_ethrty-Andy_

obviously the Aston spinning constantly is all done for the camera. 

yes ive always said the Z3 rack is a total have and waste of money.

usually alignment shop have bar that sets the steering wheel straight, and then remove for sweep test to check the steering wheel was centered, this is the first step they do. did they do this ??
check your steering wheel is centered on the spline, there are markers on both the wheel and the end of the spline. its critical its in the right place so you dont wreck the clock spring for your airbag/horn/multifunction. if it IS centered, then sweep the wheels to each side and make sure center on the wheel is center on the rack. if not, then adjust one or two splines at the point between the rack and the column and check again.

you wont be the first person to just throw a rack in and find this, the difference is most are lazy and then adjust the wheel, thats fine on a non airbag car but doesnt take much to over wind the E36 clock spring.

yep no point bothering with M20 unless its for a specific racing class, you just want to keep the car "more original", or you want the cheapest option to get the car back on the road.
M30 is dinosaur tech and boat anchor. was the engine of choice for decades when M5x engines were over 2/3k, but no point doing that now.

i have done a bunch of M52 swaps, its easy to do and my engine of choice. just do plenty of reading, and read through a half dozen build logs and take the average of suggestions as the fact, dont rely on any one person. 

Bear in mind two things, 1/ most of the logs will be in American which means they are left hand drive (important when it comes to exhaust stuff, steering, and clutch control), the pinout tables are not correct for your car, and also 2/ most of the threads if not all are outside of NZ, where rules are generally a lot laxer and do not require the certification process we have. thus you will need to think about things like drive shaft hoops and bump steer tests, possible be forced to upgrade brakes etc. worth looking through the LVVTA Threshold guide as a starting point.

also i recommend swapping to stock E36 steering rack at the same time, they are cheaper now than they used to be, and cheaper than having to make up custom power steering lines to adapt the e36 pump to the inferior E30 unit. use the holden barina / opel corsa linkage youll see mentioned, e30 nuckle on top and e36 on bottom. also means you dont need to recert later down the line when you do it anyway.

having said all that, if i do another swap in the future, i think i will use the M54B30.

19 hours ago, E30 325i Rag-Top said:

Externally, it is only really an evolution of the F30 design, with a little more of the current design features - bigger grilles,etc.

The major development and changes have gone on under the skin, not so much engine / drivetrain, more the suspension and interior - which includes all the driver assist functionality (which thinking about it may not be a standard feature in Canadia like it is in NZ).

Would be good fun in the snow - if there's any left now, RWD, traction control off... whee!

Couldnt tell you what spec is. I dont like the new design lanugauge, but i recall saying the same about almost every new BMW in the past decade, but they have all grown on me over time. Went to an international autoshow here a month or so ago, the BMW stand was dissapointing, they are all there, but nothing there that jumped off the page as a car id like to own. The Volvo stand tho, now THATs my language!

and snow almost all gone now, hence why i brought an E30 Touring here a few weeks ago for the summer ha.

awesome Jared

59 minutes ago, Driftit said:

The one I saw sell for $12K (or whatever the deal ended up being) was advertised on a East Coast BMW facebook thing.

Most are driven pretty damn hard here.  Maybe why the good ones are going for so much.  Also collector hype of people hoping to get the next E30 M3.

The fake US E36 M3's are going up in price though.  No idea why.  They are sh*t compared to a real one.

 

Join EastCoast BMW Classifieds on facebook if you want to see some more realistic prices here.

im on a few up here in Ontario (im in Toronoto now), bmws seemed insanely cheap before i got here, but once here i realise they are all total rust buckets thats why!

by the way, if you find your self in NY or PA end of June/Early July prehaps catch up for a beer ?

yes very primative system

On 3/18/2019 at 7:09 PM, E30 325i Rag-Top said:

The features, design and quality of the mass market has definitely improved by leaps and bounds over the last generation of cars. The Korean brands in particular have come a long way in a very short time.

However, I would argue it’s not just the features included, but also how well they operate and ease of use. Plus there are also the harder to quantify factors such as build quality, tactile feel, driveability, handling, etc.

