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used about a quarter of a tank of BPs finest blowing cobwebs out of the M5, good to remind myself why i put up with its drama sometimes!!

First time BMW owner! 3 weeks ago I bought @str8_6's 2001 530i and have since fallen in love with her! Nicknamed 'Jane', she is a facelift, NZ new, very tidy car that has spent most of her life garaged. She is in Oxford Green Metallic, with the standard black leather interior and wood trim. At 137,500kms, I have already done over 1,000kms in her and can honestly say I have enjoyed every moment of it! I have never needed any more power on a passing lane, and she is silky smooth at idle. Oh, and don't get me started on that beautiful 6-pot purr! Although I am normally a hardcore manual supporter, I have switched over to the dark side simply because it is almost torturous to drive a manual through Wellington and Wellington's traffic. I am currently a first-year student at Victoria University and am a diehard car guy. My grandmother got me into cars with her 1998 R170 SLK230 Kompressor (the car in my profile pic - and yes that's me on the bonnet!), I loved that car and still do; she actually still uses it as her daily and has done over 200,000kms in it. I recently got a new job out in Petone which finally justified my intense desire to buy a new car! Previously, I had a 1999 Alfa Romeo 156 2.5 V6 6-speed which was my first car. I loved that car with a passion; I spent a substantial amount of money doing preventative maintenance on it (not myself, although I would like to be able to start working on my cars in the future) by replacing the water pump, cambelt, radiator and a couple CV boots. Unfortunately, after owning it for only 3 months it was written off - not by me though! It was parked outside my high school one morning when a gentleman drove past towing a car trailer which didn't have the safety chain attached. Just as he drove past my car, the trailer bounced off the hook and ploughed straight into my baby. Fair to say I was devastated (and to this day haven't fully gotten over it). It was only a few weeks prior to that that I had sunk many dollars in securing the longevity of my pride and joy. Luckily, we both had insurance and I was paid out for it. *Photos attached* This tragedy occurred in September of last year, and ever since I have been longing for a replacement, but have never been able to justify it/find the right replacement. And then Jane came along. I have always been a BMW enthusiast, with my mother owning an E36 when I was growing up and an E90 now, and am very glad to finally have one that I can call my own. I keep her in a parking garage in Wellington's CBD, and use her 3-4 days each week to drive to and from Petone (although that hasn't stopped me taking her out most days just to go for a cruise!) and occasionally to drive back home to Whanganui (2.5 hrs). Unfortunately, after only owning the car for 2 days, my radiator sprung a crack while I was visiting home in Whanganui. I got this replaced by our family mechanic easily enough, but it was nonetheless a pain! In terms of future plans for the car, I have bought some euro style licence plate surrounds which I am yet to put on (couldn't justify spending $299 on the real deal - maybe one day), I am considering putting a tasteful tint on the windows to preserve the leather and parcel shelf which is surprisingly un-faded, and am currently looking into installing an aux-cord into the stock stereo setup. I am leaning towards a Grom unit which plugs into the back of the stereo since the stereo will be pre 09/2002, but am open to recommendations. My only requirement is that the stock head unit remains - I'm big on OEM. Obviously, I'm a first-year uni student so don't have heaps of money to burn (and the parents won't pay for it ;)) so affordable recommendations of any kind will be much appreciated. This is turning into a bit of an essay so I'll finish it up here. I've joined the BMW Car Club and will be attending the Cars and Coffee meet this weekend. I really look forward to meeting more of you guys and gaining insight into BMW ownership and any pointers on working on my car myself (this is hard, however, since I am in a hall of residence and don't necessarily have the capacity to do much work myself). This is such an exciting community and I am thrilled to be a part of it! Cheers, Boston.

Hi folks, new to the forum and to owning a BMW. Just purchased a 335i Wagon Japanese import and so far I'm impressed. No real questions at the moment, Just trying to get my head around all the things. Probably will want to look at smartphone bluetooth or USB connectivity for both phone, music and maps as the first thing so any pointers gratefully received.

Thanks Graeme for your kind words. To be honest its been hard to keep motivated sometimes, especially in winter as I don't have a garage or any cover. When I make a mistake or encounter a problem I tend to get discouraged, and the low budget slows things down too. But when I finish a section that I'm happy with its all worth it.

UPDATE Progress has been slow, mostly due to finances but slow and steady wins the race. Engine bay was smoothed with a bunch of unneeded brackets and metal removed. A bunch of sanding, then its high build primer and more sanding Then its time for bmw black sapphire metallic followed by clear. Thanks go to @325_driver for a good deal on his leftover paint. With the engine bay ready to receive some parts it was time to work on the front crossmember. The stock crossmember has a bit of a weak spot where the engine mounts afix so I wanted to strengthen that. Here is the crossmember upside down - I cut some 2mm sheet steel to fit inside the two 'pockets'. These were then welded in and other pieces were cut to fit on top And then these are welded in too (above picture of the left side, below picture of the right side). Then it has a hole drilled in it so a socket can still be inserted to bolt up the engine mount. Then undercoated in zinc primer ready for topcoat. For those interested here is the comparison of the e46 crossmember with the e39 v8 crossmember. It was then painted with the same paint I used on the engine bay, and then installed along with the steering rack which was painted in satin black to match the powder-coated suspension parts. New msport control arms were purchased and I spent quite some time polishing them. They were then clear coated so the polish doesn't fade and partnered with new lollypops which I also polished and clear coated, and some alloy and polyurethane powerflex bushings.

https://www.facebook.com/Continental-Rennsport-266352480183422/ Listing this for a cow-cocky friend. Give him a call if you are interested. I have raced against this car. It is fast, it is straight and it's reliable. FOR SALE BMW E36 M3 left hand drive S50B32 making 304 hp at the rear wheels tuned by Kirk McLaren AVR Performance Life Racing ECU and custom wiring by Kirk Drenth 6 speed sequential gearbox DG400 with flat shift lever! Dif 3.8 with cooler set up by Kane Barry Motorsport Brakes Front 6 pot XYZ with floating rotors Rear 4 pot AP with original rotors Blistein Clubsport 2 way adjustable front and rear with camber plates front adjustable rear camber Motec CL3 Dash with data recording Fibre glass doors Perspec side and rear windows 3 set wheels 2 x slick 1 x wet Available also is a second engine ,new built S50B32 to same spec as current motor, Rods, pistons ,cams ,valves ,springs and bearings bottom end. Ruapuna laps consistent 1.33-1.34 best lap 1.32.50 Pukekohe Park best lap 1.13.6 Highlands GT Circuit best lap 1.46.70 Many spares National Class Champion 1hr Enduro 2017 , 2nd 2016 , 3rd 2018 SIERDC Class Champion 1hr Enduro 2016 , Andrew Wright 0274525908 After $40,000 new motor by negotiation

15w40

Welcome Bozza; no relation to Bosnich then? haha - I recognise where those pics of Jane were taken only too well! Shame about the Alfa - I had a (poxy) 147 and to this day it remains one of the sweetest driving manual cars I've ever owned... it's a duty to tick the Alfa box at some point! Enjoy!

That's a fine kooking 5-er! Welcome. I have always maintained that the E39 is one of BMW's most iconic designs. Compared to MB and Audi models of the same generation the E39 has aged so beautifully.

UPDATE Here are some more photos that show more detail. Firstly the powerflex control arm bushings pressed into the lollypops. Here is an image that shows one of the control arms mid polish. I taped one side so you can see the difference. Steering rack cleaned up and painted (even the metal lines). This is before the boots were replaced. Anyway, the front 330i spindles were sandblasted, painted and installed and I started fitting the front coilovers. This is the other side with the springs and sway bar links installed. Here is the old sway bar link next to the new one. Quite the size difference. I got xyz adjustable camber mounts from a friend, but the colour just wouldn't work with the clean, minimal look I'm going for, so I stripped and painted them in satin black. These were installed, but not before the strut tower strengthening plates. Most people just sit the plates in loose, but I siliconed them in so it will be easier in the future should I need to remove the coilovers for any reason. Then the 330i discs and reconditioned calipers were installed. The discs were just sprayed with a rattle can to resist rust, but I will remove the paint from the contact patch before the car is moved for the first time so the brake pads don't get compromised. The calipers were sandblasted and powder coated, and then had all new seals, boots, bleed screws etc installed. I got some goodies from garagistic. Really excellent quality at a reasonable price. The brake lines are Teflon, wrapped with a stainless steel braid and stainless fittings. They are burst tested to 6000 psi and have a lifetime warranty. They really add the finishing touch to the strut. I got e46 m3 front and rear swaybars secondhand for a good price, and these were prepped, painted and installed with new rubber bushings. The m3 bars are 26mm front and 21.5mm rear, compared to my old msport ones which were 23.5mm front and 18mm rear. I used my Christmas money to give the steering rack new inner and outer tie rods and new boots, and can be seen here attached to the 330i spindles. Fronts are all done now, so now I just have to finish off the rears. I'm really happy how its coming together.

TBH I hear nothing but complaints about it state side. And they lost $200 worth of my stuff due to not updating their address. That's enough for me to warn others about the service.

Just went and had a look at this car. It's a nice car but does have a few issues. Oil leak from the front side of the engine. The bottom half of the engine was covered in oil and it looked fresh. Not gonna be a cheap fix. The right rear window has a leak in the top seal. Not sure how long has this been tthere. But it is worrying as the rain has left a trail on the inside which will most likely lead to some rust issues. Inside rear trunk where the number plate back kinda protrudes in, has some surface rust. Idle was good. But tappets were loud. Second, on acceleration the engine made this weird sound, not sure if that was the K&N filter. Interior is not original. Original cloth seats are missing. For the asking price, I think the car should have these. To summarize it, 19.5k is asking a lot with the above issues. Will keep searching for another E30 Mtech.

I would suggest getting it checked properly before throwing money at it when you don't actually know whats causing the issue

E28 with an S65. Done.

Thanks for your reply Tim. I shall take it up with them tomorrow. I feel like they'll just palm me off without a fault code or anything definitive but I"ll try! Yeah mate I can't wait! I've had two Mazda MPS's and they were awesome on the hill but not really a well built car. Got the honda as a sensible car and that was awesome but only lasted a year. 135 will be my first RWD so I'll ease into it slowly haha.

You're my hero. And an inspiration. Truly. I was wondering only yesterday evening how you were getting on and had thought of calling today. I can find any number of reasons excuses not to get on with stuff, and then you pop up with progress despite everything. Great work. ?

Also used Youshop plenty, for both UK and US items. Never had an issue. +1 to threads like this being useless in general, everyone has an opinion of bad experience, with anything. I could say "WARNING WARNING WARNING DONT USE Z PETROL BECAUSE THE ATTENDANT POURED IT ON MY WIFE BY ACCIDENT ONE TIME" (true story)

Not long until the tables turn...

Tips for bodywork: 1) avoid 2) avoid 3) con someone else into doing it BTW I hate fixing rust, which is why I have 2 e21s.

Washed the X5 after work then went for a tootle in Donald.

changed the plugs in the M5, someone in its past has removed the coils, broken the tops of 2 of them, and put them back in! Destroyed them both getting them out again, so off the road until i get 2 new coils. Photo of the worst plug...