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Ah, but is it an International quality track? it's not an accurate test if not and I won't bother watching in that case.

Hi all Have just purchased/ been gifted my first BMW its a 1981 E21 320a automatic, it was my grandparents for years until it put oil into the water and blew a radiator hose, took my grandad 3 years to find a motor he thought was a "reasonable" price and sat in a shed ever since, I'm wanting to do an engine swap of some sort but have little knowledge about BMW's so hopefully I'll find what I need on here

I confess its me! Fact is I love my E61 M5, but if i drive it to work every day it costs me $130 / week, if I do the same driving in a Leaf it costs me $7/week, and it means I will appreciate the drives I do use the M5 for so much more!

All of these conditions also apply to petrol and diesel, NZ imports 100% of its fuel, and none of it arrives here without any environmental impact. I use my M5 wagon for everything you mentioned except the dog, I dont have one, and winning a traffic light drag race with a trailer load of builders mix on the back does make me smile.

Funny you should say. I'm a fleet mechanic and we're hauling lithium in the Australian North West. 20,000 tonne per day using road trains 174-197 tonne depending on configuration. Payload of 120-140 tonne. Sucking an average of 100l/100km. On a hard pull these are using 500l/100km (or one litre every 200 metres). Then approx 250,000 tonnes loaded onto a ship destined for China burning the dirtiest fuel possible. Then there's the machinery and manpower used to dig it up and process it. And the fact these workers are on either an eight day on/six day off, or two week on/one off roster flying to Perth. A lot will then carry on fifo to the eastern states, SE Asia or NZ like myself. Far from an environmentally friendly process. So I have to laugh when some vocal holier than thou greenie who likes to take the social moral high ground says we need to ditch our older cars for more environmentally friendly ones. In reality it's no laughing matter because if these clowns get their own way expect to see hybrids and EVs heavily subsidised while older cars are taxed off the road. Gabe79 - would you not be better off buying a 10-15 year old Civic/Corolla/323 for around $3000. Some of if not the most reliable cars on the road, basic, will return around 8l/100km around town and have done all their depreciating, so will still be worth the same value in a few years time when you want to sell. As for the M5 Touring. Beautiful car, but a bit pointless? I use my wagon for tools, car parts, house renovations, property landscaping, carrying the dog. What a wagon is made for... I'd be scared of someone sitting in the back seat of this thing let alone any of that. Still, I like the towbar, and be tempted to hook up two tonne and blow away the floggers who think they're untouchable in their overpriced over rated double cab utes.

Hiya Tommy, and welcome to Bimmersport. Great to see another e21 in the ranks, and what a great connection having belonged to your grandparents. Plenty of knowledge on here, and helpful folks. Also some parts available from specialist dismantlers resident here too. Love the Colour, and the twin lamp grille. Looks like a 323i with the grille and wheels. ?

To be fair the track is probably a bit short for a few of these cars to show thier real ability but interesting all the same. 4WD would of course be the answer to the power down issue.

This may be true, but those buyers were never looking at M cars, V10s, V8s or anything interesting in the first place. Most of them already drive Toyota's and their idea of going green is by selling their Camry V6 for a Prius. Only to end up having a sadder, reduced quality of life to save pocket change at the pump.

Hey Guys, Finally the old girl got out of the shed and had a fresh walk round the driveway and house. Got a few problems with the accelerator cable and in search of a new air filter for the Holley carburetor apart from that she is running well and got the finishing touches before she is off for a WoF and Rego Pretty close to the end of this build and looking forward to driving the BM around once the accelerator cable is fixed. Need some rear lowering springs too. Doesn't look quite right with the massive rake. A few photos below that turned out nicely.

Hey! Thought that instead of just waving and smiling at other BMW drivers I'd come here and meet some! Some wicked older models in here!? Pics are a mix of purchase day and now, since re-plated haha.

