E30 325i Rag-Top

No idea how to post vids, only just got the hang of photos! I will try and capture the noise on my phone next time I start it up. One of my favourite features on the engine are the gorgeous chromed dome head nuts that are used on the rocker cover, air box, inlet manifold, etc. Don't add anything in terms of performance but really finish off the engine bay. At some point in the past the whole of the top of the engine, including the nuts, had been sprayed matt black with a rattle can. Most of the paint had chipped off the nuts when the engine was stripped and rebuilt, but annoying little bits still stuck. So while I have been taking things off and on the engine I have been cleaning them all up with a soft brass wire brush, won't make it faster - but makes me feel better!

Just sittin' there chillin'... looks so at home!

And suddenly they just appeared... A bit small but there. Freaky deajy ju-ju that's fo' sure!

If the roads were made and repaired properly they would be cheaper in the long term.Doing SH1 through the Desert Road twice in 18 months wasn't a good use of tax dollars was it??

I would nominate the SH2 / SH27 route south from Auckland through Matamata to Tirau as the worst road, unbelievable that this is a major route from Auckland to Tauranga part of the way and south to Taupo for the rest. Pot holes, un-even surfaces, off-camber, worn and rutted. Just down-right awful to drive on. Only reason I go that way is that I think it's quicker than SH1 as it avoids going round Hamilton. These are supposed to State Highways so I would compare these to Motorways / Autoroutes / Highways / Autobahns - absolutely nowhere near the same standard by comparison.

Can you pull back the shroud to see the colours of the wires, then cross reference to a wiring diagram? It looks like a fairly generic- two pin sensor plug, so could cover a whole host of things - temp, pressure, etc. Might explain your horrendous fuel consumption if it's not connected to something it should be - like temp, thinks its cold so over-fuelling??

Looking good Foxy... I take it you've got some wider rims to fill those flares? Be good to see it out on the track next season.

Yeah, no problem. Pretty sure I've got one in the garage. Out Howick way if you can't find one closer.

So you're more interested in a Whine & Cheesy event at some restaurant than driving a car on a track??Funny that Contis didn't care enough to invite you to their track day a month back though...

I can't take the credit for the idea, it's something the Committee has had in the ideas bank for a while, and now the Recruitment Sub-Committee have got the sponsors on-board and made it happen.Thought I would throw it up on here as well so the Bimmersporters were aware.

I think there's more to this story than meets the eye...

I used to watch these monsters in the European Rallycross when they were banned from the Rallying. Racing with RS200s, 6R4s, T16s, R5 T2s and Integrales was totally awesome. I can't remember the exact power figures, a lot depended on the size of the turbo and tune for each particular set up, but the figures were certainly in the 600-800hp range, so the quoted 770hp would be comparable. It doesn't sound quite as wild (no huge flames on the over-run, etc.) but from the way that car is launching out of the corners it is certainly performing!

Pretty much impossible to make a "total loss" of a race car especially an E30 on the track, and believe me I have tried. The condition is in there so that the car is treated with respect, as if it was your own, not used recklessly without so much as a "oh, sorry about that... here's your keys" afterwards.

E30 Series Scholarship Car. To attract and develop new talent into NZ motorsport the Castrol BMW Race Driver Series are offering one lucky winner a scholarship drive, for more details see here... http://www.bmwraceseries.co.nz/?page_id=1582 Or checkout the Facebook page, and the car and entry forms will be on the stand at the CRC Speedshow coming up next weekend. Anyone that has ever thought about getting into racing, you won't get a better chance than this.

Leather Msport interior is good if you fit snugly between the bolsters, otherwise yeah can get slippery. The other option is to CLEAN IT now and again Westy! There's probably enough pie crumbs to feed an African village in the gap to your knee bolster by now.

That had a large donation to the scholarship car, thousands of dollars of prizes given out at the Prize Giving, plus parts support discount, spot prizes of lifestyle gear throughout the season, trophies donated, to mention a few... And wait until the 30th August...

Interesting, so how do you know this software is the same as that supplied with Aus and NZ new vehicles?

Have you checked the fuses? Might be one of those - couple of the cluster circuits run off different fuses. Try eBay for the speedo gears. I've not seen them on TradeMe, or local in NZ

From the photo it looks like you got one of the many wet days, shame you didn't get to enjoy them in the dry.

Hmm, that could get interesting! It's not just ANY Japanese emission code, only the ones which are equivalent (or better) then the Euro IV - I wonder if the importer realises this from his reply? Plus it will be the emissions of the Alpina modded car, not the base BMW E60 that you will need to prove, and that could be a mission in itself. It's quite funny how many people bring cars in that can't be complied, and don't realise it. Some of them can get quite shitty about it too...

Not sure if it is still the case but a few years back it used to be that any new (i.e. unregistered) cars that were damaged beyond repair were scrapped and crushed by an approved scrappy. This was to prevent the possibility of the chassis number being re-used on a stolen or written off vehicle.

The "Aplina" is a dealer, so really it's false advertising, and he knows it's not a genuine one. Not good. Joe Public selling their car and not really knowing the difference, ok I can accept that, but a dealer? If they are happy to do that on a car advert, what else are they happy to lie about to sell a car to some un-suspecting punter...?

Yeah, pulling all that lot out would have been one hell of a mission.

Yeah, I know what you mean, certainly not something you would want to risk. Injectors sticking on an engine that's been sat for a while, particularly without any fuel in the rail, is pretty common. The injector is held in the shut position, so it is sitting in place for a long time. The guy that sold me the engine did a full clean and adjustment on the injectors just before he shipped me the motor, and I think that added to the problem, they would have been squeaky clean when they went back in, and never had any fuel run through them. Seem to be all good now and squirting nicely! Fired up first time once I put the rail back on and cranked her over, sh!t its loud with just the headers on, even at idle.

Maybe that's where I'm going wrong.. not drinking enough beers during this project? Before I whipped the fuel rail off I tried to give them a tickle up with the hammer, but with all the extra pipes and stuff on an S14 there's not enough room to swing a mouse in there let alone a hammer! The old M20 was a lot easier and simpler from that point of view. Easy enough to give them a squirt of WD40 and a wiggle when you've got the fuel rail off (which is no major), I did notice one of the vacuum hoses under the rail was well past it's best so I will have to replace that while I'm there as well. Brent, when I took the starter out it was the smaller type I have on the M20, not the big ass M10 type one. Not sure if that is the same as the E34 one you mentioned, but I did find out the ring-gear is different from an M20 to an S14 when I tried to fit that one in there :banghead: