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Hey, So its been a pretty painful couple months for me. Working around the E30 rally build, it all started to get a bit tough, suspension, rust, lack of information on rally builds etc the finish line just kept getting pushed out further and further. So after doing a bit of research into what the rally boys in the UK are doing, I've stored the E30 and got my hands on a 318ti to start a new build which will be alot easier. The E30 will be resurrected one day in one form or another. I picked up the compact from Mad-Max on Saturday and started stripping all the interior out. The engine & gearbox had already been removed which made life a bit easier The good news, is all the parts that I've bought apart from the M3 front guard and boot with spoiler can transfer straight across, and fit alot easier. The same engine gearbox, M52b28 with the ZF box out of the donar car will be dropped in. Need to swap my sump back over. If anyone wants a sump to convert their E30 hit me up, I've also got some 24v Revshift engine mounts I don't need anymore. Partslist: Group 4 Escort Bilstein coilovers R33 GTST 4 pot fronts & 2 pot rears, with standard 328i rear caliper for the hydro handrake. Will use 328 discs M52b28 with ZF gearbox Single mass flywheel & clutch (to source) Alloy Radiator & Oil cooler 188mm LSD with 4:27 gearset with double ear cover Homemade-special shortshifter, based on the CAE shifter (need to finish) Hydro Handrake (to source) Msport front & rear bumbers (to source) Multi point roll cage, seats, belts etc etc The plan is to have the car running minus the cage for a autocross in Feb, could be an uphill battle but I'm hoping I can make it. I'll be running a version of the old Benson & Hedges liveries, converted to Fences & Hedges. Cheers,

Daily driver? Suzuki Swift should be at the top of your list. Very cheap to run and reliable. I had a pink one (2005 suzuki swift), I could do a hand brake turn in front of the cops and they would be looking confused as to where's the Honda that pull the handbrake! Got plenty of attention from all the gay guys. I happily befriended them, only to discreetly sly into their cute female friends.

I'd rather drive a leaf than an e90 320i

ALL new cars depreciate quite quickly - the rule of thumb is that you lose between 25-30% as soon as you drive it off the forecourt. Yes there are a very few exceptions to this, Ferraris with long waiting lists, etc. but this applies to the vast majority of cars. Then the depreciation carries on each year.... New cars are never a logical financial decision! So for a 2016 to be sitting around $75k is no big issue, particularly as since that car was bought there has been an LCI and a new model, the Competition, introduced. Both of which would have a negative affect on the value of existing cars. What is it you are looking to get from your M2 ownership, fun from driving a great car, or a long-term financial investment? Unless you want to keep the car in your garage for 30+ years it is unlikely to be the latter i'm afraid. My suggestion would be decide which model you want, do you want to wait a bit longer for the new Competition to drop in price, how much you want to spend and look to see what is the best one you can get for your money. Then enjoy the car and don't think about the costs.

Hi everyone, well i bought a E46 M3, with just under100,000kms on it nz new, .needs stone chips sorted but think i will just use it as is. decided it was a good choice and half the price i might have spent on a 1M. will get some photos up soon, amoff to highlands this weekend then down to invercargill on sundat to watch the drags, might even put the M3 down the quarter mile. Will be M spotting while i am road tripping

Sadly its time to sell my first love, I have owned this car for 11 years. I purchased it from my next door neighbour when I was 15. She purchased the car new from Team McMillan BMW back in 1987. The car is in outstanding mechanical condition, serviced every 10,000km religiously in its 31 years of life. No expense has ever been spared on its maintenance. There are a few trolley dents and a couple of scrapes however the paint is in incredible condition for its age. Its an M10b18 engine with a stock manual gearbox, the suspension was overhauled in 2010 with H&R springs and Bilstein shocks. Everything is in perfect working condition, the sunroof etc all work. The toolkit is also complete. Sadly I have to sell this beauty as my Datsun 240z needs some much-needed attention... I can't keep them both 😞 If you want to know anything about the car please just ask... I want to find an owner for her that will take great care of her... She has done me well and she will be missed. - 1987 BMW 318i manual - 165,000kms - NZ New - Looking for $6,800 PS: The plates, roof racks, and bikes are not included. however, for the right price, I'm happy to sell. Contact me on 0211754995 or grantdavis28@gmail.com

I do own both of them. I usually only drive them on sunny days. I have owned the M535i for 3.5 years. Bought it without seeing it in person. Never driven one or been in one before. Instantly fell in love with the M30 engine. Sounds fabulous, like a proper classic straight 6 should with plenty of low end torque. I have had lots of friends who have been as passengers in it and commented on the smoothness. I have upgraded a few things like suspension, wheels, brake lines. I do worry at times that it might not brake as good as the modern cars and I might be in trouble one day hence E34 brakes are on the cards. I do drive it hard from time to time and these cars love it. I keep all the original parts. I bought the E30 Mtech1 four months ago. The initial drive was disappointing thanks to the M20. But the whole car feels very light and compact in comparison. The seating is lower, you feel more tucked in. It's getting a few things done atm - injectors cleaned, valve timing, new heater hoses, suspension, wheels, brakes... Pretty much the same as the M535i. The stock E30 brakes are worse than the E28 stock ones. Rust is the biggest problem. No classic BMW is rust free. They either have rust or been repaired. Oil leaks is the second. But these cars are fairly easy to work on. I don't have much mechanical experience, so I rely on the forums and YouTube for help. But I do most of the maintenance myself. Price wise, $15k should be enough to get you a decent one with some minor issues. The M535i are selling for $30-40k in Australia these days.

