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I've built this 135i into a 1M over the winter in my driveway. It has BMW factory 1M steel panels all bought new frpm BMW NZ. Changed out panels and rear guards using BMW factory repair methods, using BMW rivets and special rivet machine and epoxy. Runs all the right M3 parts, subframes, big d. shafts and LSD diff but has plenty of upgrades too. Basically take the entire 1M parts list and buy them and swap them to the 135i. I haven't worried about inside so much. Full bolt ons, 9" intercooler, intakes, catless, 3" exhaust, RB Next Gen turbos, cold and hot side intake pipes upgraded and modified, MHD E85 flash, JB4 G5 Iso, making around 650hp with meth and running E30. Stage 2 LPFP. I't runs 27lb boost. Meth installed over the xmas break and controlled via the JB4. KW V3 coilovers, vorshlag top camber castor plates. AP Radi-Cal brake kit all round. H&R sway bars, adjustable endlinks, Harder subframe bushes and most rubber parts changed out for Urethanes. 245/35/19, 295/30/19s. Manual 6spd. Upgraded clutch & plate from 550i. Carbon CSL boot lid. I've done all the work apart from the panel and paint in my driveway, head torch on my head, in the rain, frequently at night. Been a long slog, but worth it. Daily driver. According to BMW NZ this is NZ's first 1M clone. The way I treat cars and drive them, I couldn't/wouldn't modify a real 1M, nor could I afford one.

creating genuine surprise by driving courteously - they're all expecting you to be a complete arsebiscuit. more seriously, though.... the feel. A car whose rear follows either the front, or loud pedal inputs. the fit and finish. but did I mention the feel? back in the '90's, VW ran their "drivers wanted" campaign. They ran this as all the drivers were already gainfully engaged with their BMWs! Did I mention THE FEEL?

Are the E39 M5's at an all time low in regards to current market value? Really lovely looking machines. The interior colour looks pretty cool, but you can obviously see the front passenger seat has seen better days. Rather affordable to purchase....but i have no idea about M5 Maintenance....hope it goes to a good home. http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/bmw/auction-1214278766.htm

Many thanks to Rohan & Jasjot I finally have my new rims on my M535i, I am absolutely wrapped with them, look great & the drive/ride is much nicer Here are a couple of photos

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=1214116273 Cloth interior is a disappointment...and the price tag! I wonder what maintenance this got over the past 20 years...

rough m535i $6-8k mint ones $10-16k

Mmmmmmmm that colour. e28 firesale anyone?

I admire you doing this, I wouldn't even know where to start...

Our new push button start system on the budget build, WATCH OUT, MARTY HAS ACTIVATED THE LAUNCH SEQUENCE TO A NUKE....... This removes the need for a key, and yes the first 3 switch flicks were not necessary.....but were necessary to cool cool. One of those aux switches manually switches the stock aux fan on high speed. Enjoy!

Hey guys, I possibly introduced myself previous (about 10 years ago when I bought a 318i), but here goes. Picked up a 2005 E46 M3 (Silver Grey, SMG) a few weeks ago. It's the car I've wanted since I bought my 318i in 2006 :-) First steps are ensuring that the car is solid - it's going for an Inspection II + nose to tail check next week. Anyway - hi :-) Cheers, Matt

Re the tyres, all E90's (excl M3) came with run flats I believe. Recently replaced the factory Bridgestone run-flats (10yo technology) with Pirelli P-Zero run flats on my brother's car and they were a massive improvement, particularly compared with harshness of the OEM Bridgestones. They were only $80 more for the set of Pirelli's (2x 225R17 + 2x 255R17); around $1680 all up including balancing and alignment which I think is very reasonable... can't comment how they wear yet. I don't believe their is space for a spare under the boot tray so if you were to go that route you would need to store a spare in the luggage space or go with an "M-Mobility" style inflator goo kit.

Avoid the 320i like the plague as it has the worst motor bmw ever made. It will empty your wallet faster than you can blink.

