E30 325i Rag-Top

Wow, you don't see one of those every day!!

Biggest question is how much can you pay? Are you buying or renting? Good news for you is that the new lending restrictions are beginning to slow the market, making it better for buyers!

Glad it cured your problem James, it took a full Race Series Brains Trust to come up with the diagnosis! Personally I have never been a fan of water blasting or steam cleaning engines, water and electrics do not mix, and there are lots of places for the water to get in and cause gremlins. Can be a prick to find where / what it has got into to cause the problem as well.

If you want to drive fast do it on the track, where there are no cars coming in the other direction and safety measures for your protection. A controlled environment takes a lot of the variable factors out of the equation and allows you to go as fast as you want (or can) without risks to others.. or your licence. The countries that are increasing speed limits probably have proper motorway systems, not NZs idea of rutted cart tracks called State Highways which are dangerous in their own right. I agree that the focus on speed is a bit one-eyed, the number of downright poor drivers and vehicles on the road should be taken out before such stringent speed measures. Maybe a bit more emphasis on driver education rather than punishment - explain to people what a "stopping distance" is meant to be, I can't get over how many nose-to-tail accident there are! Unfortunately this news will just mean more people wombling along straight open roads at 80-90km/h as they are worried about getting pinged for 104, does nothing for safety as pretty soon there is a long tail of frustrated drivers trying to overtake with some desperate manoevers.

Don't you mean "scratchies" pretty sure most people wouldn't want scratches on their BMW??

The Twilight series...

There are two definate signs of a blown turbo on a diesel: 1) lack of power - not enough urge from the engine to pull a maggot off a greasy chop 2) clouds of black smoke out the exhaust - and I mean clouds, not a puff. If you have neither of these then it is not a major turbo failure. All turbos have a "whine" it is a high-revving turbine after all, the blow off sound would still suggest an loose joint or leak in a pipe.

Is that the same one as before? I don't remember the other one being a 318i, and I thought it ended up with some kind of weird E92 Front End on it. Dear God there can't be two of the monsters can there???

I did have a F/L header in there with my M20 L-jet, but all the plumbing connections on the S14 are over on the LHS, I didn't fancy jerry-rigging something up with coolant hoses going all the way across the engine bay - recipe for disaster written all over that one. Just wait until I get around to the electrics Grant - then I'll be keeping you busy!! I have managed to find most of the wiring information and plugged most leads into things which fit, but I'm sure there's gonna be some fun when I flick the switch for the first time. I mean, what is an "Evaporative Purge Valve" supposed to do when it's at home??

Or maybe it could just be the translation of the German designation into the English language..??

Couple of nice Bimmers out at the beach yesterday (shameless plug I know)..

"BMWCON" has had lots of money spent on it's restoration, but it hasn't been restored to a factory standard - which puts me off it, if you could live with that interior (try sitting on those seats on a sunny day with the roof down) and auto then maybe a better long term bet. I would say over priced as well, even if it has has $30k thrown at it. If it was me then I would go for the Hellrot for a big inspection, and if it's solid then buy it and chuck a set of wheels and slight drop at it. Only negatives that I can see are the weird rear spoiler (never seen one like that, but really wtf??) and no ABS - neither of which are deal breakers, possibly negotiating points. Colour and interior combination is very nice (check how well the red paint has lasted - tends to fade badly), rear head rests are a plus, and the half leather re-trim looks good with the houndstooth. Convertibles are very much a "seasonal" vehicle sale, tend to be put up for sale when the weather gets good at the start of summer to get a better price so you will probably see a few more coming onto TradeMe now.

Cheers Grant, I did think about stripping everything out and giving it a fresh coat of paint, but was hoping to get it done a lot quicker than this - so went for the can of degreaser and a rub-down. It is supposed to be a race car after all!! Things have stalled a little of late due to cash flow problems, but fingers crossed will get a bit of a boost in the new year. Latest little issue was with the header tank, I was hoping to use the "zeppelin" shaped header from a pfl E30, but as you can see from the pic, this still fouled on the engine.. So I had to get a proper M3 / 320iS header and hoses instead, will also mean moving the battery into the boot or inside the car... more $$$ Thanks Bruce, good idea I will give Peter a call!!

