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I've been meaning to post here for ages, but finally getting around to it now! After owning a few Audis and VWs I was itching to get back into a BMW, and really wanted to be driving a manual again. I had several E30s when I was younger and wanted something with that kind of small car feel, but more modern, safer, and with 4 doors for getting the kids in and out of their car seats. Pretty quickly I realised the 130i fitted the bill perfectly. Great daily driver on the commute, even better for a weekend back road blast, and with enough room to fit the kids in too (just). After looking for a short while, I managed to pickup this 2007 LCI, with the all important hydraulic power steering, with 125000km on the clock for $8500. Bargain!! That was back in April 2019, and I pretty much immediately set about with the "improvements." To be honest, I've gone a bit overboard and spent significantly more than the purchase price again, but man what a fun car! Puts a smile on my face every day in a way my old Golf R never really could. The mods done are as follows: Engine: Simota intake Supersprint backbox with resonator delete MILVs purchased but not yet fitted. To be done soon when I do valve cover gasket, then a tune to follow... Drivetrain: BMW performance short shifter CDV delete plus braided clutch hose Quaife LSD Redline gearbox and diff fluid Suspension/Chassis Birds B1 dynamic kit - Biltstein dampers, Eibach springs and H&R sway bars E9X M3 front control arms and radius arms Camber pin mod, and max front camber Whiteline rear subframe inserts E81 rear chassis brace Brakes 135i brake upgrade - 6 piston front and 2 piston rear calipers with dimpled/slotted discs and EBC redstuff pads. Calipers painted brembo red with brembo decals (just 'cause :-p) Braided hoses all round Wheels and Tyres BBS RE 847 18 x 8 ET35 Front, and RE 848 18 x 9 ET45 Rear. Lightweight forged BBS Japan goodness! Goodyear Eagle F1 Supersport tyres - 225/40/18 Front, 245/35/18 Rear. These tyres are AWESOME, can't recommend highly enough! Styling Carbon front splitters and carbon mirror caps outside BMW Performance shift knob and alcantara shift boot, plus BMW performance alcantara handbrake Other than that there have been a few maintenance items to do but nothing interesting. It's pretty much perfect now, from my perspective. Just got to get those MILVs fitted plus the tune! Maybe down the track I'll think about headers too, but that's well into the too hard/expensive basket for now. Here's a couple of pics I took post-wash last weekend. Let me know what you think ? Only letting me upload 3 pics for now, so more soon...

2001 BMW 530i touring in Titan Silver Metallic. 292,xxx kms. 1 year wof done in May. Rego expires October. This has been a restoration project for me and the time has come to let a new owner enjoy this modern classic. A pretty extensive maintenance regime has been undertaken... Suspension wise I have fitted new shocks, Front springs, ball joints and control arms. The rear subframe bushes (common issue on e39 touring) have also recently been replaced with more durable solid rubber. She now handles and rides superbly. New rear discs and pads along with hoses and fresh brake fluid. M54 Engine maintenance is all up to date. Vanos overhauled, complete cooling system overhaul including the 2 plastic pipes under the intake manifold. Valve cover gasket replaced and new plugs. Lots of time and money invested. Not your average e39 that’s well overdue for maintenance. I’m asking $7500. See my project thread for details.

I knew hoarding e36 manual conversions and useless OEM junk was my great retirement plan

No turkeys here... The details are on my trademe listing: https://www.trademe.co.nz/2717902145 As always Bimmersport gets preferential rates if you hit me up here and win the auction I'll give you 10% off. I'll be adding photos and video tomorrow.

Picked it up from Continental BMW, diff out, all new seals, back in again. No more oil leak! BMW club membership paid for itself and more, approx $300 off the total bill, happy with that.

Goodnight

Why don’t you try selling them then instead of having a whinge about being called out for sh*t stirring. Subtle enough?

Got a mint drivers black leather one you wanna part with?

*cough* So that where they got the idea for that god-awful active tourer from!

No reason why you couldn't do it, its more labor than skill based. Having someone program the new key makes it even easier and saves you some $. Money well either way given its sometime you are using all the time. Yes IR key should work fine as spare.

