E30 325i Rag-Top

An English gentleman, such as myself, does not "do skids". That type of shenanagins is the preserve of oiks, cads and ruffians. Still working on the exhaust, so not ready for a drive yet, bits have finally been made so fingers crossed on getting it all welded up in the next day or so. I need to get a few kms on the engine before the trackday on Saturday. Still having issues with the front swaybar, tried fitting an M3 sway bar but still clashed, so had to resort to giving the headers a bit of a whack with the hammer and putting some packers in under the links and mounting brackets. Have found the issue with the wiring, looks like I have a very early M3 engine loom and not a 320iS loom as I thought. So I know what I have to do to fix that bit at long last. It's going to be a busy week getting everything ready that's for sure!

The thing is though Andy, they shouldn't get away with it, it doesn't meet frontal impact rules and shouldn't be given a WoF. But like a lot of things it's not picked up on. Probably a bit of a rant, as the first post might be a show only car, and never driven on the road. Plus it is a clever use of some vice grips.

Because pulling a paddle is completely different to pushing a lever...?

Great, engineers and designers spend hundreds of hours working out safer designs for a car and then someone goes and sticks that on the front. Might as well stick a jousting pole on there and have done with it. Almost as bad as those sad bastards that put the old "leaping cat" Jag emblem on their new(ish) Jaguar - there's a bloody reason they don't fit them in the factory any more!!

An interesting choice of car for the swap, especially at that price. Any particular reason to choose that one?

X5 M50d in manual is very, very rare. Factory only make them in auto, 8-speed sports version. Was one of the rules that it had to be manual? M50d has paddles, and can be run in "manual" mode off the shifter, does that count??

I guess it all comes down to what you get up to during your week-ends... whether you just want to go for a fast blat, or go away somewhere and take friends/family + a load of gear and maybe tow a boat / racecar / jet-ski. For me it would come down to a toss-up between two cars, the M5 (which just narrowly beats the new M3 for the practicality / performance balance) or an X5 M50d. If I didn't want to tow any thing around it would be the M5, but as I have a need to tow stuff on a quite regular basis the M50d would win out. Very comfortable drive for long distances, great performance, quite chuckable if you want to be silly in the twisties (usually get told to slow down by the Mrs anyway so moot point..) heaps of room plus 3.5tonne towing capability and loads of torque to pull it with. Not forgetting a half decent all-wheel drive system if you want to go to the snow or get it a bit dirty.

So much more refined in the BMW world...

Very hard to put $$$ values on historic race cars like that, but it was a very iconic car from that era, it's very, very original and there are only a handful left in the world. I guess it is the history that is worth the $$$s really, rather than the car itself (if that makes any kind of sense). Whether someone is prepared to pay that much for it, we shall see. Chances are it will end up overseas.

Fixed . Seems odd to put all of that onto a 325i wagon? Whatever floats your boat I guess. Also, is it me or does the cert plate not cover the mods to the injection, ie the NOS? That should be listed on the plate as well shouldn't it?

M20s are a complete pain in the arse to bleed, with many points in the system that can be airlocked. Whilst there may be coolant coming out of the bleed screw, there may well be air still trapped in the system. Have you filled the system with the coolant or was it done before you bought the car? Like Andy says, it could well be one of many problems so not easy to diagnose and fix.

What do you mean laughable?? I thought it was cool to have your sunnies on your head??

Seems to be just about impossible for 80% of drivers in NZ from what I have experienced.

Please put up a price and photos please, as per the forum rules for the For Sale section. Thanks.

It's all on the NZTA web-site if you can work out how to find things on there. The only trouble with going down that route is that the car has to be flagged as an "Immigrant Vehicle" on the register and it will stay listed as such forever - not sure what that would do for the resale value could put off potential buyers, which is why I avoided it. Not sure of the full process to go down that channel either.

I work closely with the NZTA / LTSA, or whatever they are called this week, often around compliance issues and bringing cars into the country. Conversations often wander a little off topic. The figure of 200 is exactly what I was told, but I'm not sure when the quota is reset, however I did hear that all the SIVs were "used up for this year" which would suggest there will be a queue of people into next year.

I was more interested in the 325i bit.. But I'm sure you're more than legit Harv!

Plus all the SIV permits have been issued since ages ago, only so many cars per year...

We might have to check your motor a bit more closely this year then Harv...

Check the build sheet for your car and look for the option codes 6NE or 6NF. Bluetooth was definitely available in that year, but not necessarily standard, and it would depend on the spec. level for the country it was first sold in.

Darren, the first thing you need to find out is whether your car can be complied when it arrives in NZ. Being a 2003 Alpina I think it might struggle to meet the emissions requirements.

Got the steering column hooked up again, so was able to take it for a little drive. Only out of the garage and down the driveway, but it's a start! Good news is that the clutch and gear change work as they should. Managed to make my first cock-up due to the dog-leg shift, hopefully get that out of the way quickly. Slight problem with the sway bar clashing on the manifold... But should be able to work around that somehow.

I want so much to buy this off you Dan.. but I think the Mrs would kill me! Hope it goes to a good home. And is that a bottle of NOS on the passenger seat??

^^ The white one on the shore? I think Brent bought it and is breaking it - listed in the For Sale section.

Jeez, what a mission! Much harder to get into place than the other ones. Normal set just needed the sway bar loosening off to get into place, the new set are much wider (due to the gap for the steering column) and took a lot more to get in: sway bar completely off, engine mount and arm taken off and engine jacked up!! Put a couple of new mounts in while I was there, don't want the motor moving around as there is not much clearance in there. Hope to get the steering hooked up today, shall see how that goes...