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Tidy30

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Posts posted by Tidy30

  3. Posted · Edited by tidyverty · Report reply

    Saw you today on Tristram ave with your top down ;)

    Ha, that was my Route of Defeat. I've been commuting much later this week, instead of like 5.30am, and gave been experiencing traffic as a result.

    Got stuck in traffic yesterday and got rained on for the first time getting off Gillies. Couldn't tell if the rain was that bad as my tears were soaking the beautiful interior.

    Checked my phone for weather this morn and it was only cloudy, no rain. Decided to go top down again. Got to tristram before I saw the big fat cloud and looking at the monstrous traffic I decided to pussy out. Went off the motorway to put the top up, adding 6 minutes to the trip.

    Then as predicted, it didn't even rain!

    That intersection looks familiar, silverdale?

    Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

  4. Posted · Report reply

    Saw another e30 cab driving past toward east coast road on greville as I was heading toward the motorway on Monday morning.

    Had a sweet waving session but my face changed to shock surprise when I realized this was another red e30 cab and not my friend's one!

    Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

  7. Posted · Edited by tidyverty · Report reply

    How rusty is it? When I painted my pf/l bumpers the rear one had quite a bit of surface corrosion on the inside, but a scrape with a wire brush, a bit of rust-kill and then a liberal coating of fish oil and it was fine.

    Very good point Mark. I have had a good look and think, it's not completely through, and is definitely salvageable with your above methods, especially since the bumper will have to come off for the tech1 to go on underneath.

    However on the drivers side corner, a previous owner must've bumped/got bumped into as there is some slight deformation, and as a result the chrome has started to bubble and crack a little where the deformations are.

    I'll send Ray a PM, and if it's something I can afford I'd be happy to switch the bumper out.

  8. Posted · Edited by tidyverty · Report reply

    Ok just had a look, the ones Marquis sent you are (as far as i can tell) not E30 projectors, and looking at my E34 parts car, they look very very similar to the ones on that with the much longer mounting tabs, so possibly from one of those. E34 and E32 headlight clusters are the same across both chassis and all grill types.

    But looks like you now have smileys installed on your cab so whats the problem now???

    and keep the car low, add tech1 kit, apply planks of wood to driveway to bridge the gap, drive out on an angle or something. My Touring is 65mm off the ground currently, and if i drive out my driveway (looking like a clown probably, haters gon hate LOL) on a wierd angle i can make it not scrape.

    Low is a lifestyle or something like that anyways.

    More of a sad situation that I unknowingly bought non-E30 smileys than anything. Although it is strange the chrome rings for the E34 smileys were the same as E30 smileys, but different for E30 bullseyes.

    As for the lowness (which I love, almost a 3" drop), here is an engineering drawing I did to show what would happen if the tech1 front (in red) was installed, as it is around 2" lower and around 1" further forward than stock:

    sccp3t.png

    • My car is bumper is currently ~1-2" above the footpath when the front tyres sit in the ridiculous "gutter" on my street before driving onto the footpath.
    • The footpath-driveway interface is relatively gentle so no worries
    • Midway up the driveway is a huge sudden change in angle. The bumper is currently ~1" from the second section of the footpath at the worst point.
    • (Non-tech1 related, but the curvature of the driveway makes it that if I'm not careful (I am so careful) the sills will just kiss the hump as I go into the garage. 3D twist of the driveway causes the drivers side sill to touch slightly, instead of the exhaust etc. This twist is not shown above)

    Still tossing up between selling the new suspension or the genuine kit!

  10. Posted · Edited by tidyverty · Report reply

    Also, here is something a little silly. The tech1 I purchased on a whim. I knew it was lower and protruded more, but now I've hit a slightly sticky predicament due to the supremely steep driveway that stands between my garage and the outside world of sun, rain and bird crap.

    Option 1: keep the brand new H&R sport cupkit I just put in, which I absolutely love as the matched shortened struts and springs are unbelievably/surprisingly comfortable (I've sat in some H&R/bilsteins etc, much harsher ride). She also looks amazing with the kit as well, not quite slammed and lower than what I see around the place. I'll also have to sell my tech1 kit, but will get to park in the garage.

    Option 2: take out and sell the suspension, put factory set back in. Sand, paint, clear and install the tech1 kit. Look like a king. Park in the garage, but with a huge wheel gap again.

    Option 3: put the kit on, keep the suspension on, leave my relatively immaculate convertible to brave the harsh climes of the North Shore and Mangere, pretty much road-linish the front tech1 away after a while... Look like some, nutty cuckoo super-king (anyone get the reference?)

    Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

  11. Posted · Edited by tidyverty · Report reply

    Hi,

    As per the subject, looking for a rear chrome bumper in good condition. Went to fit my tech1 rear today and realised my existing chrome rear is essentially just a whole lot of cheeky rust with a deceptively good conditioned layer of chrome on top.

    Cheers team!

    Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

  12. Posted · Report reply

    Thanks for your response Andy. Here are pictures if today's activities but I've got some questions for you on these projectors!

    Posted Image

    So here is what I thought was true about these "smileys": I thought they were facelift lights. I thought the only difference between facelift and prefacelift lights were the light units and plugs, that if you got the entire headlight/high beam assembly the 3 mounting points were identical and all you needed was a quick rewire for the looms to be compatible.

    My old lights were the bullseye, projector ones. Which I thought meant the previous owner converted the lights from prefacelift to facelift already. This is the case given the non OEM modifications I have seen in the headlight plug.

    Here's where I'm stumped. Aren't all smileys then facelift only? ie. Same mounting points on the light housing? The first pair I bought from marquis here looked like this (left), as we can see the 3 points it has are certainly not compatible with the current projector light housing.Posted Image

    When I initially realized this I thought my projectors must have somehow been prefacelift, then i realized the lenses do not actually fit and swap over, as the locating tabs which sit proud on the side on the lens differs between my lights, so you'd have to cut new slots in the light housing. Not too keen to do that, I then went and bought some entire assemblies from etwenty1 here as well.

    I was a little surprised when I opened the package and saw that the whole smiley assemblies I got from etwenty1 were identical to my projectors, here's a picture of everyone together. From left to right, my bullseye's, etwenty1s entire assemblies, marquis's standalone headlights:

    Posted Image

    I thought marquis had sold me some Smileys for some other model of BMW until I saw the chrome rings etwenty1 gave. (He was super good and obliged me asking for the best condition rings from his stockpile). Somehow the locating slot on the rings he gave me were square, like the ones in marquis's mystery bulbs, while my original bullseye (and actually the whole assemblies he sent me) had long slots for the locating feature. Surely this meant the lights marquis sold were actually for e30s.. Here's another picture showing the different slots, with my current long-slot cirrusblau painted ones and the new square-slot chrome ones:

    Posted Image

    Can anyone shed some light on this? (Sorry) it seems pretty clear now there are 2 types if Smiley's, whilst I originally thought there was only 1 type.

    I've now got an extra pair of bullseye's and smiley bulbs which I'm looking to sell and clear, but have no idea what to tell people as they were not what I thought!

    Cheers!

    Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

  16. Posted · Report reply

     

    yup my thoughts too, if you are going to get it checked, either a friend off here, or a proper workshop, maybe even the dealer.

     

    avoid 320i as much as economically possible, a 318i or 325i (preferably in manual) are both better cars. 320i is the most uneconomical of the lot in automatic form.

    For what its worth, I've done around 7000kms with the cab now. It's a 320i and I drive with the top down significantly more often than with it up, so we can assume worst case drag.

    I have been getting 10L/100km very, very repeatably, probably +/-.3L. With the top up, economy is around 9L/100km, but with a smaller sample size, so I'm a lot less confident of that figure compared to top down. The daily trip is around 20min motorway and 30min suburb each way, so a good spread.

    My other '98 Accord is consistently 9L/100km so its pretty comparable, but it runs 91 so there's already a built-in 5% cost reduction.

    What kind of figures are you expecting for a 325? The 320i is pretty sluggish, but very smooth and comfortable for cruising. I sit around 2.7k rpm at 100km for reference. My friends 2.5 has a few extra modifications and goes pretty ridiculous, but never got any economy figures.

    Thought it'd just be good to put some objective numbers to the economy claim

    Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

  21. Posted · Report reply

    A good engineer ALWAYS uses the pi rule. Take whatever you're doing, estimate the time it will take, multiply by pi and this is how long it will actually take.

    I use it jokingly at work, it is surprisingly effective although you need to remain meta-vigilant that you do not account for the pi rule pre-pi rule.

    • Like 1

  22. Posted · Edited by tidyverty · Report reply

    OK, thanks. For what its worth, the agreed value premium for mine between 5k and 6k was something like $60 extra per year. Its quite a small difference, may as well go as high as you can?

    Interesting feedback though Andy. I may go back for another insurance revisit once I get the tech1 kit and wheels on (!!). My premiums will be so premium..

  23. Posted · Report reply

    Probably not the best place to start this, is anyone able to offer some insight on Swann Insurance? 2 of my friends have full comprehensive with them for something like $350 a year. I'm currently with AA and pay around 780.

    If it helps though, my cab when I got it, has an agreed value of 6000, and I could opt up to 7000 before I need a valuation

  24. Posted · Report reply

    Also have you considered going chromed or matte black bumpers?  Might be interesting to see...if only someone could shoop that up

     

    Edit: Although these pics http://bimmersport.co.nz/topic/23929-the-bastard-child/page-36 give an idea of what the chromed look would be

    Might be tricky to terminate whatever bumper against the guards, as at the moment they transition into each other in a continuous fashion.

    You'd have to attach something on top o think, which will bring along some challenges in itself.

    I must admit it would make it look a little more OEM!

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