E30 325i Rag-Top

Some person thought it would be a good idea to park this outside work the other day, and then make me drive the bloody thing for two hours.

Easy, keep the grey one. Dolphin metallic is THE best E30 colour, and paint is more expensive and harder to DIY than mechanicals. IMHO.

I have got a genuine fog light for one side if that helps. Which bumper trim parts are you after exactly, as there are a few different bits?

Does look well priced, if there are no issues waiting to be found. Over 100kms, imported, small ugly rims are only down sides. Service history would be nice to know on these. Very limited market for the 5 Series Touring now, which is a shame as they are such a great car, most people want an X3 / X5 SUV it seems, probably because they are the latest trend.

Easy there fella, I think we have had enough death threats over this already. Lets keep it relevant to the OP from now on please and thank you.

Needs a price as per Forum Rules.

Yeah, it definately referred to an engine re-build at Bavarian Motors a couple of years back, which now seems to have gone from the text. Maybe didn't have the invoices / info to back it up?

Things are only worth what someone is prepared to pay for them... whether it's an E30, E36 or an F80.. I think he is underselling the work that has been done on the engine, but that said if you spend $30k on an engine the value of the car doesn't go up by $30k (obviously). If someone is looking for an e30 track car or dedicated race car then this would be a good place to start, cage it, add a CAI and off you go. Possibly a bit too clean for a race car, but you can't have everything.

The pictures are just renders from the product configurator with the "police" graphics overlaid, so I wouldn't pay too much heed to the details. Aussie police tender very differently to NZ so their choice makes no difference, the lack of a Holden alternative does though. I have always wanted to order a car with the "gun cabinet" option ticked!

Very confusingly the BMWi Performance range, of which the 330e is a part, use a range of differing drivetrains just to make things even more confusing and hard to explain to the customers and NZTA. The i8 has a seperate engine for each axle, petrol on one, electric on the other (with I think a two-speed gearbox but could be wrong), the 225Xe is then a back-to-front i8 with again one motor per axle but the other way round to the i8, 330e is between the petrol and gearbox as you say Ron, to take advantage of the 8-speed shifter, the X5 40e is different again with the electric motor somewhere in the middle IIRC. Some of the models also use the starter motor as a generator and an extra :"eBoost" electric motor in certain modes for an extra 5kW or so! I wish they would just pick a system and stick with it, but then that would be far too simple and nowhere near as much fun for all the German boffins!

Not sure I understand that graph - the "torque and amps" axis is a bit strange, how is that calculated - is it the torque multipled by the amps pulled by the motor - which might make sense? As the rpm increases the torque remains constant but the power (kW) increases, which is provided by an increase in current. just checking the technical info on i3 and i8 and that would suggest the max torque figure is pulled all the way to max RPM, which backs up what I have always believed in that the torque curve for these motors is pretty much a flat line.

It all depends how much you really want a coupe with a bit more poke under your right foot. I don't think there would be any point in doing it for a monetary gain excercise as by the time you take into account all the little bits and pieces and cost out your labour time it wouldn't stack up. My suggestion would be to drive the 4-door and fix / repair any little bits and pieces that need doing as you go along, then if you still really need a 2-door sell the 4-door and buy one.

Cheers, I'm not sure how practical mine would be with the kit on it, driveway has bit of an angle getting onto the road, so it might have to come up a little so I don't rip the skirts off it!

Fark!! That looks so good with that M Tech kit on it. @Tidy30 is your kit still for sale? I would like to come have a look and see what condition it is in, Palazzo's picture makes me really want one now.

Did you ever get the skirts fitted on your 'vert ? My understanding was the sides are different between the vert and coupe. If these fit on your vert I would be very interested?

I finally gave in to getting a small(ish) water blaster and went for a Karcher as it was on offer at Bunnings and seemed to be the only make that had loads of accessories and parts and stuff available on the shelf. Works well enough so far, not overly fast at cleaning larger areas as it's a smaller model, but adequate for me. Plenty of power to destroy plants and take paint off things if you are not paying attention / stroke can't be arsed moving things out the way.

There is one that has been built into a race car, doesn't have the 2.7ltr M20 in it anymore though. Really nice car, was up for sale on TradeMe for ages not long ago, no idea if it ever sold...

Not that far for me to go to the big 6 0 and to be honest the state parts of my body are in they aren't going to be any worse by that point anyway, possibly even better if I can get the surgery I need. The only way I can be working smarter would be to pay someone to do the work for me, and whilst this is sometimes very tempting, it's just not me, so I'll keep the money I save from doing that for the racing budget.

I think it is more of an age thing Glenn, I have always been upside down under cars for as long as I can remember but now it is seeming less and less like "fun" and more and more like pain and heartache. When you can only lean under a bonnet for a period of time before your knees and legs seize up any job starts to take a lot longer, and has to be planned out in advance to mix up the standing, sitting, leaning jobs. I must be getting old and paying for all the mis-adventures of my youth. First world problems I know, as there are many people out there who would love to have a car to work on, let alone a garage full, so I shouldn't complain too much. I will be a lot happier when the current wave of work is over and the driving can commence again thats for sure.

Started putting things back together again after pulling the head off the race car. Blowing coolant out due to exhaust gases getting in the system, pressure check of head came back good, and a bit of a weld on a corroded wateway should do the trick fingers crossed. Now to get the whole lot back together and adjusted - fun, fun, fun. Wife's E46 has had the airbags done, but found another couple of issues that need attending to... And the convertible is still sitting there patiently waiting for some new parts and TLC. I am beginning to get a bit over all these car problems, they are supposed to be "fun" right??

It turned out our E46 was one of the ones that has both the drivers and passengers bag affected, so they were both swapped over, covers replaced and car was given a very good clean inside and out. They even pointed out a couple of issues that needed attention which was a bonus as I had missed them during the last service. All free of charge, on an imported car, and no special treatment for me as it was all done by my wife. So, to keep on like a broken record, if you are in doubt contact your local dealer with your chassis number and they will be able to let you know, and book you in as soon as they can, part availability permitting. The latest update I have heard is that there has just been a new list of over 2 and half MILLION additional BMW vehicles affected released from Munich, which has been filtered and sent to the NZTA to see which of those are in New Zealand and find the owners details, so there will be another round of letters sent out very shortly.

Fark!! Nearly $18k for that... E30 tax is going up.. Better increase the insurance values on mine.

Everything is for sale if the price is right Grant! Car is manual, 325i and just clicked over 80k genuine and documented miles, approx 122kms.

What are you looking for in a vert that would make it the right car...?? hint, hint, ideas in sig..?

Couple of very nice E30s there that I would love to add to my collection, pricing is getting up there, I can understand it with the restored grey one - look at all those new parts under the bonnet - shiny new washer bottle, coolant expansion tank, under bonnet insulation, etc. I would think it will still stuggle to get that asking price but I could see it getting close, the black one is probably a little furher from it's asking price unless it looks a lot better in the flesh than in the photos.