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H Shantelle, Andrew and Ollie are pretty much hands off these days. i`ve been giving thought to reviving some of our events, namely the Dyno Day`s we used to have. Would be great to amp up the Bimmersport site and facebook Page. Give us a call sometime to discuss. Thanks Ray Hellbm

Blew a head gasket (cyls 1-4) so spent the past six months sorting that and coming up with a better expansion tank solution (from a Merc A180). Did chain guides and OSV at the same time and now it runs perfectly and not a drop of fluid leaking anywhere (probably for the first time since either the donor or the wagon left the factory!!). Gave it a wash to celebrate.

$22500 Excellent condition. 70000km Lowered on Eibach Springs Near new Rotors & Pads LED light upgrade (OEM) NBT 3D Design genuine front lip M Performance Carbon fibre interior trim kit,pedal covers, & rear difuser. FTP Charge pipe kit included.

Greg was always good to us when we were in the area. E46, E36, F30 - all went through his workshop at one time or another. He was our go-to.

I think it's much easier to get across the line if you have a prior relationship with the mechanic, and are fully willing to take responsibility for your ordering snafu's if you get it wrong. It's probably also easier if they're "not" a specialist marque workshop and are willing to work on all sorts of cars - if you can supply parts / diagrams / torque specs its going to make their life a lot easier, as they might not have the same access to parts discounts when ordering from the dealer or OE supplier.

"I want to see that one" -- ok............here you go. You're welcome.

“Rip off” is a bit of a strong and emotional term, especially when you are not comparing all the facts (one example out of how many millions of part numbers?) nor comparing apples with apples. It all comes down to economies of scale, and how costs are spread across the supply chain. FCP Euro would probably have a bigger parts turnover than BMW NZ, let alone BMW North America who would be the equivalent point. As mentioned above NZ parts can be reasonable for fast moving volume medium cost items. If it’s a larger, low volume item that has to be ordered in especially then unfortunately the costs won’t be comparable with the US who is still probably buying exponentially more per year. This then gets into a “chicken and egg” situation as more people buy on line from the bigger vendors. The issue then is supporting the local businesses in terms of time scales, yes most things can be sent over-night, but this then gets tricky for larger parts like bumpers for crashed cars, wheels, Lithium batteries (dangerous goods), etc. If the significantly increased freight costs (post Covid) are then passed on insurance companies will soon up the premiums to recover and more cars will get written off. Would that it was possible for FCP to be a supplier. However, you might want to ask Toyota Aussie and Toyota NZ how they ended up with fake parts in their supply chain and the $$$s it cost to sort that mess. Is there room for improvement..? Always. Will systems evolve over time..? Most definitely. Will people still claim “dealers charge 100% mark up” .? We shall wait and see. *Purely my personal opinions as an innocent bystander, any resemblance to persons dead or alive are purely coincidental.

I got one of them adapters when doing mine, can't remember where I got it from but looks identical. Paired it up with some ancient, fairly low profile trolley jack I borrowed off a mate, but that's not the point. The whole thing ended up being too damn fiddly to use... Trouble I ran into was, even with the car raised to the max height allowable by the jack stands, the combined height of the trolley jack and the adapter was such that even lowered all the way, the transmission was left wedged in the transmission tunnel with no way of wheeling it out. It then became a whole new mission lifting up the transmission while trying to slide out the trolley jack from underneath. In hindsight, would have been much easier without that adapter, either resting the rear of the transmission directly on the saddle or a wider block of timber and manhandling the bellhousing end. Unless you've got some extra tall jack stands, I honestly wouldn't bother. Only ever "used" that adapter once and now it's essentially scrap metal on the shelf somewhere.

Hi Peter. We have replacements @ Hellbm. Can code to the car easily.

Nice work on the headlights. Look forward to hearing this new exhaust on cold startup.

