New car...

Bit off topic, but went round to the parents house today and was told they went up in the loft to find something. While up there they found one of my old toy cars.

Here it is, the old Z1. Quality, the doors even go down too!



and

Farewell old friend

Time has come to say good bye to the old "Ultimate Driving Machine". It proved too much hard work to sell so ended up being taken away for much less than it should. Gutted.

Finally.... found one!

After a good few weeks of looking around. Finally I managed to find a Silver 330Ci in very good condition with 75k on the clock.

The car has some nice touches:
- Electric Folding Mirrors
- Electric memory seats with lumbar support
- All the tool kit in place
- BMW Boot protector - handy for putting the shopping in and anything going to the tip

It also has some slight let downs:
- Curbing on the alloy wheels
- Slight scuff on the near side wing mirror

The only things I'd of ideally liked would be the M Sport front bumper and the M Sport steering wheel. These items can be sourced online and fitted.

I think the bumper is about £350 painted and the steering wheel is £150 - ish so not too bad.

Over all I'm happy with it. Very smooth and power there when needed. The cock-pit is more roomy than the old E36 and the build quality seems more sound (however the old E36 320 I had was nearly 18 years old)

I must admit you really can't tell this car is 9 years old. The interior is in really good condition. Leather is almost perfect and all the electrics work as they should.

Here are a few initial pictures after getting it home:

Still the hunt goes on....

Why is it when you look for cars but don't have the cash for it there are LOADS of them... Then when you have the money there are none around!

The hunt still goes on for the right car...

The usual search on Auto Trader, Fish for Cars, Ebay, motors.com and Piston Heads has not turned anything up. I have been to see a Silver one at a dealer in Sheffield and the interior was really worn out!! Must of been a work-mans car, wood shavings in the boot and nicks out of the leather. The worst thing is they wanted nearly £6k for it...

If anyone out there knows of a Silver/Black 330Ci Manual with leather memory seats, black interior and as may toys as possible for sale please let me know :-)

The hunt begins!

After over a years motoring in an E36 320 SE I caught the Bimmer bug....

The 320 is a nice car for it's age. It's comfortable, reasonable insurance and pretty cheap insurance.

However over the year it has cost a fair amount to keep running. In Excess of a thousand pounds to be honest. So it is time for a new car.

This opens up the question to which one.

After looking through the available options. The choice for a an E46 330 Ci was made.

This site will become a large information source for all things E46 and in particular the 330 Ci model.

Replacement of ISCV breather pipe - NO DICE!

I ordered some silicone tubing to replace the old and worn breather hose.
I was hoping this would fix the whining engine noise. Unfortunately this was not the case and the wining still continues!
The rubber intake hose has a section where the breathers go to. This has cracked and had been fixed temporarily with some electricians tape. This will be next to be replaced as air could be getting into the engine and bypassing the MAF sensor.

As always I will keep you posted!

Whining..... aghrrr

Ever since summer last year when the alternator decided to conk out there has been a slight whistle noise coming from the front at idle.
Today the car went in for a quick service, so I asked Mrmechanic to have a quick look.
It seems to be an air leak coming form the ISCV (Idle speed control valve).
Not long ago I had noticed the pipe coming from the ISCV to the crank case was looking shoddy and was very soft. I'm assuming this has failed and is letting air in causing the noise.
I'll swap the pipe with some new and see if it solves it.

Has anyone else come across this with their M52 E36?