kiwi328i

Hi guys, I got this from Jase a coupla months ago, and was going to try and put it into my 328i and anchor the Jatco. I dont know if they deliberately wired the car so that the conversion would be nigh impossible (anything is possible) but I thought it would be a bitch of a job just gettin the hua out without trying to pretty much re-loom the bloody thing, so I decided to work on the Jatco... So that means I have Jase's old (but very good conditioned) ZF-5hp and peripheries. If any of guys want to deal just PM me, I could do with a motorsport bumper or something of that nature, so if you think you may have something I may consider for my 328i coupe, please PM me. Chur. http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motors/C...n-281135712.htm Sorry have no idea how to do the link thing. I will also add my 2cents to the official jatco thread in the hope it may help someone.

I fluked a trademe deal and got mine for 24 bucks! fluked in the sense obviously at the time no-one was looking for one and wallah!

If you come across any oem staggered sets for our E36's, you pay what the man wants you to pay, I like oem for plenty of reasons and 39's are rare, dont see many of them around, if they ever do come up for sale, I am predicting demand will have those around the 1k mark...but really the market at that very time will dictate, we can only guess.

I really like this car, I would buy it instantly without bargaining for it either if I had the dosh. I thought I would always prefer the wide grills over ANY pre facelift, and this is the ONLY car I have seen to make me change my mind...its just so bloody mint it makes you do that worried forehead funny smile without showing your teeth thing. All the best with the sale of your mint as cars. I am a bmw bogan...moreso after seeing your 2.

Signed, its a slippery slope. If local govt aint supportin its people there will be war in the streets. If the people rally support then get snubbed, something has to give, progress it is not. What if someone thinks the volcanoes in Auckland are a bit of an eyesore? Serve no purpose? Like they had one in the first place! There use to be legislation that required buildings to be no higher than the peak of those volcanoes...till skycity and its cash cow concept came along. Its this functionalists approach that will be the end of us, I say not only keep the speedway, get a bloody drag strip in town too! Everyone will make money!

Agreed, but thats not to fault the kit. It would look wicked with an intercooler behind it, or somehow limit the amount of light going through. But as far as getting air through the front it would be alot better than stock.

Jon's car is awesome alright, although it looks a tad 'heavy'. Considering its an amalgamation of this and that, he has put it together so well it really works. Everything from the wheel offsets to the flares, that merge very well with the sills and the bumpers, even to the angle of the exhausts. It is very very nice, even others who have tried to replicate his car, dont look as good as his one. I think the e36 has to be one of the hardest shapes to improve on I can think of, and have looked for inspiration everywhere, heres a custom widebody, I found and I aint really a widebody fan, but I have yet to find a one peice bumper that I really liked. Reiger etc dont complement the angular lines and just round everything off and the grilles are always yuck, but heres a totally one off custom, see what you think. If anyone could replicate this for a std e36 (i.e not a widebody) I would be in like Flynn!

If you have lots of meat on them, it could be just the rotors. Mine squeel like a stuck pig at the lights also, so I will take them off and send them down the road, I like going to the little garages where they will have a go at anything, anyway I got one down the road and for like 40bucks a rotor, they will machine them if they can do so within specs. If your rotors are too worn, they wont do them, and the only other option is to get secondhand or new. Keep in mind, even if they can machine them up, they will be narrower, and therfore more susceptible to warping etc and even more issues, which is why if its marginal, you might as well replace them. Due to the economics, most countries with large populations just replace rotors when they replace pads. Here rotors are cheap...but not that cheap. Guy on trademe does some cheap rotors, pads are cheap I will just scuff mine probably incase they have glazed up. If you have just normal road spec pads they shouldnt be noisey, and it would be bloody hard to tell but again do the rotors first, and if they are still noisey you will have to replace the pads.

This is bad, not bad as in good or awesome, but just bad, like rotting meat, roadkill and sewage. The body has been shaved so it doesnt match the fenders, which will also need to have it shaved, and it may not be as easy as I think it may be fibreglass (just guessing), if its metal, then bugger! I dont know what the deal is with not having O.E indicators and moving the repeaters to the side of the front bumper and some other random indicator to the front, but I am guessing that would need to be certed and possibly an engineers report? The filler cap is awful. In general even if it was to be completed, I think the design is just plain awful.

