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$17,500 Reason for selling I now have a M3 project and time, space and the CFO don’t allow more than one project at a time. Sad but true. I’m hoping someone will carry on this project or at the very least enjoy and look after it. Was originally an auto 320i from Japan imported 1998. Now its a certified M20B28 manual. I started this project 18 months ago to build a Alpina B3. The base coupe was in excellent condition and owned by a local mechanic with an extensive array of vehicles who carried out the M20B25 and manual swap using an 1988 E34 donor. The paint (Diamond Swartz Metallic) is in excellent condition (believe it has been re-sprayed at some stage) and only rust I have found was in the trailing rail in the sunroof and surface rust on battery tray which both have been treated and painted. Some blemishes on roof requiring attention. Note speedo had stopped working and I installed a replacement with similar mileage working cluster. An extensive list of restoration and modifications have been carried out with receipts & photos available (I know should have done a plog). Certified by LVVTA with WOF and rego. RESTORED & MODS DRIVE TRAIN, EXHAUST & ECU M20B25 out of an E34 at 140xxx New timing belt, tensioner, water pump and drive belts (March 2019) Lightened m20 Flywheel Ishihara-Johnson crank scraper Squidsss Stage 1.5 chip M30 AFM Professionally restored 30lb 4 pintle injectors OE Alpina headers with HPC coating 2 1/2 straight pipe exhaust with front resonator and rear muffler with BMW chrome tip Getrag gearbox with new OE Z3 short shift Replacement m20 clutch kit Med case open diff 3.64 with AKG bushing All fluids have been changed (coolant, engine oil, gearbox and diff) STEERING, BRAKNG & SUSPENSION E36 steering rack with Astra steering linkage Willwood 4 pot front callipers and rotors with fast road pads New rotors and pads in the rear incl. handbrake shoes New brake lines front and rear Bilstein Sport shocks and springs front and rear(lowered 20-25mm) with new OE spring pads OE front strut mounts XYZ Camber adjusters front New front CABs New OE front sway bay bushes with Mondeo SW links AKG Rear subframe poly bushes RUFF Eccentric trailing arm bushes RUFF rear shock mounts Whiteline 16mm rear sway bar New OE rear sway bar links and bushes Alignment set-up carried out by Specialist New L&R rear wheel bearings EXTERIOR & INTERIOR Alpina (ex-Germany) Wheels 16” staggered 8” & 7.5” with 205/50 & 225/45 Dunlop Sport Max+ OE Alpina front spoiler OE Alpina steering wheel Fully rebuilt and functioning Air Conditioning (March 2019) New OE bonnet insulation New door glass rubber weather strips New sunroof seal Sports seats in good condition no rips or tears Battery moved to boot using E36 cable Remote locking Electric windows Power mirrors Blaupunkt head unit with AUX In and new R&R speakers PARTS AVAILABLE WITH SALE (not available separately) M52B28 short block - plan was to stroke engine using crank and rods with custom pistons but the engine runs so sweet didn’t have the heart nor the time. Original M20B25 AFM, new intake boot, injectors and chip Replacement dash (3 small cracks but repairable) Secondhand replacement carpet in good condition

217,500km CLUNK ELIMINATED turned out the engine mounts weren't torqued correctly....opps, my bad. The mounts were new.....guessing maybe they weren't fully loaded when i torqued them.....either way they are torqued now...they were out by about half a turn. The car is driving amazing..I am loving it. Gotta laugh at how much stuff I've replaced trying to solve the noise, not to mention the two shops i took it to who also didn't pick it up. Jon was on the right track though thinking it was an installation error as opposed to a failed part...expensive lesson in DIY'ing, don't think the car is worse off for it though. We celebrated with an oil and filter change ?

