E30 325i Rag-Top

If it's the metal bracket that the filter straps on to then I have one here you can take.. .bit of a trek from palmy though.

The tyres, pads and rotors can be influlenced by your driving style. Unfortunately the X5 does go pretty well and has good on road manners, so you can easily find yourself chucking it about like a car rather than a 2.5tonne truck. That is what tends to chew the tyres, and in particular the brakes as pulling up that amount of momentum does take a bit of effort. If you can avoid the temptation then you can get much better life from the consumables. Regular maintenance is a must for the 30ltr diesel, if it has been missed or cheaped out on then likely to have issues down the line, regular doses of good quality oil.

I'm with you Graham, 4-cylinder E30 please. That why I have a 4-pot in the race car - trade off between power and weight / handling. Even with a 4-cylinder up front it is still a bit nose heavy but that could because so much gets stripped out of the rear with a racer. A good M10 in an e30 would be a great car. It is possibly because most people are being "realistic" in what they are looking for, 320i / 325i is still an affordable E30, M5x swap into an E30 is a cheap(ish) swap. 318iS and M3 are very scarce and out of most peoples budgets, so they look for the "next best thing" instead, which is perceived to be the 6-cylinder models. Not sure that argument quite stacks up with the Mercs though as the 2.3 16v, whilst not quite the dizzy heights of an M3, is still a lot more expensive than the 6-cyl versions...

Nigel Latta did a very good comparison between an 80s Falcodore and a modern hatch. Was very interesting. 80s car was big, heavy and solid but no safety features of modern world. I'll take the modern safety please.

Nice car, good price from the list of parts in it and caged. You might have more luck on TradeMe if you list it in the "Specialist Cars" section as that is where the race cars are normally listed.

Yeah the coffee meet up at Kyu's place sees some pretty good cars and all well presented. Concours (or however you spell it).. is a whole other world of clealiness OCD and attention to detail, it's not just about the presentation of the car, it's how factory original it is with the right parts on the car. A friend of mine in the UK had a car that was only ever used for concours events, it still had the delivery labels from the factory..

From memory there used to be a concourse event at the big yearly club meet a few years back. The guy is talking about 2002 and 2003 so a bit before my time.

Sweet car. I think I saw you driving through Maraetai the other week-end. Funny how the little finishing touches take so long once you get to the stage you can go for a drive eh?

The sports seats in my vert have done less than 80k miles, but bolsters were replaced long ago. I think it is the rubbing as you get in and out... Lots of short trips = more rubbing. yes, agree, not in great shape for what he is asking. Needs to be brought up to a good standard for those prices. Could be such a great car with the effort.

Good idea - I'll look into that.

They are expensive for a reason, if they were cheap that would possibly mean that they were no good and not popular. It might not stack up $$$ wise v say a 2JZ swap due to the availability of Japanese engines in this part of the world, but if you want to stick with Bimmer power in a Bimmer, then there are not many better options.

Thread tidied up and posts removed. Apologies, missed that fact that this thread had gone off the rails, mods sleeping on the job again.

Hey Cam, whereabouts in Auckland are you? I have got a few of the parts you are looking for, and will have the rear disc set-up available soon.

Most postal or freight companies will be able to give you a price for an "LCL" = less than container load, so part of a container. Just be careful on the MAF requirements, wooden pallets have to be marked as being treated, etc. parts should be clean as possible, not dirt, grass, etc. on them. Any country that has its economy in the toilet at the moment is a good place to look, Greece, Italy, UK, plus lots of parts in Germany! Good excuse for a holiday in Europe - happy hunting.

Yeah, that's the problem, worth 3 tenths of sweet FA if I transfer it over now. I have found it makes more sense to transfer the money by spending it on car parts in the UK and then shipping them to NZ to use here, a much better exchange rate that way!! Plus it's always very useful to have a few spare bank accounts around the world to tuck things away into. Will still need this account in the future when my pension(s) start paying out...

Mind you there is also my UK bank account... month's worth of interest in a SAVINGS account, with over a thousand pounds in it.... 1 penny. Yup, thats right, one whole penny. I suppose I could move the money over to NZ to earn higher interest in an account here....

Nice, a few quiet and understated mods to the M3 there. not sure how practical it would be as a daily road car though...?

I think the rear is more of an issue with the Touring than the front, that is my view having followed the one that races in the BMW Series for a few laps. Not sure if the touring has a rear sway as standard...? I do believe that the sway bar from the sedan / coupe should fit in the touring, so that could be a good place to start. I have seen lots of good reviews on the IE saw bars, but I can't recall any being specifically in a Touring. If they have got a matched F/R pair for the T then that would be a good bet as I would suggest a lot of the benefit is in gettting the balance right between the two ends.

Bank charges in general... One months interest on savings of thousands of dollars - $1,40 less tax, go a dollar overdrawn for six hours ovenight - $10 charge plus interest...

Owner reckons it was done in Uk by Birds, then serviced "at the factory" then registered here as NZ New?

The pricing has come down, but still unrealistic for what it is, a molested, non-original Evo I with a sketchy history and no ealry documentation to back it up. Even if it is in good condition. The silly comment about it appreciating by $2,500 a month has also been removed, proabably wasn't prepared to guarantee it to the buyer.

Sounds like the start of a very good joke..

What is worse? Well how about the red MR2S that I saw on the motorway that had replaced the badges with... wait for it.... the Ferrari horse logos (printed vinyl not the square 3D badges. now that really, really is pushing your luck. I wonder if anyone has ever been fooled into thinking it is and actual Ferrari? NZ created a bit of a local anomally by putting the ///M badge in front of the 325i on the "M325i" version of the 325i with M-Sport that was sold here back in the E30 days, and this trend was continued on M-Sport cars up until a few years back with dealers being supplied with an ///M badge to go on the back.

Upload is now fixed, so should be able to add some pics?

In all honesty, from looking at the photos and reading the description this car is a potential nightmare. If you are good with mechanics or have friends that can do things mates rates, then negotiate hard on the price and go for it, if not steer clear especially for a daily I see unreliability everywhere. Too many signs that the car has been fiddled about with, and then not maintained / sorted thoroughly. A ticking time bomb for any new owner.