I love these cars, never had one, but when you see a 'good' one, it makes you think about the possibility of having one. It was the best business express at the time, and a lowered one with big feet are all you really need to make it look a bit more serious. However, like all things you can get carried away. Like some others here, I quite like the look of the facelifted wide grill and bonnet, this stolen image has the wider grill and 19's and I thought it may give you some ideas of what a stunning e34 can look like. Its obviously had alot more work than just a drop and big feet but for inspiration I hope this helps.

I think our brethren on the other side of the Tasman may be on to something. Its as easy as 1,2,3. 1, All tyre sizes listed on the tyre placard are regarded as O.E. 2, Any alternative tyre size must have a load rating or load index equal to or better than the minimum stated on the tyre placard. 3. Alternative wheels & tyres must not foul any component at any point over its full range of travel. This is surely the way forward. Oh yes, those snow tyres really are an issue, they have their place I guess, its just never ever going to be on my car, which is why I believe the 'application' is more important than the hardcore data, only because performance is not a criteria when it comes to w.o.f. Which is why I think that responsibilty should end with the inspector, the car's functionary role is a complex whole of many parts, and on their own they may 'fail' but as a whole they might be just fine. Having directional/asymmetrical tyres fitted incorrectly is a performance issue, rather than a functional issue. For example, my braking stats were absolutely perfect, and this has to be a better perspective for inspectors rather than tread pattern differences? Having said that as soon as I get pinged, I aint going to moan, I will just fix it! Till then I am lovin them!

Yeah its hard keeping ahead of the game, if there is such a thing, most times you only know, when you fail or are forewarned by someone. I actually dont want to argue with anyone, I either know or dont know, dont bother me too much, I cant find anything on the latest amendments to the land transport act on tyres and wheels in regards to load index's in your example, but I will keep that in mind. From experience same size tyres have roughly the same load index, if not exact esp in regards to type i.e sport, high performance etc and in my case they are both 91. It would be highly unlikely 2 tyres of the same size even if they were not in the same 'class' would differ more than 1. Not in this size anyway, but with differing ply types and amounts they can differ, i.e a 6ply and 8ply Van tyre would be significant. Ditto on the speed ratings, couldnt find anything, is that all round or on the same axle, and is that enforcable now? I have no idea, and its silly really when all they have to do is at least be equal to what was on the original, but hey I aint making the rules. If you manage to get the same size tyres on the obviously same size rims on the same axle, anything else is rather trivial, but again I dont make em. Havent had a sticker, yet, but then I have a fairly std 328i coupe, fingers crossed, we aint 'targeted' tbh. Thanks for that Zenetti, more good things to consider when I get to my next change of tyres, hopefully my wallet is in better shape and I can be more of a reformist, tbh if I had the money this discussion would not be taking place, its not to take the piss, its much more a case of economics. Cheers.

Nope you are not wrong, yes secondhand, and yes I know exactly what tyres I have on. No problem with the handling funnily enough, much much better than the previous 'legal' pair I had on the rear. I have done 60km's in mixed driving and they are awesome! Handling is a personal thing, and has absolutely nothing to do with a wof inspection, the safe and appropriate operation of the parts that make up your car are though (which effect handling). Tyre constructions are the same (i.e steel belted radial ply, tubeless), open to interpretation but this should suffice, as is size designations (245/40-17) but not the 'same tread pattern type'. Two out of three aint bad, esp the most important two. I could easily argue the third in terms of fitment, but I will just sound like a smart-ass in doing so. However, the (apparent) killing blow would have been the fact you need to fit asymetric patterned tyres in accordance with the manufacturers instructions, which unfortunately were not on the tyre...bugger, I really dont want to sound like a smart-ass, but you can see how I might argue myself out of that one. So ok, maybe not the killing blow it could be (for them), such are the regs and their ability to be interpreted openly. The sum of the load ratings of the tyres on that axle well exceed the certified maximum loading of the car...not that I am looking at the specs of the vehicle, cause I doubt it very much the inspector did. Differences between tyres in regards to load/speed ratings are not a consideration to my knowledge. Likewise the speed ratings well exceed those of the vehicle, let's keep in mind O.E it had 'H' rated 15's and again speed ratings are nothing on their own, but are used in conjunction with the load ratings and in this instance, the tyres well exceed those for this vehicle type. The vehicle originally had 205/60-15's, then there is more than a fair chance 15 years later on, your 17" tyres will well exceed whatever the hell was on it originally. There is almost no chance it could be worse on a private motor vehicle. Industrial/commercial possibly, but doubt it. I think most garages, adhere to the land transport 2001, 32013, 2.3(4), "a tyre must be of good quality and construction, fit for its purpose and maintained in a safe condition." And thankfully they did today...because they are. I dont mind the regulations at all, and I dont try to find creative ways around them, but commonsense prevailed today and everyone can have their 2cents on this, but it may have been a matter of interpretation of the wof regs and a dose commonsense that got the coupe through. On another day, it may not, and when it comes I will deal with it then. If it didnt pass today, I would just fix it, no sweat. I have yet to go to a garage for a wof and had them write down load ratings then adding them up then looking for the specs of my car whilst checking the tyre pressures with a gauge...and thats because commonsense has to come into play somewhere or your car would take 2 hours to be checked, and to put it bluntly 80% of the cars on the road would fail. Sometimes we go to get our cars checked and think, how the hell did it get through and have a laugh...and sometimes our cars fail and we think how the hell did that happen? and they get pinged on trivial bullshit. Today I got the former, but I have also had the later, many many times, so I am takin this one because I do not consider it personally to be a safety issue (lets say less of an issue than the worn falkens that were on it). Its not like I have a rusty brakelines. Good points Zenetti, as an ex tyre guru I know too well the bull surrounding tread patterns and the marketed and perceived benefits and advantages they apparently hold...dont so much. The proof is found in these cheap imitation tyres made in the second world with out of date potenza tread patterns etc making not one hell of a difference to what is fundamentally a crap tyre. I like to to think "a good tread pattern does not make a good tyre." Asymmetric tyres, well I dont want to go to too far off topic, but its also a little bugbear of mine, and the proof for normal passenger cars is that its a non-issue. If I had a Veyron, I would be less likely to screw with it, but for the majority its just not an issue. Lets get real, I have a Pirelli P Zero 245/40-17 Y rated with 6mm of tread, there is a directional 245/40-17 Direzza on the other side with 6mm tread on a 15 year old car...is not even worth talkin about, unless someone on here is happy to compare with their 15 year old 205/60-15's H rated 'legal' setup and we will see which setup is superior and safer. I am guessing inspectors take this into account also? On another day I may have fitted a more conventional setup, but I (think) I know what I am doing.lol. I wasnt out to take the piss. Sure I could even go back to the 15's, but I dont think so. I better get that 050a (as in asymmetric) flipped around on the front too, cause that has got through 2 wof's now and is still going against the rotation. Again, better than previous, and its more in my mind than anything, so I will turn it around and see if it makes ANY difference, and I really doubt it will, but then some may argue that it cannot function properly because it doesnt have the corresponding partner on the otherside, which is great in theory just not warranted financially. Yes that does mean I have an entire set of illegal tyres technically!!! Back to this thread though, the tyre fitted perfectly, no rubbing, look great, performance is much better. So in essence I would suggest for those who want to put on this size go for it, and remember the tyre reg's for your warrants as a side note as you dont want to do all that work and fail at the next check! Cheers.

I like this, of all the numerous prototypes and concept cars that were softened and mushed up, I really really hope this one isnt. If they make this one as is, it will go some way to 'correcting' the cayman's awkwardness in the range and give 'normal' people who like fast sports cars a real option. This is the way for Porsche now and everyone else cause wars aint cheap and oil is runnin out and EVERYONE can make electricity. We really dont need anymore hybrids in the prius mould, god bless its greener than thou backside.

