Ahmedsinc

Are the Breytons 120x5? Was wondering how you were planning to get around the different stud pattern problem. Nice work, those will look gooood when fitted

Ahhh, that goes a long way toward explaining the $ difference. Lol, told you I know nothing about frenchies Disappointing that the manufacturer has orphaned the car already

Considering there's a roadworthy one on Tardme for 3200 I think theyre a little optimistic in th3 $ dept Unless I'm looking at a way older model? Not familiar with cars made by cheese eating surrender monkeys

Look under oil cap for condensation and for oily residue in your coolant. Could be the HG

As I'm discovering engine swaps are far easier in planning than in execution. If Ray has quoted you 3k for the swap that's probably on the cheap side considering the work involved plus the expertise on hand. Certification can be a bugger and insurance companies are only gonna make it more painful - just sell your car & buy a 530 M. Now if only I could find an Alpina B8

Ah well, good luck with the sale Would rather you didn't use my images please

A slow build??!! Whats a fast build by your standards then? Looks freakin sweet man, nice work!

Won't you get whacked by the Mafia for those center caps? Looking really slick man, looooving the Vaders!

Figured it wouldn't be as easy as dump auto, install manual then everybodys happy Who would be the best person to take it to & what sort of cost would it involve?

wow! Pass me another roach, coulda sworn I just saw an elephant on that car

Is anyone round here able to do such a recode? If this manual conversion I've ordered (& paid for) ever shows up I'd be quite interested at getting this done. It does look like the sort of thing I'd be capable of in the future I don't have the gear nor the experience to tackle something like this without being terrified of bricking the ECU. Is it a code-for-beer kinda job or will this fall under the $ category?

Lucky basta*d!

I'd assume you'll need the suspension, brakes, roll bars, radiator, all engine ancillaries, ECUs, trans, diff, wheels & tyre upgrades and possibly more stuff to make it worthwhile. There could even be differences in the wiring looms that will need addressing. I' no E39 expert but those are just the basic things to think about On a cost / benefit balance it'll probably be a hell of a lot cheaper and easier just to sell your 2.2 and buy a 530i. Don't forget that an engine upgrade requires certification, which lead to higher insurance costs. Plus for all the faffing around you'll still only wind up with a standard 3 litre - why not look at forced induction for your current motor if you've been bitten by the mod bug? Flick off the 520 and get what you really want. Easy *Edit - seems your car is worth around the 6-9k range depending on condition. A 530i M-Sport can be had for around 13k. I'd be willing to bet there's no way you could do a full conversion properly for 5 grand. Especially if the bulk of the work will be done by someone else thats gonna be charging you at least $60 an hour +GST. Just my 5 cents.

Or stoned, going by those tail lights. wrecking or rescuing?

Looks more like a car that would be bought to be maintained and driven, rather than a chop shop manual conversion, sphincter scrapingly low springs, shitty aftermarket 17s with rock hard taiwanese tyres and some horrible big bore muffler cable tied on to the stock exhaust system. There's plenty of crapped out 318's & 320's out there better suited to such a purpose. While I would struggle to hand over over 5 large for an auto E30 (because I'm a tightarse) it might just be exactly what someone else is looking for. Plus given the advertised condition the asking price seems fair, possibly even a little on the low side. Almost classic cars are some of the hardest vehicles to price accurately, and emotion plays a much greater part that anyone likes to give credit.

They're certainly genuine rims though.... 10" front & 11.5" rear. 285/35/21 & 325/30/21...... reckon a new set of those would be worth more than what I make in a month!

I was under the impression that aftermarket enhancements do not appear on the VIN sheet. Although Alpina & AC Schnitzer are endorsed by the factory any changes made to the cars would not have any effect to the original build spec. Though I could (and frequently am) be wrong

From what I've seen there aren't a great number of 7 owners on the forum in the first place, as opposed to them being unfriendly. Have an eye out for the next forum meet. From the photos & posts I've seen they're worth attending

About as genuine as the GTR badge I have on my shed wall. I do rather like the rims though! Those chrome trims around the tail lights are all class

Oooohhhhh..... want soooo bad!! GLWS!

Seems I shouldn't be replying to posts after 2 hours sleep - thought you were replacing your existing 3 litre, not upgrading Am doing the research on a supercharged M50B30 stroker, the main difficulty is working out how to run the engine management without spending a fortune on a Link. Will serve well to keep me occupied through the long sleepless winter nights ahead

Excellent! What gearbox are you gonna use?

Looks pretty good, thanks when you do get that spare B30 can I yoink your old one? I have a theory pertaining to an M50 stroker I'm keen to explore

Hi guys. I'd like to set myself up with some in-house diagnostic capabilities and the ability to recode an ECU in the future(fuel maps mostly). Plus I'm tired of borrowing friends oil service reset gadgets. Have found a couple of period appropriate ECUs to practice on before I plug into my own car so I'm in no danger of bricking my ride. While I hold no ambition to replace a BMW mechanic it would be nice to have a sneak peek at whats going on behind the scenes when things go wrong. I'll be hooking into an OBD1 E36 325i. I'm in no position financially (nor intellectually) to invest in an IBM T30 and run one of the Siemens interfaces, but I am curious as to other peoples experiences with the USB dongles available on eBay that claim to run BMWTIS. Has anyone bought one of these before? Good experiences or bad? Any sellers you could recommend? Or are they a total load of shyte? If I do go down this path the machine in will be running from is an Asus netbook. Not highly specced but seems to be stable. OS is win7 starter, worth installing XP? TIA