Its been a while, for two main reasons, but I'm still here, and for now, so is the BMW. The first reason has been that despite putting some KM on the BMW, it's been pretty reliable and solid. I even ticked over the magical 300,000KM mark the other week. The other reason is that a while back I was offered a car that I basically only have one chance to own in my life. There is a very long story around how I still don't have that car, but basically I have been trying to sell the BMW to get funds and space to buy the other car, but without success. I have had a stupid amount of stupid people wasting my time, which infuriates me, but still no one has fronted up with the cash. This leaves me in a limbo of sorts. I'm reluctant to give up on this other car and keep the BMW, as I likely won't get another chance for one again, but I also can't keep dropping the price and losing my arse just to push a sale quickly. So since I'm still stuck with the car, I'm also limited on spending money on it, or working on it. There are a few things that I will do to the car IF I keep it, but at this point I still don't know what's happening. In the meantime I have picked up a few things from Pick A Part. They had a coupe with a complete boot carpet, which I picked up so at some point I can rip out the boot install and go back to having a functional boot. I also grabbed a few cosmetic bits that were a bit shabby on my car. All cheap bits that aren't easy to get. One of the most important cosmetic bits I got was a new headlight switch. I hated seeing mine every time I drove the car because it was badly worn/scratched/scuffed. It also didn't light up like it should. You can see how horrible the legend around the dial looks, but even the I/O on the vent above is badly worn. These are super easy to remove, with only one screw on the underside of the dash surround, going up into the switch housing. Remove that, and gently pull the switch forward (I hold it by the dial). Its clipped into place in the top of the vent, but it'll come free with some wiggling. The wiring is fairly short for the foglight switch, so take care not to pull too hard or you can break that switch. The headlight switch wiring connector has a collar that twists around and the plug will come out. The replacement I sourced has a broken switch for the headlights, so when you turn the dial it doesn't click like it should. That's OK, my current one works fine, so I will swap them over. First pull the dial off. It's a press fit There are two things to note when that is removed. First, the light pipe in the back, at about 10-12 o'clock position. This is how the bulb feeds light to the notch on the dial, so it lights up. The other is the large plastic nut. I used a set of large needle nose pliers to turn this and remove it. Once removed, the whole switch will come away from the fascia. This is a really good time to replace the bulb, which is inevitably blown. This can be done with the switch still fitted to the fascia, but it's easier to push the bulb out the front, than to pull it out the back. The bulb is in a large plastic holder. If you push on the top of it, it will push out of the back of the switch The bulb is a small "grain of wheat" 286 bulb. Now, I believe the original BMW bulb was 0.3W and about $10 a piece! Madness. In the past I have chosen to use the much brighter 1.2W bulbs readily available on eBay. They do obviously run hotter, but other than a shorter lifespan, there doesn't seem to be any issue running them, but do so at your own peril. I went this route again this time. Now it's time to strip the good switch from the old fascia. With a new bulb fitted, install the tube into the good switch. The end of the tube is keyed to only go in one way, but be careful that the bulb passes clearly through. If the bulb isn't seated correctly, you can smash the bulb inside the light switch.... I found out the hard way. Now install the good switch on the good fascia, reinstall the nut and dial. Plug it into the car (without installing it) and test that everything works as it should. It should light up with the key on. If all is well, reinstall it into the dash and fit the screw. So much better! I couldn't stop there. I had the bulbs out, and I knew one other thing wasn't lighting up in the car; the climate controls. This is another thing I had to fix in the first M3, as that also had neither the headlight switch or climate controls light up when I got it. This is also an easy fix. First pull all four dials off. They are a friction fit. Next remove the two screws (one under the fan speed dial and the other under the vent control dial). Now the fascia can be gently pried forward until it pops off The back of the fascia is pretty cool. It has a series of light pipes to distribute the light from the single little bulb, to all of the areas around the dials that need to light up. The buttons (recirc, AC, demist) are all lit with little LEDs on the back plate. The little bulb lives dead center near the top of the unit. Gently pull it forward and it will come out of its holder. There is some discolouration around mine, and it did have a bigger 1.4W bulb fitted by the previous owner, but no distortion of the plastic or anything. Pop a new bulb in and turn the lights on. Now clip the fascia back on, insert the two screws, refit the four dials and you're done. Bling bling. And with all the other light up stuff The last thing that didn't light up was the ashtray. Turns out the whole bulb holder is missing, but not to fret, I picked up a replacement at Pick A Part today also. A non-smoker package pocket to replace the ashtray. Fixes the light not working, and also gives me somewhere to put my phone. Win. Great success. Now I can see things in the dark. Hopefully soon I will know what's happening with the car. Either it'll go to a new owner, or I will be ripping the boot install out.

Wow, that is a nice set-up. Some cool toys on the walls as well. I would be scared of making it dirty or untidy though. A couple of pics of the cakes I got for my recent birthday...

What'd you do your mancave today.. Still has room for the hoist, bank account needs to recover some first

Yeah im guessing the "high k's" isn't helping the sale either, but in my experience 300k+ BMW engines have always run clean and strong. Im sure yours is the same.

bump

If anyone wants to see specific detail on certain parts of the swap, let me know. Will write the actual swap up soon, but i don't want to glaze over anything that might be particularly interesting/helpful to someone.

