Hello from New Zealand ! Have been looking for either an E39 M5 or an E30 M3 for the last nine months ( yeah I'm pretty fussy !) The right car presented itself last weekend, and yesterday I entered BMW and S14 ownership. The car's build date is 10/90, it has the 215bhp motor, Euro spec, and a couple of tasty options like a Schnitzer exhaust and suspension, rear headrests, sunblind, cruise control,16" alloys and a beautifull MTech2 interior that I believe was only an option for three months and is not that common. It has little things that matter to me, the original BMW first aid kit ( untouched) toolbox ( untouched) and a very comprehensive service history from BMW garages in Munich and London and all manuals ( though much is in German). I am the 3rd owner, the gent before me brought it over to New Zealand from London in 2003, having owned it over there since the late 90's he kept it in a special ventilated garage somewhere north of London, and caught a train up to drive it on fine weekends We spent half a day on Wednesday at a BMW dealership up on a hoist as everything was inspected with carefull attention paid to any rust being a UK car. A relativly clean bill later, some negioations and I was off to collect my new ride. Hope you guys like it. I have been a member on here for a while, but pretty much admired from affar. This is my first BMW and you will probably start to here more from me as I look for advice during the ownership. Car is totally original, and the plan is to keep it that way. The only thing possibly on the cards being to tuck the factory BBS's away and look out for some Style 5's. Interested to hear from anyone with 17" Style 5's in regards to how the car handles with the different offset and size. Cheers, Phil
Hi Phil and welcome to the forum, your car looks real good you are lucky to find one in mint original condition. Regards Dave. (South Island NZ)
Very nice example you have found! The interior is not that usual on our cars. I would keep the 16" wheels, but the badges and equipment suggest I would at least consider 17" Schnitzer wheels if any.
Hi Phil, Very nice car you found there, especially for NZ since they seem to be more on the rare side over there. I like the interior would you mind posting some better pictures ? Don't you have to convert the car to right hand steering in NZ ? Or am I mistaken ? The 5 series style wheels are very heavy IMO and for the most part people seem to have vibration problems with these wheels. Note to you they are not hub centric so if you do buy a set of these wheels you need hub centric rings. Without the rings you are ensured to have vibration issues. I like Sonny's idea of a Schitzer wheel to fit the theme. Or if you like the BBS wheels I suggest to go with a 3 piece BBS RS wheel with Nogaro center. Thomas
HI Phil Welcome to the site. Nice looking car, and some close ups would be great. Where are based in NZ? Wayne
Thanks for the replies and comments - and quite a few Kiwis here it seems !! I am based in Auckland, and the car can remain LHD. I think in Australia they have to be converted over, but in NZ, as long as the car is 20yrs old and made before 1990 then there is not too much of a problem - just lots of paperwork and compliance to be done. Mine was obviouslly made after 1990 but it was imported back in 2003 before they changed some of the regulations. I had feared that anything other than the factory BBS's would be a compromise on the handling of the car. As much as I love the look of the Style 5's maybe I should leave it how it is, the Schnitzer option sounds cool though if I can find some. I have BBS RS's on my MK2 GTI Golf - they would look nice also The suspension does feel slightly washy in the rear. I will get it checked, but if I want to replace it what is recomended ? Do Bilstein make the PSS9's to fit the M3 - perhaps not ? Here is another interior shot for the guy that asked.
Nice looking car Phil! Nice that the laws here have finally changed to allow us to keep these LHD, as BMW intended. Bring back Rolland!
What officially makes up an ACS model M3 ? I noticed this one for sale: http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1760183.htm Is there an engine number or VIN that designates a ACS car, or is it normally just cosmetic touches they add on ? I am just wondering in relation to my car which has the ACS badges which appear genuine, it has the ACS exhaust and possibly other bits that I don't know about. ACS website doesn't really go back far enough to show the options that were available for these cars back in the day. Does anyone have them ?
IIRC, a few of the ACS items available: -- anti rollbars -- front & rear suspension (struts, springs, dampers) -- strut brace -- wheels -- exhaust -- 88 mm crank (vs. factory 87 mm crank) for schnitzer 2.5l John
Thanks John. Took the car in for its first big service under my ownership last week, and the head mechanic commented it was the quickest 2.3L he'd driven for a long as he can remember and compared the feel of the engine to that of the 2.5. My engine code is 234S2 (215bhp) and engine# 60494931 I guess there is no sure way of checking the crank other than opening up the engine ?
Easy way to tell if your engine has a 2.5l crank installed is check the front in the center of the vibration dampener, check for a nut or a bolt. Nut = 2.3l Bolt = 2.5l Thomas
Hi Phil got your PM, I want to make sure you know what I am talking about so here is a picture. The pulley on the bottom is the crank pulley in the center of it is either a bolt or a large IIRC 36mm nut. You can reach down there and feel for the threads on the crank. or take a small mirror and look for it that way. Here is a picture with out a pulley, you can see the bolt in the crank. HTH Thomas
Thanks Thomas, super helpfull as allways Used a small mirror and a torch and it is a nut. Yesterday I purchsed a set of BBS RS211 ( 16x8 ET11) which I will be restoring over winter for the car. Plan is to try and avoid a highly polished lip so I can get a bit of dish happening, but keep it low key and not too showy.
Well then you have a 2.3l engine. Torch ?? With torch you mean an actual torch/ flame ? Great find, I like the BBS RS wheels. IMO best wheel ever made for our cars. These look pretty decent in the picture. Cheers Thomas