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Harper

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Posts posted by Harper

  5. Posted · Report reply

    1 hour ago, Danch said:

    2007 BMW 130i manual for $10500 @182,000km

    https://www.trademe.co.nz/4330029110

    Looks like a nice one. Love lemans blue.

    With that one for sale I kind of had to lower the price on mine, which tbf I was going to do anyway. I'm itching to start my compact project so I think I'll keep dropping the price until someone grabs it. I had an offer of 9500 subject to it passing wof which I accepted but 2 days later when it passed, radio silence from the buyer...

  6. Posted · Report reply

    8 minutes ago, Cement said:

    Same for me recently, brand new cowl that had to come off for the glass to come out ... blasted all but maybe 3 of the clips. Luckily it was the super average hot staking that failed so I got the soldering iron and melted those wacky square pads back onto the cowl itself. The pokey parts were luckily still all attached to the little raft wotsits ... not using great words here but you'll know what I mean if you've seen one 😆

    That's exactly what I did too. A few of them the plastic itself snapped so I 'unsoldered' the ones off my original and plastic welded them onto the new one. 

    • Like 1

  8. Posted · Report reply

    44 minutes ago, Eagle said:

    Certainly logic in the 'if it aint broke dont fix it' mentality. The way i figure is the original OE parts with the car are likely have the highest quality\quality control. Im on 300,000+ brake seals and wheel bearings with no sign of them failing anything soon. Driveshaft hanger bearings are another item im not so keen on doing these days, aftermarket stuff is average at best and even OE doesnt appear to be what it used it. 

    There is that, I've received genuine BMW parts that were utter sh*t. Had an E46 windshield cowl that didn't survive a single install before all the clips snapped off, every single one. My original 20 year old one came off with all clips intact...

    • Like 1

  9. Posted · Report reply

    31 minutes ago, Vass said:

    Nah couldn't justify coughing up that much for a pile of rubber either. At the time I couldn't find ATE ones anywhere at all so that's one thing I cheaper out on. Got 2 sets each of Topran and A.B.S. brand for around $5 USD each from either RockAuto or Spareto. That would have been well over a year ago now, haven't checked what the prices and availability are at the moment.

    Topran ones looked dogshit with the outer seal not even having a solid metal backing at the base of it. The A.B.S. ones felt alright so threw those on. Will see how they hold up. Not ideal not being OE but will monitor them and reseal with some better quality parts if they end up causing trouble.

    Bummer, was hoping you had found something I hadn't. At least it's only the rears and the fronts will have fresh ATE seals. 

    What caliper paint did you use? Looks exactly how I wanted mine to come out

  10. Posted · Edited by Harper · Report reply

    5 minutes ago, Olaf said:

    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.  

    FCP, slightly cheaper from schmiedmann but in the same realm.

    https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw-caliper-repair-kit-rear-34216750163

    The 325i with the smaller piston has the option of OE ATE seals for 10usd but the only option for 330i seems to be genuine:

    https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw-caliper-repair-kit-rear-34211158578

  11. Posted · Report reply

    Did you pony up the 60usd each for OEM rear caliper seals or source them somewhere else? Schmiedmann has the OE ATE front seals and dust boots for 10usd each but not the rears, and I refuse to pay 120 for some seals and dust boots for the rear.

    I was gonna do a similar rebuild to my calipers before I put them on the compact and atm it's looking like I'm just leaving the rear seals alone.

  12. Posted · Edited by Harper · Report reply

    25 minutes ago, Vass said:

    Sorry to keep hijacking your thread, but bloody hell what is going on!? Another one, and this time with a 3L already in it... but with a Getrag behind it by the sounds of it.

    image.thumb.png.d0687f14181ddfb40749a49f55c77c38.png

    https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/listing/4324282721?utm_source=tmm-savedsearch&utm_medium=email&bof=bpQ8jCuP

    Jesus.. This might not be as exclusive of a club as I thought hahaha. I've been thinking about building one of these for ~2 years and when I finally start, 5 of them show up for sale

    Yeah sounds like a 325ti with the B30 dropped in, no 330 brakes and gretrag box. Still, probably a very quick fun car for 5K, they all seem a bit rough though. Looking forward to making mine into the tidiest example in the best spec :P

    • Like 1

  14. Posted · Report reply

    https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1704924903360560/

    I saw this a few days ago, but this is a 330ti that Ray built, maybe there really is something in the air...

