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Hi Forum! I have a 2001 BMW E38 728ia that Have grown quite fond of but is now starting to show it's age. Have tried to keep it as well as I could but after a couple of long periods without work, it is not in top shape. I am trying to decide if I should spend the money to restore or buy a new vehicle. Engine is sound but it is starting to have cosmetic problems. Would be interested in know if there are any other people in NZ looking at restoration services and any advice anyone would like to share. Both my partner and I really love this car, but not really sure where to start with a restoration project. Any help you could offer would be greatly appreciated. Kind Regards, Steve

Good progress Friday but shite Saturday. Managed to wing a weekend off from the Fam Dams so I can play with the car. After convincing myself that I should definitely NOT to upgrade most of the fuel system in one go, I woke and did just that. SO removed the Stage 2 fuel kit/pump a Walbro 450G/hr, I put together a Stage 4 system of 3 x Walbro 450G/hr and meaty electrical system. Almost there. BEFORE = Stage 2 - 1 x 450G/hr AFTER = Stage 4 - 3 x 450G/hr With the intake manifold change, there are some wires to extend, my friend Lars will do this tomorrow or else he can stop drinking my beers. Dummy slapped the turbo into position Hmm, heaps of sh*t to sort out

Yesterdays guess would be 410rwkw, = 530 whp = circa 600+ hp. At the current turbos limits. Today zero hp as the car is in bits. All the fuelling kit and turbos bits arrived. Removed VRSF 7" thick IC. Compared to the new joined core IC mothership, its mighty heavy. Purists look away, the butcher was in operation today getting this sucker in! Also the 2JZ ricer style intake manifold and port injection went in. This fit well actually pretty surprised. I'm attempting to get the new IC completed, with the intake manifold, while keeping the RB's and inlets in for now. Then set up the port injection and fuel kit and E85, then finally strap the GTW37 on. Car should be back running tomorrow. BEFORE AFTER

Hi guys, Been a member for a a year or so now but I have only been on as often as Trump cares for the American people.. F*** all. My wife has a e39 528I and ive just got into a sweet little e30 316i. I am the fourth owner I think. I picked it up through work where it was sold brand new. (Team Mcmillan BMW) The original owner who brought it kept it from new until 2012 where it was sold to one of the techs then to another tech a few years later and a few more years after that to me, another bloodie tech. It is bone stock. I would love to how ever maybe manual convert it if I can get a full manual conversion at a decent price. Anyways here it is, no more woffles from me. James.

Another E38 junkie here. I think it comes down to you balancing the costs of what you want as others have said. Very nice examples of 728i's come up for sale all the time however if your attached to the car you already own then spend the money and keep it. But then again that'll depend on what your talking about doing and the depth and quality of the restoration your talking about. Would be nice to see some pics of your car and some kind of idea about the work you'd like done to it.

I Wil take them.

I have the e38 sickness......currently have two but one will be set free for someone else to own. I considered tidying up my first e38 as it is a good solid car but an easier approach is to watch out for a clean low mile version and simply get into a better one. I just purchased a late 2000 car with 89,000 km and its like having a restored one...... I think they are very useable comfortable family transport and worth every penny as a daily driver. If you are paying someone to restore a car I would put that money into a chassis that is more likely to be a long term classic.......e24 may be under valued....

Welcome Steve, really depends on what you want to do, few of us with E38s that can offer some advice around work that can be done. The E38 is a great platform and well looked after will last for a long long time, flick up some pics of what you want to achieve

Depends on what exactly is wrong cosmetically. If the paint\panel are in poor condition then i wouldn't bother myself, as a good examples can be had for <5k. If its just interior plastics etc then parts are available easy enough. Comes down to how much you want to spend really

Yep the factory chargepipe is shockingly brittle. Mine broke apart in my hands while upgrading

WTB clutch slave cylinder for a M20B20 1982 BMW E21 320. If anyone knows where I could get one would be appreciated. Cheers

I still make good coin regardless just like to look after the locals, just as much of my work goes off shore guess its a b****h when your popular. Hope whatever they sell they stand behind

Understandable. Maybe your pricing is too good, an increase might bring down your workload I'm pretty close to ordering a Pure Stage 1. Seems they ship for free so it's just the customs tax that'll hit me, and I'll need to ship back my old turbo to get the $1000 deposit back. I should probably make sure the deposit isn't on the shipping invoice or customs will incorrectly include that in the tax calculation. Then I need downpipes... and an LSD... and bigger brakes... oh god I'm going down that road...

Agree with John. I have the same setup but also a COBB chargepipe and exhaust with Stage 3 xhp and Stage 2+ MHD. Loses traction very quickly now. Next purchase is definitely a LSD.

Today, with the excellent help from Kerry of Mosen Euro Parts (Hamilton) we did the RMS, flywheel, clutch, gearbox oil, driveshaft coupling, shifter parts, and O2 sensors on my M5, plus a bit of cleaning etc as we went along. Six hours in total, pretty straight forward with all the right tools including a hoist and trans jack. The exhaust took a bit of mucking around to get off and on, one gearbox mounting bolt had rounded off and we had to get "creative" but all in all a great day - fricken cold though...

Checked it out today, thermostats bung so temp never left the blue, makes me wonder how long it's been driven, possibly thrashed while cold. its fairly straight, but not quite as straight as it appears in the trademe photos. Had a recent buff I think that looked vaguely like over spray. on a flat road at 95Kph I couldn't get the consumption under 12.8L/100 which seems high, unless that's just a fun auto feature. started fairly happily, all cylinders at once after about 4 second of winding first start, less than a second the second start. factory exhaust. interior is pretty rough, maybe an ex house painters wagon... Felt very lazy handling wise, my 98 Landcruiser with similar mileage feels more stable In the front while cornering, not loose per se, but lazy and wallowing, seemed to have a vibration in the steering wheel that came and went over 70k. gearbox very smooth, once it warmed up, shifted happily both manually and in A and S, including really nice down shifting which I've missed in my landcruiser. power was smooth but underwhelming, but it is a vanos free 4L.

Manukau Auto and Tyre (home of the mag wheel guru )charged me a 1k, repaired, resprayed, balanced (dropped them off with tyres on). Paint was $50 wheel extra as it was shadow something or rather. Ill tell you what they look like on sat.

Happy to negotiate a price for real BBS RS 16 4x100

@crunchy has a few opinions on that Steve Murch guy, you might want to contact him first, word on the street is he builds better turbos anyway. Tongue in cheek, i think I'm funny but I might not be, big + 1 to contacting Steve Murch or @crunchy, His work is indisputably world class, and one could spend some time debating whether it is also word leading (which I for one think it is).

Hi all After my introduction to bmw was cut short by finances and common sense, I have bought something with live plates this time, a 1984 320i. It looks nice and tidy, and the vendor tells me it has been brought up to a nice condition after a period of storage. Driving it home to Wellington from Auckland this weekend - any advice for tools to pack (other than roadside assistance!) or things to check before I set off would be welcome. Cheers CJ

Time to sell,move on to so mething else. Completely standard 1996 EVO M3 sedan 3.2 litre 6 speed manual Byranz Metallic, the only known BMW in NZ in this colour. Standard wheels, interior etc 194000 km Been very well maintained by myself and previous owners. 20K or a deal with a 2002tii or something similar.