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Nice 7 year thread bump

Well here you have it folks: Write up on ECC for those who want to read it all! Huge thanks to Ray, Daniel Kim, Work Wheels (Harvey) Precision Autowerk, ECC Crew, United Car Care. List goes on. Was almost in tears seeing it roll out after two months of work. Went with P Zeros.. and love them. All Photos: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.473028526229437.1073741836.433587906840166&type=3&hc_location=ufi Some here:

Ah we just enjoyed the 'opinions' + 'opinion of opinions = stupid' in the ex-govt 730LD thread I agree when you look at TCO then 'higher fuel use = more$$' no matter what the rate per km is. But if there is a focus on the l/100km rate itself then open road driving does mean you get more km for the $$ you're spending. It feels better spending $10 getting to the next town than getting to the next set of lights. If you're going to drop more than $30K on an X5 then there's no argument that a modern diesel is just awesome and that's where the market is focused today. Diesels do carry a premium and do have better resale. I would much rather have my boss' 18-month old X5 M 4.0D than my V8 X5 I can assure you - not least for the performance If however you're like me then a V8 is cheap ($10k) and I think fun - costs way less to buy, sounds way better, goes well and because I can only drive one of my V8s at a time the kms won't be very high (maybe 7500 per year). My 3 lads think it rocks and my 6 year gets to choose which V8 we take in the morning (most days).

I've said a little about attempts to fit a towbar to the 320d. Efforts yesterday evening were, I now know, doomed to failure. For reasons unknown, our car is a teensy bit different to some others. All suggestions received were valid. And more than likely would work on some other Tourings. Not ours, sadly. The only way to remove the bumper on our car is to remove the entire frame and all. It's not possible to get to the bumper mount torx bolts to release them while the bumper is on the car - even if there were holes in the underside of the bumper, the plastic trim holding the reversing sensors obscures access to the bolt heads. And removing that is a no-no... 6 or more plastic push pins, and plastic locking tongues. Most of which you can't see. Just unclipping the four connectors is a bit of a mission. So, I removed lots of in-boot trim. Then, using my 18mm spanners and sockets (everyone has 18mm, right? Check the sets available in Repco and SCA and you'll see why I say that) I loosened the 6 nuts on the back of the bolts securing the bumper mounts to the car. Hmm. actually, only 4 were doing anything... More on that in a bit. Have you tried being under the car holding a spanner on something you can't see while being in the boot holding another spanner or ratchet? Got there in the end. Once the bumper is off the car, things don't look quite right. When the previous towbar was fitted, the bumper mounts were cut, completely removing one of the mounting holes. (See what I mean about only 4 bolts doing anything? I didn't know this until it was off the car.) Pics showing the location of the torx bolts: It looks like you could get to them, but there's only about 40mm between the head and the plastic part of the bumper. Add in being under the car and trying to avoid everything else under there, with a very limited arc to swing a tool through, and it's just not worth the grief. Especially as the mounting bracket has to come off anyway. The towbar itself, as collected from Nathan, complete with bolts, nuts and washers (thanks Nathan. ). The bar bolts through the bumper mounts, and there are four bolts which bolt through the rear vertical wall of the spare wheel well, and two more bolts which bolt through the bottom of the spare wheel well. (Our car did once have a towbar and there are two holes in the bottom of the spare wheel well, but none in the rear vertical wall.) It fits on the car. You can see three of the four mounting points against the rear wall of the spare wheel well. The bolts on the towbar are all a much more usual 19mm head. Unfortunately the mounts to the bottom of the spare wheel well are not only in a different place, but also sit 0.25-0.5" below the well. Possibly the difference between a spare wheel well for a space-saver tyre and one designed to hold a 'proper' wheel? Regardless, that'll need sorting. In the interests of checking things out, I have persuaded the towbar and rear bumper to mate. This shows how the bumper mount sits against the towbar. Now, I could grind back a little more bumper mount, space the towbar off the body, and fit it all up. Or, I could get another couple of bumper mounts and do the job properly. I'm putting it all back together without the towbar. I'll get the bumper mounts. I'm going to need to grind the lip (circled in red) back on the new mounts anyway... When (finally) getting this sorted, I'll mount the towbar on to the mounts and then mount the bumper on to the towbar. Then mount the whole lot as a unit back on to the car. ... but at least I can be happy knowing everything is so much closer to how it really should be. Looking at the bar when fitted on the car, the lateral bar that bolts under the spare wheel well looks as though if it were unpicked, turned over and re-welded, it should fit nicely. Bit of a faff, but again, it means it's done properly. Right. Best get it all back together. Need to have it on the road so I can go to work in the morning! I've marked the holes in the vertical wall of the spare wheel well, so I'll drill (and plug) those now in prep for doing it all again another time. And to think I could have been chatting at Kyu's and enjoying some sunshine and coffee!!

great work! and patience. 18mm? Already there mate, after years of working on my Volvo, I make sure any spanner or socket set has 16 and 18mm, plugging the gaps between 15 & 17 & 19mm.

Thanks man. Vogtland springs.. Just a hint lower than stock.

Chur. Got the centrecaps from Trademe (seller bought the wrong size).

Pm sent

Hey Graham, when I'm back up in Auckland you can come and see how it mounted to my parts car and grab the bumper mounts off it.

