E30 325i Rag-Top

Didn't Nik & Neville have something very similar on their Z3M Coupe? Not sure of offsets etc.

Silver E46 M3 on Black BBS CH style rims with aftermarket exhaust, giving it some beans through Manukau on Great South Road last night just before 10ish. Looked and sounded very good, anyone on here??

^^seen the light, kept the plate?

Tom was looking for a cheap M3??

DVD has now arrived, fingers crossed the Blu-ray isn't too far away now. Can you look into firming this up Jools, I'm keen to see it on a big screen with decent audio!

And that it is why I will keep the DSC on until I can afford to replace the M3 / M4 / M5 when driving them. Don't want to be "that guy" who totals one and gets a big bill and a one way trip to the HR office!

What do you mean by a "problem with the sill (?) and crumple zone on the 1 chassis rail", has the car previously been in an accident? I think you are saying they have picked up structural issues with the car, in which case you will need to take it to a proper repairer that can fix the issues in an approved way and issue the car with a repair certificate (I think it's called) that states the car has been properly repaired. Then it can go to compliance. It doesn't matter if the car is straight, it may have been pulled back into shape on a chassis jig, but if the damaged areas were not correctly repaired then it has been severely weakened. Yes, there are probably worse cars out there on the road, probably without WoF, rego, etc. that doesn't change the rules for your car though I'm afraid.

Just go to a car yard that has one for sale and take it for a "test drive"

Tidying up the rear end of the race car, ready for the NZFMR, now that exhaust is fixed and back in the right place (gases were melting the bumper rubber!!). Replaced whole bumper with better, straighter one, sprayed up the rubber to match the body work. Touched up marks on the bodywork and re-sprayed worst areas. Bumper to go back on tonight and then to finally for the decals I got made up about 5 years ago!

Have had so many bad experiences with freight / shipping / courier companies over the years, all around the globe. I think there must be some sort of logistics training course they all go on which includes How To F@%k Things Up 101. Pick and choose your carriers wisely, but even then it often gets subbed-out to local operators in the far flung reaches of the world. No matter how big the outfit, it all comes down to the monkeys on the ground. Great that Amazon came to your rescue, good result. Unfortunately the freight companies rarely do.

If it is your own car, and you are now resident in NZ you may be able to bring it in as an "Immigrants" vehicle, which removes a lot of the need for impact rules, etc. Only downside is it gets logged as an Immigrant with NZTA which may put people off if you try and sell? Check out the info on the NZTA web-site for full details.

Good work, nice to see the work being done thoroughly to keep it all tip-top. Does your car have the "light-weight" CSL wheels, I believed the standard CS wheel was the same style (the best E46 wheel ever) but not made from the same alloy so they weren't so expensive?

Standard motorsport springs will drop it a decent amount (enough to notice and improve the look) without making it undriveable or illegal.

Did the front bumper cover come like that or have you cut the centre section out? Looks a big hole in there. Has it got the mounting points underneath for the front splitter like on the original Evo III?

I would suggest that you could have got a better price for it than what you got, unless there was something wrong with it not shown in the pictures, if you can be prepared to wait for the right buyer to come along (a big if, sometimes it needs to go quick). A good clean of the car, and good pictures - exterior is reasonably easy, but interior / engine shots need a bit more, with a well written advert will pay you back many times over for the effort.

An S14B25 would go well in there, might blow the budget though! I would be interested to know what this ends up weighing as it should end up nice and light.

Maybe because that's the going rate for a good example, especially with the 2.5ltr engine.Comparing the price with your 520i is like comparing lobster with out of date hoki. One is in demand, the other you have to discount to move it. Good luck with finding an E30 Coupe for $2k, if you get one with a warrant for that you're doing well. I get that not everyone likes or wants an E30 (even on Bimmersport) but the prices are where they are for a reason.

Good work! Did you sort out something to fill the extra large sun-roof hole?

Sorry to hear about your brothers car, real downer at this time of year when you want to enjoy your wheels. Totally right that there is no need for this crap in NZ, but unfortunately there are a growing number of dicks out there that believe they are "entitled" to everything on a plate and will just take what they want. Not as bad as many countries granted, but something that needs to be dealt to very soon before it's too late.

Was it an sDrive version? Lots of the Jap imports are the non-xDrive version which makes a big difference to the capabilities of the car. First gen X3 are coming down quite a bit now, but they are not the best styled BMW and they also tend to be the petrol Jap imports, not the much better diesels.

Yeah, they have the RSC symbol on the tyre and the RFT written on them, but when I look online for sizes or prices they are all referenced as just "S001" which I thought was a bit confusing, that's all.

Any particular models / engines you are interested in?

Yeah, I wasn't sure if they did them in both run-flat and non-run-flat. Seems odd to me that they have both types under the same tyre code. FWIW they seem to go all right in the run-flat version

Hey, what is the centre bore on these wheels please?

Just looked at the tyres on my latest car and they are Bridgestone S001s, they are run-flats though. I'd guess you'd be looking at non-RFT though right?