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I can hear your wastegate rattling from here.

Is this the Ghost of Ron speaking?

I did check if I could find replacement used ones in better quality and wasnt happy with what sellers were offering, so we decided to make a couple of days out of it and combined skills to refurb what we have. Basically: - No foam/sponge left in originals, no softness in the horsehair molded bases. Cloth itself in pretty good condition. - Forced stripes of cotton wadding inside "piping" on the back piece - Kept the horse hair mold but added middle strips of 35-160U High Density foam and side bolsters of 28-170U Medium density foam - Hand washed rear cloth, did not remove from seat as it was riveted to the frame (and no need). - Machine washed base - Wife sewed in "Interface" material into the base stips to create new "loops" to hold the side-centre-side metal bars in place (original channels disintegrated - Initially used OEM like Bull Ring pliers to reattached metal bars etc but found that large cable ties work a lot better. Used lots of them (13per base, 5 on each side and 3 in the middle). Very happy with result, firm but soft, smells great too thanks to the washing and cloth shampoo!

“You only need a cert for a WoF bro” ”you’ll still get a WoF no-one will notice bro” ”Yeah I had a crash and my insurance didn’t pay out coz of my modz bro”

My E28 when down in Blenheim recently: https://imgur.com/gallery/ckEK61W

Did a heap of research before we got ours, ultimately we went NZ New and there seems to be a few. Yes they have a few issues, but the motor is generally considered reliable, and no M car comes cheap, to run or maintain. Always go after full service records So far for us best damn thing we did.

Oh I saw it alright but based on the previous reactions from "NZ 130i defence squad" I couldn't resist a poke.

Ive just completed fitting e36 front seats into the E28, so I have these spare. They are in (IMO) excellent condition. They are the ones I refurbed with new foam and cleaned the fabric: Just the front seats. Free (though a 6 pack of craft beer wouldnt be turned away), pickup from Wellington. Otherwise I have no room to store long term so they would sadly have to be dumped.

If its got synchros and you dont need to double clutch its an auto...

When I got a CoC from BMW UK it did take a few days to come through. As newer Imports into NZ also need this same paperwork for compliance you can get them from BMW NZ. Not sure what the current asking price is though, sorry.

You can have it for $10,000 ?

There are a ton of things regarding importing into Ireland, espeically from outside the EU. One new rule thats came in since I was there is the requirement for a European Certificate of Conformity (incidentially I think NZ had/have such a requirement for some imports too). Since it was a UK car originally I emailed the UK BMW email that deals with this ([email protected]), I heard it takes them weeks to reply though. I can manually create a CoC on the Irish revenue site for the car.. but its like a hardcore 10 page document with really obscure trade agreement and manufaturing specific detail. Way more data is required than I would be able to get. There are services you can pay (EUR160 a pop) to make one for you, but rather see what BMW say first. Aside from this, Ireland is mostly concerned with paying VAT and Customs, which if I care enough I can be exempt from as a returning citizen and also Vehicle Import Tax (VRT), which again I can get an exemption for but in this case its only EUR200 as the car is so old. Ive paid EUR10k before for newer things, its a % of the current value! I don't think there is the rust paranoia and other odd import inspections NZ has as Ireland has a more robust (and annoying) annual Vehicle Inspection, they dont tend to freak out about safety at the border point. They certainly wont be moving the car around the dock repeatedly at my cost and then gassing it like my E31 had to do when imported here!

You won’t be able to “cancel” the registration, you can only do that for a new vehicle for 7 days, but you may well need to de-register the vehicle and have the de-reg papers to get it into Ireland. That’s what I meant about “the right paperwork”, not stealing a car. Things like proof of ownership, ie a receipt not a rego slip, can also be required. Your best bet would be to contact the licensing authorities in Ireland and get the official word, rather than listen to people guessing on the internets.

I suspect it will be quite a lot more complex getting into Ireland from outside the EU. The "replacement" CoR is just a printout of the current registration, that's the one I was referring to above. What you'll need is the completed and stamped MR7... if you have your last rego application (stamped) then that will be fine. For the $9.10 you'll get another plastic registration tag for your windscreen which will not help because it doesn't have your name. It might be easier to pop down to the local post office and get it sorted there You don't really need to cancel the registration, it's just a convenience (because you can export a registered vehicle). Although for ~$9 you might as well. It would be worth checking, since it's an ex-UK car, if it's easier to relocate it to the UK first and then to Ireland (well, before Brexit hits proper).

This. 100%. Coming from a DCT owner. The zf8 is truly great, would not be one bit disappointed if I had that instead of the DCT.

imo better than dct for day to day driving!

Hi all, In need of the black plastic clip located at the top of the airbag of e39 tourings in order to lock the airbag in. I'm told you cannot buy just this clip from BMW but need to get the air reservoir with it... (shock) Thanks in advance

Nah that's just your lifters refusing to bleed.

Jesus guys, way to take the bait. I was having a laugh with the N52 comment.

put it in a A80 Supra 4 da lulz?

I think at this stage the value has a lot more to do with the perceived cost of ownership than whether or not it is a "true" M car (which it absolutely is!!) Generally speaking the people who are buying at this price level can't or won't spend the money required to keep them at a standard at which they are worth decent money. Good time to buy one as spares for my wagon....