bravo

Check how many litres you actually put in next time you fill up. Unless you drive it until its actually spluttering before filling up, you won't have used all 55L if you have a 55L tank. Make sure your odo is in km, not miles. As that would make it 13L/100km, not 22. (bsaed on an odo reading of 250, and 55L) Check your odo. If you don't have an odo check site near you, get a mate with a newer car to drive the same distance as you. After 10km or so, check the mileages of both cars. (or use a GPS with trip function). I doubt it's burning all that fuel, and it has to go somewhere.

Thanks. Is a fuel leak a possibility? It's hard to believe that the car will use that much fuel, yet appear to run normally.

It would help if you gave your economy numbers as litres per 100km, or at the very least how many litres and how many km. There are different size tanks, so it'd be good to get some exact numbers for comparison.

Don't know. Obviously for the first say 5-10mm, but then it would be resisting any further movement. I havn't time until next week, but I think I'll take some measurements: Brace installed, suspension at rest. Brace installed, Suspension at full droop. No brace, same situations. After driving the car a bit more, the most noticeable improvement is less bump steer. The rest may yet prove to be placebo, but for now I'm sure there is a positive difference, albeit very small. As we've always assumed, strut braces on e30's (and probably most BMW's) are probably mostly for show. A stiffer brace than this one is probably what is needed. So a job for me in the future is to weld some gusset plates into the bends to reduce flex of the bar. Interesting link

I found the plastic one better than my $80 one! No effing about getting the right spigot and so on. I keep a plastic one in my tool box and glare at my expensive alignment tool hoping one day that I'll need to use it before it rusts. Edit: Actually I don't think it was $150...

For Sale thread fail. Until you have a pic or description all you are selling is snake oil. Closed. Start a new thread when you have a pic.

Ron, please elaborate how to alter camber in 10mins without adjustable mounts or offset bushes. I'm not trying to be a smartarse, but this would be great info to have! Alignment results: NO CAMBER CHANGE WHATSOEVER! from my last alignment roughly 12 months ago. There was about 10' diff between the two, but that's hardly enough to say it actually changed. Also, as I've always known, the car is slightly lopsided - more camber on the LHS. I spoke to the alignment tech about toe-out, and he wasn't convinced it'd be the go with the amount of camber I have, but I'm not convinced he is qualified to give me that sort of advice - I just thought I'd ask him. Unfortunately where I live the talent pool for alignment techs is not as good as in, say, Auckland. These guys would probably be the best up here though. Toe on this machine is measured in mm. I'm guessing positive toe is toe-in? In which case it's currently set at close to factory. I hadn't read the toe discussion before I spoke to the guys about what I wanted for the alignment, but next time I'll get them to dial some out, and see if there's a difference.

Make sure you use the correct loctite. There are about 50 different types. Different amounts of lock and heat and for different applications. Sorry to be unhelpful, but I can't remember which is the right one. Can look tonight and let you know tomorrow if you can wait that long. Or someone else may know.

I know what you're saying, but $70 is bloody cheap compared to buying decent brands. And a heap cheaper than paying someone else to remove the gearbox for you. DIY is cheap, but it's not free. I've bought individual sockets for over $30 when I've needed something unusual, and don't want crap that might break.

Hey while you're here Henry - what has your research told you about toe settings for a moderately lowered street car?

You can buy fairly cheap (but functional) sets covering a range of sizes from the likes of Repco. You probably won't use them often enough to need to buy expensive ones. Most of my tools are decent, but I have some powerbuilt torx sockets and I've yet to damage one.

2 sizes. But forget which two, sorry. Large ones on main bellhousing, and smaller ones on inspection cover. PS - if you're doing it in the car, some long drive extensions are mandatory, and a universal optional, but very, very handy.

Yep, but not sure of exact amount. Maybe around 1 degree.

He knows it's an m20. M6/M8 is the bolt size specification (6mm and 8mm shanks on the bolts respectively. Should be stamped into the bolt heads, otherwise measure.) Edit - damn you ARE fast Glenn, beat me by a hair!

No because these are not adjustable on e30. you can only adjust front toe unless you have installed adjustable plates/bushes. Besides, if it were adjustable, you could instruct the mechanic (or have them advise you) what to set it to for the desired results. Factory settings are fine for unmodified cars, but lowered suspension, etc changes things. If you could just set it to whatever you wanted, there would be no need to buy offset bushes and so on.

These prices are now 18months old, but it's what I was quoted by Dynamic Raceparts (nz distributor) when I bought the fronts: PFF5-301 ( 2 per car ) $48.00 + GST each x 2 = $96.00 + GST = $108.00 Front Control Arm PFF5-302-19 ( 2 per car ) $39.00 + GST each x 2 = $78.00 + GST = $87.75 Front sway bar (19mm) PFR5-305 (2 per car ) $81.00 + GST each x 2 = $162.00 + GST = $182.25 Rear subframe PFR5-306 ( 4 per car- 2 x inner 2 x outer) $57.00 + GST each x 4 = $228.00 + GST = $256.50 Trailing arm PFR5-308-12 ( 2 per car ) $39.00 + GST each x 2 = $78.00 + GST = $87.50 Rear sway bar (12mm) PFR5-300 ( 1 per car ) $60.00 + GST = $67.50 Diff

Would be interesting to see what the price diff is between ordering direct from PF plus freight and customs/duty compared with ordering them off the NZ PF distributor.

My Ford Courier in the background. I clocked 380,000kms in it last month. Aiming for the 400 for next year. I got it when it had doen 230, so that's 150,000 in my hands. Way too many in such a sh*t box. How's the car Matty? I'm glad to see it being looked after. I rescued it from certain death. Was languishing in a guys backyard with a stuffed auto box. I bought it purely to put my spare auto in and on-sell. I did quite a bit to it to tidy it up and make it reliable, and as you know Ryan did heaps too.

To add to that - some friendly holiday advice. Check your cars WOF now. If you forgot that it runs out next week or early Jan, you may have trouble getting it cone while on holiday - especially if it fails. Check tyres, belts, fluids, and brake pads. The last thing you need is the brakes to stop working halfway down the Kaimais with a boat on the back. Happy holidays, and safe driving. I'm smarter than you - I'm not going away this year. I'm going to stay here and watch the carnage as half of Auckland comes up here in their Gin Palaces to choke our bays, rape our Scallop beds and basically run amuck (and into each other 90% of the time). Cheers!

I think Quicksilver means Ether ("Engine Start"). (carburettor cleaner or propane recommended on other websites too.) Could be anywhere - even your oil cap may not be sealing or your tappet cover gasket may be leaking. If you can't see/hear the leak ether may be the go.

+1. Please show some maturity on the forum or your time here will be very short. DRTDVL is giving you good advice.

Ron, there is no doubt that the camber will have changed. And as you probably know, you can't alter camber on e30's without adjustable strut tops, so an alignment won't put it back. For me personally this is a good thing. There was too much neg camber for tyre wear. Yes neg camber is good for handling (in most cases), but I'm happy with half a degree less neg camber. The car is 20 years old. Old cars will show this kind of change and the cost to"fix" outweighs any possible gains. It's interesting to see the extent of the change though. Wheel alignment figures will be interesting too. Not much rubber left in my vehicle either, but the strut tops still are so they may pick up the slack. I don't think there are any "problems" with the car either. Obviously there is some flex that the bar is helping to remove. Any problems would show up in a wheel alignment. As I get one every 6-12 months, in the case of my vehicle I know there aren't any issues. My research tells me that ideally the brace should be mounted stress-free. But there are various schools of thought on this. Mine ended up being installed with some compression. But it's a moot point really.

Goes to show that there is actually a shitload of flex in the old girls.

How many kms on yours Apex? Mines approaching 250,000. Sounds as though your struts are 15-20mm further apart than mine at the top.

Awesome progress since I last checked this out! I love how you're always doing something.