Mark

It seems the cheaper route is to swap in a decent m20b25. But if the rust issues are bad then maybe even swap the wheels, suspension and cosmetic stuff across to a new shell with a solid engine already in it.

The proper way to use a credit card (if you are disciplined) is to buy everything with it and then pay it off each month before you incur interest.

I mean put absolutely everything on it, pay your bills, buy your groceries, petrol... my parents built their entire house using their credit card.... they got some serious rewards dollars from that. Even if you're on a modest salary you can rack up some good rewards dollars that way. I use my dollars to buy tools from Mitre 10 every couple of months.

Even better, if you have a mortgage then get a revolving credit facility so you can pay down your mortgage each month and then take that money out again at the end of the month to pay off your credit card... will mean you pay less interest on your mortgage.

Wasn't it a member named "roo" who owned this car?

Nice find Brent, like the Schnitzer kit.

Did you clean the throttle body while you were in there?

Do the revs surge and then drop or is it just idling low. Where does the tach needle sit at idle? Does it improve when warm?

Clean the ICV and also the mechanical flap in your AFM. Both can get gummed up with gunk and cause idling problems.

the previous owner hasnt drilled holes in the floor. The outer holes there is a plastic cap that screws in there to keep the carpet to the floor, th more inner ones are for the seat bolts.

But surely those holes weren't designed for seat bolts? They would have to have been widened and tapped to secure a 17mm bolt in there?

I most likely will in my E30 parts car, let me know I will have a look if you dont find any closer to home

Thanks Andy, will keep you in mind if i can't find some.

I thought all e30s had 2 holes there (both of mine have them). Certainly an interesting way to mount those seatbelts though.

They shouldn't, genuine belts mount on the seat, but I suppose most E30's have been through more than one set of belts in their lifetime and the chance of aftermarket belts being installed is pretty high.

One last pic for today, the after shot ...

Found a South African E30 at Pick a Part so raided it for a bunch of small things that I needed.

Most importantly was the cabin fan motor, resistor and the fan speed switch. The cabin fan was asthmatic and the speed control switch didn't actually switch anymore, there was no "click" between speeds, just a smooth motion from 1-4.

Pulled both of these from the Pick-a-part E30 along with the fan speed resistor. Gave the new motor a clean up and installed it. Now fan speed 4 feels like a minor hurricane rather than a wheezing octogenarian.

Other parts I grabbed were a couple of door seals for the ones that had perished or got holes in them. Left hand side door sill trims, b-pillar trims, the air box duct cos the old one had had a screwdriver through it at some point, boot catch trim to replace my scratched and cracked one and a RHS foglight because the mounting bracket on the old one had rusted through.

My front seatbelts were also tired and wouldn't retract properly so I pulled both belts and stalks from the parts car.

Pulled the interior out to do this, good opportunity to vacuum the parts of the carpet you can't normally reach.

The most room an E30 sedan has ever offered!

The offending seatbelts:

The genuine belts mount onto the seat base and the drivers stalk also has the seatbelt sensor has well, my warning light was decommissioned - need to find a new bulb for the check control as well I think.

Painted the seat mounts so they look a bit tidier and put it all back together.

Now just looking for the b-pillar bolt covers for the OEM Autoflug seatbelts if anyone has a pair?

Very useful, thanks Andrew. Have stickied.

Be careful, there are variations. Latches don't fit all belts and vice versa.

FInally found an E30 at Pickapart here, and bonus it was a South African car... so went down nice and early and raided it for a fan speed switch, blower motor and resistor, door rubbers and kickplate trim, plus some window switches, seatbelts and various other bits.

Christchurch people, there's still a bit of stuff left on the car including some almost new shocks and a mint rear chrome bumper.

How much for manual conversion?

Yeah boi, straight pimpin in my 318, flashing stacks of cash at Noel Leeming - interest-free whiteware deals fo' life motherf***er!

http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/bmw/auction-965236396.htm

Price / details / more descriptive title please. Will give you a bit more time to put up the necessary details.

You just need to trawl forums and auction sites for good deals. I paid $200 locally for the M-Tech 2 steering wheel I bought for my E34. A set of leather sports seats will set you back around $500-700 dollars, they pop up on Trademe every so often.

To be honest if you're in Auckland go and see Ray at HELLBM, he's a sponsor on here and will most likely have a bunch of great E30 stuff to sell you. Sure he'll be happy to see you and your chequebook!

Fantastic example, now I have to work towards a similar look with my 2 door, rebuild the engine next year, then work on some minor kit repair / adjustment and repaint.

I thought you sold your E30 many years ago, in fact didn't I sell you my Tech 1 rear spoiler that I always regretted selling?

Yeah, I sold it and then 3 years later I bought it back cos I missed it!

I'm not actually sure what happened to that spoiler you sold me... I sold it with the car but it's not on it now. I totally forgot about it over the three years of not owning the car haha!

I appreciate everyone's views but guys I want to do this so rather than burst my bubble help me along... I will say this no matter what it cost it will be worth it to the buyer in the future in the USA, lol!

I don't think anyone is trying to burst your bubble, rather they're trying to ensure you don't get ripped off. It sounds like you have a healthy budget to modify this car but if you do your research and follow some of (but not necessarily all) the advice you get on this and other forums then you'll get a lot more bang for your buck.

A good example is the steering wheel you bought. As members have pointed out, that is a very common SE spec steering wheel that has been reshaped and recovered. If you paid close to $1500 for it then realise you could have bought one locally for less than $50 and had it recovered/customised at an upholsterer. Doing that would have saved you well over a grand to put towards other modifications.

Remember, no matter how lofty your modification goals there's nothing you can do to an E30 that hasn't been done before. Research, research, research and learn from others' mistakes and triumphs. You'll save a lot of money in the long run.

Good luck with your project.

Look in the for sale section

http://bimmersport.co.nz/forum/11-for-sale/

For sale listings need to have pictures and a price as per forum rules. Please update your original post.

Trying to figure out what is causing a strange intermittent vibration/rumble from the rear of my E46 touring when driving.

When driving under constant throttle (at a steady speed) I will get a rumbling/vibration from the rear of the car which sounds similar to driving on a rumble strip. This isn't constant, it will happen in 2 seconds bursts intermittently and seemingly at random. When this happens the revs drop slightly and then recover again when the rumbling stops.

Trying to think what it could be: Binding caliper? Crap tyres (it currently has shitty chinese tyres on it which I will change when funds allow)? Something to do with the diff?

Any suggestions?

I have taken cars back repeatedly to panelbeaters after insurance jobs. I think part of it is if they don't deem it a "nice" car or they think the owner is not an enthusiast they will do a half-arsed job.

Also, panelbeaters load themselves up with too many jobs because insurance work is easy money and they want to take as much of it as they can (to the detriment of a quality job)

Be their most annoying customer and they will sort out the issues.

EDIT: Don't forget to report their quality of work to your insurance company... they take notice of it and will take them off their preferred repairer list if many people complain.

I bet the sale will fall through when the bidder goes to pick it up and gets massive buyer regret.

Repainted from black - engine bay left as is and is that a coke zero can over the ignition coil?

I actually have a brand new one in the garage. Will put up a pic shortly.

Scratch that, thought you needed the intake tube, not the plastic shroud.

750i master cylinder is a bolt on upgrade for E30's (has to be the 25mm one from an E32). Improves the squishy pedal feel that most E30's have.