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You get rid of the wife too Allan ??

Thanks Allan, she's a beaut. Drove it home without doing the rocker cover- raining too much- and it didn't catch fire so I'll chalk that up as a win. The B25 makes okay power, but with the manual there's all this torque available that is completely missing in auto. Now... who knows anything about RB swaps? Also, do 22z fit? Chur!

Think you need to change your name like Frank. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?objectid=12077415 (what kind of last name is that though..?)

YES!

The Z4 is a good robust car. The only weak point on the E85's is the location of the soft top motor. The drain hole gets blocked and the motor rusts and dies in a puddle of water. It can be relocated to avoid the problem.

also early 316i had thinner door glass

Depending what is wrong with it, it is still often able to be repaired with new (usually genuine) parts. Take the car to a Sparky. Tom - certainly worth repairing if only requiring bearings.

Does look like its been sitting alright. I wouldnt be too worried about the thrashing. The engines themselves seem to hold up well its just the bits that are bolted on that fail. Its that made from plastic bound to fail scenario. Interiors are better quality than E46 and earlier cars as well. Stock just check plugs coils and vacuum hoses. Turbos get rattly wastegates eventually but consensus is that this generally happens above 160k kms. Most in NZ are auto so you cant bounce it off the limiter. I am sure completely ignoring oil changes will kill the engine but otherwise they are solid. I thrash my wifes Skoda more than my 335i purely because its so slow. The 335i only takes moderate pedal pressure to start making the scenery go by quite fast, the engine has a lot of very useable torque, and riding the boosted torque wave makes for efficient and quick transportation.

It'd be less than I worked in the UK...

Buy the parts off FCP euro, won't cost much.

Got myself a super bad ass 318 with a super powerful m43 and 4l30e yesterday Talk about living the high life, it changes gears all by itself, none of my others do this, not even the X5! Changed the oil in the 318. Looked at the engine, got bored, drove home.

I’ve been investigating this personally as mine’s got a bearing issue on it and in my opinion it makes more sense to get a new unit from the States. The factory unit is made by Valeo and they are on special at ecstuning at the moment for usd$189. Shipping is expensive from ecs however ($130+) but in reality true shipping cost should be about us$89 with usps standard express box. - if you use someone else with an account with the likes of ups ect it’ll be cheaper again still, I actually think if you pack it tightly it might be cheaper still or if you ocean it with kiwishipping. There is a catch however, through my investigation Valeo makes 3 tiers of this unit and it seems one is a remanufacture, one is OE (ie BMW) and one is Valeo branded. Without seeing all the units side by side it is very hard to judge if they are exactly the same. My opinion however is alternators are not complicated units and they are all much the sameness really - so any good branded replacement will be just as good as the original unit - ie anything from Bosch, Valeo, Lucas or Denso is a good alternative if you can find them cheap and only slightly more expensive than a rebuild (which probably uses Made in China internals)

AES in Henderson is the place to go

seriously, what do you want for this?

Thanks Gabe!

Hi Tony & welcome, don't be put off by all the negative comments, enjoy your car & the site Barry

Mmm I could use another E39 in my carpark

Bugger! Glad she went to a good home

Sold.

Interesting Q&A regarding certification...