E30 325i Rag-Top

Yup lots of potential... take off the carb, bore and stroke to the 4.5 or 4.9ltr configuration, add the later EFi, some decent headers, port and polish heads, raise compression ratio, etc.Or possibly easier to throw it away and start again with a modern engine?

Interesting what you say about the ride, the one I borrowed felt very soft, and the wife said it felt a bit wallowy, but then both my F30 and her E46 have M-Sport suspension and ride quite firm (and I was pushing it a little bit in the twisties to see how it went - but I didn't tell her that !!) Has this one got the M-Sport suspension on it? Or adjustable ride settings comfort / sport / sport plus? The steering is a little heavy on xDrive versions as up until now there is no Servotronic available on RHD xDrive, but this has now changed for any cars built from March onwards..

How huckery is that thing?? $6k is that price derived from the comedy value?? Just because you can, doesn't mean you should...

You after the bent bracket that bolts into the boot and onto the bumper? The two metal ones that go on the centre section of the bumper? If so, I have a couple of sets, I could send one down to you. PM me if interested.

Ahhhh, totally mis-understood your post *face-palm*, now I see what you mean by the added value bit. Receipts for major items being replaced tend to put buyers off rather than show that it has been maintained in my experience as well. It's been a while since I was working with vans and light commercials so not totally in touch with the newer stuff. I worked as part of the team designing the engines for the Ford Transit / Iveco Daily - so I would avoid those ! A mate of mine runs a big fleet of mini-buses and small coaches and swears by Mercedes-Benz won't buy anything else, I think a lot are based on van chassis, is it the Vito? He puts LOTS of hard miles on them and has had very little problem, however, I know he is a stickler for servicing and maintenance. I guess you pay a bit more for a Merc, but you tend to get what you pay for in-life.

What is it you want to get hold of, info on the owners or info on the car? If it's the car PM the rego and I can look it up for you.

Try the main BMW dealers for the tyres, especially if you are after the run-flats, Team McMillan or Jerry Clayton on the shore. Keep lots of tyres in the warehouse, especially odd-sizes and run flats. X5 is a pretty good truck, and it can be driven quite hard, however as said above the tyres will get chewed up if you push it quite often. Camber wear on the inner edge of the rears is quite common too due to the suspension set up. +1 for pics.

Apart from the huge leap forward in terms of fuel economy, emissions, power and torque due to much higher pumping pressures and much closer controlled injection sequencing? Common rail pump is usually a simple vane or screw type pump with a pressure relief valve - pretty simple to maintain and repair. The old mechanically governed pumps you mean - that wear badly and then lose any injection accuracy they had leading to clouds of either black or white smoke, clogged injectors, coked up heads, rooted particulate filters and catalytic converters? Some parts can be simple to replace, springs, etc. in the governor mechanisms, but worn cams/cam rings, rotors etc. can be hard to source and costly to buy.Common rail diesels are chalk and cheese to the old injector pump engines in so many ways mostly in terms of driveability. Even the improvements from Gen I (E46) to Gen II (E9x) into Gen III (F30) are leaps ahead each time, and there's even more potential in there yet.

Got a warrant on the convertible at the week-end, and gave it a quick spit-and-polish and a check over. Then it rained for two days... But thanks to a nice sunny Waitangi day yesterday got to take the kids to the beach in it with the roof down for the first time in ages. Remembered what a great car it is to drive in the sun!

^^ This is where the whole idea falls over. Most people on bimmersport will maintain (or get maintained) their vehicle to a very high standard its a Car Forum afterall. Joe Average Punter though is not in that category and varies from the stickler to the stick it in for a WoF and see what fails to the don't give a Sh!t brigade. Try counting the number of cars with headlights that are not up to WoF standard when driving on NZ roads a night - an amazingly high number, some of which are trivial, but some are safety risks. If people can't even notice and rectify issues with simple things like lights, how are they going to have a clue about things like brakes, tyres and suspension which can really make a differnce to the safety of the car. Unfortunately, putting the responsibility onto the driver is a great idea in theory... but a whole different ball game in practice.

