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It's been sometime since I've had a BMW, the last time was when I sold my E36 coupe with its 1UZ-FE V8 conversion, seven years ago in 2014. The desire for an old project BMW has remained, the only model that tickled my fancy were E34s so meant slim pickings. A particularly nice 540i came up this month so I had to drop everything and make a move on it. It's exactly what I was after, wasn't going to bother with any old thing. This one is exceptionally straight and has only had 2 owners since NZ new, I'm now the third. It's just about to tick over 86,000km I've placed a huge order of service items so that will allow me to get the car back up to scratch, I'm probably going over and beyond but I tend to be like that if I deem the car as being worth it. This one is no exception. Eventually I'll sort some nicer wheels and fit an Eisenmann rear muffler, but those additions can wait.

Xmas makeover Gate to Hellbm.

Hi guys. I'm new to this forum but thought I'd add a pic of my 540is. 1996 e34 6 speed manual. I purchased it end of 2019. It's full M kit with black Bison leather. Love this car it's been my bucket list car forever.

G'day, Took the old girl today for a ride to the city and to watch the sunset. I have owned her for three months, and it's an absolute pleasure driving her. She does get a little extra attention, unfortunately.

Well I did it. Purchased another car in a hope to replace the Carbon Black M3 which sadly was put to rest earlier this year. I had a huge list, and it seemed that no M3 on the market could potentially tick off the boxes, so I've held on since June hoping one would. But nothing eventuated. So as you do when you're in the market, every new listing of an E46 M3 was sure to be sent to my inbox as it was listed - in the hope something would pop up. And something sort of did around September, but it was 'poverty' pack in my eyes so I didn't think twice. Something made me go back, maybe the wild random dreams about this particular coloured car kept popping into my mind, I'm not sure. But I decided to do a little stalk, run it's built sheet, and would you believe it was DAMN TOPAZ THE WHOLE TIME! Maybe it was the light, the angle, the reflections that made me move past it the first time, but a buildsheet never lies. And so I went on a mission to find out all I could about this little blue topaz M3 situated some few hours away from Auckland. Full Service History. Every little nook and cranny completed, was documented. Nz New. SMG, and in Topaz (Schnitzer colour, personal fav). Went on to dig some more, and found the first two owners of the car, personally knowing one of them. For 11 years it was between two people who only did open road, long distance driving and cared for it better than you might your own child! The first owner took it up to a nice 136kms, and the second to 165km. The lovely guy I purchased it off had driven a mere 3,000kms in the time he had it over 18 months. This car, is just a dime. The paint condition so good it's hard to believe. No dings, dents, scuffs or marks. A few minor stone chips which is to be expected. The interior, not a single lift of the trim, no cracking, wrinkling or anything to fault! This car is hands down in 10x better condition than the old one, the KM's just don't add up to the condition. The next morning (Wed) it was in at Jeff Gray for a PPI (thanks to Greg Hook!) and Fresh WOF. Breezed through it's PPI with not a single thing wrong, every single box ticked. How damn lucky. It was sold. And I picked it up today. Such love. It's perfect. It's better than I could of asked for in regards to condition. I was scared about getting a 'high' milaged M3, but this car just puts my 120km M3 to shame. It's just fantastic. So there you have it folks, I bought another E46 M3 New Post for 'To-do' and 'Done' below.

I've had my E34 540i exactly one year. Thought I would put a few photos up showing the before and after on the car and how it's changed over the last 365 days. At some point I might make a proper thread for the car detailing everything I've done, I'm the iPad generation so Forums were a bit of foreign territory for me so I've got a messy collection of discussions instead of one big one. Anyway here is the before and after from the day I picked it up (17/11/20) to today (17/11/21), Before: After: Before: After:

Hi guys, I brought the Z3M to keep my 1M company having recently sold my Audi’s, RR ur quattro and B5 RS4... I owned an older version of the Z3M in Blue before I brought the quattro. Looking forward to another Z3M ...

Ok, after much deliberation on what to replace an E38 with. I've gone with the S8 Audi. Keeping the Silver E38, can't part with that. I looked at a few E65s and after throwing up in my mouth consistently, I decided I needed to look elsewhere. E60 550, been there. Options on large sedans with autos and pace with style are quite limited and this baby ticks all the boxes. It's a NZ New, 1 owner with full Audi service history, 140ks. love the look and the options boxes are well ticked. V10 5.2l 450hp, B&O upgrade audio, keyless entry. All the full A8 options. Drove back from Auckland, got 11.6l/100ks which was better then I thought. Included some spirited Action from the V10, sounds quiet glorious through the hills. will keep a running record of maintenance and ownership here

Fanboys gonna fanboy

Or people could stop moaning and get on with it... Seriously, All it takes is a bit of willing intent to mod a car. The biggest problem I see (and I have done it many times before myself) is peoples eyes are bigger than their stomach so to speak. Bite off only what you can chew, be very happy with what you have, even if its not the fastest, best looking vehicle around.. who cares ? just enjoy getting into it. When I joined bimmersport I was pretty much the biggest noob when it came to modding cars, but I learnt by doing things and making mistakes. Most of my success in modding came from careful research into what I wanted to do. Am I some guru, no ... just a dude who likes to approach things practically. This weekend, Westy decided that hes gonna try and give it a crack at the wiring thing for his e30 / v8. He got the whole thing started, despite some pretty interesting hurdles to get over. A bit of determination is all that was needed and some research. One thing cars have taught me is how to understand engineering and problem solving from a pratical point of view. Instead of problem solving in a computer. This is why I love it.

