... on fb e30 classifieds nz

That's pretty good for a coupe on the road. What are your plans to build if your after rolling body?

Thanks for the reminder to check out Wisemove. Got some good quotes there and went with "5 star Freighting", $155. Delivered right to the door, exactly when he said he would, which was really fast.

And goes really well with the red interior… not!

E30 prices are unrealistic at the moment. A lot of the examples on TM have been sitting around for ages. There is always gonna be some rust somewhere. You just want it to be minimal. Good luck with the search.

Congrats on the new addition to the family! That’s funny about the steering being noted as heavy. Mines the same, the two pfl I briefly had were worse, but BMW always seems to have heavier steering.

Enter the gearbox type on the ad as it doesn't show if you search manual bmws. Should get a few more hits

I remembered seeing this post and wanted to track it down again to see what you used for your inventory tool. I see you used Inventree. How are you finding Inventree and having your own complete list? Did it take you long to populate? I've just fixed up an old PC for use in the garage and I was thinking this would be cool to have on it.

Much of the manual conversion kits for the M20 and M4* motors were sucked up by the E30 race series many years ago. You could maybe pick up a Series car cheap which could have rebuilt running gear in it. If I was to own another E30 I would N52 swap it. https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/forum/e30-technical-forums/24v-engine-swaps/n54-n52-swap-forum/9977503-n52-e30-build-thread-for-the-sophisticated-gentleman How about a manual E87 instead? I've had many E30's. I like my crappy manual E87 more than all of them bar my series car.

As is id take the M44 over the B20 for sure. Id rather do a M50\M52 conversion on a M20B20, i love the B25 but engine prices seem ridiculous to me for what you are getting. M44 vs M20B25 is a hard choice for me because they got their both strong points. M44 is probably the cheaper option with less maintenance. IMO they are more fun to wind out (in stock'ish form at least) with a light weight flywheel, more modern EFI, DOHC and decent factory headers. Modding support for M20 is greater but both can be made into N\A screamers if you want to dump money into them. Drive a few different ones and im sure you will a better idea though.

Sadly it looks like seller withdrew the listing. Maybe got cold feet after setting the reserve at $1...

Exactly. The cost to drop into another chassis wouldn't be very economical. Just should of used an msport car.

So to summarise.. it’s a re-shelled slightly modified M5? I love the way it’s all about being a “sleeper” and then it’s got great big drifter Rota wheels on it.. kind of blows the cover really? Cool car though.

Those SSC fellas are prolific at overpricing their stock. Pretty sure the other near identical one that ended up being exported to the US last year went for around $30k, if that.

E28 535i royal blue metallic for sale! Recaro exclusive seats,glass sunroof,dogleg transmission,Alpina instrument cluster,limited slip differential,rear mtechnik curtain,Mtechnik original kit , hartage upper engine and arso.. price is 12500€ car is located in Lebanon can be shipped worldwide.can text me via wattsapp +96181668842.

These have been flying out the door for locals in NZ and as far away as Poland, Indonesia and Portugal. Go figure. Anywho, I have bulk stock of E46 versions ready to go for those who have decided to LS, 2JZ or turbo their E46's All come with installation instructions, exchange form and a quality product that looks OEM and uses only OEM parts. Note - E36 joints are getting harder to find and E30 joints are near on impossible without #bmwtax so will only be offering those on exchange basis.

Wow amazing. All the best for the recovery. I hope you find a safer sport. Can I suggest motorsport excluding rally as your still have a high chance of going end of end in rally.

Glad to see you’re recovering, I ride bikes as well and can only imagine how gnarly that crash must’ve been. Recently had to carry my mate to a helicopter in a stretcher at the top of coronet peak in Queenstown, never a fun time. Wishing you a speedy recovery!

$12000 ono M Sport 135i 149000km Excellent cond. MHD Tune

have some spare stock if needed

Opportunity cost I guess, right? What do you replace it with? Nothing I would replace mine with either .

I found it interesting that as soon as the auto bid of $19,999.99 from zero-rated "Jay from Hamilton" was exceeded by the $20k bid, the vendor posted a reminder comment that this was a $1 reserve, as-is sale and that "ANYTHING or EVERYTHING can be wrong with this car" Almost as if they were surprised (and possibly nervous?) that the bidding had reached that level?

It is right in that sweet spot where everything needs doing. Charge pipe will be brittle and will need an upgrade. Waterpump should be looked at being replaced. It will have or soon will have oil leaks from the valve cover, oil filter housing, oil cooler housing, sump and if you are really unlucky the rear main. Coil packs will be on their last legs. PCV will be an upcoming item. Turbo wastegate rattle is common at this mileage. It will no doubt be a trade in. See if any work has been done already.

Did the retrofit for Speed Limit Information and used the earlier YouTube video process to insert the BMW enablement certificate ( FSC ). Using the BMW cert and vehicle option code will mean it won’t get turned off with any BMW dealer software updates. I ordered the Kafas2 / connected idrive camera FSC certificate via Part no for SLI Kafas2 Camera 66502444948 . Basically put your vin number into the Fahrgestellnummer field. Got an email a day later with a BMW issued FSC. Cost was $75 nzd via PayPal. Vehicle Order ( VO ) was updated via Bimmer utility and it coded the Kafas2 camera , Digital Dash and Idrive. ( thanks @Dogballs ) Then injected the SLI FCS into camera ecu via esys. Then a simple case of enabling it in Idrive setting. Went for a drive and seems to be working ok. Only thing I might change is the FLD coding option under NBT where you can change the SLI country option. Will see what other signs it picks up. The good thing was it’s displaying the speed limit value in Kmh rather than miles.

Win!

I don't think that comes in bulk packs here. Penrite 10tenths comes in 20l packs. Even as a sponsor Castrol gave us next to no discount. Greater savings waiting for supercheap auto specials. I've moved away from Castrol due to their bottle sizes. Penrite comes in 5,6,7,10,20L.

Comes from the Land rover clubs in UK... nitpicky pratts that will go totally off the deep end if they suspect that an old land rover has been put together/restored with the incorrect number of rivets... etc... much like the small group of BMW "rivet counters" on this forum that anally go after any car that is not OEM (in their absolute opinions of course!)

https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/130i/listing/5169713908.... yikes.

That’s a great effort. Great that you got all the right care too. Hope you recover well. I’ll just add this, imagine having the catheter in for 14 days.

Order arrived today. happy times ....... Missing the offset idler, box smashed up and open on one end ? WTF. Had a look at the last "Congrats your order is on its way" email at the item list, some idiot at FCP had removed the offset idler. So, first and last order with FCP, what a ball ache.