Neal

Andrew , must of missed something ... Up coming series , please tell.Neal

My Granny was into motorsport before your parents where born and I'll leave you to driving "at speed in wet" .Driving is mainly commuting. Car does get the odd nudge, with a few twisty roads not far from our NZ residence. Running factory M-tech suspension / no track like camber settings. Have developed a smoother driving style over the years in the car. Wet weather grip has been well and truly tested going down Nauranga Gorge when a car spun in front, had to brake, take evasive action change lanes etc. Car didn't loose control in wet, GIII tyres are up to it in my book. My car at 140 kw (maybe 100kw at wheels) which is used on the road doesn't merit S03's/Pilots/Zero's/ A048's. I'd only go that way if I got serious about track day. (Probably A048's , they work well on Exiges ) Only place in my garage for sticky rubber is on the Motorcycle. Get 3500 -5000 km out of a tyre. Pushing 80 kw through a single 180 section tyre has it's challenges. Don't want to add two more cars unnecessarily to the tyre bill

3.0 Litre S50 M3 engine here in the UK , @ $4500 NZ. Will need gearbox. Thought some others might be interested as well. http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/57986.htm

Think I've brought just about every BMW performance mag since about 1986 and I don't remember seeing an article on supercharging a M20. I've seen threads saying that it would be a problem as the engine doesn't have knock sensors. I think one of the wildest M20 engine was in a magazine called Top Car back in the 90's. Someone had done a 2.7 conversion and added a turbo. Good luck on finding info , a good source might be europeancar mag out of the States. They've run some excellent articles on E30 mods and upgrades. Good luck with your search.

A few of conversions I'd like to do. M5 3.8 Liter , 4.6 BMW, 3.5 inline 6 , S50/2 M3 Engine. S14 E30 M3 engine , HSV 5.7 (probably cheap to do compare to others) . A few links for ideas http://www.theeurodepot.com/e30m50.html http://www.forum-auto.com/sqlforum/section10/sujet129100.htm http://www.fantasycars.com/sedans/html/b8.html (My dream Car but sadly lhd)) http://wp1016621.wp027.webpack.hosteurope....1420/f01420.htm http://www.bmwpower.de/Fahrzeuge/E30_350i_..._uebersicht.htm

Tend to disagree on the difference between Zero's and GIII, the difference in grip is minor only. I'd doubt if there'd be a few centimetres difference stopping from 100 kmh wet or dry.$800 per set at 55,000 kms works out at 0.68 per KM which is 1/9th of the cost of the zero's for the mileage. That's $2700 difference for 55,000 kms, forget the coffee, I'll take the wife to the gold coast for a holiday. Are the Zero's that much better? Driving wise the GIII are fine, they have more than enough grip, the car never slides out when pushed. (225/50/16’s on M suspension) Here's another way of thinking about it. On a wet day a Zero that’s done 12,500 KM's will have 2.5 mill of tread depth, the same GIII will have 5 mill. Which will pump more water from under the tyre before aquaplaning? For the E30's the best price / performance tyre I had was the Yoko 539's. You can expect about 40,000 kms before the inside edge on the fronts go. Worst was a Comp T/A. No grip and poor wet weather ,ok wear. Worst wearing with ok performance was a Pirelli P600. 22,000 kms only. (190/65/14's)

My e36 325i is running 225/50/16's on 16x8 inch Schintzers rims. When I brought the car it had 1/3 tread left on the front. The car would tend to dart left and right following road camber or would do the same under braking. I had the wheel alignment checked with was fine. I changed the tyres from a very directional looking Uniroyal to a Bridgestone Grid II. The darting stopped straight away. The issue didn't return when the Bridgestones wore down and have been fine since with Grid III's as well

The Car Stereo Company in Wellington had these a few years back , could be worth a call .

Can't help you with the screen. Was looking to do something similar a few years back in regards to PC in boot etc. I decided not to go that way in the end , My Xplod head unit , with factory bootchanger as been fine and I probably get the Sony Ipod controller for jukebox style of listening. (drop in sound quality but still OK at higher MP3 sample rates) For your PC think about the following. Your boot can get to 50 + in summer which is out side of most laptop operating hardware ranges. Later laptops will shut themselves down with over-temp so consider extending your cars aircon ducting into the boot to give the laptop a fighting chance. Keep hard drive away from the Subs unless you want them wiped Make sure the laptop power supplies from the 12 volt is regulated otherwise when you cars alternator is running at close to 14 volt you can say bye bye laptop power supply. Sound card .... If your going screens in the car you might as well go for a 5.1 or 6.1 so I'd stick in a Create labs high end sound card. Speaker wise, put in a centre speaker and maybe a middle rear for 6.1. You'll only need short leads to run pre-outs to amps, noise could become a factor because of the lower "pre-out" from sound cards. Software wise, you can go either Unix or MS , MS would be better if your going to get into mobile data integration with your PDA cellphone. Go for WIFI connectivity as well , that way you'll be able to download more music / movie files from within your garage, rather than having to remove laptop all the time. You could also use your PDA via WIFI as your remote. Have a think about voice activation software for the PC , XP has this standard. Program basic functions such as volume up /down , track change etc. Probably other ideas, these were some I'd thought about. In the end , I went for sound quality with decent AMPs and Speakers , the Xplod unit was a bit of a compromise on sound quality , but in that I’d say that Sony’s joystick remote is ideal for driving. I don’t need to take eyes of the road to change tracks / CD’s.

