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Yeah I blame used car salesman planting a seed in peoples heads, that timing chains are maintenance free - Certainly the implication.

New shifter assembly put together to replace the weird e21 assembly. All new parts.

Good choice. The OEM look great, especially on that colour combo. Nice car BTW, have always listed after one, I saw one at a motorshow when I was about 10, the roof mechanism was impressive... also, Matchbox did one that looked like your car, even had orange repeaters.

just got this in nz new e36 m-sport 328i parts car lots of goodies BM WORLD LTD in papakura 021433600 [email protected]

So, after months chasing this f**king thing, turns out the fuel pump wasn't supplying enough pressure. Have plumbed in the 540i pump and the thing is a animal. Does however expose another issue. Needs more grip ha. Much thanks to Josh and Brendon who have sorted the manual programming and tirelessly scanned data that just wouldn't tell us anything much, and Ray for putting up with my usual crap ha. Now, to address the other bits and pieces that have been neglected while chasing my arse with this miss.

well... you have already found the 'other european' section of this site. As you have seen, we aren't snobs. Plenty of appreciation of other makes found here.

well middle income do yes,rich hide theirs in business losses and just manoeuvring of money between accounts to show as a loss ,people like Bob Jones don't pay tax or pay no more than a simple business owner does, the whole system is completely biased to the rich money makes money,once you get over a certain level

you have the best combination! e61 wagon and the w211 sedan! nice!!!

I've got an E61 and a w211. E61 Definitely the better drivers car but then you pay more for it as well, still love the Merc though Love the silver, sets off the shape really well.

You can then advertise it as having reliable power and no oil leaks

They are a v6 3.2 350hp supercharged. I think they are also a 24 valve?

Careful of the supercharged Merc motors i've heard some horror stories, including a written off one of my mates. Not trashed. Just cruising at 30kph and boom. Engine done. Back to the Q at hand. usually i say clear... but with those SL's I tend to prefer the OEM. I don't know why. Just suits.

http://ozbenz.net/ Aus + NZ Benz forum

Interesting point about the comparison between the e350 and 530i. I currently have a e350 w211 sedan and i felt it was a 'better' car out of the two. What reasons do u have for your opinion? Genuinely interested. i feel that the merc is a more comfortable car and the bmw is a more 'drivers' car. Another thing is that the e60 sedan shape just doesnt appeal to me. The e61 on the other hand i do like.

If the clears were OEM quality perhaps. But in this case I think the amber originals look the best, and suit the cars era of style.

This is one of those personal opinion issues either hate them or love them. The clears give it a not so Gordy look but the flat lense surface just doesn't match with the style of the car maybe if they had been frosted it might blend in.

Fair bit of Maintenance work to be carried out shortly, just need to wait for it to be delivered and hopefully dodge customs.. - New OEM clutch and Flywheel - Driveshaft Donut (Guibo) - Driveshaft centre bearing - All new fastners, gaskets and mountings for Exhaust (rusted to Fcuk) - New OEM shifter rod (replace ebay nasty short shifter) - New Z4 M illuminated shift knob - Full shifter assmebly rebuild with new bushings and clips. Got this delivered the other day - New under tray which mounts behind the engine under tray.

rijac i have a 323i which I love and is a trooper of a car, but I got a mechanical warranty just in case.. there have been only a few issues over 2 years but the out of pocket $$ to me for all top mech. repairs is x4 claims ($1400)

That engine wasn't one of BMW's finest moments. If you like the e90, sell it while you still can and replace with a 6 cylinder version.

