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Managed about five months without an e30 after swearing off them 'forever'. A combination of 1) taking a prius up to New Plymouth for an e30 megameet that I had booked non-refundable accommodation for, and 2) an E12 that my family refuses to ride in meant I was missing the fun, comfort and simplicity of e30s, with their plentiful parts, support and community. Idle trademe browsing over the Christmas break turned up a presentable looking jap import fl 318i. A handsome blue, interior mainly intact, and an oil pressure warning light that may as well have been wired directly to ignition. Cheap as chips though, and the aircon was reportedly icy cold. Drove it home between Christmas and New years on a lovely summer day and watched NZ lose the boxing day test on the ferry home. Fun little mission, marred only by the stereo not working and a relentless pirate-ship creaking coming from the front suspension...

15XXXX km, Orient Blue (LOVE the colour), Msport, ZF manual converted with 3.38 diff, Full M3 interior (with inflating side bolsters), drilled rotors , front and rear strut braces and M3 mirrors. I researched getting an E46 for months as I wanted something with an older school feel but still modern enough and reasonably reliable that I could keep for a while. The 330ci seemed perfect, as I've always loved the timeless look and the M54B30 has a great reputation and enough power for our twisty roads. Manual, RWD, NA straight six, great steering and 50/50 weight distribution - can't complain! My goal is to go for an OEM+ build and hopefully end up with one of the nicest Non Ms around. I've spent a lot of time and money getting it to a high standard with OE / OEM parts: Maintenance / Performance Oil and filter / Plugs / Diff and Tranny fluid New intake boots, DISA O ring and MAF clean New waterpump / thermostat / radiator hoses / expansion tank / belts and pulleys Short ram air intake, fully heat shielded and ducted from kidney grilles Valve cover gasket & oil filter housing gasket Vanos seals & Oil line Fuel filter All new tensioners and pulleys Poly steering coupler Supersprint axle back and secondary cat delete CABs / new shock and strut mounts with front reinforcement plates Front and rear tower braces (ARC) E46 M3 front 26mm sway bar / E46 Msport Vert 20mm rear bar, new bushings and adjustable end links (upgrade from 23mm/18mm bars) ST XA Coilovers (Same spec as KW V2) - height and damping adjustable New Lemforder Tierods and boots Remap - throttle response / power (probably not) / subtle burble Fully certed for manual swap, coilovers and all mods (inc driveshaft hoops) Exterior Paintless dent removal Bonnet, side skirts and door respray Stage 2 paint correction and regular waxing M3 mirrors Euro personalised plates - 'NZ E46' ESR SR01 18x8.5 ET30 and Hankook Ventus V12 235/40/18 New headlight lenses / New clear corners / rear LCI boot lights / Dual slat front grille Boot and mirrors resprayed for cosmetic reasons New OEM front bumper colour matched Interior Fully refurbed and re-coloured M3 Nappa leather to BMW Caramel Piano black trims Armrest delete and refinished interior plastics Re-wrapped steering wheel and refinished trim - highly recommended! Billetworkz shift knob (450grams!) and clutch stop, matching handbrake handle Alcantara custom stitch shift and handbrake boots Factory style touchscreen with wireless Apple Carplay - looks OEM but with 2021 functionality Front JBL components, Pioneer amplifier and 12" sub Both front Airbag recalls done To do list $$$ IR to RF key conversion Engine mounts? Diff bushings?

