CamB

Pre facelift 325i has crank sensors which mount on the bellhousing, and the flywheel has an extra tooth in it for one of the sensors (the other reads off the ring gear). 323i doesn't have it (but does have a 260 gearbox), and ditto for facelift 325i (which has a different crank sensor on the front). I've only dealt with 325i pre-facelift (and its needs for sensors), but would guess your 240 box would work on a 323i, 320i, and a 325i facelift, with your flywheel (and starter motor if the ring gear is different on any of those).

So it might be the nicest M3 cabrio in the world, which is worth about $10k more than being in merely excellent condition, and less than excellent condition, low KM, and completely original. What's been spent on it is mostly irrelevant. It's worth what someone will pay for it. If you ignore New Zealand asking prices for E30 M3s (ie the $80k black one that was in Classic Car, and has been for sale for a year plus at that price, and now this one), it seems the ASKING price is about UK Pounds 15,000 for a very good hard top and a bit more for an EVO or cabriolet. If you can prove otherwise by finding cars selling for more than that, feel free to do so. Plus, I'd have trouble believing its factory RHD given the comments above.

To be fair, they made less than 1,000 of them. I wonder if being a RHD conversion (I assume) affects the value negatively? Probably. I doubt it'll sell at that price unless a very enthusiastic buyer comes out of the woodwork (ie one who loves the car and thinks it will appreciate in value). (edit) What has been spent isn't THAT relevant. It's "just" an M3 Cabrio, not one of the truely rare cars (which generally have a race pedigree) where you'd rescue one regardless of cost and condition.

Fark thats a big turbo. Very interested to see this develop!!

You need to jack the car up and support safely, and use a 7mm wrench and some hose and a bottle. And an assistant to press the pedal. Do you know how to bleed brakes?

Could be - it could also just be a spongy flexible hose. You could try bleeding it to make sure there is no air in there - see if it gets better (and inspect the hose at the same time - see if that's the problem). Otherwise the master or slave could be leaking slightly internally.

Yeah but Regan sells Bilsteins not Konis, so he's gonna be biased. Given the Series Cars do a fairly easy 170kph through the sweeper, and the fastest cars do consistent 1:15s with a good driver/engine/setup, I'd be surprised if magically changing to Bilsteins made them noticeably faster. Jonathan's car already has Bilsteins of some sort - B6s I'd guess although they need to be checked. The cheapest option might be to just chuck in some new stiffer springs (eg the E30 series front springs and some sort of uprated rear spring). With an LSD it will need a slightly stiffer rear than the series car, IMHO.

The rear adjusty is a threaded platform that sits in the standard position under the spring, so shock/spring remain separate. Coilover rears (with strengthened shock towers) is an option, and a more expensive one at that. Turner (looks like he would have had H&R)/Ground Control/KW Variant are all much more expensive (about $2.5-3k by the time they're here and you've been pinged for GST). They're all approximately the same price as a trip down to George Stocks to get existing struts modified for coilovers, whatever spring rate you want, top adjustable konis and adjustable strut tops. $3k is a lot more than $1100 for the dodgy D2s ... you can't even get the koni/king Series Combo for that (note I have no idea what the series guys pay for them, but that's not a price available to all).

- Camber adjustment - Lack of choice on spring rate - Lack of choice on height (not such a big deal)

Oh ok, I thought you were the M50 engine into an E30 guy. Oops. Chances are someone will have had a crack at this, so hopefully someone will answer.

Use Google - for M50 into an E30 you convert one of the existing looms to have a plug in option (apparently), and use the E36 engine loom and ECU.

I now use a hammer, after getting similar instructions a few months back. Don't miss (or use a drift), and hopefully the others have made it clear you're hitting the strut perpendicular to the tapered part of the ball joint - not any part of the ball joint or tie rod itself. Sometimes you have to hit it pretty hard... and/or some leverage.

I still reckon the spring rates are wrong (Jonathan and I have talked about it offline) - 8kg front is 450lb/in, 6kg rear is 335lb/in, which seems way too stiff front/soft rear (although cheap to stiffen front and/or soften rear). Having said that, my 2002 (which has slightly different geometry and motion ratios) has 425 front and 300 rear and isn't bad (I need to find some 350s for the rear)... But some internet searching suggests 450lb front would go with more like 600lb rear. My other reservation is that I assume since the e30s have inserts in a strut, that the threaded part must somehow sit on the existing lower perch. I can't imagine any other way of doing it (without cutting off the existing perch and welding on the threaded part, like on mine). Maybe you need to find out some more details. Still, I reckon DO IT. Coz I want to install them. And the sway bars, but leave your sh*t tyres on.

