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...... started having power hesitation on the way home, maybe fuel pump, dunno haha. Temperature is fine. Coolant level sensor kept coming on, scaring the crap out of me because I know the overflow tank is about to bust. The brake noise is nearly gone. I guess the wear sensors must be gone now ??? And Omg just saw the rotational tyres on the wrong way. In paeroa now at the inlaws hopefully I make it home, 70km to go. Living life on the edge boys!

... Wasn't over 2k I'll say that. But in saying that I definitely overpaid, I was feeling generous, the guy was young and I was looking for a challenge. This fits the very definition of it lol Provided it doesn't detonate on me on the way home, and providing I dont have to weld cut section on that rust area I'm happy. She's definitely in bad Nick, but some silver lining, it you look real closely? Going to be a great thread anyway.

Another manual for under $10k, epic wheels, darkline lights, with some BMWP bits too (including what looks like a BMWP rear diffuser and back box). https://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/bmw/auction-2680478447.htm Looks tidy, could be had for close to $9k I reckon. I sort-of want a white one just so I can add the motorsport stripes lol.

I picked up something that needed alot of work, to chip away at in my spare time. Miss the coupes so picked up a 2002 325ci. How to put it bluntly, she needs some work, o boy. But that's kind of what I was looking for because I want to unleash on the sanders and paint gun. Service history, or lack there of, o God. But not to worry only 350,000kms on the clock ? Found a receipt from 2004, some decent receipt's round 2014/2015. But other than that a void of nothing-ness. It recently was took in for a service, they paid $169 essentially to top up oil, and no one mentioned to the guy the fan needing replacing because it's missing a blade, and leaking expansion tank. Brake pad wear sensors are squeeling all round, yet odly it got a wof in jan 2020 which I find strange for vtnz standards. It's getting a full respray, so body work is going to commence soon, and I'll probably tear into engine servicing on it. Someone glued the expansion tank, which is leaking slowly. So hopefully I make it home to Tauranga from Auckland tomorrow ????

Hi all Newish owner of my first BMW, a 2010 535i. Loving it so far though it has needed the water pump replaced in my 6 months of ownership. Learning a bit about what I can do myself re coding etc, having bluetooth for calls but not music is a bit of a struggle to cope with. I've got myself an obd scanner and bimmercode so that's one of my projects to work on. If anyone has updated nz maps they can pm me in the right direction of would be greatly appreciated too. Also loving some of the projects on here that people are undertaking.

Gidday team. My old Mercedes wagon blew out on me in January, so I thought I would throw myself into the BMW realm for a change. Went and bought a 2006 325i E91. Nabbed it from Christchurch and drove like a dream down home to Queenstown. Will be coming to uni with me in Dunners as well when semester 2 starts up. Pretty keen to black out the rims and grille soon and get her looking stealthy.

Not sure this belongs in “performance” as it seems like ditching the M40 is general maintenance at this point; Looking for some first hand experience putting a M42 into and ex-M40 equipped E30, hopefully someone can help with the following.. 1. Does donor car make any difference since I’m using an E30 318is loom and ECU? Things like sensor locations, updated engine revisions, better spec’d models? 2. Is it possible to use the E36 intake manifold (ie, does it physically fit. Not bothered about which is better out of E30/E36 for performance) 3. Options for exhaust manifolds? Obviously E30 318is but that’s $$, I’ve read M44 potentially works with our RHD models? My goal is a cheap & cheerful repower for a daily driver, not looking for performance so please please keep the “pUt A SiX iN it” and turbo comments to a minimum ?

Anyone know for sure if the early cam ledge seals were a recall item, or if it was just fixed under warranty when they failed? Looking into replacing them when doing an N52B30 rebuild later in the year, kinda confusing what the actual state of play is with the metal Vs teflon change over point, and if the box that supports the intake cam changed at the same time. Looking at realoem, the parts catalog, its all identical on N52s between 2004-2011... which doesnt make a whole lot of sense. Or was it as simple as the metal rings being totally killed off by the teflon units?

@Sammo not same colour, I've got a colour lined up but will keep it a surprise, the suspense haha. Quite a bit a filler layer on this!! Ive seen worse to be honest haha, good news is the panel has integrity.

The germans have to comply with their greenie laws of using a whole heap of recycled plastics - that's why so many of the German plastics disintegrate early. Even the underbody trays etc start going brittle and weak. I tend to replace them with alloy versions were possible. In reality - once the plastics are on their last legs, you'll usually find half the rubber pipes aren't much better - especially those on the hot side.

