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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.

It all started with Australia signing the Lima Declaration in 1975. Since then she has been a snowball effect. The Australian auto industry was subsidised a lot less than US, Germany, France, UK and Sweden. Compare how much the Govt foots the bill for social/welfare issues due to the breakdown of the family unit (which funnily enough was kicked off and promoted by the same traitors who signed the Lima Declaration), Government subsidies to the three manufactures is a drop in the ocean. Add in the fact Australia's lop sided free trade agreements which see the 4.0 Territory having an 80% import tariff if imported into Thailand and the 2.7 diesel at about 40% while Thai built cars are met with 5% Tarif at the Aussie boarder. Similar story for India. Then Ford and GM HQ denied the Australian arms decent amount of R&D as well as the possibility of mass LHD exports. If Ford had the opportunity to export the B series Falcon Fairlane, and Holden the VE to North America they'd have kicked the crap coming out of the yank factories to the kerb. The VE Commodore was the only all new Aussie car to receive a decent budget as that fell under the zeta global platform and yet it still wasn't pushed in the states to be a viable replacement to the fwd crap they were producing. Then an there was no incentive to buy Australian (compare to say the French, Korean, Italian, or Japanese who seem to take some pride in what their country produces). State and federal Government have an appaling percentage of Australian built vehicles in their fleets, including Camry/Aurion. The new car market is saturated with so many choices compared to fifteen years ago. Sedans are a thing of the past in all sizes. Luxury barges down to the Corolla they don't sell like they use to. In the coming years there will be three main styles of new vehicles on the road. Small hatches, double cab Utes, and soft roaders, anything else will be a rarity. Either way, the latest Commodore on a ten year old design is a solid piece of kit. Let down with its interior especially in Calais and SSV guise with the suede door card and dash inserts looks like it could be out of Korea, just tacky. The Falcon 4.0 twin cam without doubt one of the best petrol engines we've had the opportunity of buying. Bullet proof, awesome torque, frugal, cheap parts that repco stock at 2pm on a Sunday afternoon. I always thought my old E39 530i MS would be perfect with the m54 thrown in scrap steel and the Falcon 4.0 dohc dropped in its place. More reliable, more torque, more power, cheaper to service, and better on fuel. Just doesn't sound as good.

Appreciate the kind comments everyone. The day I bought the car, on a whim, with my son March 2015. Im happy to field queries on the build likewise for the tuning aspects using JB4 and MHD alongside ethanol tuning. Had experience with Cobb Accessport earlier on too. Done heaps of heavy maintenance works on the car also, clutch, DIY stage 2 LPFP build, HPFP replacement, coding injectors, waterpump/thermo, intercoolers install, turbos, downpipes, cold'n'hot side turbo pipework including the turbo outlet stainless pipe modification, tuning the boost PID control, duty bias, PID Gain and FF on the JB4, data logging, suspension tuning & setup, required total 1M/M3 parts lists if anyone is game, driveshaft dimensions and parts required, m3 steering rack conversion, complete interior strip and re-fit Works planned for the next few months: Methanol kit installed controlled via JB4, starting evening of 23/12, the day I finish work Better exhaust system, maybe some Titanium goodness 10" & 11" Work Meister rims custom made with 265 & chubby 305 rear tires Further tuning to max out RB Next Gen turbos on ethanol E30 and methanol injection, around 25lb boost. Aiming for 550 wheel hp, circa 650 flywheel. I'll even get the car dyno'd, always good to have proof right. Likely move to a Port injection set-up and running higher E content, circa E60, including ethanol sensor integration to JB4 Suspension tuning inc. monoball front tension arm bearings Stealing some Recaro Sportsters from an E36 on the shore. Probably finish the project at this point.

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

I have settled on Akebono ceramics. Ordered from FCP Euro. The price was ok and reviews on them are good. RDA discs arrived, they look good

and in this case a buyer of an e28 535 is most lilely looking for an original car

Im of the opinion that a matching numbers original car is always better than a standard model with goodies swapped in (to try and make a replica of the original).

Wouldn't cloth interior have to have been requested? I thought all E38's came with leather standard. Wow it looks horrible with cloth.

oh and minus $2-5k for rusty UK cars

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!

all sounds good, Toby. Bear in mind that basically the whole of the eastern suburbs is a windblown salt zone - don't scrimp on the metal for your garage.

I would argue the quality of the VF and later VE Commodore was very good, the Falcon was a bit of an old design and it showed.

Cheers lads. Yep new brakes are in, along with braided lines and new rear pads as of y'day. I also debadged and re-polished/coated the standard bootlid y'day (because OCD). I'm actually dailying this car at the moment while my normal babymomma suv is in the shop getting fixed. Some f**khead decided to whack into it and drive off without leaving a note. IMG_9888 by Christian Taylor, on Flickr I actually miss this car, it's so easy to potter round in! Lol5 by Christian Taylor, on Flickr Lol1 by Christian Taylor, on Flickr

I'm really liking this tint film. It's quite strange, outside it's really light & reflective and indoors it looks quite dark & opaque (both pics taken today): It's been a productive few weeks: As well as all the detailing & ceramic coatings I've added new spacers & tyres, brakes, service and changed the bootlid to give the big wing a rest and change it up a bit. All ready for summer!

Yes the SUV is the king of family vehicles but what a bore they are to drive.

Following on from my other thread, here are pics still a way to go. Wish list smiley headlights,boot lid trim,map light mirror,bmw sound premium speakers,cloth front sport seats.....basically all the soon to be virtually impossible to get period good bits.

That's awesome Craig. If you have the time and inclination perhaps you could start a Mini thread in the 'Other European Cars' section of this site? I'm pretty damn sure there's a lot of people around here that would love to see and hear more about it. Very, very fine effort I must say.

Don't forget that this is for both sides. This includes running a m50b25(non vanos) intake cam on the exhaust side of the m52. This means that both cams will be 240° with 9.7mm lift. I also have a local engineer who's been machining up things for me for a long time and does work very cheap so there won't be much cost with modifying the m54 cam. On a side note, has anyone had experience with having cams ground?