Leaderboard

Too true, Its worth more to me than it is to the market so may as well keep it and enjoy it. Not likely to be able to replace it easily either.

So some plans for the near future are: Window tints Some kind of exhaust Braided brake lines Wheels with good tyres

Look i hate to rag on a guys post, but you need to fix the exhaust, looks like the hangers have gone AWOL , back box is hanging down two inches lower than it should be!!

Stance!

Spent many hours on my E38 this weekend getting it all legal and ready for ECC meet next weekend. Since i have got it the back has bounced all over the place, so got some second hand rear struts off Dave and put those in, what a difference. Sure they are probably getting a bit tired, but some shocks is better than nothing! Next time I do it ill do the H&R/Billy combo Also replaced front brake pads, very easy on this car, it has the factory 4 pot Brembo calipers, you dont even need to remove the caliper just two pins to knock out the side and away. spend more time jacking the car and taking the wheels off Replaced left lower arm, wof fail, boring Tighted up right front shock, bolt in backwards from previous owner, knuckle was sitting loosely in the strut tube, i highly doubt it could ever fall out but i never would have spotted that underneath, I doubt a normal mechanic would either, was VTNZ that found it since they use the wheel shaker machine over the pit you can see all front suspension moving very well. Then realised I didnt have a compatible brake pad wear sensor so rang around, found one today at Repco Masterton, so that was excuse enough to mission over the hill to check the car is all tickety boo for the run to Auckland on Saturday. front suspension fixes has also made the steering wheel sit dead straight too instead of slightly to the left Car handles very well for such a big car, but the new limitation is the tyres, Will have to buy some for the front at least this week I think, I just dont feel safe with them. Back can wait, its only a 728 and has ASC so its never going to even think about slipping in the back. But its a big heavy car, needs good grip for turning and braking in the back. Sorry for long post. Dont have a project thread for this car as while its getting attention like its just another car from me, its still a hack in my mind i guess! Dont get me wrong i really love the E38, but just not sure the one i fall in love with should be a 728i lol.

So picked this up from Dunedin and drove back to Morrinsville over a couple of days. Wow what a drive, 1500 kms with a mixture of boring straights, amazing scenery, mad hairpins, wicked roads, mental tourists and flickering traction control lights Special thanks to Mason in Dunedin for checking it out for me, LEGEND! Replacing the E500 as the daily driver. Will use this as a bit of a record of works etc. as they come up. So to the details: M62TUB44 540i, Steptronic box Production date 26.07.1999 , Jap export version, first registered NZ 2008 Colour: Biarritzblau Metallic (363) M-Sport Package, sports suspension II, told M5 rear bumper/ Mirrors and M5 exhaust (pic for ref) happy to be told otherwise. Be interested to know. Purrs real nice ! Mileage :152000 km's Summary: Well maintained engine, drivetrain, mechanicals. Stored outside for 3 years but cared for. Works completed by PO: Valve cover gaskets, PCV Valve, all cooling hoses, Valve covers blasted and powder coated, Various engine gaskets, battery replaced, plugs replaced, glass headlight fronts replaced, had three and half years did 20000kms. Avoided metal roads like the plague! Works to do: Aircon doesn't work, apparently not need in DUN (?). been to Hamilton Cool Air and searching for leaks, nothing apparent - refilled and returning for die testing in a fortnight. Clay bar paint surface. Polish and wax. Detail interior. Detail Exterior. Rear window regulator broke on the way down with putting the windows down all the time with no AC, lol. Replacement ordered arriving tomorrow. May put NZ 4:3 or 16:9 radio with RDS in as currently just Business Jap version with band expander, works really well though. Other then that looks OK. Just given it its first wash to remove 1500kms of grime, muck and bugs.

Insurance would never pay out, has aftermarket smoked tail lights.

Came accross this, was wondering if someone could take it for a test drive for me: http://www.turners.co.nz/Damaged-Vehicles/Search/BMW/3-Series/11284379 Has heaps of stance:

I know I'm being a bit OCD about this but having had and toured around on a old R 100 CS as well as owning a BMW with 4 wheels I feel the need to point out the distinction. Back in the day when BMW and BSA where racing against each other they where affectionately known as Beamers and Beezers. They have 2 wheels..lol Bimmer is a car. Beamer a bike.

Excellent, I look forward to hearing it at one of our Coffee meets in Penrose!

I know, the curse of the timing guides, oh well probably have the E38 go at the same time, lol

Lol^^ True story. I do know of one female enthusiast who has done the bling bling. It was depressing. Anyways. Nice evening shot. And Purchased some Vogtland springs which are being installed this week.

More wood the better!