After looking at a million options and different replacements for the Merc, we’ve settled on our first M car. Taking into account we wanted a rapid tourer that could do light daily easy driving it seemed a later car with adaptive suspension/ steering etc would best suit. My wife is not that tall and finds any 3 series too low in the seat, she likes to see the end the bonnet and the F series is just to low for her to be happy, interestingly the latest 3 is ok in this regard but really for the spec we want out of price range. Getting another 7 is just two big in F01 range and the F10 is about right considering we are moving from an E class. Next issue was engine, N63 V8 seemed like it would hand grenade at the look of a late oil change. And even if you got a good one, resale would be utter garbage. Wife didn’t want a diesel, couldn’t change that. 535i option, good balance of power,price, poise, however vehicle specs are generally pretty piss poor and not at same 550 level we really want. Probably get bored with it. Looked Audi S6 which are very nice but decided when the right F10 car came along we might get really interested. E class was more of what we had and that is a good car but we’re selling the E550 because it lacks a really driving connection so anything but a E63 was out and they are too similar to the 550 for me. E60 M5 was an option, yes they have problems but so do all M/ performance cars one way or another. Find the right one it would be an awesome car. Ultimately the lack of adaptive suspension, it’s transmission change and overall tech age made the extra cost of the F10 worthwhile to us. Had ‘our’ M5 come up late last week at Auckland BMW, just traded. Promising look of spec, and mileage (80k), looked black in the pics but is metallic Blue (Imperial-Blau brilliant metallic (A89)). On first seeing we where happy to see the colour of the car outside in sunlight. Lovely metallic fleck. Its a one owner NZ New, BMW full service history car. Less then 80k would have been nice but the provenance to me was more important overall. Previous owner had a E39 M5 prior to this and traded up to a new M5, condition is extremely good, clearly looked after. Here’s some pics from the ad, more to come at pickup tomorrow ?. Let the fun begin. Some of the options: soft close doors, electric boot, heated and cooled front seats with full comfort and bolster adjustment, surround view cameras, big arse engine ? with 560 odd horses

Good man - no going back from M now! Looks like a well maintained weapon!

One key thing to look for on these would be the running in service at 2,000kms. Needs to be done, and very close to the 2,000km mark. F10 M5s are factory filled with a specific running-in oil in the engine and diff, which needs to be swapped for the long life at this point. Should be listed in the iDrive records and/or the service book.

Well sadly the wallet wasn't able to make that happen, but hopefully not too far away. Prior to my WoF, saw my front swaybar bushings were a little bulging out the side of their mounts. Pulled them out to find them like this: I'm not 100% on this, but could not pretensioning the sway bar correctly cause this level of wear in under a year? (Including a few track days) Passed the WoF, but she didn't take well to being touched by other men, and formed a nice puddle of coolant while she was there. Cause of that was a split in the hoses just under the clamp, which probably explains the weeping I was seeing around the thermostat housing. Shout out to Hillcrest Auto Services, who chucked on a spare hose they had so I could get home. They also pointed out the my heater core was leaking (Which is under 2 years old), so the dash will have to come out yet again. So just put on new radiator hoses top and bottom, which should hopefully mean my cooling system is going to hold up for a while to come.

“You only need a cert for a WoF bro” ”you’ll still get a WoF no-one will notice bro” ”Yeah I had a crash and my insurance didn’t pay out coz of my modz bro”

hi guys selling my magazine collection have heaps going back to the 90's etc total bmw performance bmw bmw car etc thinking about $5 each for the early year stuff but i think to keep it simple make min purchase $50 to make it worth my while etc sell in yearly lots etc , plenty of articles and pretty much every model and year incl alpina , hartge , ac schnitzer speicals etc can sell in yearly groups etc bulk discounts etc have a list someone ,might post up later 021433600 brent@bmworld.co.nz pics below is just sample of what I have

Ive just completed fitting e36 front seats into the E28, so I have these spare. They are in (IMO) excellent condition. They are the ones I refurbed with new foam and cleaned the fabric: Just the front seats. Free (though a 6 pack of craft beer wouldnt be turned away), pickup from Wellington. Otherwise I have no room to store long term so they would sadly have to be dumped.

Spotted them Gaz, they do look good on the 38s ..... will think on it

Ok so been away for a paint, bit of a mission. Used a guy I heard off, knew it would be cheap and really wanted to tidy it up. Unfortunately it’s a great 2M job, and good 1M job and definite areas of average up close, em well, it was a cheap respray. On the upside all the messy coloured panels are now the same, fading and peeling clear coat all gone, front bumper done and colour coded rocker panels completed. If I want a better job I’ll probably get it wrapped, at least the base is better now. Now I’m after sorting the wheels, 19’s or 20’s and likely a dish look, if I can stretch to some softlines all the better. Then headliner replacement.... on it goes Still better then being the bird I hit on the way down to the tron last week ?