Win!

Wow, more than two years since my last post… *trigger warning - children/babies & medical stuff* A few weeks after my last post my son fell extremely ill. After several long hospital stays he was diagnosed with post transplant lymphoproliferative disorder, in his case caused by the Epstein-Barr virus. At his sickest there were 16 million copies of the virus per millilitre of his blood. He thankfully completed a course of Rituximab (kinda like a chemo drug that wipes out all the T cells in your immune system). By August he was home, and after a couple of blips he has been largely okay since. If things stay good for another few years his doctors will declare victory over the PTLD. In September of 2020 we found out my wife was pregnant with #2! Our second son was born in April 2021 at 32 weeks, following a rough pregnancy. He spent 5 weeks in NICU before joining us at home. 4 days later he was rushed to Starship with respiratory issues. He got a tracheostomy about a week later (which has been amazing) and then spent 47 long days in PICU battling infections and myriad issues that couldn’t all be tied back together. He finally made it up to the ward, and then a few days later started having seizures. Over the course of a few days we watched our little man lose all ability to move, turn his head, hear, and interact with us. Since then it’s been a long slow journey of improvement for him. After a couple of weeks he started looking at things, and us, again, another few weeks later he started responding to sound again, by the time we got him home at the end of September he could turn, but not support, his head. Another 8 weeks later and he could fairly well hold his head up, and today I took a photo of him sitting, propped up, in his hospital cot (he’s been in this week fighting a nasty virus) playing with a toy. The teams at Starship have been incredible. The head consultants from a bunch of different teams have been heavily involved in my son’s care, and their skill and the wonders of modern medicine have been life-saving for both of my children. I’m forever indebted to them, our public healthcare system, and, by extension, taxpayers of New Zealand. Wow. That was cathartic to write out. Not very on-topic, but cathartic. Thus concludes the explanation of why it’s been two years since my last post… I only drove the M3 a couple of times in 2021. For most of the year I wasn’t even sure if I was going to keep it (hard to make plans or think about what’s fun when you’re constantly in crisis mode). But the last few months as things have trended towards our “new normality” I’ve been enjoying driving the car on occasion and making some more plans for it. A couple of days ago I ordered a new OE steering wheel. The current wheel is quite badly cracked along the top, and the paddles and trim are in very poor condition. I looked at options like getting my current wheel rewrapped and buying new trim, etc. but for what that was going to cost it made more sense to order a brand new wheel. I found one for a good price, and, importantly, cheap shipping and pulled the trigger. It’s coming snail mail (hence the cheapness) so, given the current state of global logistics it should arrive sometime between the beginning of April and the end of time. I have a bunch of other items I want to get as well, but they’re all significantly cheaper, so I figured it was best to buy the expensive thing first, so I don’t keep putting it off! I also have a couple of little projects in mind to keep me busy as well so will hopefully be posting those up here soon! Matt

I had a 2006 M540I M sport for 4 years and i have just traded it in for a smaller, newer BMW... https://youtu.be/d_6y3sIBFHY

Hello...My 2007 130i 6 speed finally arrived from Japan to New Zealand. Currently at the groomers getting ceramic coated. Its a white M Sport so I got the painters to paint that grey rear valance black, and removed the 130i and the m badge! Fitted gunmetal Avanti 11 spoke wheels, flat bottom leather and alcantara steering wheel from Lativa, Genuine BMW short throw gear lever that I scored new sealed bag off Ebay via the USA as well as a Storm Motorwerks weighted gunmetal gear knob from the UK, Pedal Haus aluminum pedal covers from Europe (to be fitted), LUX H8V3 bulbs, new floor mat set, new alcantara hood lining fitted, Gloss black grills etc. Looks like a new car. This will be my daily for work as I had a desire to row gears, gave my E70 35i M Sport to my wife so that will remain our family car and will sell her NZ new X3.

I bought it.

The sport seats had arrived, and just needed to be recovered before I could put them in the car. As soon as the leather upholstery kit was delivered, I dived straight into the first seat. Many zipties were used... Some foam was repaired on the side bolster. The next seat was for the driver side. This one had taken a bit more abuse, and needed some more serious foam repair. The rest of the second seat was the same as the first. The seat rails were cleaned up and repainted. Both seats mostly back together. I still need to do some work on the back covers. I'm stoked with the result. I think they look great, although I may still need to tweak fitment in a few places. Quite happy with the quality of the leather kit, especially for the relatively low price.

