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Hi all, Time to finally report back after months of getting stuff on the BMW sorted, and I thought it might be best to put it on this thread for continuity, apologies if this isn't correct protocol. I will preface the following "novel" with the comment that I am really happy to have bought Brads car as it has been a brilliant starting point for my “little” project as the foundations were very solid, i.e. good motor, good body etc. I could only live in fear of the saga that would have ensued had I bought the Lancia Delta HF Turbo I was looking at before that. So thanks heaps to Brad for supplying such a good starting point! As with all 21 year old projects there have been a few trials and tribulations along the way, but I guess that’s what makes these things projects, I mean it would hardly be a project if all you had to do was clean and polish it. The saga started with a delayed flight to Auckland where I picked the car up from Brad. It was interesting to reacquaint myself with a manual car after years of driving an auto. The car went well but I noticed it never warmed up (queue new thermostat job for later). Also the handling was a little off as the front tramlined over bumps and felt a little vague and disconcerting (queue lower ball joint job for later). I also noted the carpets were damp, not a biggie I thought… Nevertheless, the car never skipped a beat and got me to Napier with no real dramas, score! It needed a service, and my brother is a mechanic in Napier so he serviced it the next day, oil/filter, gearbox oil, plugs, air filter, checked the diff oil and pronounced it a car that had been mechanically well looked after. After all, it even had the wee tool for pulling the plug caps still there. Checked the rust in the tail and dismissed it as not a biggie. He thought the water in the drivers footwell might have come from the windscreen. One weird thing happened, overnight there was a frost, so when I opened the car the door wouldn’t close??? Once it warmed up it was fine??? So drove the car to Dunnos, via stops in Wellie and Chch, and got there with no real drama, it burned no oil, and it purred along, I could see that once we sorted the handling it would be awesome as the few cars that passed me on the straight were easily caught in the twisties. The only pseudo drama being on the ferry, and getting a call over the loudspeaker for the owner of the teal BMW to come to the pursers office... gulp... Turns out the alarm had gone off even tho I only locked it on the key (new car who knew?). So started with the water leak, I ran a dehumidifier in the car for about a week to get rid of most of the water, at its worst on my steep driveway, it was like a wee swimming pool in the RH passenger foot well. However, I couldn’t figure out where it was leaking. Though I can say the foam holds water like you wouldn’t believe, even when the carpets above appear dry (must be a good vapour barrier). A visit to my friendly local garage sorted out the central locking fault Brad had told me about in the passenger door, and the electric window fault as it kept popping out of its rail even after it was fixed. They did the thermostat, lower control arm, the coolant flange, new brake fluid, and obviously new coolant. They also remarked that it looked pretty clean, and was remarkedly oil leak free for a BMW... Driving around in the wet showed up the deficiencies of the Supercat tires, so I replaced them and got a matching set on Goodyear Assurance tires (not required, but I thought why not, and they had improved the grip in my Honda Accord). Driving around also showed up some chips in the windscreen which couldn’t be fixed. This necessitated a replacement which unfortunately uncovered rust around the sills, but $250 later that was fixed, so all good, and a possible source of the water leak eliminated (not quite as it turns out). I went to a local panel guy to get the rust cut out, and $500 later it looked factory again. The painter touched up the areas affected by peeling clear coat on the roof and the boot and the spoiler, but in the process of removing the spoiler the painter stripped two screws which remained in the spoiler, queue another trip to my friendly mechanic. Removing rear spoiler for painting also broke the rear spoiler stop lamp (broken wire was fixed when the rear spoiler was reattached). Whilst we are on stop lights, I replaced the left rear as it had broken and got the wiring redone after it fell apart in my hands and I didn’t know how to rewire it (another friendly garage job). Also in taking off the plastic cover on the bonnet which was all cracked it removed the paint… sigh, so that got painted as well, so now most of the car has been resprayed. The latest problem to manifest itself in the leak saga was I found water under the left rear seat squab, which may have come from the rear screen. And when working on the passenger door somehow I managed to get another problem to come up which was the airbag light, however it turned out to be a seatbelt pretensioner connection, and not the sensor in the seat. Other jobs I have done along the way are replaced the missing foam insulation in the drivers door (also a possible source for water leak), located missing plastic inner door handle surrounds (its amazing how many people own and are wrecking e36’s and I am getting to know most of them in Dunedin). I then ordered new trim clips for door cards and re-glued clip mounts to same door cards so they work. Some of the side skirt clips broke when I accidentally clipped the skirt with my foot getting out, so ordered new ones and refitted. I fixed the hole in the leather on the drivers seat with some black cotton (easy fix), and used my new friend Q-Bond (where were you when I was busting motorcycle fairings when I was younger?) to fix the broken RH front inner guard so it now mounts solidly. I also used Qbond to fix one of the vent pieces that closes the vent from behind on the passenger side which was cracked and broken, and to repair the hole I drilled to try and fix the droopy glovebox (don’t believe what you see on line lesson learned). I also got a new gear knob (keeping the old one), fixed the backlight on the clock, fitted a new centre console to replace the one with the cool (but utterly useless) tape holders (tho I kept it for the next owner). I also got some better mats for free out of one of the aforementioned wrecked Dunedin cars, replaced the rubber strip that runs the length of the roof as the front door was catching it and snagging it, reconnected the boot light (disconnected it again when the car got painted). So that left a couple of things to do, like still tracking down the front driver floor well water leak (was not looking forward to pulling the carpets). After a day of investigation with my mechanic brother, it turned out to be coming in through what, looks like a sensor at the top front of the drivers door, and was then tracking into the car. The screen didn't leak at all, not sure why it did the one other time I checked after the screen replacement (even took a photo as proof), but after blasting water at it for ages, no leak. However this did necessitate another visit to my friendly mechanic to get the airbag light reset (had to pull the seat), and got a power steering hose leak fixed at the same time, so that’s pretty much job done for the moment. It certainly is eye catching in Fiji Green, and does engender a lot of comments (mostly positive but it would be fair to say the colour is polarising), and people coming up to talk about it. Most importantly it puts a smile on my dial every time I drive it and has introduced me to a whole new bunch of people with a similar interest. Have I ever had buyer’s remorse after the purchase, NO. Has it caused me a little angst along the way, YES. Have my friend laughed at me when I regaled them with the tales of what I did last night, what I fixed, and what broke after that, you better believe it! Would I change a thing about the story so far... NAH!

Got a chance to do some nice cosmetic upgrades just before Christmas. First was the rear parcel shelf. It was faded and looked tired. I took out the rear seats, c-pillars and lights and @str8_6 very kindly helped me to dye the shelf back to its former glory. With the c-pillars out, we used this opportunity to glue the loose material back up to where it should be. I also cleaned and conditioned the rear seats while everything was in pieces. After leaving it out of the car for a week to dry, the shelf was popped back in and I'm very pleased with the result. The rear of the car looks much fresher! Next I installed the shiny new 540i badge. I reckon it looks epic. I also bought new centre caps and valve caps for the wheels. I was going to wait until I got them refurbished but I got impatient. The centre caps seem to be a slightly different design to the old ones - more sleek without the bulky outline (they also fit a lot more snug). Finally I got round to getting euro plates. Man, what a difference euro plates make (see picture of the M62 in its second home).

As requested by some of you a stand alone projectthread for my E39 530i - this will stop me spamming the WDYDTYC thread lol Backstory - April 2019 I decided to look fo an E39, 530i to replace my mint E46 320i, the E46 had served me very well for 9 years, i had modded it to the end of my wishlist and after a BME Club trip to Tokaanu with a 3 year and 5week old, my theory about needing a bigger sedan with the arrival of Bodhi, was proven correct. upon my return home - the search began. After looking at a few as "do ups" i decided as mint as i could get for 7k ish was the way to go. I wont go too deep into the unicorn i let go the previous year, as it still burns me - and was recently sold again - a mint individual grey 530i, nz New, with color matched interior stitiching. After some further searching and a well timed post on the BMW Car Club NZ Facebook page a local example was coming up for sale, a couple of views, a test drive and it was mine. it was mint enough for the 6k price tag including a full service history, with a few things needed doing to fit my desire for a "Project " Since picking the car up in April i have done (all in the WDYDTYC thread) some optional other maintenance / replacement of worn parts - brakes rotors and pads -recon ABS pump & booster - GROM Bluetooth adapter - refurbished parcel shelf and installed child seat anchors -new rear suspension links, top hats, spring pads etc to even the rise height out -panel beating to the drivers side frot shock tower (under bonnet) to straighten it out -new "Pork chops" to replace smashed ones incl dnew hardwas for the centre undertray also ( this cobined with other wrok makes me think the car was nose dived at some stage or repeately abused leaving an angled driveway - new arm rest inserts and handle - Bavsound speaker upgrade (awesome) - tinted windows -Replaced front and rear windows gaskets - made hard in the front by a misalinged windscreen and lots of glue used by whomeeer did that job - spark plug change -gear box flush - oil change and all filters, cabin etc... - new camshaft intake angle sensor - 2nd hand mint drivers side auto dimm mirror - paint correction at Auto Niche, Hamilton - claybar and degrease wheels - replaced center caps in wheels Future works - 2003 sterring wheel with multifunction and paddle shift ( in the garage just need ot sort install) - refurb the style 42s - new passenager mirror or great 2nd hand one - fix rip in drivers seat side bolster ( on the look out for material from good condition m psort rear seat) - new windscreen cowel - newA pillar trims (middle clipswere borken whe nwindscreen replaced, i beleive) Any further updates will be sposted here in due corse Cheers the old E46 The new to me E39

