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So managed a few hours on Sunday. Yay. I bought a turbosmart oil pressure regulator. Why? With ball barian (as my son says) shaft supported turbos of late, there is much increased need for oil pressure control. Please google why so you don't blame me. Installed it. It requires an oil return from excess oil pressure bled off from the supply into the turbo oil drain, adding a further hose or three. Since I haven't added any further cooling capacity apart from the change in the BMS oil thermostat which Im in two minds about (operating range far too wide, from 70degC to 120degC), I'm working on a much bigger oil cooler in its factory position perhaps running a better aftermarket thermostat. This requires much bumper off bumper on action to make sure the cooler is mounted in the correct position for the 1M air feed. I've bought the parts to run another cooler on the pax side albeit a touch smaller. Start with a new replacement drivers side and see if she's works better. So says engineering, that hp and heat output are closely related, which only goes south toward heat as you throw more fuel n boost in. So says engineering... Time to strip the old wiring add ons to the existing loom and add to the fresher loom. if all else fails RTFI. read the fuggin instructions. So bought and put together the BMS short shift kit over the BMW performance version. I chaged out all the bushiongs at the gbox end for delrin (aka hard as f*ck plastic) and the rear with a stock BMW but new. Ready to go in. So looking at the PS and radiator tanks, there is plenty of room to the East, so a few lines made up and she's there. Otherwise we are getting there slowly.

An e46 330i is really really a good car.. and the price is because they are SO rare now... to find a black msport 330i touring with lowish kms is impossible (funny because john? on the forum literally just bought one not long ago, I wonder how much for hmm..) In saying that though.. a nice E87 130i is SO much more car for 14k than an E46. 10years+ newer, more power, handles better, rides better, more comfortable.. I really do wonder why I sold my 130i now..

Yep highly recommend Taylor too, top notch work.

I would say $9k would see it sold. any more than 10k then there are much more options in the market for not a lot more money so its very tough. I would try my best to hold onto it if it is mechanically sorted. Any kind of money saved from downgrading will probably go into repairs and maintenance

Yeah the backyard mechanic thing put me off a bit too, I guess with so many 3 & 5s they probably have some sort of idea of what they are doing though?! (maybe haha). There are so many shitboxes being flogged on trademe with pretty pictures and BS Japanese auction ratings.... Havent come across one yet without a crazy japanese headunit (most seem to have the original unit rigged up in the boot to stop canbus errors?, so retrofitting shouldnt be a major provided can find the fascia) Taking that silver Msport touring from zip in for PPI today, hopefully its all right, sick of looking at em. It drove well, had a swag of historical errors logged though.

330i https://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/bmw/auction-1519717740.htm?rsqid=8c53f020a9e5495f9b7b3669bc46db71 530i https://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/bmw/auction-1526467090.htm?rsqid=7264cd9b747e4fd7bb9fb482933b8302 https://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/bmw/auction-1464115596.htm?rsqid=7264cd9b747e4fd7bb9fb482933b8302

Wow... I'm starting to learn how to be a copy & paste nerd

We may have been tracing each others steps by the sounds! Have been and looked at the Russian guys cars. Was amazed at his range but was also disappointed in some of the ricey mods on them and there seemed to be a little bit of backyard mechanics going on (which isn't necessarily a bad thing). Test drove that navy 325i wagon. Absolute sack of a car. My saggy headlining E36 would've given it a run for its money. Rear RH window didn't work, rough interior, transmission was hesitant, dash lit up like a Christmas tree (he assured me all the ABS lights, traction control lights and engine lights were to notify you its due for a service...) and like all Jap imports it had a hideous aftermarket nav system jimmied up to the dash. Didnt get the best vibe from the dealer.

My daughter is almost 1. My wife, myself and her is fairly tight. Pram in the boot is ok but you have to put everything else on top of it so you have to take everything out to get to it. My m5 is perfectly comfortable for us size wise. Once we get #2 the 130i just won't work at all.

Hardcase, Im in the same boat I have the 130i E87, fantastic little car, looking for a E91 325 or E61 530 for the wife. N52s are the best NA 6 cylinder non M engines BMW have ever made. The 130 has a squillion km (230) and runs faultlessly, I give it grief and oil changes, it gives me grins. Ive only had to replace the oil cooler seal that started weeping. Hence why I want another (for the wife....) I spent most of last weekend looking around car yards in Akl, a whoollle bunch of slimey silicon drizzled shitboxes in tatty condition... some even were Auction grade 4.5 (dealer was unable to find the auction sheet....) . Covered in scratches, overspray, bad repairs, headlights that were so crazed they wouldnt pass a wof etc etc. Have an E91 going for PPE tomorrow, has a leaking rocker gasket but everything else looks OK (from the top/outside!) There is a Russian guy named Alexey who has entirely 3 and 5 series in his yard in penrose, worth a look, the cars are less slimey than most we saw - www.zipmotors.co.nz This one looks like its done 5x those km, front RH looks repaired. Grade 4.. yeah right. https://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/bmw/auction-1380905929.htm?rsqid=60dab60bd398423eb9e7e340fb6fc417 This looks good from a distance, up close the tailgate looks like its been repaired, rear gaurd liners had what looks like overspray/bad masking as well. Its also covered in spiders and missing the auction sheet.. https://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/bmw/auction-1191006735.htm?rsqid=60dab60bd398423eb9e7e340fb6fc417

Hi, James is my name, originally from Wellington but now in Palmy. currently have an E60 525i, but this week my E46 318ci will be arriving.

Where is the Mini love?

Still on the hunt. To make things harder for myself, I've also started looking at E87s. Looked at an '06 130i Msport, such a nice car but the dealership was an absolute let down. Also the flaking badge, deep scratches, nil service history (or booklet), incomplete toolkit and exhaust valve tick turned me off. My #1 choice after driving several would have to be an E91. Now to find the right one...

Sold!

The headers pictured are quite different to the Evolve Medusa headers pictured in the thread Breakmywindow referenced in his post above. Evolve Medusa headers are a 4 into 1 design, not the two into 1 design pictured above. What problems were encountered fitting these Ray? All the threads I've seen about fitting headers to a E39 M5 have been on a L/H drive vehicles but I see Evolve make Medusa headers for L/H drive E39 and RHD E39 RHD https://www.evolveautomotive.com/evolve-4-1-stepped-medusa-manifolds-bmw-e39-m5.html LHD https://www.evolveautomotive.com/evolve-lhd-4-1-stepped-medusa-manifolds-bmw-e39-m5.html

All I can say is, double your budget and aim for 600 crank, not wheel hp.

depreciation is very model independent and I would suggest If I had bought a new car and at 50,000km it needed 10k of maintainance I Would say I was had. Why on earth should you be doing suspension/gearbox/waterpump at year 3-4. Any one in their right mind would call that a lemon. Every dealer practically now has 5yrs or 100k warranty and thats because they don't expect there to be any issues that will cost them. Show me a japanese car that needs 10k of mainataince at 50,000 and I would say it was a dud and an exception. You could own any number of cars for 3 yrs do no maintainance except the required for warranty oil/fluids/tyres and sell it in basically brand new condition at 3 yrs old, less depreciation of course The only cars that are worth 50k at year 3 started off at some exorbitant high price( mostly euro).I get that a percentage hits a higher price more so the losses are greater but anyone who buys new is just burning money in my opinion. Any walk around Geoff Gray or mercedes dealer shows you The smart buys are the 12month tradeins or ex dealer models with 10k on the clock

Yeah def replace both the rears at the same time but at those k's they the shocks should still operate well enough unless its had a hard life road wise. Leaving the fronts for some other time if $ is an issue wouldn't be so bad in this case. The fronts will cost about 2x as much as you are buying the whole strut housing + much longer to remove and install

Being an owner of all three (e30, e36, e46) I feel really confused. Our e30 coupe cost 3x as much as the e36, is way "cooler" alot quicker, manual and fairly timeless but I'm drawn towards the ugly duckling, the e36. As a consequence that's where the attention has been going. I like the lines. The cleanliness of the interior and engine bay. E46 is definitely a the least favorite child sitting in in the rain.

your optimism is breezy and encouraging. I take issue with your characterisation of the contributions here as "negative". Please, take a read of the tales of woe as regards e46 with N42 and N46 on this forum. They're well known - deservedly - as the BMW engine to avoid. From plastics failures, timing chains jumping teeth, and the costly repair/replacement and re-synching of the valtronic kit, it's generally a question of when rather than if on these particular motors. It's fact, not negativity. Don't expect a "there there you can do anything" optimism where the N42 and N46 are concerned. The kind of drugs required to maintain that view cut deep into the racing/repair/acquisition budgets! If @zero's experiences - relayed in detail here don't convince you to tread carefully, crack on! You should - on the whole - find this a supportive and informative forum. Welcome, by the way.

You’re right, once the depreciation flattens out, you’re ahead. Personally I have no interest in holding a car much longer than 4 or maybe 5 years max so it’s a choice to turn them over. I wonder if there is an inflection point? For example if you keep a car for 30 years do you reach a point where you start to loose again. Personally I see cars as a liability to be minimised, within reason. I can hand on heart say I’ve never traded or sold a car with tyres, brakes etc that I wouldn’t be happy to drive on, or which wasn’t serviced well. But if I know I’m going to get rid of my BMW at circa 100ks I’m not going to rebuild the cooling system if I don’t have to, why would I? No one will pay me extra for it and most people buying it won’t value (pay me) it.

The requirements are that you service the engine every 10,000km and the transmission every 30,000km and carry out recommended work. So if your mechanic writes on your invoice that you should change the diff fluid then you have to in order to maintain your insurance. Therefore the incentive is to not do that. Neither is there anything in there about changing the coolant at the recommended interval. Although of your mechanic is worth his salt they should at least test the condition of that during each service and recommend replacement.

It may sound negative, but I assure you it's factual and I'm not trying to downplay your desires and aspirations. I'm just stating facts based on my experience repairing BMW's- 53 years experience actually which stops this Friday with my retirement

This has to be taken on a case by case basis though? Buy a new ute or smaller SUV for $60k. No money spent on repairs for warranty period, say five years, sell after five years and 100-120,000km for 30-35k. Buy a new VW Golf or Camry for $30k. Same as above, but sell for about $15k after five years. No money spent on repairs, no dramas with DIY R&M (or paying someone $80+/hr), no worries before a long trip, organising repairs etc. The Golf/Camry has cost less than $100/week to own. The ute/SUV maybe $120. Rough figures but a general idea and a reason why a lot of people buy new and take a hit in depreciation instead of chasing their tail repairing and maintaining something older. Unfortunately for most motorists there is simply no incentive to proactively keep on top of R&M for a 10+ year old/150,000+ car. The cost to do so outweighs the hit in resale after say 5 years of owner ship especially on something like an X5 etc.

save your money for servicing and repairs , these engines need lots of it. or swap it all out for a m54b30 and manual or s54 etc .

I didn’t say that at all, it incentivises me not to, I will still do it because like you I tend to do a bit extra, in fact I did the transmission at 80,000kms. The logic is perfectly reasonable - I tend to keep my cars for 3-4 years always under warranty and generally from 70/80-100/120kms. If your insurance largely removes the risk of the cost of potential failure why would a person responding to incentives spend any money above what is required to satisfy their insurance requirements? You might find that personally offensive to your sensibilities but that’s how a lot of people think. When I trade or sell the car I doubt I’ll be able to recoup any of that additional cost either. The numbers don’t make sense for people to maintain their vehicles to that level so hardly anyone does.

That would be awesome. I can always come down to Shannon

Hi James & welcome on board, check the Wellington section of meetings, as we are organising a run up to the Shannon car show, we could meet you there

Thanks for all the help everyone! The new bushings and lollipops are now on the car. I bought replacement bushes but couldn't get these into the lollipops so put the 'backup' pre-combined lollipops from @APT in there. So if anyone needs some E36 control arm rear lollipops and bushes, I have some for sale. Will put on trademe and then post here.

Just what long weekends are for . . . 2013 F20 M135i 315bhp of fun

Hey me and a friend are building a cheap hack car for shits using bits and pieces lying around, does anyone know if the s50b30 camshaft fit into a m50b25tu single vanos? Nevermind found my answer here https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?1626914-S50B32-cams-into-an-M50 going to try make this car look somewhat like a German police car

from what I have read/seen n54's can reliable make about 600-700hp on a stock engine. As other have said no such thing as a bulletproof engine! that being said if your looking to get one rebuild I would go to www.taylorautomotive.co.nz/

http://www.bimmerfest.com/news/1207305/bmw-m5-sets-two-world-records-for-drifting/ The video is remarkable, they developed a dry break refuel system, so a second BMW would drift in tandem to refuel.

I went for an E61 to replace my e39 touring, heaps of space, beautiful cruising car, mine is 07 Lci and the idrive is showing its age now, cant get up to date nav DVDs etc, engine wise I believe the diesels are probably the most sensible choice in these, which is why I got the M5!