slideways

Gutted bro. Will definitely keep an eye out and should be easy to spot if there arent center caps and the limited range of cars they will fit.

Pm'd

I just viewed this car and it doesnt have an lsd like he says. Typical UK import with rust around the show including some dodgy rust repairs under the bonnet.

Turned one into beer/bourbon money..

Awesome, cheers for that. Basically the difference is because the 4cyl sits 25mm forward than the 6cyl? So you can get away with just using the rear half of the driveshaft in what ever car your putting it in to?

I have an e36 manual conversion kit that i have been keeping for a rainy day but now want to sell it. Its from a 318i but i need to know if it would suit a M5x vehicle too. If not then what parts are different? I scoured the internet before offering it up as e36s are new to me but there was nothing saying shifters/driveshafts etc are different between the l4 and l6 models. Everyone just seems to talk about everything as if its all interchangeable and i got the impression the gearboxes sit in the same place so it will work out fine but is this not the case? Any insight would be appreciated.

Yes its sold.. We struck a deal last night. Big things to come for this lil e30!

Looked at yours, they seem to be the 40mm kit. Did you ever fit them to a car?

I'm after a cheap set of 4cyl e30 lowering springs. Dont need to be anything flash as long as they give a decent drop (they are just for a cruiser). Would also consider a 6cyl set so let me know what you've got. Cheers.

http://bimmersport.co.nz/topic/50182-e30-noob-though-some-of-you-might-know-the-car/ Someone here needs to buy this.

PM'd

Your head should be fine with a quick plane. If its cracked you will know with the excessive water in the oil as they usually crack along or between the cam journals. Id just pull it then get it tested/planed first then you will have a better idea on what you will need to buy to get it all back together.

Could have had a blown head gasket and some kind of additive to plug it up which has now let go. Ive had a head stud stretch on a m20b25 in turn blowing the HG so just because you havnt overheated it, doesnt mean the HG isnt blown unfortunately. It would be water in the oil which would be the easiest to spot so maybe take it for a good drive then check in the oil cap for choc milkshake.

Any water in the oil?

Sweet cheers dude, I will keep him in mind.

I was thinking more along the lines of a heat gun (might be worth a try). Maybe i shouldnt be so lazy and pull the cams off.

The leak down tests clearly showed its the exhaust valves not seating. Like I have mentioned before, the oil was very old and dirty and well it sounds very possible the lifters are gunked up with it. Its fairly varnished under the cam cover too. Who knows how long its sat for. If it ended up at pick a part then I wouldn't think it was happily driving around up till a few days before being taken there. Is there a way to heat them up and try free them without removing the cams? Don't I need special tools to remove and install the cams?

Yeah well I never had my hopes up and suspected something will have to be wrong with it. I naturally suspected head gasket but something minor like this isnt as bad because at least the block/head isnt scrap. Are these lifters prone to binding leaving the valves not to seat properly?

So I did a compression test today. Hooked a box and starter up and tested cylinder 1. Got 155 then 160 psi on two tests. Moved on to cylinder 2 and thats where things all went wrong. Couldnt even get a reading. moved on to cyl 3 and it was the same. No. 4 I got a small reading of 70 psi but then not reading at all for cylinder 5 & 6. I put the engine back up on the stand and did a leak down test. cylinder 1 was ok but then all the rest were leaking like mad out the exhaust valves. tested them all plenty of times making sure the pistons were at TDC. Cam lobes were all pointing up well away from the valves but no mater what, the exhaust valves just werent sealing. Whats going on here?? Anybody have any explanations?

Will the E39 M54 stuff work? We could do some kind of trade as I need e34 stuff for this M54.

Problem is im just not used to this size plug. Cheers but yeah ill prob just grab a powerbuilt one off our shelf at work and at it too my tab. will cost me next to nothing. I came and had a look at it during the week but best i could have done was show up at 9am on sat. The exhaust side was nice and clean but the oil filter housing seal had made a bit of a mess on the intake side which i attacked with degreaser, a rag and a screwdriver.

Definitely seem like theres a lot more popping up from Wellington. Always down for a meet.

I wouldnt even know what that was haha but again, i was purely there for the engine and didnt take much notice of anything else sorry mate. Haha so that was you. Sorry dude, you gotta be quick i guess. I made sure i was there early so i didnt miss out on it or using the one engine hoist they have. They are in Wingate http://www.pickapart.co.nz/locations.asp Pretty sure they dont have a phone number and wouldnt be any help if you ever were able to call them. Had a good play with the motor tonight and basically found out there is no trace of water in the oil (oil is very old and dirty though) and no oil in the cooling system (thermostat housing looked brand new inside). I couldnt pull the plugs though as I dont know where all my spark plug sockets have disappeared to. Im gonna put it back together a bit, hook up a flywheel, gearbox and starter to compression test it. May not be until the weekend though.

Didnt take note of the stereo sorry but the Vin is WBADT62070CK19509 and the plate was GGJ662. Still got to decide how to go about running it. Still learning about these 24V's. Will most likely go the simplest option, OBD1 or whatever but does anyone know if there is anyone who can do a good tune to suit down here in Wellington if go that route? No big hit but maybe a very minor frontal impact but couldnt really tell. Car was pretty un tidy so im gonna hope its a combination of those things that lead it to end up at Pick a Part but its only done 177k. Ive only taken the oil filter cap off so far to take a look and found rather dark dirty oil. Was happier to see black oil than chocolate milk though. I will have a proper look at it tomorrow evening and will report back here. I will naturally be replacing as much of the cooling system as i can so im not too worried about that, its really just the head and block i care about. I have gearboxes, E30 flywheel and starter so will look into compression testing it some time.

So yesterday I grabbed on a M54B30 from a NZ new E39 at pick a part. It turned over and seemed to have no sign of water in the oil or vise versa so i pounced on it as it could be the perfect powerplant for the e30 race/club car im building. About an hour and a half and $289 (charged for a 4cyl) later, it was mine. So im new to these 24v motors and I need to know what im working with here. I really want to know if its good to go and not rooted. What should i be checking to make sure its still usable as is? Eg how can I be sure the head gasket isn't blown? Not too keen to take the head off unless i have to. Should I re torque the head bolts to check if the head hasn't pulled the studs out and buggered the thread in the block?? What else should i be checking? It has done 170,000kms going by car jam (so should be only just run in) but worryingly the car hadn't been in a big hit. It was just in really bad shape. Cheers