KwS

its a good looking car, and as good as the photo are i dont think you are doing the car justice by using whatever processing or filter you have on them.

yeah, looks fixable. no doubt itll go somewhere like HellBM

Spotted a really nice E30 325i in pale blue in traffic today. I dont know my e30s but i think it had the tech1 kit, hartge badge and wheels, and a real subtle hartge stripe down the side. Im starting to desire E30s more and more.

Would be worth changing gearbox oil if it hasnt been done in a while too, will help with lubrication and the syncros.

You know why they would install a Jap unit? Because thats what the car came with. It would be hard for them to guarantee that everything will work 100% if anything is changed from original spec so generally its something dealers wont do (and they literally HAVE to guarantee the work). Depends on how lenient the dealer is. Youre not wrong about taking it to an independent workshop if you want to change your car from stock, they generally have more experience with aftermarket or unauthorized solutions.

We're always pushing to get prices lowered to meet the guys that parallel import parts, but its an uphill battle. A lot of the parallel imported genuine stuff comes from countries like China that have legal limitations put on parts pricing, so they can import it cheaper than the NZ company can get it for from Germany. Aftermarket stuff is just a gamble, some people get away with it, some dont, i dont go there personally. Theres also issues with parts warranties if not purchased from a legit local dealer. I know with Mercedes parts MBNZ will tell you to jog on if you try to claim parts warranty on a parallel imported part, it will need to go back to the country of origin. CGA will come into effect from the supplier, but its still more of a headache. Anyway, this is way off topic now.

ah, i read it the same as Dave, lol.

As a customer you dont know the cost prices set by the overseas head of the company. If you worked in the industry you would have a much more realistic opinion of it. Its an issue we constantly battle with, and i understand, but there is generally sweet f**k all the local dealer can do about the pricing. No point blaming the dealer for it and acting like they're so evil.

Sounds like you have sh*t dealers then (or you have a bad relationship with them), never had an issue contacting Jeff Gray here, even by email. You can call it a weak excuse all you like, but until you have worked in the industry your opinion is moot.

Seems very "euro" though...

spotted a lovely sounding manual E34 V8 in the Hutt just before. Wondering if it was the 1UZFE one that was around a couple of years ago.

You make it sound like a bad thing that dealers only use genuine parts. I wouldnt want to them using inferior knockoff parts if i took my car to a dealer for work. They also have to meet dealer standards, and guarantee the work. Yes, the parts are likely more expensive than buying the same thing overseas or aftermarket, but its generally not because of "massive profit margins", it because we are a much smaller market and thus costs are high in the first place. Repco and the likes have HUGE margins on their parts (just get trade on a set of brake pads or something and see how much cheaper than retail it is), but you dont complain about that. Yes the labor at a dealer will be higher, but as we see all the time, a dealer can usually get the same job as "averages joes mechanical services" done in less time because they have all the right tools and experience. We often do work to fix issues that other workshops have charged an arm and a leg for but couldnt fix, and we do it first time for less than they have paid the other workshop. Anyway, thats just my rant. I get tired of people slagging off dealers, they arent out there to get you.

Ha, so elegant.

why even weld on a nut? tack a bit of mig wire to it, hold it with vice grips whilst tightening the nut, and then cut the wire off when done.

Pretty much this IMO, its cheap enough.

my only worry about adding metal would be that itll upset the balance. its spinning at pretty high speeds.

at the very least if you purchased a whole unit you could refurb it and sell it on and likely make your money back even without the helical gear.

The seats would look lush in a black interior, but the rest of that red is terrible.

Burn it. That interior doesnt deserve to survive.

I looked into it when i did mine, and didnt find many, if any, people that had actually done it. What i did work out though is that yes the cam needs to be removed as the sprocket doesnt have enough clearance in the head to be removed in place, unlike the B32 which apparently does. I didnt bother and tbh it didnt matter as all my rattle was coming from the helical shaft. The procedure for the B32 is here, http://www.beisansystems.com/procedures/euro_s50_double_vanos_rattle_procedure.htm and from what i could tell it would be similar for the B30 IF you had the space to work with, but you dont.

bloody small, the standard hex is 4mm

Oh yeah i can see why you want to replace it, but atm you have a couple of options. Find a way to make it work, or buy a new one. If in finding a way to make it work you make it worse, youre buying a new one anyway lol. My best thought so far is an easy out. Its probably a terrible idea.

is it hollow? Could you so something horrible like drill a small hole and use a small easy out to hold it?

That might be it, i dont recall applying much counter pressure at all, just enough to hold it in place. I seem to remember gently tapping the spanner with my palm to shock it off instead of applying pressure. Regardless, its broken now so nit much help. i dont recall, but is it possible to assemble the shaft and piston on the bench and put it into the vanos unit as one piece? Can you hold the back of the shaft whilst its in the piston?

this part here, (i had wound the nut off a couple of turns before the first photo)