And now for a confession because my experience needs to count for something! Keen observers of this thread will have noticed that it took more than a few days to replace my valve cover gasket last week. Well that's because I have to admit I stripped two of the threads in the head for the valve cover bolts. Fab. I've had that cover on and off many times in the last year so I'm quite familiar with it and I always use a quality torque wrench and I always take extraordinary care (moreso after the trouble I had with the tensioner a year or so ago). Damn aluminium heads! I would have had a minor stroke had it not been for the knowledge that a friend had a very similar experience some time ago and, also carefully using a torque wrench, stripped about 6 of theirs (gulp) but survived and recovered. So a quick phone call and a short trip and I had a 6x1mm Helicoil thread repair kit in my hands and a great sense of anxiety in my gut. Whilst it's not a situation I'd wish on anyone it didn't end up being too much drama. Getting everything square when drilling the hole for the tap is the most daunting part because getting that bit wrong can be terminal. Since I did it by eye (no jig and lasers unfortunately) I'm 100% sure it's not all 100% straight (how could it be?) but I was still able to install and torque down the valve cover after fixing the two threads so it can't be far off. If you do this go really slow, take your time, be careful of aluminium going everywhere, clean up well, take your time. At least the Helicoils will be 30%+ stronger than the originals! Small mercies right? My hypothesis of why this happens is: The valve cover bolts have compressible rubber grommets installed from the factory. This rubber compresses with less than 8 Nm force which is the torque spec for those bolts. Therefore the BMW factory design implies that these grommets will compress a little when the bolt is tightened to 8 Nm. If this grommet can't compress all of that surplus torque will be applied to the threads. The bolts are steel, the head is aluminium. My theory is that with age and heat these grommets fatigue to the point where they can't compress as readily. As a result 8 Nm is fully transferred to the threads and overwhelms them. My guesses on how to avoid this: 1. Use new valve cover bolts every time you remove the valve cover ($$$) 2. Replace valve cover bolts every xxx km's so they always 'relatively' fresh ($) 3. Substitute 8 Nm spec with 7 Nm - this worked for me, see below. When I did everything up after the Helicoils I didn't want to strip any more threads! So I tightened everything to 6 Nm and left it for an hour to compress/settle (gasket and grommets) then I went back and tightened everything to 7 Nm. I've left it all there and monitored for the last week and no drama. I also chased all of the bolts with a die to clean those threads and hand wound a tap into each of the "good" sockets in the head to make sure they were also clean (some were not). Suffice to say I'm learning more about "fix-it engineering" than I ever wanted to know! Ready to drill...

Things are coming along slowly. Tidied the garage today. Got rid of the old Getrag245, sold to Kayne Barrie for parts. New pilot bearing, swapped across pressure plate and clutch to b25. Swapped across some ancillaries and hoses from the b20 to the b25. New 260 all bolted up to the B25 and ready to go in - just waiting on parts from the states now. Missing a few bolts that attach the gearbox to the engine. Will make a visit to Jerry Clayton tomorrow to see if I can get them new.

LMAO and thats not even the worst part. The worst part is that the chain isnt on the front of the engine like normal, its on the rear, against the firewall.

could be worse audi with there rubber band powered V8 stuck in the front bumper

Agreed but I think we - as a nation - are getting a bit too high and mighty at the moment. Everyone seems to think they are perfect and never make mistakes and that the rest of the world are a bunch of incompetent f*cktards. Makes look ignorant and small-minded in my opinion. Sure, we need educate o/s drivers on our rules better, particularly drivers coming from locations with very different driving rules and etiquette to NZ but I also think people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones and there is some truly shocking driving by NZers. Sorry, back to topic now. The problem with fines is that law abiding people pay them, serial offenders don't. We need to get tougher on that.

Speaking as someone who use to work for corrections, those who can't or won't pay, get a pretty sweet deal, one guy I recall had 40k of fines turned into 150 hrs of community service. Pretty sweet hourly rate if you ask me

Why is this a good idea exactly? Is it "more" of a crime for a high earner to be doing 120 than someone without an income doing exactly the same thing? Answer is clearly no. It's just seen as a good idea by those who are jealous of those that have more than them.

New (to me) Getrag260 now in garage. $400. To do list! Lots of cleaning to be done. Have ordered a bunch of parts from the US. Complete new shifter assembly (to replace my incorrect e21 one) and transmission crossmember. New revshift urethane engine and trans mounts. Condor Speedshop power steering delete kit.