Cammsport

Yip but I shouldn't have to/don't want to run spacers as that'll be permanently on the cert plate. The problem is his interpretation of the rules.

@andrewm this is exactly what I explained to him. I said a cert is not required as the line is one piece and can't be pulled apart. He countered with "rules are rules and any modification to the brakes needs to be certified." I said there hasn't been a modification. We went round in circles and in the end I left it. Certifier will know what's up. Hopefully.

Got around to dropping the E30 off at the local mechanics for a wheel alignment and WOF, pre-certification. Was expecting it to be pulled up for something, but not this stuff. The guy was notably a lot more thorough than normal with our other cars (not complaining). Biggest problem is the new XYZ struts fouling on the front tyres. The perches and springs are touching the tyres which is very odd considering the tyres are OEM spec (205/55/15) along with the basket weaves (15”x7” et24). I followed the install booklet for spring height also as the book states that ideally the spring should compress by 1/3rd when on the ground. Best outcome will be the supplier providing shorter springs that maintain the nice feel of the current spring rate and hopefully come to the party and pay for the front tyres to be replaced. Doubt the latter will happen to be honest. Next on the list to fix will be the headlight aim although this may be tough without the gadgetry. WOF guy wasn’t keen to adjust as he was afraid he’d break the brittle plastic adjusters. Something I’ll have to figure out. Sway bar bushes, wiper blades, loose bolt and boot clamps are all easy fixes and oversight by me. The leak on the new Z3 rack is hopefully a banjo bolt that just needs a nip up, fingers crossed its not coming from the rack body. A soon as the strut headache is sussed, off to the certifier!!

Interesting glimpse into the past at the prices of E30s. Car in question is a pov spec, manual 316i, bronzit facelift coupe that had 80,000kms on the clock

@BMTHUG what was the amount you had it insured for? More or less than what you got paid out?

G240 came on early 4 cyl E36s too

All those engines will fit in quite easily. The G240 bell housing had different shapes depending on the year I think but yours should be fine. My 240 bolted up to my M52 nicely. People say they're a weaker box, but I have no complaints. It's put up with some death.

I bought mine from euroturbo.nz along with the driveshaft hoops. From memory it was $150. Didn't realise BMW still sold them.

Sneaky trip out to grab fish n chips. Need to get an alignment report for the cert guy done soon. Anyone know anyone that's not overpriced in Auckland to do the alignment? I get nervous when random shops jack the car up ?

Nice price! Good luck with the coupe ?

Can I be nosey and ask what for? Just to keep tabs on the actual E30 market. Anything on the radar replacing it?

Not a huge update, but it's the little things that count I reckon. Pulled out the old windshield washer system as it leaked and was also blocked up. I soaked the nozzles in white vinegar and replaced the check valve (61661374978) and hose (N203011-5) with new oem replacements. Success, the jets sprayed perfectly onto the windshield. Probably the only car in our fleet that I can say that about. Then went on to replace the front valance blank with the 325i oil cooler vent (51711953609) from FCP Euro. While I was down down there I put in some new lip clips (51711979334 for white ones) to get the IS lip on properly. Also removed the AliExpress fogs as they were shite and fitted the OEM colour coded blanks.

Good pick up Olaf, you're right. You can see the LSD tag and ratio there with the 's'. Believe it or not that's the original underseal. Just gave it some elbow grease and used some of the Chemical Guys multipurpose spray cleaner. Used a stiff brush, tooth brushes and rags. Took awhile but it's good piece of mind knowing that underneath the guard liners hasn't rusted out.

The hunt for a garage was a long one, but we found what we (i) were after in the end! We bought a place with ample driveway space for oil spills and a two car garage. Here new house stuff took over and the car was AGAIN put on the back burner. So it sat while I ordered parts online and procrastinated as much as i could with laundry and garden renos. I finally got my act together when more and more parts were arriving and decided I needed to make a move. I ordered some XYZ adjustable height/dampening coil overs as I wanted to finally get rid of the shame of having cut springs. While the suspension was out, I seized the opportunity to clean out the wheel wells and hunt for some rust. Luckily I was clear in the rust department, 30 years of road crap was a different story. Pictures of the XYZ suspension for anyone that interested... SpeedFactor in Tauranga can get the welding and crack testing done for a reasonable price. Bloody good to deal with too. While It was up on axle stands I also gave the brakes a bit of a freshen up. Being a 316i, it had originally had drums on the rear with smaller 45m struts up front and the smaller disks. I swapped over the rear trailing arms from a 325i coupe to take advantage of the disc brake rear. Squeezed in some new bushings while I was there. Fitting the new trailing arms wasn't the nicest job as the access to the forward fulcrum bolts have limited access. When It was all said and done, it was worth it. The freshly painted callipers looked mint and the braided brake lines with new oil would improve the stoggy brake feel. I was on the hunt for a LSD/diff combo as the increase in power from the trusty M52 was constantly spinning the inside wheel as well as the current ratio making 1st gear pointless. Unfortunately everyone else with an E30 must feel the same as they're very hard to come by (I blame the race series!!). Found one on TradeMe after a long search and got round to fitting that. I went from 3.46 to 4.27 and it drives alot nicer. Almost caught up to present day! That'll make updates much easier.