Right, well a few evenings spent on the car, and then today being Saturday just a wee bit more. Front jacked up in the air, to remove the lower steering linkage. Didnt take any pics of this sorry. Has a lot of play in one of the two universals so it is out so i can rebuild it. got it half out and realised it is a wierd universal i havent seen before, and i havent had expereince rebuilding one before. When you do an M52 swap, or indeed any motorswap, its necessary part of the conversion on a Right hand drive car. typically you would also convert to an E36 or E46 steering rack too. What i usually do is remove and drop it all off an Howatt Engineering in Naenae to do, so i havent had experience doing it. still deciding if i tackle it or find a shop to do it. Remove the right front wheel as it has a puncture in it. Jack up the rear, move the left rear wheel to the right front. Temp bolt on right front to the left rear. Lower Jack. Get front off Jack stands and onto the two good tyres, jack up the back, and remove both rear wheels. the right rear, and the left rear (which was the right front) both have punctures / slow leaks, so those into the 500 to get sorted out. Start on removing the Subframe. Right off the bat, i knew this was going to offer up some surprises. subframe removal on an E30 is usually a piece of piss. 1,5 hour job max. I was advised by a local "buddy" (canadian for m9) to start on the rustiest stuff first so you know how your day is going to go, and also buy a flame torch, it will be your new best friend, so i brought a propane torch, (quite right in hind sight, awesome tool. no pics of it but you will probably see it in the back ground of the below picks) right then, crack off the subframe main bolts then. the 22s came off easy, to get to the 8mm allan bolts for the support i needed to half remove the side skirt. and bam, just like that, 5 minutes in, first problem. on the left hand side, one bolt completely snapped off (prior), on the right hand side, both had gone, so bracket offering no support at all. Okay, no problem, i can order that. removed the brackets so i had them on hand for ordering (there are two types so good to make sure you get the right ones, and then just put a few threads onto the 22 and gently loosened the subframe so i knew it would come away. cool. Move on to the exhaust which comes off easily, then remove heat shielding and then the drive shaft bolts. i wasnt really thinking, this stuff should be easy since the car has had an engine conversion, so not 30 years old, none the less, needed to be done. next step, remove the lower shock bolts. easy enough, but found the right rear shock is totally blown. i have never seen a shock with zero resistance before until now so thats up for replacement. and then disconnect sway bar, and then remove the spring. Here is the the bad news... spring on the left comes out just like normal. one on the right falls out, with the upper locating pin still in the spring. wtf. look a bit more carefully and what do we have here. picks taking after probing about with a screw driver. whats worse is there is f**king gorilla foam in there so someone knew it was there and did a bodgy... not happy, but such is life. fortunately the body seems to be alright, but the lower piece is no longer avalable from BMW. i did actually think about using the head from a jack as a replacement, as it would be a perfect shape..... Move on to loosening the diff mount. at first i was like wtf somone has put an imperial bolt in... never mind, some of the bolt head crumbled away, turns out it was a 19 all along... also loosened the brake lines and ABS sensors (yes it has ABS, the E30 was the second BMW to have ABS after the E28 5 series), and was happy the assembly was ready to come out. In the shower cleaning up i realised i forgot the hand brake cable so will do that when i get back to it. Right off topic for a bit, but what i been up to none the less. (goes back to E30 soon!!) next day, decided i better work on the Cinquecento since i did say i would do it while missus is away. It hasnt locked since she got it , that was a door card off and a tiny black clip that wasnt seated right, and back on and good to go. and onto replacing the rear brake pads. "babe my car is making a bit of a grinding noise in the back recently" take it to work and barely got out of the street before i knew the brake pads had all they had to give taken and then some..... have you ever seen brakes so smol?? realised the 500 was the same bolt pattern and center bore very close as the E30 so why not chuck them on for a nosey...... Local constabulary dropped by for a yarn. they either drive Ford Expeditions (think Escalade or Suburban size), or they ride Harleys. and they are called the OPP here. every time i hear that i cant help but think of the irony since OPP also means Other peoples property in the rap song from like the 90s, which of course gets in my head every time. Strawberry then got a detail down at work. in the back ground is the CN tower, and the yellow building is the pub i sometimes go to after work. and yes going off topic so will come back to what you came here for lol. We are up to today now. Subframe removed. Crusty old bushings. nasty, Now normally you would press these out properly. I do have the proper BMW in my garage, but thats 14,000km away and cost about $450 or so to buy. since i expect this to be the only time i do this job, i decided to do it the Hori way. its pretty well documented that this way works, and i had everything i needed already to try it so thought why not. FIRE I would imagine this would work for many of you guys so i will detail the process. 1/ Turn on Rock Music 2/ Grab a can of low rent beer, or something someone else has left in your fridge. 3/ Soak bushes in WD40. 4/ Make sure your partner is not home, and if pre planned, buy her some new oven trays because you will be using two of hers. 5/ aim gas torch at bushes. how long it takes them to start going depends on your flame. mine took a good 2 or 3 minutes of heat before they would stay alight on thier own. keep the loose stuff clear by flicking it out onto the tray. remember, the objective isnt to burn every last bit of rubber, just to remove the bush. When they start popping and crackling, they are hot enough to keep going on thier own. Once they are lit, have some of the beer. Man has created Fire. after your second one is lit, go back to the first, you will find the center part has melted enough you can clear out and knock out the center with a screw driver or some such. bear in mind that the flame will increase at this point as a lot more rubber is exposed to oxygen. the center piece that falls out onto your tray you can put out using some of your rubbish beer. Eventually the outer race or whatever its called for a bushing cannot withhold gravity and will fall out by itself, giving you a nice empty housing (well after you clean up the last little bits) On to the control arm bushings. basically the same process although they are only an inner and rubber with no outer on an E30. they will start spewing themselves out, three of mine spat the center out by themselves, one needed a bit of persuasion. next step is let them cool. its probably lunch time by now anyway. then press in your new bushings. on an E30, the subframe bushings do not go in all the way to the collar. they are only supposed to go as far as the top of the housing is level with the top of the rubber part of the bush. in hind sight the photo i took isnt the best, but if you look at 4 o clock in the photo you will see its level. 2 oclock is still down as its got an indicator on it. this means there will be a 10 mm or so gap at the bottom. you will find that they wont want to go any further as they flare. Originally, this was designed so it could be leveled in situ, but even BMW removed that from the service advisory, the part was never updated. as a side note, if you were to do poly bushings, they do not have this gap, so you MUST fit E36 compact lower braces (the rusty brackets i mentioned above) which are stepped rather than flat. trailing arms arent complicated at all, if you have a brain. One of the great things about Canada is that the weather and the seasons are very decisive. if it snows, it snows. if its sunny, its 30 degrees (as it was this morning). and if it suddenly gets cold and there is a clap of thunder, you have about 20 minutes to pack your sh*t up and get inside before god turns on the hose. so quickly threw the subframe back together with the new bushes, packed up and got my ass inside. I was intending to take photos of the assembly together, and also one showing the trailing arm bushes . VERY IMPORTANT to just do one or two threads on the trailing arms to the subframe so they are very obviously loose. this is because they must only be tightened when the suspension is loaded. This applys to all BMWs, and most probably all cars in general. this also applys to contral arm bushings in many models. I will try to remember to take pictures tomorrow. and then a pic of me when i saw myself in the mirror. LOL i guess it was all that black smoke!!!! 'til next time

