E30 325i Rag-Top

Do you reckon you could still get a WoF with one of those fitted? "Its a parking camera, honest"

Ok, sweet. I thought you knew a bit more as you seem very clued up from your posts on Bimmersport.On the 19th I will be straight on the phone and go check it out. Whilst I am not a complete Know-all on E30 M3s I like to think I know a lemon when I see one, will give my honest opinion on here. It may be a little cock-eyed as I will be licking the alloys and stroking the engine most of the time I will try and refrain from kicking any tyres though, and asking if he would swap for my '91 Honda (not that I have one)

I know I am going to have to go look at it as it is in Palmy.Only worry is what the wife will say if I come home with another E30! Sam, you seem to know more than you are telling, do you have some info on this car?

One down side of any NZ new cars that has been missed is the fact that they all look like they have been fired at with a shotgun after more than 20k due to the number of stone chips. It must be down to the chip and seal roads rather than the smooth tarmac used abroad. There aren't many people about that touch in or re-spray panels to repair the stone damage from what I have seen when looking for cars. Just to back up what most are saying, judge each car on its own condition, forget Odometer reading and where it came from, look at the car.

You are spot on Mr E34, it is the over 20 year old get out clause. Anything which is over 20 years old on arrival in NZ doens't have to meet the latest crash and emissions legislation, just has to be of a standard to pass a WoF. So the yank tank makes it through that loop hole (big hole to get that thing through) but many newer and better IMHO cars fall foul, such as many E36 M3s (need to have both passenger and driver air bags). Which would be why Penry's car was not suitable. The part about owning the car abroad only allows you to bring the car in as a personal possesion and avoid paying GST and import duty. I had to wait until my E30 was 20 years old before I could bring it over. You can't even bring it in and then wait until it hits 20!! It's the age when it first arrives in NZ, luckily my baby turned 20 in Mar '07 and is here now. Strange rules, but that's often the case with cars, there are so many possibilities and options they always throw up crazy comparisons.

I wanted to see whereabouts the reserve was, as the $39,000 was only the starting price. Been keeping an eye on the prices for E30 M3s for a while and comparing with what similar cars are going for in the UK. If the right car comes along at the right price, the moths might be tempted out of the old wallet.

In a celebration of Obama's win in the presidential election millions of black women in the US of A are flocking to get a Brazilian done. Their message to the rest of the world...... ...... NO MORE BUSH!

Cheers for the info, every day is a school day! Not sure how I missed the number plate surround - eek For some strange reason I quite like the wood grain - even if it does look like it has been cut out of a sheet and stuck on with glue. Just thought it looked a little different, not a huge price tag either. No pictures of the engine bay, and no mention of any tuning add-ons which is a downside. Now if it had this under there...

Spotted this on TradeMe thought it was an M-spec at first glance. http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motors/C...n-184350529.htm I've never heard of an MK Motorsport - anyone shed some light on it? Is it a Kosher tuned E30 (similar to Hartge) or an after-market tart up? Looks reasonable tidy and different to the normal. Cheers for any info.

Can you chuck up a couple of photos of the brake duct and non-brake duct front lips please? I didn't know there were two types, let alone what the difference is! Cheers.

There are a few aftermarket kits which replicate the wide body E30 M3 look, there was a M325i on TradeMe a few weeks back that had one, link may still be in the TradeMe discussions section. Many years back there was a project car in a UK car mag that fitted one of these kits to build a M3 replica. I bought the mag for the article but biffed it out a few years back and can't remember the name of the kit manufacturer. Trouble is most of the kits are fibreglass and unless done really, really well they just don't look right. Cutting and removing the exisiting panels from underneath and properly covering the inside of the arches is also a big job and needs to be done well to get a good finish and look to the car. Oh, and you will need some real good, fat rims to fill those arches. Good luck with finding one! My suggestion, save what would probably be only a few more $$s and get the real deal M3, it will be more than worth it in the end.

That's nothing, McLaren are going to use a gang of Scousers for the last race of the season. These guys are so good, they can remove the wheels and tyres and half strip the car, even before it has stopped moving using just a small bag of tools! As demonstrated on any number of roads in Liverpool when unsuspecting outsiders drive through at "only" 50mph.

Not hiding, just missed the thread until now.I would be keen for a meet up and a gas at some point. Cheers, JTP.

Is there no end to Ollie's skills: - Designer - Web-master moderator - Race-car driver - DIY mechanic and now Social Scientist and political observer.... and humourist!

If you spend hundreds of years breeding a type of dog to attack and kill things, don't be surprised when that is what it does!Would like to know how / why people justify having such a dog if it is not being used for it's sole purpose in life. At the end of the day it's not the dog's fault - you need to look at the owner. Just as an aside - the highest number of attacks and fatalities in the world are down to Labradors - not Pit Bulls.