Not sure where the quote from Apex originally came from, looks to me like it is someone that is para-phrasing the offical statement from BMW & Toyota as it's quite different from the official internal communications. The underlying story is that BMW and Toyota are "sharing technology" which means Toyota will show some German Engineers what they have learnt and developed about hybrids, and BMW will show some Japanese Engineers what they have learnt about "sports car know-how" and sell some diesel engines. This does not mean they will fully share all their combined wisdom of all things car wise with each other and Toyota will be developing a new Lexus out of it, or BMW will start to build a Corolla competitor, far from it. The sharing will be closely controlled and very carefully confined to the specific areas of the contract. It may well lead to some funky new high-speed Hybrid from Toyota, but it won't be a full joint development between the two companies in the same way that Toyota got Subaru to work with them on the 86. elmarco is spot on, the development costs of new cars are mind boggling, if Holden spent over AU$1 BILLION to develop the VE Commodore five years ago, just think what it would cost to develop a good car with new technology in it today! There are too many car companies out there simply copying the good ideas and developments others have made, the few like BMW that do invest heavily on new ideas and technologies are finding it harder and harder to justify it - this "sharing" is like copying someone else's homework to get the answers more easily. It could produce some interesting results.

It's an auto so it CAN'T be a Motorsport Convertible - take the M badges off ! Would you take $3k with thr RSs still on it? Save you taking them off and wasting them on some table??

I have a full trailer wiring loom, hooks into the LCM and PDC, etc which I never fitted. Got it from Bestbars as well. If you are interested. If your car is a facelift it does some funny things with how the rear lights work!

Whilst the windows are laminated, I would not want to rely on them being bullet proof. Climate comfort glass is a brochure option which is selected to keep the heat and UV down in the car by use of filters in the glass. Thicker than standard glass but nowhere near the bulletproof stuff which is about an inch thick. Pretty sure there was never a Security version of the E46, which is what would have the full bullet proof stuff amongst others. This climate glass can be used in a standard E46 if seals and runners are changed. Clould be useful in sunny NZ and certainly would make it harder for low life's to break a side window and take your laptop!

Nothing major on that list, I would ask the guy if he did all those things - to see what his idea of maintenance is like. Still definately get it checked by a specialist, scan the ECU and check the history on the error codes. Will tell you more than whether the oil needs changing like the AA / VTNZ check.

Euro Spec = Dog-leg gearbox US Spec = Close Ratio H-pattern box, plus indicator lights in the side of the bumpers and I think they are de-tuned a little and run catalytic converters to meet the emissions. Euro Spec is much more desired by most collectors.

What sort of numbers are you after? Big factor in deciding which way to go would be the cost to tool up to make the parts, so the volume you want will have a major part in the decision. Rough guide: 1 - 10 off = 3D Print / SLA 10 - 100 off = CF / GRP lay up 100 - 300 off = R-RIM 300+ off = Injection moulded ABS (or similar)

There is certainly a lot of "wank factor" in some of the new technology, some of it is cool and useful whilst some is just for sh!t drivers and lazy drivers. Some of the ideas in the pipeline are pretty mind-blowing stuff, but it will be interesting to see if we ever get the infrastructure in NZ to use any of it!In terms of saving the planet - a lot is being forced onto all car manufacturers with the ever tightening emissions legislation - has to be met somehow (whether it is saving the planet is certainly debatable, but lets put it into that category), plus BMW in particular is very strong on sustainability and recycling seems to be something the Germans are into for some reason !

-Oli- Has one 45mm strut, but I can't remember what side, I sold it to him as a 51mm (I did tell him though when I realised). PM him.

...lower fuel consumption, lower emissions, more power, more torque, lighter weight, smaller carbon footprint, more recyclable materials, longer service intervals...Apart from that what has the technology ever done for us??

You should know more...

Saw you cruising around Botany with the dark mesh wheels on the other day, still looked good and low. BUT.. nowhere near as noticeable and stand out when rocking the big white 7er wheels, my 2c!! Shall we start a petition thread "Petition to get Jasmit to put his white 7 series wheels back on".. ??

^^Another car importer mis-leading the buying public. "Be the first in NZ to drive the 4 door 6-series", yeah right, apart from the dozen plus cars that are already driving around our roads. Might want to get them to update their web-site.

Give Rodney at Platinum Chauffeur Drive a call - I know he has a number of long wheel base 7 Series on his fleet.

Saw you driving around on the big white 7 series wheels -looked awesome. Can you teach my Missus how to drive around without f@$king up the front spoiler? Yours is immaculate, must know exactly how / where to go!