I believe you need the e46 carriers and the rest should just bolt up. They are all different sizes actually across the range, so it depends which model he has now, but for example an e36 328i can go up to E46 328i specs with just the e46 carriers and rotors.

Thanks guys, Anyway, I went ahead and put the 245/40's on and I think they look fine, in this application they work fine, they dont look massive or anything, and I got them at a good price. the sidewalls look ok and more importantly feel ok. The footprint in theory seems decent, but in reality it may not be as significant, as the width of the rim controls that to a certain degree and when you factor in roll (turning and side loads) in theory "I" think for sidewall rigidity the 225's may have the edge as the sidewall is in 'tension' whereas the rear 245's are not so much, but for me they dont look too bad, if anything an extra half inch would have to go to the inside of the rim as I have stuff all room on the outside, especailly now, which makes me think these style 42's have the perfect offset really for an 8" rim. Anyway for anyone else who is thinking of 245/40's on an 8.0" rim, on my style 42's at least, yes it can be done without rubbing issues and in this case at least its a done deal! I did a mild fender roll (not o.t.t, similar to stock really) and that was just as a precaution not for actual rubbing. In response to 3 pedals, strangely I thought the Pirelli I have on the drivers side was bloody massive compared to the Direzza on the other, it looked more like a 265/40, not that I measured it or anything. Got some pics.

I aint for stretching either, but then where is the limit? Guidelines are good, but then it would be good to have a process for those grey areas. Maybe a cert at the most and maybe a comment on your wof application with either a pass or fail. Ultimately it should end with the wof guys. It may be harder to nail down the type of tyre, because we live in different climatic conditions, but I see your point, there are some nasty m&s tyres that are coming over and people are avoiding them for very good reasons, but they would have been perfect for its previous intended use.

You would think they have better things to think about. I was excited to learn of the new recommendations being bandied around regarding young drivers and the development of a 'better' process, so I suposse it was only a matter of time before we heard something stupid to bring us all back down to earth. Its pathetic, it will go down with the same 'wtf were they thinking' aptitude as it did with the tinted windows saga, or how about the emissions for wof and then the maximum decibel thingy. A bloody warrant of fitness, is just that. You should be able to take your car in and THEY either pass it or not, based on their expertise, based on their guidelines, which is all they should be. Have a look at some of the literature and you will quickly see that a 195/50-15 even from the same maker will have differing dimensions, possibly as wide as their own 205/50, etc etc, then there are manufacturers tolerances and then of course you have the tolerances from the rim manufacturers to consider. What a waste of time! Some tyres strech better than others too, I would cringe if I saw an 15year old 215/50-15 eager stretched on a 9x15 rim, but maybe not if it was a brand spankin new pirelli or whatever. I guess 'age' of the tyres might be the next on the list...of silly things to 'control'. I do see a point, because there are always going to be idiots, but having 195 (keep in mind there is no aspect ratio and that makes a huge difference to this argument) on a 7" rim, means bloody nothing. Where are the guidelines on overall diameter? Keep in mind, alot of the streched tyres we see from around the world came from WOF guidelines that required that your tread needed to be under the guard...which basically said to tuners, sh*t, lets get 10" rims under our golf gti's and throw 225's on which will stretch like sh*t, but bring the tread under the guard, yipee, dangerous I think, but legal. A new set of guidelines will just get tuners to do something else in response, or maybe we will see a resurgence in flares and raised rears like the seventies? eecckkk!!! I think they need to have a few more think tanks before they start spewing out these rather rudimentary guidelines.

