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Updated to newer design double slat grill in gloss black

Added LCI taillight inners for a different look. I'm not convinced I like the led 'bubble-look' lights on the full LCI Led taillights (or at least the aftermarket ones) so tried this as an in between step.

Go on...

A quick trip today at lunchtime. Prepped my Covid Tracer app, and hand sanitiser. Packed my work gloves, steel-capped boots, shackles and chains. The invite said whips were optional. Just as well, I didn't have them anyway. Hoped I wasn't taking a knife to a gunfight. We quickly discovered that - despite me trial-fitting other 10mm shackles to my 8mm chain in the store, my 10mm 1 tonne-rated shackles were too big. Super-Barry and bench grinder to the rescue, the the shackles were adjusted (just barely) to fit. Before long we had the M42 chained up.. M42B18 in bondage gear And before you could say 'where's the blindfold', the M42B18 was up on the hoist... And then securely pinned to the engine stand. We all breathed a sigh of relief when we’d completed that task. Many thanks to Barry, and to Aaron for laughing politely at my bad jokes ?

Family and friends, two people you never sell a car to. Shouldn't be hard to sell though.

I found on my first stint, I missed wild unkept green. Mexico City had parks, mostly. I was stirred, after three years, flying over the waitemata into Auckland, with the olive, mustard, drabs and greys of the clay, and the greens. Later I found Europe a tonic... although I'd foregone our verdant green wild landscapes and earthstorms, in their place were four distinct seasons, soft greys in the landscapes, and a certain tranquility not present in Niu Zild. A great contrast. Returning to NZ three years later, again I was pleased to be home, though the culture shock took a good couple of years to recover from.

https://www.trademe.co.nz/2724428960 This is a friend's listing if anyone is interested in a relatively rare 1 series coupe non turbo with the nice N52 3L engine. A lot of work has gone into making this right with brand new suspension and some basic maintenance. He would be willing to negotiate the price too!

The Police problem is that they continue to be expected to do more but can't even afford to do what they're doing now. They haven't been resourced to respond to burglaries for nearly 20 years... I'd say guns, until it really matters (i.e. too late), are way down on their priority list. I don't blame the cops. What they could do though is take all the twats that are assigned to sit on the side of the road all day snagging people for doing 105-111 and reassign them to something that'll actually make a difference.

Have to agree. Georgetown and Virginia are lovely places. I always think I would like to live in Georgia to the north of Atlanta, beautiful place and good house prices for what you get. I like Chicago too but damn it gets cold! Although, I will say that having been travelling to the Midwest and South 5-6 times a year for the last 10 years, there is a bit of that ‘murica thing going on there with an underlying anti-foreigner feeling which has developed over time. I have been in a number of meetings where “unfair trade deals”, Trump paraphernalia on display in offices and quite personal attacks on Obama from businesspeople. It’s got a lot worse in the last few years. It is also very racially divided outside of the big, coastal cities. I think in this time I have dealt professionally with one African American person, maybe one or two Hispanic Americans. Everyone else was white. As a European Kiwi I get along fine. I suspect others who look a bit different would find it a bit tough.

History shows agricultural exports to be a very safe ecomomic option. NZ is in a particularly good position to provide the world with high quality food due to our climate (we don't even feature in the global top 10 for agritech, despite the size of agriculture as a percent of our GDP), legislation being the main barrier to fast growth in this area. Let's face it, the world is always going to need to eat.

yea, its probably not cheap. and aftermarket ones are probably not as good as genuine. Should have donated my set before I sold my coupe

I already have a set remade but didnt want to drill them and dont have plate holders so put the old ones on for now im a big fan of the LCI taillights with the LED bubble look, but your inners upgrade is very nice!

Time for a remade number plate!

Went with AVIN. Their pre-sales support and question answering tipped me over the edge. They are Chinese of course (like everything) but they do have support operators that I spoke to that appear to be based out of the USA and communicate nice and clearly. Also on purchase they emailed me extensive installation guides and access to their online support forum.

