Mike

haha, HB Ian. I'll catch up with you lot next wednesday probly.

Basically spent 6 months collecting bits at good prices, also cheap/free material from work and access to metal working machines/tools. Being in the trade (sort of) also helps get things done cheaper. My setup isn't so much about outright power but more of a base system that will allow me to easily upgrade, eg front mount IC, ECU, bigger turbo without taking car off road for long. Its been said before but there is power, reliablilty and (low) cost. Pick 2. How much you spend comes down to much you can do yourself and whether you go for new or second hand parts. I built my own manifold for $70, I'm guessing it would be at least a $500 job if I had to pay someone. Would you go for aftermarket ECU or FMU and a turbo chip? Could you install and tune an ECU? All of that adds up pretty quickly if you pay someone to do it. Start reading up and you'll quickly get an idea of what's involved and how much it will cost.

depends how you term antisocial? anyone was welcome to come join our rowdy group, infact we had several campers seeking drinking apparatus.

325Grant has a turbo M20, only boost controllers don't drop boost and he blew his HG. Cost around $5k? My M10 turbo project should be finished sometime next week, don't have camera for updated pix though. I have done extremely basic setup and I'm probably going to end up spending less than $1500. (Work perks have managed to keep this down significantly) As Gus said just look on e30tech and read, lots. They have a few good stickies with most of the info you'll need. Just make sure you plan the whole thing out and then start buying bits.

Beautiful. E30's are awesome fun on beaches, even 318s

Looks tidy, but get some bottlecaps or even better, weaves . And if your olds allow a 30-40mm drop.

depends heaps on what you want, an early 4 door 318i auto goes for as little as $1000 while 2 door 5spd 325i SE go for $5000 easy if they are mint, M325i go for even more. I agree with Andy on the mileage, I'd pay much more attention to service history and overall condition of car than mileage.

Below your oil filter, by one of the engine mounts. On my 318 it was a 24mm nut, and thread was 12x1.5 mm, maybe different for your car though.

I'm using the factory warning light sender for my oil pressure gauge. If you want to keep the factory idiot light you'll need a 'T', otherwise just a suitable adapter as threads will almost certainly be different.

pretty much, whole thing will just be learning curve. Manifold cost $70 (elbows and T3 flange) haha, I take it you finally got your head around it?

As title says, planning on bolting a turbo on to my 318 over the holiday period. Going to be very basic setup initially until I can afford to get a proper ECU and really up boost. Current plan is turbo from a GTST skyline, I'm using a bigger AFM with larger injectors, will also retard base timing somewhat. also use intercooler from skyline and mount behind headlights. I've aquired most of the bits, only major piece of fabrication left is wastepipe but I can't really do that until I've got the turbo bolting in the engine bay. I'm not exactly sure whether the L-Jet will be happy with this setup. If not, I'll return car to standard and wait for LEM, I have seen other cars have relative success with this setup so I'll just have to wait and see how it goes. Only got pics of manifold for now, not quite equal length but should still flow well. Rest of stuff is pretty standard so wont put anymore pics up until things happen, probably early jan.

hope you don't mind my asking but you a pom?

depends, if your chasing tail the E36 would be the better bet. However the e30's do have a classic line about them. another thing with e36 is all you can really do is Mtech kit, clears, lower and wheels.

Tad OT but while were on 2.7 engines... Family friends of ours have picked up a 325i, auto but on ownership papers engine size is listed as 2.7, have seen this for myself. haven't ridden in car yet but apparently goes better than normal 2.5L. Anybody got a clue whats going on with this car? no other sport bits really. Just a stuff up on ownership papers or actual 327i? anything on block to say what crank is in it?

Thanks for comments guys. Leather seat with arm rest was a sweet score off my mate who crashed his UK import e30 a few years back. True, not as loud as 2 12's but I never had them cranked up anyway, so were just taking up space and weight. Actually has the car sitting much more level, pretty much perfect now. No need really to make ski hole look sweet as there is another piece that attaches thru velcro to cover the whole lot, you can see it lying on top of the armrest, its leather on the otherside. Only pulled it down to show where sub sits. Tane- you could always bash out ski hole and just remove rear seat if you 2 of you are heading up the mountain, haven't seen many e30's with the fold down bit.

before... but that was overkill and I wanted some boot space back so I changed to this... (Jordan wannabe setup I guess) and the sub Sub is sealed tight against rear firewall. Means all the noise actually goes forward, no boot rattles. Goes awesome for a little sealed 10", and sounds so much nicer. Rear fill will be gone, tough for passengers. And way more boot space, although doesn't seem so noticable in crappy pics

IE have shocking/non-existent customer service. Check their website for price, can't remember freight but it wasn't too bad. Maybe $30NZ or something? Powerflex will happily do groupbuys, gave me 30% off for buying 3 pairs of CAB's. for reference freight for those 3 pairs was 25 pounds.

nice, but why ceramic coat and then heatwrap? The ceramic coatings are extremely effective at stopping heat transfer. as a rough guess Id say will cost about $400 to get it coated

holy crap, thats unbelievable. sux man. What about saying that they can't prove it was in the car before you bought it?

me, both T/A and subframe. Only problem was I had to trim the subframe ones as the lip was too large. Other than that no worries, over a year old.

the timing advance thing only applies if its pre facelift ('87 or earlier)

main problem with 320s is that 318s go almost as well, while 320 use as much fuel as 325. the 320 engine is more refined and nicer to drive than 318s though. 2.5 conversions are pretty dam cheap now, definately way to go for easy and reliable power.

turns out I wont be able to get valve until christmas, sorry. if its not urgent and you still want the valve then PM me and sort out postage etc.

when the time comes... PDQE30 'course anything with E30 could be replaced with either 3ER, 325, 318 depending on whats available

Get yourself a bently workshop manual if you haven't already. Also if your unsure of anything get your oldman or a mate who knows cars to help you. Anyway my 2c on the jobs... -Needs reaction rod bushes. Bit tricky, if you going OEM replacement you need a press. I did powerflex ones myself though -P/steering hose weaping. -Recomend P/steering fluid flush (burnt). Haven't done PS stuff before, can't see it being to tricky though. -Recomend fuel return hose. should be able to do this, I imagine it will just be a couple of clamps. -Recomend brake fluid flush (dirty). Easy, follow instructions in manual, or I think there is a guide on the site somewhere. I'm surprised it wasn't done as part of service. -Needs alternator bushes (collapsed). Just get a new alternator, easy enough to replace yourself. or get a price for new bushings, whatevers cheaper. -Recomend all belts (starting to crack). Easy enough. -Shift oil mounts need tightening. Dunno what they mean here?