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Soon we’ll have to start an ‘Is this where the e36 market is’ thread

so you factor in some welding, or a door skin, or a door if you can find one for a coupe. You can pick holes in it from your armchair, or you can get an inspection done (by a BMW specialist!) or go see it for yourself. They're thirty year old classics, a perfect one will cost you over $30k now, and if it's rare it'll cost you $60k. They all need work, it's a question of being sure what needs doing, and is it worth it to you.

VTNZ huh - on Tuesday they commented that they checked my oil level and it was fine - my oil light came on about 30 minutes later 🤣 needed almost a litre (M54 life...)

Well, after ordering them at the start of October last year I have FINALLY received the last pieces of trim to finish my 1M interior conversion, which are the gauge pod and the dash trim. I'm stoked with how it has turned out, really gives the car a bit more of a special feel than the standard aluminium trim, I think. Pics below.. Unfortunately though my headliner has now started to sag, so going to need to sort that out soon. Anyone got a recommendation on where to get that done and expected cost?

That bodykit makes me want to throw up. Jesus its ugly.

if you buy a very tidy coupe and buy an M52 (and the right sump) and appropriate gearbox and do the full service of all those parts mentioned earlier and conversion finishes with around $25k outlay (it costs a bit more to do an M52 conversion than an M20). So $13k - unless it's a complete basket case - isn't unreasonable. Question is, where do you want to be for your $25k?

Went and got two new tyres for a wof, discovered all four wheels buckled....$#&@ ... bolted them back on and went straight through a VTNZ wof. Now jacked up and all wheels off to be made round again. Too much dukes of hazard I think.

https://www.e30zone.net/e30wiki/index.php?title=Blue_Temp_Sensor

Lots more updates on the e46 to come as I'm doing the final sand down. But in the mean time i couldn't resist picking up this e91 msport that was days off the wreckers. The old owner had a bit of a bad run with it from scissor jack going through it at a car park and door flying open while reversing only for the coils to start dying the day after. So decided it was time to abort mission. I decided I would pop round and see if I could get it running right with a spare coil pack to drive home, How hard could it be right ? Only to find out some one the day before had gone full send removing the upper radiator hose and snapped both the radiator and the hose off. (Another hose was snapped too so I had to get innovative) Really would have preferred to get it running opposed to towing from one end of papamoa to the other end of katikati. So managed to get a Radiator hose shipped over night, and thanks to @Steveo1 in welcome bay picked up a spare radiator. Drove off forgetting to grab the drain bung but assumed the old one in car would have one, which I did. But the drain bung ended up snapping while applying the smallest amount of torque so another drive to welcome bay. Started installing spare radiator and the upper radiator hose o ring was making it feel near impossible to connect a little over the radiator inlet without causing too much flex on the tank joins. Got it on eventually and started to fill with water to check for leaks...and yeah she was cracked on the joins. So another trip to grab the last spare radiator and ended up having to take back roads to avoid 40 minutes of typical Tauranga soccer mum traffic, swapped the un fudged radiator using the old o ring this time which was slightly already compressed and fitted like a glove. Anyways, she's home now the stuffing around to get it home made for some funny laughs anyway all part of the BMW life style. Big thanks to @Steveo1 for the parts to get it home

Quite a niche market for this one. Interested to see if someone would actually take it. https://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/bmw/auction-3120973307.htm

Wife has a three line whip on for house Reno’s at the moment, so garage has been taken over with paint tins and stuff. However, I did manage to clear all the stuff away from the race car and start to pull out the rear sub-frame for swapping in the 5-stud Ti rear end. Also ordered 5-Stud adaptors for the front end from the US. Fingers crossed I can get away with finishing it off.

Its almost unavoidable with 19” wheels and 30 profile tyres on akl roads.

Wow that kit. I feel like that fad was short-lived. The rocket bunny fad where they slapped on some 70s Torana fender flares with rivets.

stop smashing into potholes probably best bet

I thought it said 25k and thought it was not a bad deal, the i realised 75k... Why would anyone get this over a 2016 m2/m3? Its not like it has classic appeal or anything.

Legit ACS wheels arent they?

@Ghost Chip https://www.facebook.com/groups/792622097429141/permalink/4412870305404284/?ref=facebook_story_share Looks like it has potential

I mean you can tell it is mint, but if a dealer wants to put a $20k price tag on a 325i auto, regardless of kms, they could at least do a paint correction on it...

Seriously, buy this and be done with it. On FB...

Friends don't let friends go to VTNZ. Find a good independent, develop a trust relationship with them instead. VTNZ commented on my WoF sheet that the oil was low. The oil was in fact perfect - they didn't know how to read an M54 dipstick.

I can't afford the real thing, even if I could find one. So I'm rolling my own.

Just did mine DIY. Not super difficult if you have the time. Material is a very close match to factory. All up cost about $120-150. Normal rate seems to be $300-500. Might be closer to the lower end if you remove the headlining yourself and drop it off just for the recovering and reinstall yourself.

Looks awesome Fella!

It really depends on what the end goal is aswell. Things like gearbox also pay part of the question, auto vs manual, then again 4cyl vs 6cyl. Getrag vs ZF Coupe vs Sedan also plays a part, if you just want it for the E30 style/look an auto sedan nicely lowered has the same look, Or even a E30 vs E36, if you want it to go faster and not too worried on the E30 look an E36 would be an easier option and cheaper, was a nice white E36 coupe on trademe last week for $15k ish? An E30 wouldnt be able to be built this cheap to that spec, Don't want to beat down on it, but i often find the end goal and working back is how i build projects. Hence me finding the motor i wanted, then buying the car to put it in once one came up

No, that's entirely new territory. Many are watching the project threads for those going N52 now, to focus on the well-engineered N52 conversion. If you want N52 e30 conversion TODAY be prepared to write a blank cheque to a fabrication shop to do your conversion and get it certed for NZ. It could be quite some time. By all means go N52 today if you want to be a pioneer and understand what that means in terms of of $$$ or your own time with the requisite skills and access to machinery.

*cough* supercharger *cough*

Yes

Made it shiney again, Soft99 KoG. Bestest wax ever.

Went for a spin down the road and it ticked over this, which i thought was pretty cool 😎

Me? Not much. Miss M? She bought a 2013 116i. Really is a lovely little car.

Fair. That’s very wise

Made a day trip up to Auckland to grab a door, managed to find a wrecker in Henderson with one in white even so saves me painting it. Big thanks to SE AUTO PARTS for the right door at the right price also, will use again. Tried to avoid traffic but nope ended up leaving at 3pm, so enter a 4.5 hour drive from Henderson to Tauranga, including a Thames detour past ngatea. Swapped the door over the next day, pretty straight forward minus getting that door handle allen key bolt back in. Started to give her a big clean The brake pads are brand new on it. So these must be the extra dust model. Starting to clean up real well

I can't see the pic - Google images sucks for that. If the engine temp sensor is reporting the engine as cold, it'll inject extra fuel. The temp gauge and the ECU have different signals, so they don't see the same values. I can't remember if the late E30's use one sensor with 2 outputs, or if it's 2 sensors though? Certainly worth checking. I'm assuming the gauge is reading straight up and down at "normal" temp after running a while.

It sold already.