E30 325i Rag-Top

You're quite right Johno, they are not the M3 wheels as he has listed, I thought they were genuine MV2s (?). I'm pretty sure he said they were ET40 on a previous auction, but I may be wrong. Might be worth asking him for a picture of the back of the centre with the casting marks, part numbers, etc?

There are a set of genuine BMW ones on TradeMe at the moment, with ET40 off-set, not staggered http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=330363878 I know of a set on the way from the UK which are ET47 off-set with good tyres which might be available for the right price.

It has temporary reg until 03/11 by when it can be registered in the normal way in NZ because model will be 20 years old. I have all the dereg cert papers from Japan needed to do this and it would cost not much more than registering any other new car. This is utter bullshit - the vehicle must be 20 years old, from date of first registration not build date, when it ARRIVES in NZ. Doesn't matter how long it sits here from then on. Would be a whole world of pain and paperwork to get this compied and registered. My guess is that he has found this out and realises what is involved, so trying to flick it to some unsuspecting mug. The guy is an utter cock and does not deserve such great cars - should be laws against such things!

I think you might be referring to the "swirl flap" issue that affects both the 2.0ltr and 3.0ltr diesel engines, bits fall off in the inlet manifold and lunch everything on their way through the engine, turbos and cats. There is no definate cut off date for the faulty flaps, but certainly affects all cars pre-2004 and no cars after 2007, if it's in-between then you have to take the manifold off and check visually what flaps are fitted. It's a pretty cheap (couple of hunded bucks for the parts) and easy (less than an hour to fit) fix, even if it is for piece of mind. There are a couple of threads about it somewhere.

Must have been ex-French military, two shots then gave up! I admire his approach though - think I might try it the next time I don't get decent customer service.

Let your hair down and go wild young fella!

I'm surprised you are running with these headers, even with the ceramic coating, rather than an extractor set-up. Do these e21(?) headers flow well as standard?

^^aaah, yes, I forgot about the good old emissions tune! Having spent many, many months working on tuning an engine and ECU for exactly that it was a bit of a silly thing to forget.

Definately just a different ECU map between the vehicles? Seems a big difference, just for a re-map. Yes, I know you can get lots more from mapping on most cars, but there is usually a trade off in either fuel consumption, or even (with some aftermarket re-maps anyways) engine life.If BMW are happy that the engine can put out the higher ratings in the X5, why have it so de-tuned in the 3-series and 5-series? I thought I read somewhere that there is a different turbo set up, as Oli says variable vane turbo as against fixed, on some of the engines and not others. Should still be a relatively simple bolt-on change though I would have thought? Keeping it all BMW would be much more preferable to me than going for an aftermarket "chip".

^^ Poison Ivy From the current list I prefer "Hazard" for the colour or "Voodoo" for the name!

There seem to be a lot of different power and torque levels for the same engines with the diesels, from the M57TU?? onwards. I'm not sure what is changed to get the different outputs, whether it is a chip and tune, or mechnical chagnes like bigger turbo(s), etc. The X5 always seems to get the higher outputs from which-ever engine.Would be interesting to know what has to be done to say, a 330d to get it up to the same outputs as a X5 3.0d. Especially as Dad's (330d 6speed manual) is due to arrive 6th December...

Is that a HANS device on the back of your helmet? If so, how fast do you think an E30 series car will go !

Got a WoF on the 'vert after it's winter lay-up. Took it for a drive to blow the cob-webs out Quick soak and sponge to get the dust off. Summer's here !!

Which Type Of Beer Do You Drink: - DB Export - Export Gold - None I Just Want Free Beer (TICK!!) LOL!

Nice rims and more pictures of pure awesome-ness. What are the plans for the outside of the car, something subtle and understated like this..

^^ I thought that might set you off Ollie. So angry for one so young?? Should have bought the Bimmersport Euro-style number plate surrounds instead eh??

Cheers for the link, new web-site added to favourites list for more day-dreaming!

The situation is even more confused with auto bids, as in this case. For example, auction is sitting at say, a $50 bid, you place and auto bid of $1,000 so would automatically start at $55. Some else comes along and bids all the way up past the $1,000 to become the lead bidder. Now if they want their "lead" bid to be withdrawn the bid only goes back down to the $1,000 maximum of the auto-bid, not back to the $55 from where it started. I have seen this happen a number of times with my auto-bids, and I fully suspect it is a "friend" of the seller pushing the price up then backing out, so have refused to go through with the sales.

Good quality on the vids, what camera are you using? Slightly OT, but why is Puke looking so brown, have they had a drought or something?

The biggest tell-tale sign for the valve guide seals is a big puff of blue/white smoke out the exhaust on start up. This is where the oil leaks past the seal onto the bottom of the valve and into the cylinders when stopped and is then burnt in the engine when it is fired up. If you don't get the cloud of smoke on start up, it would suggest the problem lies elsewhere. I have heard of other vehicles where you can replace the seals with the head on, but it usually involves special tools to compress the springs and an air supply to push the valve up when you want to put them back together. It's a bit more expensive to take the head off (new gaskets and bolts, etc.) but I would say it's a lot easier and you can clean the valves, etc at the same time.

+1 Loads of BMW content in this months Classic Car. From the front cover with Team kirk-Burnand with the E30 M3 and E30 325i targa cars which have a big write up inside, the featured car club is the BMW club, an article on the BMW Club Council coming to NZ this year, competition to win a Jagermeister 2002 model, featured car for sale is a very nice E30 M3 plus a few other bits and pieces. Add in the random shot of Driftit Dan's race car in old colour scheme, not to mention other cars that aren't BMWs. I would suggest you give it a look out, even if it's not something you would normally buy, supporting a magazine that caters to this particular part of the car enthusiast market can only be a good thing.

True dat.Keep the engine and the options, remove the silly Alpina badges and restore to an original M325i = win!

The BMW engineering team refused to produce a RHD version as there was no way to get the steering column through to the rack without affecting the exhaust headers, reducing power, or moving the brake pedal without affecting the braking dynamics. The whole weight distribution of the car, with the engine slanted over, is set up around having a driver in the left hand seat as well. Any E30 M3s that are now RHD have been converted after leaving the factory and as such are no longer original, which combined with the fact that very few countries drive on the left, has a negative effect on the collectability of the car and hence it's value.

^^ "Seems like a waste of my time" What is it about 80s cars that make quotes from Lock Stock spring to mind. There is a great shot of their showroom on one of the ads - 2 door Cossie, E30 M3, M6 and classic 911, hmm - "how much do you want for the whole lot mate?" If only. Of the three E30 M3s on TradeMe for the last while this is the best by far, and now also the cheapest. Watching the market with keen interest...

The guys in that trademe add seem to have a pretty good product, moulded PP, not cheap fibreglass rubbish. They advertise on there all the time, guess they will have more than one.Might also want to try Tom (M3_power?) I believe he has a few vorsteiner bumpers spare that he might be tempted to part with for the right price, or may have more on the way you could get on the back of? Let us know how you get on, I might go for a CSL or M3 front when I get bored of the M-Sport one.