The driver's side headlight had fully deteriorated to the point where it wouldn't light up at all anymore, wet or dry, so it was time to properly address it. I picked up a rather rough, but fully operational spare xenon headlight from Pick-A-Part a few months back used it as a donor to repair the existing one. The donor had unfortunately had a rough life with a bunch of clips broken and bulbs held together with some RTV-like goo so it was just too beat up to throw straight in. The headlight disassembly task turned out not to be as daunting as I had feared. Was good being able to practice on the spare unit before moving onto the original one. I made several marks on the casing and adjustment dials to make sure it all went back together in the same way. Ideally, I would have swapped over the main wiring casing where the ballast plugs into but it was in a rather shoddy state with the casing cracked, bits broken off and goo holding it to the headlight housing instead of screws. The brown wire had also been pinched on the seal and cracked in exactly the same place as on the original headlight. Third unit I'm seeing it happen on now so looks to be a very common thing, weirdly enough. I decided to leave the wiring birds nest alone and start by swapping over the igniter unit, which seems to have turned out to be the fix. The original igniter unit was visibly "swollen" with the top & bottom edges bowed out, I'm assuming from absorbing all the moisture making its way into the headlight housing. On the moisture front itself, the lens seal had somehow begun to rot and was in an absolute horrid state. Almost impressive how bad it had gotten. Luckily, the one from the donor was in pretty good nick so I used that for now. Will order a pair of new seals at some point and replace both to future proof it. Unfortunately, it's one of those items that Spareto doesn't stock for some weird reason so will have to be a Schmiedmann order or a trip to the dealership. All put back together and reinstalled in the car, both headlights now fire up instantly so looks to be a successful fix, although she's yet to venture outside and face the rain. Hopefully it'll hold up just fine tho.

Dream big, baby https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/740il/listing/5360049790

Pagid, Hawk or Endless in that order. Avoid EBC at all costs. Utter trash on the track. Had material fall off the backing plates and material crumble like pie crust. A number of others also experienced this in the BMW race series. EBC ignored my concerns so I actively tell people to avoid them.

Having worked alongside workshops for years, profit margins are certainly a factor, but in my experience the biggest factor for workshops not wanting to deal with customer supplied parts is as mentioned, the risk of wrong parts, inferior parts, time wasted, tied up hoists, angry customers etc. Never underestimate the cost to business and reputation from customers buggering things up. It's all well and good saying "i got the parts from FCP, they're good and the right ones" but unless the workshop is going to check each and every part, how're they to know they are the right ones for your car before the car is in bits on a hoist? It makes it really hard to warranty the work too, when they didn't supply the parts. Do you expect them to get the car back in, diagnose the failed bush you supplied, and tie up a hoist/parking spot waiting for you to order a new bush from FCP?

Yeah I get people spend a lot on their project car but unsure how much of that cost you can tack on to the sale price... Might be just getting old and grumpy though 🙂

Turned out to be the relay! Thanks everyone for your help, not just with the relay but also for pointing out missing screws😅 I'll be back soon with more things broken in my lovely leaker

TunerPro have a bunch of xdf's (definition files for tunes) for the Motronics as well as binary reads of the tunes - might be worth poking in to: https://www.tunerpro.net/downloadBinDefs.htm#BMW

Sure is. I went to the Wellington launch of these. I remember the presenter saying “and representing outstanding value, the 740il at $214,000.” or $224k. Had just paid $131k for a 3 bed, 2 bath townhouse in Hataitai. That car looks lovely.

https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/z4/listing/5373975389 $32k Worth about $18-20k imo ”Great all round car and a reluctant sale due too many tows” surely he’s not saying it beaks down all the time??

Yeah this is what makes me suspicious of his claims. Nothing he is doing there is any form of manipulation. Jaycar use to do a kit that you could build that allowed you to intercept the A/F input and output whatever you like (lying to the ECU). I had one of these kits back in the early 2000's. Without a wide band A/F sensor you are risking your motor. I found out the hard way. The unit failed and ran my motor lean while at the track. Piston melted. I have a piggy back MAP ECU2 in my E34. It is probably going to be replaced as I develop the car. But it has been good for what I am doing. https://map-ecu.com/

1987 BMW M325i S1 M-Tech 1 - Rare Aero Silver Project! This isn't just any E30 – it's an original 1987 M325i S1 M-Tech 1 coupe in the incredibly rare Shadow-line 'Aero Silver' (exclusive to the SA 333i). Purchased 7 years ago as a road-legal track car from Wellington, my original vision for club events and weekend drives never fully materialized. The plan was to build a 2.8L stroked M20B25, paint the interior and cage, and add some unique 3-piece wheels. While the full build didn't happen, the roll cage is now beautifully painted to complement the Aero Silver. What makes this M325i special: Original M-Tech 1 coupe – few left in this condition. Rare Shadow-line 'Aero Silver' – truly stands out. Working electric sunroof LSD Diff. M20 BTB Performance Headers – widely considered the best on the market. Yellow Speed Racing Adjustable Suspension. Iconic leather Italvolanti steering wheel. Exceptional condition – no leaks or rust. Logbook. Current state: Rego was on hold and has now lapsed. (In dry storage for past 5 yrs) Will require an MS license to comply with W.O.F requirements. M20b25 & Getrag 260 gearbox have been removed (included with sale) F & R window screens and 2 doors removed to assist with paintwork This is a fantastic opportunity for a serious E30 enthusiast to finish what I started or build their dream machine. It's a solid, rust-free base with some highly desirable factory and aftermarket components. Price: $20,000 or nearest offer. Location: Pukekohe, Auckland. Please note: Car will not be sold on the wheels pictured. Serious buyers, please call/text 0225490061 to arrange a viewing or if you have any further questions. Happy to discuss further! will update the post with more pictures

