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First start video! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxD8lW_wjNo Excuse my enthusiasm, I was just extremely excited to finally see everything come together after months of work. But all is not perfect, the engine wont idle by itself. It runs great when we manually give it a bit of throttle. We swapped out both the ICV and MAF from other vehicles, but still no idle. I'm thinking the TPS may be water damaged. But we ran out of time, and had to head back to Christchurch for work the next day. At this stage I've got a few problems to solve before the first drive. The steering column doesn't clear the already chopped rear exhaust manifold. I'll probably just get a Holden Astra or similar steering U-joint setup from pick-a-part. The intake manifold appears to be just resting on the brake booster ever so slightly. I think I'll just add some washers on the engine mounts to lift the engine a few millimetres. I need to make a bracket to support the clutch fluid reservoir. The audi brake fluid reservoir clears the throttle body and intake manifold, but doesn't leave any room for a vacuum line to run down to the booster. I'm going to order a smaller reservoir from a Mk2/Mk3 golf which should solve the problem. I need to grab a throttle cable that will work. (probably from an E36) Fingers crossed, I'm hoping to take the car for a drive next weekend.

Started making a thing...

No idea what it is, but I'm near certain it should be turned up to 11.

PS - here's the 777 now - tonight it's going south so there's a minor bass rumble down evans bay and 25 seconds later it's gone.

Haha thanks guys for the input, looks like we are going to have to sit down and look at priorities etc (one is not leaving the 30 behind after all the hard work)....one weekend when one of us commutes. Lucky for me i would potentially being going against the grain of rush hour traffic going to the hutt in the morning and to the cbd at night. But really need to get this job first (fingers crossed i will find out this week) then commence the long process of packaging everything up and bringing it down. Im actually really looking forward to moving to the windy city, i really like the CBD but have yet to still explore the outer suburbs....

$85 for pads? Are they made of compressed chinese recycled cardboard or something?! Ive paid more than that for smaller pads on lesser cars, lol.

indeed, welcome along Ethan. If you're coming along to Ngawi, lock yourself in on the thread. Nice looking e36. If Barry's bringing his, we'll need to stage some Boston Green e36 Coupe mirror image photos.

Sorry about the crappy photos from here. (My phone's custom rom is still a bit buggy) After another 3 week break, I finally got back to the garage. Also had an extra mate helping out. The plan is to hopefully get the engine started. First up I installed my brake ducts, lip spoiler, and front bumper trim. At the same time, the power steering pump, alternator, starter motor, and engine belts were going in. Time for the driveshaft to go in with it's new CSB. Time to start the wiring. I've been researching this for a few weeks, so it should go well. First up, lets remove the old/broken/hack job stereo radio power antenna, and also delete the automatic transmission harness. Starting on the engine loom. Coils in. New radiator in. Not 100% on what expansion tank I'll use. The E36 "side tank" doesn't appear to fit. After a few hours of sorting through the loom, the only thing left is to adapt it to the the C101 connector. Thanks to the help of Christian (Autobahn), we were able to match up the required wires. After this, we just assembled the rest of the engine. Intake manifold went in, exhaust manifolds chopped, and a battery was rigged up. Sorry, but didn't remember to take any more photos of this process. Time for a first start!

Sorry about the delay, I haven't had much of a chance to update the thread lately. Here is what happened since the last update: Painted the brake ducts I located an Audi brake booster which should work Started modifing it to fit. The 2 raised rings around the bolt holes needed to go. Side by side with the original booster. Modifying the E30 clevis, the Audi push rod is M12x1.5 All done, looking good. Test fitting, so far so good. I'll need to adapted the brake lines. First time I've done hydraulic fittings, so I did lots of research and practice creating decent flares. This is the result. Testing fitment with the intake manifold and brake fluid reservoir. I will replace the reservoir with something a bit smaller. And the Intake manifold clearance is tight, but I think it'll work. I'm happy with the result.

