Ahmedsinc

Possible that one of the end tanks has slightly lifted away from the rad core or has a hairline split. Noticed any coolant loss at all? If you do replace the radiator do the hoses at the same time, one weak spot on a hose can cause all sorts of dramas

So short answer is no, then. Bugger. Will probably just cut and splice to get rid of the connector. Good thing its hidden behind that headlight panel, cut and paste wiring gives me the shits!

Yup, that plug behind the headlights is where I'm getting the 8.2v reading from. I get a nice 11.8v from both foglight fuse locations (29 & 30) so that suggests to me that there's no fault in the loom, and from the plug to the foglight itself shows continuity. As I said I'd be keen to clean the terminals off to see if the corroded terminals inside the round plug are the reason behind the reduced voltage before I go cutting and soldering. So is there any way to remove the pins and wires from said connector WITHOUT destroying the connector?

Dunno if they'll make any real difference in power. 4-6 seem quite short and 1-3 aren't even close to being equal length. Might make it sound a little nicer though. Now, these http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/car-parts-accessories/bmw/engines/auction-944192847.htm , on the other hand, will make a difference to output and tone. Almost twice the money but I figure if the M boffins gave them the OK then they're probably pretty good.

Drivers side fog on the 318i doesn't work - replaced bulb and gave the earth terminal a quick clean with some 400 grit while it was out. Have checked with the multimeter with the engine off and theres only 8.2v at the terminals and the connector plug behind the headlight, passenger side gets 11.8v. Fusebox has 11.8v at both foglight locations. Hard to get a steady resistance reading but safe to say it seems far higher than the 0.2 - 0.5 Ω I was expecting. Question is, how the hell do I clean the pins inside the plug? Both connectors in the male plug are pretty filthy, but the plug is a sealed unit. Cut the plug out and replace or is there a way to withdraw the wires & pins without destroying the plastic housing?

Where are you? I have a 530i Msport backbox in the shed somewhere

As Glenn said - f**ked MAF. Cleaning it won't cure the issue - a new MAF will

Within a whisker of the M54B30, so 3l. M50 has a slightly taller deck height than M54 but I don't think it makes much more than a couple cc difference. Drops the static compression from 10.5:1 to somewhere in the 9s. Personally I'd only go down that path if you like the idea of a turbo, otherwise just stick with the M54 - alloy block is around 30kg lighter than its ferrous cousin. More power and less weight = much Keeping the dual Vanos requires a suitable aftermarket ECU as the stock DME will only work if you transplant the fly by wire throttle, ABS brakes, dash cluster, key receiver and a bunch of other headache inducing gadgetry across from the donor car. Agreed, but it does make it expensive to find a suitable ECU and a major pain to tune. Better to set it up as a single vanos engine and run it off a 413 DME remapped for the new fuel curve. Recently learned the M43 uses a block mounted crank sensor that sends a VR signal as opposed to the hall type M54 one, so it should be a case of swapping the crank & cam sensors for other ones to provide the 413 with a signal it can understand. I understand the oil pressure keeps the exhaust cam at 0˚ retard, from what I've read the exhaust side is more for emissions than torque / power gains so it might as well be ignored. Neat little engines though, as you say they rev very happily and still produce enough grunt to launch our 2 tonne wagon about with ease. Probably quite economical mated to a manual gearbox too.

M54B30 would be a great place to start. Light, good power (230ish hp with vanos delete and DME remap) and easy to get parts for. N53 would be nice too as they didn't get the valvetronic so would be easier to use an aftermarket ECU. Twin turbos and 3.0l displacement is attractive too. Dunno about stroking the 3 litre to any bigger without a custom crank / rods / pistons. $$$$$$$$!!!!!! My pick would be an M50B30 stroker with around 10 - 14psi in an E28. Iron block reliability with boost. Win! Or just go mental and throw an S54B32 at any of the above