Few ks down and it’s amazing power delivery from what we’ve experienced before. so far no majors, no creaks and groans, just a few fuel stops... although averaging 13.5 l/100 we just went down to Hampton downs and back, overall 11l/100. Road holding and capability is off the charts. loving having a modern HUD, definitely great for speed checking.

I think the colour name just got reassigned to the metallic teal in recent time. This one is code 207. https://www.e30zone.net/e30wiki/index.php?title=Paint_Colour_Codes

Sold the Merc Glenn, Jag unfortunately went a while back, never should have bought a Singapore one. Another story ..... Here’s our thread, the F10 is a mighty car, to much smaller then the 7 to be fear. Great car with the 6 as well in Motorsport trim, better then a 550 with that V8

Good man - sell the Merc or Jag? Would like to hear more about the F10. I picked up a NZ new F10 528i Motorsport with the six. It’s no M5 but still a nice ride. The M5 is a handsome devil......

Who even want's to work on them anymore ??

ISTA+ installation just randomly goes tits up, redownload and reinstall the 12gb, still dont work. Throw toys, have a tanty, order bimmergeeks cable, then have a beer. F(*&^^*&en BMWs, who buys this sh*t.

Well, I suppose my 17" v 18" dilemma has been solved... silly not to pick them up for $350 IMHO. And transported from Waiuku to Ellerslie free by my mate who lives out there. Edit: they're LCI versions too so 8.5" rears. Thanks Kyu! In fact I'm feeling like a mini-q at the moment, I have far too many wheels and tyres!

~$10 from Mitre 10. ? And yes, it's handy for all sorts of stuff. You can also get it from any marine shop, it's mainstay of boats.

I'll take 'em, PM incoming. Thanks @gjm

I saw Zebra had an e87 last week so I popped down this morning hoping to pick up a luggage compartment cover but alas the car was a mess, well picked over and beige with no cover so multiple fails. Since I'd paid my $2 I thought I'd grab some stuff for future projects. I want to Alcantara wrap some of the interior trim bits to see what it will look like and I didn't want to use mine. Grabbed this lot for $20 all in which pleasantly surprised me, I thought the trim pieces were going to be $10 each. Missing a right hand door handle trim but I don't think I'll be doing those anyway. Interestingly, although they've got matching numbers the upper dash trim is much lighter, possibly sun fade I suppose.

@eliongater ?

Manual 130i wrecking complete car.. https://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/bmw/auction-2547049404.htm

Did a heap of research before we got ours, ultimately we went NZ New and there seems to be a few. Yes they have a few issues, but the motor is generally considered reliable, and no M car comes cheap, to run or maintain. Always go after full service records So far for us best damn thing we did.

ok so only the old ones will have to check on those

lol - two in three days? ?? But they look nice... ?

Whoops got another one..

Minor upgrade to the center console, got sick of cables dingle-dangling all over the show. I have the Grom USB and BT car kit, with a mag-connect USB cable. Replaced the little coin tray with one that can hold the flash drive and phone as well as the coins. Just flick the cable over to the phone when it needs a charge. Works good apart from the 3d printed bits warping in the sun, and being a bit sh*t on the eyeballs; but you have to piss with the cock you got, right!

Okay, maybe not tron, but jeepers. https://www.rideapart.com/articles/395197/custom-bmw-r90-6-road-racer/

Hey there everyone, I just scored an amazing deal on our new 1997 E39 528i - I've had a bit of a thing for the E39 for a while now, and I managed to convince my wife that she liked them by finding this one just up the road from us - 94,000kms, NZ New. She was sold as soon as she drove it! It's definitely the nicest sedan I've driven, it's a truly impressive car. Very happy to have joined the BMW club!

Got a little more done on the 'diffuser' Still needs final sand and paint obviously, plus some mesh panels on the side exhaust sections. Coming together alright though I reckon.