Progress..! I've swapped over the bootlid to the OEM facelift one & disassembled the spoiler in prep for GT Refinishers to mount up my new struts. Also ordered a new rear diffuser from Fancywide in Russia. Also had the glass tinted in super-light 50% film to help protect the interior trim by Seth at Tint Lab. This is well within legal limits (being much lighter than 35%), and looks quite classy whilst not sacrificing heat rejection or UV protection.

This should be a good project. If the rear arch is really bad and needs replacing, you could always graft some m3 ones on in preparation for bigger tyres to handle the future power increase.

Made it home. Definitely something maybe like a fuel pump on the way out. Was holding speed and every now and then felt like car was out of gas then power would come back again. Really nerving because it was doing it just when I got on the Auckland motorway all the way to Hamilton. Some silver lining, $40 from Bombay to Hamilton to paeroa to Tauranga. Not bad at all.

Don't think there was ever a recall on them. Telfon rings have replaced metal ones as far as I know don't think we ever put metal ones back in

I can confirm M44 exhaust manifold will work, at least on a car with no power steering (although I doubt power steering is an issue). I used ITBs and made a custom wiring loom so cant really advise on these aspects.

I really dig the optional bmw performance stripe that runs along the crease, but its only in black/grey

I dunno if can really say all Bilstein shocks have flawed valving from a sample size of X(5). Ive run Bilsteins on probably 6 cars, have never jumped in and thought "damn that bad', Ive run konis on a few cars too, and again Ive never had a badly matched set.

@qube after the restore I'll probably look into a swap later on down the track. Want a e46 coupe for the long term, provided the engine is sweet for another year I'll be happy. Apparently it has another motor put in @240,000km but no receipts to prove it. The motor doesn't look 350,000km to be honest. No major oil leaks, no smoke or lifter tick. So might redo the coolant hoses water pump thermostat, drive belts etc to get some more life out of it. And look at something real ambitious in the long run

I was talking about his option #1, not his option #2. His "inexpensive" option (#1) is a bad one, my suggestion improves it dramatically. Of course if you spend more you can get more.

Hi Nicolas, The N42 is far from an ideal engine for this sort of attention. I'm sure you've heard of the N42 issues. First thing to do is ensure the timing chain and all associated parts are renewed. Not just appear in good condition. Then a cold air intake, exhaust replacement, and chip tuning could see you get to 160hp. It's still a N42 though, and fundamentally designed for economy, not performance. Mosselman used to do a turbo kit for it, but I don't know of a supercharger - there may be a Rotrex kit somewhere. To be honest, you'd probably do better to fit a 3.0 from the E46 330, or similar.

Front indicators look nice!

How is getting custom valved shocks and spring rates developed by a suspension engineer/works driver marketing bollocks? Proof is in the pudding, and its good pudding Read some more, the BMWCar mag article is a good one. It was developed for the road, hence why most dont like it on the track as the spring rates are too low. Id place money on BMW not putting LSDs in em to be more down to cost cutting than anything.

Well it's out. Will purchase some simple green tomorrow to clean it up. Then off to get rust sorted before I put up on jack stands and underseal it. Will then remove rear end, steering and suspension along with brake booster

Whilst they're very bright I won't claim I can measure how bright. The colour temp makes the lit area much more 'visible' to me. They're still only fogs and point down so i wouldn't want to rely on them as headlights for example. The beam pattern is almost identical to stock but it is both longer and wider by about 20% (guesstimate).

Haha sorry Lucan already gone!

I bet you're a garage sale ninja.

There's lots of 16/17/18 talk here, just be careful to hone in on your specifics. A runflat that feels fine on a 16" rim might very easily be intolerable on an 18.

Hello everyone, I'm Damien and recently purchased a 2007 130i. 92km's on the clock, really tidy inside and out. This will be an enjoyable daily! First BMW, traditionally owned Jap cars, current project car is a 1991 R32 Skyline. Read a bit of the forums, introduced myself to HellBMW who I will be visiting soon to give it a once over. I don't plan on doing too much to it as it's meant to be a reliable daily, however some things I would like to have a crack at are replacing the yellow bulbs in my angel eyes (I believe this car is an LCI so uses the H8?), fitting a bluetooth receiver (I can't seem to find any bluetooth transmitter in the car even though it has phone buttons on the wheel and has iDrive), as well as some cosmetic changes. It has an aftermarket exhaust with the rear muffler removed so is a tad loud so may address that down the line. Other than that, looking forward to expanding my knowledge of these cars and enjoying the experience!