Haha very cool!

This car is gonna be so clean. Injecting new life into it. Love seeing the progress.

It’s the small details that make the difference..

$478 for full set from Race Brakes so I'm real happy with that. $404 saving on full price 😜 😁

Sold my nice blue 130i. Will actually miss it. I didn't drive it much but it changed gear so smoothly compared to the horrible LCI GM box in my white one. Not a lot of interest in the manual car down this way. Everyone seems to be in Auckland and they are all so flakey. I think maybe I am giving too much info in the ad and should be targeting the clueless BMW owner. Might just hold onto it as it is so good to drive. Clean it up further.

Not as crazy as some of the others in this thread 🤣

Labouring? Ha! You should try life with an M54B25 🤣

Don't want to give the game away too much, as it sounds like we're hunting for the same things, but saving searches with misspelled words also produces gems.

Laughable asking price. A low mileage 740i no reserve auction sold for $3500 a few months back. The asking price on these is super inflated at the moment compared to what I think most people would actually pay.

Haha wow. Needs a full respray and he wants $30K... Also the valve cover gaskets are leaking so you can bet this thing has had next to no recent maintenance.

As little as possible 😁 depends on ratio and condition, $500-1000 at a guess? Yep - has been the hardest part of this build to track down by far.

When I showed the mechanic I use the price difference for a diff bush from Stocks at $760 versus online at $255 delivered, he said “go for it”. Same with brake sensors, $92 + GST at ACBMW for one or $77 delivered for both. There are times local parts are competitive though and we do it case by case.

A valve cover gasket set (there are two gaskets) isn't going to break the bank regardless of where it comes from. Try BMW? Bear in mind that there are two possible gasket sets - one has a 2-hole fitting centre gasket, the other has a 5-hole fitting centre gasket. They are not interchangeable.

I’ll try, the aim is to keep it below m235i money but make it just as fun

Just try not to spend E30 M3 money on your E30 😂

Yea he's definitely dreaming.

Until someone hits buynow and you get hit with 499 in fees. It could be a genuine mistake as trademe often autopopulates categories based on the title

@Twistee see a couple of posts up. Feels like a big car when you are in it due to interior space, doesn’t feel like it in terms of the driving agility.

Assuming you going to cert it then doing adjustable toe\camber brackets could be a good idea while everything is out,. Bit of a hassle but could well pay off if the arms arent perfect and you are lowering it.

For starters the 3rd photo shows a missing torx screw on the LHS, don't know where that is gone, are you sure there is nothing stuck on the in between the horn plate? Failing id re-seat all the connections and the ground, then there should be a connector under the lower steering wheel shroud the goes to the clock spring, if you disconnect that and it stops then its clock spring, wheel or wiring issue in the steering wheel area.

I'm now accepting offers on Trademe for this one, Bimmersporters should still contact me here first to express interest.

Least desirable E30 to me. I guess there are some fans out there though. Way more cabs produced than baur convertibles. So they have the rarity thing going for them.

Have racked up about 1500kms since the camshaft surgery and all is well. Great car to drive, rewards smoothness especially with the clutch. Penrite synthetic in the gbox has significantly reduced the notchy shifting. Wof and rbf next week then Hampton Downs on one of 2 dates end of month that isn’t expecting rain.

A CSL can go for quite a bit. More if Paul Walker farted in it mid race.

240,200km Just returned from a school holiday trip down to Nelson. Ticked over 240k on the way and averaged around 10L/100km although it's not exactly a huge amount of km's from Wellington to Nelson but a nice open road drive with some hills and some twisties. Had terrible weather on the way down but lovely on the way home.

New neighbour has some toys

Jeebus.