Ahmedsinc

Ahh, Callums. Best steak & bacon pie in Auckland!

I'd be doing my research into where they're made and by whom. There are people on here who can show you what happens when low quality wheels are involved in accidents, and it isn't pretty. I'm not going to say that ALL Chinese wheels are rubbish. but I personally wouldn't touch them. But there are bloody good reasons why you pay $1500-2000 for genuine wheels with good tyres. Conversely, I had a new set of Momo wheels a few years back that were drastically out of true within 6 months of fitting them. Never kerbed, nor hit anything more severe than Auckland metro potholes. I'm now using OEM 17x8 E90 wheels, they've had seven shades kicked outta them including multiple paddock bashing sessions at the in-laws farm & they're still perfect. At $650 they're cheap enough, but I'd be wondering how good the tyres are, and if they're even a decent brand. There is a set of 16x7 RS's in Wellington on Tardme for cheap, not sure if you can redrill from 5 stud to 4 though. Could be worth looking into, I'm sure someone on here could tell you if it's ok or not.

Chucked it out

Lmao, panel gap much?!! Thats an impressively ordinary paint job too. Reckon the most impressive thing about that ........"car"......... is that they've managed to have it support its own bulk on what looks like 38* camber. What's the contact patch? 9mm??

Finally! A whole page devoted to NOT discussing the subject of the OP. So much win!

Ahh, Oetiker clamps. Bane of my friggin life! Best solution I've found yet is a pair of these Simultaneously cuts one side of the crimp and forces the b*stard things to open. Minimal effort too. Ironic, however, that Knipex supply the crimping tool as well as the best tool to destroy them with. Guess that's the way to corner both ends of the market!

Not as easy as swapping drivetrains. Ring Ray @ HellBM. Has done it before & most likely has a conversion waiting to go.

Probably the only time its ever been passed by an E39

I recall another E36 coupe with the 1UZ on Tardme 12 (?) months ago, seller was asking around 12k from memory. Certified (as is yours) but I don't know if it ever sold. It was a fairly basic conversion, don't recall if it was manual or auto, cloth interior etc. I suspect most of us on here would think 10-13k a reasonable sum given the tiptronic auto, LSD, M3 running gear etc enhancements you've made but I reckon you'll end up with a bunch of offers from backwards cap wearing tards wanting to make a deal with 6 large and some crapped out POS turbo with mean chromies and uncerted coilovers. Unfortunately with a car like this you'll never come close to realising the build cost, but I think 12k would probably sell it. Good luck, looking forward to discovering what's next in the pipeline!

MIght have to make an excuse to duck out & watch a few laps..... I mean a daddy session with my 13 month old Good luck guys!

SatNav directions appear on the tacho?! That's freakin cool!

+1 Only gear I'll use now is Knipex, Wiha,Koken, Sidchrome (not the new chinese crap either)or Stahlwille. Fluke for any electrical test. Still have a Bahco set but the only time it's been used in the past 18 months was to strip the parts car. Your perseverance is admirable Kelvin, keep going the way you are & you'll be back up and running in no time

Get rid of her car & put her in the 530i. Good amount of grunt for a DD, and built unbelievably well. Ours returns 11.5l/100 urban, exceptional given it's bloody close to 2 tonnes worth of stationwagon. Nice job on the M3 too, one of my bucket list cars!

Make an offer?

Having issues with picture uploader afaik all tourings used the same door panels, needs a bit of a clean as has gotten dusty in the shed but otherwise excellent condition

Original post updated

To be honest I'm not sure there's a great deal worth doing to the B20 short of turbocharging. You could go for cams, higher compression & a freer flowing exhaust but for the thousands of dollars you'll spend you'll likely end up with a similar output to an unmodified M50B25 / M52B28, on a really good day. Probably best to swap out the 2 litre for a 2.8 really, good engines can be had for around $1500 including ecu. Debaffle the factor airbox (slightly more induction noise) , remove the cats (leave the factory resonators in!) and look at a Remus or similar backbox. A full dual pipe system from a 328i would probably sound better than the peashooter setup the smaller engines got. Probably not the answer you're looking for but I hope it helps

Congratulations on the safe arrival of your wee fella! Will be very interested to see your stock vs. home ported results. Good work so far!

Can we fix it? No, it's f***ed! No worries

How munted are the gearbox bearings? Still driveable or poked?

Which FM tuner does it have? Boot unit or in dash?

^^^ This Drivers bags gain some impressive altitude. Curtain airbags not so much. Door bags are the most fun. Bury under a small pile of dirt and strategically place plastic toy soldiers on mound for best results

E36ti rear end is the sme as E30. Google that & you should be able to work out the differences

Best kind of outcome! I do rather enjoy the irony that your car was pinched by government endorsed crooks

Geez, the one time I get lazy fingers. Do the dogLEG boxes have stronger innards then?