My wifes Skoda needs new front pads and rotors. Gazely quoted $750. I looked around for a set which happen to be the same as a Golf Mkv and came across Micks Garage in Ireland. Now I know a few of you have bought parts there before but when I looked at parts for my 335i they didn't have what i wanted. Anyway I found a set of Mintex rotors and pads, price including freight to NZ was $160 NZD. They arrived today 5 days after ordering them. Now Mintex isn't top of the tree but my research showed that they make good mid range products so interested to see how they last and what performance is like. Its a commuter car so no likelihood of press on driving.

this one's well worth a watch:

I want this on a YouTube video, with multiple GoPro shots cut together. Awesome.

I just think that someone needs to stand up for coal, oil and gas. It might as well be me, a mediocre white man. I'll fit right in with the rest of the dinosaurs.

It all works except for the econometer. Change coding plug to a 6cyl one to get rev counter reading correctly

6.25 years till the leaf pays for itself, based on the petrol savings alone. There is no such payoff from a car running on petrol. There is no comparison. The drawbacks of electric cars relate to logistics, more so than any cost associated with running them. Namely, charging stations aren't numerous (yet) and range is an issue. Neither of these are a problem for me, personally. We work from home and my driving is largely to/from kindy/school/local errands on a daily basis. Our old beemers are not good for the planet. Also, in my use case, my driving patterns are bad for my beemer!

environmental payback takes time, but for an i/c engine car there is no environmental (or financial) payback, so still worth doing for some people. I still wouldn't have one as my only car, but a Leaf and an M5 seems like a good compromise to me!

http://www.machineryhouse.co.nz/Hydraulic-Presses

Oh... I'm trying to be humble but I smile every time I drive it!

Hey Tommy Good to see another E21 in the ranks. Good to see someone with some tail lights in good shape. Good luck with the potential engine swap sure it will be more than a interesting build which I look forward to see in the future. If you have any basic queries will be more than happy to answer any questions with my limited mechanical knowledge or provide some photos for you.

We're trading in our toyota for a leaf. The majority of our driving is <10 minutes total drive time. It's unreasonable wear and tear on the e39 to me.

Howdy Kaine - good to see you here ? M3 looks epic.

Oops sorry, have to make sure I do it properly next time. Decent test driver though.

wonderful to watch! love the M coupes

A bit of the topic and asking are these electric cars as green as they make out. Reading an article on the making, maintenance and final disposal of them it seemed darn close. Their are a number of dangerous chemicals and process used to make not only the car panels battery packs etc. This also comes into play when the vehicle reach's the end of it's life and needs to be disposed of and in a safe manner. So looking at the total picture of how both types source their materials for assemble, their maintenance of ie life expectancy and final disposal are they any less harmful to planet earth as a petrol driven car. Or is it just another well angled proper gander campaign using the all green slogan to help it gain traction and sales?.

I'd be looking to buy one with a wider bed than those two if money allows

yep. I understand why people buy a Prius; though enjoying driving is not one of those reasons. The nearest one gets - behind the wheel of a Prius - is operating a vehicle. I will concede they're a better drive than a Honda City, though!

ah yes, Polo. I'd forgotten about Polo. I did attend a match not long before we left blighty, lots of rather good NZ Wines and plenty of well-heeled totty. We hoovered a reasonable quantity of wine and canapes in the sunshine and laughed a lot. Don't recall much about the Polo, though.

Great story here:

This is the same money I paid for mine 2 years ago, but this one has the soft close doors. I have to close my doors myself like some kind of peasant!!!

Been certed since day it was done, now retired and used as test rig gave up battling wits with geriatrics that ran a certain series that look after their mates. Have a few new toys in build and not BMW's

Just had a quick read of his build there Dave and i feel his pain. Took me 3 1/2 hours for the pistons but didn't polish them up. It is a lot of parts Michael I can't explain it but i enjoy the cleaning. Having a sense of achievement once you look back and can say i did all this work myself instead of paying someone

Yeah baby. You know what? Life is choice, bro.

Now with these wheels: