CamB

I have lots of M badges in it! Boot, gearknob, instrument cluster, door sills, front rotors, rear trailing arms, rocker cover.

Hmmm, so a 318i with an M badge? Two M badges?

I absolutely agree with this - do as I say, not as I do. Mind you, I wanted 400hp headroom, and a decent idle and cruising economy isn't a priority on a race car.

Yeah there is some limit over which you shouldn't run the fuel system - I don't recall what or why - plus higher pressures can be harder on the fuel pump. Don't forget that the FPR increases pressure under boost - if its a 3 bar FPR and ou have 1 bar of boost it is 4 bar going to the injectors ... which is good coz they have to fight 1 bar of pressure in the manifold. So if you have a higher pressure set on the FPR, and run lots of boost, the pressure can get really high in the pressure side of the fuel system I will be extremely happy with anything over 200hp at the wheels, since that will be fast enough for my driving skillz.

Yeah - poorly worded by me: 1) I needed resistors coz I got low impedance injectors 2) I got low impedance injectors since it is hard to find larger Bosch injectors second hand in high impedance 3) I got large ones partly because that was what I found, partly because I only have 4 cylinders (for 2.1 litres), and partly because the M10's pressure regulator is 2.5 bar and usually injectors are rated at 3 bar (so I will only have the equivalent of 500cc). I mean its still enough for something like 400hp, so realistically I am way oversized...

Yeah - you should get high impedence injectors. From memory you need a LinkPlus G3 to run low impedance injectors. It's not really any issue for smaller injectors, but I ended up with low impedence 590cc ones (wooooo, huge - a bit big really for my needs, but I have a 2.5bar regulator not a 3 bar) so I need to run resistors with them. I got them coz it is hard to find high impedance injectors in larger sizes at good prices. A quick google suggests the ones you have are only around 170cc. I would have thought you'd want at least 300c, even if you keep the Sard and can turn up the pressure a little. This might help with a list of some of the options. It is pretty hard to find factory Bosch-style injectors you can buy second-hand over about 400cc: http://www.injectorsonline.com/indivprod.p...=74&scid=11 If you buy second hand I would recommend flow testing, but I am a bit of a nana.

Yeah - what Mike said about using google to figure out your injector size needs. I believe it is standard Bosch injectors (14mm? - not sure on what the way to refer to the size is). The XR6 Turbo (~300cc I think) or supercharged Holden 6 injectors (370cc?) might get you to your goal. ... depending on the goal (eg if less than 400hp). It is unlikely any BMW injectors will get you there coz BMW tend to size them just big enough for the power the engine has - like Mike says, maybe M3. The standard fuel rail can apparently flow enough for all but the silliest power levels. The standard fuel pressure regulator is fine, but if you get an adjustable one you can raise the fuel pressure (somewhat - too much is unsafe) which means you can get away with smaller injectors. If it was me, I wouldn't bother buying an adjustable FPR or aftermarket fuel rail. I would spend that money making sure I bought big enough injectors to work with the factory FPR. You should also make sure you buy injectors with the right impedence to work with your computer (whatever that may be).

I agree actually. I didn't look at it that closely. Either way the white one from Tauranga is a good measure.

Hmmmm. I get myself in trouble talking about Trademe prices. I always seem to offend someone. There was a white one for sale in Tauranga for about 3 months, with the price progressively lowered until (I assume) it sold for less than $8k. I want to say $7500 was the lowest asking price. It appeared to be similarly unmolested, but, of course, I have no idea of its condition other than the photos. No-one wants to buy strat1's red very slightly molested one for $8k either (the wheels are hardly molesting - the metric size ones they came with would be a pain in the arse).

I believe the info in this is accurate (and great choice of car BTW): http://bmwmregistry.com/model_faq.php?id=19

If you couldn't fit your new brakes behind the 4x114 ones you had (with the spacer), it is not gonna fit behind those. If anything it will be WORSE. (edit) oh - I just figured out you meant my car. I'd need spacers, for sure (25p 16x7s AC Schnitzers hit the struts), and don't want to go that way until I am forced to.

Ha! When I sell it I hope that's the case. IMHO, like for like condition, an E46 will never be worth less than an E36. The E46 is way better looking for a start, is visually distinguishable from a standard E46 (even one with a kit), and it should be a better car to drive (newer). Note - I have never driven one so have no idea, but have been driven in one. I considered the E46 when I got my car. At the time it was a choice between ~$50k and slightly over $20k. I couldn't see the nearly extra $30k (and expected depreciation) being worth it. Basically I don't see the E36 as ever being a proper classic (like the E30), but I do see a base value because they have about 300hp, are RWD, and handle well.

Mine is the extremely rare Byzanz Metallic. I call it german racing brown. My brother in law calls it 'ol ginger. Just coz its rare doesn't make it good or desirable, although the sedan suits me The sedan's are less desirable IMHO - not as sexy, standard sport seats not the Vaders, etc (actually I think that's it - more doors and boring seats).

If you find a motivated seller you should be able to buy a good one for $17-18k. I don't reckon mine is worth any more than that (being a sedan I reckon knocks the price down another 10%).

Discussed only a day or two ago in here: http://www.bimmersport.co.nz/forums/index....c=20069&hl= My opinion - there will be a floor in the price of a good one because of the cost of a rebuild/engine/etc. Maintenance is more expensve than a regular one for the M bits.

I am also under the impression that the car would need a remap for the plenum to do its job.

Whomever is going to screw you over the least. Ask them to provide you with: i) the interest rate ii) the interest rate over the life of the agreement including all of their costs and fees they charge you. The only way you can compare the cost is with (ii).

For sure - a BMW small case LSD centre should fit in it replacing your open centre. It won't be cheap, but at least you have a better chance of finding it. They should be installed by someone who can check the backlash, etc. Theoretically small case LSD centres are the same for E21, E30 (not that you are likely to find one), and E36 for those cars with small case diffs. Info here: http://www.metricmechanic.com/pdfs/metric-...ial-booklet.pdf

Any small case BMW LSD centre should fit. So you need to find one of those AND a diff with a 3.45 ratio, as I suspect you are unlikely to find them together here in NZ, especially in an e21 case. For example, my race car diff is a 4.27 e21 LSD with a r&p from an E30 318i.

I reckon the price for a good* E36 M3 will stay above $15k in the medium term (it seems to currently be close to $20k, although you can only guess what cars sell for as you only see asking prices). * Good means looked after, not molested or bodged, etc, with no indication of future problems. The ones that have been cheaper have been a little rough, or high km. I'm basing this mostly on an expectation that powerful RWD manual Euro cars are becoming more and more difficult to find. They're fast and they handle well. But, it will come down to condition - they aren't rare enough to really provide any decent support to the price IMO. They are definitely not gonna do an E30 M3 IMO - it has way better racing history, and it seems there were about 20k E30 M3 and about double that of E36 (Euro) M3s. Plus its not visually different to a 318i with an M kit.

Spotted this... Appears to have knocked out an easy 484,000 km. http://www.trademe.co.nz/a.aspx?id=197551497 http://www.carjam.co.nz/car/?plate=uy4175&search=Check Wow, thats some km. I wonder if its right?

The Link is $1520 plus installation and tune. I would hope the M54 has enough sensors to satisfy the Link's inputs.

http://www.google.co.nz/search?q=bnt&i...lient=firefox-a

Grilles or just the centre kidney? No space at my house, and there are M10s everywhere.... yet it was hard to find one 6 months ago. Crazy.

You are quite right - there is no way that you could buy one for $5k. You just need to prove that I suspect.