E30 325i Rag-Top

Whoops, I accidentally bought another BMW!! Luckily it was only a die cast model, so not too expensive. It was supposed to be the new E30 M3 Warsteiner race car from the Lifestyle catalogue, but I got the last digit of the part number wrong so the M1 turned up instead. I thought it was pretty cool, especially with the car details, and it it being Piquet's car so decided to keep it. M3 is on back order so waiting for that one to arrive. If I could stop buying stuff like this then I might be able to afford to buy a REAL E30 M3... maybe not.

+1 waiting to be complied and registered.

Imports have gone up though. 7 x M5 Station Wagon from UK, 1 x M5 Station Wagon from Japan. However, two of those are listed with 4,400cc engine with 2012 and 2014 build dates so looks like some clown can't tell the difference between a sedan and a station wagon. So realisically it is now 6 x M5 Wagon. Still not that far from being rocking horse poo though.

These are the numbers I managed to find, unfortunately the live Sales information only goes back as far as 2004 and the registration data only as far back as 2002, so I can't find anything for 2001 M3s. Year BMW Model 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Total M3 CABRIOLET E46 10 10 7 3 1 31 M3 M3 COUPE MANUAL 61 44 15 9 1 130 M3 M3CSL COUPE M 0 4 6 1 0 11 Total 71 58 28 13 2 172

I am a bit of an odd-ball here in that I love the smell of diff oil, for some strange reason. Maybe my sense of smell is completely buggered from working with diesel, heavy oils and chemicals for most of my adult life?

A lot depends on how you want to measure "sales" in the murky world of new car sales there are a number of different ways of recording the sale of a vehicle. The most often, and probably most accurate, measure is the number of new car first registrations - as any given car can only be registered as new once. I will see what I can dig out on the registrations of the E46 M3 - are you only interested in the coupe or Cabrio as well? Used car information is much harder to interpret, as a lot of the information is an open text field, so they will enter whatever you write on the form into the MVR, so people import things like "318i M3" or my favourite the "320i AC Shitzer" finding the real M3s is always a bit of detective work there.

Got some of that expanding Gorilla foam to fill the void between the top and bottom pieces of my new race car splitter - to give it extra strength and rigidity without adding too much weight. Well - F#$k me that stuff goes everywhere!! Over estimated how much I needed to put in by about 300% so nearly all of it came out when I squeezed the two halves together. Then proceeded to do some kind of old school comedy act of getting stuck to everything as I tried to tape the two halves together. I should have filmed it for YouTube to show how not to do it. But now it has cured and hardened off I am pleased with the end result. Still nice and light, and much much stiffer. Just got to work out where to put the slots (to allow for adjustment) and then I can put the CF wrap over the top to make it look like a bought one!!

I have got a spare set of 325i down pipes and centre section, the proper twin pipe 325i ones if you are still looking, no rear muffler though.

Damn those are nice wheels, what are they worth for a set? And do they come with gold centres as an option....

The shifter arm and the exhaust system will be the same for the coupe and sedan E30 325i, which will make your search a little easier as there are not many cabrios around in NZ. Lowering springs are the same size and shape as for the coupe and sedan, but tend to sit a bit lower on the cabby due to the extra body weight. Just something to bear in mind when looking at "normal" e30 springs but making the search easier again.

Managed to get some car time over the long week-end in amongst the family time stuff. Cut some more bodywork off the race-car now the fibreglass panels have arrived for it (will put pics and more info in the build thread now there is some progress). Bought some decent facemasks so i'm not breathing in so much crap whilst working in the garage. Black bogeys is never a good sign! Had a washing frenzy as well, gave the 330d Touring a real good exterior clean as it's been sitting under a tree while I try and find some time to get it ready to sell. Supercheap finally had the Castrol Edge 5w-30 on special so I got 5L of that and now have everything ready to do the service. As I had the water blaster out and some snow foam left over I gave the wifes 116d a quick foam and wipe down, and also my X2 fleet car got a quick foam and rinse as it's white and shows the dirt quite badly. Then gave the wheels on the 116d a reasonable clean as they seem to attact brake dust really badly. And now I'm knackered.

E30 Facelift front bumper mounts also include the threaded hole for the screw in type of tow hook. Could you look at using one or a pair of those with your current bumper, might need a little modification but probs easier than welding? They bolt straight into the pre-FL chassis rail.

Awesome build Shaun!! Can't wait to see it finished and racing. do you know where your old WTCC car ended up, haven't seen itn around for a long time?

Far too many E46 M3s built to be anywhere near the Special Interest Vehicle category. Plus was sold NZ, new, etc. Better off waiting until they get to 20 years old and then emissions exempt, can't be too far away now, when were the first one's built 1999?

What a remarkable achievement - spending $20k on an M20, even the guys that have got really tricked up race M20s in the Race Series have struggled to get up to $20k for a build, so someone must have seen him coming when they charged him for this job - $7,500 in labour for an M20... really?

Do you want to drive it as a road car? Need to check the emissions level for the M3, not sure if it is Euro4 which you would need in order to get it complied.

The stripes I could live with, but those side skirts...? No way. Makes the rear overhang look all wrong, low sill line flowing into a high as arse end. Needs a rear skirt to balance it up.

Fark!! What brakes is it running if they fit under 14" rims...

There were hardly any options to choose on an NZ New 1M, everything was included in the base price. The Valencia (?) orange paint was a new colour for the 1M but cost the same as black / grey / white, etc. This may not have been the case in other markets. If you are getting your info from the net, check which country it refers to when they call these features "options".

Didn't the M1 have an M88 engine in it...? Not an M car.. Car has to be "engineered" by BMW M GmbH to gain the "WBS...." vin stamp. Agree about the M140i, M50d, etc M-Performance stuff, great cars but just too confusing to most of the customers.

Changing the drive settings to RWD doesn't change the traction control necessarily, however, pressing the M1 button that is configured to turn it off will do... Then giving it full beans away from the lights in the damp & cold will catch out the unwary, allegedly. Didn't cost much per km as it was covered by insurance, so just the excess. As they broke the expensive end as well as the good end it was declared a write off. Lots of expensive bits in that front quarter need to be replaced and I doubt you will find them in Zebra for a while. Might come back to life though if someone has the $$$ and the skills.

The white one was the DTM Edition GTS, which made it four GTS in total.

There was something else that was bugging me about the car, and I have finally managed to realise what it is.. the wheels have been changed from the factory GTS rims that it had originally, and the ones that have been added don't look as good to me. I wonder 1) why were they changed and 2) if the dealer has them to include in the sale. Personally I would think this reduces the value of the car as it's no longer "stock" in terms of it's overall collectability as they were a GTS specific wheel. Maybe I could use that as a negotiating tactic to get the car down to a price I can afford?

None of the NZ New cars were used as demos or track cars, all went straight to customers. This one has been through quite a few pairs of hands already, traded against other high-performance cars. The original Sport Cup tyres would have been pretty well gone after 6,000kms of moderate driving. Don't know much about the Nexen range (I'm sure it varies a lot from budget to performance) but not putting the original rubber on would look like a penny pinching excercise. Something to check further on a car like this.

I think the rental companies BMW deal with a lot are Sixt and Europcar, maybe try those two if you really want a bimmer. M240i is a great car, if Sam hasn't got much luggage, I hope you aren't looking for a 2 Series Active Tourer, or I will have to disown you as a friend!!