Olaf

the OEM (as in not BMW Original Equiment) Sachs in my e60 have about 45k kms on them and are like new. The OEM Sachs in my e46 have been there for nearly 90k kms and are nowhere near done, though are not just like new. I can't recall how many kms of punishment the OEM Sachs in my 855-T5 took before it was written off by a hit-and-run driver during lockdown, though they always felt new.

I'm not seeing the advantage of B4 over Sachs OEM. Example - e60 5er alloy body for Sachs (as per Original), Steel body for B4... and about the same price (at least they were a couple of years ago). Very close pricing for the e46 Sachs vs B4. Naturally, YMMV. And agree - almost all new shocks are better than worn out old shocks. Let's throw Monroes into the mix - yecchhh. Has anyone been game enough to try Meyle shocks/struts? They're real cheap - half the price of Sachs OEM.

I've not run Bilsteins. Given Bilstein B4 are about the same price as Sachs OEM on whatever platform, I've always run Sachs OEM as replacements on e46 and e60 to great effect with standard springs. On my e30, it's H&R+Koni Yellow. E46 now has about 90k kms on the setup, they're still running comfortably. I was lucky to drive @adro's e46, found the B4+Eibach setup is comfortable, pretty supple in the bumps and mild increase in rate helped cornering, the low naturally helped poise with lower CofG that my setup lacks If I do my e46 again it'll be Msport springs and most probably Koni Yellow, or Sachs msport spec; I'll leave the current ARBs as they are well-balanced. Both e60 and e46 were spec'd very much for Family Wagon duty. Back in the 90's I had an A2 Golf GTI 16V. I replaced the shocks with KYB Gas... they lasted about a year at high altitude. I replaced with Boge Turbo (a Sachs OE product) to great effect, and were running well another two years later. Also ran KYB (in NZ) on Sentra and Maxima, they were okay and offered performance advantages over the oil-filled OE setup. Different running to the aforementioned GTi. Conclusion: lower-budget monotube gas shocks may have some compromises more easily encountered in more spirited running? If you're a Bilstein fanboy maybe committing heavily and going B6 and appropriate springs is the thing to do? PS: I ran Sachs OE and H&R sportsprings on my Volvo 855-T5, eliminating Nivomat. It was near-perfect (IMHO) handling with an ideal mix of comfort and rate on long trips, stiff enough for fun in the twisties. I guess the only car I've owned in the past 30 years that I haven't replaced shocks on (not an exhaustive list) is my current X3.

Ya got me there - wow!! ++spendy. Spareto or Rockauto perhaps?

60USD? Jesus wept, where's that from? We did 325i caliper rebuild recently, I'm certain the seals and hardware were nowhere near that price. EDIT: yeah, ATE Caliper rebuild kit for the 325i (yes they're smaller than the 330 & M3, I know) 34211158578 was USD7.19each. They're now USD9.29 from FCP Euro. I wouldn't expect your 330 seals to cost much more - hope that helps.

Interesting. how often do you need to change the cartridge, and how much does that cost? Also, isn't working pressure of 40psi far lower than the N57B30O1?

$35k? "He's dreamin'". @gjm It does rather look like you're selling it. Is he lazy and duped you in to doing this work for free, or just inept and you've swooped in to help out? As the champion of "all e30's are over-priced and not good value", I'd have expected a very different estimate from you!

holy thread revival batman, I'd forgotten about this!

So where are you in all this Graham? Are you the seller's agent? My view: it looks like it came out the showroom as an M325i. Plenty of changes throughout it's life. It's down at heel, and rough around the edges. Assume it needs a full fluids and rubbers changeout, as there's no mention of folders full of history, or regular maintenance. It needs re-rego and WoF. It's looking neglected. You haven't mentioned Mileage? Also the current owner is the son of the first owner - who was the second owner? It will never be a $50k car - it'd need two things to get close: 1) a full restoration including back to Tech 1 spec, and collectors are understandably picky about milege and provenance - it's only original once! 2) a market cycle or two, and a strong economy to make this attractive to someone cashed-up in ten years or so. In order to make that worthwhile, you'd want $10k headroom (margin) on a current sell price ($35k if *really* tidy and back to tech 1?), and $15-20k to sort everything out (paint and body, correct trim, suspension, and really addressing an old (and possibly neglected car. You do the math on what the buy price is to make it work. Or, you view it as a driver. Accept it as a bitser, it's got bits of tech 1, bits of tech 2, and needs a tidy. You're not going to try and make it what it's not, you just want it clean tidy and ready to dance. $15-20k would be a generous bid, and you'll be putting in $5-10k to get it sorted so you can drive it anywhere in the country and it won't let you down - you might not get the aircon fixed in there though.

replace DISA valve, if it hasn't failed it probably will... dropping the Pin into your combustion chamber. Inexpensive insurance. Have a good look at the high pressure fuel hose supplying the injector rail. They're getting old now - if yours is crusty, replace. Nobody wants a fuel fire under the hood, You're on the right track, taking care of the intake vacuum leaks. cooling every five years. plugs and a full set of coils after your cuurnet work (if you havent already) and it'll be a sweet runner. Jared @Eagle is spot-on about those nipple caps (ooh err), Jon spotted those on mine recenty and we replaced them at same time as HP Fuel Hose. e46 325i motorsport is a sweet drive. They reward if treated to thorough maintenance. We've had our 325i Touring for 11.5 years, no plans to replace it.

