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ahh yes then I can tell you how absolutely beautiful it was. I was very impressed with the car. performance wise it's really good too. I love it. ahh hope Charlie is doing well. what a nice fella he is

Yeah, thanks, that could work. The S50 injectors should flow about 7% more which likely won't be quite enough but if I also increase the fuel pressure a small amount by replacing the stock regulator with an adjustable one it should be possible to set the fuel pressure required during the tune to make sure the injectors are near 100% at max torque/power. This assumes the stock fuel pump can deliver the flow at higher pressure - next thing to check... For that matter the existing pink tops I had reconditioned for the current engine would also work if the fuel pressure was increased 15-20%. Pretty sure the S50 runs 3 bar fuel pressure - the US S50 is supposed to run 3.5 bar (not sure why as it makes crap power that doesn't need the increase in pressure). This suggests increased fuel pressure won't be a problem. Also, the S50B32 Euro is supposed to run 5 bar so again, the injectors must be rated ok for a small increase in operating pressure. One of the local guys here is making 316HP from a M52B28. I suspect somewhere between 320-340 is possible from a M50B31 with similar mods. We're both using the same tuner (and Link ECU) and learning from each other as we leap-frog each other on subsequent mods/tunes. The guy with the 328 is also considering making a M50B30/31 too to see what is possible. Will check MSEL but hope I can work with the standard injectors I already have.

Spotted this yesterday as well, who know what issues its got though im guessing its why its going via Turners. There a few non M SMG's around (just bought one my self) The box is modified ZF 5 speed with mainly rear section being different. You can't easily convert the box to manual like the M3 versions as they don't use an external shifter rod, hence no where to attach any linkages. Driveshaft, cross member and diff are all the same as manuals though so you get half a manual conversion already.

Hey Team So getting a fair bit done to this build. Cleaned the engine bay, Fitted a custom braided clutch line, custom clutch fluid reservoir utilising the old c101 plug holder, manual pedal swap Lucky enough my setup had a single spring on the clutch pedal. I didnt have to go through the whole dreaded steering column removal. retro fitted e46 drive by wire pedal, test fitted motor with trans and custom headers to check for clearances issues, test fitted RTD shifter from my e46 build which fits perfectly so im going to keep it for this car and shorten the selector rod too. Started the wiring from Condor speed and it seems qute easy with good instructions. Feeding the wire throught the e-box and through a fan hole. Little bracket made to hold oil filter housing, New brake disc and pads to install Will start on rear and front bushings tomorrow and send the driveshaft to get shorten. Getting so close

Hey Team So managed to get a few small items sorted. Refitting factory radiator so i can get the aircon and powersteering lines from the e46 to work. Had to customize the rad hoses abit to work with the motor. Got the drive shaft and steering shaft back, both fitted and working a treat. Shorten the selector rod too to work with the RTD shifter. With a bit more room now, Im hoping to be able to make some decent headers for it. Also have to get the aircon hoses custom made as the factory ones dont line up, she's pretty tight due to not allowed to cut into the chassis rail. Spoke to the machine shop and hopefully not too long on the oil pump either.

I bought an E30 ~10 years ago after soley owning half a dozen E34\E32's. Everyone was talking about them then and most of this board owned one in those days. They were great cars for money back then (still are minus the money part) but no BMW really else drives and looks like them whilst still being available and mostly financially obtainable. If you think E34 are under valved go look at E36 Ti's prices, basically the E30 driving experience without most of the common issues. They just happen suffer from not looking very good for a BMW during 90's and not many 6 cylinders made, otherwise they would probably be far more popular. 3 series will always be more popular than 5 series for smaller car reasons, lower numbers of 5 series manuals doesn't help things.

Me too. Do like the flowerpots too but really wanted 8.5s... I was too slow Vince that sold quickly!

Miss that car, man it made some great noises. Looked better on the original wheels though imo.

Beauty, but automatic... so pffffft.

Yup, that’s him. He bought it off the guy who imported it, and owned it up until fairly recently. I believe this is the only one in NZ, as another one has never shown up in the rego information and I have never seen or heard of one - if there is another it’s a very well kept secret. My race car is entered as a 320iS but I’ve only got the drivetrain, not the whole thing unfortunately.