The hunt for the new daily began. It was of course going to be a BMW as I was/am hooked.I wanted something cheap, below 200kms, preferably M52 and decent exterior condition. I came across an E36 on TM and the shape and look of them were starting to appeal to me. So we took the gamble and flew down to Christchurch with a bag of tools, relays, fuses and zip ties as check-in baggage. The roof lining was sagging, the RH skirt was taped on, the sunroof leaked, LH window regulator was playing up, oil leaks, the gearbox had a bad jerk but it was exactly what I was after. July 2017. It ended up being a bit of a mission as the Kaikoura path was out of action due to the earthquake, meaning we had to go through the Lewis Pass in the middle of winter. Of course it snowed. Traffic was really bad and we were stood still for about three hours, turned out a chemical delivery truck and turned over and caught fire. The 5.5 hour journey to our accommodation in Blenheim soon turned to 9. The next day, multiple road closures in the North Island made for an interesting trip home, but its a trip we look back on now and would love to do it all over again. Some friends came over to check out the new battler. A short drive to show it off, soon led to a radiator pipe popping and making the car no longer driveable. Tow truck got it home safely from Papatoetoe to West Auckland $$$. This left me unable to use the new daily as a daily, so work on the E30 had to be paused for a while. I replaced the whole cooling system basically on the E36. water pump, radiator, cooler thermostat, hoses and switches were changed out to improve the reliability. While I was at it I changed the trans filter and fluid, spark plugs, oil & filters. The E36 hasn't given us any trouble since and I love driving it. Over the year I changed the roof lining, fitted Leather sport interior, new speakers and headunit, multiple sets of wheels (now sports set of BBS RTs that I bought wider barrels for), new bumper, lip, mesh, LTW low rise rep spoiler and just a general bit of TLC. Will throw some photos up of it as it stands when I get round to taking a a couple decent ones.

After an E82/E90 etc Msport steering wheel center cover. Condition doesn't really matter apart from no cracks and no broken tabs/mounts as I plan to wrap it. After the one with the little M badge, like so:

Shoutout to KwS for helping me out with a scan, cheers man Now to sort out these codes

I'm doing lots of YouTube at the moment, very helpful on how too, but not what each part is for. John, I threw out a bid on a lathe, and won and the guy had a mill/drill that I made a offer on. This is the part that I'm struggling with. There's a mix and match with the mill, drill, and Lathe tools.???

The old M10-based engines were truly built for a single purpose. no engine lasted more than a race or qualifying, depending on use. Times change, technology improves, and I've been talking with a Swedish guy about M10 builds. He's built a street-driven M10B20 in a 1602 making over 740whp, but I can't comment on the longevity of that. (He holds - or held - the record for a M30B35 - 1140whp/1300Nm - in an E30.) Our conversations suggest that we could build a street-driven 600hp M10B20 or M10B21 requiring little more than regular servicing and (possibly/probably) an annual refresh (not rebuild). The approach is different to the 80s engines and uses different materials and obviously different engine management. Personally I was considering 500hp as a target. Seeing the P48 has reinvigorated my interest in that project! Just needs money...

The P48 is the new DTM / Super GT engine which is built to tight control regulations, so pointless comparing it to the un-regulated F1 engine of the 90s. Control turbo, 9,500rpm Rev limit, control fuel all of which would have a massive difference on output. The point being to have a much more level playing field of about 600hp across all cars. As for the F1 engine lasting the required 6,000kms (or about 1,200 F1 laps), it would get nowhere near that. Even in race trim of around 800hp the engines failed many times in races of less than 70 laps. Yes the qually “grenade” engines were absolute monsters but were built for a much different purpose to very different requirements without controls. Chalk and cheese.

Probably best to drop Andy a text, he his hard to get hold of at the best of times!

Given the content of recent VTNZ adverts, I assume this is OK on NZ roads?

This is my favourite at the moment - running a turbo'd m50 on airbags

If it's currently got a cert for the cage and engine swap etc. it may potentially require changes if the cage is removed. I believe that, if the car has been certified for something, it has to have that item fitted, otherwise the cert needs to be modified/amended to reflect the changes - I could be wrong on that one though. For me, personally, I'd leave it as is, however that's also a matter of personal taste - many others will disagree and feel that it'll sell faster/easier with the rear seat installed.

Ah I see different set up from an e46 great makes life a little easier when doing the conversion best of luck and enjoy the 3 pedal experience.

Yep, 4cyl ones are longer. From memory, you can cut *I think* 32mm from the linkages and reweld back together to make them work if you're doing it on an extreme budget. It may be 35mm, it's around that though. Na auto and manual are the same for the water hoses. Some of the older 36's had trans cooler lines go into the side of the radiator, others have a separate cooler at the front. Either way, you don't need to change the radiator, it won't leak if the trans lines aren't hooked up.

If an auto check the cooling set up on the radiator they are different to a manual I believe.

Keep in mind that the shifter linkages are different between 4 and 6 cylinder cars

Anything to suit an M52 should be good. There are M3 type kits on trademe for around 1,200