_ethrty-Andy_

25,000 is not bad from a performance tyre, there has to be some compromise, you can’t have soft and grippy and economy together, 25-30k is a good run. I had a set of Smokohama’s last only 8,000km, now that was disappointing for a 16 year old that saved for like 3 months to buy them.

you reckon? i had a sentra before my E30 and that got brand new tyres when i got it and i drove 15,000 on those before i brought the E30 and they weere probably still around 80-90% tread

i run GTRadial Directionals. they were great when i first got them (i was on my restricted and drove like a Nanna), but once you get more spirited driving i wouldnt bother with them. they hold the road really well, but they wear too quickly. mine have been on the car for about 25000kms and will be borderline when it comes to the next warrent probably. i wont be getting them again.

time to buy an E30 and drop the engine into it

but agreed on the fuel. seems strange there is no return though :S

Why not just leave the 2.8 crank in the M52 and put that in? As soon as you start rebuilding engines and doing headwork it gets real expensive real fast.

agreed. M20 is not worth modding beyond an exhaust an intake with M50/2s so cheap these days

They said it was a 88 316i manual though. Odd.

Welcome.

though i didnt see the post, was probably the car i just brought to strip out. stupid ass chromes wreck the whole car. id rock 14" steel wheels with no hubcaps and 175 tyres before i had chromes

i can only assume ireland engineering is in ireland? lol. if you want some of those arches i might go in with you and help cover the cost of shipping and get a set too, depending on the price of them

have you chevked the shaft where it goes into the steering box is that turning as well , might be broken universal in the steering colum

im working on my own so its kinda hard to turn the steering wheel and check this shaft at the same time but ill give it a go

the steering wheel will rotate aproximately 90 degrees in either direction (ie 90 total movement not 180). notice no movement from the front wheels when this happens. New steering rack/box has been ordered so hopefully this is what it is.

the front wheels cant be turned, am pretty sure it is the steering rack, but does anyone have any other suggestions? this is not on my car so i will try to answer any questions to the best i can if you have any, but i will be doing the work on it.

M30B35 E34 535i

Ditch the chromes.

agreed. argh

Manual conversion would be the best bang for your buck, I would have a manual 320i over an auto 325i. Wont be fast but will atleast be fun to drive.

agreed

thanks for the options. i'm considering a manual convertion. would a straight pipe and an aftermarket muffler wouldn't be too noisy?or it would depend on the muffler. for the chips would it make any difference at all? i like the pod filter sound effect and easier to service as well.

i am running stock exhaust so i cant help you on reccomendations on brands etc, just what ive heard worked well for others. manual conversion definately a preformance boost. not to mention it weighs like 20kg less at minimum over the auto.

my chip does virtually nothing... bit of a power increase at around 4500rpm upwards, but on a slushbox car you cant hold it in gear to take advantage of that anyways so id only consider it if you are going to manual.

podfilter does nothing on an E30. end of story. the exception of course is if its in a forced induction application. i should i know.. i have one.

best thing to do to a 320i is along the same lines as 318i, make it look good and handle good, but dont bother chasing HP numbers without an engine swap

what happens if you use the lower ratios on the gear stick or are you into 4(D) by then anyways?

i have B20... best thing you can do to it is throw a manual transmission on it as you suggested. really livens the car up. an aftermarket muffler ive heard will help, along with a straight pipe (cat delete) as it lets it breath a lot better. i have a pod filter and it does nothing at all except for sound. chips are a waste of time IMO (i have one but i got it for free so meh) definately go for b25 or better still M50 and call it a day. im m50ing next year (Y)

Cheers mate. will be in touch.

ahhh i was at the yard today.. was a motorsport E30 there.. grabbed the OEM MT2 and LSD and a few other bits and pieces. to anyone in wellington its at pickapart, sorry for stealing the best stuff

I am thinking about doing an E30 with a v8 and dont know weather to use the 3.0 litre or the 4.0 bmw engine. What sort of prices would i be looking at for either of these engines? Has anyone on here done this sort of thing before? Im not that interested in the lexus v8 option...

do you have any links at all to parts lists and or bulid threads? i cant find what im looking for. am considering doing this aswell. where are you based?

I just got a set of those ^ JBL GTO-506C's, plan on installing the tweeters on the corner of the A pillar above the door cards on e30's (in the small plastic triangle, flush mounted).

