Mike

I agree with you, as much as I love the E30 M3 I couldn't see myself buying one over an E46. Just not value for money in my book, would prefer a modded e30 for half the money if I wanted a car like that.

Not really a fan of those earlier A4's, later ones are pretty cool but getting to pricey. he golf's are cool, on the small side though. VR6 could be worth looking at if the fuel useage is reasonable, i've already got a 1.8T engine, dont really want another one. I've got a week free when I'm back in welly so will probably spend it test driving

Thats what I'm worried about with an e46, dont want anything rough or thats going to cause me grief. So many more 528's out there at a price I want to spend. Looking around Altezza's are actually up there in price, cant really see myself paying $14k for one. Doesn't have to to be super fast or handle amazingly, just so long as its not slow and tedious to drive Any opinions on a mechanical warranties? Worth getting for a 10 year old bimmer? Whats the really bad stuff that goes wrong?

Less than 10K would be good. Would spring a little more if something mint came up. something like this would suit me fine: http://www.bimmersport.co.nz/forums/index....showtopic=18530 I reckon the the Altezza's look alright, and the few I've been in have been nice enough. Toyota, so should hold its value better than a BMW. Again, just another option. I'm all ears for better cars than what I've listed.

I'm after a new car for daily duties. I want something with reasonable grunt, 4 doors, tidy and comfortable, cheap-ish to run etc. Not so bothered on auto or manual, but would prefer a manual though. km's or age aren't really an issue for me, more concerned with general condition. Some of the cars below should give an idea of how much I'm wanting to spend. I have a few cars in mind, E39 528i, IMO lots of car for the money. Maybe an E46 328i if one came along at a good price. only E36 i'd go for would have to be a manual M-sport 328i at a good price. Non-BMW options are Toyota Altezza or P11 Primera as a cheaper option. Any opinions on those models or other good options welcome. And if anyone knows of any good example of these cars for sale around Wellington let me know. Gonna start scouring trademe but feel free to post up something decent, (read: find me a bargain) I'm in no real hurry so can wait for something to come along. Mike

You aware there might be some 16x7.5 ACS wheels for sale soon? or Riley might still be trying to sell his. Not alpina's but still much better option than some japanese 17's that dont fit right

Good advice man but can you try and cut some of the text speak, makes it way easier for everyone to read. I reckon it could be worth chucking a 325i ecu/injectors/AFM on the car. Power outputs would be very similar, just run the AFM in front of the supercharger. Chuck it on a dyno to check the mixtures. You can play with static fuel pressure or other injectors if its not quite right. Lower pressure regulators are easy enough to come across at pick-a-part or squish yours in a vice to raise it. Not ideal but would definately be the cheapest way of doing it and should give near stock driveability. Ant on e30zone might even have supercharger chips with the timing knocked back (I dont think this would be needed though), I know TCD do an M20 turbochip, could also do the job if its knocking. A full standalone is the best way hands down, but I dont think its worth investing in one if your only going to run it at 8~9psi.

I dont think there are many 225/40R17 tyres made, so either 215/40 or 235/40 (which is a bit oversized and overkill for the 320i but would look pretty good on the 17x8's Bigger problem is the offsets, wheels will sit in way too far and look stupid, if they even fit at all. need atleast (to have it looking right) 15mm spacers for the 17x7's and 10mm, maybe more for the 17x8's.

sides should fit, and depending how the front bolts on it may not be too bad to fit either. how has this not sold though? full ACS kit doesn't come along to often at a very reasonable price

So what do you do with oxygen thieves like him? I hate the idea of them receiving a benefit too, but what happens if we cut it? would he get off his arse and get another job, or will he just turn to crime? which will cost us more money in the long run?