The alloy under the paint on that wheel is corroding. Which suggests poor paint prep. I assume that's why they suggested sandblasting as this is the best way to remove corrosion without removing too much metal like sanding.

I had a skyline 300gt and would not recommend it. Classic 6 cyl problems with bleeding the coolant/overheating. Failing coils due to heat etc. I reckon Accord Euro is the ticket. Cheap parts, still look fairly modern, Honda reliability, safe, economical etc. My 2c.

Thanks! And yea, sure thing. Feel free to also ask here if you'd like. Others may be thinking along the same lines as you. Just try to keep all your questions in one post to keep it tidy ??

https://www.trademe.co.nz/2192497907 I think there was a post here a couple years ago on fitting e38 brakes. Those are my calipers just for full transparency.

Anyone have a hub bearing puller set I could borrow? Need to pull the front and rear hubs from an E46. I've purchased a set but won't be here soon and I need it for Monday ? Located Auckland

Wee spoiler until I write the next chapter (flash forward to June '19). BBS RC090 17"x8" et20 with polished barrels. Playing with ideas at the moment. Not yet 5x120 as I'm still deciding what to do.

Very tidy man. Nice work.

@Olaf I'm half convinced I need to 5 lug swap to get the wheels I want, so the 15" weaves will probably be for sale sometime this year.

Fish bin spray booth is genius!

Cooling was a big concern as I'd be removing the viscous fan from the front of the engine. I trial fitted a few radiators but ended up settling (if i recall correctly) on a ti Radiator. It fit nicely ion the front and kept the bay looking clean without the need for a remote expansion bottle. Its also slightly taller than stock so should provide a tad more cooling. This setup has been working well on the open road and in traffic, however it is something I'd like to do more research on before this car sees a track. Probably E36 M3 evo radiator. I bought a generic SPAL fan and wired that to a 80/88 degree temp switch on the radiator and also to a manual bypass switch so I could have the option of having it run full time (wiring carried out by another AV mate, Cheers Howie). The plumbing was a bit of whatever I had lying around. It was a mix of the E36 hose from the donor car and a 90 degree tube from super cheap to go from the upper radiator point to the thermostat housing. This also something I'm not the most happy with and will get looked at in the future. After that I added the OEM blue coolant and bled it through, following the procedure multiple times. I was extra cautious at this stage as I really couldn't be bothered pulling the motor back out . One of the biggest and most expected headaches was getting it to start. Overall I think I was hung up at this point for probably over a month. I was adamant It had to be a stray wire that I cut or a bad connection somewhere. I spent many a night with a multimeter following the wires from the pins on the DME to its destination. Everything seemed fine but still no luck. The fuel pump would prime but that was about it. At the time I was in the Air Force which is a mint place to be if you happen to have a project car. I had already had the metal shop weld the shifter linkages, the crud bay media blast the BBS RS, the paint shop painted the BBS RS and now, an Avionics mate give the DME a look over to see if I had fried anything. It all came back OK. It had to be the dodgy EWS rigged up with the key zip tied to the transponder etc. I asked on here and luckily @Kobra came to the rescue. I shipped the DME down to Christchurch to have the EWS removed via his bench rig. When I received the DME back in the mail, I was absolutely fizzing. Slapped in the ECU and we had lift off... (AUG 2017) First Start Second Start First Drive I found a reputable place in Takapuna to do the exhaust work so it would be a little less obnoxious. Probably my biggest regret with the swap as it was easily the most expensive part at around $1200 and not what I want. At the time I was just keen to get the car home but in hind sight I should have got a quote which would've have stopped the price hiking up and also should have refused to pay until I got what I had said. That being said, the car sounds and performs well, it's just not the best. I'm fussy (which is why I do all my own maintenance I guess). The car then basically was ignored For awhile. I left the Air Force for greener pastures, which also meant relocating to a house with a single garage. Which would have been fine, but with all the other car stuff I had hoarded, there wasn't enough space for fiddlin'. But there was a silver lining to it all. My new landlord just happened to be a panel beater before he was a teacher and also a lover of E30s. I mentioned to him in passing that I'd love to paint the bumpers to imitate the IS/SE look. He was dead set he was going to paint them. They came out so mint and had completely changed the look of the car. We also painted the rear lower apron too. It looked so much cleaner. This definitely wasn't the car I had started with. A quick polish and wax to try make the most of the ageing paint helped. The above pic is a bit of a spoiler alert into the next purchase. The RS's weren't quite built up yet and the bottle caps were, well.. meh. I found some tired 15" x 7" et20 Euroweaves and refurbed them. Still haven't found centre caps One of the biggest motivators for getting the car looking spic was the fact that our wedding day was coming up (might be confusing if I've mentioned a "wife" in previous posts. Same girl just retrospectively writing ). We decided to go with E30s from the E30 Car Club. Admittedly we wanted something else ( even emailed RWB NZ ) but we had left it too late sussing other parts out. We had a mad rush to finish the RSs and try sort the ride height out. Shameless scenic wheel pic. The current suspension made the wide but short RSs look very weird but I hadn't settled on what suspension I want to go with long term. So out came some OEM springs, guard roller, heat gun, beers and the makita one-ways (thanks Hammy). Not my proudest moment but somehow the big day was only two days away and it needed more low. After all it was only temporary. Finally the car was ready. ish. I still wasn't stoked with how it looked. Mostly due the tyres only being 15" and the offset I was trying to achieve. Also the front couldn't go any lower with the sump sitting 2" off the ground. Then the big day. Mandah and Daniel brought their Mtech 2s whilst we used AutoStances E28 as the bridal car (just happens to be for sale here). Perhaps I should have said pic heavy at the start of this thread? Couldn't have been happier with how the cars turned out in the end. Was a mint day! Post wedding, we had a new goal... A bigger garage.