It's been a while since I've updated this thread, so here goes! Finally got the engine in and running with the help of a few mates and Ray at HellBM. Not without some hiccups along the way of course. Managed to make it to the end of year ECC meet. After driving here and home again we established that the poly mounts were over the top and decided to swap them out for rubber oem ones pronto. Next trip after was off to Hampton Downs to watch the One Hour Endurance race as part of the BMW Race Driver Series. A mighty set of scales appeared and we took this opportunity to weigh her for shits and giggles. A solid 1300kgs. Check our Keith's cheeky grin! I also established that the car could make a great tent! Up north we went to Waipu where we went camping. Not without a few problems along the way though... Overheating (ish). Thanks to Jibs who followed me back to the North Shore afterwards to make sure I got back without breaking down. New radiator hose fixed that issue. Then come Christmas holidays it was time to freshen up a few bits and pieces. Throw back to the 80s where the car finally got given a badge for the tailgate (thanks Lance - Merry Christmas) Uh oh... found a small spot of rust where the antenna is... Fixed/Cleaned up But still leaking?! Then we decided we needed to put the car to use.. what it was designed to do. Hello Hampton Downs here we come! Opened her up to see how she looked... Simon then found some sweet wheels for his race car... of course first they shall be test fitted on the Touring to see how it looks (still on their way from overseas - can't wait) Got the new springs in. Super Lows in the rear and 4cyl race series springs in the front... thoughts? The body has now clicked over the 360,000 km mark. Time to find out where this leak was coming from round the front roof area. Pulled out the headlining fearing the worst.... but pleasantly surprised to find no rust. Headlining has seen better days though! Next up, fog lights. Found some cheap very cracked ones. Found some plastic lens on the interwebs and fixed them up. Good as new. Uh oh... so this happened. Good person though for leaving a note. No sweat, prompted me to give the car a refresh. Time ti paint the bumper trimmings. The exhaust has been sitting wonky for some time so time to fix that up too. Now sits perfect with the correct brackets. Along the way we also got some nice interior throughout the last few months. Installed now and feels luxurious. Car attacked me however when installing... Also redid the side skirts, freshened them up... Found a minor imperfection just in time... Haven't got a decent picture since last weekend with the side skirts back on but here she is next to her younger but chubbier sister. Sourced a brand new OEM Sunroof panel from our friends at BMW NZ.... To be painted next week and also the rust fixed up. Once back I hope to get the headlining done ASAP as well as the car tinted. For any one who can help, I'm also after the following parts pictured below. I hope to keep you guys a little bit more updated going forward

Oops that's mean really I must reconsider and I will miss my brand new F25 and F16 what I have at Bulgaria. I will try to find better solution then. I will be not in a hurry as I am living for now downtown Auckland central 1010 and I am ok at the moment, but once I decide to move out of the central part I must to be ready with solution even before that! That's why I am researching now and look out the market in here and I am finding it very exotic. Especially the second hand vehicles market it's pretty good with so many almost new but old fashioned cars and I love it. In Europe 8-10 years old car under 100000km you can not find. No way! In here I saw a lot beautiful old and outdated lovable cars even around 45-50000km which is amazing. I love that! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

yes i beleive if you do longer distances the diesel is best.Shorter distances petrol is preferable.I can not help with LPG conversions.Some people will have differing opinions.on the break even point between petrol and diesel.Some do not like the engine characteristics of diesels.Some prefer the smooth revability f the V8.Some like the torque of the diesel and the extended range and economy at the pump of the diesel.Some say the crd will have a very high repair cost at some point(injection pump or DPF).

New record for oldest thread dig!?!!!! Nearly 13 years Try looking in the meetings sub forum and there are different regions in there. http://bimmersport.co.nz/forum/26-wellington/

Probably about right, E65 has no right being more then this, exterior on this looks pretty good, but the interiors of the E65 for me are just dated and not special. If you didn't care it would likely be a great cruiser no doubt

I am agreed with you. I am changing my mind now accordingly and I am about to buy now an petrol version however I have back in Bulgaria this beauty and I can not bring in New Zealand due to LHD issue. It's pretty expensive to turnout into RHD, that's why I didn't bring it in here unfortunately.

Just sayin.....

12v to 5v and logic relay arrived. Finishing mock up for Raspberry Pi Cd Stacker replacement

diesels are a a lot more expensive for the same variant.If you are only doing lowish ks you would take years to get the savings back

Yip agree Peter, I went E38 over the E61 550, every time I drive it, it reinforces the decision. Even if it's likely to be less reliable, who cares To ensure I cover the reliability bit, just bought two

so maybe in this new world of electrickery I guess Wide Open Throttle is no longer applicable. Wide Open Potentiometer (WOP)? #; )

I remember seeing a similar sight at the local shopping mall. E39 driver parked across two disabled car parks. I asked the driver if he was mentally disabled...... Mean while a guy in his 80s ? walks across the crowd car park, looks at me and then the e39 driver and chuckles at the conversation I'm having

E30 tourings where its at!

Nice wee score! Got it all figured out for ya: M62 + VF s/c + 420G + BBS LM. always reckoned I was good at algebra

If I had a large budget, I'd do a built M50B25 using a B28 crank, Forged pistons & rods with a Link ECU. More original than chucking a jappa motor in, and a setup that can pump out some big numbers if you have the $$$