New Member from South Africa - PICTURE HEAVY

[Waseem 333i]

Good day Boys

I've never been good at any of these introductions or bios. I prefer to just get straight into it. I have two BMW's. I daily an e46 330d because fuel is expensive in this part of the world. Previous tank gave me 700km of driving. Only town driving with plenty hooligan moments. I am happy about that. The car had an automatic transmission which i happily got rid of and bolted a 6 speed manual. Its only got a 76mm downpipe and a retrofitted AUX cable for mods for now. Sorry for the poor quality pictures. Those were taken by me, I just point and shoot.









Now onto my pride a joy. A beautiful original 1986 333i with 132k km on the clock. Ive owned this car since 2003 and for a few years it was my daily. Now its a bit of a faf to take it out mostly because of the theft risk

[SaltCityEuros]

Welcome, both cars are gorgeous!!! But that 333i... wow...
How often DO you get to drive it? 1986 is my birth year...so i am extra envious.

[kronus]

Holy crap, a real 333i! Beautiful!

Can you tour us through the weirdness? I don't think an original 333i has been documented in detail on here before.

[LJ851]

Holy crap, a real 333i! Beautiful!

Can you tour us through the weirdness? I don't think an original 333i has been documented in detail on here before.

Yes, please.

[ThatOneEuroE30]

333 is so damn cool. Please more info on it

[SkiFree]

Ooofff, welcome to r3v! South Africa seems like such a bipolar country when it comes to bmw's. On one hand you get crazy factory hot rods like yours, but on the other hand getting aftermarket parts into your country is challenging (I shipped a set of swaybars there are the shipping costs were more expensive than the $400 bars).

[Javier h]

Agh

Talk about a unicorn.

One thing I noticed, is the lack for an Mtech truck spoiler. I am referring to the extended rubber version much like you would see in US E28 535is production models as an example.

I guess 333i didnt come with that feature or could have have order it both ways?

[IceWhite]

Hwzt Bru!!

Good to see a fellow S. African on here. Great cars you have there.

[Fsnow]

[Supadave]

Good looking car.

[dishwab]

Amazing! Don't think I've ever seen a real 333i. We need more pics!

I'm curious about the air intake setup... looks reversed from the standard M30 manifold?

[Waseem 333i]

Thank you for the response and replies guys. I will try to be as detailed as I can be. So in South Africa we didn't get the M3 and BMW South Africa decided to make their own. Apparently it was supposed to be for some sort of racing. I doubt it would have been very good because this thing rolls like hell in the corners. The ride height may be low but its quite soft and comfy. The car was built and designed in conjunction with Alpina. There were only 204 built. My one is number 12. The motor is the M30b32. The head had some work from Alpina. As far as I know its just got the cam. The intake is also made by Alpina. Cut and join job as can be seen in the welds. I does have "ALPINA" written on it which is cool. Its got the Alpina airbox from the 535 along with airflow meter. Intake boot is another alpina part. Radiator is also alpina. Its too small for the car. Traffic and hot days are not good for it. One of the famous options were the choice of aircon or power steering. You couldn't have both because of space. Cars with power steering has front fog lights, cars with AC has black plastic grills in place on fog lights. On the interior side everything is standard e30. The normal sports seats and 3 spoke steering wheel. Only difference is the speedo cluster (reads till 270kph opposed to 250, red needles, alpina logo and green backing) the gear lever has the markings for 1 down dog leg gearbox and the vent cluster gauge to monitor engine and diff oil temps, engine oil pressure and intake manifold vacuum. Only the first production car was known to have cloth interior. Also only my car and the first car states standard trim on the VIN number. Something i don't understand because my one has options which the executive trim doesn't have. I have leather interior, sunroof and staggered wheels. The car doesnt have ABS which I think was an option. I've only needed ABS in the wet. To lock up the brakes in the dry. Front rotors are 296mm diameter slotted 4 hole. I cant remember where the calipers come from however they use the same brake pads as e46 330. Rotors are crap expensive and dealers only. The brakes are really really good. On the drive train side its got the getrag dogleg box which i believe to be the same as the M3, special 333i only propshaft and a 2.93 ratio lsd. Rear tire size is 225/45 16 and front is 195/50 16. About the boot fin. I have the standard e30 rubber one. The bigger e28 M5 style one was an option. Ill look for more pictures. I doubt i have much good ones. Currently I am busy removing the cylinder head. I want to replace the valve guides and all the rubber hoses. The progress is extremely slow mostly because i dont have the time.

[uturn]

I want you to pull the exhaust manifold on the 333 and let a reputable shop document it so I can have one made. Better yet, just pull it and send it to me!

[Waseem 333i]

I want you to pull the exhaust manifold on the 333 and let a reputable shop document it so I can have one made. Better yet, just pull it and send it to me!

I've already removed it. You can't imagine how much of a mission that was. Some of the studs had to be hacked off. Its completely loose but still come out the car. I will need to remove it at some point with the whole repair I'm doing. I plan to have it powder or ceramic coated. Once its out I'll take plenty of pictures and measurements for you.

[CorvallisBMW]

Wow, beautiful car! Welcome and thanks for sharing your story with us :up: