E30 325i Rag-Top

Bathurst pop-up channel on Sky Sports, lots of extended highlights of old races, heaven. just been watching JR in the JPS M3 in '87.

To be fair, not all of the car manufacturers / distributors in NZ have been particularly proactive on this issue, some have made no effort at all to find out which (if any) cars are affected and contact the owners. I think that is why the media have picked up on it.

Snap-in adaptor goes in the arm rest, yes. Might not have been optioned in your car if it's an import. Play back should start as soon as you choose your phone as the music source from the iDrive.

Wide body and flares then...?

Just run them like that, looks baller G!

^^exactly this, if they aren't prepared to pay for decent rubber, then the chances they have done servicing and preventative maintenance are pretty slim.

I vaguely recall one of the car, or possibly consumer, magazines doing a lot of fuel tests a few years back, will see if I can find it with Google. would be interesting if there were a scientific study into the power and economy for the different fuels in the same car (real world test not lab). Especially for older cars without knock sensors, different ECU timing maps, etc. I always seem to do the lawns quicker when I put 98 in the mower, but that could be a placebo effect?

Fuel card for the work cars is Mobil, so have to use them. Used to be BP but Mobil offered a better deal so we swapped. When I want 98 for the race car I tend to go BP though so that's worth remembering.

Most of the Mobils around Mt Wellington / East Auckland only do the 95 and not the 98, I have to go to Green Lane when I need to fill up the M Cars, everything else is happy to run on the 95. But it's not cheap there. I have recently noticed how much the prices vary, same brands, different areas.. the North Shore are getting rorted on what they are paying compared to out East. I think they call it the Gull effect, they dropped their price 10c / litre for 36 hours and everyone else on Ti Rakau followed suit.. diesel at 87.9c / ltr from Mobil plus discount on the fuel card, sweet.

Agreed, that's a keeper. Unless he's selling it to buy an E30 M3!

Give your local BMW dealer a ring, most of the odd-ball sizes are kept in stock in the part warehouse, in the factory optioned brands - Bridgestone, PSS, Contis, etc. Lots of 19" rims as standard on NZ cars nowadays. Not sure about pricing and how competitive they are though, might be worth a shot if you are stuggling to source what you need.

Castrol used to have a global supply agreement with BMW, including the factory first fill which was why Castrol products are referenced. The supply agreement has now changed over to Shell oils, so expect that to be referenced more in the coming years. Try Kayne Barrie for your LSD oil, he will point you in the right direction and can supply the oil you need.

Well, it's obviously not as good as an E30 325i vert... And apart from the fact it's not my cup of tea what do you want to know? I'll see what's in the records..

Have seen issues with how much the engine and box move around in a race car running standard mounts. Not sure it would be worthwhile in a road car though?

MPI check is not an issue on newer cars, unless it is from some high-risk area. It does seem to be bit of a rort though, I've been charged for steam cleaning and removal of trims that clearly never happened. Don't under estimate the cost of work required to meet compliance either, if it's an older car. Check the excess on your insurance as well, some shippers aren't interested if the car is damaged and just refer you to your insurer.

Yeah, the pictures are poor. Blue colour makes it interesting, especially if it is Macao Blue (can't quite tell from potato photos). sh*t pod filter is a warning sign though..

Depends what is covered in the "shipping" fee, is it a door to door price or purely the sea freight? All sorts of charges, MPI, port handling, etc. On top of the sea freight cost. Check what is included.

Wow, that is a serious peice of plate you have put in there Rich!!

VIsual is the only way really, short of taking them off and getting them put on a shock / spring tester which is a PITA. Have you used the boot of the car for storage of some heavy parts for a long time? Can cause sagging of the back end? The rear E30 King Spring is designed so that the end coils can compress up inside the main coils, giving extra length of compression and avoiding getting coil-binding. This does give more travel on the back end before it comes to a physical stop, not sure if that should give the symptoms you are describing though? Even with my rears set to fully soft I have never (that I can remember) noticed a big problem with squat, but then as a race car it has absolutely bugger all weight in the back end compared to a road car with seats, spare tyre, jack, etc, even before you load in a couple of big mates. That could be the difference possibly, the race spring is set up for a lighter rear than for a road car??

^^The original question you posed, very dismissive of the Chinese market IMHO. Response: Factual response about size of Chinese market, also giving examples of the influence of this market can have on manufacturers and their product, including BMW. Develops into philosophical discussion about wealth, greed and money - somehow. I'll have some of what you're on Ron, it would appear to be some of the best hallucinogens on the market today. Peace out homies. FYI, cut and paste from e-mail sig: -------------------------------------------------------------------- Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft Vorstand: Harald Krüger (Vorsitzender), Milagros Caiña Carreiro-Andree, Klaus Draeger, Friedrich Eichiner, Klaus Fröhlich, Ian Robertson, Peter Schwarzenbauer, Oliver Zipse. Vorsitzender des Aufsichtsrats: Norbert Reithofer Sitz und Registergericht: München HRB 42243 --------------------------------------------------------------------

It's like trying to punch fog.

So tempted to buy these wheels, just a little bit worried about tyre size availability for a 16" rim, as opposed to the wide range of sizes available on 17" I would be looking to run these on the race car when I go to 5-Stud, does anyone have knowledge of the 16" rim sizes of semi-slicks / slicks and price comparison with 17s? sorry just being lazy and asking rather than looking. Ideally I would be looking for a width greater than 205 as that is what am running on my 15" rims, so at least 215 if not 225? I do / will have the flared M3 guards to give extra clearance for the wider tyres and wheels.

Thanks for clarifying impugn, but it was the other errrors in the statement that were confusing. BMW Gmbh ? and "appraisel" ? BMW is an "AG" not a "Gmbh" although M Division is Gmbh which is where your confusion may be coming from?

Que..?

Hmm, something doesn't seem quite right there. Have you checked your shocks and the springs to see if they are ok and not overly tired?