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I read somewhere the system is setup to simulate the Nurburgring Nordeshleife. Pretty cool though!

Haha who is this Murray55 expert?

Hi all, About a 9 months ago I bought a manual '96 e36 323i sunroof sedan in Arctis Grey, and no the sunroof doesn't work properly. Purchased 17x8 and 17x9 staggered style 32 wheels which rubbed quite hard on the rears so I rolled the guards. Spent some time at pick a part - found a couple of good scores like an m50 manifold for about $60 I bought and installed Yellowspeed Adjustable suspension because the wheel gap on the front hurt my eyes The extra stiffness was enough to pop out one of my grills, which was moderately upsetting Replaced them with some black grills, I'm unsure if I'm going to go back to OEM chrome surrounds as I'm generally a purist when it comes to Aesthetic mods so we'll see how much they niggle my conscience. This is the overall look of the car now, fairly happy with it. A couple of months ago I bought a manual '92 e36 325is coupe as a donor and have since stripped out the diff, box, block and other goodies. I am in the process of building this engine for a single vanos +T setup to transplant into the 323i. Here are some flicks of the goings on so far! More to come . . .

S$#t that's some history. Well they are now a much lighter manual version and should last for years more. The E34/E32 leather is wicked. I also have the back seat but mine is as good condition so neither here or there. I have the leather console, but I have been thinking of going full custom, something lower profile etc. I still have to do those big meats too come summer, I guess the fact the car is running beautifully means I just wanna drive the blasted thing. I will get some in-car shots of the seats. Here's some more shots. Electric headrest thingy...out you go! See the silicone I have put at the bottom of this bolster. The bolster material disintegrates over time as it hits the metal chassis of the chair, which is why you might see yello/orange brownish bread crumbs under your seat. So a sliver of this inside the cavity will stop this somewhat. I let it dry before assembly. Just checking fitment. The chassis are very close, only subtle differences, but still check 15 times fit once as they say. So checking fitment of side bolsters with clean tatty leather, both bolsters have been 'siliconed' for strength and peace of mind, just the cavities. Same check, but with bolsters cleaned, filled, sanded, filled , sanded and brush painted many times, then sprayed 3 times, 3 clear coats. Remember the spray coats are light as. Here I have jammed a hunk of padding in the lumbar area. Flash aye? I have also doubled the amount of bracing bits in certain areas because...I can. See the unpainted areas...big difference, and I was going from blue too. Just a paint brush at this stage. If the leather wasn't so buggered I may have used bits of foam. So I just poured it into an old ice cream container and painted them nicely, you don't want large brush strokes OR bristles in your leather. I ended sanding sh*t loads of bristles out, hence the numerous coats, so plenty of sanding too between coats. In this picture I am showing you the plastic cable ties. Bull nose clips..hell no, too heavy too much hard work for me. So they all get thrown out. Cable ties also mean you set the tension and they are a lot more flexible...or not depending on how you work them suckers.

"Jap import" are only words. If you like the look of a car and it runs okay then buy it. It is rare for a truly bad import to get landed these days and it is mainly the non-english aspects of the car (and radio etc.) that puts people off. People forget that all cars are imported into NZ, and it is just where they have done their km's that is the problem.

I've just acquired a '95 E36 328 auto, jap import, 90k. It's got the jatco jerk, but otherwise the slushbox does as slushboxes do. I'm not really a fan of them in general so may look to sell and get an M3 when funds allow... Body, interior, etc are all pretty immaculate for a car of this age, again, not the color or interio options I would have preffered though. Few little bits to fix, like dead pixels on the OBC, dead light on same (anyone imported a stockpile of bulbs for cheap?). Will sift around the site finding solutions to many of these I'm sure. Put 1000k on it last weekend, rides very nice. Anyway, here are the pics...

As per title, anyone have one of these around easily accessible? Even to borrow for a few weeks/ couple of months? It would save me rolling round in the mud several times instead of just once Cheers Lance

Yep - my leased cars had oil changes - nothing else as per schedule. They even put a clutch plate back in when doing a trans repair out of warranty (synchro repair), and tech told me it had about 10K of life left (getting close to end of lease!), it lasted 12K and they had to replace it before my lease expired, at 3 years and 160kms. The were betting they could sell it to some poor sucker, before having to spend a couple of hundred on a clutch. Hell - the last two had more windscreens than either spark plug changes and air filters COMBINED! Another time the rear brake linings had 0.5mm left, and they told the dealer to leave them in until I complained of noise! The ex-lease cars sold as "well serviced" are a complete crock!

