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After that, things went on hold for a few months while I tried to figure out what I wanted to do for wheels. A little while ago, I picked up a 5 lug adapter kit from a r3vlimited user. I was planning to use it on the coupe, but then abandoned that idea when I got a front RX7 brake kit (designed for the factory 4 lug). Well, I was still hoping to use the RX7 brakes on the touring with the TRM C1 wheels. But that would require spacers (nope), or chopping the front struts up and having the coilover sleeve shortened and welded lower down. That seemed like a lot of work. So a few weeks ago, I decided to do a 5 Lug conversion on the touring. The front would be done with the adapter kit, standard E36 front wheel bearing/hub, E36 328i rotors and calipers. The rear would be done with trailing arms from a 318ti, and potentially E34 brakes at some point. Remember those 16" Style 5 wheels I picked a while back? They're going on the touring. Freshly wrapped in some Michelin rubber. That is some good motivation right there. The touring had been sitting under a cover for a few months. Time to get it airborne again. I had already managed to source the parts I needed for the front end, so I jumped on that first. The E30 front brakes and hubs all came off without an issue. I mocked up the hub adapter with the E36 hubs, Things fit nicely. I slapped a used 328i rotor on and got a wheel bolted on to check for fitment. Not too shabby. The main nut of the hub adapter doesn't have a locking tap like the factory setup. Instead, it uses a left hand threaded locking nut. This requires a thread on the inside of the end of the spindle. This is done with a left hand M16x1.5 thread. Quite and annoying size to find. Ready to go with the caliper adapter. New rotors with some EBC greenstuff pads. All bolted up. Here you can see the L/H locking bolt. Not bad. So this is basically where I am at the moment. I'm still waiting on trailing arms to do the rear end 5 lug. I'm going to drop the whole rear subframe, clean it up, and then paint it. Then I'll rebuild it with the 318ti arms, some poly bushings and new stainless brake lines. If anyone around Christchurch has some E36 318ti compact rear suspension available, I'm interested. That's it for the massive post dump. Peace.

I should have done this a long time ago ... The resilience of Bimmersport to still be chugging along today, is a testament to our passionate members, the still dedicated admins, and a number of very important individuals. It really proves that there is value here for enthusiastic bmw owners and that this site deserves to have some life breathed back into it. There is an immense amount of information in the archives and there is still an active member base, although not as active as it once was. Unfortunately the current owners, Andrew and myself can't give bimmersport the attention that it deserves, and haven't been able to for some time. Therefore I'm interested to hear from anyone who is keen to take over the running of the site, or interested in buying it. It requires a leader who can dedicate time and effort into re-establishing bimmersport as the best online car community in New Zealand. Selecting and managing an admin team Maintaining the Website / Forum Building and managing Bimmersports social media and online presence Promoting and running great events Selling Advertising (online & offline) to fund the running of the site Nurturing and developing the bimmersport brand Managing Finances I'm open to working out a deal with the right person/s. If you're interested please email me [email protected] with a bit of info about who you are, why you're interested, and in what capacity. I'll do my best to reply to emails within a reasonable timeframe, but please excuse me if I'm a bit slow, I'm travelling a lot. Cheers Ollie

Bought this off Kris to carry on what he started, budget Rally Car build. The 4.44 LSD is awesome. Will be getting cage and seats done in the next couple of months. Will be doing club sport events, 1st up grass autocross in a few weeks. Cheers Paul

