KwS

Japan. Bimmer.work still works. Its REALLY well optioned. Comfort access, active steering, sunroof, cruise, pdc, heated seats, adaptive xenon

Carjam says Jap import

Well optioned too. PDC, sunroof and is that a cruise stalk i spot?

Shes a bit tight on the old hoist there 😄😄

Are they a taper seat or crush washer style? Going from the NGK boxes, once the plug is seated hand tight a taper seat is a further tweak of about an 16th of a turn, whilst a crush washer style is around half to three quarter a turn to tighten.

Back in my day the speed camera areas used to be signposted

3. DO NOT USE CHEAP HEX SOCKETS. I made that mistake and will never do it again. Make sure you get the best brand you can get and not some cheap Supercrap rubbish. I replaced mine with Bahco and the difference in how tight of a fit the hex was was huge, its no wonder the cheap ones rounded the bolts out.

One recommendation i'll make is to check the scale. If you mainly work on metric stuff (bmws, japanese etc), make sure the NM scale is what lines up with the round figures. One of my most used ones has the rounded scale line up with lb-ft and its a pain to use NM instead. I have all three scales. The 1/2" is mostly used for wheels, mounts, and suspension parts. 3/8" for engine parts, and the 1/4" is useful for valve covers and anything that needs a small, fine, scale (not that often but its damn handy when you do need it).

Doesnt seem too complex, if your current levers have 3 stamped on them use the part numbers for either A or B, if its got 1 or 2 on it use A, or if it has 4, 5 or 6 use B. Both A and B part numbers from RealOEM are showing as available overseas (using the vin from my old 650i, which is likely the same parts but check first). Replacing just one lever is forbidden, it must be done as a kit.

Im not sure if this helps, but this is what the PUMA measure is about, https://www.bimmerfest.com/threads/repair-kit-for-idler-lever-4-8is.1269192/

Throttle controller fitted to that one too, wonder how much of a difference that makes? Im guessing a reasonable amount if the throttle, like other BMWs of the time, isnt linear.

As long as it doesnt have a pretensioner. If it does, it cant be re-webbed. There is a guy in Wellington that is one of few authorised to do it (non-pretensioned).

Bimmergeeks also does the Protools app for your phone, could be worth looking into? Looks really indepth and gets good reviews.

Finally saw a new M3/4 on the road the other day, good lord the grilles look no better in person, so ugly. Thankfully thats all I could focus on and didnt see the rest of the disaster behind the grilles.

Out of curiosity, is there a corresponding mark on the headgasket where those gouges in the head are? One looks like it leads right to a coolant gallery.

Love a chunky sidewall

Non-standard center console? Reminds me of a CSL one

Am i correct in thinking the valve covers on these are magnesium and need to be treated with care?

Idle the car for 5-10 minutes, as long as you can, when its warm and then give it some revs. If it doesnt smoke, its probably got no oil. Theyre also well known for the coolant pipe in the valley leaking and being a real prick to fix. There is a LONG list of issues that can and likely will happen with these cars. Having owned one, and had a hell of a time trying to sell it before it broke again, i'd second Matts advice to avoid them.

Post the rego and we can tell you in half a second. Either way, if its a 320i avoid it like the Rona.

I feel like i saw in a video about converting the M3 CSL to manual that there was some machining/modifying needed on the box, so if there was i wouldnt think converting to SMG would be easily doable. Even if you wanted to, which you wouldnt. The M3 vert, they werent DCT not SMG werent they? Completely different beast.

The E46 SMG2 gearbox is more or less identical to the 6spd manual gearbox internally. Its all the stuff on the outside to make it work that is different. There are a few companies that convert the SMG box to manual, although i hear that cannot be done to the SMG3 7 speed box.

Imagine how sort a life span the clutch pressure plate (and the hydraulic system for that matter) would have if the system held the clutch disengaged every time the engine was off 🤣

I was wondering where that went. Saw it on facebook in various states of disrepair. Its a shame the previous owners molested it as the old photos of it I found actually show it looking quite good. https://autoinsiders.co.nz/autofair/sales-ad/9696/BMW-320i-1986 Hopefully it wont be too much of a mission to get it back into shape. I think I saw it mentioned the engine had been well and truely cooked?

All of them 😂