E30 325i Rag-Top

How did you manage that? Rolled the car over it, or a flat on the car... Either way it sounds like you need to use it more!

Thanks to the Apple technical bods no longer communicating with the outside world it is taking a lot longer to develop and test the adaptors for the new iPhones, especially when they change the connectors and all the various audio / video / telephone streams like they did with the 5. Previously the basic technical stuff was released before the phones came out so the adaptors werent too far behind, but that stopped with the 4S. Hence why the adaptor for the 5 took so long to come out. I have no idea if the 6 uses the same formats as the 5, or if it is all completely new once again, but it will take a little while to come to market. I will see if I can find out a release date.

You do seriously wonder how some of these drivers have a licence..

Next shipment should be arriving with the distributor early next week, just got an e-mail updating me. Might get it over the Christmas break depending on how good / bad the post is over the holidays.

Sounds good, I will dig them out of the cupboard. Pm me your work address, I go past East Tamaki to work so that would suit.

One point that is being over-looked is the fact that BMWs run "on condition based servicing" not a fixed interval. 25,000kms of long trips and hot running is very different to the same distance of very short trips where then engine never gets warm. I should go back through my records to see how far the "25,000kms" interval gas worked out over the last 3 services as I have done it when the cluster has said, and used the proper LL01 oil.

Bugger, sorry to hear that Andrew, I very nearly removed this from the For Sale section as he hadn't met the post count, but let it slide as he had photos and a price. I will see if there is anything we can do from the Admin side to track him down.

M320i with pod-filter - the performance edition!! How much for the fuse box cover Brent ??

I have ordered it, I am happy to repay people for going to the effort and expense of making such a "specialist" film - rather than ripping it off from a free download, it's not like they are a major Hollywood outfit looking to make millions from the enterprise. Currently the distributor is out of stock of both the DVD and blue ray so waiting on a new shipment to arrive, hope it's soon I want to watch it all!

I have a pair and the clips. WhereAbouts are you and what are you looking to pay?

It's not just about the cage Tom, you HAVE to wear a helmet, without harnesses and using standard belts and seat I would be very concerned about neck injury. A road car with half cage, or bolt in cage, and a spare seat + belts to put in when needed is a good balance. I have dailied a race car before with fixed car and seat, and also had the bolt in stuff for a road car. Not everyone's cup of tea, but depends in how much daily driving you do I guess. Track days I would say are less risky, cars are not fully race oriented and without the competitive element most don't push nearly as hard. Road cars mixed with track cars is a recipe for disaster - STis and EVOs boosting past on the straight then braking right in front, etc.. Keep apart or avoid. On a positive note, the mention of the bent sprints is a good one. The Intermarques series at Manfield is great, something similar near Aucks would be a great place to start, learn and develop.

For air freight it is a reasonable price. The question would be whether the stuff really needs to go by air, if she can live without it for a few weeks a sea-shipment would be much cheaper. Speak to some of the removals type people - NZ Van Lines, Crown, etc. and see if they have a container going over that you can squeeze into. And the thought of Ashkan in Sweden is worrying - mind you the price of booze will calm him down a bit!

Whilst there are some classes available in NZ (including 2KCup and it would appear SuperLap) that don't require a roll-cage all the BMW Race Driver Series do require a cage, which kind of rules out the Stock Street Class. Personally I would not recommend running a car in any type of organized motorsport that doesn't have at least a half cage, race-seat and harnesses. Race tracks are designed very differently to roads and you are likely to be travelling at higher speeds - I know no-one plans to crash but it's always good to be prepared for the worst.

I know Jamez helped his Dad (Chris) run their E30 in the SuperLap series at Hampton Last year, maybe he can give a bit more info.. Finished in front of a lot of (supposedly) high horsepower Japanese machines IIRC, even with Chris driving!

A photo would help your cause, and also meet the forum rules....

Only "performance" difference would be in the suspension - shocks and springs I think. Some M-Sports have this option removed and have standard suspension from factory - so double check the build sheet if you want to have the firmer suspension. Sits a bit lower (about 10mm I think) when the M-Sport stuff is fitted.

If you don't want to tear down the engine to see inside, then a good compression test as Brent mentioned, plus possibly a leak-down test and smoke test will tell you what kind of condition the motor is in. Plus, as mentioned above, boost = more power = more heat = more load on the cooling system. So give that a good overhaul, flush and replace with quality coolant, check all hoses, new waterpump, etc. Nothing worse than popping the cooling system and cooking a new engine.

A couple of photos to show the condition of the items might generate a bit more interest, a picture is a 1000 words and all that. Plus it would then meet the forum rules...

I thought it might be yours - from the number plate! Well done on the purchase, Carbon Schwartz is one of my favourites due to the way the metallic changes colour in the direct sun-light. I hope you enjoy it for many a long year.

The BMW Race Driver Series have a set of scales which are used at each race meeting, to check cars after each qually and race for the classes that run to minimum weight regulations. They consist of four individual load cells which then display a weight for each corner / wheel and overall weight for the car. As said above the top end suspension shop and wheel shops often have corner weighting equipment. And yes, most BMWs are set up for the driver to be in the LH front seat, not the right. Part of the reason why the engine slants and the battery is on the RHS either under the hood or in the boot.

It could be any old key of that style, they would all fit in the hole, would need a key-reader to see if it is the right key for the car as it is the first gen electronic type. If I had to guess I would say it is the right key, but that the system needs to be reset after all the air-bags and collision sensors have been triggered.

When you say it has given up the ghost, what has happened, pretty serious to need a whole new engine? Is the M20B20 in it at the moment an L-Jet (got a dizzy on the side) or the later motronic (Dizzy on the front of the engine up the top)? You can swap one into the other, but much easier if you swap like-for-like.

Yeah, loads of people running reds, especially trucks, completely f#$ks up the flow of the traffic as the other direction get about 5secs on green once they get through, which isn't long enough for the woman at the front to put her phone down and make the car go anywhere... Reverse tailgaiting? Is that the technique of driving in the boot of the car in front at 60km but then stopping 20 metres behind them at traffic lights? (Very common in East Aucks).

The Texaco RS500 definately is part of the Hoffman collection, I have seen it at Manfield a number of times over the years and also used to appear in Palmy Hoffman Ford showroom from time to time. I kind of get the feeling the E30 M3 Convertible is a sale on behalf rather than part of their collection - it's been up for sale and through quite a few sets of hands over the last couple of years. And I also think that this Grp A belongs to someone else, Conrod will know for sure, I have seen it mentioned / referenced before and I don't think it had Hoffman as the owner. Not sure in terms of the pricing, without a full list of the race history and spec of all the fancy bits it's hard to gauge. The fact that it has been through a re-build and repaint will account for the +$100k on the price, I can see a few M3Motorsport parts on there which are the real top of the range so not a quick Dulux refresh by any stretch. Although there are a hell of a lot of other glorious cars in that Hoffman collection, I have seen a few, and heard of many more. Must be some money in Fixing Or Repairing Daily...

Tbh I drive in a fairly "aggessive" manner, but then I am driving a new model Bimmer so I really don't want to ruin peoples pre-conceived ideas of BMW drivers. HOWEVER, I also read the traffic and predict what is going to happen, let people merge, pull out, etc. rather than completely ignore them so I can spend more time on my iPhone, doing make-up or eating my noodles.