Listed on Trademe however sharing with the local community. 49,XXX Kms Full BMW Service history 2 x sets of keys Alpine White Black Nappa leather interior Satellite Navigation Harmon Kardon Stereo Bluetooth audio BMW Assist Asking price: $67,500 ONO Contact Alex on 021 070 9077

I'm only the third owner of this beauty. And I'm trying to convince the 'wife' we should upgrade to an M3. So I'm kicking the process off by selling my well loved 1990 e34 BMW 535i M Sport. 154,XXX miles (Approx. 247,XXX kms) 3.5L | Auto Rego - 30/06/2018 WoF - 04/2018 I would really love to see the car go to another BMW fan, so I thought I'd see if there is any interest here. The previous owner, who owned this car for almost 20 years had the following work completed: Engine M30 blueprinted to original spec at 145,000 miles Engine reconditioned, All components from http://www.mahle.com/ Honed all cylinder All new Gaskets and seals Acid treatment and New heat treatment NEW chain & pulley replaced HPC coating (Engine cover, manifold, Oil filter housing, water-pump housing http://www.hpcoatings.co.nz/Advanced...8/Default.aspx Complete New hoses (cooling, power steering) Complete New Bushes, rubbers NEW Water Pump, New plugs All consumables maintenance items Transmission Serviced Other features include Style 37 18" wheels with brand new tyres fitted in 2017 Yellow french headlights Brand new bluetooth / CD head unit Factory BMW immobilizer and alarm Hard wired for Valentine V1 Radar or other RJ45 powered Radars Fully working Original OBC 2 WAY Electric Sunroof Original E34 535iS M Steering. Original E34 535iS M Leather seats 2 sets of Keys and alarm All service history, receipts and document of import available Bimmer.Work Vehicle Identification Number - WBAHD22070BF53264 Type - HD22 Model - 535i - EUR Development Code - E34 Chassis - LIM Steering - RL Doors - 4 Engine - M30 Displacement - 3.50 Power - 155 Drivetrain - HECK Transmission - AUT Color - Brillantrot - 308 Upholstery - Schwarz Leder - 0203 Production Plant - DINGOLFING Production Date - 1990-03-29 Options 200 Katalysator - Entfall 209 Limited Slip Differential (25%) 226 Sports Suspension Settings 291 Bmw Lm Schmiederad/kreuzspeich 335 M Technic Sportpaket 354 Green Stripe Windscreen 401 Sliding/vent Roof, Electric 428 Warning Triangle 481 Sport Seats F Driver/front Passenger 498 Headrests In Rear, Mechanic. Adjustable 500 Headlight Washer Sys/intensive Cleaning 571 Boosted Power Supply 708 M-sport Leather Steering Wheel II 812 England Version 850 Add Fuel Tank Filling For Export 869 Radiovorbereitung Zg/zz 925 Shipping Protection Package Known issues Being a red car, the paint is a little faded in parts, though it is 30 years old When you start the car it says "Low Washer Fluid", even though it's not low, at the last service I had them check it out, though couldn't solve the issue. Car is available for viewing in Petone, Wellington. Will get some more pictures up asap. $8,500 ono

This project is finally back on track. Found some time over the Xmas break to move things along. Need to introduce the JBE and all E92 M3 wiring to give seamless integration. Using existing plugs and wiring wherever possible this is well under way thanks to the effort/time put in by James. The pics can do the talking.