Tell me about it. But all good, it's mechanically sound and rides like a dream so it only requires a buyer that'll live with the cosmetic defects which aren't all that bad really. I'll go back to the two Bimmersport interested parties first.

There's a vaguely listed set that keeps coming up on TM as of late, it might be worth hunting them down as they might be genuine and poorly described.

turns out i have a welded/integrated head (2008+) so its not such an easy undertaking...........

Yup Bosch, replaced by BM Workshop up here in Auckland.

With a bias for action, I've ordered AVIN's E87 / E82 CCC/CIC replacement screen/android unit. Did some digging on the alternatives like Xtron and Belsee. I've gone for the 4GB android 10 unit with all the trimmings (Android auto, Wifi ODB for Torque, front and rear parking cameras. Seems there are some little quirks with these units in that they rely on the factory AUX to send sound through to the existing system. I also like the idea of being able to switch between the CCC display and the android display. I went for AVIN as spoke to their people in the US and they run their support from the US and they provided a lot of guidance around the fitting whatnot prior to committing to purchase. Xtron and Belsee did not extend the same support but....it's hard to tell if there is anything technically between the three choices. Will document and share my fitting experience when the time comes.

I think also taking the dealer sticker price as the price is a massive mistake....if you see a nice example at a dealer...go and negotiate, if you're realistic they will not usually let a buyer walk away without a deal. Also from a good dealer you can get them to do lots of tidy up bits and bobs (new battery, cut and polish) that you might need to sweeten things up.

pick up the basics from reading manuals, and then apply them calmly,routinely, in a high stress "assumed first and only time situation" are two different things, but yes ,not to be discussed in public so ending it now agree with you on the rogue aspect, plenty of very young angry school shooters in USA and that culture is what is aspired/copied here so its only a matter of time I guess and who doesn't know how to get into their dads gun cabinet. The job prospects of the future and the destructive nature of our race baiting press, are going to make a lot of disenfranchised youth for sure but I still don't think you can legislate the problem away or it was justified at the time. Agree entirely with posts above it just needs an independent body that sole job is to control that, not the police who move funds around as needed and have become political assets to be abused by gvnmts

Self taught...as in reading manuals, looking at videos etc. You could pick up a lot of the basics and then drill yourself on it. What little I saw was of somebody who had perhaps had some weapons handling training etc, but very little/no operational/training experience (especially if you consider the before and after). I wont dive deeper on this medium. My point is, that even if sponsor checks etc are done, somebody of previous good character who goes rogue, can't be guarded against easily. This is where I think the UK gun club membership thing and that you must actually attend the club can help...you just can't get licensed and disappear off with your arsenal never to be seen again.

@promo is your man, my FRM exploded similarly after Carly killed it and he recoded it remotely. Legend.

I think you're over estimating my upholstery skills haha. I'm a little bit torn on the badge. I like the M only and 540i only but not the combo. Seeing as the M is faded I might take that off first.

I'm going through this dilemma in another thread. I've all but decided for My E82 with CCC that no other option other than an android unit makes sense (I want to run modern apps etc) but I also what a semi stock look to things. Seems to be a toss up between the AVIN, Belsee and Xtron.....seem to hear pros and cons about both really

Happy now William ? Ooops I forgot the question mark...sorry

I still can't resist buy stuff online, this time from a well know classic car enthusiast in Pahiatua of all places! A bit of bling to brighten up the engine bay (and maybe some performance increase due to strongers spark...) Now the first side is pretty much ready for the GRP panel to go in, I have started on the other side of the car - idea being to fit both of the guards at the same time as I am rivet and gluing them in. This side is a little more tricky as the vent bottle for the petrol tank is tucked up inside the wheel arch, so trying hard not to damage that in the proces of cutting everything out and cleaning everything up. Plus this side is where a replacement rear quarter was tacked on after I backed it into the safety barriers at Pukekohe many years ago, so there is a bit of tidying up to do around that in places, rust to be treated etc.

Its 2020, if it wants to identify as a manual, who are we to judge.

