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Not a great deal going on with the restoration project at the moment. Mainly just enjoying it as a weekend car. New clutch, flywheel, guibo and centre bearing should be done in the next few weeks. Also considering some Eisenmann race back boxes if I can get a good shipping rate. Did change the oil and filter today, and had a muck around with DIS activating the vanos solenoids - All produce a healthy click.

Deleted, You f**king scumbags. teaches me right for giving into the masses. I love my flatmate, she is beautiful and deserves 100% respect for being a human.

Put my wheels on this weekend. Still a few things to do but I'm pretty happy none the less

Those factory wheels with high quality rubber on them look refreshingly fantastic.

That sucks, especially as you've only had it a short while. I reckon it heard you lusting after the E92 M3 last week, and thinking it's life was over asked the other car to put it out of its misery.

Hey everyone. Thanks for the messages and kind words. I shifted through about 50 texts, calls and Facebook messages after it happened - it was sort of like I had a lost a member of the family, and to be fair I have. The cops were great to work with. The senior constable in. Charge turned to me and said in the 18 years on the job, never has he seen a women so distraught and upset about a car. So topped that record!! I've been to see it at the yard. It was pretty heart breaking. I'm hoping somewhere, someone can manage the fix for the insured value but it doesn't seem hopeful. It will most likely be a write off. Ray and his team are the only ones capable of achieving the job to perfection in bringing her back, but it's now a matter of time and money... The lady who hit me is at fault for the damage (go figure) and I'm pleased she walked out alright. Right now, my time is spent wondering how to get this beast back on the road, as I'm pretty shot my dream car was taken so soon.. It was a split thought of 'Friday's = No Traffic let's take it out' and I'm going to regret it everyday. Sure there are probably other cars out there, but this M3 was 'my' car, so it's still shattering. I will keep everyone updated, and thanks again for the support!

Personally think you could have left it for Amber to break the news on Bimmersport. I would be very pissed off if i stacked the E30 and someone saw it and posted it up. Its hard enough to come to the realisation your pride and joy is crashed as it is. Has happened to two of my cars now, though both not as bad as this one, so can feel her pain.

http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/bmw/auction-883482242.htm Lots of very good clean looking work here - but that paint colour, wheel choice and gearknob kill it for me... For that price though I'm sure it would be a fun drive! Looking at the seller, has anyone had dealings with them?

Have to agree with huff3r and kiwi535, 50 clicks above traffic speed whilst lane splitting is a recipe for disaster and probably pisses off cage drivers more than meandering past about 20-30 clicks. Some drivers are great with checking mirrors and giving a little extra room and then there are a few wankers that will do fake lane changes or try and squeeze you. At a set of lights it's a lot safer for the motorcyclist to filter to the front of the line. It prevents the rider from being rear ended by a distracted driver and allows a car to take the space that the bike would have occupied. The bike should be able to clear the intersection before becoming an obstruction to vehicles around them. Lane filtering has now become legal in NSW and in California it's a requirement that you move out of the way of a lane splitting motorcyclist. Anyway... my 10 cents.

I think it is one of the students at Strathallan... Certainly seen something very similar in the car park there.

bump, would consider some sort of trade with Audi RS4 (2006-2008), C63 AMG, E63 W212 AMG

The Lady or the car?

More Cooling System I (practically) finished the job today, all the covers need to go back on but I needed the car to cool down after filling and testing. Today it took much, much longer than I expected - around 6 hours all up and that's on top of the time I described in my recent post! The journey I went through, appended to the last list is: 12. remove radiator (and clean dead animals from front) 13. attempt to remove hose clamp from back of water pump (fail) 14. remove 5 water pump bolts 15. crank engine by hand for clearance for 6th water pump bolt 16. loosen water pump with rubber mallet 17. spend 60 mins accessing and loosening hose clamp (as per #13) 18. remove water pump 19. spend 60 mins cleaning half of the old gasket off -- break for beer. 20. spend another hour cleaning the other half <angry> 21. install new pump and gasket (curse for not noting exactly how the hose mated) 22. spend 20 mins second-guessing where the hose should mate 23. torque water pump bolts 24. install and torque thermostat and housing 25. realise I've failed to install the engine bracket 26. undo thermostat housing bolts, place engine bracket, reinstall housing bolts 27. install TPS and bracket 28. install belts 29. install radiator and hoses 30. install new return line to expansion tank 31. fill with coolant That took a lot longer than I expected and was much more intricate than I expected. To be honest it was a real PITA! And just to make me feel even better the water pump that came out seems to be in perfect condition (it's original based on the stamped production date and it has a metal impeller - manufactured week 23 1996). + 1. The hose clamp I needed to remove at the back of the pump was obviously done up at the factory with the engine out of the car, it was almost entirely inaccessible and I had to turn the head about 1 degree each time, it took me a seriously ridiculous amount of time to get this out. 2. The lowermost bolt on the water pump (S50B32 only) is accessible through a slot in the harmonic balancer, crank the engine manually to align access slot. 3. After spending 60 mins scraping 50% of the old gasket off I pulled out the Dremel with a couple of abrasive buffs and spent another 60 mins cleaning it all up and making it smooth. Least satisfying two hours of my life. 4. Self bleeding coolant systems rock! + Given that the thermostat and water pump I replaced look perfect I'm not sure this job was worth the anguish I went through but it's done now and, aside from leak paranoia, should be something less I need to worry about. We shall see...

