sierra9260

How ridiculous is all this? Makes me not even want to have a car anymore. If they say I can go get f$#ked when I won't shell out hundreds after I've already paid hundreds in engine swapping and suspension then I will. I've heard most of the assessors don't even have a clue what they're looking for anyway. How is that at all safe?

LOL!! "Earthly Andy, kind to the environment. Keeping his catalytic converter clean since the 80's"

Need the old 4 pin + dud pin = 5 pin plug MAF sensor for an updated motronic ecu M20B20 320i I am in the Hawkes Bay area if there are any around..... Cheers

It could be this and it could be that mentality is probably just going to put you crook and cost you money, especially if your car is needed for daily use. I had a look at your video and honestly I have no clue, but could be a vacuum leak of some kind (the revs dropping off) and the clunking may even be a bad knock of some kind which could be a big job. I just replaced my 2 litre with another 2 litre as I got a good deal and had to get the car working, its a shame I couldn't get a 325i one but if you have the time you could get a hold of one which would give you a nice power increase plus a nice fresh working motor

I agree, but why sell? There is nothing more fun and nicer to own and drive than an e30 Just keep chipping away to make it nice and in years to come it will be a desirable timeless classic, especially the verts.

I just did a big engine swap and manual conversion. Messed about with my knackered old engine for so long. Ended up spending as much trying to fix the old motor as just buying a new one and putting in I think. Plus the new one has only 132 000ks You might find it better just getting a good deal on a replacement engine. Just make sure the compression is okay and its never been over heated and all of that stuff.

Wow awesome response to this guys. Always thankful for the guidance. I will give BNT a call tomorrow and try and sort some redline MTL for a decent price and fill this sucker, see how it does.

Great thanks for that. I'll take a look. How much oil does the gear box take so I know how much to put in with a pumper

I have a 1988 Bmw e30 320i M20B20. It has a Getrag 240 5 speed gear box. I thought it best before I drive it too much after it has just had a new manual conversion, that I change the gear box oil. I have had a search through some forums and there seems to be a lot of different types you can get. I also learnt sometimes there are tags on the bell housing that indicate which oil should be used. I thought I would ask some local people as I would get a better idea and have some more up to date knowledge on what oil to buy for the 240. Also how is it drained out then filled? There is a small port on top of the gear box with a plastic cap in it... is it filled in through here? There is what appears to be a plug which has an inverted hex indentation of about 17mm, on on bottom of the box. Is this the drain plug? I know how to fill the crank case oil but I was wondering what a good oil would be for an M20. Thanks guys.

Thats awesome Andy, thank you. Do you know if it will be compatible with my engine and things? The engine is 1990 so im fairly sure it would have the updated motronic system with the o2 sensor etc, I think the maf plug has 4 pins + a dud pin so its like a 5 pin plug. Fair call on the shipping side, ive seen a few on trade me but if you're coming up I'll just wait. Thanks mate, fingers crossed that will sort it out

Looked up some videos on youtube of faulty air flow meters and a little trick some people use is disconnecting the plug while the car is running. If the engine starts running more consistently or 'better' when the plug to the sensor is disconnected chances are you're in the right place. I did this to my air flow meter and the revs dropped and it seemed to just idle there, a lot better than it does with it connected. So now I'm really after an Air Flow Meter.

Good points there chaps, changed the fuel pump with a wreckers one when the old engine was in the car and didn't seem to make a difference, although there is a possibility that pump could have been bad too.. The idle is very steady though and doesn't play about at all. My pump does have an audible buzz but I was under the impression this isn't anything too troublesome? I am usually wellington based Andy and that is a most kind offer but the car is in Hawkes Bay where its currently being worked on. Although I appreciate the offer. Another interesting point I have just thought of is that when revving high on cold start if left for a while then turned off, then back on the idle drops... Almost as though you have reset something by turning the key. I will try another TPS then I'm afraid I'm all out of ideas but I'll see how this goes.

Hi all! Over the summer I had the opportunity to do a huge overhaul on my e30 320i and I must say I have completely revived the tired old girl. I have put a nice new engine in, removed some rust, changed the transmission from auto to manual and shes running very nicely. A little niggle I have found is just that when I quickly or sharply, press the accelerator pedal the engine splutters a little and the revs drop for a moment, kind of stutters and then will sort itself out. I will try and pop up a video shortly. Before I changed engines the car had a myriad of problems and if memory serves me right, this was one of them. However it is a massively watered down version of the problem and it doesn't really affect the general runnings of the car to get from A to B. The only things that weren't changed when the engine was swapped was the fuel pump and MAF sensor. Basically everything else has been changed over.... On a side note a fella was trying to help me sort some idling issues on the old engine and started playing with the MAF sensors allen key adjustment screw. one other little niggle I have is the engine revving past 2k revs when it is first started for the day. I'm assuming this might be as simple as changing the thermostat? I have put in a new radiator too and I thought the car might just sort itself out when the water has cycled etc etc. Any input here, as always is greatly appreciated. This car would probably still be a giant paper weight if it wasn't for the really good people on these forums so many thanks!