A completed E30 project is pretty rare

I just got home from a road trip to drive the Gentle Annie. Huge thanks to @TermiPeteNZ for organizing this. Met everyone in bulls for a coffee and chat then we headed of to Taihape for breakfast then it was off across the Gentle Annie towards Napier for lunch. Was real nice to meet those of you I hadn't already and nice to see those of you I met previously. Standouts for me were the 2 M5's and the red 535i M Sport. Oh, cant forget Eli in the drivers seat of a very nice 330i. What a fantastic road to drive and I'm thinking more than a few of you had some real fun in your cars. Unfortunately my passenger suffered from a queasy stomach so it was just a nice cruise for me..lol Heres the few pics I took. Feel free to add your own. :-)

Time for a bit of an update... The OxfordG 525 turned out very nice and has now been sold to a lucky recipient, excluding my labour I even turned a very rare $299 profit lol... If it weren't for the fact that the X3 is the ideal daily for my work/play at the moment it would not have gone anywhere... Being rather time poor I farmed out the painting of the Topaz 540 to a mate of a mate who did come well regarded... the result was OK, but there is a bit of orange peel correction to be done at some point. It has been assembled, a replacement windscreen fitted, WOF'd and the a/c regassed. Lots of other stuff has been done when assembling such as rear parcel tray re-dye and interior clean, rear windscreen trim, side trims, M5 mirrors. Things to do include repairing an assembly scratch on the rear bumper I just can't unsee, perhaps alloy wheel refresh and new tyres maybe. I can't make up my mind which 540 msport to sell so I just may advertise both and see which one goes first... As a refresher this 2002 topaz one has had a fair bit done, just review this thread... timing chain guides and all stuff in there is the main feature (as is with the Biarritz too), and now the paint and interior. If anyone is interested now in either the 99 Biarittz Individual 540 or the 02 Topaz 540 then please message me. Prices negotiable and will depend on how much more I throw at these cars.... and I can fully expand on the extensive work done... The dark M5 style 65 wheels on Biarittz will not be sold, which ever car sells will come with style 66's as pictured. Oh yeah.. in other news, a 2000 e38 740i Msport has found its way here... much to be done in the e39/8 rescue centre... although my business model /community service of "buy cheap / spend heaps / sell for a massive loss" I realise is unsustainable... just ask the missus... 😂

Everytime one of these comes up for sale the amount of crap comment that gets generated blows my mind. I am going to bury mine with me when I die just so I don’t have to deal with these type of comments ???

Well here you have it folks: Write up on ECC for those who want to read it all! Huge thanks to Ray, Daniel Kim, Work Wheels (Harvey) Precision Autowerk, ECC Crew, United Car Care. List goes on. Was almost in tears seeing it roll out after two months of work. Went with P Zeros.. and love them. All Photos: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.473028526229437.1073741836.433587906840166&type=3&hc_location=ufi Some here:

Taking my labouring missus to the maternity hospital in an E30 and bringing home my shiny new baby boy in the E39. Winning!

Just home from dinner at a friends where a couple of modern hippies where taking everyone to task over the cars we choose to drive. Had a small smile on my face when they asked what type of car I drove there. "A BMW V12" was my response and the hippes where none to happy about that and began grilling me about my excessive use of fossil fuel. I placated them by explaining that my other car has a smaller engine and I dont actually drive the V12 that much. "So whats your other car" they asked. And I proudly announced it was a BMW V8 with a huge smile on my face.. ha ha I got the feeling they thought I was taking the piss out of them. Kinda was. lol I did like the look on their faces when the V8 came out.. Bloody do gooders.

Hello, Thought id start a thread to keep track of the progress on my 2008 bmw 135i. A bit of background, before this car, I had a 2004 e46 330ci m sport that I bought for $1000 with a crash damaged front end. That was my first project car and taught me most of what I know about cars, I fixed the front end, stripped and restored the entire interior after finding water ingress, rebuilt the cooling system and replaced a few gaskets. Once finished, I felt that it was time to sell it as it wasn't a car I felt like should be modified being somewhat of a classic, I sold it to an e46 collector and began the search for my next project, it had to be small, fun and fast, preferably n54 powered for easy performance gains, decided on a 135i. I bought my sapphire black metallic, black leather interior, 135i in late October, 127,000km bone stock leaking oil, overdue a service, cracked 3rd brake light and broken LED in RHS taillight and a dirty interior, and on the drive home it went into limp mode. Great introduction to N54 life. Not really a surprise when you got it at price that makes it the cheapest low(ish) km 135i for sale. However it wasn't all bad, it had extensive service history, used to be under auto sure mechanical insurance, had the water pump and thermostat replaced, and a transmission service done as well as regular oil changes at 10k intervals, that is until the owner I bought it from got it, who only owned it for a few months. Catching up on things ive done so far: First thing I did was address the issues, scanned codes, limp mode was for exhaust Vanos mechanism, most likely just needed a clean from the old oil. Did an oil change, cleaned the Vanos solenoids and that fixed the limp mode. However I found the following issues; leaking sump, valve cover gasket, OFHG, oil cooler gasket, wrong coolant. Time for an FCP euro order, added PCV valve, top radiator hose, expansion tank hose, coolant flange and also a new drive belt to the list. I worked my way through all of the hoses, gaskets one by one, learning as I went and eventually had everything except for sump done. Valve cover took 2 attempts because I couldn't find a tool for the ground lead studs anywhere, eventually I contacted Ray from HellBM who ended up giving me one for free o massive thanks to him. Filled the cooling system with correct bmw coolant and bled it, so easy with the electric water pump. No more leaks. Gave the car a good clean, cleaned the interior, rewired the paddle-shifters for left down right up, and installed silver interior trim in the place of the woodgrain. Now the sump wasn't a job I wanted to do myself, I don't have access to a garage, nor a car lift so dropping the subframe didn't seem like a fun task, decided to let Michael from Euromotive handle this and got him to install catless downpipes and larger high flowing silicone turbo inlets too while he had the subframe out of the way. Next was coils and plugs as it had started to misfire on the way to the workshop, one of the coils in the car was a Chinese one and ripped in half, leaving rubber stuck on the spark plug after removing it, spent an hour in the car park with needle nose pliers puling bits of rubber out. Eventually got the new coils and plugs in and car ran smooth. Next step after fixing all the oil leaks and misfire was replacing the drive belt that had oil all over it from the OFHG leak. Did that, easier than I thought with the inlet in the way. Also installed pcv valve and oil catch can. At this point car was running smooth and no issues, decided it was time to make some more power, bought a bigger intercooler, metal charge pipe and installed them. Angle grinder came in very useful in making room for the intercooler. Flashed MHD stage 2+ and car felt ridiculously quick. And sounded good with the hatless downpipe and inlets. Then installed some dual cone intakes and blanked off inlets so that DV vent to atmosphere for more noise. Decided exhaust wasn't loud enough to match intake noise, so cut off muffler and welded in 2.5inch steel pipe with thin stainless exhaust tips, sounds better now but will go back and change this slightly. Decided that power was more than enough (for now) and time to move on to some handling and aesthetic changes. Bought a set of 18x8 et38 CSL style wheels (in white which is a unique look) from an e46 and they fit rather well. A little bit of rub on the front guards, but nothing a wheel alignment shouldn't fix. Also bought a set of second hand aragosta coilovers with adjustable front camber plates so that I can fit some wider tires and dial in the ride height as well as firm up the suspension. Got 6 well used dunlop direzza 03g 245/40/18 semi slick tires for free so will see if I can get them to fit to gain some traction. White wheels and a nice clean engine bay: That is where the project currently is at, waiting for a new 3rd brake light as it cracked again so I can take it for a WOF and then install my coilovers and try fit the 245 tires and hopefully get the wheels repainted soon, thinking either shadow chrome, gunmetal, or gloss black... More things coming soon

