Michael.

Word!

When it comes to importing a car from overseas into New Zealand, would there be any problems importing anything if it was to be stripped down and use for parts only? If anyone has done this please share your experience!

I was looking at my sump last night, since I've fitted new improved engine mounts the engines dropped about 10mm, so the sump base now sits nearly in line level with the bottom of the front subframe, maybe 5mm higher... little bit of uncertainty if a stock cross brace will fit but I think i might. If not I can always get something fabricated... Haha, give it your best shot, I'll be interested to see how it turns out.

Well theres no point selling it IMO, just not worth reselling and loosing out on depreciation Just enjoy it and keep driving it!

Yes, do tell...

Probably drives fine provided regular maintenance has been done. It also depends what sort of driving conditions this has been put under, short quick trips, or long motorway cruises - It can make quite a difference, but looking at it I would say the latter. Have a look on some American car sale websites, you will find plenty of cars with 500,000kms+ I've seen many Lexus LS400's with ridiculously high mileage over there.

Painting is the best long term solution, or you're going to be forever putting on different treatments to keep the black trim looking black.

Oo I guess it must be able to, I've seen a few pictures showing the single brace bar still attached. Only reason I want to retain it is I've used that bar as a second mouting point under the gearbox, much like what is done stock with the BMW motors.

Good point re linking to the fire wall, I have always thought they should, just seems logical for added rigidity. Does the cross brace (part 16 in the above picture) replace the non-motorsport basic brace bar (part 7 above)?

Heh, turns out you were correct Brent, on closer inspection this is indeed a South African built E34, but then it went to Japan?? Then to NZ? Is that common?

Very nice. An E34 with that mileage looks too good to scrap once the engines out, would make an ideal shell for a bigger E34 motor!

Not always a bad thing.

That looks awesome! It's like a more mental looking Audi R8

I just swapped my 15" CRT to a 17" CRT yesterday. This PC terminal is 10 years old too. Hows that for sustainability! Would like a new laptop this year, but new car parts > Computer.

I lost interest once the V10 and V8s disappeared. To me they are 50% of the interest.

Yeah I've always been skeptical of the hinged ones... seems like a part that should be completely rigid! A good point about the custom fabrication... might be the way to go for my application. If I've made up what I have already, shouldn't be too hard to make up a custom brace.

Just wondering what others on here are using for strut braces on their E36s? From what I have seen the E36 318i 4 cylinder strut braces sit the highest and the 6 cylinder ones sit a bit lower? I'm needing one thats a bit higher so it clear the manifold on the V8 so have been thinking the 318i versions might be the way to go... like the ones Turner Motorsports have advertised http://www.turnermotorsport.com/p-3557-rac...e36-318iti.aspx Post up pictures if you can just so I can see what the options are.

I quite like the idea of that.

The genuine factory filter is fine in the long run, most of those 'performance' filters are just a rip off and all they do is allow more dirt to pass through and dirty your oil.

Looks fantastic. Great choice... hope its a 330i?

Welcome, nice choice of vehicle.

It's interesting how the E36s deteriorate when a bit neglected. Is this that 283,508km example from TM? Best of luck with it

Ah i see, will be substantially better with that weight reduction.

I don't see the advantage of using an E39 528i, may as well use an E36 or E46, at least their lighter to compensate for the lack of torque. If I was building up an E39 as a track car I'd use the V8 model no question, minimum 300hp/400nm out of the box, wouldn't take much to get that to 350hp + with torque to match.... Plus is boosting a M52 really a good idea, especially if your going to drive it hard....

I literally gasped! ......awesome cars, awesome photos! Great comparison too...