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You want one of these: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Genuine-Leather-Steering-Wheel-Cover-for-BMW-E36-E36-5-E46-5-5-Series-E39-M3-M5/122341194184?epid=28029194137&hash=item1c7c1a79c8:g:iLQAAOSwNcZcqrrK Amazingly good fit - I've done two now. Pop the wheel off and take your time stitching and it takes about 2 hours. They come in leather / synthetic leather / alcantara / custom stripes / perforated / smooth etc. My wheel looks and feels amazing with the new airbag and this...

I won't use "GULL" full stop on anything I own or have owned

I have 4 bosch second hand coils packs here, all work (removed for trouble shooting 330, wasnt them), can you take a pic of what plug style they are (there are two, and when they swapped style over is murky) and I can send you these for a box of beers if you want em. The ones I have have the keyway on the bottom centre of the triangle.

Yeah, will be doing them as a pair. The drivers side definitely has a droop going on, though not as bad as the passenger side ?

^ you’re the new me

BMW Motorsport works driver Alessandro ‘Alex’ Zanardi was involved in a serious road accident in his home country of Italy on Friday, 19 June 2020. He is currently in stable condition at a Siena hospital, but is in a medically-induced coma due to the severe head injuries he incurred. Since the accident, BMW has been in close contact with Alessandro’s family. We are shocked by this news and deeply concerned. Zanardi is a two-time CART champion and former Formula One driver. In 2001, he was involved in a racing accident that resulted in the loss of both his legs. Despite his handicap, he exhibited superhuman determination to recover, designing his own prosthetics and learning to walk again. From 2003 to 2009, Zanardi raced modified BMW race cars and successfully competed in the FIA European Touring Car Championship (FIA ETCC) and the FIA World Touring Car Championship (FIA WTCC) with BMW Motorsport. After a break of four years he returned to racing in 2014 as a BMW works driver and competed in the Blancpain Sprint Series in a BMW Z4 GT3 that was modified to suit his needs. He then competed in the gruelling 24 hours of Spa endurance race in 2015, sharing the cockpit with non-handicapped drivers for the first time. Zanardi’s story is one of fearless human spirit, inspiring us all to reach higher and go further. The thoughts of the global BMW family are with him, his wife and his son during this time.

Picked this beauty up in Rotorua from a forum member on here. What a rare colour being Malachite Green Metallic. Nz new. I plan to do a manual conversion and mtech kit on it and some nice wheels although the basket weaves look amazing. It will eventually get a full repaint. Too. Who else has an e28 or a lead on a manual conversion. The 535i has nice power I must admit.

As our cars get older, so the finish on the steering wheel starts to wear. Not too bad at first, but it soon gets tot he point you want to wear gloves, or you end up with filthy hands as the surface is transferred to your skin. Has anyone tried something like this: https://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=2670462738 ? I did one a long time ago on a Land Rover, and I'll take the descriptions claim of '1 hour' with a pinch of salt!

Sold.

You can get M stitching etc as well but if you go black you can get the stitching a bit off and no-one would notice. Gear knob would be cheap enough to just replace outright?

Yes, and to be honest, if I don't like it I can get it changed again. My M3 is zeroed out front and rear and I quite like that, really just want to try something a bit different.

That does look good. I'll check out their site. I wonder if they do anything for gearknobs, too...?

Glad I’m not the only one! I tend to hang on to wheels for no apparent reason. “They might come in handy one day!” have 3 sets that don’t fit anything I own, then 14 sets, 10 of which are for BMW’s, and a pair of 13” rs’s and a pair of old trailer wheels since its got 16x9s d windows now. That’s between 5 cars (3x bmw, legacy and hiace) and that’s counting wheels fitted. And a stack of tyres. And I still Keep a lookout for more bmw wheels!!

Falling apart. Worn, split, crumbling. The finished surface has gone and the sublayer just comes away when touched. Steering wheels are one of very few areas where covering it up can work!

I had the Hankook Ventus S1 Noble2 on my GTI and rated them for the $$. I have Hankook V12 Evo 2 on my 330ci now and they are great for under a grand a set (235/40/18 square) - loads of dry grip, quiet and decent in wet. Hyper seem to have had 40% off tyres since Covid hit - can get a set of 18" PS4 for $1150 which is pretty good!