Happy and enjoy to all cheers

X

Aaaaaand another 1 lots of things to fix up but should be good once its done Want to change the shift knob as the leather is quite worn. The silver m performance ones any good?

After years of lusting after an e36 vert i finally managed convince myself now is the time, i would have loved an M3 but the pocket book didnt stretch that far and to be honest i would get myself in trouble...again. I did however manage to grab a 1996 328 Manual...for 10x less than the specific M3 i have had my eye on for a long time 😂. Its spent its entire life with a surgeon and the while the km’s read 277,000 - yes thats 277k - the service book shows servicing every 15k by Jerry Clayton. Its got 24 years of touch ups to do but the base is great. Flew up to Auckland on Sunday and drove the entire trip back to New Plymouth with the top down. It was one of those trips you will always remember. Looking for a few items now but will post that in market place. Cheers.

Sale was easy, he rang me and I made him the offer and he accepted. It would appear he had been mucked around a bit and had been constantly low balled and just got grumpy over it. He dropped the car to the airport for me and I drove back to Welly. Will do a thread soon on it but suffice to say it drives very nicely, better than I expected it would.

2001 BMW 530i touring in Titan Silver Metallic. 292,xxx kms. 1 year wof done in May. Rego expires October. This has been a restoration project for me and the time has come to let a new owner enjoy this modern classic. A pretty extensive maintenance regime has been undertaken... Suspension wise I have fitted new shocks, Front springs, ball joints and control arms. The rear subframe bushes (common issue on e39 touring) have also recently been replaced with more durable solid rubber. She now handles and rides superbly. New rear discs and pads along with hoses and fresh brake fluid. M54 Engine maintenance is all up to date. Vanos overhauled, complete cooling system overhaul including the 2 plastic pipes under the intake manifold. Valve cover gasket replaced and new plugs. Lots of time and money invested. Not your average e39 that’s well overdue for maintenance. I’m asking $7500. See my project thread for details.

Found a wrecked msport and finally swapped over all the interior to spec, first and last type of job i think. The car was identical spec to @Autoglym one, born 3 days before even. It came with BMW individual interior that included extended leather option (leather door handles and center console) as well as the sliding arm rest and ski bag. Also got a spare msport bumper now and a bunch of spares which is always a good thing as these things are getting on now. Will be swapping back on my old wheel once i get some alloy trim to replace the wood, always preferred the thinner type and BMW changed the wiring setup so you cant plug in half the wheel controls with my car Certainly come along way from what it was

My pair: 1999 S50B32 with only 20,000km on it and 2002 S54B32. Will be sold as a pair when they eventually go up for sale.