So I had a look on my spare column and there are two motors with a power plug each. First thing is to check these are connected properly. There is also a third plug which is proboably the control. Check that is plugged in properly too. Then report back and we will look at testing the motors

Sold

Hi guys, Jake here from Slovenia. As I'm quite new to NZ I was really amazed how many Bimmers are around here - and how many fans too! Love all the work you guys do here, from mods to conversions etc. When people here started to warn me not to buy European car due to expensive spares I just couldn't put my head around it as I've been seeing so many of them. Luckily I've been DIY oriented my whole life, so I didn't care too much about the rumours and just went and bought myself a 2002 e46, 325Ci. Car had many owners and will need some work before I'm completely satisfied with it, but it's a great car to drive, except the auto transmission makes me quite sad - as an European, auto is a no go, so hopefully I'll be converting it to manual in about a year or two if budget will allow. Since purchase, I did front brakes & pads, new radiator & water pump, transmission oil & filter change. Next on are rear rotors & pads, pulleys inspection & new belts, fixing 2 tiny spots of rust, front bumper bottom sanding & repaint + slider installation. Was also looking into Mishimoto Performance Intake (anyone has one? thoughts?). Will also do a scan when cable arrives to see if there's any misfires & vacuum leaks. The car has smoked taillights - would be happy to swap for original ones if someone prefers the smoked ones. It also has black emblems on both body & wheels which I'm not a fan of, so if someone has any spare ones let me know. About the auto to manual swap - I've seen posts about HELLBM doing full conversions. Would be great to know the total price for that, but then again would also love to do it myself and learn something + test my nerves Will post some photos - I don't have any good ones as I didn't actually take time to make some yet. Cheers, looking forward to browsing through some awesome projects up here.

Thanks Nick, good one with the boiling I do plan to eventually rebuild the VANOS unit, but cleaning it while it's in will have to do for now. This month it's just about passing the WOF, then moving the house ... so car will have to wait on some funds to pour back in. Damn pay cuts ! Will also move this to a project section once some more work gets done.

If you want to clean your VANOs, the "easiest" way was to boil it up in a pot with some washing powder: https://bimmersport.co.nz/topic/54588-e30-touring-m52-swap/?do=findComment&comment=656871 I was doing my VANOS seals at the time, so it had to come out anyway. But for in-situ, you would probably be best to grab a rag to cover the rest of the head, and get in there with a toothbrush + degreaser to clean most of the black stuff off, and preventing it from flying back into the engine.

The whine could be your diff bearings, or even wheel bearings. I had the same issue once!

Yea that’s me 😂 Monthly drive to the shops and home!

Welcome. There is plenty of help available on the forum. BMW's are not too expensive to run in NZ. Most of us import parts from places like FCPeuro or ECMTuning which have excellent prices. There are a number of other great suppliers too. Keep a look out for any group buys to save on shipping. I had a E46 325ci in the US a few years back. Great car. Easy to work on.

