Harper

Smaller, lighter, quicker, better steering, and more practical than a coupe not to mention without the subframe RACP issues... Compact master race. White is their best colour imo, I really do think they are underrated. I always thought they were unique looking in a good way but having owned mine for a couple months now I genuinely think it's cool looking, especially with the 216M wheels. It'll only get better as I tidy up the exterior, plan to paint match the bumper strips, get facelift tail lights, maybe some spacers front and rear. I can't wait to start the project.

Yeah saw that this morning, very coincidental timing. I've watched brents videos a few times over now as inspiration. I'll definitely be leaving the compact front end on it, I love the quirky/ugly bug eyes. Surprised it's not listed as a 330i instead of a 316, would have figured it would get more interest that way but interesting to see what it ends up selling for.

Yep whole drivetrain was swapped. Not sure why it was done that way but I guess the silver top engine is a bit nicer than the later one and the MSV70 ecu is more tunable. mileage on the donor engine was almost exactly the same as the original.

Just listed mine, open to offers: https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/130i/listing/4316273265

I thought that as I was posting the photos, but it is much worse in the flesh. Body is really rough, paint peeling on almost every panel and dents everywhere, Interior is beat, suspension is very tired, tamper dot on the dash (I think from the LCM being replaced since the mileage is genuine). But it has had some nice bits replaced on it in 2022 that I'll use, battery, radiator, belts/tensioners, ac condenser and a few other bits. I wanted something running well to begin with so I'm not chasing issues at the other end and the engine on this feels pretty strong to me. I did also just get it for cheap 15 minutes away from where I live so I figured I'd jump on it I have a huge list of parts that I'll refresh while the motors out, vcg, sump gasket and oil pump nut safety wire, vanos seals, DISA valve rebuild, engine mounts, intake pipes, coolant hoses and pipes, CCV bits, dipstick orings, rms, thermostat and waterpump, probably a bunch that I forgot to mention. The chain guides I considered as well but IIRC that requires disturbing the timing and I don't have the timing tools so I'll probably leave all that as is. Not sure whether I will bother doing the rod bearings since M54s aren't really known for eating them like the S54 but I'll probably check them when the engine is out and decide then. I'll keep the old style coils for now but not opposed to swapping them, whats the benefit to changing to the new style?

Donor acquired, 01 330i 145,xxxkms. If anyone wants any parts from the 330 that I'm not using feel free to message me. Now to make some space and list my 130 for sale.

I noticed that as well. Very strange, first NZ registration too. "I hate ANZ"?

Interior is minty except for a tear in the driver side bolster, like you say not uncommon with the alcantara seats. I specifically wanted this interior though, I'm a sucker for cloth interiors, especially alcantara, and I love that it shares the same fabric as the CSL. Fortunately my neighbour is an automotive upholsterer so I'll get him to make one good set out of two by swapping the good offside bolsters onto the others and rebuild the foam and what not while the covers are off. Your old E46 was gorgeous, if I can get this anywhere near as clean I'll be very happy.

Definitely possible. Those kinds of things I'll adjust to taste once the cars built and running. I think it should be fine given the ZF 5 speed has near identical ratios as the getrag 420G in my M3 (just missing the overdrive gear obviously) and that has an even higher ratio diff than the auto 330 and I have no issues driving that. I'll be retaining the DMF as well since I don't believe the NVH tradeoffs on a single mass are worth it for a road car.

If she lives out near Silverdale this might be hers. As far as compacts go it's been very well looked after, wouldn't be surprised if it's had some money spent on it. Has a few small issues, wiper jets not working and lock cylinder in the door is broken. But both pretty easy fixes. She listed it cheap and had half a dozen people who said they'd buy it if the sale to me fell through, she couldn't believe the interest there was in it. I'm very glad I happened to be browsing fb marketplace the night she listed it otherwise I would have certainly missed out.

If it was a lightweight cool revvy 4 cylinder I'd probably just manual swap it and rebuild the motor. As it is, the n42 is leaky, oily and sad and I won't feel bad about gutting it. The 3L M54 with the auto 330 diff should make this thing feel pretty lively I think.