You should be able to find a copy of the Haynes manual in .pdf format on the web easy enough, then just print out the electric system pages.I can't remember the web site off the top of my head, www.onlinemanuals.com or something, just google it.

You are so fickle and easily swayed

Very nice indeed Ray . Is that the Dolphin Grey metallic? As that is my favourite of all E30 colours. Although I am more than happy to settle for the Lachssilber on my 'vert. Weather must be better up your way, mine is still in bits from it's usual winter make-over, and no hurry to get it back together from the looks of the forecast!

Reminds me of a true event that I saw on the motorway in England, involving a truck full of beer that caused a huge tail-back on the motorway. There was an electrical fault in the rear of the trailer that caused a small fire to start, the truckie saw the smoke and pulled over on to the hard shoulder, and opened the curtains to see where the smoke was coming from (not the brightest move)... this revealed the fire and fed it with more oxygen, and also revealed the trailer was full of pallets of beer on the way to a supermarket distribution centre. The tail-backs on the motorway were NOT caused by the fire in the trailer, but by all the very helpful motorists that just stopped on the main carriageway to "assist" the driver in putting out the fire and "saving" the load. In the end the police had to arrest some people for obstruction before they could get the traffic moving again. If I hadn't been stuck in the queue for over and hour and a half, I might have found it amusing when I crawled past the scene!!

An English tourist in Aussie spent all day lying in the sun, without and sun-block on and as you would expect he got very badly burnt, especially on the tops of his legs and his stomach. The burns were so bad they were assessed as third-degree burns with the added complication of sunstroke, and as a result the guy had to be admitted into hospital to help him recover. When he was admitted to the ward, the Doctor prescribed him some pain killers, a big bottle of calamine lotion and some Viagra. The nurse who took the prescription told the Doctor that the man was in no fit state to be thinking about sex. So the Doctor replied.... "I'm don't want him to have sex, I just want to keep the bed sheets off his burns!" Boom, Boom!

Whilst it is true that some of this change is a styling issue again the main drivers in this type of design have been aerodynamics & weight saving for fuel economy and changes in impact system design.That and improvements in the manufacturing techniques on moulded fascias making the big one piece possible which have lead to a big reduction in the manufacturing costs. Developing the design is always a long process which goes round the loop many times, styling, engineering, bean counters and back again. Ends up being a trade off in many directions. I'm an old school chrome bumper style personally. If you hit something with those, take 'em off hit with a hammer until they are straight again. Try doing that with a plastic fascia!

Most people don't actually engage the steering lock properly when they get out, which makes it easy to break them off.In case you don't know, once the keys are out of the ignition you should turn the wheel until you hear a loud click, which is the pin engaging in the lock. If not engaged just giving the wheel a real hard yank will snap the pin and break the lock. For all the cars on the list, I would guess they are the older versions, as there are more of them in NZ and they are easier to steal. Modern cars have better anti-theft as standard, plus datadot security on parts, etc. Recent trends from Uk are people being car-jacked to get the keys to modern cars, or breaking into the house to get the car keys (a fishing rod through the letter box to get the keys off the hall table is a common one). My mate had his Renault Clio Sport nicked by someone breaking in while he was asleep upstairs, taking the keys then just driving off! Like someone said - if they want it that bad, they can have it! Still scumbags though.

When the guy at the recovery place showed me how they get in I was pretty amazed at how simple it was to open up a Scooby. It's all down to the pillar-less glass, tear off the plastic monsoon thing, pull the top of the window then reach down to grab the door handle with a coat-hanger or screw driver. Once you're in you can do what you want to the ignition lock and away you go. About 20 seconds tops.Same is possibly true of the E36 coupe as they have the pillar-less glass so it would be simple to get in through the windows - not sure how good the steering locks are on E36s? As for an alarm being the answer - don't you believe it. Most after-market alarms, even those with immobiliser circuits, are not that hard to get around. Plus when was the last time anyone took a blind bit of notice of a car alarm going off? I have stood in a shopping centre car-park with a bag of tools at my feet, opening a car with the alarm going (it was a friend's car - honest!) and not one person came and asked me what I was doing - not even the centre security! But then..... that's the UK for you !

The list is from claims made to the AA Insurance company, there are a number of high-performance vehicles they won't insure, which would probably include Evos, so they won't get any claims and not on the list. I know for a fact they won't touch Scooby Sti's.My Legacy Turbo will be part of that list, I had that insured by the AA and a local drop-kick took it for a joy ride and got chased by the cops in it. Got a full agreed value pay out and got my excess back as I could give the name of the bloke who was arrested for stealing it, plus the car was found and we got all our stuff back out of it. Thought it was funny when I got the insurance, went to the AA and told the woman what the car was I'd just bought and she said "oh, the insurace is quite high for those, it's $408 fully comp" at which I laughed and told her I was paying nearly $1000 third party on a seventeen year old diesel in the UK!