Simple answer is,... Ask them about their history with the car... If the tell you porkies then walk away... I've driven quite a number of the new Minis (although my preference is the Classics/GTs etc , having owned quite a few)... The only thing I could recommend is, unless it's absolutely necessary to do otherwise, buy yourself a manual... its a much better car and far more engaging to drive...

Mate had one (a chick) and it was okay, kinda lame, uncomfortable, small and kinda clunky to drive. If I ever bought one it would have to be extremely hotted up, I kinda of see them like a better version of the Beetle, a quirky ladies car.

Thanks E.HO always helpful Does no one else have any thoughts on Minis '05 - '08 in general? Whittled my list to three I could be partial to - however one has a busted sunroof. I've researched this and once your get over peoples hyper inflated mark-ups looks like it could be a $500-$600 job. Auto sparkies ?

That one's been for sale for a while. Tidy example but over priced for a standard 850i dressed up as a csi. Discussed elsewhere in the TradeMe section.

It over heated because one of the pipes burst the one near passenger headlight. And just sencor oh we'll I have given up on the car besides got a new car so this one can go as it is Rear tailights $100) Angle eye headlights $200 (neg) Motor $500 Motorsport seats- $320 whole lot Motorsport wheels with types $600 (neg) Other parts just ask and I will see what I can do

Liking the hi tech solution to be able to undo the sump.plug,and get a tray under the v8

This looks like it would be fun

Hmm, not sure that makes it any easier, 320i becomes a 320t but so does the 325i and the 328i, three different models all with same number.On the X5 you then get the xDrive30t, the xDrive30tt and the xDrive30ttt...?? Could start selling "t" badges as well as "//M" badges on TardMe..

Yes, trying to avoid drinking too much coolant! Pump came off okay but the old gasket is making life difficult, I've spent an hour on that so far and it's only half off!

i always move closer to the left or right if i see a bike in my rear view mirror. its not difficult but i imagine it makes life a tiny bit easier for riders especially if they have those big cruiser type bikes which are quite wide

People who swerve into my path (Purposely) whilst I'm lane-splitting to work in the morning on my motorcycle. It's been previously mentioned that kiwi drivers for some reason stick as far right in their lane as possible - usually this leaves me a decent margin to head down the motorway (Generally 40-50kph if traffic stopped, plenty of room for emergency braking if needed, and with people generally not adhering to the indicate for at least 2 seconds before changing lane it is often needed). Some people are lovely and move over when they see me coming..however recently with traffic being worse than usual I've had several people seem to want to take out their frustration by attempting to...well, kill me.

please no one on this forum apologise for being a man

Need to make your own vanos blanking plate as the TU head has a slightly different cutout for the vanos unit. Stock blanking plates leave a tiny gap on the exhaust side of the TU head at roughly 7 o'clock. Took me about 60 minutes to knock one out by hand using a hacksaw & file and a flat bit of 5mm junk ali. Not pretty but it worked

^ Agreed. That said though - rampant radical feminism. Sick to death of hearing how bad/wrong/sexist I am in the news everyday. Men and Women are different - that is all.

They no nuffink overseas...

I'm seeing a 4.5

You could not pay me to own anything from VAG group. The horror stories of service costs and that always present fear your gearbox is going to explode. Guy at work has his RS4 getting a new box. I think he was looking at well over $10K. But I agree with the BMW model numbers. 'Equivalent to' is a stupid way of doing it. Yes the E36 323i's and E39 540's from the 90's were not actually 2.3ltr and 4ltr motors. But they were close to what they were. Why not just a 320t for a 2ltr Turbo. Or the 330tt for the 3ltr twin turbo. While they are at it they can get rid of the 4 series. Everyone said you would get used to it. That never happened. Would take the proper M3 any day.

f**k no

Seriously... They're sh*te.

It might be rare and collectible but still looks like a Austin Maxi to me.

I guess it's a catch-22 for BMW. The older numbers (the higher the went after the series number) was a marketing point, i.e. how big is your willy. Now they have the more powerful smaller engines, but probably don't want their whole line up to be 320s, 520s etc., the 328i is too good to scrub out as a designation. So now it's not the size, it's how you use it! Maybe they should just come up with a new range of numbers that still go up, but make more sense. Remember that this started with the e39 though, the 540i is a 4.4l.

soooo theyre doing an e36 m3us again. Confusionware all over the interwebs now

Ahh sorry to hear ..... i'm sure with the insurance $$$, Ray will sort it out for ya. Doesn't look too bad. Gotta love other peoples driving aye following to close on the motorway. I try leave a decent gap for myself in front not only for myself but for the chad up my ass who apparently has lighting fast reflexes, a big brake kit and brand new high end tires (in their mind) . This isnt always easy in rush hour though.

I expect the 340i badge to become the newest fad, coupled with 12 ///M badges to show how cool you are...

Take daughter to hospital on a Friday night, no pi$$ed people, no fight victims, no abusive addicts, no long queues. Great doctor works out her condition quickly , sorts breathing issues to manageable level and we get to take her home on the same evening.

For repair of ask unit in e65 go to diyparadise and search cd ask repair kit and if you can use a small solder iron its very easy. If you think its to difficult you can take to any repair shop as the instruction are very clear and they will probably do for around 100dollars

Gave the little car a wash and cleaned the wheels etc.

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.