I went to look at that silver one before I bought mine. They had it advertised for $19k at the time I think, and they wouldn't even let me test drive it unless I'd committed to buying it! It was low k's but the condition didn't match the price for me. I even offered them $16k for it (which I didn't intend to go through with, but wanted to see if that would be enough to drive it at least) and they just said no. No counter offer or anything! Guess they want it as a museum piece or something... Then I found mine with 125k on the clock, but just as good condition, and bought it for $8500. So yeah, as above, those examples at the dealers are way overpriced, but wait around and they do come up at decent prices, and I really think they are a bargain for what they are! Compare it to what people pay for Golf GTIs, and I know which one I'd rather have. I used to have a MK6 Golf R, which was a $30k car at the time, and I am much happier driving the 130!!

Yes, this thread: Certainly the manuals you link to are overpriced, they're not worth $17k but there is good guidance above. Here's a left field suggestion: get an ECU flash, a transmission flash, add NRW shifters and you'll have a very different experience to the one you're having now. That's how I'm riding at the moment and I'd say the experience is closer to the out-of-the-box manual experience than it is to the auto experience. Fix the suspension and add some M3 bits with a good alignment and it might be enough. Will cost a lot less than a manual or conversion as well and you can still go down that route if you want. If you'd like to try that experience out then hit me up and you can take my black one for a drive. It's so fundamentally different to a stock auto you might be sold.

Just follow the 130i post in the Trademe section of the forums. Every half decent 130i gets posted in there. So much going on. Accidental Purchases. Full Trademe ad analysis'. All sorts.

August 2017

That's a choice, often driven by whether you have iDrive or not. Chris replaced his non-iDrive HU with a double DIN whereas mine is iDrive so I replaced the screen and kept the HU which controls the radio (edit: and volume, CD, MD). If you have iDrive you'd typically replace the screen so you don't end up with two screens (one being redundant I'd imagine). You may be able to do double DIN plus iDrive screen with both functional but I've not seen that.

People who just refuse to see anything positive and nitpick everything.

We are one of or if not the most isolated country in the world. We had one month after the rest of the world until we had our first infection, and our population is smaller than Melbourne, with next to no population density. Clutching at straws to compare us on the world stage. I don’t think the majority of complaints are about not being able to go to their batches. A few will make it to the sensationalist media so they can run with it. The complaints are more to do with the destroyed businesses and livelihoods across the country.

