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Hi all, After a while of being relatively quiet on here I am back with my latest! It all began a few years ago after I had sold my last E30 (black 325i vert) and was feeling like something was missing. I flew to Auckland and purchased this coupe from a forum member. It was a great car and I picked it up for a price unheard of in todays E30 market. At the time I didn't have too many plans for it, just maintain it and drive it on the weekend. I changed the cambelt with the intention of keeping the M20 in it. At least it was reliable! I couldnt help myself and installed a set of XYZ coilovers and Sportmaxx 16x8 wheels. I also had the rear guards rolled and pumped out along with painted bumpers and respraying the guards. This lasted for summer until I decided to misbehave while driving for a wedding for Jamie (Black E30 in the pic). The gearbox lost reverse while trying ever so hard (M20B20 remember) to get it to do a celebratory burnout. So I gave the 4hp22 one last farewell and got onto thinking about what I was going to do next. I decided I wanted a repower. I considered this a huge challenge and something I had never attempted before, so I was anxious. I set about stripping the old M20 out and began to think about what was going to take its place. I contemplated M5x, RB25, 1JZ, V8s.. even a 13b turbo. Then this turned up... It was all on! A 13b turbo from a series 5 Mazda RX7. I always wanted an RX7, the rotary engine was something that I just had to have. So what better than a rotary E30 to satisfy my cravings. The rotary also ticked many other boxes that the bigger inline 6 options didnt: engine bay space, brake booster clearance, power to weight. With the engine finally stripped and sitting in the bay it was becoming apparent that it was a relatively straight forward swap. Custom sump and oil pickup were to be made. While a conversion to manual steering was going to give me more room under the engine and around the exhaust/turbo and also satisfy my need for a clean engine bay. Power steering isnt a necessity in a car this light with an engine that weighs as much as a weetbix box. Custom engine and gearbox mounts were fabbed up and the engine yanked back out again to go back home. Once the mounts were completed I dropped the engine back in to check everything was correct. Once I was happy that it was all going to fit I worked out where the intercooler and radiator were going to fit and mocked up some intake piping. Then it was time to pull it all back out again and prepare for paint. This was exciting, I've always craved a smoothed over E30 engine bay! The paint was laid down and I was stoked! Engine back in again for the final time to start piecing it together. Now the fiddly stuff, nothing heavy, plenty of cursing and swearing to come! As the car was originally auto I fitted a manual pedal box early on in the piece with anticipation of what was to come. All along I wanted to intercooler to remain hidden, but still receive good airflow so the piping was tricky. Because I am using a stock turbo and boost levels I have been able to keep the piping nice and small which was helpful in keeping it all hidden. Once I was happy it was off to get alloy welded and have the BOV mount welded in place. Then black paint was applied before reassembly as well as mounting radiator, RX7 oil cooler (in factory location) and making hoses and lines to suit. I also removed as much of the front body loom as I could and hid the remaining wires between the radiator and oil cooler. I also made a throttle cable and clutch line etc while i was mucking around in the engine bay. Finally starting to take shape.. I had decided to go standalone with the engine management. An old Microtech LTX-8 ECU was purchased and I undertook my very first attempt at wiring anything more than a headunit. I also fitted and wired in boost/vac, water temp and oil pressure gauges. With the wiring completed and ready for first start up. Fluids were poured in, fuel was mixed and she fired into life! Took a bit of turning over to clear, but it started after a few goes! I was a pretty happy lad that night, it was finally starting to seem real. Also, a rotary engine is incredibly loud in the shed with just a turbo and no exhaust... Happy neighbours were not found in my area that night! The next morning I discovered a small pool of oil under the car so the sump was removed and a small pinhole welded up. I was frustrated because I had checked the sump for holes.. obviously not well enough! Next on the list was exhaust so the car was taken back out to my mates place where he has a hoist and the necessary skills to fab up some pipes/flanges. The exhaust consisted of a 2.5" short downpipe, 3" to centre resonator, 3" to rear muffler. This provides plenty of flow, a reasonable amount of noise reduction and next to no ground clearance at the height I had it. Ive since lifted the suspension 20mm at the front and 10mm at the rear just to give a bit of freedom underneath. I had my tuner come round and check the car out to see if it was dyno ready - he checked things like voltage drop to the coils and fuel pump. Interferance on any