I concur with most, and disagree with Ron (again, surprise surprise). Ive had a few Jap imports, and a couple NZ New. My M3 was NZ New, but because of the type of car it was it was well looked after but was really basic in terms of options. On the flip side my first E36, E46 and E39 were all Jap imports. The E36 was low km, but felt worn out and the jatco box shat its self. Otherwise it was spotless inside and out. The E46 was moderate km, felt tight, drove well and was also tidy inside and out. Only issues i had was a perished intake pipe which wouldve happen to any car. The E39 was high KM, felt and drove nice and tight, spotless inside and out. Nice strong engine and trans. Ive also owned heaps of "jappas" that were imports without any issue. NZ New ex fleet cars are probably the worst of the bunch, "full service history" means its had oil changes and nothing else because it costs money, bare basic options, and likely a hard life. Dont overlook a car because its an import, overlook it because its condition or history.

yep its a 5L not a 305 lol

Within a whisker of the M54B30, so 3l. M50 has a slightly taller deck height than M54 but I don't think it makes much more than a couple cc difference. Drops the static compression from 10.5:1 to somewhere in the 9s. Personally I'd only go down that path if you like the idea of a turbo, otherwise just stick with the M54 - alloy block is around 30kg lighter than its ferrous cousin. More power and less weight = much Keeping the dual Vanos requires a suitable aftermarket ECU as the stock DME will only work if you transplant the fly by wire throttle, ABS brakes, dash cluster, key receiver and a bunch of other headache inducing gadgetry across from the donor car. Agreed, but it does make it expensive to find a suitable ECU and a major pain to tune. Better to set it up as a single vanos engine and run it off a 413 DME remapped for the new fuel curve. Recently learned the M43 uses a block mounted crank sensor that sends a VR signal as opposed to the hall type M54 one, so it should be a case of swapping the crank & cam sensors for other ones to provide the 413 with a signal it can understand. I understand the oil pressure keeps the exhaust cam at 0˚ retard, from what I've read the exhaust side is more for emissions than torque / power gains so it might as well be ignored. Neat little engines though, as you say they rev very happily and still produce enough grunt to launch our 2 tonne wagon about with ease. Probably quite economical mated to a manual gearbox too.

That is certainly NOT the case with all Jap imports (meaning BMW here) To tar them all with the same brush is rediculous. Not everyone wants a manual" Not all have "rooted" suspension Not all have "rubbish" tyres Not all have "rubbish" brakes Not all have "tired" engines The Jap market cars generally are better specced "more boxes ticked - Nav etc. Not so much now with near new cars as in the last few years the NZ spec cars have been higher than in years gone by where they used to generally be "poverty" spec Yes there will be cases of substandard cars out there, equally plenty of good examples with great bang for buck. Some Japs do service their cars, Equally, many kiwis don't, so the "NZ new" thing doesn't hold water. As mentioned - it is buyer beware, with any car. I bought our E39 in from Japan back in mid 2004. 24km, 4.5yrs old, documented service history, original 1/2 worn Michelin's, all 4 keys, and not a stone chip in sight! Came from Osaka, could have eaten your lunch from the underneath. Car has now done nearly 160km & has been virtually floorless in that time. Has had front rotors, front sway bar links, recently water pump & rear upper control links & a couple of slushy breather hoses . Has been serviced as it should. Even the Jap "slush box" is still fine. Yes the shocks are now getting a little passed their best (to be expected now) Apart from the usual BMW weaknesses - plastic cup holders/ seat bolsters etc, it has been a brilliant car so far. Sooo buy any car on its merits, after having it checked by someone in the know...

So it's (mathematically) two M20's with 3 M40 heads on? Is that metric? M54 is a nice engine - all alloy, so not too nose heavy. Probably going to use less fuel than an M30, with similar demands, but probably a better performer in full Vanos giuse - the M54's have an impressive torque curve, and are REALLY happy to rev. They're like an M20, but with some nice low down grunt. Plenty around too.