Just thought I would post this up for all you DIYers. I compiled this a little while ago. It doesnt cover everthing, however it may help someone out there. Diagnostic Overvue I have compiled this overvue to help DIY repairers and Profesional people alike. The diagnosing of repairs can vary dependant on the actual fault, however this is a procedure that most should follow. In most cases specialist equipment is required and most DIY people don't have access to this type of equipment. It is also likely in most cases that professional help would be needed to sort out problems. This overvue can be used on any vehicle…not just BMW's. Not much can be decifered on pre '88 vehicles without the 20 pin diagnostic plug, without the use of a scope and gas analyser, dependant on what the fault is. After '88 things get a little better untill you get to about '93 and then things get better and continue to get better as time goes on. Generally there is not much that the average person can do when a fault occurs, apart from open the bonnet and check for the obvious, broken induction & vaccum hoses, spark plug leads, fuel leaks, loose connections etc. etc. All fuel injected vehicles rely on manifold vacuum as a source for DME function. Regardless of it being MAP, AFM or MAF sensored. Therefore, manifold vacuum is critical for the engine to function properly. Air leaks from hoses, gaskets, crankcase ventilator valves, tight tappets and burnt valves will effect the manifold vacuum, which inturn creates a problem for the whole system. The first thing to do when approaching a problem, is look for the obvious, and try and think if there is any relation to what has happened when you last drove it ie: did you just fill your car with petrol (diesel ???) sounds stupid… but it does happen. Did you drive through a 500mm puddle at speed ?? Things like that, because they could have a bearing on what you need to look for. I grill customers all the time. This helps me help them. If the car stopped while driving it generally is a fuel problem, crankshaft speed sensor or a cambelt. If the car has an irregular driving fault, diagnosis of the problem should be approached in this manor: First do an under bonnet check of all induction hoses, vaccum hoses and check crankcase vacuum by checking how much suction there is when you release the oil filler cap. If vacuum is excessive, it will be a crankcase ventilator valve problem. Check the obvious, spark plugs, leads, distributor cap, rotor etc etc If there is nothing obvious, I would then get it scanned before fiddling. ( Fiddlers are our biggest enemy) Check engine compression If compression is not within 5% check valve clearances Compression should be a minimum of 11 bar Check for spark at the spark plug Then check for spark at the coil (coils) Fuel pressure 2.5 bar with vacuum 3 bar with no vacuum Flow is also critical, you can have pressure without flow Check injector pulse signal On all injectors Manifold vacuum Minimum of 16 and stable If manifold vacuum is not correct then check: Check for air leaks A can of engine start can help find leaks Cylinder leak test All cylinders should be within 95% and should not vary by more than 5% Check camshaft timing Should not change on chain driven engines under normal conditions unless this fault has occurred since work has been done on the engine Make sure TDC mark on front pulley is actually TDC Confirm with flywheel lock tool or a piece of wire down the spark plug hole. Especially with front pulley crankshaft sensors In most cases the above checks cannot be done by the average DIY'er because you wont have the tools or the knowledge to use them I might add also that some so called professionals don't either These above checks are basic for any engine , Timing, Compression, Spark, Vacuum & Fuel. However it must all come together at the right time. SCANNING First I'd just like to say that a scanner is just a very useful tool. Some are good, some arent so good. Some are better on Japanese cars, some are better on Euro cars. This isn't going to be a scan tool buyers guide, however I will say that scan tools are friggen useless, unless you have the mechanical understanding and a brain. You will also need precise vehicle data to make accurate assessment of the data your reading. You will also need to understand what you are reading and relate that data to the driveability fault you are dealing with. Putting it into perspective, I repair doctors cars because they can't fix their cars. Put me into a doctors surgery with all the necessary tools and data, could I repair you ?? I think not.. A lot comes down to training and experience. That’s why there are good and not so good technicians out there. Most fault codes relate to actual sensor faults. ie: Camshaft position sensor Crankshaft position sensor Camshaft position sensor (inlet) Camshaft position sensor (outlet) However, some fault codes are the result of something else wrong, causing a fault code to come up from a sensor that actually is doing it's job properly, but has gone out of scale (trim). Air mass sensors are a prime example of this occurance. An air mass sensor will not normally come up as a fault code unless it fails completely, and the car won't go. If it is reading incorrectly and out of scale, you will get an oxy sensor fault code relating to fuel trim limit reached. Driving the car with the scanner using live data will confirm this. Blocked cats will give you the same problem because the engine can't breath, so will collapsed crankcase ventilator valves and broken induction hoses. Most of these faults will register an oxy sensor trim fault. Oxygen Sensor (Heater coil) would either be the relay or the oxygen sensor itself Engine missfire cyl (1-6) can be many things Igntion coil missfire cyl(1-6) is normally a spark plug, faulty coil or wiring fault Combustion missfire cyl(1-6) on M52tu & M54 engines normally indicates hydraulic lifter fault Again, live data must be checked, particularly engine dynamic balance. Measured differently on most scanners. Remember this is only an overvue. Most individual engine models have their own idiosyncrasies and I can't cover everything on here. However, this should help or give you some idea of what is involved in checking faults PLEASE BE AWARE.. OUR BIGGEST ENEMIES ARE "FIDDLERS" Never fiddle, or replace anything unless you have properly diagnosed the fault first. You will waste money and time. If you don't have the ability or access to the right equipment, consult a professional.