sensors etc. He also set up the fuel maps at idle so that I could at least run through a few heat cycles and bleed the cooling system before putting it on the dyno for a tune. Then it was dyno day! The tune went well until 3500rpm where we found a misfire which turned out to be a malfunction in the ECU. We also found that the spark wasnt as strong as it could be so it was decided that I would replace the old coils before the next dyno day just to be safe. It was back to the drawing board and a little bit more wiring to be done. While I was waiting for more dyno time I installed a handy little voltage gauge so I could keep an eye on the battery. I got it off trademe for a few bucks and hooked into the wiring that goes to the check panel. It reads about 0.4V lower than at the battery but at least it gives me some idea of whats going on. Back on the dyno again after a few weeks The tune was going good until 4500rpm where the turbo started to make some boost and the internal wastegate couldnt keep up. The ECU was cutting fuel at 13psi so we had to pull the pin. Back to the drawing board. I found that the wastegate was hitting the back of the turbo and not opening fully, and also put some of the issue down to the fact that the exhaust was so much bigger than the factory downpipe and the turbo was flowing much faster and free'er than normal. I solved this by taking a scallop out of the backplate of the turbo and adding a 3mm restrictor plate straight after the turbo with a 2" hole (the size of the factory downpipe) While playing around the exhaust I decided to delete the old steering guibo and heatshield to give me some more clearance and eliminate the chance of the extreme heat deteriorating the rubber. I also decided to ditch the viscous fan as it needed a shroud to actually make it work and it was too hard to make a shroud. I replaced it with an electric fan and had a plate made up to shroud the fan and enable it to pull air across the entire surface of the radiator. I wired the fan so that I can either turn it on with a switch in the car or the ECU can turn it on at a set temperature. I also added a heat shield around the turbo and downpipe after seeing it glowing red on the dyno. It was almost dyno time again and after a few hard road tests to check the boost levels I encountered another problem. Small case diffs. I quickly sourced a medium case 3.73:1 open diff from Ray @ Hellbm and installed that with some fresh Redline oil. Back on the dyno and fingers crossed for the third time lucky! The tune went well but we discovered the restrictor plate is choking the turbo a bit and the boost level starts to drop at around 6000rpm. This will be fixed one way or another in the future with either a boost controller or opening the turbo up again and adding an external wastegate. Power wasnt huge at 155kw at the wheels on a low-reading roller dyno. Once the boost issue is sorted out I should see close to 200rwkw. After driving the car home in the wet I decided 155rwkw is plenty for a street car for now and I will focus on getting the car legal/certed so that I can begin to enjoy it. The day after dyno I had to see what it was like in the dry.. Turns out it goes ok! I had to give it a bit of victory burnout love on the driveway which was great - Unfortunately the right hand side engine mount didnt think so and started to bend (8mm plate!!) So out it comes to have some strength added to it.. Two 5mmx15mm gussets at the weak point. It aint pretty but it works, the second victory burnout proved it! (on closed roads of course) This weekend I managed to put the engine mount back in and also paint the inside of the fuse box cover. I'm crazy on clean engine bays and the transparent blue lid with yellow underneath just didnt cut it! I understand the rotary E30 isnt going to be accepted by everyone here, and I also understand it isnt a first, but I'm always a fan of doing what you believe is right for you. After a bit of deliberation I decided on posting this so people that are interested can see what I've been doing and share their thoughts. After all, I built it for me! It wont get old driving down the road seeing peoples reactions to this car! Its been a long time coming but this diary brings me up to date on my build thus far. Its been a huge challenge, but something I have enjoyed immensely! I've learnt more than I could ever imagine and become much less hesitant to take on big jobs. Next on the list is learn to weld, then I'll be unstoppable!! While this isnt a comprehensive list of everything I've done and products I've used etc I feel I've covered the main points. Feel free to ask any questions you may have, or even offer criticism on things you think I could improve. I have acheived my goal of keeping the car low-key in appearance. From the outside the only give away is the exhaust, which could just be another E30 with a fart-can.. Until you hear it! My goal was to keep this tasteful and not your typical "brap brap brap Rota BeMa G" Now that I have finally posted this project I will continue to update this thread as I make progress. Happy building and thanks for taking the time to read this thread!! Jason Edit: heres a flame pic!

