E30 325i Rag-Top

I am thinking of getting a set of these: In 18" to put on my old man's E46 M-sport Wagon. Having never seen these on an E46 wagon in the flesh, I was just wondering what others reckon, look good or no? Only down side is you can't fit staggered rears on the wagon , apparently.

Fixed

Why are you only selling the removable tongue & ball? It's not much use without the other bit. Technically the weight ratings would only apply when the two parts are together, if used seperately they are not certified. Unlikely to be picked up on it, but you never know...

Have a good one you mad Deli you! Don't eat and drink too much though - you still need to lose that 200kgs

This may be a very silly question, but how does it attach to the car? Don't you need another big hunk of steel that bolts up under the bumper and to the boot floor somehow? Also, what is weight rating on this?

A very interesting way to start a race, I have no idea how they decided the grid positions in that one - this car went past the Porsche and E30(?) before they had even moved out of their box! That and the two people wandering about on the track as they start - you can just see the second one leap over the barriers as this guy comes howling down the inside of the track - classic LOL!

+1Overall I prefer it to the previous incarnation, but it has looked even better previously. With these latest changes: Removal of piping from the front +ve, even lower +ve, rims -ve, roof chop ----ve IMHO. Photography and effort / work done - unbeatable.

Not Brooke's new project is it? He's been very quiet recently...

Glad you are all fixed up mate! Would have been funny watching Andrew push start you for each session though. ..

Good on you for giving it a crack Glenn, I'll see you on the other side!

Have a good Birthday Marty, hope you get it fixed soon!

Correct it's not a kangaroo, but it is in fact a deer not a fox.Wrong colour and too big to be a fox, and the wrong shape I narrowly missed a deer on the M3 in the Uk once and saw it take out the car behind in my mirror - made one hell of a mess of the car. Not as big a mess as the roo I saw that hit the Hiace van in Victoria though, I would not like to hit one of those things, I drove along at about 50km/h after seeing that!

For most vehicles the break-even figure for diesel to be better value is around 30-40,000kms a year with all the bits and pieces, RUC, etc. However, i think that includes the depreciation which would be a lot less on the diesel wagon you are looking at, putting a few more Kms on that won't depreciate as much as a petrol with fewer Kms. That figure does start to drop dramatically if you lug a lot of gear around with you or tow quite frequently - this is where deisel really wins. Article on swirl flaps and blanking them off.. swirl_flaps.pdf

From that list I have got: 1 x Brutal Money Waster 1 x Beautiful Mechanical Wonder

M20B25 Oil cooler set up? Radiator, hoses, sandwich plate,etc? $$?

Get in touch with Gavin at Euro-Italian for the ball joint, I got one off him last week for the other side, was just over $30+ gst. You can bash, sorry press, the old one out and the new one in rather than replacing the whole control arm.

I have done quite a lot of looking into the E46 diesels as I'm after a 330d, a couple of things have come up 1) Turbo reliability - the oil really needs to be changed before the service intervals to give better life from the turbo. You can tell if there is an issue quite easily - down on power and noticeable smoke. 2) Swirl flaps - a little gadget in the inlet manifold to reduce emissions at idle, it's basically a flap like the old fashioned carburettor throat. It's mostly made of plastic, but has 2 metal screws holding it together. They can break and come apart, where they get sucked into the engine. the plastic bits just get chewed up and spat out, however, the metal screws cause a lot of damage taking out pistons & heads then turbos and cats on the way through. No official recall or acknowledgement of the issue, but there was a new design of flap introduced on very late E46, you can also fit blanking plates and take out the flaps, makes no difference to driving the vehicle. 3) EGR valve - as with most diesel this tends to get filled with oily soot and needs to be taken apart and cleaned regularly. Not a biggy, can just make the engine smoke a bit and run a bit rough when it gets too bad. If you do a lot of kms then a modern diesel is highly recommended. Not sure about that particular car as it has quite high kms, would look for a full service history and then some if it were me.

*Cough*, this is bimmersport, whatever the question, the answer is a turboed e30 On PCs though, you are spot on.

Motronic is out, gearbox, flywheel, alternator, fan etc, all off ready to go onto L-jet motor in the morning. I have been comparing the wiring and the hoses to see how I can get this all to work. There seems to be quite a lot of differences in the coolant pipes in particular and I have the Motronic version of the radiator and the header tank so it will be interesting to see what sort of a mix-up I end up with. fun, fun, fun, .... not! Yeah I know, 2 weeks and counting, tick tock, tick tock. Only just finished in the garage now, and that's because I am totally knackered and need to save some energy for tomorrow and hopefully, putting the L-jet in!

Unfortunately not Grant - just a part I realised I don't have but do need! The re-built engine is all together and pretty much ready to go in but I have only just started taking the old one out and there are a few bits I need to swap over onto the new one - flywheel, alternator, etc. The scary part is the electrics and the million vacuum hoses that the l-jets have got that aren't there on the Motronics. The moment of truth will be when I try to fire it up I guess. Should be an interesting week-end, there is bound to be some stupid little part that I find I need but don't have...oh well fingers crossed.

Done. Feedback: Top Trader would recommend to all A+++++

Not too ashamed to admit that I have done that very thing, if someone wants to drive in such a way as to put my life at risk I am not going to back down..was in the UK though so I hope it wasn't you Graham.Also had my jaw broken here in NZ after a "discussion" with a van driver who tried to knock me off my bike. I guess my Anger Management lessons didn't work that well ! Will be interesting to see the outcome of this case in Auckland, be even more interesting to know the full story.

Hey Oli, the black car is the 323i you got off Dave yeah? In which case, yes that would be the right one. Any chance you can post it up to me (I'll pm you the address) and I'll sort you out some cash at Manfield next time your up?

I seem to have two of every single bit of a pre-facelift E30 except this bit, the plastic elbow that goes between the air-flow meter and the inlet manifold. Was sure I had one but the mess that is my garage seems to have eaten it. Anyone got one going spare for cheap? Or can swap for pretty much any other piece of E30 plastic, or metal...

Arrived & fitted - looks 10 x better. Chur!