Rims are 17's x 7.5 for both the 3.0 and 3.2 Evo Coupe rims , I'm not sure about how wide the M3 four door ones were but are most likey the same. There may have been an factory option for wider rears (Don't remember) .

I honestly don't recall those lower bolts being there on my wife’s 91 e36 , I kid you not , the bottom channel didn't have the bolts to tighten against the glass. The window was attached by some kind of glue on it’s bottom edge. (Car was an import and had signs of repair work on the doors ). PB probably lost the bits and glued the window. Please disregard my post. Thanks for putting me straight Homy. Some pictures that may help with the door. http://www.emotors.ca/Articles/26.aspx

Something else to consider , had something similar years back on an E21 Auto , The Flex Discs - Guibo Coupling had failed along with a driveshaft bolt. They are a rubber coupling between the auto transmission and driveshaft. Caused very bad vibration at lower RPM (1,500 - 2,000). I replaced the coupling and the bolt and the vibration stopped. I believe the E39's have these as well and is worth checking this out as it is a less costly option to check first.

Yep the alternator / battery doesn't cope that well with an ICE system that draws 80+ amps if it's humming. But I guess a second battery could be an ideal along with a larger alternator. Funny about the vanos , mine’s still quiet at 180k kms. The only BMW engine I did like the sound of was the 98 -04 3.0 , it sounded too much like a Holden 202 for my liking. Too much fan noise. Also forgot about the rear shock mounts failing , this is a trate on E21s/E30s and e36's. TMS motorsport sells items that sort this for good.

Guess I'll start. Have an m50 325i, It's up to about 180,000 kms now. The engine it's self and the car is fine , if the odder meter had 130,000 less I'd doubt I'd notice any difference as it still running smooth as. Maintenance / parts was, seems to be fine, no more or less to maintain than any other 6 cyl car. Although for some reason water pumps normally need replacing at 130,000 to 150,000 kms. These should be replaced with the later metal impeller version. I've also had the (1/2) radiator replaced (no overheating issues though). Other thing with BMW is with standard brake pads these tend to eat disk rotors. I've normally replaced rotors at the same stage as pads (roughly 190,000 kms on my manual and about 120,000 on the wife’s auto). I've had no issue with electrics on my NZ new car, but did have issues on the wife’s imported e36 318i, mainly window switches / dash lights and voltage regulator. The extra torque of the 328 is work it over the 325, but the 325 engine is a sweet, smooth revving engine. I prefer the 325 to the 3.0 engined Z3 I drove in this regard.

Hi Martyyn My first couple of BMW weren't brought via Shelly's , one was Fairview BMW Hamilton 1988, the other from Amuri Motors 1990, Shelly’s have always treated me in the same manner even when I was a young fella. Mike used to work down at Shelly’s then as well. Mind you , where talking servicing on 3 series , not 7 so possibly less liking to have huge price surprise (excluding e30 airflow meters of course) London wise, I'm living on the east side on the river about 1 km down from Tower Bridge (cool old wharf warehouse conversion); have been working down Canary Wharf which is handy.

The E 36 glass comes out easy enough, take off arm rest, door cards etc, but be warned that you'll need the right kind of glass glue for the "stays" at the bottom of the door. If you don't the windows will occasionally come of the sliders and will get stuck half up or down requiring a second visit.

In the past 16 years I've used Shelly's and Page. My current car goes to Shelly’s to keep FBMWSH and I've found the service to be excellent, Car gets a decent services , comes back spotless and I get a loaner if required (Brought current car via them).If it needs anything other than a service Hamish or Vicky are on the phone with approx cost etc and it gets sorted quickly. The older E30 323i I had went to Shelly’s for a number of years , Then I started doing the basic services myself, leaving cambelts and brake disc changes to Page. One of Pages mechs originally serviced that car in the 1980's and was still working there last year. People must have known what they were doing as the 323i was still going strong at 335,000 kms last year. Not sure if the car is still around , Rods are probably in use on someone’s 2.7. My wife’s 318I went to page as well. In the last 10 years or so I've had no issues with either place. Mike left Page a couple of years, but the guys there are more than up to it. Use to be another BMW place in the Hutt, but to cut a long story short, the car (e30 323) dumped it's water and blew a head gasket after a exhaust stud replacement. They stopped trading a number of years back, so be careful who you trust for your services.

