CamB

The colour of mine has grown on me I hope I'd cleaned it. Its filthy, thanks to new baby and no time. I also hope I wasn't driving like a d1ck.

Good thing it's in Welly or I might be tempted to do something silly like try buy the M10 engine. I need another ... I only have 2, LOL. A few things make me laugh: - 200hp (what, plus or minus 40hp?) - comes with 4 cylinder 4spd box (from recent experience, I can assure you that is actually worthless) It may be carbed because the original was carbs - converting to EFI is hard work if you need a pump, return line, etc etc. Small case LSD in excess of $1000 if you can find one... ouch.

Its highly likely it is medium size (188) (only the big grunters had 210 large case), no it won't fit. E34 diffs attach differently. An E28 diff case is the same, but you have to swap the drive flanges and rear cover from the E30. The crown wheel and pinion from it can probably be swapped into an E30, if properly setup after.

Ha - he had to replace the ABS pump. Mine failed about 2 months ago... but I was able to find a second hand one for very cheap... (and feel very fortunate). It has even more wood trim than mine (eww), although ironically not the gear knob - I just had to change mine to leather. Not a fan of wood. I love the colour. I wanted Estoril.

Hmmm, not sure where the fittings come from. Your cut and weld idea is far too much work - I am sure if you can find some small diameter steel hollow pipe (ie, like the vacuum fittings) you could drill a hole on the back of your current manifold and press it in. Have now decided I will do that next time the manifold comes off, although in the interim will probably just use a tee for blow off valve and boost gauge, as am not too worried if they're not super accurate. (edit) I repaired one of the nipples on my Honda throttle body using one of the nipples from the remainder of the intake. If you can find the right size pipe then maybe a trip to pickapart with the pliers will do the trick.

Ah well, no "fun" car means an E30 purchase is probably getting closer...

You may get some ideas if you look through this thread: http://www.e30tech.com/forum/showthread.php?t=58874 Some people drill and tap the manifold for barbed adapters.

Is your Audi gone?

Its an M10, albeit a well modified one! It's still 8 valves.

This is a good start... http://www.nzperformance.co.nz/store/garre...z/prod_192.html

Mike has switches on his centre console marked 400hp, 500hp, 600hp and 700hp (actually I remember seeing only 3 switches, but 700hp was the top one I am sure). Assuming they work (and I don't see why not), I have a feeling that overcomes any aerodynamic issues.

Acceleration or top speed? Top speed is quite badly affected by crap aerodynamics, with the wide wheel arches making it worse. Mine basically hit a wall at about 170kph with 130hp. It would keep accelerating, but Puke's straight wasn't long enough! Acceleration probably affected by gearing and peaky nature of engine.

I'm not sure that's the best backyard mechanic way of dealing with the ball joints. I've been taught to use a heavy hammer and hit on the side of the strut where the tapered part of the ball joint passes through (to shock it loose). You don't hit any part of the ball joint directly. look at the picture of the flame - you'd hit the strut where it has previous hammer marks, to the left of the flame. Does that make sense? I don't know any good tricks for dealing with the ball joint on the subframe, but would love to know one if someone can chime in.

Don't sell this until you know the rear sway bar you're getting is going to be "right" (ie you've test driven). JiB's car has a standard 325i rear sway bar and with the springs he has, its more than stiff enough.

Won't you need an alloy pipe with a boss welded in for the air temp sensor? Certainly that's what I'm planning. I can't see how you can attach the air temp sensor to a silicone pipe?

There can be no other explanation! Its easily long enough for potential buyers to have found them.

There is a writeup of his car on the MAPECU site: www.mapecu.com ---> Results, Press, scroll to the right.

Huh? A 320i? Collectible and desirable? Rare??? Price varies enormously depending on condition, auto vs manual, and any tasty extras. $1500-5000 would be my estimate for unmodified and manual, from ok to mint. Can't see an auto selling for over $4k. Flash bits from more desirable E30s might bump the price. Maybe actual sales data might prove me wrong.

You should consider offset M3 ones (with an alignment after) for more caster, if you are changing them anyway.

To back this up, my head had the exhaust ports modestly enlarged for turbo ---> it was suggested by the head guy.

You should get it checked by someone who can plug into the Motec and can drive it around with a wideband oxygen sensor connected - measure the air fuel ratio (so you will know if its rich) and to check / troubleshoot why. For instance, it may be that the part throttle isn't well tuned, the temperature sender is telling the Motec its still in warmup mode, or a number of other things (eg fuel pressure problem). Don't drive it too much running excessively rich - its not good for a new engine.

I'm keen - I need a 3.91 anyway, in particular if you can throw in an E28/E24 23.81mm master cylinder (am sure you have one lying around ). PM sent as well.

However, if you design your turbo system for such a cam, you can make more power with less boost (at the expense of that power arriving later and some lag). Having said that, the standard cam with the right turbo choice (again, with a less restrictive exhaust) appears to be able to make 300hp plus ... how much powers do you need?

Yes it probably was Kerry - I don't remember exactly what colour, but that rings a bell. It was about 2 years ago. Poor guy had a series of problems on the day.

Quite aside from that, the M3 (which most would consider quite high) touches in the middle on the way into the parking building I go to. A short wheel base would help, but those E30s would be beached as...