Hey James, took this for a burn for you this afternoon. Was pretty gutless but that's a 318i for you I guess, barely felt like I was moving. Engine was whisper quiet so no bearing issues to worry about or intake leaks. It did have some bad points, the tires were a little under 1.5mm, the interior wasn't in great nick (owner could be a smoker?) Brent probably has a new interior if you want to swap that over. Great custom paint job and it sure is sacked in the weeds, must have had windscreen replaced that was crystal clear. Maybe a tribute to 'rusty'?

Minus the $280 buyers fee - https://www.turners.co.nz/Damaged-Vehicles/Buying/Buyer-and-Seller-Fees1/

Hey guys i thought id start one of these for my recently purchased e46 m3 as i never did for my previous car and now im wishing i had...so here it is 2002 M3 200k plus km (yes its high but im confident in m engines as some of you who knew of my previous car) Manual but was smg Had the floor pan and the bottom end bearing recall done. All sounds messy but i hope to make the car look and perform like it shoud despite the kms. Im working on the car as i go so bear with me guys So im abit ahead of myself here as this thread is slightly delayed. Ive had the car for about 3 months and its been the best car, as much as i like my old e36 this is in some ways a much better chassis. So the things ive done so far The front brakes were quite worn so they were the first on the list- A hefty price tag wasnt expecting them to be that expensive. The stereo exceeded my expectations as a factory unit but i missed all the functionality of my aftermarket e36 unit. So i found a cheap used dynavin unit which despite feels like an old smartphone is fantastic especially the navigation. So shortly after purchasing the car i discovered an oil leak which at first was not much of a concern for me as i thought i could easily fit, but it proved to quite troublesome to find i replaced a few gaskets but still no luck. Lots of drama over potential headgasket. It was a very slow leak but slowly leaked onto the exhaust which smelt and looked bad. After some research ive found the leak which was leaking from the timing chain guide. So my awesome family got me the personalized plate "MPROVD" for my birthday absolutely wrapped with it So thats about it for now. Bit of special post coming up in the next week which im very excited about soon to come

Hi all, haven't posted any pics of the E30 since I got it back, so here's a couple. As many of you know I sold this car three years ago and recently got the opportunity to buy it back. I'd always regretted selling it so it was a no-brainer really. Changes since I sold it: - Fitted with correct size 205/50/15 RE001's - Koni adjustables in front paired with the H&R springs I put in - Braided brake lines Specs for those who don't know the car '87 325i sedan (SA built) Manual conversion with Z3 short shift Rebuilt M20B25 AC Schnitzer body kit 15" BBS RS 001's Lowered on H&R sport springs Lots of things to be done as funds allow but in terms of driveability it's now sorted to the point where I can just enjoy it.

as stated im after a full set of Style128 wheels which I belive is off a X5, with or without tyres and in any condition, pref in 19z.. 02102480306 if you have what im after cheers

Very slow progress atm as have changed jobs recently and waiting for commissions and parts to arrive. so while waiting for all my bits to start work on the pull down and rebuild of the motor ive had done a few little bits to keep it moving forward. Also done a bit of work in the engine bay stripping and shaving/sanding before welding work begins hopefully get stuck into the engine bay after xmas Firstly i updated the speedo cluster a bit with carbon fibre trim (not 3m rubbish) black chrome trim rings and blue needles And also sent my hartge wheels away to be re-drilled (luckily just fits under the centre cap) and the lips split so i can start the re-build process they remind me of BBS RM's Looking at going with 2" front and 2.5" rear lips so the fit nicely (lips are currently 1.5")

S1000RR is on the to-buy list at some point - I miss my R6 and K4 ZX10, but the tech that they're putting into the new Beamers is insane.

ive used Captaintransporter a few times with success to go chch-wgtn and akl-wgtn (and back).

hard to say why that might happen unless the recepticle is all gunked up with ash etc? Piece of cake to change, i probably have one in my compact that is not needed you can have

Good to see you got it home safely! I never even thought to check the A/C sorry haha, when it gets above 20deg here it's just a windows down kind of thing. Really is a nice machine!

Score, probably my favourite E39 colour. Got it booked in to get the timing guides sorted yet? If they haven't started to rattle they will soon

usually you dont know about the plastic cooling bits being brittle and damaged until its too late. they can look perfect. Plastic came after the alloy, the alloy was not a revision. Having said that, I always revert back to alloy even on do up to sell cars if i am working in this area. Also, its not that BMW used poor plastic in the cooling systems, its just that its 20 years old now and gone through 100,000 heat cycles. furthermore, Kiwis dont do preventative maintenence, and wait till something breaks. And no E36 is still in the hands of the person that brought it new.

Other than the exhaust, thats a great looking car. It always makes me wonder though why BMW didnt fit the sedan with a front lip or decent sport seats (or even just vaders). Any pictures of the 130i?