Avin USA 10.25" Android Display It's been an interesting experience, initially I was not really impressed, even disappointed however that impression is slowly improving. The install was simple enough after disassembling the dash. You'll need a cutting tool (e.g. Dremel) to do the dash, the knife they provided is entirely inadequate. I needed to cut out ~2 cm2 of hard plastic. It squeaks but I think I've isolated that to the actual screen/cradle interface (hard plastic on hard plastic) and have a potential fix in mind. There are no instructions and the supplied kit apparently changes/updates regularly so you might get bits and connections you don't expect, and you might also get parts you don't need to use. I got both. There are no instructions, expect to have to work it out yourself. Their support is (so far) exceptional. I've been in email communication since Christmas and have had all replies within 24h and some within minutes. Mostly the support has been helpful and accurate. I've needed to trim a plastic plug (easy enough) and they sent me a 2GB unit instead of a 4GB unit... they've offered to replace it, let's see how that goes. The screen is exceptional, really, really good. It's clear, bright and responsive, I'm impressed and I didn't think I would be. Startup is fast enough (<20s) and you can have it start instantly in 'original car mode' whilst Android loads in the background if you prefer. The OS/Launcher experience is fine, there are a few good skins and getting to Android apps is simple enough. It comes with the Play Store etc, you just need to log in. It has a default digital dashboard which is pretty but it adds no real value. I can connect to the home WiFi and download offline Google maps and with these, navigation is a dream on this widescreen. Mine came with an external speaker (not pictured/mentioned on their site) that outputs navigation instructions so the main speakers maintain their feed. Initially this didn't work for me but now it does... ? ...it creates terrible static on AM radio though (Radio Sport) when it speaks. You can choose your own navigation app. Bluetooth is less impressive... the connection seems flaky and there's an intolerable amount of lag - to the point where you believe the command hasn't gone through. This could be a firmware or memory problem so I'll reserve judgement but I certainly can't rely on it for calls atm so I don't connect it. The default apps are fine but with them alone I doubt I'd get enough value out of the screen and that's where the Android market comes in. I grabbed a terminal emulator first for reboots because for the life of me I couldn't/can't find a reboot option. I got the WiFi adaptor for the Torque app and set up a default set of gauges for that. I can see more potential in more market apps.

Not a bad result Soaked in kero for a few hours - loosened up big bits with screw driver / pick - brake cleaner and scotch brite to get the final bits off Found a new use for my paint gun spraying in there to blow out the liquid, i look like i've been stuck in a chimney for weeks now

Yeah, the typical Harley rider has put me off ever owning one. Not that I can see the point. I also have a 2018 Ducati Multistrada 1200S and along with the half of the BMW range, the KTM 1290 Adventure, Honda ST1300 etc, you’d struggle to find better all round bikes, especially suited to NZ roads/conditions or even eating up miles down the yank interstates at 80-100mph all day. You could do 1200 km around NZ in one day on any of them and want to get back on and do it all again. Good luck doing the same on a Harley. It would be like choosing to do a lap of the north island in a new M5 or an HQ Holden 202 with no exhaust and a lot of chrome.

Per title after clear e36 rear tails for cab convert and coupe

Here's a review of the M5 E39 M5 Review Then the M5 is the star of the movie Movie star Then the short version E39 M5

Selling on behalf of my sister who has owned for the last 2 years. This is her 1998 328i coupe in Montreal Blue. Full factory M-Sport package with partial leather seats. Currently at 142Km. This car has only had enthusiasts as owners, shown by the massive folder full of service history and it's overall condition. Door cards and headliner recovered in the last 2 years. The only non factory extras include an alarm with immobiliser, a bluetooth headunit and tinted windows. Even has factory PDC! Plate will be included in the sale, current WOF and Registration. 5,500.00 ono PM me if you are interested.

It's nice to see that car go to a decent owner! Most "nice" e36s are getting wrecked by flat bill hat wearing vapers, Will be cool to see this car tidied up properly

I must say I'd never own a pre face-lift. The looks are just wrong. But the new front and back was a massive change for the better. Compared to the e38 I'm. Surprised how nimble this car is. The hydraulic anti roll bars and shocks do an incredible job. The e65 V12 I think was only available in Europe. Whether the extra expense of shipping your car around the world is worth it for a slightly shorter car is a question only the uber rich could answer haha. Maybe the e66 wouldn't fit in the garage.

Hi, got the car this week, Sally from European Car imports was really great, and I had a very good experience. Thanks for the pointer. I can highly recommend their service and professionalism. If anyone is looking to import a vehicle from the UK, do get intouch with Sally. Loving the new car as well!

I could potentially have a look at it for you if you want

Or... Use it as an adapter for ITBs...

Those wheels are so wrong, they look like they should be on an X5 (or larger). Just check that the airbag light works (comes on and extinguishes as expected) because that's a non-3 series steering wheel (5er) as far as I can tell (it's not the normal 3er 4-spoke).

Yours Graham? Looks like an inlet manifold for twin side-draft carbs onto an M10 (?) engine - would be a pretty sweet set up. Howard Wood runs this on his 2002 racer, works very well. A lot to be said for old skool technology in many cases, very little to go wrong, just need to get the rubber hose out and balance the jets now and again!

Yeah that's BMW parts catalogs have always stated. Easy enough to confirm via engine bay or a head under the car. Can't miss that monstrosity.

Well this is coming up to 200k on the clock and instead of selling it I decided to give it a facelift and a refresh Decided to replace all bushes, arms and joints in the front and rear suspension. Then into a full groom, just some of the cleaning produces required for the job Start under the bonnet