ecko_complex

I got a chance to go to the Bangkok motorshow this year and managed to get a few pictures. Nothing new but nice cars anyway .

Unfortunatley I missed the BMW Car Club Of Thailand but found some pictures here.

Part of the reason for asking is that all the strut braces I've seen are cheesy chinese ones - maybe they're ok but they sure look flimsy...

This one I bought in bkk did look pretty crappy, but its solid as. Fitted ok, and hasn't broken despite questionable welds. I'll try to remember to take a pic of it tomorrow. For $20 it was just as "oh well it's worth a shot" sort of thing.

My experience with x-brace on sedan is that it has no effect around town. I live up a curvy hill and I don't exactly go slow and still didn't notice anything. $500 later .

Bought a $20 strut brace in Bangkok and noticed quite a difference, especially during sudden turning.

Maybe I'm just back-to-front .

Fair review, and I agree about the long throw. It's IMPOSSIBLE to get a (real) short shifter too. Fair comment on the steering wheel too, it's rather large - I'd much prefer to have the later 3-spoke one.

On the 0-100 comment, did they even bother trying or did they not want to break someone else's "$35,000 AUD" car?

Hehe... thanks man, gave me a real boost .

I saw you out in town last night, fark it was insane in Chch!

Anyhow, yet to see what he has to say but hopefully will be a goer.

Haha yeah it was pretty insane, was a bad idea to go for a drive around the block, ended up being a 40 minute trip due to traffic :|. Only saw one bimmer .

Hope it all works out, flooring it in 1st gear for the first time will definably put a smile on your face that will last a while .

Whoa, looks like lots of fun. Wish my car was track ready

Go for it dude, I spent 6 months being poor to save to buy my car and don't regret it. Most of those things are just wear and tear which I'm sure you'd encounter on almost every M3. Plus you can fix most of them yourself if you want. The OBC - forget about it. They're pointless, I've never used mine. Try to leverage as much off the price as you can though. It has done hardly any K's which is a realllly good thing. Plus, IMO it's the best looking car in the world (looks exactly the same as mine ).

Oh. Hell.

We figured someone needs to give the Mag and Turbo down there a shake up!!

Good.

There's a factory hole just above the passenger footrest under the glove box, you need to pull the carpet down a bit. Theres a rubber thing in there to stop crap coming through but allows you to feed wires through. Find the rubber thingy, push coat hanger strength wire through it, strap some wire to the coat hanger and pull it thru in the engine bay. It's pretty simple and there's lot of room, as long as you don't have an after-market alarm.

Cost me ~14 grand all up to put the turbo on my car, and I haven't even got a proper ECU yet (another 4k easy) or done the head gasket. Could probably save a few grand on exhaust manifold if a "log style" one would fit.

Are you the guy that text me about buying an M3? Get a Dyno, if that's reading ~170kw at the wheels then you must have had a hell of a 325.

Nice car, looks familiar

Clarkson isn't harsh on Bimmers, look at his review of any M car - despite being childish he acknowledges that they are the best cars in their field by a mile and always will be.

Wow . e30 M3 has to be my favorite car, not to mention the best looking car .. ever .. Keen for a swap?

I will help you with your power increasing by buying your fogs

Send me a PM with your offer .

Man i'd love to do that but theres the little thing called lack of funds! I am however gonna save my pennys and hopefully import a supercharger kit from the states for my M3 in the near to later on down the track future???

A supercharger would be 100x easier to do, I simply chose to go with a turbo setup because the possibilities are endless with how much power I can get out of it. I wont stop until I'm getting at least 500hp at the wheels

This has been something that has bothered me for a while. Living in the center of town I see a lot of cars parked around here. I've seen at least 4 318/320's with M3 badges. They range from the new badge styling (older ones are flat, new ones are curved) to stickers. It's so infuriating to spend so long (2+ years for me) saving for one to have some dick running around acting like their car is an M3. But what can ya do, people can do what ever they like with their cars so I find it's better to just leave them in a cloud of lean exhaust .

Whoa, that looks pretty damn good.

Wow, very nice ! Look forward to seeing it at this months meet.

Sorry guys, I didn't wanna say it before I knew for sure... I lost the f'ing dyno sheets . I do know it's running 280rwhp @ 5 psi, which is about a 50hp increase on what it came like new. It makes that power at 4500rpm and goes all the way to red-line (kinda dips off for a bit when the wastegate opens). The fuel curve is a bit off too. I'm going to get a proper ECU and injector setup after Christmas (money is a bit tight) so we can get the fuel curve perfect and get some real power out of it . More to follow....

Edit:

Forgot to mention, it passed certification with flying colours

Edit 2:

A short and rather bad collection of videos of my car

Wow that's cheap, does LOOK genuine though. I'm guessing someone stole the badge or a previous owner took it off and they put a new one on and stuffed it up...

It's complete!!! :lol:

I'll take some nice pictures/videos and put them in rides showroom.

If anyone wants to come have a look or ride give me a text on 027 668 7199. Rides cost $10 (just kidding).

Get the car back tomorrow, along with dyno sheets. Looking forward to it, has been upgraded with a miltek exhaust, short shifter and new head unit as well. Will be a different car . I've been told that its running 6 psi.

Turns out the rubber bend to the intake manifold pops off under boost, kinda saw that coming though. A stainless one is getting made this week. Other than that, it all runs perfect .

Update

Stainless manifold has been made:

And dyno/tuning next week .