Crikey that looks good for a pre facelift! Looks like regular Motorsport bumpers rather than M5.

Sorry Michael misunderstood your meaning, again agree its a better platform thus why they ran the 46 over a JDM. I will admit i like my old school JDM stuff i use to have x2 1978 Skylines very much enjoyed them

Fair point Andy, will keep an eye out for an M40 one. Like to have everything all legal, and the less hassle at cert time the bettter. I've been around Hamilton for a few years, just lurk around on the forums mostly haha.

have 2 rears and 2 halves of the fronts $hit taiwain alloy when it breaks looks like old intake manifolds

No mate, zero drone, nice rumble at start up and acceleration, then settles down, pretty damn near perfect for me

First off, this is so much better than the outgoing Mercedes! Night and day! Looks like an excellent buy all things considered. How does the exhaust sound, looks like a pretty interesting setup. Is there much drone?

Great to see Dave, the workmanship from xboss is something isn't it. The colour matching looks superb, to be honest probably better then OEM

looks great! Well done, much better than the poxy old merc. Do you have more photos of how the exhaust runs on the RH side of the tyre well to the tips? It looks like the tyre well is intact, is the spare in there still?

^Tennis is also awesome!

cant believe they would even bother trying to sell that!

Buy for $1 Sell to scrappie for $100 $$$

So bought an E38 735 donor last night, will be stripping the running gear out and then probably keep the rolling chassis for 2 weeks for anyone who wants any parts, then will head to the scrappies. Also started on the paint stripping, takes some time, but way better then sanding.. Will spend the rest of the week getting the exterior paint removed

Oosh that linkage is badass

coz rfb

Cooler? I would agree As for better? I know the inside workings of this engine i had to design the headers to work around the turbo i supplied and sponsor him with, bottom line the 2j makes 1100hp on BP98 on 25psi and isnt even straining in the slightest. On E85 its well over 1400 with another 200 shot of Nos. It wont be hard to see 1600 hp on turbo alone, now please correct me but what would it take to get a S50 to match this ? You wont be able to match what it cost to build the 2J to stand up to this punishment compared the S50, ive done stock 2J's with bolts on's doing 800hp all day without touching inside on a high Km motor. If my new M50 turbo motor im building ever packets a sad itll be a 2J or my new favorite a turbo S85. Each to their own i guess.

Having driven them all(except the 730i) the 740i is still my favorite. Luv the torque of the 750i but that big donk in the front gives it a different feel to the sportier 740i. I feel a lot more confident throwing the 740i around the corners than I do in the 750i.

Funny how things work out. I really didn't like it in the 750i. But if you check my 740i thread you'll see that I put it in there. And I love it. I think it matches the black interior of the 740i where as with the blue in the 750i it looked like a big black hole in the middle of the console. The guy who gave me the wood pieces I've just installed is looking at doing a wood bezel for the 16:9. When he does I may look at it again. lol

Inspect and replace anything plastic in the cooling system (Water pump, thermostat housing, any pipes/fittings etc) as unless you have proof that this has been done then you need to treat it like it hasn't been. Cooling systems on e36's are terrible, bmw used a lot of cheap plastic parts that fail, however they later revised the parts with metal/alloy (such as thermostat housing and water pump impeller). I'd not take it on a road trip until you confirm that you won't have any trouble with the cooling system.

Nice looking car. Do you mind if I ask approx what you paid? I might be looking for something similar. Now, there are a few people on here that can tell you how to plonk an S50 in there you know?

nice ride , they normally leak from behind the oil filter housing , the o-rings go hard . check that 1st before doing the crank seal , common mistake . oil always goes down and back see here . part 5 http://bmwfans.info/parts-catalog/E36-Compact/Europe/318ti-M44/R-A/mar2000/browse/engine/lubrication_system_oil_filter/ http://ills.bmwfans.info/rp.png

A very nice fellow(Xboss) in the US who has been watching my thread on Bimmerforums sent me these a while ago. They where prototypes and had no clips on the back and no holes in the homelink panel. He gave them to me to see if I could do something with them. So I spent the day very very carefully attaching some metal clips I made and cutting holes in the homelink panel for the mic and sunroof switch. Have to say the result was stunning. Heres the old panel for comparison. lol And heres the panel I was sent sitting in place. And there's usually a leather covered panel under the center console armrest. Here's the one he gave me. His workmanship is incredible. He's now doing piano black finishes with chromeline edging as well as the wood finished panels which now come with clips already attached. Heres a link to his thread if anyone's interested. http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?2085016-Wood-home-link-panel-prototype-is-finally-done

This has been around for a while but I came across it again. Good for a laugh.

750i master cylinder is a bolt on upgrade for E30's (has to be the 25mm one from an E32). Improves the squishy pedal feel that most E30's have.