I think the point here is that there is no actual 328i vs M328i, for the very fact that there is no 'motorsport 328i.' So the argument is non sensical. But I think a better way to look at it, may be that there are m-spec or motorsport spec 'parts,' or 'options' for a 328i. I have a 328i, and thats that...for everyone. I had an m-spec front sway bar and std rear one, which is odd, I have since upgraded the rear swaybar to m-spec specs. I have also upgraded the hoodliner to the m-spec black one, but it then you really could just call these options as oppossed to m-spec options. My Mum's car is what I would call an 'original' m-spec, which just means really that it has all the options 'we' consider to be accepted as an 'original m-spec vehicle.' But in theory it really could be seen as a 320i with m-spec options. To be honest I am guessing the dealers originally would have had some demarcation between standard and motorsport versions just to aid them in selling the blighters, of course you could also sell a 'standard' with some m-spec options, in the same way you could buy a v8 commodore with some ss options, but it would not be an 'original' ss, even if in reality you may have been able to spec a executive to ss level. In any case Mum's car, has the half leather interior, the clear fronts, repeaters and rears, black hoodliner, m-spec steering wheel, m-spec bodykit with the slats, m-spec sway bars, style 30's and to confuse matters the avus kit which is the bilstein suspension not boge m-spec. In all honesty it is easier to call this car an original m-spec vehicle because it lacks nothing from the m-spec list really, it also has a sunroof. It may be culturally constructed but it may be easier to think of this car as a motorsport 320i, than a 320i with a few m-spec options. fyi, I prefer my fairly standard 328i to Mum's motorsport by a fair bit, cause even with Mum's avus spec, my car would lay waste to it pretty easy and as a daily drive is just plain nicer. Mum's 'better' suspension (which is debatable, if at all noticable) isnt enough to compensate when I have alot more torque at my disposal. I would take a 328i with cloth interior than a fully spec'd 318i for sure. In anycase, get as many m-spec options as you can, it certainly doesnt hurt, and I cant think of any negatives, other than the colour of the hoodliner, I think the actual material is different, I have yet to see a saggy balck hoodliner, but thats just me, so other than a change of colour , I think its just better in general. my 12c

Yes, A bit of both, whether they 'sit' right or look ok on the rims themselves and secondly if they will fit without hittin anything.

ok some of you didnt put down your aspect ratio so I am guessing, but it doesnt look like anyone has done the 245/40 on an 8" rim, but I guess 235 is close enough and sounds like the safest bet thus far. But by that account, then 245 is hardly going to be THAT much bigger surely? I have seen 235/45's on 17x8's all round and boy thats a tight fit, didnt look too bad really and would be the cheapest way to go possibly, but that would be closer to e34/39 specs I think and e36's should be a tad bit smaller. Anyway still hoping someone who has had 245/40's on an 8" rim on the rear of a E36 will chime in.

I am currently running 225/45-17 as you do and the rears are needing replacement. I aint no drag racer and its a daily driver, but I do love hooning up state H/W 16 occasionally, and I am quite happy with the standard suspension. I know its more common to either have 235/40's on 8" rims all around or have 245/40's on 8.5", but I have style 42's and I have 8"s all round. According to Felgen I have a et47. Am I good to go? I am guessing I am, but as I will buy them second-hand (I know I know) and then putting them on, I thought I would put it out there as an extra precaution. Cheers

I used Turps and a small screwdriver. Then I used rough sandpaper to make sure all the 'grease' was off and it was clean as hell. You can get cans of ados from Mitre 10, thats what I did, I dont know what material you are going to use, but I went to an upholsterers and got cloth. I wouldnt even bother with vinyl. You might as well take the entire door off and glue all the plastic insides on (or re-glue) and make a job of it. it gets rid of all the clanging and creaks, my coupe is bloody awesome now in that regards.

When you get the top panel off you have to clean it. I used turps myself, and a bit of sandpaper here and there, because the things are made of wood composite, the original glue after years just detaches itself, the glue itself is good, but the composite is rubbish. Once its clean as, I used ados spray and reupholstered it with new soft material (cloth). Vinyl is a nightmare, I didnt even bother with the original, as its thermo-vac jobbie and its out of my league.

Its a crap design, the metal clips that grab the plastic tabs are soo much stronger than the plastic, over time the plastic, well loses strength and well you keep bustin them. I just grabbed a big hunk of no more nails and gouped it into the hole where the clip goes all the way to where the tab used to be hold it in place with whatever and by morning it should be sweet. How often do you need to take off the A pillar covering? And if you do, it aint that hard you just rip it off, without too much pressure, its not like they are holding up the roof or anything.