Date: 1 Aug 2020 Distance: 261421kms 1. Rear Brake Refresh This plan had been underway for about a year. Nick sourced the ideal rear trailing arms for a pre-prepped rebuild, and I collected these at e30 Mega Meet last year. What a guy! I ran short on time, and Jon at Auto38 stripped them down for me. They were media blasted, etched, and powder-coated, though this got caught up with Covid-19 lockdown. Shaun at Plateau Sand & Soda Blasting in Upper Hutt is excellent to deal with - recommended. I re-shaped (damage sustained in my boot on the way back), prepped, and painted the disc backing plates with good old Rustoleum (satin this time, to match the powder coating). I stripped and painted the calipers and carrier brackets as with the fronts last year, with VHT Caliper Paint. I plugged the holes/threads with polystyrene packaging noodles as I couldn't find the foam ear plugs! Brake parts painted with VHT Caliper paint, baking above an oil column heater. (paint run evident - the price I paid for rushing the job). Some parts, a few weeks back. New FAG wheel bearings, and new genuine BMW retainers, clips, bolts etc were used. Corteco outer brake hoses (OE), ATE parking brake hardware, Febi parking brake shoes, ATE caliper slider pins. Not Pictured: new slider boots, new caliper pistons, outer brake hoses. With all the parts in stock, Jon built up the new trailing arms during downtime. The project was planned to have the car on the hoist for the least amount of time. The danger in a workshop is for cars to be stuck on a hoist, awaiting parts though preventing other work from moving through! Lemforder rear trailing arm bushes were pressed in. (Photo Credit - Jon Begley) BMW spring pads/bump stops - replacing the thirty year-old items I'd overlooked last time. Eventually the trailing arm assemblies were ready to go, the job was booked into the workshop schedule. Ready to go (photo credit: Jon Begley) I arrived yesterday morning to find Doctor Jon had prepped the surgery ready and was ready to proceed. Surgeons tools organised ready for the operation (photo credit: meeee!) Just think about it. No time wasted on the job, working out which tools are needed. The surgeon knows the procedure, knows exactly what to expect, and which tool is to be used for each step, and prepares ahead of the operation. This is efficiency and professionalism. Jon rebuilt the callipers with new seal kits and pistons. Installation went pretty smoothly, in part due to the pre-build, and that the arms had only been out just over a year ago (for the new bushes). Brake Parts ready for assembly (photo credit: meeee) And when the patient was out of anaesthesia, rear brakes refreshed! Rotors match the front - Zimmermann Z-cote sport rotors, with Hawk Performance HPS pads. We've stuck with the existing axles. Patient in recovery (photo credit: Jon Begley) Verdict? I've only had a short drive home, so far. The pedal is much firmer. It's more like a (relatively) modern hot-hatch, than a thirty year-old tired car. It's better than my old VW A2 GTi 16v. The feel is improved tenfold over how it drove in. I'm looking forward to a longer drive to give the full rotor burn-in, and to get to know it better. I noted the rear suspension seemed a little quieter; I guess this is driving on supple spring pads rather than 30 year old hardened frisbees! Overall, this is another large step forward on my plan to iS replica/tribute. At home, subtlety personified (photo credit: meeee!) As ever, the best independent in the Wellington region for your BMW is Auto38 in Newtown. Big thanks to Nick, Barry, Shaun at Plateau, and Jon at Auto38 for helping realise this part of the dream! Next Steps: Get M42 onto Engine Stand Cluster - tacho Centre console - clock Driver's window - fix in regulator to address wind whistle wheel alignment (last done 259342kms) - it's over a year, and I think it's settled a little. 15" Basketweaves and tyres

I was pretty confident that the creaking would be the front shock mounts. I had a similar issue with the e39 that was eventually resolved through replacing them. Luckily, I had just such a thing in the cupboard, courtesy of unfulfilled good intentions from my last e30. All-round good bloke @adro very kindly offered to lend me a hand with this, so I creaked over to his gaff and we tore into it. A morning's work quickly turned into a morning, afternoon and evening. @adro had some msport springs in his horde that we thought we'd throw in to see how it looked (it looked much better). We also got rid of the no-name wheels it came with and threw on some mint condition bottle caps that Adrian had on hand. It's so much nicer wrenching with a mate, particularly one who cracks on with the job after you leave for the afternoon ? Car looked and felt great, and I couldn't be happier. Except for the creaking from the front suspension.

And on my Android head unit... PayPal refunded the original purchase and (apparently unilaterally) cancelled the security deposit for the second unit. So $0. Avin quickly reached out to me (no surprise I suppose) and said 'err, help' and sent me a 3rd invoice for original cost less US$150. I've replied and told them I won't be a dick (well, I might actually be a dick but I'm not dishonest) and as soon as I receive the credit from PayPal in my bank account, I'll pay the latest Avin invoice to settle the transaction. I also told them that, if they'd owned their mistake from the outset (sending the wrong product) and made me whole, we wouldn't have ended up in this mess which has ultimately cost them more than it could have. In 2020 surely organisations must understand that they need to be agile and outcome oriented rather than fragile and process bound. Read a book about the Amazon business model where the customer really is king.

Hi everyone, I've been reading the forums since i got the Bimmer back in September and thought it time i started participating. I'm Dom and am the proud owner of a 120i E82 M-Sport. Its a great drive and i'm really loving it. Being new to BMW and cars in general its been an interesting journey just learning the maintenance. But I've managed to do a few mods like reverse camera and Android Nav install. Keen to do a few more while keeping the car looking stock and continuing to learn. thanks