KwS

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 😂

Has it been coded in?

There are also the genuine Hella options that come up second hand from time to time. They also look f**k ugly. I'd look at a good set of original lights. Unfortunately retrofitting a decent projector into standard housings is a WOF fail now, so thats a no go.

Its currently reg'd and wof'd, so someone out there is hopefully getting some enjoyment from it.

You'll be back 😂

Depending on the cost of the pipe and how handy you are with a spanner I wouldnt even bother claiming on the insurance. Lots of guides online on how to change it, and you might find the total repair isnt much more (or less) than your excess.

Colour is awesome, but the rear end looks like it was styled but a completely different person to the rest of the car. Not to mention it suffers the same issue as the M3/4 with the rear guards making the rear wheels look tiny. I dont know if thats something that we will need to get used to in the future, or if BMW designers just cant work out how to not make it look bad. The front end treatment is so much better than the M3/4 but there is still something off about it to me; I think its the sharp triangular grilles, they look out of place on an otherwise quite rounded car. B- Not offensive, but far from BMWs best.

Doesnt even need to be programming, https://www.stuff.co.nz/motoring/evs/300143635/juicing-fake-battery-life-catching-out-unsuspecting-electric-car-buyers More dodgy sh*t like that will come out of the woodwork. Dealers will do anything for a buck.

Nothing to do with the moderating team, I'm sure. Not that you'll ever see this post since I'm being unfairly and aggressively moderated/censored. Good going team.

I highly recommend https://classictowing.co.nz/ Brent is a legend and looks after everything he carries like its his own. No job is too big or small and hes reasonable on price. I've used him a few times with no issues, even with non-running cars. Nice to see since my posts are being moderated they are being edited and even hidden, despite meeting the rules.

Emission testing is just going to punish the ones that already cant afford to replace their car. They arent going to fix it at great cost, or buy a replacement car, they are just going to send it as is. No reg, no wof, no worries. Scrappage schemes in the UK were a disaster too. Airfields filled with perfectly good cars that were just crushed complete. Fairly late model stuff ended up there too. Such a waste and a false economy.

Its only showing LHD in one decoder, which seems to be having a mare as its also missing a bunch of info. Bimmer.work shows it as RHD https://bimmer.work/vin/p04e66ce8c919e8c683bc0007b7835b03.pdf Its got a real nice spec, and does mention Pre-series Management, whatever that means. Looks like a good buy.

A steam cleaner would do quite well there too.

I keep going into that thread just for a laugh at the heaps of crap people think are worth squillions of dollars.

Looks better than a lot of new cars, BMWs included! Those seats look so bloody plush.

Doesn't stop the trolls trying to discourage buyers by talking sh*t, like voicing their (uneducated) opinion on the asking price.

Allowing q&a on classifieds was one of their stupider decisions. Never used to have that and were forced to contact the seller to ask, which ruled out the time wasters to a degree

would be doing really well to tweak the firewall with an impact like that, clearly it's the guard that's been shunted closer to the bonnet messing up the body lines. Yes there will be damage you can't see, but that's pretty minor compared to the stuff i supply parts to fix on a daily basis.