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This car will be greatly missed. jk

Gosh I love how cheeky and characterful BMWs are, always finding entertaining ways to require money wasted fixing factory cockups more maintenance. What is it, the main o-ring?

I really love what they've done with this, great job https://youtu.be/ICMSnedTBQc

M73 Starter Motor. The one in the 750 makes a noise when trying to start

I have a full shim kit. Let me know what size you need. I can send them pretty quickly so your car is not out of action.

Just read this and thought to myself good on you for proceeding with this. This would have quite an impact on all car dealerships here if people were to follow this route for replacement keys. I know I was quoted $600 to replace mine if it ever got lost. They must be making a massive margin on these and this is the first time its been queried and exposed. http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/90293847/raging-businessman-takes-toyota-to-tribunal-over-525-key

I saw a post on Farcebook earlier where someone had been quoted $60 to have a new key cut for his BMW - he had the chip, but had broken the key stem out of the plastic fob. He was hoping someone could suggest somewhere cheaper.

replaced water pump, tstat, a few gaskets, air and oil filter, all the fluids obviously, replaced vanos seals, replaced CCV setup, new battery. Don't worry, i'll replace a couple of hoses and the reservoir soon. anyhoo i'm down around $4500 so pretty stoked.

well, I finally got this thing going after a fair bit of arsing around and avoidance. It goes really well straight out of the box. flew through a warrant and then i took it to the West Coast the next day. 500km round trip without an issue. Everything about it is functional and pleasingly tight. Very nice engine the m54b30 - surprisingly it's a bit gruntier than my E30 M40B18. Even the suspension feels tight as. I'd quite like some style 68 wheels. What is this staggered thing people talk about? and does anyone know how to connect to the bluetooth on it. i have a small TV screen and tape inside and a nav cd unit and 6 cd stacker in boot. have tried googling but nothing works. The missus will use this car quite a lot when I'm not taking it to a track day or stealing it off her and making her drive my work RAV4. Her main comment is that she doesn't like white - no amount of "But VANOS, twin cam, alloy block, manual 5 speed, renowned driver's car babe" convinces her otherwise. I'll punish her with a cool coloured 1300cc auto nissan Micra one day but she'll have to slum it for now. I have 4 cars - all white - it didn't happen on purpose but I genuinely like white. The E46 looks crisp in this colour. I'm taking it to a local Ruapuna track day as soon as I can - within the next couple of months. is the blown gasket bottom end/head without sensors or ancillaries of any use to anyone? cams got surface rust from sitting in guys garage without cover on but everything looks good from the bottom

Yes!

Sold.

Did some skids in old yella at an autocross last weekend. Fun times!! Also went to the oamaru airport drags a month ago and managed to put down a 13.97 with the clutch slipping between gears. Not bad for an unprepped track on street tyres. Was faster than most turbo jappas which was good to know!

I took the Metal Plate off the left side rear seat and found this.

I had an issue with my daughters 2000 Mercedes Benz SLK230. It had no power. Did some checks and the compressor valve (think waste gate in a turbo) wasnt closing. Many owners have wasted lost of money trying to resolve the issue - there is often several error codes. The fix is rediculously simple. Inside the power distribution case on the left side ubder the bonnet is a black box full of relays. Remove it and take the cover off and check for dry joints. Solder any dry joints, out it back in and your car will be transformed. Btw the compressor valve is over $700. I've read of people replacing it and the ECU, and the relay board costing thousands. The trouble is oeople dont repair anymore - they replace. Jim