Project update conclusion In the last few months, I've managed to get my hands on most of the parts I need to rebuild the engine and swap it into the e30. E28 535i Engine mounts Headgasket + seal kit Replacement MS41 Siemens DME + matching EWS bits (Thanks to Brent at BM World) E34 sump + dipstick tube + oil pickup (Thanks to Ray at Hell BM) Oil catch can Currently, I'm waiting while the head is getting professionally cleaned, and rebuilt with new valve stem seals. I'll have a decent amount of free time over the new year, so I'm planning to have the M52 enigne sitting in the car by the end of December. On a side note, I've spent some of my downtime researching how to flash the Siemens MS41 DME. I'm currently building a bench flashing rig. This will hopefully allow me to tinker with the tuning, and even do my own EWS delete.

Not thinking - will eventually be back in an 8. I get to see my old one now and then and every time I wish I never sold it! So either I buy my one back or look for an '8 Series project' haha. Thanks for the info ssbmw - I agree seems to be a very nice NZ new example except for the spoiler. I thought it was an early production. A post '94 8er doesn't come up too often and reasonable at $16k I think.

Thought I'd check in almost a year on and update where things are at :-) Rebuilt the VANOS in February (knew it needed to be done) with the Beisan kit. Timing Chain tensioner was kaput as well, so did it at the same time. Rattle completely gone now. Replaced the CCV in July - just, because, really.... Big project for the new year is a complete refresh of suspension, bushings, guibo's, fuel filter, brake calliper rebuild, etc. etc. (pretty much everything on the underside of the car)... I plan on keeping this car for a long time, and this is going to set things up well for the future. Everything will be OE, except shocks which are being replaced with Koni yellows. Have put about 3.5K on the car this year, so will be doing an oil service in the new year - will send it off to Goughs for oil analysis to get a baseline to measure against. Once the new year's project is complete I'll be able to start on cosmetic stuff. I've been stockpiling items like replacement wing mirror glass, windshield trim, gas struts, etc. but the cosmetic stuff is of secondary importance to me at this point :-) Karter16

Changed thermostat and consumption on open road has dropped from 8.1L/100km to 7.7L Trans issue has been solved by Sherson in Tauranga. Turned out to be low on fluid. Feeling a but gutted that i didn't check this myself but there is no obvious leak and no flat surfaces at my current home. Could have been under-filled at last service i guess? Great to get a simple fix for once. Now onto the radius arm bushes, headlight not going, spot lights broken, A/C not working.....

Good day.

I brought a freeview terrestrial tuner kit for the BMW TV module www.pibus.info . I hate having a module that didn't work. Use to watch TV in the car whilst parked up when waiting for the wife to finish work. Not into driving and TV , but its handy to have the audio only sometimes. I decided not to go with the USB input for playing media or the ir input. The TV module is still controlled from board monitor. BMW tuner module Circuit board. Tuner module converting to smb aerial connectors. Drill a couple of new holes for new antenna connectors Module finished. Next stage, connecting iphone video output to TV tuner aux in.

added all USB , sata, audio and power cabling Mounted raspberry pi. Used standard PCB header connectors from Jaycar electronics so everything can unplug from pibus board. Bluray player had small m2 screws. Drilled holes in old 3.5 drive bay bracket and mounted player. Re assembly Back Added Molex connector which has input from reverse light and output trigger for BMW video module. Basically the piboard tricks the video module into thinking a reverse cam has been trigger. It will either output camera or media centre to BMW board monitor. Last bit was adding a USB Async sabre audio DAC. Its not normally needed but my aftermarket DSP has a digital input. This means I can go digital audio straight to the processor from music content stored on the Raspberry. It will avoid the audio from going through another three sets of analogue audio stages before hitting the amps. It should in theory provide very low distortion through to the audio amps. http://hifimediy.com/U2-DAC.

Re-used factory connection sockets for changer audio output and power / ibus . System will require about 3 amps at 12 volts when running. Existing cd charger power wire ok at this level. Old alpine pcb Replaced with audio and raspberry pi and USB powered hub power. Pi bus daughter board for raspberry pi. Clever design. Has microcontroller that listens for ibus signals such as infosystem on , boardmointor controls , steering wheel audio buttons etc. It controls start up and shutdown of Raspberry, audiophile grade audio which is feed back into factory stereo replacing cd changer. Also does video switching when selected. Either reverse camera or raspberry pi running openekec OS and xbmc media centre. More detail at http://pibus.info/ Added an old CPU fan to the case. Just in case ......get it ....... Also a couple of RCA sockets for reverse camera input and system video output. EDIT , fan didn't work out , CPU fan far too noisy. Could hear it inside car. Has been disconnected but unit temp ok on PI without it.