Welcome to the family, NZ new E61 535d m-sport 2006. 2nd owner (excluding the sales yard that had it for a week or so) All I can say is torque! Just put on some new 19" slippers (new to me), not 100% on the colour of them but might change that or let them dirty up a bit.

Hi guys, Always like the classic appearance of the oldschool BMWs, so I got an e30 since I can't afford the other models and ended up with this thing: I would have taken it out to do a better picture but currently it doesn't run since I'm in the process of doing the traditional new owner maintenance schedule (timing belt, waterpump, etc). It needs a bit of maintenance done in general (paint fixes, seat reupholster, fluids, rust fixes) but the body seems to be relatively clean and accident free. No boot, roof, fender, or pillar rust as far as I can tell though there is a bit on the inner sill where it looks like someone has used a trolley jack and crushed the sill as well as removed the rust protection coating. Anyhow, I aim to restore this as well as I can within my budget and just use it as a weekend car. No hooning or anything like that, gonna keep it in good condition and preserved for future generations! (If anyone is wondering why it is sitting lower than the factory sport suspension, one of the previous owners replaced it with the Bilstein + H&R combo)

Depends... How fast does it go? How much can I sell it for? Oh I mean um whats it valued at for insurance purposes... Yeah that's what I meant! :-)

Cheap adjusties off TardMe are not a Bilstein equivalent. You want good gear, you will need to open your wallet...

How's the ute coming along Francois? Any progress?

mint! cant wait to see it in the flesh one day. I dont think there is such thing as haters on rotarys these days ? .. that s**t passed in 2002. They getting fairly rare these days that I would say it actually something different.

Nice tidy coupe and good write up too!

Haven't bought it yet, but will have it in my driveway in a couple of days (Current owner just arranging his new car) It's not an M3. Although it may as well be. 1996 328i Msport coupe. NZ new, factory manual. S50B30 Rebuilt vanos Tuned M3 ZF geabox e46 Motorsport steering rack M3 bilstein monotube shocks B&G lowering springs Grey suede M3 interior including Vaders Quaife helical LSD M3 sway bars E46 330i big brakes Goodridge Braided brake and clutch lines 18 button obc ACS rear window spoiler Front & rear strut braces PowerFlex front trailling arm bushings M3 instrument cluster Light weight flywheel and clutch BBS RC 18x8.5 in BMW Marrakesh brown Remus exhaust M3 mirrors LTW wing Fenix Alloy radiator. Few other things here and there. Absolutely beautiful conditon. Pics and new thread incoming once I have it and start doing my usual thing, cleaning it, making a list of necessities etc. Drives insanely nicely, much better than the Estoril coupe. Everything feels very tight and well-put together, ridiculous power difference between the s50 and M52.

Well in the potatoes defence it was a bit rooted

The time has finally come to part with my precious, will go on trademe in the next few days... 1999 NZ new e39 540i touring, M62b44tu, 6 speed conversion approx 2 years ago, motor has had new timing chain and guides / tensioners, rear subframe bushes have been done as have both rear air springs. new monroe shocks all round.new radiator. Not a motorsport but has a m/sport steering wheel, front bumper and M5 rep mirrors. 18 inch alloys with good falken tyres, no spare.towbar, xenon lights. Have just done brand new dual mass flywheel, clutch, pressure plate and release bearing. bonnet has just been painted, will have new grilles when sold, will be sold with wof and rego 305XXX km black leather, steel sun roof, tints by tint a car, just had oil and filter change, aftermarket sony cd stereo with pioneer sub (hidden) and jbl speakers, bluetooth, usb aux in, steering wheel controls. $12,000 o.n.o.

Genuine AC Schnitzer E46 Coupe with an M52TUB25 (2.5L 323i) Built in 2000 Stunning Topaz. Kitted new with genuine AC Schnitzer Body Kit, Suspension, Engine Bay and Interior. Extremely rare, known to be one of two in the country with the full genuine kit. 270ks but drives like it has 100ks! All factory engine and gear box. Serviced regularly , loads of maintenance work done. Subframe enforced, nitty gritty items completed, brand new bushes went in a month ago. You have to be a true enthusiast to know what this car is. Will be sold with a fresh WOF valid for a year. This is a very special car. Offers considered. $8,500 ono.

