ducatiss

yes Konis are great shocks but Im not sure how you can compare OE Bilsteins on a Subaru with the Bilstein HD or Sports that many ppl have had installed in their E30's. I have had Bilsteins in several cars and they have always been a great shock - nothing like you are describing in your post.

The wrong instrument cluster or at least VDO meters in a motormeter cluster can cause this issue. 10 - 15 percent is way too much imo even for an e30.

Thank for that guys - decision made - back on it goes!! Too many "rural" type debris on the roads down here!!

Cheers for that - you have answered my question.

Anyone at all?

Yeah its a catch 22 - raise your ground clearance by removing your sump guard!!. What is really needed is for someone to make up a light alloy guard. I have seen one or two on web sites but havent found anyone actually producing and exporting them. Have attached a pic of one.

How low is your car bravo?

lol M-tech springs with Bilstein sports seem to work well - I had B+G springs in I think the m-tech springs suit it (and me) better.

Have removed my Sump Guard (std Sth African) while doing some maintenance - its such a heavy thing Im wondering whether I should just leave it off? The car sits on M-Tec Springs. Opinions please?

So to sum up - welcome to the forum, use proper English rather than txt, and if somone or the general forum gives you the info you are looking for it doesn't hurt to say thanks! And yes, it will be worth it to do the manual conversion. Much more so if either you or some mates can do it yourselves.

I like it except WINZ offices would end up smelling like a public toilet on a Saturday night - oh wait......

I saw some on trade me a couple of weeks back - they keep coming up so keep an eye out on there as well. When you get your new ones go to repco and get some of that stuff for protecting headlights (looks like clear coverseal only thicker) and cut some to suit and do all your lights with it to protect from future stone chips.

I think given the work done on this, this is a realistic price much better than some of the bullshit prices I have seen for E30's on trade-me lately. One question - what does it go like with the 320 engine?

Thanks JP - I dont seem to have the hold at the bottom of the guard lip - may have to get the drill !!

No - but it does help me in that the facelift are NOT the same - require pre/fl but hey thanks anyway - appreciate your response.

Can anyone help me with where the attachment points are for the rear mudflaps on an E30? I have varying brackets here and see that the mudflap is help on at the top under the bumper and down the guard by clips. But cant see where the bracket bolts to the body. This is a pre-facelift but facelift may be the same. Photos or description would be helpful.

Theres a lot of info on the forum on this and similar issues if you have do a search for it. This is a known issue with the E330 and as the last poster said could be caused by a range of things. The good news is that it usually isnt expensive to put right if you can do the work yourself - the bad news is that it can be a $%^& to track down the cause

Read some stuff from an overseas forum (cant remember the link but may be able to track it down) saying that the E36 Jatco box does indeed have some sort of memory in the gearbox similar to the fuzzi logic used by mitsi but better. The way to fix issues with the box is by clearing the autobox computer memory (disconnecting the battery). The other thing it said was the Jatco box requires a different trans fluid than the others and it must not be mixed! All info is third hand here but may be useful to you.

I'm thinking in the not to distant future of selling my E30 and buying an E36. What I need to now is: 1. What are peoples experiences re reliability ie are they a reliable car or are you always at them? 2. Is the Nikasil issue a problem here in NZ? 3. Are there any specific issues with the Automatics? 4. Finally, Are there any issues with the vanos system - things to watch for? I've done a fair bit of reading and am aware of things such as the climate control and water pumps going west early on but would appreciate any owners views on the above. Cheers

I wasn't aware the E36 used a logic computer in its gearbox.

A photo or description of wire and connector colours might help ??!! I think it might be time for you to invest in a workshop manual such as that published by Bently. This will contain enough info for you to troubleshoot a range of electrical issues as well as others.

7. Car is given to a specialist mechanic in the City (in hindsight this is where is should have gone in the first place) he pulls the head off and measures the cylinder capacity and compression ratio and deduced that the compression ration is 13.25 to 1 !!! No wonder it knocks on super 98 Fuel. Also tells me that the incorrect Pistons have been fitted - correct ones are dished - the onces fitted have flat tops. 8. I take a case to the MTA - they were no help whatsoever and stuck up for their members. I take the case to court. Result was that my engine was reassembled correctly and I did another 1000 kms before finding one morning that I had no oil pressure. Result the oil pump was shagged. This was replaced (at my expense !!). Drove the car a further 20,000 happy km's before the gearbox sh*t itself. Replaced with 2nd hand unit and sold the car. 9. Heard from the new owner that not long after he got it that the Diff had sh*t itself !!!

Not a BMW but when I had my Audi in the early 90's I had the following saga: 1. Going home one night started running rough. managed to get home and asked garage (local county garage) to check in the morning. They found compression low in no 4 Cyl. Gave them the go ahead to pull down motor to see what the issue was. Found badly scored bore, rings broken etc etc. 2. Gave them the go ahead to fix - Engine block sent to machine shop who rebored and supplied the pistons etc. Engine re-assembled at country garage. Valves also replaced along with main bearings etc. Total bill about 4000 3. Noticed during running in that the car detonated badly and overheated. Took back to garage who diagnosed collapsed hoses and replaced the lot. Also flushed out radiator etc. Spend a great deal of time playing round with the timing to get it to run without knocking but finally did. 4. On a fast run and noticed knocking again. Pulled into another small country garage and asked them to check check the timing. Then for whatever reason the "mechanic" decided there is a fault with the distributor and pulls it out to check the advance mechanism (which was fine). The idiot then puts the cog on the end of the distributor the wrong way round (unbeknown to me) and puts it all back - asks me to crank the car. It fires once then nothing. he pulls the distributor out again to find several teeth had broken off and fallen into the sump!! 5. Car has to be towed back to original garage but its Fri night and no-one can do it- Im left stranded for hours. 6. Following Monday - Original garage pulls off the sump and fishes out the broken cogs and orders new part (3 weeks ex Germany). I go insane at that point and threaten to sue both garages. Get car back a month later and it still knocks and overheats. - See part two below...

You could move to the South island, buy a house and have enough money over to buy a brand new BMW and then have have plenty of un-crowded roads to drive it on - sorry not the help you were looking for I know ;-)

not likely - depending on whether its coming from your diff or not the new oil may mask it for a while. I think its most likely coming from the c.v in which case it is best to replace it or repack it with grease if its not damaged. Also check your rear brakes for stones or other interference as I have had a click once before in a car and it turned out to be the brakes.