You know youre a wheel wh0re when you own wheels for cars you dont even have..

I’m getting a set of these tomorrow. For what it’s worth Auckland City BMW wanted $2800 for a set of 4 with a wheel alignment. Bridgestone direct was about $1300.

Can never have too many wheels, I've got 5 sets for 2 cars at the moment and that's me being good!

Short answer... NO , to do it properly, head & sump off and new gaskets seals etc.

I put my BBS RC's from the M3 onto the 130i a few weeks back and they're staying for the time being. At the same time I put the 130's stock 17's with average tyres on the M3 so it could roll it around. I needed to take the M3 out the other day and the tyre/wheel combo is appalling. So in a moment of inspiration as I was moving crap around the garage I thought "why don't I put my semi-slicks onto the spare set of style 24's I have and mount them on the M3?" The answer was of course "there's no reason you shouldn't do that." So today I got my semi-slicks mounted on my spare style 24's and tomorrow, weather permitting, I shall restore the M3 to state that it should be. This also means I can free up the stock 130 17's to sell to part-fund tyres for my style 208's. I have too many wheels and too many tyres. ?

So we finally resolved the issue. I run the wagon on 98 octane, the only source local to me is Gull. Being E10 it generates a slightly higher AFR than regular petrol. The narrowband post-cat O2 sensors presumably have a very narrow tolerance. Switching back to 95 octane from the local Z eliminated the issue. Cheers to Joe Clifton for his input, was 100% correct in his assumptions. Worth a try Nathan!

Jack it up and spray soapy water round the whole assembly to see where it's leaking from. You'll need to get it in the air high enough to be able to have it on ramps so it's loaded and then try again unloaded to get better visual. You could also try using a stethoscope.

Thats the one, FWIW the key is circled here, the other flavour has the key offset to the side.

Will pm you shortly, pics below

I'll IM you later today.

My lost AP suspension shocks and springs cost $800 via Demon Tweeks landed (well, lost!) whereas Speedfactor was $880. Pretty sharp pricing as a lot of importers here like to mark up 100%.

Id say its more likely someone has covered it up given its an LED soldered to the board, or physically destroyed it in the worst case.

The recaro’s which even some early M635csi’s had has an option. In my opinion, gorgeous seats.

Personally not sold on the body kit, but looks like nice apart from that. I suspect your steering wheel will be a different spline to anything post 1986, and being a 79 car it's mechanically an e12 rather than an e28. As a result the suspension is a little bit different. M90 makes it a little bit more special than a standard m30b34/35 as it's got a larger bore and shorter stroke, making it in theory more rev happy.

some updated photos

So just a heads up for anyone looking to purchase Koni shocks for their E30, I would advise checking your front mounts can take a 22mm socket. I ordered a set of 8641 1021SPORT shocks for the front, and had issues installing them, due to them using a M14 nut, as opposed to an M12, like my set in a previous car. Old vs New I suspect the old shock was a red Koni, but there were no markings on it to confirm. Anywho, so I got the M14 nut on with no issues, using the existing shock mount. But when I went to tighten it, I couldn't get a 22mm socket in there I did try with a filed down socket, but that didn't work either. Ended up contacting Gavin at Euro Italian, and we got out our rulers over the phone, and order a set of new front mounts. Here are the new mounts, 22mm socket fits in fine. So in conclusion, check to see if you can get a 22mm socket in your shock mounts before ordering Konis, otherwise you're probably better off going the Bilstein route.

Went up to Auckland yesterday and gathered a bunch of parts. Having a wagon is really handy. Was a long day (Left at 9AM, and got back around 6PM). Got some sports seats, in not too bad condition Some spare bumpers (just in case) E34 Sump and pickup for the swap, plus a spare oil filter housing (I've not had a good experience previously with these) A spare M52B28 manifold (mine made a nice crack noise while I was pulling the engine out) And a period looking head unit

Swapped coils around on the car today and misfire moved, so a bad coil. Checked codes with carly multiple times and didn't get a valvetronic code, just the misfire. Admittedly I didn't get the chance to rev it past 4k, it threw a check engine light and misfire code immediately once I'd driven down the street. Thinking about getting all 6 coils, rather than the one. And if it's still broken then there'll be a cheap 130i up for sale shortly.