Same wheelbase. Suspension pickup points are all the same except for the rear subframe which is different, but the medium case diff still fits in the compact subframe. More or less everything should bolt up like factory, they did make a 325ti after all. The exhaust and a couple bits in the EVAP and fuel system are 325ti specific but I've already sourced those and I think most people just splice and join the lines and make something work anyway, custom exhaust etc. Few differences going 4cyl to 6cyl obviously but should be easy enough with a donor car... I hope

I love the fugly If only, I'd already have a perfect donor car. Far more involved swap I'd imagine. From what I can tell N42>M54 should be reasonably straight forward. Ironically I'm selling the 130i to make space for the closest thing there would be to it's predecessor.

Before I saw this one for sale I don't think I've ever even seen another white one on the road. I'm definitely in the minority but I actually think they look cool once they have the msport bumpers and skirts on them, but the colour is what really makes it. From what I can gather from the NZTA fleet info there are 10 white compacts in NZ, all 318 autos.

I have dreamed about building a 330Ti for years as a more daily alternative to my E46 M3. Ever since I bought my first E46 I have always loved the compact and have quietly planned a project like this but most NZ compacts are shopping trolly spec and aren't worth building into something special. I have almost bought a few different compacts over the past year or two with this project in mind but the timing was never right and I really wanted a unique spec... When this 318Ti came up for sale in this spec I bought it within hours of it being listed and picked it up the next day, perfect base to become my dream 330Ti. No, the front end is not going to get changed, I love the bug eyes. Rare in alpine white, alcantara laser cloth interior, black m cube trim, no sunroof, factory xenons (rare on NZ compacts), all the msport kit, I put the style 216Ms on it but they'll get new tyres. It will get all of the 330 bits, brakes, diff, axles, along with the engine and a ZF 5 speed gearbox. Not sure how much of the process I will document since I'm looking forward to enjoying the build and having something to tinker on in the evenings again but I'll try take some photos along the way and post them up. The day after I bought the compact I got a fortune cookie with some dumplings and this was the note inside. Seems to be a good omen from the universe.

I bought a full set with tyres for $500.

I think I'm about to take on an e46 330ti compact project and manual swapping with a ZF 5 speed at the same time. Pricing it all up sometimes makes the eyes water. It's definitely the details that add up.

No harder to convert a 130i than an e46 or an e90, process is the same. The coding and wiring is straight forward and with a full kit everything just bolts up. I'm about to sell my manual converted 130i. Will be interesting what it ends up selling for.

Weitz has a 130i conversion kit for $3400 so it's hard to imagine this cars worth any less than 5500 imo unless it's really rough.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/665702432135488/ High mileage factory manual for 6k. Might be a good deal for someone. That's only slightly more than I paid for mine which needed a lot of love albeit at lower k's.

Finally solved a slight lumpy idle on my 130i. Car ran perfect with the maf unplugged but when plugged in the car would hunt a little between 600-700rpm and never settle, a couple times it even bogged down to 500rpm and almost died. I swapped in a spare maf to be sure it wasn't the sensor going bad, and same issue so I figured there was a small vacuum leak somewhere. Felt like I had tried everything beyond pulling the whole intake manifold off and checking everything. Finally today I discovered one of the hoses coming out of the CCV (the lower one) had some oil all over it and it was clear the connector wasn't fully clipped in letting oil out and air in. Clipped it into place and idle is rock solid now. Was one of the last small issues I wanted to fix before selling the car.

One of them has got to go... Who wants a manual 130i? Will probably be on trademe in the coming weeks.

Finally got around to installing my new windshield cowl for the M3. Fitted it and realised one of the side shrouds was on top of the edge of the cowl when it's supposed to be underneath so I removed the cowl to fix the side pieces. 4 of the 6 clips broke... on a brand new part. $170 down the drain I guess. Ironically, the 20 year old cowl that I removed came off with all 6 clips perfectly in tact. Feels like a couple times recently I've got a genuine BMW part that was just sh*t.

Takes maybe 5 minutes in NCSExpert/NCSDummy If you're familiar, hopefully someone local can give you a hand.

216Ms are the wheels to get for a 130i imo. My project I've been working away at recently.