The day finally came where I pulled the trigger on ruining a stock 316i coupe. Things went fairly smoothly with the engine and gearbox pulled as one unit, this seems to be the best method. Without a leveller i was forced to dodgily use a chain and screwdriver to slide links through the engine crane to change angle. Would definitely recommend using a load leveller. And then the reverse but alot more hands and shoe horns in the mix. Overall its a pretty easy fit but I was concerned with scratching the car or the freshly painted sump. Again, tried and true method is the engine and gearbox together. I used the aluminium E36 arms paired with the rubber green mounts form an E34, can be had pretty cheap from Ebay (part number 11 81 1 132 793). MAKE SURE YOU PUT THE ENG MOUNT STUD THROUGH THE OUT CROSSMEMBER HOLE. I didnt and it caused alot of hassle. I originally thought the mounts I had bought were the wrong ones, but it turns out the studs on either side of the mount are offset. Duh. All the gearbox rubber mounts and crosssbrace were the pre-existing ones. Luckily the E30 has a sliding rail type setup on the body for the gearbox mounts allowing a longer eng/gb to be mounted easily. (MARCH 2017) Once it was in and all mounted up I could see there would be a few issues. My stock shifter arms(#1 & #11) were too long. I couldn't for the love of money find any G260/6 cyl shifter linkages (apparently these work) so i went with plan B and had my ones shortened by 65mm. Keeping in mind #1 is cast aluminium, this might not be the easiest option for people. Alternatively you can buy hard mount kits for the upper part of the gearshift and do away with #1. Next on the hit list was the lack of clearance between the exhaust manifold, steering column and subframe. I cut and welded the rear bank exhaust manifold when the exhaust was made. But the manifold still hit the column (especially under load as i found out later on the first drive). I thought I could massage the manifold with a hammer and remove the rubber vibe dampener from the column. Nope. The easiest solution that i had seen was joining parts of a Holden Barina column to make a hybrid one with the E30. Pretty painful and fiddly process. Basically you use the E30's upper UJ portion as it fits the shaft coming from your steering wheel. And you use the shaft and lower UJ from the Barina. The stakes need to removed from around the bearing caps, then you just twist/hammer/throw the shaft (mindful you don't drop out any of the needle bearings) until you get the end result... Note that this only works with a power steering rack as the have longer input shafts. Which is a nice segway onto the next bit of fiddling. I opted to go for the power steering option for a) to fit the modded shaft b) wife hated how hard it was to turn with wide wheels The rack I decided to go with was the Z3. It had good reviews online and also had the smallest ratio lock to lock at 2.7 turns. This requires a spacer to be fitted as the mounts on the Z3 rack a shorter in dimension than the E30 oem rack. The spacer needs to be OD 25mm, ID 10mm with a thickness of 14mm. Thanks Matt. It all mounts up pretty smoothly. I used E36 P/S reservoir (bolts to LH eng mount arm), E36 P/S lines (slight bending required), M52 P/S pump (theres two different kinds with a flat pulley or a dished pulley) and the recommended ATF fluid. Id also get new crush washers for the banjo bolts too. That sucked. Once it was in i used E36 inner and outer rod ends as they're ever so slightly beefier than the e30 ones and easier to adjust. One thing that I DIDN'T have interference problems with, was the brake booster due it being the Clio one