Hopefully should go alright with a 55wx4 ish head unit, 600w amp and some 400w 6x9s.

Thanks for the advice hopefully the JBL's will go good for a moderate audio set up.

i very much doubt they will fit flush mounted. E30s did come factory in the states with tweeter pods. they pop up on ebay from time to time. it was an option by the way

you might have 400W 6x9s, but at the end of the day they are still running from the max 55W from the stereo. hence why the person previously who mentioned amps are always essential for great sound.

i run Sony kit all round. i have 6.5" fronts in the doors, 6x9"s on the parcel tray, two 12" subs, two 800W amps and a 350W amp (the lattermost for the 6x9s)

some poeple dont like sony, but it comes alot down to how the speakers are installed

That looked rude...

So the horizontal piece would be the shift lever bracket, the earlier types were a flat sheet style that you can see in my article here, either way, if the height/length isn't right you may just need to create your own bracket to hold the end of it up, I had to with mine and that's my 260 gbox you can see.

i actually used your tutorial in the swap haha. found it to be very good. okay thanks for clearing that up!

Can confirm 240/260 being good for M20, the difference is weight and ratios, 240 has a slightly closer ratio than the 260 which is what the 323's and 325's have. I run a 260 on mine, the driveshaft length thing is a case of getting the correct front half shaft with the box and mating it up correctly with grease on the spleen.

If i'm right in unserstanding your shifter arm length, it could be a case of the gearbox mounts/crossmember not being correct or the shifter in the donor was short shift and you've got a long throw, if that's the case get the Z3 shifter.

yeah i wish i knew the name for it. its the horizontal piece in this photo though. https://secure.4siteusa.com/WhatsYourConcep...fter_height.gif

320i/325i will take either 240 or 260 boxes although 325 was specced with heavier 260 unit.

318i 240 box is different & WONT mate to 6 cyl cars

You must have a mismatch of driveshafts

that sounds right. anyone know of one?

The 240 is right, chances are that the arm and driveshaft are wrong. The 260 is from the 325, but will also fit the 320.

so the 320i come out with both the 240 and the 260 gearboxes if i understand correctly?

does anyone have a shorter arm and a shorter driveshaft? im now guessing that the donor car for this gear box would have been a 318i, and then the assumption made of the arms and driveshafts being the same. i would contact the guy but i doubt he would answer his phone to me, been having a lot of communication issues.

i have a 320i, and got a conversion kit off a guy saying that it was for the 320i, but its a getrag 240. i queried that with him because i believed that the 240 box was only for the 4 cylinder cars. however he insisted that it was for the 320i, and i believed him because he said his racecar (320i) used it, and also because he seemed more knowledgable on the E30s. now as put the transmition in, the pivot arm for the shifter is too long, the driveshaft too long etc etc etc. so, am i true to what i thought, it needs the 260 box which must be shorter correct? i do not need any thing else as i have everything (finally).

so does anyone have any comments or know the whereabouts of one?

thanks, andrew

thanks for the ideas there. yeah i will think about how i want to do it. im thinking cutting out the part between the high and low beams lights (leaving the lines in, but taking the back off.. like in the kidneys.. if you get what i mean lol) and see what happens. i want to leave the pod on, and dont want to revert back to the standard air box. looks and sounds cooler haha. mine isnt a performance machine so that doesnt matter so much to me. but keeping the engine cool is

thanks for the advice though! at least i know i can cut that out should i decide to. thanks!

Hey guys. i joined up about a year ago but i havent been on much. i generally use bimmerfest.com so im not one that expects all these answers without helping people myslef lol... i find that site a much less confusing layout haha.

anyway... my question is, would it be legal in NZ law to, on an E30, cut a hole in the tray that is under neath the airbox to run a pipe down to the front valance to pick up incoming air? will mount one end of the tube to the AFM and the other to a pod filter, or maybe just make a channel. either way, its the cutting through the metal that i am worried about.

any other solutions that people have done? mine is a M20B20 E30, plate: ETHRTY for those that have seen it...

thanks! andrew

I couldnt get my 6 1/2s to fit in the standard hole! strange. myn is an ex-jap as well. i had to cut holes in the door panel.. didnt cut any of the metal tho of course. they look quite cool in the door panel