Now it was time make some progress with the exhaust situation. A few months prior, I purchased a used custom twin pipe exhaust system from a local. The problem was that it built for an E30 with an M20. A friend was looking for an exhaust for an E30 325i, and it was a bolt-on solution, so sold the exhaust to them. The plan at this point was to build my own stainless exhaust system. After many hours of youtube videos about TIG, I picked up a used welder and some equipment to get stuck in. After I'd played around with some simple test pieces, I decided to get started on the exhaust. I chose to do a 2.5" single pipe system. The factory M52 exhaust manifolds would be modified to accept V-band flanges. A 2-into-1 section would be formed to merge both 2" pipes into a single 2.5" pipe with another flange. The rest of the system would be a single piece consisting of a flexible section, a resonator in the middle, and then a muffler at the back. I ordered a Vibrant muffler and resonator. I also picked up some 304 stainless pipes and mandrel bends. With only having weekends and some evening, it was going to take several weeks to complete. I found a semi-permanent spot for the touring to sit while I worked on the exhaust. I didn't get a great deal of photos of this process as I was still a complete amateur at TIG, and I was focusing on learning how to weld. Here is what I did get. Steering joint clearance could be better, but it's not terrible. Complete system mocked up with zip ties for support. Sound check. I'm quite happy with the result Added some mounts to system. Modified factory mounts to bolt onto the muffler. I also added an extra flexi joint in the merge section to allow for differential movement due to thermal expansion. Got it all installed, and finally back on the ground again. And with that, the exhaust is done...mostly. I warped one of the v-band flanges during welding, and this has resulted in a mild leak. I will need to get the mating faces flattened off at some point.

Ahhh man, if this came up a couple of months ago... wanna swap for a Holden Adventra ? GLWS

That can be saved, have you got any photos of the back? I have 2 E21s and had a Honda city turbo so that doesn't look too bad to me!!

Are you doing this for looks only, or something? If you go low, you're going to get negative camber, unless you correct it. If you want zero camber because of looks, am concerned you're going to create a car that doesn't handle. What are you trying to acheive? Leave it as-is, she's a beauty. Please put 1000kms of trouble-free motoring on it first.

Honestly. Avoid giving them advice. You will be the first person they will come crying to when their "Reliable" (insert cheap neglected Jap import here) shits itself. I only help family now. And I don't even want to do that.

Finally chucked them on. Bbs rk 002s 18×8.5 et13 215/35s Front needs about a 12-15mm more lower...? Removed silicon from inner of rear guards-?.. rolled all 4.. Had to share

Thinning out the fleet. 1999 540 Touring with 270000km on the car. Refreshed with 120000km motor and trans recently. All M5 susp.,Dif ,interor,Mirrors, AC backbox with decat. $8500 ono.

Hi Guys, Just brought a M325i and wish to find a few of the BMW e30 performance bibles that people may have lying around and want to get rid of It's fairly tidy and all complete but will be a rolling restoration with the eventual aim to fit a stroker kit but keep it standard looking. Cheers

Nope, the 4th generation 5 speed auto or 5/6 speed manual. The 5th gens start to use CVT.

Really says something when a BMW owner unloads a car for having too many issues!

Thanks Guys that’s the plan to enjoy it for a while. I had another 12 years ago but it was 320i M 4 door, after 7 years it started loosing compression because of my heavy foot I suspect. I am expecting this to be much better. It is my 5th favourite BMW. The first 4 are 1. E9 CSL 2. E30 333i/M3/325iM 3. E28 M5/535i 4. E21 5. E46 CSL/CS/M3/330ci I love these old BMWs the older the better because of their minimalist looks. I feel the new ones like the F20 and F30 which I have owned and sold are too plastic and too much going on like a Japanese sports car. I feel the clean minimalist, less is more legendary design is over and can only be enjoyed by owning these old minimalist purist vehicles. Besides buying this is recycling ?

fixed that for you.

Fair point but i wouldn't consider anyone a friend who operated like that. No one can truly guarantee any car. Helping people who help themselves is the stance ive always taken, i've done a vast amount of work on peoples cars that they care about maintaining for little reward, but that's because they would help me out if i ever needed it.

Well shiver mee timbers...??..just look at this...???

?....uhhh..hold on...im sure somebody out there would have an appropriate answer...hmmmm???