Very low kms (6,000kms), and very nice condition:

I have somewhat of a theory on this. Car dealers, or dealers of any nature that have been around a long time are using the internet, but in the wrong way. Many years ago, when cars were bought off of yards, you could get away with having vehicles for a long time. If we didnt have trademe, forums etc, we would have no way of knowing that vehicle had been on that yard for all these years, then when you drove through Palmy, heaven forbid, you may see the vehicle, feel you've found a good one and the only reason its still for sale is the fact you need to be out there looking. Now, dealers put these cars on the internet, and still work off the old way of doing things. They have no idea that forums etc talk about these things, they may not even know what a forum is, and those in the know, which is the market for these cars, all talk between themselves and come to the conclusions above. It's a bit of a headache but it seems what happens from what I've observed. Same reason prices have gone up, as local markets now no longer exist, as buyers all over the country, even outside, have access to all vehicles for sale.

I've got Bilsteins, unsure if motorsport or bilstein springs but they handle far better than my other coupes with motorsport struts and lovells/cobras

What a waste of time haha. Give me a well maintained example with 250,000kms on the clock. Theres little to like about a neglected car thats been sitting around for years, low kms, big whoop.

Manual! Nice :-) Funky interior colour too.

He won't need to... 2M JPY is a few hundy short of $25k. Pretty sure his house is worth that much more every fortnight at the mo.

Yummy. Sell the house and buy it Jooles.

- Purchased the wrong oil, 5 - 1 litre containers - All unopened and brand new. - Selling for around $65? - looks exactly like the pic attached - PM me if you're interested - Not going to ship, pickup only. - Located in Ponsonby/Auckland Central

I've just listed a car on TM and received a random txt from "538" asking to email some weird address? Totally spam.... We all know not to reply as that might cost $100 to txt to that number. But not sure if other Bimmerfolk know to forward these txts on the the Department of Internal Affairs on 7726 (spam) http://www.dia.govt.nz/diawebsite.nsf/wpg_URL/Services-Anti-Spam-Complain-About-TXT-Spam Damn spammers!! ....

Looks grand in silver too. Not sure about his claims about the 5 speed though? And boy, isn't Richard looking chav in that video!

Thank you, and yes I agree - but they are out of sight. If I did it again I would do it definitely do it different. Trust me, angry ported NA 20b will be next! I would call that "enhanced" not ruined haha!

Perfect project for you Mike!

Well it beats and email that starts "Hello Mr Dave... my name is Henry Adawijolo and I represent..."

Engine bay is super clean. Lots of room too - maybe you should have gone 20b :-)

regardless of what engine it is the worksmanship is top class and that engine bay is beautiful.. (except for those re-inforced engine mount plates lol)

Finally! Nice work man

Awesome Jason congrates. Must be a farking hoot to drive. How long till it gets pulled for porting ya reckon?

Do you want to borrow a Dialysis machine??? It's got no Kidneys! For those who haven't driven a manual 540i... it REALLY goes well Without trying!

Such a nice build man well done. Clean and quick, love it! Makes me want to hurry up and get mine done

Definitely turbo it. Cant wait to see what you come up with, great base to start with!

Get a bit of wire. Seriously. Uncle Google knows the pin numbers.

Waka waka waka waka.

^^^^^^^No sh*t - just look at their gun laws, or lack of....

A second hand replacement handgrenade would be your cheapest option... then trade it in on a Honda real quick or purchase a better BMW

The problem is those engines have a tendency to commit suicide regularly, their hobbies also include having their seals leak and spitting oil everywhere.

Ah its been a rough few weeks with this, was all prepped for paint and on the way to the painters, the towy's crain slipped and hit the rear sail and cracked it all through the joining points, so it is now getting a new rear sail made up, but from sheet metal this time. Luckily his insurance is covering some of the damages, unluckily since its all custom work, there been some negotiations happening around how much the insurance will actually cover. On more positive notes, ive ordered the custome VS XX Gold wheels and the engine is near completion of its rebuild, just wating for the new intake manifold to arrive from Aussie. Sub frame has been sent off for acid dipping and powder coating. Will start putting that back together with its new 375 slotted brakes soon hopefully. Will get some photos of everything over the next 2 weeks, including the twin 3" straight through exhaust and custome extractors ive been working on.

Oops, maybe I should read up on these things when I'm sober.

it was Nikasil that was the problem - Alusil was the solution. it's worth reading up on, as you suggest.

Wow you two just wow