Good to see that a member of the NZ legal system is better qualified to determine the stopping ability of a motor vehicle than all the designers, engineers, and testing officials that made it in the first place! I would be very surprised if the Judge in question had even the slightest idea about how, ABS, EBD, ESC etc. work on a modern car. Maybe the guy's defence team should ask him what the stopping distance of a 740 travelling at that speed would be (as he knows so much about it) and then see whether he is within half a mile of the right number? Yes the guy was speeding, but such un-informed comments have no place in a court of law!

One of you lift the bonnet while the other revs the engine - you might be able to get a fix on which pipe / connector is leaking by where the noise is coming from!

A bit slow with the updates, but here are a few more pics... The new engine and box are now in the hole.. Lots more room around the engine than with the M20 lump, and sits further back, and more balanced over the front sub-frame which should all be good for better turn-in and stability under brakes? So now trial fitting and connecting everything up to see what goes where, and what I am missing, gradually having to buy lots of small bits and pieces to get it all to fit together. M3 radiator with new hoses - straight bolt in fit, no problems!! Not so lucky with the driveshaft - managed to slide it down to the right length, but the output flange and guibo on the 265/5 box is a bigger size than the one on the ZF box I took out, so need a new driveshaft flange hopefully it is the same as some other more common BMW models - fingers crossed. Next up on the list, sorting out the exhaust headers and seeing what needs to be done to get clearance around the steering column past the two secondary pipes. I have a 50/50 header and would like to avoid too much cutting and bending if possible!

Build thread is started here... http://bimmersport.co.nz/topic/46498-e30-racecar-engine-swap-with-a-difference/ Needs an update, I will put some more pics up this week-end. Buying a complete 320iS and putting a cage in would probably have been a better idea, oh well...

I have spent a lot of time looking around for an E30 M3 and/or S14 motor in NZ, and in all that time I did not come across and 320iS or even hear of any. Just like the M3 they only came out in LHD, which makes them harder to import into NZ and for the hassle and aggravation it would be more worthwhile to get an M3 for most people. A few still come up for sale in Italy now and again on some of the web-sites, but they tend to be priced fairly high as most people have cottoned on to the scarcity of the model and especially the engine. Quite a few have made it into the UK and Germany where people have grabbed them as they are cheaper than the M3. The two door version is a great car, 2.0ltr S14, dog-leg box, LSD, M-Tech2 kit plus quite a few extra goodies, the four door not so much, still has engine, box and LSD but not Tech2 kit and fewer goodies (as standard) - so again 2 door prices are a way above the 4-door. With all the original M3 / 320iS bits I have bought for my S14 conversion it is going to be pretty close to a genuine 320iS by the time I have finished!!

Life Cycle Impulse (LCI) is the new-fangled term for a "face-lift", worked from the fact that all series have a life cycle of approximately 7 years, so to keep the design fresh(without re-designing the whole series) it is given an "impulse" three and a bit years after it is first introduced. For example the F10 5-Series went through LCI this year. What you are thinking of Graham is the "model year update" which confusingly happens three times each year, where standard factory spec can be changed, market specific (ie NZ) spec can be changed or options can be made avaiable or removed. The amount of changes varies wildly, it can be no change at all, or a major revamp of the vehicle spec. It's hard to keep up with all the changes!!

Nice summer cruiser. Trying to work out what spoiler you've got on the boot - is it just the bottom half of the Tech-2 Spoiler set?

I have got the Anycar in my wife's E46 wagon, and it is pretty reasonable for the price IMHO. Yes, you have to plug it into the CD changer hole, but later cars have two inputs into the back of the unit and if you are fairly smart you can still use both. I had to change a few pins from one plug to another to keep the factory bluetooth phone working with the Anycar - but it only took 30mins googling to work it out.

You ain't seen nothing yet.... loads more series, models and segments still to come!

Very nicely done, for a great all-round result. Personally I really like the pin-stripe M colours on the grille and thought that was a really good detail (and so did the wife!!).

Loving your work man!! Good to see such enthusiasm for your car - keep it up.

Just keeps getting cooler and cooler.. Added to my Santa list!