Damn these bakehouse cafe guys must be doing some good work!

New wing mounted, just waiting on replacement stainless hardware.

No problem, I have done a transponder chip for someone with a 5 series in the past also with infrared Key and pretty sure that’s what they did.

I got the handbrake boot from hubauer shop...https://www.hubauer-shop.de/en/bmw-performance-handbrake-grip-w-gaiter-34402153754.html they only deliver in Europe so I used youshop to send it down here from the UK. That was before youshop added on GST though so made it a tad cheaper than it would be now, but still probably more expensive than it really should be. The silver part is kinda cheap plastic too which I don't really like. I'd be tempted to keep the alcantara boot and swap to a Storm handbrake lever or similar, but this one is all one piece so would be a bit of hassle. Maybe could try and remake the stock on in alcantara as a bit of a project one day?? I got the splitters from Ali Express, again back when shipping was a bit cheaper and more reliable than it is now. The fitment was pretty poor though, I had to redrill the mounting holes, and it still doesn't line up perfectly so I'm tempted to try and find another (better) set.

It drives like a stock vehicle to be fair, the power on stage 1 is still very linear, but just more of it everywhere. No logs on this car as at Stage 1 with a 95 octane tune its still very mild.

Mine was a PFL 4 door with an Mtech kit that I got off my cousin for a $1000. Nobody wanted them back then.

Correct me if I am wrong but aren’t IR keys the easiest to replicate in the sense that the remote part just swaps out from any IR key fob into a new blank key but you just program it to the GM5 via the rearview mirror with button presses. The immobliser part is just a transponder Chip pcf7935 that’s easily programmed by a read of your ews module (more than happy to do this as I have done for other members in the past foc). get your blank key cut, pop in the transponder and program the remote and off you go?

Just bought myself a e28 m20b27. Planning to change to 885 head, manual swap, change to b25 ecu and put xyz adjustables on it. Bit of a noob with mechanical side but am learning.

Damn... I didn't think I'd win this... anyone need a 130i? @Cammsport ??? ? Edit: now I'm bummed I sold those 17's... ?

i might have a spare if you need it i'll have a look. can bring it to next meet. will most likely be black but easy enough to paint with a colour matched spray can

Finally got round to doing the exhaust swap on the car, its been on the cards since I purchased it in December last year. Did the brake fluid at the same time. This was a both cars on the lift job, exhaust removed on my black one and stock exhaust waiting to moved over on the white 130i. Pricey SuperSprint backbox was removed, was absolutely filthy so gave it a quick general clean and then polished the tips! Came up nice and shiny. Final tightening on fitment, went and redid the tips so its got a bit of residue from the polish in this shot. Wasn't able to get a shifter bushing fitted, as the top one, which I had a new replacement for, looked alright and wasn't causing any play. There's a bit of side-to-side movement in the gearshift that I'd like to remove So will be on the lookout for a full shifter bushing kit to be fitted up. Have now done all the things that were pressing on the car so will enjoy it for a while, hopefully move on my other two then start looking into shifter bushings and tidying the outside of car with some dent removal and cut and polish.

^^ @Driftit yeah FCP has now become my go to, used to use RM euro and ECS, but their shipping rates through FEDEX have come down considerably recently. like $20-$30 USD compared to I was usually paying $50-$80USD on small orders, even when you would think the volume wouldn't warrant such a fee. In fact, just today, I put a large volumetric item like a windscreen cowl in the basket just to see what the shipping was, only $20 USD ... usually that was $80 USD from memory through USPS shipping option on RM Euro.

https://www.fcpeuro.com/BMW-parts/325i/Brake/?year=2006&m=20&e=2053&t=5&b=5&d=700&v= We will all agree with Jacko. Shipping from the US from FCP is not that bad. I made an order from them on Saturday. Estimated to arrive on Thursday. Also Life time Warranty. Nobody offers that here in NZ.

realoem.com and fcpeuro.com

Top up the gearbox first and see if it drives first... go from there