Throw-back to maiden Nordschleife victory: historic livery for BMW Team Schnitzer BMW M6 GT3. BMW Team Schnitzer can look back on an impressive history at the Nürburgring 24 Hours (GER). Team principal Charly Lamm’s (GER) crew has won the endurance classic in the Eifel Mountains five times in the past. To mark the team’s return to the “Green Hell” this season, the number 43 BMW M6 GT3 will sport a special, historic design. BMW Team Schnitzer wrote the first chapter of its glorious history at the Nürburgring 24 Hours back in 1989. The team from Freilassing (GER) claimed its first overall victory at the endurance classic on the Nordschleife in the same year as it won its maiden DTM title. After 143 laps of racing, eventual DTM champion Roberto Ravaglia, Emanuele Pirro (both ITA) and Fabien Giroix (FRA) crossed the finish line first in the iconic BMW M3 E30. In memory of this success BMW Team Schnitzer will return to the Eifel track in 2017 with one of the two BMW M6 GT3s sporting the same historic design as the winning car from 1989. This is a particularly special honour for Charly Lamm, who was team principal when BMW Team Schnitzer claimed its first major Nordschleife success – a role he still occupies today: “BMW Motorsport has a big tradition in motor racing, and we have been fortunate to work together for many decades. The historic livery on the BMW M6 GT3 is a nice throw-back to our first victory – one we are very proud of. The stripes in the classic BMW Motorsport colours, in particular, evoke a lot of memories among the many BMW fans in the Eifel region and give us extra motivation to do everything in our power to get a good result on our return to the Nordschleife.” Lamm still has fond memories of that first victory in 1989: “We were competing in both the DTM and the 24-hour race on the same weekend. Our drivers did a perfect job, as did the entire team. It was a fantastic race and a really emotional experience for the whole team.” Just two years later, BMW Team Schnitzer added a second success. In 1991, Armin Hahne, Joachim Winkelhock (both GER) and Kris Nissen (DEN) were victorious – again at the wheel of the BMW M3 E30, which took overall victory in the four consecutive years from 1989 to 1992. The car remains by far the most successful touring car ever fielded by BMW Motorsport. It made its DTM debut in 1987 and propelled Eric van de Poele (BEL) to the title at the first attempt. Ravaglia was also crowned world touring car champion with the BMW M3 E30 in the same year. In total, the car has 41 DTM race wins to its name. BMW Team Schnitzer claimed overall victory at the Nürburgring 24 Hours on a further three occasions: in 2004 and 2005 with the BMW M3 GTR and most recently with the BMW M3 GT2 in 2010. In 2017, the team lines up with two BMW M6 GT3s and top-class drivers. Reigning DTM champion Marco Wittmann (GER) will be joined by fellow DTM drivers Augusto Farfus (BRA) and Tom Blomqvist (GBR). Also in action will be BMW works drivers Martin Tomczyk (GER) and António Félix da Costa (POR), as well as two newcomers to the BMW fold, Timo Scheider (GER) and Alex Lynn (GBR). Farfus, Félix da Costa, Scheider and Lynn will share the driving duties in the car with the historic livery. Fans will get their first glimpse of this very special BMW M6 GT3 in action this weekend, at the qualifying race for the Nürburgring 24 Hours. The 45th staging of the classic endurance race will take place on 27 and 28 May 2017.

What Geoff said above, the cost of the exercise makes it un-economic in most cases, especially for the common or garden varieties of E30 like 318i. Overall costs would be $4,000+ even if you do any work to meet compliance yourself. Adding that amount of cash onto the buy price, even if they are cheaper overseas, makes the NZ examples seem cheap I would suggest. I brought my 325i vert over from the UK because it has been in my family since new so I know it's history plus the sentimental value attached to it, before i took the plunge and shipped it over I did look and couldn't find one as good in my eyes. Wasn't really a financial decision though. If you wait until the car is 20 years old, like I had to with the vert, then the compliance rules become a lot less strict - all e30s should be in that bracket by now I think.

I also use a number of US forums and these guys get talked about a lot, split into two distinct factions 1) these guys are complete rip off merchants and the scum of the earth pushing up prices for everyone or 2) it's a free market, if it works for them well so be it. There have been a number of clear cases where they have bought cars off eBay, Bring-a-Trailer or Craig'slist then given them a quick polish and a service and put them up for sale at much, much higher prices. You can argue about the ethics of this until the cows come home, if they can find a buyer then, well.. it works for them. From the size of their inventory and the average cost of their cars, they are either laundering drug money or know what they are doing. My personal dislike for these guys is that they bought the best E30 M3 in New Zealand and took it overseas, so I won't get to see it / stroke it in the flesh ever again. sniff! sniff!

Yeah had a look at those kits. Just heard it can be a pita to get to the suction filter but might just skip that and just do the trans filter and fluid. Does not look too difficult. Have already got the pentosin fluid locally. Just need to pick up the filter

Every time one of these threads pops up on a car forum it seems the majority are on the hate train for one show or the other. I prefer Roadkill as an entertainment show over both of them. I can't handle the accents in Might Car Mods though.

oversteer vs understeer. what else?

Surely all that info is gather up and kept by the factory when the orders for the vehicles are finalized and the cars are being assembled in the factory. A vin number a couple of clicks on a key board and the info would be available surely ( typical German efficiency) or not.

4 door, white, meh. Would be all over it if it was black and a coupe.