CamB

That's gotta be him - car parts and farm gates, and who could forget this wonderful trolley: http://www.trademe.co.nz/Business-farming-...n-169528809.htm

But if he wants a working speedo, it will need to be an e21 box, I believe.

You might want to specify whether its a 6 or 4 cylinder.

I used to have a 1978 Jag XJ6. I'm not sure it had crumple zones, but it always felt like it would just tear a hole in anything that pulled out in front of it. The engines are about as heavy as you can get. I don't get the whole large/safe thing. Safety is quite literally the last thing I consider when buying a car. Safety = additional weight, whatever the size of the car. It's disgraceful that a "small, light" car these days is over 1000kg.

No need now - its back on at $3500, which depending on condition may still be a bit much given some of the discussion here.

I'm sorry mate I can't leave this unchallenged. Your first post on this didn't refer to M3s, it just said e30 = based on a race car and e36 doesn't. While you are correct that the e30 M3 has a (much) better race pedigree, the e36 as a 4 door, 2 litre Supertourer has plenty of race pedigree as a factory car with many of the same drivers as the earlier e30 M3. So I completely disagree that the e30 is based on a race car and the e36 not - they are equal in that respect, and the e36 has a far better suspension design. You are also correct that the e30 M3 was a homologation car, but the e30 itself predates this and a regular e30 is nothing like an M3 ---> its a reasonably different body and engine. The M3 engine is a proper race engine, I agree. (I may get disagreement on the next one) A standard E36 M3 is IMHO a faster car with a better cornering speed than an E30 M3. To be fair, I haven't driven an E30 M3, but its evident from lap times and power/weight. I bet the E30 M3 is a better car to drive, but that's not the same as faster. I still would prefer the E30 M3, and would always prefer a 325i e30 to an e36, but the E36 M3 is a very, very fast car. I have an Evo - it has over 300hp. It's completely inaccessible on NZ roads, but its still there. On an unrelated note, my M3's steering is sh1t. It gets you around the corners fine, but has no feel at all.

Haha - I have met very few people who have realised mine (a 4 door) is actually an M3. $ for $ I'd take an e30 every time. The E36 is way too heavy. Yes, as an M3 it goes fast but only when you wind it out and that means 100kph+ in 2nd gear so it's easy to get in trouble. An e30 is more fun to drive - mostly it seems due to the lighter weight. The main reason I have the E36, and it appeals to me, is that its got good aircon and nice leather and iit drives well, and its still fast. If I could have the aircon etc and some reliability in an e30 I'd probably have gone that way, but to contradict my earlier comment, on reflection I'd find it hard to spend $20k on a non-M e30 (bearing in mind an e30 M3, at any price, is impractical as a daily car due to being LHD unless converted - I've got parking buildings to deal to). Mind you a mint M325i is probably a $15k car over a couple of years as stuff wears out... Am I the only one who's chosen a car they don't have? LOL.

Had been meaning to post a pic of a melted piston once I found one, coz I love pics of carnage. This is apparently off a turbo E30 which ran accidentally very lean at 26psi of boost: Awesome!

No pic - too lazy - but my transmission filler bolt tool is a 17mm head bolt bent at right angles beside the head.

Sorry for the facetious answer I think you can get engine/trans in, easy. Whether you can get it running depends on how easily the electric go together, whether you actually have everything (!), and nothing goes wrong... I imagined a really bare shell. No engine, gearbox, trim, etc. Heaps of work. Sounds like that's not how it is...

How long's a piece of string? How good are you at the job? Have you done it before? Is everything well labelled? Unlabelled?

I don't know what you mean? You could turn up the boost, but that won't give a huge amount of extra poewr but will - with little turbos - create a lot of heat as the turbos will be outside their efficiency. There are two issues here: 1) Whether a log is any good - it can be, if well designed, for small(ish) turbo(s) and lowish power outputs. They are less appropriate for top end power, in particular on engines that rev and make good power at high revs (ie, any performance naturally aspirated engine converted to turbo), and for bigger turbos. 2) Whether the picture posted in the other thread is any good. It's not. The DA manifold is a crap design. It removes the only benefit a log offers - quicker spool due to short runners - through a crap design with sharp corners and a larger plenum area. Maybe this whole argument is due to you having different views on what is "good" from a turbo system. If low boost and relatively low power is the goal, a log probably does the job.

This is a pic: I suspect those semi-equal length short manifolds flow pretty well - they merge nicely into the collector, and they're quite little turbos. The argument in the other thread was about a poorly designed log which might/would restrict top end power. If I was sticking a turbo on an M3, I'd want to make sure it could still rev. It's a bit debateable whether the one going on my M10 (which is free flowing, 4 into 1, but un-equal length) is going to offer me much extra, but I bought one like that anyway... I remember reading this a while back - basically says the log (a nice one - not that sack of crap DA motorsports one) spooled the turbo fairly quickly but choked the top end: http://www.full-race.com/articles/Bseriestest_writeup.pdf Yes, I know its a honda engine.

I stick it in a plastic bag with "BMW flywheel holder" on it afterwards - looks totally pro. Maybe I can chuck a part number on it and call it OEM. In all seriousness, it's probably even more rangi than you are imagining, if that's possible. But it works.

Neither can I - I find it harder to drive smoothly because the engine takes so long to drop the revs between shifts. The dual mass flywheel is about the only thing I don't like on the M3.

I bent a piece of alloy bar (not even thick alloy) into an S shape, drilled two holes - one for a pressure plate bolt and another for a gearbox mounting hole on the block. So, it doesn't even need to be steel....

Awesome. The beauty of 5 stud I guess.

Hawt for sure - where'd they come from??!?

I can understand SGBOY's posts just fine. I can't understand the Jag engine picture (not a BMW, not seeing any overheating damage!), although it is a little sad I too identified it as a Jag engine immediately (it makes me an anorak wearing trainspotter).

There is a reasonable chance the same driver is an a**hole around cyclists too...

Cool article. There's one of those engine's (and a box) on Trademe at the moment. Someone needs to man up and buy it and do a full on project installing it so I have some interesting posts to read (LOL).

You gonna chuck it on a dyno? Do it!

Assuming it does, I reckon Flux's signature is just as awesome as mine.

An internal leak in the master cylinder will make the brake pedal go soft. It's a disconcerting feeling of having the pedal sink slowly beneath your foot while sitting at the lights, or a long soft pedal (and if it is bad enough, you need to pump the pedal). It doesn't sound from the description like this is the problem, but in case this describes it... there you go.

ETK says 3.15 medium case for a 3.0 M3 and 3.23 large case for a 3.2 M3.