I'm still using chrome, add-ons dont really bother me, most I had were a bit wanky anyway. Not sure whether its just mine but the things that get me is the scrolling seems a little wacked, sometimes the mouse wheel wont work, and the laptop scroll pad plays up sometimes too. When going to the last read post on a forum sometimes it will go straight to the bottom. Getting used to the search bar too, is actually quite nice. Might end up switching back to firefox if the scrolling annoys me enough.

well thats the point I tried to get through in that post. Sometimes things happens out of your control (like now with the economy costing jobs), and when it does its nice to know that your not going to be up sh*t creek. In honesty I'm pretty much dead center, and wont be particularly upset depending on who wins/loses. I've got the job I wanted at a good wage and would be much better off personally under National, cant playing help playing devil's advocate sometimes though

theres already an election thread so posted a reply to glenns post here http://www.bimmersport.co.nz/forums/index....mp;#entry204561

haha I dunno about other degrees but there is a huge amount of help between engineering students. sure there are some lazy ones but generally everyone has there turn at doing the assignment first and sussing out the tough bits. its good to know if something comes up (ie sickness) and you can't get it done on time that a classmate will help you out with it. suits me better than the national system of keep it to yourself and screw everyone else.

I'm with ya on both points. Its was just the done thing when we were younger to play rip open fireworks and try "improve" them. When it wasn't fireworks season there was always dry ice bombs and spud cannons. The fact my old man and his mates were making oxy-acetylene bombs only served as encouragement. Hell, the local plumbing shop and bbq factory would gladly help you out with a spud cannon. does a 15 year old really want a bbq igniter for his bbq? much the same as buying 20 packs of sparklers and 2 rolls of tape.

from euro-italian, one of the forum sponsors, Parts-plus is in wellington and have pretty good prices too

an M10 gasket is $35, surely an M40 would be much the same? why muck around pulling off old gaskets that are just likely to leak?

very cool, I quite like those Volks. I take it those offsets are with the adapters included? worked out pretty good. Curious as to why you didn't do the camber/toe adjustment in the back, especially if you were planning on running it so low? stripping the interior or other weight reduction? or still keeping it reasonably road car worthy?

I'd take T1R over direzza's also atleast go 205/50, even thats a bit undersized, 205/55 is closer to OEM size

T1R's or Proxes 4's? bit of a difference between the 2

8psi should be reasonable safe as long as you aren't running lean. BTW 8psi will give you roughly the same power as a 2.5L I'd be very surprised if you can supercharge a M20 for less than the cost of buying a 2.5L. you could pick up the supercharger cheap enough but its all the other bits and pieces that cost ya. Good luck though

bump. most of the stuff closes tomorrow. will most likely get chucked out or scrapped if no-one wants anything

dam thats tidy, welcome you could always have a look at Link ECU, they are costing around $1500NZ (+ wideband ~$350) from memory, wheres MS will cost you around $800 NZ with the wideband. I've gone MS and have very few dramas with it, but there are plenty of people who have problems with it. Ultimately I'd say a 'proper' ECU should will give you less issues and more reliability. That said if DIY is you're thing then MS is great fun to play around with and can do some pretty cool stuff. also plenty of support now as shitloads of people are running them on those motors so getting maps should be no worries. If its the end result your after go for a Link or similar with proper tune behind it and be done. or if you want to play around yourself and save a bit of cash you can still get a pretty good result with MS. (hope that makes sense?)

no i didn't. 15psi with a low comp head, intercooled, good exhaust, decent managemeent and tuning is going to be much safer than running a hi-comp head, tiny turbo, poor management at 10psi. (note: hi-comp for turbo is not a bad thing, just need to be more careful with tuning). What boost is safe to run depends greatly on your setup. as other have said, with a good tune the stock block will take heaps, but thats not going to be your limiting factor.

Your question is pretty vague sorry, and much more to a build than just "slapping" a turbo on. What head are you going to use? this will affect the C/R. any strengthening mods to the motor like o-rings or head studs? what engine management were you planning on? intercooled? drive-train upgrades? all those factors affect how much boost you can safely run. if you're a bit lost on all of that you'll definately need to read up a bit more. e30tech.com has heaps on info on turbo M20's.