    Original sale thread here: 

    If it sold for that asking that's a very good deal, if it wasn't in palmy and I didn't already have a donor car and trans on the way I probably would have got it myself just for the parts. Seems like the seller wasn't very clued in on what it was.

    • Like 1

  15. Posted · Edited by Harper · Report reply

    43 minutes ago, Eagle said:

    Much better buy than 330ti though. Throw a few k at it and it should be a decent car.

    Not to mention if you did want to turn it into a 330ti at some point, very easy swap. Drop the engine in and flash the ECU with the 3.0 software and boom.

    Still left with the smaller brakes, driveshaft, axles and shitty getrag box though 😕 but at $5k it does seem like good buying.

    • Like 1

  18. Posted · Report reply

    24 minutes ago, Eagle said:

    Yeah assuming Brent sold it for 8k asking it does seem overpriced at 15k. He doesn't appear to have done any substantial work himself based on description (apart from getting a cert)

    I'll be in the 12-15k range all said and done once mine is built, but I haven't really been penny pinching and don't mind paying a bit more for lower mileage/good condition/OE parts etc since I'm building the car to keep. Not to mention little details start to add up fast. Might be worth 15k to the right person if they didn't have the capability to build their own but very niche being a compact.

    I wonder how many 330ti's there are in NZ, I know Ray has built a couple. Must be <10, maybe even <5? In a way it is fairly cheap for a unique car you're unlikely to see another of on the road.

  19. Posted · Edited by Harper · Report reply

    1 hour ago, Vass said:

    Is that so? Or just not as well documented due to lower popularity and lack of 3L+ engines from factory?

    No, the RACP design is actually quite different given it is shortened and raised to accommodate the spare wheel well. My understanding is the front mounts can still see some cracking and are similar to that of the coupe/sedan. In the rear while all other E46 chassis dip up and down, the back half of the hatch is flat so there’s no stress concentrations as the cross section is almost constant between the chassis rails. But overall because of this the entire panel is a lot more rigidly mounted and RACP failure is much less common even with higher HP drivetrains so long as the subframe bushings aren't shot. 

    All that info is from a conversation with Cayn at CMP Auto Engineering who IMO is one of the best informed when it comes to E46 RACP stuff

    I may still reinforce the front mounts at some point and put chassis rail plates in to bulletproof it, but given it'll be a stock power street driven car it should be fairly safe from total failure the way other E46s are prone to. 

    • Like 1

  20. Posted · Edited by Harper · Report reply

    54 minutes ago, Vass said:

    Yeah hard to price it I imagine. A lot of work has gone in no doubt but $15k seems a bit optimistic given that you can pick up a manual coupe for roughly the same money.

    Happened to sit at the lights next to a near identical white 316ti Msport today. Did look pretty sharp, apart from the sagging front bumper. Actually tempted to buy it if I ever see it come up for sale 😁

    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.

    20230825_213845.thumb.jpg.4dfd371dfd647f5176b7e708c06b8836.jpg

    • Like 2

  21. Posted · Edited by Harper · Report reply

    1 hour ago, Vass said:

    Here's one for inspiration, built by HellBM some years ago if I'm not mistaken. Looks all sorts of wrong though..

    https://www.trademe.co.nz/4316428545

    They had a series of videos on this build on youtube as well. Can dig it up if that'd be of any help. 

    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.

  22. Posted · Report reply

    11 minutes ago, Jacko said:

     

    Did the engine get swapped with the trans? Good luck, looks like a nice one.

    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. 

  24. Posted · Edited by Harper · Report reply

    57 minutes ago, Vass said:

    Uff looks a real tidy one that, anything majorly wrong with it that you're parting it out or just git it cheap enough? 

    You doing much in terms of engine refurb, gaskets-seals-chain guides or just dropping it in? Keeping the old style coils or switching to the updated valve cover?

    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?

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