Hey all, new to the BMW community with the purchase of this 02 530i So far everything that's needed to be done maintenance wise has been done by the previous owner however there is a little bit of exterior cosmetic damage which will be an easy fix (there's an 02 528i in the orient blue metallic at pickapart that is in pretty good exterior condition that I'll go take panels off soon)... Currently on my list of things to do include: Retrofitting RF Locking system (currently Jap IR Key) New head unit (and sound system) LED Angel lights and fogs New wheels or recondition current ones Possible repaint in San Marino Blue next year

Cheers guys, been pretty sh*t with the updates and now im getting things back on track, whats happened in the past year since i had the engine dynoed, ive always had an issue with a vibration at 3k that would rattle my teeth, it was pretty bad, i spent countless hours looking over every thing and came to the conclusion it was an imbalance in the engine possibly from incorrect balancing, so i teared down the engine and sent it back to the engine re-conditioners to get checked and they found it was way out, they were real good about it and covered the cost of new bearings rings gaskets etc to rebuild it, i've just finished putting it all back together and is going in to get dyno tuned on Wednesday, the first dyno i had the valves set so there was about .75mm of overlap and the power dropped off at high rpm so ive set them at around 3mm of overlap to see if the power range would move up... Right now the engine has a lumpy idle, im guessing its due to the overlap and a bit of revision but as soon you give it a bit of gas it is super smooth and little to no vibrations at all Other things added is a fast response IAT and auxiliary water pump to the turbo and waste-gate coolant lines to make sure the coolant flows in the right direction

Don't buy the 320i whatever you do - the N46 is probably bmw's worst engine with heaps of well documented problems. Buy the smallest 6 cylinder or diesel if you want better fuel consumption

Nothing quite that outlandish @gjm @TermiPeteNZ it’s a 2000 330ci, factory manual, nz new, 143XXXs with AC schnitzer kit. Needs a little bit of TLC but should be fun

So with a bit of time off from work I decided to get stuck into chopping off the rear guards to start fitting up the fibreglass ones. Decided to go gently and do it in small pieces so I could make sure that 1) I didn't chop out something behind the skin and cause problems there and 2) it left a reasonably neat and tidy edge to fit up against and 3) by taking it a bit at a time I could get the hole the right size!! still looking for the rust that I was told was sure to be in there, maybe I should stop cutting now...?? As I said before I order a pair of the M3 outer guards to save me from having to fabricate something up to get the wheel arch the right shape, using the proper panels it was more likely that I would end up with a "correct" position of the outer lip to fit the fibreglass guard up against. My welding skills are more than a little rusty, but I'm reasonably happy with how it has turned out. Only one small wound to the hand, and small amount of blood plus one small fire equals a win in my book!!

Come on, keep up. The M3 hasn't been a coupe for a whole generation now (F80 production has now ended), and the M4 is obviously the coupe as it's based off the 4-Series which has 2-doors, except the 4 GC, which has 4-doors, but is a coupe. Erm, ok, maybe that's not quite as clear as first thought.. Interestingly (maybe, or probably not if you're not interested in these things), the M3 - the four door, has proved to be a much better seller than the M4 - the 2 door one, in general for New Zealand by quite a long way. IMHO it's better looking especially from the rear, definately more practical and surprisingly feels better balanced when being pushed hard. For those reasons, amongst others, many people have chosen the M3 over the M4. Strange that this car has come up for sale so quickly after being delivered, I got the impression the buyer liked to buy cars very regularly but they probably waited longer for it to arrive than they have owned it!

So the last few weeks have been hectic. I haven't actually managed to do anything with this as yet, have been in touch with the Alpina Archive register, sent them a bunch of pics and they came back asking more questions, not stating it was a fake - so hopefully they can come back with a definitive answer. Currently sitting looking at the original certificate of registration. Car was first registered in Nelson 28/11/2000, with an odometer reading of 47,941k's. The registered owner is the guy I bought it off - so that part of the whole story checks out, it is a one NZ owner car, and he didn't do a lot of travel in it. So here's hoping the rest of the story checks out 😀. Will update when I hear more.

Heres an update on this car at Manukau Zebra; Seeing this in person was hilarious.

Keep going, and enjoy it when youve finished. Take pride in what youre doing. Im 10 years on and still love mucking around with mine.

All M cars are equal, but some M cars are more equal than others?

Drove some more tonight, and so far i can tell that before the work on the weekend the trans was still average when cold but much better warm. Now the trans is about as good as it was when warm, cold, and pretty bloody good warm now. Manual mode is snappy, with minimal lag between changes, and no lurching. D mode is smooth as butter and doest flare between gears anymore. A+ result, highly recommend.

I was lucky enough to catch up with Elijah where we discussed his latest purchase. I'm not sure, but saying "When will you ever get a chance like this again?" may have swayed him. It's gonna be great.

Bought another one...

None of these ^ methods involves a burnout, so I am skeptical about their effectiveness.

yep, that was me ....... guilty as charged. Had an away day from PalmNth. The m3 Touring is a HellBM build and one that has had its fair share of discussion on this very site. We dont get out much, but hoping to change that over the course of the summer.

The bar through the middle, horizontally is a Harness bar for mounting a race harness shoulder straps on. i believe the consensus is not to use normal seat belts with a 1/2 cage on the track. having the bar close to the back of the seat helps to reduce the belt stretch, which can happen when they are fixed to the rear seat belt mounts.

Bit more progress today, Paul painted the chassis and started fitting some of the carbon bits as well as the steering column. This photo shows the driving position: Carbon roof is fitting nicely:

Found this on my way home