The new 3 Series is a huge jump ahead of anything in the sector, but then I am biased.

already seen a few of the new 3 on the roads up here in Canada. they just blend in.

@eliongater do the E28 have the copper grounding nut on the back of the cluster like E30s do ?

i suspect in any case this is a sperate issue not related to the engine

18 hours ago, gjm said:

They're competing in the 'prestige' category,

there is nothing prestigeous about a 3 series or a C class these days, hardly anything you can get on those you cant get in a same size Kia or toyota.

i know you tube links aren't usually welcomed here, but will be an exception this time.

the cam may well be worn and lifters need adjusting, but it wouldnt cause performance loss to the point you are experiencing.

On 3/15/2019 at 8:41 PM, sweetm3 said:

Also get the buyer to put the money as a gift, that way he pays the paypal fees.

Not you ?

As for shipping the rims, plywood circles sandwiching the rim wired together.

i wouldnt recommend using plywood unless the tiber is clearly marked as treated and has appropriate standards marks on all pieces. i learnt this the hard way when i sent a container overseas many moons ago and didnt use treated pallets. expencive mistake you only do once.

you know i would have agreed with the above. But now living up here in Canada, where E46s all have heavily rusted arches, of course no way near as many now as there would have been. do see quite a few E53s tho, more than home. you can pick up a 335i here for 3k if that. No such thing as E38s E39s here any more. of course, this is how most of the world live, a car does not need to last 20 years like we expect it to at home. anything before 2010 is an old car in the same way we would call anything from the 90s or older and old car.

makes sence, both are no way near as big as VAG group they are competing with.

Heard the news of Attas passing from another ex forum member here. RIP

On 3/13/2019 at 3:08 PM, B.M.W Ltd said:

Don't you mean M40B16 Olaf ?

yes he does. 

7 hours ago, gjm said:

I feel the M43 is a brilliant engine! I know it comes in for a lot of flak, but typically only from those who want to go faster. That's not what the M43 is about!  

as do all of BMWs Mxx 4 cylinders.

every time you waste someones time be it a dealer or any other shop or professional, the price keeps going up. conversaly, the most you send thier way, the price comes down. 

good to see progress! i hate doing headliners! changing is easy but refurbing is not enjoyable.

also once yu turn the car off, parked on the side of the road, push the indicator stalk up to first setting and then up again (will spring back to the first setting again), and youll find the park lights on the right hand side of the car only have come on. this is on all BMWs i have tried it on from the E30 onwards, and is also common on many other european cars too. symbol is P<

On 3/9/2019 at 4:28 PM, gjm said:

As for tax breaks - that's typically a National carrot, not a Labour one. They trot it out at most elections.

i guess you hadnt arrived here in the 80s, when there were the biggest cuts in NZ, under a Labour govt.

Councils are all of the problem, and they have got worse since property values have gone up. they just treat home owners like cash cows, endlessly increasing rates, charging someone to put on a deck or build a garage $20k plus in costs before the first sod is turned. Want a new build, cool, $90k in costs. 

And instead of maintaining the roads berms parks beaches, they go and do stupid vanity projects or solve problems that dont exist.

Only reason im not running in this years council elections is because i no longer live in new zealand, sick of this tax anyone that tries to do something with thier life to hand out to either those that cant be bothered, or some slush fund for politicians so the cycle continues.

On 3/2/2019 at 10:19 PM, M3AN said:

Do they have electricity? BMW swapped to Shell in 14/15... 

Maybe they're using old stock... ?

no they get it new more than weekly,

Actually after this post came up i messaged an ex bimmersport member who works there, he confirmed my eyes were correct, and said they wont be changing to Shell any time soon either, and is the same at the Wellington , Palmy and Christchurch Dealers as well. Cant speak for the other ones as part of a different dealer group.

Oil is oil at the end of the day, and BMW AG is a different entity to both BMW NZ and the individual dealers, most of which have more than one brand under thier belt here in NZ and probably overseas too.
 

as i said, an early non vanos.