E30 325i Rag-Top

Not the series ones, I think they are "lows", deffo the wrong part numbers though.

Yeah I saw that too, it belongs to a guy who lives up in Farm Cove. Maybe a problem with the trailer when taking it home? Pretty sure it's not road legal!

Try Dave at Autoblast, real good guy and really knows his stuff, got loads of different blasting media to do the job right.

Says Mr. 6,252 posts... Yes, I think we can safely say those seats are probably the same as some other cars of the same era. Try finding the correct cloth or leather to trim them for the M3, rather than those horrendous Jappa colours!

The Evo seats are probably Recaro made, so the same as other models, it would be the trim that determines if they were for the M3 I guess, only way to really tell would be the part number on the seat somewhere. This is a cloth trimmed version.. You can see the shape, cut out for harness, etc. is all the same. Very comfy as well! And as others have said, the E30 M3 went into Japan as LHD from factory, all E30 M3s were LHD from factory, although there are some that say the two Japanese special RHD cars were "factory"! Japan spec was the same as the US spec I believe, only two variations were "Euro" or "US". Cars could then be specced with different options over and above those specs.

From the photos those seats look like the E30 M3 Evo II or Evo III seats which are schweeeet!! And if they are what I think they are they would push the price up a considerable amount, not down. After following prices on E30 M3s for a while I would say this is car is worth every penny of that $39k, due to it's condition and the overall spec of the car - good colour, great interior, some nice goodies - still pretty stock. Only thing that lets it down is the gearbox which I am pretty sure is not a dog-leg (Jap spec was 265/6 overdrive box), which is more sought after by collectors. Wish I had the cash to buy it... and far too nice to convert into a race car, so I would need another one for that!!

^^ x2 try without, if it picks up some interference then chuck it back on.

Those wheels are niiiiice! What size are they? Are they real centrelocks, or are there stud holes behind that centre cap? Look good anyways - would look even better on my an E30!

Not quite all of them, but a good effort, it is only missing some of the recently released styles. I'm not surprised he's finding it hard to keep up with the latest, the number of different wheels that are out across the range now is mind boggling!!

Cool, you might get lucky and find something local, but most likely will be an overseas find. Have you looked on s14.net? Main site is down at the moment but there are some temporary forums up. I will pm you the details of the guy I got my stuff from, he has engines quite regularly.

There was never a recall for any swirl flap or inlet manifold issues on these Turbo Diesels, just quite a few cars that were repaired - some out of warranty with a substantial "good will" payment from BMW. And there is not even an official chageover date to the later design of flap. Interesting comment on the job sheet that the flap was missing, I can only think it means the swirl flap. Some did get stuck on the way in (lucky) - others went through and caused havoc. Would still be worth pulling the inlet manifold off, just to see what has been done.. for peace of mind and safety's sake.

What do you need, block, long block, complete engine, complete engine swap? Oh, and budget...

Just seen the General Lee on Ti Rakau, big orange Dodge (?) with the 01 on the side - looked cool. Also saw a nice vert outside BMWorkshop this morning, same colour as mine on weaves, anyone on here? We could be cabby twins!!

When I did mine there was no hard and fast rule to work out what size blanks you needed to use, so had the whip the inlet off, measure the holes, then put it back on while I waited for them to arrive and then take it off again. I think there is now something you can look for on the inlet (like an extra sensor or something...) that tells you without having to take it off. I got mine from an outfit in Essex - Bimmer Performance Tuning or something, that did a lot of the early development on the blanks and seemed to know their stuff, price was about the same as you have. Didn't do the breather I must admit, might do it one day.. I hear it makes a big difference to the performance. Pretty sure they had them on their website as well.

The problem I see is that it won't stop the hard-core drunk driver, who is way over the limit anyway and just doesn't care - these are the ones that are the big danger and cause the real big accidents I believe. I've had guys working for me that have been done for DUI three, four, five times and were banned but still drove and still did it pissed, was not impressed. Those that will fall foul of this will be the people stopped at a road-block that have have had one beer after work and are on the way home and are marginally over the new limit. I hope I am wrong and it works, we shall see..

When I looked for my 330d I couldn't find them anywhere in NZ, so I ordered them from the UK, postage was not a lot as they are small and light-weight. Only took a few days to get here, so not exactly a long wait! Piece of piss to fit.

This is what I did with my seats, the side bolsters were a bit worn and needed re-trimming, so I got them done in leather, but left the centre sections in the houndstooth as it is one of the rarer BMW interior trims and still looks good. Fronts.. Rears.. I love the half leather - hard wearing where it needs to be, but don't burn your ass when you get in the car on a hot sunny day! If you do decide to go full leather, let me know, I would be very interested in a spare set, plus the 'vert interior is different rear seats and rear 1/4 panel cars so I could with those!! EDIT: Just remembered this is a coupe, not a convertible, so forget the last bit! Rest still stands though.

That's very true Steve, but with me it would be a case of showing them what not to do! Quite often it is a skill that can't be "learnt" people either "have it" or they don't.

A sweeping generalisation, that is unfair on quite a few decent folks probably, but from the number of these days that I have been on a statistically accurate one. I had heard the day was a bit "loose". Hope the damage wasn't too bad and no-one was hurt.

I could have guessed, it's always the Jappas at Puke test days!! More power than skill.

Yeah, std ECU and loom for now, no money in the budget for aftermarket computer at the moment, on the list for later (along with pretty much all of Conrad's gear Josh!)

Hmm, can Zacary be trusted with all that power...?

Even bigger dreamer here on AutoTrader.. http://www.autotrader.co.nz/used-cars-for-sale/bmw-m3/1104429# $30k for a 1993 - and I'm not even sure it's an M3!! Kms are fairly low at just over 100k, but I would take that with a large pinch of soup.

Thanks for all the positive comments! It's been an idea in my head for a long time, now starting to take shape in reality. You're right not many bits around in NZ, I have managed to find a couple of bits locally thanks to Ray @ HellBM and Kayne at KBM but it's sure not as easy as the old M20 (or as cheap...). Luckily BMW still offer most S14 parts as new which is pretty good on a 20+ year old motor. 90% of the parts are the same between the 2.0ltr and the more common 2.3 and 2.5ltr engines, only the crank, rods and pistons are different which helps with used parts availability, lots of stuff around in the USA and Europe still for these and lots of tuning parts as well! Couple of pics from the engine build showing the different rods and pistons.. I have also changed all the coolant hoses for new ones, plus most of the rubber oil pipes as a little more insurance against possible issues. After a couple of delays at the week-end it's all ready to go in the hole, so hopefully some more progress pictures in the near future...

You are probably going to need to add wiring to join that up to the main loom anywhere, so if you don't have it I wouldn't worry and connect straight to the swtich on the box.