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Hi guys and girls, New to the BMW world. Have always been interested in E46 but am now the first proud nz owner of an M Sport 330i and loving it. A big difference to my daily work truck ford ranger

Nice example here, price is probably about right https://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/bmw/auction-2725380466.htm

Yes, it appears he can't confirm if any work has been carried out on the brakes, cooling system or if the timing chain etc has been replaced. Sounds like the typical neglected kiwi car where a WOF and engine oil changes constitutes a service. Any fussy owner would likely be looking at timing chain, brakes, suspension, cooling system and a decent service after buying. $6500 could double in no time.

This was a Trademe $1 reserve auction that I put an auto-bid on that I presumed would be too low to win it. And then I won it. So I ended up with another M130iA that I really don't need for $6,750. I'm going to do what I can with it to tidy it up then flip it. I saw nothing but the TM pictures, description and Q&A before I bid and would never normally throw money at something sight-unseen, especially nearly $7k but, as I say, I didn't expect to win it. It's docile compared to my black one but surprisingly agile and compliant. As collected:

My apologies to Sam and others on this forum. I have been so wrong with my replies to this thread. I should have checked before replying on here. It's been a very long time since I've changed front springs (2006 on the Ti) and I should have made sure my statements were correct.

This is exactly what I'm after, if only it was diesel or a M54 ?. I was never a fan of the E39's but they have definitely grown on me. Especially the tourings.

And now, for the sublime ride, I wiped off the shocks and spied this through the spokes: They appear to be Bilstein JDM shocks (e.g. 1, e.g. 2) and valved specifically for the E81/7 Motosport 130 and I call them winners. It's difficult to know how many km's they've done but a reasonable assumption is they're younger than the life of the car. Bonus.

Land Yacht now sold. Was a cool project and I’m really happy with its transformation. Thanks for watching.

Now sold.

Painted the kidneys black, saved myself $300 ?

Actually most generic Toyotas you hear driving around are constantly pinging from stationary, anything vvti with 10.5+ compression usually has a sad life once they come to NZ from Japan. They should all be run on 95 at a minimum.

Refurbished wheels are back and fitted up with new semi slicks all around. Fitment of the e39 M5 wheels on the e46 M3 is spot on. Next up I'll fit the Fancywide rear diffuser when it turns up. This may still be a while away as I think it shipped from Russia.

Good Morning, Hope everyone is having a good weekend. just came to say Hi! I own a Z4 E85. Looking forward to meet z4 owners at some point. cheers!

Bimmersport sticker lasted 5 years, fell off in last wash so got replaced. Just managed to snipe a set of mint lci door cards on tardme, so will swap em in with new blaupunkt speakers and subs, driven by a focal amp. Going to take some wiring to separate the factory sub wiring from the head unit.

Agreed. Its interesting to note that there are a few NZDM cars still being sold that spec 91 and are obviously crippled to run on it. The Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross is a prime example. 10:1 CR, 1.5L turbo, specced for 91. According to Wiki our ones are 11hp down on the rest of the world.

We shouldn't have 91 at all. You would struggle to find low grade fuel like 91 in Japan.

My comments on here were wrong. I've deleted them

As i stated lower pads in these E46's like E39's etc don't use a stop. Your photo 'spring end' and the OP photos show roughly the correct position which the spring end actually sits, which inches away from the 'end stop'. There is leeway in positioning the spring also before the spring starts to bind up against the inside lip of the pad https://blog.bavauto.com/18698/bmw-how-to-e39-5-series-525i-528i-530i-540i-m5-strut-spring-seat-and-spring-alignment/

Yeah i eventually figured it out. Drivers side spring does appear to need rotating clockwise slightly like others have but is the new spring sitting in the original position of the old spring on the pad? Is the other side the same? These lower pads don't have any stops and have some leeway when positioning the spring. When you buy new pads you don't have any reference so they can be clocked slightly either way. As long as the spring isn't riding up on the inner ledge of the spring pad causing it raise up then i don't see it as a problem.

Working upward, there's a step in the perch, the step in the pad should align to this, then the end of the spring should rest against this step. Since you're reusing your spring pads and they will be deformed it may not be immediately obvious how they should be positioned so pay extra attention. Yeah, if you can get spring compressors in there, no harm done and less faffing around. It's probably not the BMW way but it's been done before without trouble. Remember that the top hat is (usually) keyed to the spring so make sure that rotates also and you triple check that the spring is properly located at the top before you slowly release the compressors. When the car is jacked up and the front shock is at max extension you won't need a lot of compression on the spring to twist it around.