@cleanish_e46 I'm biased... if it's not a race car, OE spec rubber is all you need - unless you prefer needing to see your urologist or dental sugeon due to persistent jarring. not to mention the state of our roads these days. I've had all of the bushes you mention replaced in the first two years with my e30. it runs Konis & H&R springs. The whole setup is firm, damped, as you'd expect from a BMW. I've also done the same on e46 & e60. Replacing rubber firms things up and restores control, though not to the point my wife or kids complain. Most proponents of Poly are under 25 or have replaced completely bagged-out bushings with poly, and are of course impressed and amazed at the improvement. By the time you've done everything (each part you stiffen reveals shortcomings of the next bagged-out part), it's the hair-shirt solution. Sounds and looks amazing though bloody uncomfortable to wear. Like I say, if it's a race car, all's great on Poly. Poly has its application. Unless you're certain you need that incrrease in stiffness, rubber is relatively inexpensive and far more durable than poly, and is the right compromise for everyday and sporting street use. BMW test drivers and development engineers logged thousands of hours developing a workable solution for most people, poly does not feature.

+1 on OEM rubber mounts. Although they don't fail (unless thrashed), supple rubber absorbs vibrations that your 30-odd year old ones don't. And they cheap.

In diesellandia as I am with my F25 X3 30D, I use Penrite diesel fuel biocide treatment, it kills the diesel bug and keeps your fuel lines and injectors clean. I can’t remember the actual concentration, about 30ml each time I fill up is a scratch over the recommended running dose. On the side of the container are instructions for quantities for treating deep clean and also infestations. Wouldn’t hurt to try a good dose of that through yours. I certainly noticed a difference on mine when I first treated it. have you established with a scanner when the last DPF Regen was? I’d guess you’re getting it up to temp and sustained temp with a fully charged battery for it to kickoff when required. If there’s anything preventing the regen in terms of operating state prerequisites, you might need to get that taken care of. Also, check for recall - there’s a recall globally for n57 - something to do with coolant and DPF, I forget the details. Continental have the parts to do mine on back order. HTH

it's had some paint splashed around it, looks like it's had a front-ender and been repaired.

Welcome, @Murray2023 nice gokart. The BMW Car Club NZ Welly Crew have a monthly pub night - a get-together for a feed, a social beverage or two, and to tell whoppers about BMWs and other topics - all are welcome. Details found in the Wellington room here: https://bimmersport.co.nz/forum/26-wellington/ We also have reasonably regular coffee meets, runs, overnight trips etc. Come along, learn more about our active club!

Welcome Evan, enjoy the journey! e36 was an amazing car when new, unlike anything else on the road. A great drive. Concentrate on one thing at a time, chart your progress in a project thread. Plenty of knowledge in this place to help you.

30 June 2023. 1875??kms I dusted off the e60. Since the WoF, just a monthly start. Covid mkII in April, life has been quiet. 1. Full Tank of Fuel Posterity post. We'll remember when fuel was "cheap". I took the opportunity to fill the tank before our "finance minister" put the Excise and GST (29c per litre) back on fuel during our cost of living crisis. $2.31/l As I type this 20 July Tinakori Waitomo 95 is $.59.9/l according to Gaspy, BP Connect Adelaide Rd are charging $2.999/l, and BP Connect Roadmaster is rewarding big spenders with $3.139/l of 98. Still, a cruise up country at 9.5 litres/100, it's pure pleasure! 2. Fuel Stabiliser Protecting that fuel 'investment'. I figured while it spends a little more time in my rented garage, I should take measures to avoid 65 litres of fuel going off. Penrite Fuel Stabiliser to the rescue! So yeah, you buy this, it comes with a full tank! I used to run it exclusively on BP 98, stopped a few tanks ago. The Waitomo is good.

yep the manual 316i FL is the lightest spec e30, less sound deadening, no electric seats, no sunroof so lower c of g and best of all no rusty sunroof leaking! they are the bomb. give everything on your 33 year old nana car a birthday, rubbers bushes QUALITY tyres fuel lines cooling system shocks fluidsbrakes... wof rego insurance, and go and enjoy the pure spirit of driving an analogue manual car. teach yourself to drive in the wet without losing the tail, learn cadence braking, learn to heel-and-toe double de-clutch. more fun than your first shag and longer lasting too! 😂

I'll give you a monkey for the monkey 😉

score!!

The market will surpass what you view as a peak. Just strap in and enjoy it for the number of year's it'll take until we've made it through recession, the economy will eventually recover, meanwhile e30's (and M325i in particular) will be older, scarcer, and more desirable... and more spare cash in buyer's pockets will be reflected in higher prices. We've seen it all before, 80's, 90's, '08.... the e30 is a classic car like any other.

interesting how the convenience and acceptableness of 4k streaming boxes like Apple TV 4K etc (or even apps in TV) and an internet connection have displaced optical media. hell, a good 4K BluRay pisses all over anything you can stream from the likes of Amazon Prime/Netflix/Disney+ over a decent internet connection - visually and audibly. EDIT - sorry getting a bit off-topic on your for sale listing!!

hunt out "so you've bought an e60" -it's a pdf that's constantly updated. much of it will apply to your e63. HTH.

For Rugby? I expect there are many online streaming services you can subscribe to with help of a VPN. I accepted that I’d lose ‘sport’ by cutting Sky, given they had little in the way of Yachting, Skiing, WSBK it didn’t seem like a big loss, especially when the win was not giving Sky any more coin. I tried Spark Sport for a while, found they’ve not successfully expanded their sporting lineup sufficiently. YMMV

I thought only boomers pay money for Sky. Zero customer focus, outrageous pricing. I cut the cable years ago, completely refreshing not to spend money with them.