April 2017. The era of Gymkhanas had come to a close and it was time to sell the trusty STi. unbeknownst to the flat-4, my eyes set elsewhere. She was sleek, Italian, two wheels, absolutely insane, and I needed one. As 2017 progressed, my love affair took the form of two Italian two-stroke sports bikes, both of which exhilarated me, but as the months started to pass, I began to worry more and more about firing them off a cliff and not coming home. I remembered the thousands of kilometers i spent with my various cars, pushing each one and loving every second of it. I yearned for long twisty mountain runs, I desired the roar of high displacement engines, I missed air-conditioning. So I began the search, my requirements were simple; lightweight, high grip, and cheap to modify. This led me down the route of something akin to a Type R Integra, then my partner one day surprised me with his DC5-R, so it was back to the drawing board. Should I conform and get some filthy skyline? Or perhaps sink all my funds into the 80's mr2 sitting around the back and embrace being forever poor? Then one day, my landlord visited in his E92 M3. AND HE GAVE ME THE KEYS. I knew I could never afford an E92, but just as every car enthusiast should know, I too was very aware of her older, slightly unhinged sister. What I wasn't aware of, was how affordable they really were. A deep blue one popped up. I and the landlord went out and had a look. She was nice, but not worth the asking, then a yellow one popped up. Cheap, but had a very sketchy history. About 4 months later, just as i had given up and started looking for some RFB stickers, SHE popped up. and my goodness, was she something. I didn't hesitate, I contacted her owner and booked an inspection. YES! she passed with flying colours! Ok then, better tell the boss i'm not going to be in on Friday. Why? Because i'm about to make the biggest decision in my millennial life! The plane landed and i stepped out of the shoebox of an airport. There she was. It was like i'd waited a lifetime to see an old friend. My eyes tinted rose. She really was as beautiful as they said. It took the whole of 80 minutes before her owner reluctantly handed me the keys, making me promise that should I ever decide to sell her, to get in touch with him first. If you made it through that essay of a write up, then congratulations! After the 7.5hr drive back to Auckland and consequent de-bugging, she's now settling into her new home. The whole household have made her very welcome! As have the small handful of friends she's already surprised! So without further Adieu, here she is! Imola red Manual 145000ks Fully documented and thorough servicing history, with photographed works including the vanos refresh about 30000ks back. Aside from the K&N filter and Eibach lowering springs, Completely original (even talked him into including the OEM bits!) I absolutely cannot wait to meet everyone and start taking her out. She does need a new set of tyres and brake pads, but really whats that in the grand scheme of things!!

Decided to give the interior a bit of a spruce up and make it a better place to be. The driver seat has some typical bolster wear and the leather was looking a little shiny in areas. Using a 10:1 mix of meguiars all purpose cleaner, a bore hair brush and half a dozen microfibre towels, the seats and leather surfaces are much cleaner. Not a fan of leather conditioner so I only applied it to areas exposed to UV rays and wear and tear i.e inner door handles and seat bolsters. Drivers seat before : Cleaning process : After a few hours of vacuming leather cleaning and further detailing : Finished of with a thorough cleaning of the steering wheel. Amazing how much grime accumulates. Used the same cleaning process as for the leather in the rest of the interior :

Fresh out of paint shop to clean up stone chips and minor dings

@Ron,

Got back from a round trip down south and up the West Coast with the parents last week, clocking up around 2,400km across 6 days. Threw in the old stock rear springs beforehand. Whilst it didn't completely eliminate the rubbing, it isolated it to only the harshest dips in the road when catching them at high speeds, but overall much better and meant I could drive with way less stress and way more confidence. Considering this was the first road trip I've taken the car on with 4 adults and a bootful of luggage on board, I can't really complain about the little rubbing still remaining. This was an outlier of a situation and with 1-2 people on board, I don't think rubbing will be an issue on the stock springs. Some absolutely amazing roads out there and an absolute ideal place to put the car through a proper stress test after the big rebuild. Some small issues aside, the car performed perfectly and effortlessly ate up the km's. Queenstown - Glenorchy is still my favourite bit of road in the country but also enjoyed experiencing the Queenstown - Te Anau and Wanaka - Haast routes for the first time ever. The folks loved their first time in NZ as well, saying it felt like they've been to 5 different countries in the short time here, such was the variety of landscapes behind every new mountain ridge. Good good times.

As requested by some of you a stand alone projectthread for my E39 530i - this will stop me spamming the WDYDTYC thread lol Backstory - April 2019 I decided to look fo an E39, 530i to replace my mint E46 320i, the E46 had served me very well for 9 years, i had modded it to the end of my wishlist and after a BME Club trip to Tokaanu with a 3 year and 5week old, my theory about needing a bigger sedan with the arrival of Bodhi, was proven correct. upon my return home - the search began. After looking at a few as "do ups" i decided as mint as i could get for 7k ish was the way to go. I wont go too deep into the unicorn i let go the previous year, as it still burns me - and was recently sold again - a mint individual grey 530i, nz New, with color matched interior stitiching. After some further searching and a well timed post on the BMW Car Club NZ Facebook page a local example was coming up for sale, a couple of views, a test drive and it was mine. it was mint enough for the 6k price tag including a full service history, with a few things needed doing to fit my desire for a "Project " Since picking the car up in April i have done (all in the WDYDTYC thread) some optional other maintenance / replacement of worn parts - brakes rotors and pads -recon ABS pump & booster - GROM Bluetooth adapter - refurbished parcel shelf and installed child seat anchors -new rear suspension links, top hats, spring pads etc to even the rise height out -panel beating to the drivers side frot shock tower (under bonnet) to straighten it out -new "Pork chops" to replace smashed ones incl dnew hardwas for the centre undertray also ( this cobined with other wrok makes me think the car was nose dived at some stage or repeately abused leaving an angled driveway - new arm rest inserts and handle - Bavsound speaker upgrade (awesome) - tinted windows -Replaced front and rear windows gaskets - made hard in the front by a misalinged windscreen and lots of glue used by whomeeer did that job - spark plug change -gear box flush - oil change and all filters, cabin etc... - new camshaft intake angle sensor - 2nd hand mint drivers side auto dimm mirror - paint correction at Auto Niche, Hamilton - claybar and degrease wheels - replaced center caps in wheels Future works - 2003 sterring wheel with multifunction and paddle shift ( in the garage just need ot sort install) - refurb the style 42s - new passenager mirror or great 2nd hand one - fix rip in drivers seat side bolster ( on the look out for material from good condition m psort rear seat) - new windscreen cowel - newA pillar trims (middle clipswere borken whe nwindscreen replaced, i beleive) Any further updates will be sposted here in due corse Cheers the old E46 The new to me E39