Hey mate, would have been very keen but bought one from BNT just before you posted. Thanks anyway and appreciate all the advice. Learnt something new, you can good new parts from BNT and Repco

Rung Repco and BNT cheapest I could find was $46 from BNT. Very lucky getting it for less than $30! Thanks for the advice guys

Looking for a good slave cylinder for an e30 m20. I got a price brand new from pelican parts and I want to see if I can get one faster here. Cheers guys

Thanks Ahmed, I'll check that out, its good to know a few tips and have some direction at least. And Brent thats a good point, its only short by such a small fraction. It did run through my mind that it could be the size of my diff making it seem shorter. I have pulled it apart and shifted it down the splines a little to line up with the diff. Hopefully it won't cause any problems running like that....

About 9 months ago I bought a drive shaft off these forums from a pleasant fella for a manual conversion as the utter dim wit I bought the kit off on trademe put one accross me and never included it. I have checked real OEM and it it seems the shaft I need is 1526mm long. I discussed the length and things with the fella from here and we both agreed it should be long enough, I am not by any means blaming him. I am running a 1990 M20 with a getrag 240 gear box. Now I put the old auto one next to this manual one and the manual one is significantly longer. Right now after all this time I am doing the work on the car so today I go to put the drive shaft in and it is a fraction too short. I have no idea whats going on. The front segment of the driveshaft lines up perfectly with the hanger mounting bolts but it seems like the rear segment is slightly too short. Really scratching my head over this one.... Any help appreciated.

Yeah I was pretty sure it was for e36. I don't know why the guy marketed it as an e30 - e36 radiator. Quite misleading, however I probably should have done a bit more research on the product he was selling. I'll be well chuffed if its just a simple exercise of routing a few hoses around the place and everything works fine. I have routed that bottom hose onto the new radiator. The others seem to be the same size and fit fine too apart from that one you can see on the top of the thermo housing but thats simple. There is another small hose that connects to the top of the old expansion tank too, you can see in the picture that it looks like it come from under the passenger side fender somewhere. Is that anything to worry about?

http://postimg.org/image/d4xa424sx/ thats my expansion tank which was standard fitment in my car. as you can see it has two small pipes on the top neither of which are on the new tank. I did have a thought though... Why couldn't I completely disregard the expansion tank fitted on the side of the radiator on this new one? all i need is the hoses from the thermo housing, but then I would still need the one for the air to escape. here a few images of the radiator. Sorry I can't provide any pictures of the old radiator, my father took it to be tested some months ago and idiotically let them dispose of it or keep it or something.... don't ask me why. Now I need to find an extra radiator temperature sensor : / Another thought I've just had here... I know Jason just said that little pipe is for air to escape into the expansion tank and very critical but surely there would be one on my new radiator if so necessary? perhaps seen as the radiator has its own tank that would mean there is in fact a port that you can't see that air can go from the radiator into its expansion tank? I just want to start this thing and this is the only thing holding me back! haha. But I must say these forums are pretty much the sole reason for me resurrecting my car so I'm extremely thankful for that

I got a new non oem branded (I think) radiator off trademe which said it was for e30/e36 1983-00 so I quickly purchased it because it was at a good price and I am very eager to have my car running again as its not been for the past year or so, I have dropped a much nicer, reliable running M20 and converted the transmission to manual at the same time. Anyway.... I have done some research and it seems the radiator will fit quite snugly with some need to modify the mounting points so it sits in the engine bay right. I have had a small go at mocking it up to go in and it seems that most of the hoses fit on okay, the one that comes off the top of the radiator and goes onto the thermostat housing is a bit too long now though. However on the original expansion tank for my car has a small hose coming from the top and used to connect to a small corresponding nipple on the top of the original radiator. This new e36 radiator doesn't seem to have one of these... will this be an issue? It has a smaller nipple at the bottom but shining a light down it reveals that it appears to go no where. Some wisdom on this would be very helpful. Cheers

Appreciate the help, I'll look into this. There is really much choice with these things as bmw seem to have made them pretty intricately.

My throttle cable has had-it on my e30 m20. Would it be best to get a brand new on from ebay? I might find one at the wreckers but will that be iffy? I was also wondering if its possible to just get new cable and mock something up some how? Cheers

Would like to get a fibreglass 4 door Tech 2 II body kit. Don't really need the wing or the door skirts so if anyone has this with out them that's fine. There used to be a few on Trademe but they appear to have moved on and I'm not too keen on the really expensive oem plastic one. Cheers

More like just want a lend or can hire from anyone who has an Engine Crane in the Hawkes Bay area. The ones from Hirepool are on trailers and honestly a rip off anyway. Is there any one around who has one or knows of anyone who does? Need to place my new engine and gear box in the e30 this week. Many thanks