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Did some skids in old yella at an autocross last weekend. Fun times!! Also went to the oamaru airport drags a month ago and managed to put down a 13.97 with the clutch slipping between gears. Not bad for an unprepped track on street tyres. Was faster than most turbo jappas which was good to know!

Oh I see, you didn't enjoy being my co-pilot!! haha Great choice though - looks even better in person, doesn't drive too shabby either!!

Sold.

Hi all, I'd like to do a manual conversion on my E39 Touring. I want to do as much of the work as possible myself (should be fun and educational, right?) and I'm on a budget so I was looking to pick up a manual parts car - perhaps something on TradeMe or Turners with a blown head gasket. My question is: Which models would allow me to swap a manual gearbox straight into my E39 with little or no modification? I appreciate there will be some re-coding involved (I have the kit to do that myself), and there will be other factors such as diff ratios, driveshaft, etc. I see quite a few manual 316/ 318s around, but I assume they wouldn't handle the power - anyway I'd like to know which donor cars to keep a lookout for as a start. Any info would be much appreciated. Cheers.

you can use a zf or getrag box off pretty much any m50 m52 m54 s54 s50 m44 m43 m42 etc , but you will need e39 parts for all else gearlvers and shifter parts , pedal box , crossmember driveshaft can be modified so can the gearlever shifter rods . flywheel and clutch just needs to be string enough for a 2.8L 4cyl clutches will work but slip , so need to get modified or buy a proformance kit etc

Oh yes I nearly forgot with all the other excitement. The reason the car was misfiring on the way home after I picked it up was due to the broken or faulty unbranded, probably AliExpress 8USD exhaust cam sensor, not just a faulty or broken real cam sensor. Should I start a project thread? Probably not, rereading it might depress me into giving up

@Olaf, I found a guy here in Tauranga who specialises in that but it turned out cheaper to just buy new Stabilus parts ex Germany- so why not Attempting to replace rocker cover gasket was hindered by two interesting developments, 1) being an overtightened bolt requiring a helicoil into the block and 2) a rounded-off bolt head hard up against the firewall and driverside strut tower requiring a bolt being welded to the top of it. Turns out Pickapart charges $1 for a single bolt, so that was a fun low cost and quick excursion. Thanks, random E36 with the M5x! And thanks E38 735iL for the BMW glovebox torch. I grew up in Wellington. and don't miss it. At all.

this pretty much sums it up.

I took the Metal Plate off the left side rear seat and found this.

Figured I'd chime in here, seeing as I own both, and that's my E46 for sale. I purchased that a few years ago for about 4k, and have spent over 3k on it. From what I've seen, the M43 does have a few less hassles than the 6 cylinders, but if the rest of the car needs the same maintenance (shocks, bushings). The fuel economy is definitely more, 2-3L depending on how you drive it, but it does have almost twice the power. I also purchased an E30 for 5k a few years ago, spent close the 3k on it in maintenance parts on it, and would say it's gone up in value (mmm E30 tax) Both have been reliable to drive. I don't enjoy driving the E30 in the wet, so I'd take the E46 out instead for the points mentioned previous by Olaf. But when the weather is good, it's E30 all the way. (My wife wasn't too impressed the other night when we went out in the E30 because it currently has no heater haha) I haven't encountered anything yet that is significantly harder for the home mechanic to do on the E46 vs the E30. But the E46 has been a bit more annoying (Had a leaking oil filter housing unit, no it wasn't the gasket...), but would say the E46 is a better all-round car, but E30 is what I love. But back on topic You've take the advice, and looking to check out out physically for rust, as that will be the biggest issue with E30's. Everything else is pretty easy to spin a spanner on. But depending on what your mate wants to do with it, could empty his wallet quickly (but that's more the point with project cars)

on paper? no mate, it's had more than a decade's subsequent development experience from BMW engineers - and their partners - rolled into it. Everything they'd learned from the e21, e30, e36 is in there! They didn't make a worse car. They made one with more grip. More comfort. Better brakes. Better steering. It's heavier, not because they couldn't be arsed making it lighter, but because they needed to make it stronger - and at the price-point couldn't afford to put in more alloy than they already had. They gave it more horsepower, and 24 valves, and more torque, and all the advancements of fuel injection and emmissions and transmission and traction control. Most significantly: although you can't throw the e46 around like an old crisp packet, you arrive in Turangi feeling better for crossing the desert road in an e46 because it's more precise, and because you're worrying less about the previous owner's bodges, and are further away from exceeding the performance envelope of the vehicle. You know that if that eejit coming the other way gets it wrong and you have a 'coming together' you'll be better off in the e46 when the laws of physics have argued it out, than in the e30. The e46 fails on the basics of the Lotus approach (add lightness), and some of the "fun" of the e30 has been engineered out in favour of betterment. There are still some very good examples out there, but their price is climbing well into vaunted classic territory. By all means, buy an e30 emotionally; but accept that the scene tax has inflated their value and appeal somewhat beyond their current capability.

Trigger pulled! After spending the last several months flicking between the older and newer generations BMW's I've settled on this gem. 1990 BMW E34 535i - Some of you may know the original owner - Don. He's had this beauty for 18+ years and has shown it nothing but love and attention. Can't wait to bring the E34 out on some drives, rather than being @Phatmuffins Co-Pilot. First order of business - New wheels! (Currently leaning towards some BMW Style 37, though still exploring options)

Is it though?