E30-323ti

when you put your foot on the gas and the car changes lane for you, I'd say it is worth it. I actually haven't heard anything about squeeking bushes, they usually come with lube so they don't squeek!?!?! Here is one of the places that do them.

I'm looking at getting some urethane bushes from the UK or US (who ever is cheaper) for my E30. Who is interested in getting some also. I'll be getting: Front offset control arm bushes rear trailing arm bushes (can get eccentric ones for toe/camber adjustment) rear subframe bushes put your hand up and I can talk $$ to some people.

can you put up the non-translated link. Thanks

Just 2 other things to note: 1. The cluster can be removed quite easily with the steering wheel in place (Stock wheel that is, may not be possible with a small wheel??). 2. Check you even have the SI led's before you un-soldier the SI batteries aye Andrew!! Also check the voltage is OK, there may be another reason the SI lights aren't working!! (corroded SI board etc...) Andrew, did you ever get some LED's??

LOL at the simmons wheels, I'm guessing you didn't ask the price on those then. You'd have to sell you BMW to get one!! I like the Lenso wheel, I've seen one in the flesh here in welly and they look very nice, better than in that pic. I think they also do a 1pc version (cheaper). What size are you going for dave??

I just run all mine at 36psi (14's 15's & 16's). Feels fine, maybe a little hard, definitley in the low thirties though. my 2c

323i

Yip for the M20. its been taken out of the box and bolted to the fan.

Andrew mention that someone one here may need one. I have a Brand new viscous clutch (comes with fan). I paid $215 for it, make me an offer as it is now surplus to requirement.

microtech ecu

sounds like a plan stan. A turbo timer keeps the car running after you shut it off, this keeps oil going to the turbo to lubricate while it slows down. Not essential but good for the turbo.

By Electric welding does he mean MIG, TIG or Arc?? I use a MIG for most. Does your engine have 2 separate manifolds on the head?? (like 325's and my 323) My sisters '89 320i has one with 2 outlets. If it has 2 separate manifolds you can make a 2 into 1 collector from steam pipe (cheap) to the turbo. No problems running a single pipe to the rear, if you are lowering the car (or have already) you may have problems under the rear subframe. I'm having this issue at the Mo as I want a 3" pipe instead of the old 2.25" but you loose alot of ground clearance, work out the cross sectional area of the 2 and see what size single it equates to. eg 2x2.25" =(approx) 1x3" As for the 323 head, $250(for the engine) covers about 1/2 the head rebuild cost when I did it, at least it has a good head on it. Does it have bigger valves etc than the 320i?? If you were to use it you could install a thicker h/g to lower the CR at the same time. Is your 320i a CAT model?? (has catalytic convertor) as they have a lower CR than non-CAT models. I think it could be done on a 3g budget, just do as much as you can yourself. The ECU & tuning will chew out at least 1/2 of that. I have a couple of small IC's here you could have, (323gtx & MR2 Turbo) to help keep costs down for starters. Just remember if you fork out for a ECU you can use it on anything in the future.

I'll try and find out about it.

Well it is 2/3's legal now, Cert plate went on Friday, Wof on Saturday, now I have to wait till friday to get the rego done. Took it for a blat down the motorway yesterday, got to 200 pretty quickly, it cruises very nicely too. nice and smooth. I'll go take a look about this meet.

as *SIC said it is a replacement ECU so you no longer need the L-Jet ECU. As for being expensive, the link is probably the cheapest ECU on the market and most good tuners can road tune the link very well. If you can't do alot of the fabricating work yourself it will cost you alot. Things like exhaust manifolds, exhaust pipes, IC pipes become costly. If you have a welder then it's just materials you have to pay for. Give Andre a call at Speedtech here in Wgtn and ask him how much to install and tune a base Link ECU on a Turbo BMW. He's a good guy and very helpful (this week may not be a good time though as he has heaps of cars that are getting ready for the autosalon). For the turbo (if it doesn't need a rebuild) and associated piping etc... should go no more than $1500 if you do it your self. I'm not sure how to get ahold of steve these days, you can ask someone like Ohlsen Developments as they do alot of work through Steve. Good Luck. ps. $250 for the 2.3l M20 engine only. $500ono for everything, G/box, manifolds, wiring, AFM etc... I can arrange freight also, should be pretty cheap.

$3000 will prolly cover the "- To turbo my current m20 running low boost, less than 10. Ideally change no stock internals and run it till it dies. " option. If you plan on going turbo then get an ECU for stage 1 even, it will enable your stock engine to last longer (due to the tuneability). Something like a Link or microtech MTX8 will be ample enough. With the Link you will have lots of people that can tune it well, not so many for the Microtech but I think it is a better ECU. That leaves: Some way of getting the manifold to go into 1 peice to go into turbo IC BOV? See how the stock injectors go, if they are no good replace with bigger M30 ones (pretty cheap), and no prob to retune the ECU (because you can!!) No AFM need with new ECU Turbo, get a 2nd hand Garrett T3 and go see Steve Murch (he may even have a couple) get it recon'd if needed. Can you weld?? Have access to a welder??

You could see if it is the library, $110 seems a bit steep, I'm sure it was around $30-40 Us on Amazon, also check on www.autospeed.com.au I think it is there to. On stock internals you would't want to higher than 10psi without a new ECU because you can't control the ignition timing and fueling accurately enough to stop detonation (or detect it), even 10psi maybe too much for pump gas (because of slight variations in octane allowing no room for error). Have a think and put things into perspective. What do you want?? Turbo the stock M20 on the cheap, hope it lasts a year or so till you put a M50 in it?? Prolly get 200hp or so. Build a Turbo M20, spend a bit more doing things properly?? Prolly capable of supporting over 300hp with ECU & Forgies. Do the M50 conversion now. Prolly cost as much (if not more) as the built turbo M20 and have 200hp. Or I found this: Go the big block M30. I'm contemplating this for when the 323i is finished as I can transfer all my shocks, brakes etc... to another E30 when I go to the E36 bits. Maybe as a club race/Targa car. Too many things to choose from!!

