E30 325i Rag-Top

Silver M3 with CSL rims and what looks like a CSL S54

I am hoping (and I mean hoping, as it's unlikely) that Haye does get inside once or twice and lands a decent punch on Klitschko to rock him a bit and then see what happens.... As we used to say at the York Hall.... "go arn my sahn"

Why men shouldn't be allowed to run advice columns... Scan001.pdf

Haye really has to go into it sh!t or bust, be aggressive and try to get either a KO or stoppage. A risky strategy and I think he will do so, as he can't afford to sit back and let Klitschko dictate. Should make for a good fight and a result inside the distance, but to which side is too close to call.

Cool. Have biddededed.

Hi Nath, are these 15 x 7 do you know? Do they come with the centre caps? Cheers.

You might want to re-read the section in the rules about where the sponsor's logos are meant to go - rofllolliecopter! Seriously though, you might want to re-do your number boxes, when the signage is confirmed for the new season

Yeah, I saw that up on there yesterday. Engine porn right there....

I wouldn't rule it out as a genuine M3, it is pretty common for E30 M3 "rolling" projects to come on 4-lug suspension as most of the good bits have been ripped out and used on something else or sold off, then cheaper and easy to replace with standard E30 bits. A lot of the projects I have looked at one the net have been in this kind of state. A more telling sign is the rear screen and the changes to the metal work of the C pillar which is quite tricky to do (flares are easy enough to add), this car has that all correct.It would be surprising (but not impossible) that someone is going to put that much time and effort into a project having scrimped on a couple of hundred euro to get a genuine shell rather than a replica. Nice end product, first time I have been able to watch all of the vid, great colour and some nice interiort touches.

Did the American guy ever finish the twin-turbo V10 into the E30 M3? It was looking like a monster project, then it seemed to go very quiet about two years ago, and I haven't seen or heard any more of it since? While a V10 into the E30 M3 is a very nice project and a great car, I would be hard pushed to say it is the best E30 M3. Being a bit of a purist, a car would have to be running an S14 to take that title, preferrably a later DTM 2.5ltr version, which was capable of nearly 400bhp!!

Is this for your car? I thought you were pre-facelift? Chrome bumpers, etc....

Given this thread a bit of a bump as I saw this photo in Autoweek magazine (from the states - there's a big time difference and they are always a bit behind!!). I think it is a great photo, plus it really reminded me of someone associated with the race series...

Ssshhh, don't tell anyone it's a secret

It's one thing to know the chemistry and theory, but I can't paint for sh!t! I leave that to people with the right skills. My job is to make sure the right stuff gets put on in the right way, far easier than the actual spraying.The company I work for supply painted and assembled parts to the car manufacturers in Aussie, HSV, Holden, Toyota, Mitsubishi, etc. We have our own, small scale paint shop here in NZ, and use a couple of sub-contractors in Aussie, which I have to try and keep under control. I spend a fair bit of time working with the paint suppliers and the car manufacturers to make sure the stuff is going to stay on for 10 years and a million kms!! Drop me a PM and we can talk, no worries.

Whilst I still do not fully understand all the chemistry involved, my understanding of the base-coat / clear-coat systems I am working with is that there are two distinct reactions occurring at pretty much the same time.The first is the 2-pack reaction with the iso-cyanate hardener curing the basecoat (and also into the clearcoat), there is a seperate reaction between the base-coat and the clear coat which creates a bond or cross-linking of elements in each of the two materials (they knit together in effect). This will only occurr at 50+ degrees C, no matter how long you leave it to dry (with PPG product anyways). You are correct, in the real world a total de-lamination is not going to happen unless something else has been done incorrectly, like you say the basecoat has been allowed to fully cure before the basecoat is put on. However, in the extreme cross hatch testing with heat cycling, UV cycling and moisture exposure tests that we need to meet for the OEMs the lack of baking will produce negative results, but again, not total failure of the clear coat. With the heat, brake dust, etc. that rims get thrown at them I thought it best to use the paint system to the fullest. However, it is possible that different basecoat / clearcoat systems work in a different way, although the three or four systems I have looked into & had tested were pretty similar from that respect.

Not at all! But I would be realistic enough to know that if I didn't have specialist skills and expertise that could justify that level of remuneration my job would possibly be under threat as I could be replaced by someone who is capable of doing the same job for much less money. A simple fact of life and economics.I have seen it in a number of industries in many countries where the real world suddenly impacts on gravy-trains, and it is always a mess with lots of fall out.

Good description on the process for painting the wheels, makes the car stand out a bit from the crowd. From my experience the "quality" of most paint jobs is down to the preparation, you can paint with the best materials in the best pattern over sh!t prep work and it will still look like sh!t! The hours can build up in the prep work very quickly and that is where a lot of the cost builds up on a great paint job - the man hours soon rack up. Using a blast media is a good way of saving time and getting a better prep, it is unlikely most people will have a media blaster around so to avoid paying to have it done, will go with the DIY sanding option. Personally I would suggest paying for the blasting, especially on rims as they are exposed to pretty harsh treatment so the paint can suffer. I appreciate you were spraying in what looks like your garage, but to get best results with a clear coat bake it afterwards, this promotes the reaction between the two layers to get them to key together fully and stop the clear coat lifting off later on.

The differences over standard are the blacked out grilles (which is an easy DIY) and the lower eyebrows over the head-lights, which I would guess can be added on to a standard bonnet. Not really my taste, I would be more interested in the additional lower splitter under the M-spec bumper!

One of the main reasons that the North American car industry got into the mess it did (and is still in) was down to the stupidly high wage rates, and more importantly benefits (note the guy quoted talks specifically about his health care), which were demanded by the Auto Unions during the 80s and 90s. Here again, the distribution staff (a basically un-skilled job) have benefitted off the back of a collective Union agreement with the car companies "hey, we work in the auto industry as well, we should get US$25 per hour plus health care plus pension". Not good PR, and not a nice business decision to have to make, but I wonder if the numerous cases of GM, Ford, Chrysler, etc doing the exact same thing were reported and raised in quite the same way as this? The fact that it's a German company seems to be a big part of the issue from the reporting side.

Good to hear that this wonderful car is now being used properly and not being ab-used by the Strat-meister.I think your friend found a friendly and understanding compliance officer to get it registered that easily!

Too true. Usually its from the "total loss lubrication system" developed by Triumph & MG. Preventing any dirt getting into the mechanicals by washing it out with buckets of oil.In this case it was from leaky spares... note to self, check parts are drained before storing - doh!

Cleaned up all the oil from the garage floor where a spare diff had leaked everywhere. Fun

More pictures here.... http://www.topgear.com/uk/car-news/new-bmw...aled-2011-06-15 Looks half decent, a bit under-powered for my liking though

New pics now up on BMW NZ facebook page.. Loving the M stripes on the white!

Check the size of the photos, maximum size is 800x600 any bigger and it won't upload.Oh, and welcome!