gjm

They were selling one or two of the cars off a couple of years ago. I nearly bought a Mercedes W116 6.9. It would have made my 500SE look economical!

<Cough!> NO! <Cough!> Lol My aim is to make it as easy to drive as possible, while still being fun. Mrs M learned to drive in a 1979 Opel Kadett C2 12S coupe, a stunningly wonderful little car, now with a cult following in Europe even with it's 1.2 engine. At least it didn't get the rattly POS 1256cc boat anchor that Vauxhall manufactured. Holden and Isuzu marketed something very similar here, called the Gemini. It was a GM 'World Car.' Today I cut the carpet, attack the rust around the top of the rear light panel (I gained access to a handheld sandblaster yesterday) and get the whole thing properly up in the air so I can see just what else is needed.

I think it was the '87 & '88 M10s that had the CPS mounting holes in the block. With our car being an '85, that may prove a problem. I wasn't aware of and don't recall any problems with the dizzy, but maybe rose-tinted hindsight is fooling me. That was my thought. It'll certainly make all the other checks a lot easier, especially if any floor welding is needed. That said, I suspect the heater matrix could require replacing as at some point the heater has been disconnected from the cooling system - there are two pipes visible in the engine bay with no hoses attached to them.,

On it's own, it gives more accurate fueling and timing, so the car should (in theory) respond better and be more economical. Performance... A little better. It does mean that any other changes down the line can be better exploited. Cams, exhaust, inlet - that sort of thing. For me though, I enjoy the journey. There's a little madness involved, no doubt, but it's there, so let's do it!

Anyone know if an E36 Ti rear seat will fit in a E30 coupe? I heard/read something about an alternative rear seat for the E30, but can't now remember if it was a 1-series or the Ti that suited.

Keen, blind, silly, over-enthusiastic... Hopefully I'm not deceiving myself too much and haven't simply convinced myself "it's not too bad!" There's a fair bit of work to do, but it can be done - we did it back in the UK. You can run a lambda sensor, fancy ECU programming, use a MAF instead of an AFM, fault finding is better, less components... Lots of parts needed: ECU CPS and mounting bracket Toothed crank wheel Engine bay loom including injector loom Cylinder ID sensor Oil level sender Oil pressure switch (although the loom can be adapted to use the existing one) Dizzy cap & rotor arm Temperature gauge sender Cam dust cover Cam rotor adapter Injectors AFM These parts all come from a car already fitted with the Motronic 1.3 set up. It's some way down the road. Bodywork first - that'll be the deciding factor in whether or not this goes any further. Then wiring and getting it running as well as possible while still using the L-Jet set up. Interior, and then, maybe, the Motronic conversion. The CPS bracket could be the biggest issue: later L-Jet engines had the holes in the block to have the bracket mounted, while some earlier engines do not. For now I'm deliberating whether to cut the carpet around the heater box to get it out, or leave it in and work around it.

The PO had a Mtech bodykit on it. Not sure why the quarterlights were removed... The seats and the like I've taken out today to help drying out. If I could have figured out how to get the carpet out, that would be gone too, but the car has aircon and it looks like the carpet is put in first, then lots of other things added which feed through holes in the carpet. I was aware some welding would be required, including the parcel shelf. That's the only bit I really know of at present - there is rust elsewhere, but nothing soft or perforating.

It's not dark now. OK - it's a long way from perfect. Needs interior sorting - seats are OK at best, and drivers door card is missing Needs lots of wiring sorting. A PO must have had shares in an insulation tape company Needs rust sorting (although so far I've found only surface stuff) Needs two opening rear quarterlights Needs front and rear bumpers Needs drying out! There's a puddle in the boot, and the sound deadening under the passenger front carpet is soggy Needs a front drivers side window regulator. Currently electric - tempted to convert to manual winders... Needs a third hole in the centre of the rear parcel shelf sorting. A PO has drilled lots of holes to create this Front wings appear to have come adrift at the bottom behind the wheels Needs a screenwash bottle cap Has very little chrome trim - remove the rest, or try to find the parts to suit? (The grill is with the car, just not on it) NZTA lists this as a 1987 car, but RealOEM tells me it was made in July 1985. Carjam reckons it is NZ new, first registered 21/04/1995! Pretty sure it is ex-Japan. The wheels are Momo 16x7.5 et38 with 205/55 rear and 195/50 front tyres. I'd always planned to ditch these and fit 15x7s (et13 or so) but I'm almost ashamed to say they're kinda growing on me! One centre cap is missing And I don't like the sleeve on the spokes. Oh well... Hardly critical given everything else that needs sorting. Has one of the 'good' M10s, with L-Jet. Plan to convert to Motronic. Dash is cracked like a desert on a dry day. Again, hardly an issue that will prevent driving, but would be nice to sort this. Seat belts are pretty ratty. Again, be good to sort this. At some point, someone has either tried jacking under the spare wheel well, or backed on to something solid. Regardless, it's a little deformed and there may be an old repair in there. Similarly, it looks like someone has jacked under the centre of the passenger side sill and squashed the seam. No other damage is evident. No oil in the water or vice versa. I have a bill from a PO which suggests they were using Royal Purple oil so while it is a little rough around the edges, it may have been looked after. I'm keen to get it on the road but will need to fight myself to not pull the engine and do a thorough job!