Cost of importing aftermarket stuff probably keeps a lot of people in NZ from doing upgrades. And for a laugh try asking the local dealers for a quote on some BMW performance addons.

Realized I haven't posted any pictures of the car outside... Also tried on one of my style 4 wheels. With or without center caps? It's a tight fit.

yes sort of with m40 heads

2 speed, up, and down. lol

Stop mucking around and put an M60 6 speed in it

I LOVE THIS STUFF! Reminds me of the engine rigs that also move about simulating track conditions.

Now on trademe including some absolutely incredible photos from roo... http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/mercedesbenz/auction-943046533.htm

Jap Import or NZ New, makes no difference when you're getting a used car with no factory warranty. What matters is the condition of the car, always get reputable a BMW specialist to inspect it. My 335i is a Jap import, I had been hunting for over 6 months and this one had everything I wanted and more. Only annoyance is the manual and service history is Japanese but you can download English manual online (just download one for one model year above yours, as the ones online are all American, where eg a 2006 BMW is labelled as a 2007 model in the US). When I looked up the chassis code, mine was still built in a German factory too. Not that it matters, I'm sure you couldn't tell the difference - they'll use the same parts. My E46 328i is NZ new. Saw no benefit from that.

I have a wee story that says YES report it he got 9 months (12 with 1/4 off peading guilty)

Fixed Juvenile jokes aside, nice work on the E34 dude!

Do the world a favour and run the c**t over and say it was self defence.

drive-by paintball gunning in an unknown car, with balaclavas

X4. I spewed.

Well here is a few pics from a few months ago now, with the leather restoration. Give them a clean as you do, do your carpets etc whilst you are in there. Its not too bad to do holes as I was swapping seats I had a lot of sacrificial leather hanging around, with the filler and glue, it's a breeze, if you can do basic panel beating you can do this, pays to have some natural artistry to you too I guess. Its pretty bad, another way would be to totally replace these I guess, but I like old s%$t and oh well. Normal clean, then of course there is the cleaner in the kit So once you have cleaned it too death, fill in the bits you really think needs it, you could spend a lifetime at this stage and if you want it looking new, this would be the hard way, I still wanted an old patina of sorts. With the filler and laborious sanding it's very rewarding. The turps takes off the glean and really is the etching stage. You can use a more specialized primer at this stage but I think Turps...S%$t could be meths, cant remember is vastly cheaper. Now its starting to blend in with the old leather, I used a brush too at this stage as the leather was pretty brutal...hence the brutal approach. Rubbing between is good, you don't have to be too fussy at this stage, not if you are spraying later, but you don't want large brush marks either. So in general you concentrate on the worst of the leather, no point layering in areas that are still good. Mind it's relative, these were pretty bad, so lots of elbow grease on these. The back seats of our cars will be a breeze. I wont even use filler, no need for glue and might go straight to spray for example. This is looking good now but keep in mind there could be 5-6 coats in some of the more worn areas. This is pretty much it. You don't need the last clear coat, but I wanted the better wear value included. Obviously you need loads of sandpaper of various grades just use your head. Pliers for all of those pesky bullnose clips in my case. You need plenty of rags, you need to buy your own Meths, yeah meths. You can make a fair mess with just two front seats and you need room to lay everything out methodically (theory of course, my garage was an abomination). So I bought a 3x4m Marque cheap s^%t one off trademe. Got a reel of number 8 and cut it in 12 inch lots to tie various pieces to the under carriage of the Marque. The instructions are comprehensive. But in general, use a very low pressure, high volume? Cant remember, but I just go by instinct. If you can paint, you can paint. Be patient, drying times a relatively quick too. This was an enjoyable mini project within the bigger project. Much more enjoyable than finding vacuum leaks that's for sure... I don't have pics in the car or fully assembled as I had to do that part real quick. But its been 8 months in the car, there has been some stickiness between the leather initially but then they settle. I think they look great, and so I have myself a full seat of front seats in black leather, not dark blue, that are fully manual and s*&t loads lighter than the originals. Im happy. Enjoy

Its Porirua, every second car is a Merc on cutz or a $300 E36. the other is an Estima with a mirror hanging off the back.

Gave it a wash.