E30 325i Rag-Top

Nice CAD work Michael, what's it a all in aid of?

How long is a piece of string? Really depends on what needs replacing and/or machining in the process, and whether or not you are doing it yourself or paying for the labour.

Did you import it yourself, or buy from a (non-BMW) dealer? If it was through a dealer have a read of the Consumer Guarantees Act and go talk to them.

Because everyone needs 1000Nm of torque to take the kids to school..

Not sure you will find one laying around here in NZ, but there are plenty of cheap-ish ones in the UK.

Did you sell the front rotors and pads? If not can you chuck up a pic or message it to me? Need to put some into the 'vert

Progress has been a bit slow recently due a lack of any spare cash, but I have just sold a few parts and got some cash for my birthday, so the next two few jobs will hopefully ticked off pretty soon: 1) Valve adjustment - valves were re-ground during the build so need to check the clearances are still in tolerance, if not, the shims will need to be changed. 2) get the E46 end of the hybrid propshaft lengthened to the correct size. 3) get the headers modified and the exhaust fabricated. Still can't decide whether to modify the rarer 50/50 headers I have got, or find a cheap set of "standard" headers for now (saving the 50/50 for when the engine goes back to LHD later on). Then it will be time to turn the key...

Once the wiring was all tidied up and out of the way, including the battery to boot conversion, I was able to put the header tank in where it is supposed to go. Needed a couple of brackets made up to fix it to the bulkhead, which came out reasonably good. Not perfect, but can be removed for when I, hopefully, one day take the S14 out to put into an M3 shell and put the M20 back in to make this an E30 Series car again! Filled the system up with liquid and checked for leaks, couple of small ones from the ends of hoses (I don't do them up too tight as this can distort the ends) and also noticed a real small drip from the radiator drain plug. Got the screwdriver to give the drain plug a minor tweak annnnd - ping snapped off the top! New one ordered (luckily a standard part) and arrived within a few days.

I see where you're coming from, I am just very biased towards the M3 and have never particularly liked this shape of Merc and will always associate them with the low-spec rep-mobiles sold in the 1,000s in the UK. Yes, this model is a bit of a different animal, but it is still the same design on the outside to all intents and purposes. Did you mean this model was designed by Farina? If so I would imagine that the wonderful designs were "normalised" by the design team at M-B before they were released into production. Plus Farina also styled the Austin A40 - so no-one is perfect! The E30 M3 is not so much a beautiful design, more an aggressive or pursposeful design - a bit like a rottweiler.

Depends on what the "mechanical issues" are, somone's decided it's not worth it for a reason.

Who? What? Why?????

Most engine sizes are "rounded" up, very few if any are exactly 2ltr or 3ltr, etc. normally something like 1979cc is called a 2ltr, 2997cc rounded to 3ltr. The earlier diesels were something like 2949cc which still gets rounded up to 3ltr same as the later 2979cc engines.

Need a lot of upgrades to turn one of those ugly barges into an E30 M3!!

Jeepers - crashed and burned! Good project for someone though....

Does that mean the car is going to be back out with the V8STs now?

Yeah, got mine from Pak'n'Slave as well, in amongst all the washing powders. Works really well with a bit of elbow grease.

That'll be why they are sourcing their future Diesel engines from BMW!

Nothing revealing in that article, just a re-hash of other people's information. Notice the use of the ' marks around Cosworth, official model does seem to be 190E 2.3-16v though.

Pm'd

From what I can see on TardMe used starters seem to be going for around $120, so how does a nice round hundy grab you?

This!! Unfortunately not always that easy eh Jamez? That is where good, strong, series management is required!!

No idea tbh.. Pretty sure it's not an LSD though. I am intrigued now though, so I might have a look under there when I get 5 minutes. Not sure on the differences between the E34 and E30 med-case diffs, it would at least mean taking the whole insides out and moving those over, someone who knows more might be able to confirm..

There is a very good reason why they are cheaper than E30 M3s... people want to buy M3s as they are good cars rather than old-man mobiles with a hotted up engine. Just because they raced against, and lost to, the M3s doesn't mean they are in the same league as a collectable road car. Have seen some very interesting internet debates about these Mercs being referred to as "Cosworths" and it is very interesting to notice that there are no Cossie badges anywhere on the car and they are not referred to in any of the MB info on the car.

Brent has a 3.91 medium case out of a 5-Series up on TradeMe, he might do you a Bimmersport price outside of TM??

I have a starter from an M20B25, but no flywheel. Where abouts are you? I'm in Aucks, out Howick way.