I've given up spruiking Hataitai. I think it's super, it'd under-valued and its proximity to the CBD, Airport, Motorways, Green Belt is brilliant, you can still have million dollar sea views at 50 cents in the dollar compared with Roseneath, and its well serviced by busses. Garages aren't a given here (I'd love one but by the time it was finished I'd have no coin for toys), walking to town is easy and free, and if your too pissed to walk home your Uber will cost you about eleven bucks. I recommend it to immigrants and returning kiwis, they buy in Khandallah, Whitby, or foolishly put their money into apartment buildings in town where a sub-par office building has been converted into apartments, and your fees are rouletted by under-skilled body corporates, Yes, you should definitely move you and your GF to Hataitai, I'll bring beer on occasions as rent to spanner in your nice dry garage. Easy. It's a great suburb and I've called it home on and off since 1989. Airport noise is very dependent on wind conditions and direction. The only one I really notice is due any minute now as I type this, the Singapore Airlines nightly service to Canberra, the 777 makes a bit of noise as it climbs.

325i looks great. I also had a Boston 325i Coupe These are great fun around Manflied . Great in the wet to ! Welcome

Check out Hataitai .Very close to city and motorway north . Cheap taxi ride from Courtney Place bars and restaurants if that's your thing. Bit of airport noise but that's the only downside. Most places seem to have garages . https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hataitai

Bahahaha now you have my hopes up. Although good luck to anything try to exist under there, probably scraped it all off on some suckers driveway (can't drive a lowered car, didn't know til I had one ?) my poor bumper just got clipped back on when my deal was fixed. I'm an embaresment haha

Good luck with the job Jeremy!

Hey Ethan and welcome - nice looking E36 - great colour and the 68s go with it well! Look forward to meeting in person.

Finally got all the lines and wiring and tank compressor stuff finished. Boot needs a few more things to finish it off, BUT we have the car sitting on the tyres, might need to go for a lower profile... Fronts will be chucked in tomorrow and then system test on Friday Oh and we have a matching tool box

We'll see how they run, will update if they are crap, it won't take long to work it out

Welcome as well!

that's actually kind of tempting! High mileage and complex high-end German certainly has risks. What's to be aware of on something like this?

HI Ethan. Welcome to the forum. The Wellington guys are a good bunch and often have meets and outings. Have a look in the meetings sub section for info and updates about future get togethers. Nice e36 you have there. I dont think I've seen another one that colour.

Huge brakes haha. Specs suggest 1940kg unladen weight so with that kinda mass, you want to be able to stop efficiently, especially with 232hp per tonne available.

Thanks guys...that gives me another couple of brands to weigh up. I am not seeking the ultimate tyre...just something which offers bang for buck on this particular car (E39 530i Msport) ...I drive defensively on public roads, which I do for a living...avoiding Chinese suicide pilots on a daily basis...tomorrow it is 600ks return Queenstown-Milford Sound in a 7 Series. To scare myself witless, I have an endurance race car Thanks for all the advice.

Welcome, very nice E36 there, very straight and great to see

Wellington has the best CBD in NZ and outside of the hilly suburbs the Hutt Valley has a lot to offer. Plus it has a very usefull rail system.

Number six rolls off the production line. Another 330ti with ZF 5 spd and all 330 m sport suspension and brakes.

Went to the local pick-a-part, and found some E30 goodies that my car was missing. Started repainting them. I'm quite happy with how this blanking panel came out. Now lets get back to the brake booster situation. I did initially intend on slotting the holes in the firewall and moving the booster over, but that doesn't appear to be very easy to do on our RHD cars. The pivot mechanism on the passenger side is fairly well mounted, and I don't really want to cut and weld it. At this stage I'm thinking about doing an Audi B5 A4 1.8T (dual diaphragm) brake booster. I haven't managed to find one for decent price yet, and there is very little info on this option. Any help on this one would be greatly appreciated.