Power gain wise, not really. Most BMW engines are tuned to the reliable limits, so pod filters and other such gimmickry tend to lose power, not increase it. Im assuming your car has 150,000km+, if thats the case then definitely gut / replace / remove the cats as they're well beyond their intended lifespan. A Remus / Supersprint / Eisenmann / Borla backbox will make it sound nicer, but will do nothing for your ETs. Aggressive cams will generally shift the powerband to the right, and are only really noticeable with a good 'zorst, headers, DME remap. So realistically you're spending 4-5k to get any real results. A good turbo setup will probably run you in excess of 7k for parts & labour - add your cert to the tab too. I converted mine to manual & added an LSD as the first step. Upgraded shocks and springs with a combination of Koni, Bilstein and Eibach bits, replaced most of the bushes with nolathane too. Currently swapping the engine and DME for an alloy block & Megasquirt as phase 3 with S50B32 headers and a single pipe exhaust running to a Remus backbox. Last step will be chuck a rusty hood and an M3 bumper at it and call it a day. Maybe some 330i brakes but I'll see if it really needs them first. Throw it around Hampton / Puke a couple times for shits n giggles and then on to the GMC project. The best improvements are often suspension renewals with these cars. Edit: stupid autocorrect

Fixed Juvenile jokes aside, nice work on the E34 dude!

Oh no, not this again. Has been proven to release a couple extra hp at the very top end of the rev range but at the expense of midrange torque, as Micheal said earlier. Power gains are fairly minimal, not really enough to be noticeable to the butt-dyno. Lightened flywheel would mask the effect of the lost torque in a manual, but will be very counter productive with a slushbox. Look for a set of S50 headers, will net you 12-15hp plus a few extra torques. Best $1000 you'll spend on the car, bang for buck wise. Decat the exhaust and maybe an aftermarket muffler and thats really about all you can do with the engine unless you go down the FI route.

Jammy bastard!!

Sterling effort!

^^ This It Hurts. Like really f***ing Hurts. But it does get better after a while. Never perfect, but manageable. Sweat / bleed / grow a pair. Life's better without them

What overseas model got the 4:1? If you have the tools and skill to swap a gearset then do it just for the hell of doing it. Diffs are fun things to play with. The day to day realities of going to a 4:1 from, say, a 3:46 might take the gloss off the swap though. Just for shits and giggles I ran a 3.73 instead of my 3.15 behind the 1:1 Getrag and the novelty wore off after a couple weeks. Acceleration is great, but 3200rpm @ 60mph sucks

Feelgood hit of the summer!

Your better half is wrong. Bring her to the Kentish & we'll talk her around And I can still offer safe storage at a location very close to you for as long as is needed.

Got ridiculously anxious while waiting for the next chance to duck outside. Took me a long time to realise normal people didn't regard two 25 packs of Marlboro red and a triple shot XXL long black as an acceptable breakfast. Quite enjoying not coughing up red streaks every morning too!

From 50/day to fagless for 8 months. Result!

Recently picked up a tidy little '85 318i as a runabout whilst Pigpen is getting a heart transplant. The E30 has a few gremlins of its own, most of which I just can't be bothered trawling through the mountains of online misinformation to find out the root cause - so I thought I'd ask here The fuel gauge does its own wibbley wobbly thing regardless of how much dinosaur juice is in the tank - likely causes / fixes? Ditto with the temp gauge - I know the thermostat is poked but the needle does seem to randomly jerk about on occasion. Causes / fixes? Drivers side foglight is non-functioning. Replaced bulb and fuses but no luck. What else should I be investigating? Same thing with the interior lights. Fuses and bulbs replaced but no light. I figure that given the number of E30 devotees around the place some other poor sod will have fixed the same on their car. Cheers!

Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha ha!! So the flag debate is finally losing traction in the public eye, so this is the next best thing Key could use to distract us from the TPPA bullshit? Legend!

Google threw this back, hopefully you'll find the same thing

Thats a tough break dude could very well be keen if the wagon does become available

Don't Schrick have an identifier on their cams? Whip the valve cover off and have a looksee?