E30 325i Rag-Top

Pretty sure Oli has got rid of this car now as he is over on the GC. Milan, what Chrome bumper parts do you need, and what brakes as I have lots of bits of both?

I bought a heap of wrap to do the stainless headers on my race car, and was warned away from using it as it can make the headers very brittle due to the heat build up under the wrap. Still in the courier envelope sitting under the bench, doh.

Putting a good oil in it and changing it regularly is probably more important than the brand of filter you are using. If you are changing the oil regularly then the RYCO filter will be fine. I would suggest you check when the timing belt and tensioner were last changed, you say the top was rebuilt, check these were replaced at the same time. Personally I would also pull all the brakes apart and check the condition of the pads, rotors, hoses and fluid.

New airbags are quite expensive, so could be worth a few $$$s as they are often needed for a warrant, etc. They do have an expiry date though IIRC, like 10 years or something? Could be worth keeping, just to use to wake Zac up at race meetings every now and again..

Terminology is a wonderful thing, have corrected my initial post in this thread. The visual programming tool in the video Hans posted is a great way of understanding the concepts, shame the bloke talking is not though. I wish stuff like that was available when I was coding and mapping ECUs for the early electronic controlled diesel FIE, had to do it old school in hex with assembler/disassembler and EPROM blowers. Still a lot easier than working out the mechanical hysteresis of a spring and lever governor assembly though, so it was progress. Would love to know why you feel a diesel is not as responsive as a petrol though Ron, a lot may depend on your definition of "throttle response"?

Is this in the '85 323i? It's not a wire I recognize. The flashing light on the check panel, if it's the "Coolant" then possibly the level sensor in the top of the expansion tank? Looking at your photos the wires from the sensor (I think as it's just out of shot) go past the washer fluid bottle in the general area of that random connector - so could possibly be related??

I have a complete built up M20B23 head, but it's not facelift (323i only came out in pre/fl). How do I tell if it's a 731, I can't remember..? Pretty sure I have a few of the other bits as well, ECU, AFM, etc.

Brute force and ignorance... ..your two main weapons!

Special Edition of Performance BMW, some monsters in here by the looks..

Does that make the web site faster??

WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE E30 BMW M3 2.5 SPORT EVOLUTION, THE M3 CONVERTIBLE IS THE NEXT SORT AFTER OF ALL THE E30 M3 MODELS PRODUCED (ONLY 786 WERE PRODUCED). GIVEN ITs LOW PRODUCTION VOLUME and UNIQUE BODY REQUIREMENTS THESE CARS WERE HAND BUILD BY BMW FACTORY STAFF, AND AS SUCH ARE HIGHLY PRIZED BY CLASSIC CAR COLLECTORS and BMW AFICIONADOS ALIKE. There is sooo much wrong with that sentence, and not just the spelling and caps lock. A very nice car, yes. Just such a shame that it's a convertible and not a tin-top and that it has been converted to RHD.

I would disagree as a "re-map" does exactly that, changing the fuelling, VANOS and ignition maps in the cars ECU which can give increases in torque and power over the factory maps, so there is an actual performance increase. All this module is doing is taking the signal from the fly-by-wire throttle pedal and amplifiying the signal, basically fooling the car into thinking you have got your foot flat to the floor when it is only 1/4 down for example. Not actually doing anything in terms of performance, just saving your ankle a bit of work. Which is what I am trying to get the seller to admit by trolling his auction, just in case there are people dumb enough to buy this crap. Again, I would say that is very different to the Sport button in an M3, which does switch to a different set of maps for the engine, gear shift, etc. suspension settings as well as the throttle response (similar to a re-map but on-demand as it were).

I'm not 100% on the scrappage scheme as it started after my time in the UK, but I doubt many, if any of those cars would have been in good condition. I have part exchanged a rusty shell that was just about rolling to get a discount before, I wonder how many of those were of a similar condition?

Ok, cool, thanks. Good luck. I would offer to help, but as you know I am no IT person.

So $500 to boost the throttle sensor signal - bargain. A great "performance upgrade" right there, for all those people that can't push the throttle peddle harder..

Hey Jamez, is the Race Series web-site one of the "few others" that you are moving ? No probs if it is, just for info.

Thanks for the mention Jason. We should always be showing our appreciation for all the officials at the meeting, and especially all the volunteers - if it weren't for you guys we wouldn't be able to race. So it is good that our appreciation of you guys was spotted, keep up the good work!

Can't quite make out the number plate, is it "H1TLER"?

Anything is possible if you want to spend enough time and money on it. Won't be an easy bolt on change though, all the metal work underneath the skin of the E70 is different to an E53

Connected Drive covers a whole range of features, these latest ones haven't been available for years, even overseas. And they are provided free on new cars.Mobile phone is ok, but when you are upside down and unconscious how are you going to use it?

But this guy was tough, set the damage mode to "on" before he went out.

There is a vacancy at the moment if you are interested Amber, you would be an great candidate.

I have driven and been driven in both, across the various different models and they are both good in different areas. Personally I would prefer the X5 as it seems to me to be a little more "sporty" if that's possible with an SUV where the ML seems more "luxurious". The comment about the Mexicans relates more to the very, very early MLs built out of the states that had quite a few quality issues until Merc got in there and sorted out the factory. This looks to be a later version which won't have those problems, just being a little tease.

I would look at the first tyre and say "these aren't brand new" and back out of the deal. Auction states "brand new" yet the tyres have clearly been used, not much, but a bit - all the moulding bristles have worn off.

Nice trucks, but beware they are hand-built by Mexicans.