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And AC - you missed the AC - very weirdly specced... if you turn on the AC, can it still move? I suppose it's manual, so you can change down a gear or two and hope for the best...

Oh please Andrew it's West Epsom now!

Possibly mine before i got it, its Interlagos blue but my wife swears its purple and i have to concede it looks purpleish in the right light. I got it from a dealer in Mt Eden where it had been traded on a Landcruiser, which is much more sensible for school runs in Mt Eden!!

I think only E36 had bottle caps in 15", the E30 14" ones go for about $15 each at the scrappys. and since when has 110,000+Kms been "low" mileage??

M52b28 spare engine to build and a zf box acquired to build. Engine comes with a loom so makes it easier to install the haltech out of the car. Also finished my 2wd dyno rebuild.

Hi guys and gals... About a year ago I purchased a e36 318ti. Manual trans and rather fetching in Boston green with light grey interior, It was from the first batch imported into NZ in October 84, has now travelled 148600km. It has a full service history from Geof Grey BMW. I have tinkered with it a little, 4 new shocks, 17 inch alloys I was told were from an e36 M3, new front hubs wearing the calipers/vented rotors from the 328i, quality wheel alignment. I changed the factory stereo, removed the factory rear muffler and crush bent pipework for a nicely toned 2.25 inch system, new carpet mats, and generally cleaner her up a bit. Intend to use it to teach my two boys to drive in and do the odd trackday along the way as well. The front seats recently were swapped for a set of motorsport e46 items which, although are a charcoal black, are just soooo comfy and better bolstered for enthuastic driving. All the originals components have been kept so can be swapped back if I want to (probably won't happen). I get a lot of pleasure from driving this underpowered, great handling lightweight. Now my question for you experts... Was this car fitted with a cat converter when new? It isn't there now and there are no O2 sensors in the exhaust system. I have noticed the smell associated with overfueling, especially when cold so assume the cat was removed and the O2 sensors simply unpluged from the loom. In a previous car of mine the cat was deleted but the sensors plumbed back in to provide data to the efi computer. I am guessing the plug I have found not connected to anything (in the same style as the brake wear sensor) hanging in the centre of the firewall, just to the left of the driveline is potentially supposed to be connected to an lambda? Thanks for your advice....

First time BMW owner! 3 weeks ago I bought @str8_6's 2001 530i and have since fallen in love with her! Nicknamed 'Jane', she is a facelift, NZ new, very tidy car that has spent most of her life garaged. She is in Oxford Green Metallic, with the standard black leather interior and wood trim. At 137,500kms, I have already done over 1,000kms in her and can honestly say I have enjoyed every moment of it! I have never needed any more power on a passing lane, and she is silky smooth at idle. Oh, and don't get me started on that beautiful 6-pot purr! Although I am normally a hardcore manual supporter, I have switched over to the dark side simply because it is almost torturous to drive a manual through Wellington and Wellington's traffic. I am currently a first-year student at Victoria University and am a diehard car guy. My grandmother got me into cars with her 1998 R170 SLK230 Kompressor (the car in my profile pic - and yes that's me on the bonnet!), I loved that car and still do; she actually still uses it as her daily and has done over 200,000kms in it. I recently got a new job out in Petone which finally justified my intense desire to buy a new car! Previously, I had a 1999 Alfa Romeo 156 2.5 V6 6-speed which was my first car. I loved that car with a passion; I spent a substantial amount of money doing preventative maintenance on it (not myself, although I would like to be able to start working on my cars in the future) by replacing the water pump, cambelt, radiator and a couple CV boots. Unfortunately, after owning it for only 3 months it was written off - not by me though! It was parked outside my high school one morning when a gentleman drove past towing a car trailer which didn't have the safety chain attached. Just as he drove past my car, the trailer bounced off the hook and ploughed straight into my baby. Fair to say I was devastated (and to this day haven't fully gotten over it). It was only a few weeks prior to that that I had sunk many dollars in securing the longevity of my pride and joy. Luckily, we both had insurance and I was paid out for it. *Photos attached* This tragedy occurred in September of last year, and ever since I have been longing for a replacement, but have never been able to justify it/find the right replacement. And then Jane came along. I have always been a BMW enthusiast, with my mother owning an E36 when I was growing up and an E90 now, and am very glad to finally have one that I can call my own. I keep her in a parking garage in Wellington's CBD, and use her 3-4 days each week to drive to and from Petone (although that hasn't stopped me taking her out most days just to go for a cruise!) and occasionally to drive back home to Whanganui (2.5 hrs). Unfortunately, after only owning the car for 2 days, my radiator sprung a crack while I was visiting home in Whanganui. I got this replaced by our family mechanic easily enough, but it was nonetheless a pain! In terms of future plans for the car, I have bought some euro style licence plate surrounds which I am yet to put on (couldn't justify spending $299 on the real deal - maybe one day), I am considering putting a tasteful tint on the windows to preserve the leather and parcel shelf which is surprisingly un-faded, and am currently looking into installing an aux-cord into the stock stereo setup. I am leaning towards a Grom unit which plugs into the back of the stereo since the stereo will be pre 09/2002, but am open to recommendations. My only requirement is that the stock head unit remains - I'm big on OEM. Obviously, I'm a first-year uni student so don't have heaps of money to burn (and the parents won't pay for it ;)) so affordable recommendations of any kind will be much appreciated. This is turning into a bit of an essay so I'll finish it up here. I've joined the BMW Car Club and will be attending the Cars and Coffee meet this weekend. I really look forward to meeting more of you guys and gaining insight into BMW ownership and any pointers on working on my car myself (this is hard, however, since I am in a hall of residence and don't necessarily have the capacity to do much work myself). This is such an exciting community and I am thrilled to be a part of it! Cheers, Boston.