OK, I just need the fan motor bit on the right that twists out of the heater. If you want to sell that part to me pm me a price. Idk what I'd do with a whole heater system lol

I picked it up on Saturday and first impressions were that it was well used on the outside and absolutely filthy (disgusting) on the inside. But it did come with two keys and a luggage compartment cover, miracles! ? The seller (wholesale dealer) wasn't dishonest in the ad but also wasn't fully honest. As somebody who trades in cars he should have been more honest and complete in his description but hey, it was my choice to buy it sight unseen. I'm pretty glad in some respects that I got it rather than somebody who would have to pay to bring it up to spec. He also said he has always referred to the "roof/head liner" as the "hood liner" and I call BS on that since he's in the industry. So I jumped in and took it for a drive. Well damn, it's absolute bliss, way better than I expected. It hums along, has loads of poke and and rides amazingly well. I took it for a real hard drive around a lot of tight bends and uneven surfaces (the main areas the poor stock suspension and open diff show their faults) and it was planted. It has new rear tyres (Neuton) and I'm stunned with their grip which I imagine falls off really quickly once wear sets in (if not they're amazing tyres). Still, it's filthy and disgusting. But, mechanically it's an $8k car every day and the cosmetics don't add up to $1,250 off so I still got a good deal. I drove back and paid the man.

Cheers mate - yeah, had read about the knuckle, so made sure it aligned with the pins and got the strut seated in all the way. Good idea, will drive the car and get them looked at while I'm at the shop having the RTABs done.

Hopefully it will stay in good nick.

Doubt you could install them upside either with the bottom being eggs shaped

Were they fully seated down into the clamp\pinch bolt? Hard to install them incorrectly otherwise when using old pads. Your install looks fine, the spring doesn't rest against the stop unlike the top and is mostly inline with the indent. Id give them more time. I drive around for at least a week to ensure thing are settled before going for a proper alignment.

Yep they're active. open up when needed

pretty sure they are "active" only opening when needed?

With my rather uneducated eye, I've only replaced e36 suspension, I can offer: Use the same endlinks and no preload required on the swaybar. You will get a clunk if your endlinks are stuffed or not bolted up real tight. Bumpstops look fine, you'd only need to trim them if you hit them too often, regardless they won't cause a noise. I don't think those springs look seated properly. In pic 1 the spring needs to rotated clockwise until the end of the coil (bottom) rests up against the step in the perch. On pic 2 it almost looks like the spring or perch is installed upside down because you can't rotate the spring to sit against that step... are the springs asymmetrical, is it even possible to install them upside down? FWIW.

My AVIN unit actually gets better as I get more used to it. The only less-than-perfect use case is if you listen to the radio a lot (as I do) because the AVIN unit can't control the (non-digital) radio. If we had DAB that problem wouldn't exist. 10" touch screen is utterly amazing, surprisingly so. You 100% absolutely MUST get the 4GB unit, ideally Android 9 or above. I had a 2GB unit and it really sucked, Android kept closing background apps (like the Bluetooth stack, or the phone, or the music app) because it kept running out of memory so it was useless. They're all clones but AVIN provides pretty good after-sales service and I certainly needed it.

It seems likely that fewer than 1000 RHD 1Ms still exist. https://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1741852 Draw your own conclusion regarding their long-term desirability/ values, but as NZ and Australia got 350 of them new (c30% of RHD production), it's probable that the better examples will be exported to the UK if/when prices drop to the levels some are predicting.

wheels look fantastic

Sweet baby Jesus

Hey Guys, Been sick hence left this on the side. Short story today, on June 2019 made 23 hours in a row with my brother in law and a mate to go a pick up a 2001 330i Wagon manual, which will be the donor for the project... just some pictures for fun. Quick bit in Papakura's BP. Freaking cold in Turangi Nice sunrise somewhere between Palmy and Welli. Yay!! Car is mounted!!! Arrived home safe and sound and meeting the it's new chassis.

@qube yeah I'm pretty sure im going with steel grey, not sure what pearls go in it but it's pimp. Found lots of photos on BMWs steel grey but it's such an interesting colour that looks so different in lighting I really wanted to do a test spray first. Silver grey looked real sleek to me and wanted to try it, but the steel grey definitely has more character. I think it's BMW colour code 400. Bluer face redder flop? Lol Closest I've found end result in that lighting will be this for steel grey And for silver grey Polished up those fogs too, and JB welded the bumber guide.

Ahh the amount of e30s we butchered and trashed when we were younger ?

Offered a job today! Will be great to be doing something again as I haven't worked since the start of lock down. Also means I can get the e30 "finished"