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Aliexpress USB charging. Cheapest mod yet at $10. Not something you need often but handy when you do. Dremeled out the cig lighter hole and filled down the + terminal so i can use the OE plug. Nice and stealth and can be switched off and on. ATE handbrake shoes and hardware. Heard a slight drag on L\R when the boot rim was off when the wheel rotates to a certain spot. Could be the the disc but thought id replace them first since they are cheap. Will have to bed them in at some point and recheck the noise.

finished with 99% of rust-oration & just need to tidy up some areas with prime & top coat. patched up the cracked dash & went for matte black finish (will be two tone interior with navy door cards & centre ); will see how the dash ages/lasts over time (just don't look at is closely & without dash mat 🤣) got new carpets & mats to go before interior goes back in.

The Drivetrain: Now I know many of you will be reading this rather confused, The title says 323Ti project but I'm talking about a 328Ti. I was lucky enough that the person who grabbed my old M44 had a few engine laying around, A deal was made was for a b28 however life happened and it turned out the engine was a 2.5. Despite being given the option to grab a refund or let him pull the b28 out of his own vehicle for me (If your reading this your are an absolute legend!) I decided to go with one of these b25's. Initially there was no real reason, Maybe I'm just impatient or maybe the b25 was priced incredibly well however after collecting the engine and opening it up I was incredibly glad I choose this path! The engine was immaculate and quite possibly the best condition I've ever seen! Since I had the engine out it was the perfect opportunity to do some preventive work. The water pump and thermostat housing were both switched for aluminum units, The Sump, Valve cover gasket and oil filter housing gaskets were changed along side of all the intake gaskets and lines. the throttle body warmer was blocked with a customer Part thanks to a fellow member, All Belts and pulleys were replaced as well as the usual plugs, filters and oil. A g220 was selected for the transmission as mated up to the M52 along with a new Single Mass fly Wheel and clutch From NZAD (Good time to replace your rear main!) And to top everything off the shifter was rebuilt. As mentioned before I wasn't certain what to do with the diff as the Ti shares the same style as an e30 and z3 making decent ratios hard to find and when you do they are Very well priced! I was lucky enough to score a diff from a factory manual 318ti and while this isn't perfect it is good enough for what I need! Obviously all fluids were flushed and changed

The Engine Removal: It took me a while to fully convince myself to not swap in another M44, The M52 market seemed cold and there were a handful of cheap M44's Available however after a long discussion with a few long time friends it was decided to go ahead and put the b28 in it and rive off into the sunset! I Began pulling the old tired engine out of it, While I am no better than a monkey with a spanner, I did have a lot of experience with the e46 chassis thanks to my high school days! It was a relatively straight forward process that took place over two evenings. keeping in mind this compact had 257,000kms I was incredibly shocked as to how rust and oil free everything was! The car was obviously looked after for majority of its life which made things way easier for me😀 The Suspension: After Removing the engine I got a bit carried away, While I didn't exactly have a budget for this project I was still a university student. I went in with the mindset that I wanted problem free Wofs for at least the next 4 years and the decision to replace majority of the suspension and bushes was made. since I was replacing Tie Rods and Rack Ends, I looked around and managed to score an absolute steal on a purple tag rack which is what started my OE+ Spending spree (We get into that later) Both front control arms, Tie rods, Rack ends, Rotors, Pads, Abs sensors, Lollipops, sway bar bushes, engine mount, caliper seals and maybe a bit more were replaced in the front end! A 6 Cylinder M sport sway bar was also installed to clear the M52 sump. Some will notice the second hand shocks, While I wanted to do Coil overs at some point I don't want to cheap out, It was decided that this was not a high priority item so some second hand 6 Cylinder Monroe shocks and springs were purchased In the back both Subframe bushes, Trailing arm, Caliper seals, rotors, pads were replaced, While wanting to do diff bushes I hadn't quite figured out the diff yet so decided not to touch it.

After lurking in the shadows for the last two years and checking daily to see if my favorite build threads had any updates I thought id give this a go myself! Now before I start rambling I would like to acknowledge the public hatred towards compact's, Yes they are hideous and this one is defiantly not the coolest one In NZ but its my ugly duckling and it has provided me with connections to the most amazing people in this community and wealth's of knowledge that can not learnt from YouTube..... So we begin How It Began: While Making a quick trip to Weitz industries to grab a few bits for my 130 I noticed a small little compact sitting in the corner waiting to be harvested before turning into a coke can, At the time gas prices were at an all time High and the thought of a small economical German Rear wheel drive sounded like the perfect solution! Despite being warned by Nick that the condition was unknown and it was sold strictly as a parts car I already had my heart set on It and turned a blind eye to all the negatives while convincing my partner with the positives! While not entirely convinced she said yes and I was able to drive it home😀 After making a quick stop at the gas station I drove the short 4km home loving every second of it, Despite owning multiple Bmw's and having the 130i as a daily driver I couldn't help but notice how nimble and zippy it was! For a car that was sold as a entry level 90's Bmw the quality and handling already outdid much more expensive Toyota hatchbacks 10 years Newer! Unfortunately that's pretty much the last time I got to enjoy the Efficient 1.8L. While I was to busy admiring the absolute bargain I had scored the car was pouring white smoke the entire way home, after a quick investigation it was obvious that the 257,000km M44 blew its head gasket while I was gutted this finally gave me the opportunity to do what I had been scheming since I saw the car.. A 328ti

lucky with one crack! I just used polyurethane from Bunnings & levelled it down with mineral turps. When/if I could be bothered to try to make it perfect, I won't level it down with turps & source a textured "stamp" to mimic the OEM pattern from a vinyl repair kit. Most creative one & most OEM looking one I've seen that still had a soft finish, was using shredded cleaning sponge, super glue & baking powder mixture then finished off with vinyl repair kit before respray.

No. Haven't started the car but given the cig lighter is constant 12V it stays on or off regardless of ignition key position, just like a normal toggle switch.

Has the oil been wiped away in that crankshaft sensor photo? Those o-rings hold the sensors in pretty well even without the bolt, you oil'd everything up im guessing when installing. You can generally reuse the new o-rings if they were lubed well. If i was were me id locate stuffed auto transmission, cut the bell housing at the front so it turns into an adaptor plate or half an adapter plate, bolt it up then mount the flywheel and starter. At least then will have an idea of where to look before ripping it all apart. Should be able to see exactly what area it is without the transmission in the way.

Hi people. I've bought a 130i to use for Targa Tour with my son and also track day duties. I'll be selling the 85 AW11 racecar I have had for the past 22 years as I think I've done my dash with club type racing. There's a couple of things to sort on the car, so there'll be a few questions asked and WTB's put in!! Cheers Simon

Some example images of same spec wheel to get the saliva flowing:

That picture is hiding it as much as possible. Also it's still a fat turd. It weighs only 20kg's less than my boat of an E class Merc. These guys at the ring recently dumped their one due to the excessive wear it puts on tyres, brakes, driveshafts and ball joints.

Nah.