Evening everyone, A wave of rational judgement and an adult-like level of responsibility has appeared to have washed over me in the last few days, and I have decided to put my 2008 BMW 130i up for sale to Bimmersport members. I would like to see the car go to an enthusiast who can either daily it, or do something cool with it! Bought it on a whim just over a month ago because I've never owned a straight six BMW (somehow), and the 130i has been a car on my ultimate daily driver bucket list since I was about 12. I've done 1000ks in it, so I feel I can tick it off my list now as I already have two other daily drivers, and too many weekend toys (as some of you will know), so I genuinely have no use for this car. So anyway, enough waffle, here are the details you want to know: 2008 BMW 130i Automatic 250,700 km Le Mans Blue WOF until 28/07/2023 Rego until 21/10/2023 Rare(ish?) Style 216 Wheels (they do genuinely get frequent compliments) 2 Keys AC blows nice and cold Heated Seats work a treat Transmission Serviced Was also told by previous owner that water pump & coils have been done prior to him, can't find any paper-work but given the ks and the fact the car runs really nicely, I am inclined to believe him. Tyres are fine - front has lots of tread, rears have a bit less but should still easily pass WOF. Car drives great, no funny vibrations, engine pulls well and sounds good - found a set of poly bushes in the boot so I think it may have been enthusiast owned in the past. Here I will insert the cliche "you wouldn't be able to tell its done this many ks unless you looked at the odometer" No warning lights, however the car is due an oil change. Bonnet gas struts are also tired - can throw in a free stick. Cosmetically the car presents well, but also has its fair share of scars consistent with the mileage (if you look past the front bumper). There is NO clear coat peel and the paint is generally quite nice. There's a few carpark dents here and there, scrape on the corner of the rear bumper and the typical rock chips but the dark Le Mans blue hides most of it well. Now to talk about the ugly elephant in the room - the front bumper - its pretty rooted. Paint is coming off and the splitter is cracked. The going rate for an E87 M Sport bumper seems to be around the $300-$400 mark, so you would just need to wait for a Le Mans blue one to come up and then the car would be relatively tidy all things considered. You could also just hit it with some colour matched paint as a temporary fix to cover the glaring areas of paint damage. There's also a dent in the bonnet just below the badge - luckily its quite symmetrical so is less prone to triggering OCD. Given the higher than average ks, need of an oil change and the fact the front bumper looks rougher than the NZ economy at the moment, I am pricing it at $4,000. Budget abut $500 for a new bumper and a DIY oil change and its a pretty nice car - especially being LCI and in the best 130i colour... with the best wheels, in my non biased opinion... obviously

My FCP order finally arrived with all my fresh badges etc - installed new M badges / boot Roundel / 325i letters and new front grilles - so much better. Also did my first polish on it with CarPro Fixer - fantastic one stage product - decent cutting power but leaves a glossy finish. Took some decent clear coat scratches out despite being just a hand job 😬 Finished with some CarPro Hydro2 - Plenty of room for improvement but definitely looking ‘good enough’ for now. Drivers door desperately needs some paintless dent removal to tide me over till I get half the car painted post rust work later in 2022. Looking forward to moving back to our house in Feb where I’ll have a dedicated space to really get cracking with this car - will be buying a decent DA polisher and doing a 2 stage paint correction ASAP amongst a million other things 🤣

Big day today with all the new suspension parts installed by Kerry at Mosens. Plus new fuel filter. car sitting pretty just after installation will be getting alignment Wednesday and then a decent drive home and some time for it all to settle in. The difference in feel and composure was immediately noticeable even on the sedate drive home. Less diving under brakes, better acceleration and better steering. Can’t wait to hit the open road.

No posts for a little while as have just been chipping away in the background and making plans for things needed to mount the engine for the (hopefully) final time ... heater lines, wire routing, sealing the cabin blower air intake etc. I did pull the engine again and have fitted the shifter relocation kit finally so I can make car noises and change gears At the same time I shortened the dust cap so the Spicer 1350 slip yoke can fit without fouling. Onto the VERY exciting developments this week ... received the dry sump housing and rebuild kit needed to change mounting from right to left. On the same day the Sikky Manufacturing slim steering linkage arrived. Dry sump is fully stripped and now ready to reassemble with the new housing. By far the most exciting thing to happen was the arrival of the dry sump oil pan which I designed and had made via https://hubs.com ... looks FANTASTIC, so stoked. Lets hope it fits up alright Will need to finalise the design of the oil scraper plate before it can be mounted up permanently.

Yeah but V12

You should write an open letter to them, seems to be the flavour of the month.