With the differential taken care of, I decided to dig deeper into the power steering issue. A forum member suggested there could be a restriction in a system somewhere. The banjo bolts from the purple tag rack came with what seemed like check valves built into them. I tried swapping them for the regular banjo bolts from the E36 rack, but that was not the issue. At this point, the only part I hadn't swapped was the p/s pump itself. I had also noticed a squealing noise from alternator when the car was just idling (even just with chopped headers for an exhaust). Upon removing the alternator to get at the power steering pump, I realised it's bearings were rooted. I guess the water had finally taken it's toll on the engine's auxiliaries. Luckily I found replacements for both parts from a local BMW enthusiast - Thanks Arron These were swiftly bolted bolted into the car along with the purple tag rack and custom high pressure hose. Once I got the belt on, filled the p/s system with fluid, and bled the p/s system, I started the car. The squeal was gone, and the power steering was working nicely again!

The project went on hold for a few months while I settled into the new place. The touring was able to drive around under it's own power, but the power steering system was still not happy. At first I assumed the new purple tag rack was damaged, so I swap the E36 rack back in, but the problem persisted. Then I tried using the original high pressure hose that I had bent to work. That didn't work either. I was starting to run out of ideas. Meanwhile, I'd managed to piece together the bits I needed to build the differential setup I wanted. A 2.93 gearset and LSD center were assembled into an E30 medium case housing. This should pair nicely with the 1:1 ratio 5th gear in the ZF 5 speed gearbox. Looking at around 2600rpm at 100kph which, if my 328i E36 is anything to go by, should result in pretty good fuel economy. I gave the case a good clean and fresh coat of paint. Paint drying by the heater. The new diff is good to go, so yanked the stock 4.44 small case from the touring. Interesting to compare them side-by-side. Diff about to go in.

Because Touring. Or, to put it another way: Because. Touring. Love. ❤️ ?

If you want a $10k reliable car, then that would rule out the Subaru Legacy - when you get down to that price level on those they are entering the "captain, she's gonna blow" period of their life when something has either just popped and the owner wants rid, or owner is scared it's about to pop. Great cars, great fun, especially the 4wd twin turbos, incredibly versatile wagons, but when they start to go.. wholly hecka.

these RK's are specifically designed for the E39 but do fit E36/E46 with stretched and low profile tyres with camber. 215/35 is probably the only tyre that would make it work on the E36. on the E46 you could probably go a tad wider but 225/35/18 isnt a common size like 225/40 or 215/35.

Sorted out an oil catch can. It's just a cheap unit from ebay which I stuffed with iron wool. I made a bracket, and mounted it under the intake manifold. Installing the driveshaft hoops was the next task. Marking and drilling holes from inside the tunnel turned out to be far more difficult than I anticipated. But I got there in the end. I also had to replace the crank position sense as it had died somehow while sitting. Things are slowing coming together. Intake on. M20 coolant overflow tank mounted. First time out of the garage under it's own power. Front end back on.

Nice score Pete! Like the blue too ?

Fuel consumption will be a dream in that compared to your other two Pete! Lovely colour for an E46

Welcome! Pics or it doesn't count! ?

Hey team, just joined Bimmersport. Im the owner of a 328i technoviolet wagon and a boston green 325 coupe. Hoping to have a lot of fun here and learn some new stuff.

It is beautiful, and pretty rare, in its current form. Choice is totally yours to make, but if you’re going for looks, give it a couple months. They may grow on you. And if you’re going for handling, you’ll be surprised what a suspension refresh, bigger ARBs and decent tyres will do for the car. I’m speaking from experience. In any case, congrats on the purchase. It sat in my watchlist for a while, looking stunning ?

So you’ve just bought photo 2 from Wellington? Thats a low-mileage beauty, yeah? That’ll be collectible soon, as they’re pretty rare in clean in-molested form. I’d drive it for a couple of months before spending up on your wheel and tyre combos, and lowering it. You might get the gen from @Herbmiester and @eliongator as John built up the 330Ci with Ohlins adjustables, trick springs, and beeeeeg antirollbars. It was sublime in the ride and handling department.

Mines stalled currently. But it is the next item on the list.

I will say styling looks much better than the BMW equivalents esp the interior.