E30 325i Rag-Top

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 Now if they want their "lead" bid to be withdrawn the bid only goes back down to the $1,000 maximum of the auto-bid, not back to the $55 from where it started.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.

It all depends on what you mean by drifting it really, are you talking about doing skids in a mate's paddock, taking it to the odd public track day where drifting is permitted, or entering competitions, even doing a full season of D1NZ? As a minimum I would say you need to check everything is in tip-top condition before even the skids in the paddock, fresh new (quality brand) oil in the motor, gearbox and diff, cooling system working well, a decent tune-up on the engine, new air filter, plugs, etc. Drifting is very hard on the cars, even before you start sliding off into things, so things are likely to break, even in a low state of tune E30, allow for that in your thinking.

When Kubica was a BMW driver he was asked what he would like as a company car and they did not know quite how to react when he replied: "A Mitsubishi Evo 7." LOL!

Photo of wheels on the car, not the best shot, but gives an idea. I'm pretty happy with the results from the photo, will have to double check them in the flesh.

^^+1 the detail and the quality of the engineering and fabricuation is incredible, a top effort. More please...

Yup, that is the actual car, parked up outside Ma & Pa's house. In the UK at the moment, but hopefully coming out with them soon when they emigrate. What gave it away? The fact they are all touching one another, and there isn't any garden in sight? I kind of forget how crammed in the houses are now, it was just the norm over there.

A couple of pictures of the E46 wagon that I finally managed to find for my old folks, a late 2004 330d M-Sport 6-spd manual with grey leather. Not perfect, but it is in pretty good overall condition, nothing a little bit of TLC can't fix (I hope). And I managed to get it for under 10k

I saw the S14 bits and got all excited... ...until I realised you meant Nissan S14 not the proper one

With the genuine CSL wheels (three times the price, second hand and won't fit the rears of a wagon) there is a lot of concave "dish" on the wider rears, fronts are not the same. These are pretty close to the fronts, but not exact and should still look pretty smart. My concern was how they would look on a wagon, rather than a coupe or sedan, will soon know, wheels have arrived, just waiting on photos.

Decided to go for it and order the wheels, if they don't look right I can always sell em on, the standard MV2s in 18" on the car aren't that bad.I know what you are saying about the 19's on NZ roads, which is mainly why I decided that the 18's were the best size, 17s look too small on an E46, and I will just have to suck it up when it comes to tyre time. At least I can rotate the tyres around as the wheels aren't staggered fitment. I will post up some pictures when they are on.

I have been looking for a decent E46 wagon for my olds for quite a while, but then I am very fussy and very tight, so not easily pleased. There are certainly very few of the higher spec models around, with reasonable kms and at realistic prices. They are not the biggest wagon in the world and the rear leg-room is not overly spacious, but neither is a real issue at present for them. On the up-side they do drive very well, are pretty comfortable in the front seats and have an acceptable level of equipment.

So it WAS you ya' bugger! I was so wanting to win that competition and you beat me to it, git. Shame the got your name wrong in the magazine or are we to call you "the Don" now??