Leaderboard

I've never posted much about my builds as they never seemed interesting enough (still isn't). To help me track the progress of my build and experience behind the seat, now wouldn't be a bad time to start. The build came about when the R/R quarter of my E36 met the wall at Meremere at a drift day. Got too excited chasing some higher HP Nissan's and decided to re-initiate my drift on the straight in a cloud of smoke. This is what she looked like after the impact. After the accident, I did a few more events, one being a gymkhana style event held at Hooton Reserve hosted by Sports Car Club NZ. Below is link to one of the videos my mate took. This E36 had daily driving duties and handled abuse at the track but was no longer presentable on the exterior for the street (no that it was fancy to start with), so I decided to pull the car apart even though it drove perfecty straight and would serve its purpose on the track. I purchased a donor car which was a non-Airbag and non-ABS model; ideal donor for the next track/street hack and happened to be the same colour for dirty cheap. It wasn't long after that I came across an E30 PFL coupe rolling shell. {{And it was at this moment, I f**ked up}} Viewed the rust bucket and thought it wouldn't be too bad of a fix. Being my 5th E30 I've owned and in the worst state (to this day, @Jibs05 still gives me crap about and will forever) I wanted to build this to tick all the boxes I wanted in an E30. It took a bit to get the ball rolling for this one but within a couple of months, I sent it off to Quest Fabrication for a bad ass cage. Super stoked with the final result, bar Motorsport NZ taking so long to communicate a we issue with stitch welding that the cage is now got some surface rust...not going to be a fun time prepping for paint. Over the past couple of months, I've been cracking away at it slowly putting it back together for a drift day at Evergreen Drift Park in a couple of weeks which I've been itching to drive after seeing everyone enjoy themselves. Cheers for reading guys. Will post updates slowly as I make more progress

A couple of gravestones. One carved, and very slightly worn. The other blank, and very, very new...

E46 Clubsport 2005 (Facelift) Velvet Blue (BMW individual) Steptronic Napa Black leather interior Cubic silver trim 210kms Slightly higher rev limit to other e46's (ZHP) with an extra 5-10hp I've heard due to the exhaust cam having larger lobes, feels peppier than other 330s also. Airbags replaced already as per recall etc. Stickers in boot for those. Have replaced most things in the past two years of owning to bring it back up to a nice standard. Sitting with BC coilovers brand new, months old (with BMW reinforcement plates on all 4 towers) no cert currently. New radiator, thermostats, vac lines, intake boots, steering rack replaced, front disks, rocker gasket, trans gasket/filter and new fluids for everything even washer fluid ?, diff oil, disa valve, brand new coils, spark plugs (NGK), fuel pump & filter and a bunch more items bushes etc. Rear bumper repainted (recent chip ?), front still needs to be done and mirrors clearcoat. Spent 5k on OEM parts so hard to recall without looking at the receipts now, not including BC coils and carbon boot. Happy to sell the car with or without the BCs and carbon boot. Has carbon strut brace also(not pictured). Previous owner tinted windows 35% Did water pump and couple other items I recall. Have all receipts for every item. Has the 6disc changer in boot also have wired in an aux and have a Bluetooth DAC connected to that in the glovebox for wireless audio. Aux/Bluetooth Works while playing blank CDs perfectly. There are chips and a couple small dents as age and KMs. Ask me questions happy to answer. Looking for $11k with the BCs and carbon boot. With just stock items looking for $8,5k hit me up happy to chat. Taken my personal details off since sold. Have two sets of rims so can choose OEM or silver unknown brand if like. Or both if price right. In no rush as I have a second car and looking for the most I can reasonably get to fund new dream. photos are with stock suspension except 4,5th

Still keen

@Palazzo - where in Auckland are you? If James - @thorburn - can help, I may be able to relay the 'pattern' to him.

Believe it or not I have (when out of other options) successfully used both boiling water and a regular heat gun on separate occasions, although a gas flame is much better for getting heat where you want it. The heat just provides some differential expansion and you don't need much to get the taper to release. Heat it with whatever you have and give it a smack.

Do you mean the control arm ball joints, which attach to subframe? These are on a taper (rather than being bolts) and will need a bit more effort to get out, possibly a bit of carefully placed heat where they fit into the subframe.

Hey Team Got the tyres sorted for the style 95 and look much better now on the touring. I'd personally like it to sit another 30- 40mm lower but ill leave that till i get adjustables for it.

Hmph Your comment will make my wife happy. She keeps whinging about exhaust fumes now. She's the owner of that Leaf on my profile and bitterly complains about internal combustion engines now. I run Penrite HPR5 5W-40. I do notice the roughness goes away after awhile, so maybe nothing to it, as you say. I will get around to doing the seals in the next month or two. Will see then...

Tsk tsk Gabe. I'm sure the owners manual says to drive immediately you start the engine.?

Start it up, and drive off straight away... well after like 30 seconds - it's better for the engine anyway. You may find it doesn't happen as much. the 3.0 in particular, can have roughness and even stalling issues if the Vanos is bad enough - usually reported by people who leave it to idle, or pull straight into slow traffic (anecdotal, of course). They retard the exhaust timing heavily on cold starts to heat the cats faster, and they can struggle to control the cam timing, because of the thick oil (high pressure, but low flow to the extremities). Our M54B25 was never "rough" on a cold idle, but it was noticeable smoother after doing the Vanos seals. If it were me, I'd probably not sweat it too much, until the seals were done, ans see if it's still an issue. Out of interest, what grade oil are you running? 0W-something?

Thanks Dave, your build thread is a really good read. Good that you've got all the pictures back!

did not expect this..

2001 BMW 540i Motorsport 139000km Rego expires in August, WOF in November $8000 ONO After searching for one that checked all my boxes, I bought and shipped this up from Palmerston North last year and it has been a beautiful car to drive and own. Very smooth on the road and superb handling for it's size. Selling as I have another project in mind so would like to free up some money. Plenty of receipts for works done. In my ownership I've replaced the rear brakes and rotors, machined front rotors and brand new Continental rear tyres added. Also receipts for past replacement works including cylinder head covers, gaskets and gasket leak fix, ball joints, bushings, washer hoses, alternator etc. A Dynavin multimedia navigation system is installed with NZ maps. It has an AUX cord with sub connected in boot, rearview camera, TV and radio transmissionse. Electrics work including sunroof, heated and memory seats & air con. Unfortunately it does have the usual E39 pixels missing issue and broken cup holders. The bonnet would like some tlc as it has been cut and polished one too many times by previous owner(s), the rims are curbed to varying degrees (still has original full sized spare in trunk). The drive's side mirror is cracked & the mirror adjustment does not work (passenger's is fine and both mirrors can still be brought in). Also a small crack on rear bumper that appeared after parking at the local Pak N Save. Viewing at One Tree Hill, Auckland Feel free to contact 021 028 62062

2 for 2.

I dont want to lose my man card.

All pics in this thread should now be fixed. Thanks heaps Dropbox and Photobucket for killing directing linking... ? And what a PITA with the new forum software and no source editing!

You need to bring it to one of our coffee meets Jed...

Picked this up a few months ago. Came with Schnitzer Kit Inc suspension, bodykit, exhaust, strut bar, steering wheel etc. Is a NZ new manual HD12 with black leather m-tech seats. I swapped the original Schnitzer wheels out with BBS rs 005 & 006 that I refurbed a few years ago with new Turanza tyres, it gave me a 1cm lift I needed to get up driveways etc. Very happy with the cars performance & driveability. If anyone knows more about the cars history I would be keen to hear. Previous owner also threw in new Jim Conforti chip I'm yet to install.

I've wanted an E9 for as long as I can remember. They are such an important car in the history and story line of BMW. Their success in touring car racing in Europe in the 70's is nothing short of astronomical. All whilst being one of the best looking cars the company has ever produced. Several have come up on Trademe for sale in the last few years but the timing and budget have never quite married up. About 6 weeks ago I decided to bite the bullet and fly down to Christchurch and have a look at one that was for sale down there. Needless to say the car was exceptional, a few issues but in the whole exactly what I was after. So a week later it arrived at work on the back of a truck. Its a 1973 3.0 CS left hand drive in automatic, malaga red with tan leather interior. Sold new in Germany it was imported to Japan where it had a minor restoration and then to New Zealand about 18 months ago. Its going to be a slow process as i still have my E30 I need to sell before i can really start doing anything to it but at least its a start. I've played around with my set of BBS RS off my E30 and cant wait to rebuild them into appropriate sizes and get them on. Also bring the car down to earth a wee bit.

Your talking to the wrong engineers or paying in the wrong currency. Guys at my work have worked 5+ hours on a weekend for a box of piss. If someone wants me to replicate a couple i'd be keen. (i'm not here to make money, although the beer fridge is quite empty) I've got access to cad software, profile cutters work across the road from my work, i've got a folder at work that will be fine with 3mm stainless and can weld it as well.

based on knowing how far my dollar goes at my local engineer, id say you would be struggling to produce that for $250 to be of a suitable quality worth fitting.

I sold my E36 (328) a few months ago and picked up this 540i. I had never realised the difference in quality and 'feel' between 3 & 5 series but they are miles apart. Everything feels more solid, rigid, comfortable and of course faster Plans for it are tracking down some 18" AC Type II's or maybe M-Pars and lowering it a touch. One question though, the car just came back from having a few bits touched up and now I'm getting tail lights, licence plate light and brake lights pop up on the check panel. All of these work though. Is there some wiring/sensors I should be checking? Common problem? Get's annoying as it takes up all the screen and can't display time/range info.