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I'm attempting to build a E36 compact into a budget gravel rally car. I had an AW11 Mr2 'sort-of' track-car previously, but it was hardly used due to track day costs and I thought it was time to move on to something a bit different. I've never rallied before, I've always wanted to, I just didn't think i have the balls to. Time to find out! The plan is to start by doing grasskhanas and autocrosses, and once I get a cage in start doing gravel sprints. Car will mostly be stock (at the start at least) to get the hang of things and grow confidence in a slow car. Picked up an automatic 1999 318Ti for under $1k, and all it needed for a WoF was some tyres, a few bulbs, and to clear the ABS light. About a week after I got it, it was already time to try it out on grass, by doing the HCMC grasskhana in Massey. The ABS light came back on just before the event (looks like pump motor/electronics), so conveniently the ASC and ABS were disabled during the event. Even though it was still auto with a single spinner, I had a blast throwing it around the dirt. Looks like the project is a go.

Does anyone know how to stop rev hang with an M50B25?

Beautiful! Great job.

.. done

Only option is to not use Euro-style plates. NZTA decree what we can use and where we buy from. Official source, or they are illegal. (And tes - the supplier is Australian. ???)

Haha yeah. The Hamilton one at least appears reasonably priced. I think the other one is a case of - i paid someone 15k to fix it so add that to the price.

Haha I will take that as part of innication, and buy you a beer or something, if you are right.

All good thanks Cory. That is the most important at the end of the day! I did consider buying your wagon to replace it but we ended up going for something else entirely.

You might be right but the previous owner who has a close relationship with Auckland City BMW was adamant only two were sold. I bought it on the basis on the understanding there are only two NZ New examples

Yep so it is in the top echelon of Anti-Millennial-Thief Devices!

You only have to let the pedal out about 1.5 metres, before the bite point, and pressing it in 3mm makes it slip..... prolly get another 100,000 out of it...

Haha wow. Though this day in age there is bound to be some muppet out there who will pay that.

Have you tried spinning the wheels?

My TradeMe ad might be a bit sh*t but these guys are really showing how it isn't done!

LOL.

Thanks guys. I'm planning on letting you know who they are once it all ends. That gives them a chance to paint themselves in a good light going forward, however unlikely that looks at the moment.

An AA inspection would be waste of money on a car like this.

Originally built by Jason and then after the accident swapped into the saloon by my mates younger brother. Insane car

@mosen http://www.vr-speed.com/vrsf-3-stainless-steel-catless-downpipes-n54-07-10-bmw-335i-08-10-bmw-135i.html

It kind of works in Aussie as they have serious fines, whereas here you get slapped with a wet bus ticket and that culture has stuck. It might work to introduce that here in the long run, but the sector who do not currently comply with the rules arent going to change any time soon. Part of it probably comes with our endless supply of dirt cheap imports, providing cars people cant actually afford at an affordable initial price

Soooo when the f##k are the authorities in this country going to wake up to make insurance compulsory. it only needs to be 3rd party. What gives the right to anyone to bash into someone else & not be responsible!

Thanks Mike.... S199 too so I can stop looking at that option and look at the usual other causes. Just found the pick of the brake upgrade so added them too. Cheers

@Contrails, to add insult to injury... They're an aussie company as well.

update: have gone to the tow yard and arranged car to be towed home until I decide what to do. $500 gone Chassis rails are bent and to make matters worse the bloody bonnet fell on my hand to add injury to damaged car. nice!