Thanks for the advise guys , Have arrived back in london , but have missed the window to find a E30 M3 to import under lhd rules, Only here for another 2 1/2 months. Looks like the E30 M3 plans are on hold for a couple of years. After seeing the 740i pics not so sure I want to ship a car back with the household stuff. Have had a good talk to the wife and she's put priority on her replacement car on our return so we'll be looking for a low KM 4 door e36 /e46 in April for her , preffer a six with leather so will check here closer to the time.

Thanks Juzzie Wuzzie, Can understand the car pride, you've got two very nice cars!, I prefer the E30 M3's to the e36's / e46's. Probably too many years of watching Nissan Mobil 500's in Wellington with first the 2.3's and then the 2.5 Schnitzer's and the yellow Tony Longhurst M3 (RIP). You tend to find many of the M3's here are looked well looked after, and a few are garage queens and only see dry days. Also you get less salt on roads in the South such as London where there are a reasonable number to choose from. With the London cars dent's and dings are the norm though. Many owners seem to be worried about the expense of doing the timing chain, and worn suspension bits , so 100,000 miles seem to be the point where the cars are moved on and something to check for. I see the main expense in converting to RHD, the Aussie's talk about buying a e30 325i nose cut which would have most of the bits and hopefully AirCon. Add a reconditioned M3 e36 steering rack so I'm thinking it could be converted for about $10k NZ providing I find one with a good Motor / Body. I'm I being too naive? (not looking to rebuild to concourse condition) Not so worried about the time factor, spent 8 years slowly rebuilding a Mk1 Mini so I'm not too worried, packing up home moving to London, moving back has to be done anyway. Adding a car won't make too much difference. My biggest hassle is going to be convincing the wife who just happens to be an accountant.

Is your's the E30 M3 Race car that featured in the BMW mag last year ?.A bit rich for me anyway , but thanks for the offer , I'd have to sell the bike and the wifes car.... Never of us would be happy.

That one is tempting , but I think I can do better price wise , a silver 1988 sold for 4800 pounds a couple of days ago or 12,000 nz had 150,000 km on the clock in very good condition, I get free shipping on return to NZ (Wife works for shipping company) so only need to pay GST / Import costs / Comp costs.To give the rest of you an idea of how cheap these cars are in the UK then check out the links below. E36 M3's are getting down in price as well. Have seen a couple of 1998 55km - 65km E36 Evos for about 22-25K NZ. http://atsearch.autotrader.co.uk/WWW/cars_...rch_full=SEARCH http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/54461.htm Convert http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/49403.htm http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/39174.htm Track day spec http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/52369.htm Race spec http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/53948.htm

Brillant , thanks for the info. Looks like I'll need to get onto it shortly to get within the 90 day period.

Thanks Grant , sorry for the repeat post and thanks for the info.Hopefully I can find an 1986 to bring back next year. Re-export / import sounds like a hassle. I guess that leaves out the Evo1/II options , but can always to the 2.5 upgrade in the future. In regards to wanting RHD is because for the odd bid of motorsport use and after 14 years behind the wheel of an E30 I'd rather rely on gut reaction rather than re-learning a lhd. Bad enough going from wifes auto to the manual let alone going to a lhd not to mention the motorcycle Sounds like the E36 M3 rack is the way to go !.

Ran an E30 323i on mobil 1 for about 12 years , had done 330,000 kms when I sold it and it was still running fine.

First post and all , had a few BMW's of the years , E21 323i , E30 323i , E36 318i & E36 325i. Good to see a board dedicated to BMW's. For the audio guys my E21 323i might have had the first Sub fitted to a BMW in NZ (Back in 1987) Thought I'd check with any of the members to see if my idea is possible ... I'm living in London at the moment and will return to NZ next year. I'm thinking of buying a E30 M3 and importing to NZ as the prices here are low (5000 -7000 pounds). I've always lusted over the first M3's. I'd like one for a Sunday driver and the odd bit of motorsport :thumb: Most of the versions here are the LHD versions and only a few have been converted to RHD by Birds London. RHD E30 M3's in NZ are rare as hens teeth and the prices are high. My questions are to anyone that might know Would I be able to buy say an 1986-1988 , convert it to RHD and wait until it's 20 years old to road register it. Who converted the NZ new E30 M3's to RHD Thanks Neal