Herbmiester

I wanted to let this one go and I nearly did but....... In my experience it boils down to maintenance/repairs vs performance. For maintenance/repairs I am happy to let the shop do what they have to do, and there are a number of shops who do this and do it well and to be fair dont need to look at performance work because they are very busy fixing Euro cars that have proven to be somewhat less reliable than their Japanese counterparts. A great business model really. For performance, parts are often the hurdle; they are just not available here and workshops as noted above are focussed on repairs maintenance. Workshops often default to parts available in NZ which may or may not be the best solution for a performance upgrade and with DIY tuning options like COBB, MHD etc it is fitting and final troubleshooting/tuning that is wanted. (This of course may lead to maintenance/repair work as components fail when under stress) The problem with performance upgrades is that it is often the domain of the Flat Peak crowd with a clapped out Japanese sh*t box, no money and big dreams. But in the HSV FPV world a lot of tuners emerged who could meet the demand of the cashed up bogans and that segment were quite willing to pay, as a result that segment went upmarket and got away from its bogan/hoon roots and became professional. What we have in NZ is a lack of Euro tuning shops. Audi, VW, BMW and to a lesser extent MB now all have forced induction engines and chassis that respond well to basic upgrades. Forced induction is the cornerstone of the tuning world. We need a few shops who understand that mindset and can provide solutions. Fair to say we dont have that at the moment.

Very interesting read. The softening of the rear suspension slightly probably suits my new setup as the Tein rear springs are quite a bit stiffer than the stock sport springs. I was worried about this so it looks like an unintended win on that front.

Yes that looks correct to me.

You guys inspired me and I have just ordered the rear M3 arms from Amazon. It worked out about $100NZD cheaper than FCP Euro. Happy Days. JTC1428 JTC1429 JTC1430 JTC1431 And you need the ABS clips which are cheaper at FCP Euro by $5 each. BMW-34522283017

No I didn't buy it. I am still thinking of a another E36 coupe though.

Yes actual code will help us help you.

I dont know who this is but could be good for the MHD stage 2 enthusiasts. http://www.trademe.co.nz/a.aspx?id=1383087770&member_hash=4d3cfcc4dc0da99dc4e51de2c29a52270eb9808ee071b1fd29

Primacy 3 is a touring tyre, I would have thought there were better choices.

Yes great deal.

Looked at it yesterday. Tidy but the 3.5 V8 puts me off. Would almost be better as a 6. I don't like the steering feel in the V8 E39s, the rack and pinion setup in the 6 cyl cars is definitely better. Might have drive of it today.

I was part of that industry for quite a while so I fail to see why you are taking offence. As to just charging labour to fit supplied parts what else would you charge? A few ancillaries like some grease, zip ties etc might be appropriate but if there is no parts costs and its pure fitting then what else? As it stands you have made it quite clear you are not keen on fitting parts other people supply, So I have suggested the OP go somewhere where they dont have this policy. You dont want to do it so that's fine someone else will and as it's not really a BMW specialist job most performance shops will likely have no issues. Oh and the reason I get other people to work on my car sometimes is simple, opportunity cost, what I pay them to do the job is a lot less than I get remunerated to do mine.

Yeah, I second that take it to a shop that does Intercoolers turbos etc and show them the video. Its straightforward and they should just charge you the labour . Many shops dont like it because they miss out on margin on the parts.

Yes that's true.

I have just ordered some more parts for the 335i. The goal was to get springs with a firmer rate than the stock sport springs and as I have Koni yellows I should be able to match the damping to the spring rate. The springs I went with in the end are made by Tein. I could have gone with H&R sport or Eibach pro's but they have the same rate as the sport springs but with a lower ride height, the Tein's are about 8% stiffer than m3 springs so it's a noticeable increase. Reports are that with good dampers the stiffness is quite liveable. I didn't want to drop the car much lower than it is already and the Tein's would have done that so I was going to bypass them until I did a bit of research and found a way to add some ride height back. At the front I will swap in E30 spring perches and thicker 9mm spring perch pads. this will give me up to 19mm more ride height and overall should be 5-10mm lower than the current sport height, which will be about spot on. It should theoretically give me a little more shock travel as well. At the rear 10mm e30 upper spring pads will keep the rear drop in check. I dont mind a low car but I like to be able to get up driveways, get over speed humps and not smack into gutters all the time so a small decrease was acceptable but I just didn't want the slammed and tucked look. Plus I want the car to handle. As I have been mulling over how to get to this solution I thought I would share this information in case anyone else wants a stiffer setup that maintains a useable ride height. These parts will go in when I do the M3 front arms and hopefully a bigger rear sway bar.

QV costs the same as the M3 Competition in Aussie, not sure about NZ.

And it keeps coming.......... http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/a10308214/alfa-romeo-giulia-issues/

You've got to take your hat off to the Alfa tragics, they are a die hard bunch.

Is that the 4 cylinder one? If so thought they were 206kw.

Yes that's Tardeme alright. I like your car it looks great and it's not as if you driving round with the build sheet stuck in you side window. If people want a by the numbers car then they can go and find one, if they want a well presented e36 with some appropriate add ones then your car is a very nice option.

My NZ new 93 325i coupe did not have M sport Suspension, nor did it have sport seats.

Trust me pretty only lasts for so long before it is becomes a curse, cars are similar.

Looks ripe for a LS conversion.

I have a Jan 2007 car and just used a generic K=DCAN cable no problems.

If you are not running catless downpipes off the turbos I would stick with Stage 1 Plus. I had an in depth conversation with a guy on the E90 forums in the US and he felt that by running Stage 2 with stock downpipes he stressed his turbos to the point that the back one failed. His opinion after a lot of research was that stage 2 tune puts just too much pressure unless you have replacement downpipes to allow the turbos to spool up efficiently.

I Wil take them.