The lead was in the bumpers of the earliest cars - the short wheel base ones which were '65-'68. When they lengthened the wheelbase for '69 they took the weight out of the FRONT bumper. It was a rangi-ass way of changing the weight distribution. In later years as the power increased and the weight of the engine increased they moved to wider wheels at the back. They're not as bad/dangerous to drive as people make out - basic rule is to not lift off, but that's not really any different to some FWD cars. Gus - when you come back contact me (in Auckland). Chances are I won't have sold it (I've had it 7 years). UPGRADES include: - 911SC 3 litre crank/rods with 10.5:1 98mm pistons/cylinders for 3.2 litres (the "short stroke" 3.2) - Cams are the same as the early 911S/911RS - twin spark plugs per cylinder so it can run on pump fuel - individual throttle bodies - EFI with 944 turbo injectors, old MOTEC controlling it - 245hp at the hubs - stainless steel headers/heat exhangers (the fan blows air through a box around the headers to provide hot air to the cabin) - external oil cooler - Porsche 915 gearbox, no LSD - Carrera ('80s) alloy rear trailing arms (lighter), alloy 911S brakes. Not power assisted - upgraded sway bars and 21mm/27mm torsion bars (torsion bars not springs) - Refinished 16" wheels to replaced 15" wheels (so I could run 50 profile tyres) - refinished to look like old wheels - no power steering - they don't need it and the steering is pretty light - replica '70s race seats - brand new and I'm not telling anyone what I paid Ummm, the front A-arms, chassis, alternator, fan and engine oil cooler are from the original car. Everything else is upgraded. The engine could run RSR cams (the pistons have the appropriate cut-outs to allow those cams), which would rev to closer to 8,000 and make over 300hp. That's a full race engine. Body is ... ok. It is black over some nasty colour over original slate grey (like Steve McQueen in Le Mans). It needs a tidy.

Gus - could be anywhere from $35-50k for my car once I've finished tidying a couple of things (wide range coz it depends how fast I'd want to sell it) - being LHD lets it down but its got a lot of good bits (ie rare and/or expensive) and its an early (pre-impact bumper) car. Would be worth heaps in the UK. Would cost about $70k to replicate it as it sits (also has upgraded suspension, refurbed brakes, etc etc). Price really is tricky - you never see them for sale... but rare and valuable aren't the same. They're really simple cars, so very easy to work on. They're actuallu pretty reliable (with noteable and well documented exceptions) - it's common for the 77-83 911SCs to still be going strong at 200,000km after being thrashed their whole life, as long as they're maintained. Oil change is a shock though - 10+ litres and a $40-50 oil filter...

It's true - they are very different to drive. No weight over the front so fantastic steering. The older cars (pre 90s) are light and fast (the newer ones are heavier and fast). They're narrow - small, much smaller than an E30. Small like 2002 small. Shitty gearbox on the older ones, with floor mounted pedals, oooh and they sound great. Basically heaps of character. Mine: And an indicative example of what I'd make it look like if I had a further $10-15k to spare: http://www.early911.co.uk/html/2_8rsr-recreation.html

Any details? I've got one a bit like that - a '69 with a 270hp 3.2 litre engine (in slightly over 1 tonne). Its ... "interesting" to drive, especially as it only has 205/50s at both ends, and the brakes are unassisted. And its left hand drive. I really should sell it - I'm not doing it justice. All it needs is new carpet and a paint/body job to look like whatever early Porsche race car suits (eg '73 911RS or RSR).

Usana - it's a pyramid scheme. And/or he might try and talk up property. Plenty of information on the internets if you care to search for Kevin Abdulrahman. If you search hard enough (eg gpforums.co.nz) you'll find an article from Craccum magazine about him.

Price isn't bad - is the bearing replaceable?

Do they actually need a brake SIZE upgrade? Even for the track (ie will pads and fluid do)? Bigger discs and calipers aren't really an upgrade if you don't need them - they just increase unsprung weight. A slightly extreme example (given weight of car etc) is my mate's Peugeot 205. We squeezed 307 brakes in there - they are as big as you can fit inside a 15" wheel - a 282mm disc - and it really affected the feel of the steering and the handling to a lesser extent. It looked good though... Changing back to smaller disc (with a light alloy caliper, from a 106 Rallye, not the 205 iron caliper) showed no reduction in stopping power on the road and felt and handled heaps better.

FFS - ok spacers are legal, with a cert, as long as they are ok with the cert guy. Cert is +/- $400, and the guy will look over the whole car and any other modifications will need to be up to scratch. Requirements for LVVTA are on page 16/17 here: http://www.lvvta.org.nz/Wheels&Tyres.pdf And you will note they are onerous, in particular the part about needing to locate the wheel on the hub spigot, and not using the studs (ie, what 99% of people with spacers do, including me). Spacers without a cert are not legal, unless (apparently) you are a Porsche driver.

They vary in quality too. I know a guy who just bought a Porsche Cayman S, complete with 5mm spacers from the dealer. It was un upgrade option. I assume it is these: http://www.porsche.com/usa/accessoriesands...;hideintro=true Makes you wonder just how illegal they can be... ... although its pretty clear from the WOF rules. This is from the threshold guide, you would be ok as long as: ie, spacers are bad.

Are you really sure you want to ask a question about something that might munt your car, which trying to sell it?

Holy Thread Dig Batman. I hope you have better attention to detail on installing lambo doors than on punctuation and grammar when describing it.

Asking in the nicest possible way... is it how you drive? If you punt the car into the corner too fast, then just turn the wheel, physics will win and the car will scrub off speed using the outside edge of the front tyres. As others have said, if you set the car up correctly for the corner, there should be very little, if any, understeer. I suggest this only coz my father in law has an E34, wears the tyres like you say, and drives like I've just described.