She's home. No pics - it's dark!

A - red rubber grease. Definitely. Amazing stuff B - ATF. Anything else that gets into the valves could cause a blockage, although this is what I have always done. I'll happily acknowledge if this is proven incorrect.

Looks like I'm sorted and the coupe will come home tomorrow evening. Thanks to everyone who contacted me. Very much appreciated.

Just spoke to Elijah - many thanks. Unfortunately his source is busy. So... still looking. Please help!

Chuckling at my misfortune not good enough? Lol No problem. Happy to pay gas and the like.

p/n 26111207785 or 26111204294. Fits many 1,3 and 5 series cars.

Help! Hoping someone is fairly local and feeling kind. Does anyone have a car with towbar (I don't) and a car trailer, and would be able to help get the 318i coupe from Taupiri to Te Kauwhata? At a pinch I can probably 'borrow' a suitable car. Times... Today (Sunday 4th October), tomorrow, Tuesday or Wednesday. I can get it here next weekend but have three days off this week, and would really like to spend some time evaluating what needs to be done. Anyone who can help gets the first chance to laugh at whatever mess I've got myself in to (this time).

Thanks Brent. That's certainly cheaper than EUR350.

Any idea what these are worth? Mint condition, no kerbing or other damage. I'm looking at a set for EUR350, shipped from Europe. Sounds a little expensive, but they are in really good condition.

OK... So tomorrow will be tomorrow. Slight logistical problem. The car runs well enough, but no front or rear bumpers, no WoF and rego on hold mean that even the short distance from Taupiri to home is too far for driving. And the trailer we'd planned to use is busy this weekend. Alternative plans being made for tomorrow. Hopefully in time for me to make it to Kyu's.

Thanks James.

Anyone know if this is appropriate for our Touring? If it is, I'll have a set, too.

Got a blanking flange made for the exhaust. Would probably have been easier to just buy one, but where's the fun in that? If the weather lets up I'll have a look at getting it fitted, and blanking various hoses to the EGR thermostat. Incidentally, I recall someone asking how this thermostat could affect engine water temperature when I'd bypassed the EGR using a golf tee. The thermostat is a part of the cooling system and is unaffected by the bypass. But it'll be removed before too long. Other than that, I got a puncture. $27. Nothing else to report other than more diesel, more RUCs, more oil changes... We're at around 462000km now.

Tomorrow (all being well) I'll be squeezing her into the garage. Fingers crossed there is room! Then the fun starts. It's very unlikely to be on the road for a few months.

Guy Martin has turned down an invitation to host Top Gear. He said that being a truck fitter was his chosen career, and that it would always come first. The comparatively small amount of television work he currently does is hard enough to fit in around his job and bike racing, and that presenting the show would mean changing his life altogether. “Yes, you might earn squillions of pounds, but I earn enough here to keep me in push bikes,” he said. “I don’t want to live like a rock star. I drive a Transit van and a Volvo estate. Although having said that, my Snap-On tool bill is quite high.” Kind of a shame. Sounds like he's a 'real' person and would have been a breath of fresh air, for the first series at least.

Yesterday evening we bought a puppy. The seller has a S1 truck cab parked in his driveway... Rego lapsed but plates still on it. Didn't look too bad on a cursory inspection. Apparently it's 'one of those projects I've just not got around to', according to the owner. Hmm. I wonder...

I love the interior!