Coffee&Doughnut

Thanks for all the replies, just spent the whole day driving around checking out some, Man, they were all pieces of crap. I should have interorgated these people over the phone. The 323i had been used to tow a boat, with the amount of rust in it I would say it was used as a #$?%*$#% boat.. I think I will go back to my original idea to get a late E34 or maybe ??

Hi guys, I am looking at getting a cheap second car, already have a E30 320i. I am going to look at an 86 e28 535i auto or a 85 e30 323i manual 2 door, for around the same price. I would to like hear what some of you guys think is the best bang for buck.

Does any body know about the thermo time switch in facelift 320i e30? I am looking at replacing mine which is a single terminal type. The connector on the wiring loom has 2 terminals and I was wondering if the original thermo time switch is a single pole or two pole device. The broken one I have has the brown connector and is made by VDO .30 degree.

Sorry forgot to add that I think this is only ocurring when the motor is really warmed up like over half an hour on the freeway or so. So it could be temp sender/ thermoswitch maybe?

When I switch on the Air con in my E30 320i the idle surges, just keeps goin up and up 2000-3000, this is in neutral, when in gear on the road its a bit hard to tell. Does anybody know what the cause of this might be? It seems to have gotten worse lately.

I dont know, in your case was that a good or bad thing?

Sorry, 325i Throttle body.

I remember something cut in, thats probally what it was, just hadnt encountered it before, it may be on account of a small increase in HP after changing TB.

Sorry, I was refering to BMW sparkles 5 series he was talking about. Is it the same situation with the M30 motors and gearbox as far as mating an earlier box with either FL or pre FL model? What I didnt get was what is a Motronic f/w ?

So guys I am starting to get a little lost, what is meant by motronic F/W? E28 basically pre F/L therefore same problem with pick-up points ?

Thanks Gus, I may be able to source some parts that can be put to use then.

I got a FL Andrew, Why would it be more likely to fit a FL E30? It is a late model E21 81 -82 Is there any thing I can look out for? Also would the older gearbox be inferior to later E30 one?

Any chance a E21 323i manual gear box will fit an E30 without fabrication?

Me too, engine does not cut out but idle speed increses and often settles at 1500rpm then will go back to normal 750rpm seems to spend half the time between the two speeds. I recently changed the TB used one of course. But the idle problem only occurred when I switched the stock ecu chip back in? Looks like I will be going down the same route, If I find out I will let yooz know.

As far as manual gearbox choices go are there any which would match up better to the lower ratio diffs like if you were stuck with a 4.10 or 4.27 would there be any difference fitting a getrag 240 or 260? GETRAG 240.0.0366.90 225 3.1 240.00460.90 062408 AMS These numbers mean nothing to me.

Thanks for that, I may have to post pone the conversion until I get a second car next year. But I can slowly amass the parts. in the meantime

Currently on a flat piece of road its about 2500 so 3500 rpm is a bit too much agreed, How much dose a manual gear box wiegh approx? Would it be ok in the boot of an e30?

I will beguin looking for parts for a manual conversion soon, I didnt really want to have to buy a diff as well but its probally inevitable. I dont fully understand what the effects of keeping the 4.27 would be. Would it be a total bitch?

:banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

The reason I asked is because usually at a certain speed the wind drag really slows down any further increase in speed. And the other day I was surprised to find the car easily going beyond the speed where I usually think whats the point pushing any further, without even kicking down the throttle. Shortly after I did kick down the throttle it felt as though something cut in, at that point I slowed down. The only thing is that I was not paying much attention to the revs, but I dont think I was in the red, but once the throttle was fully opened it probally was.

I was wondering if most E30s are speed limited and where does it normallycut in, is it a function of the Ecu?

That sounds reassuring, Would twin 18inch hotdogs keep the noise/ sound within similar range?

I would like to see dyno results too but I cant see myself doing one anytime soon. I am at a bit of a loss with the M20 2l, I am still hesitant to cut the cat out in case I lose any low end torque not that it really has any to beguin with.

Smoother than before. but its all pretty subjective I admit.

Finally swapped the stock chip back in the ecu, So far as I can tell fuel economy has returned to what it was roughly prior to changing the TB. It is pretty close. averaging 10km/1 L Minus the after market chip the car runs much the same only difference I notice is lower idle speed, engine/ exhaust tone sounds deeper, I cant tell if it is any faster or slower, its smoooth. But I think the TB mod is better than the chip alone in my case. not a bad compromise. If I am going to be burning a litre per 7km in a small car I wanna be doing 0-100 in 6.5 seconds or under.