When I was in Auckers last there were some really good books on Bosch fuel injection at Borders on Queen St. For turbo stuff you can't go past "Maximum Boost" By Corky Bell, have a look on Amazon for it. Getting some forgies for the 2.3l (or anything other than a 2.5l ex US) may be tricky, May need to have them custom made by ROSS or similar. maybe $1500??? Just need to send them a stock one to copy. Then there is the usual rebuild cost on top of that. If you are going to spend the $$$ on forgies you should really use a aftermarket ECU to get the most out of the low comp engine build. Then you would be making some decent power, +300hp. It's a horrible game this car modding business!!

The AFM measures how much air is going into the engine. Based on this and RPM the ECU calculates how much fuel to put in. The TPS (throttle position sensor) really only acts as a acceleration enrichment device, the airtemp sensor (built into the AFM) and EFI temp sensor (in the thermostat housing I think) fine tune the fuel mix. Therefore the AFM is the main fuel controlling device (as rpm isn't adjustable as such) and can not be removed. Link use to make a AFM link which replaced the AFM with a MAP sensor so you could adjust the input to the ECU which in turn changes the fuel. I think they stopped making it because ECU started to think more and figure out when you were trying to fiddle them. The 2.3 just got old, needs new rings (bearings wouldn't hurt either). It blew a head gasket a while back so I got the head rebuilt & cleaned up so it is mint, It went really well for a few months until the bottom end said no more, common problem with old engines. I'll think of some $$$.

I saw a Black E30 M325i coupe here in welly with a FS sign on it. Should have stopped to check it out, I'll see if it is still around on the weekend.

Well the Certifier came down last night. He was happy with everything (phew). He's coming back on saturday to put the LVVC plate on and take it for a drive. Then I'm off to get a WOF and REGO, and go for a nice long drive. All in time for the Wgtn Autosalon, which I can't enter because i'm going to rotorua for the weekend, would have been good to have it there with a BIMMERSPORT sticker on it. Is any one coming down for it?? Any way I built the car to drive not to jerk-off over. But now I have to do shitty stuff like make the central locking work properly, fix one of the electric windows and find out what small animal is stuck in the drivers window (makes bad sounds!!).

Andrew: Hardware 2 into 1 collector from the stock BMW manifolds with flange to suit turbo. Turbo, something T3 sized. Intercooler, VR-4, EVO, whatever fits best unlike my monster. Piping, mild steel is OK, just get it hpc'd Exhaust, single 2 1/2" should be adequate. Oil drain fitted to the sump, you could get one welded to the alloy sump or thread a hole and use a brass fitting. Oil feed, as you've prolly read on E3S this need to have the pressure reduced, if you get the turbo rebuilt (recomended, Steve Murch) he can prolly put a restrictor in the feed on the turbo so you don't need to worry. Electrical tricks AFM, I'm not familiar with turboing AFM equiped NA cars, so I'm not sure what the deal is there, most I have seen run the AFM after the turbo, changing to the M30 AFM may be enough. As for more fuel, because the L-jet ecu is so dumb it doesn't calculate any ignition, all the ecu does is tell the ignitor how many RPM the engine is doing (thus how many pulses to send). There fore you can wire in a boost switch (set it at what ever psi the engine starts to lean out under boost) the bypasses the EFI temp sensor and goes through a POT (variable resistor) that you control. What this does is tricks the ECU into thinking the engine is cold and it richens the mixture accordingly, On the BMW I don't know if it will use the cold start injector for this or actually change the injector pulse width, either way as long as it is doing what you want (not leaning out) it doesn't matter how. Or, You could use a RRFPR (rising rate fuel pressure regulator). I think the malpassi ones run a 3:1 on boost, eg. boost 1psi fuel press goes up 3psi, this increases the flow through the injectors under boost. and it give you more scope to tune if you install larger injectors. Or, Get a Microtech, pretty cheap and perform well and unlimited tuneability. You just have to spend time tuning the cruise maps to make them run economically. What CR is the 320i?? 9.something?? I would think 7-8psi on stock internals. More with an aftermarket ecu because you can tune the ignition curve to suit (ie, prevent detonation) What about a M30 conversion, cheap as!! Nice big 3.5l. Gus: here is some info I think you would be very pressed to fit a RB26 in a e30, the 1JZ is a more compact engine and it is a tight squeeze. At the mo around $7000 I think.

You don't "need" the 524td crank, a manifold is't much of a problem, just make a collector from the 2 stock manifolds (cheap $200) or there is a guy in Huntly that makes awesome SS tube manifolds for evo's etc... he also does custom work (and in steam bends too, alot less $$ than SS), I think the steampipe EVO ones are $440, so maybe $700 for a real nice 6cyl one?? Use a turbo from a GTS25t skyline, or a bigger custom built one, depends on $$$.

Or you could go turbo!! Just turbo the M20, or rebuild it with low-comp forgies and turbo it if you want to be more refined!! 250hp should be easy out of a built turbo m20. You could even build up another motor on the side and just drop it in one weekend, I have a M20 lying around you could have for next to nothing.

Except they have solid discs on the front!! I would sell everything so it would be a complete bolt on upgrade. Shocks, struts, springs, hubs, brakes & wheels. Basically unbolt it from the control arm and strut tower and send the whole corner. food for thought anyway.