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I'm struggling with the lack of love displayed by the Kiwi BMW driver / motorist for the Alpina brand. Can see a lot in this car not present in the equivalent letter car, faster, 0-60mph, tops out at 195 MPH, better braking and handling. Coachbuilt, hand assembled engine sure, not 6 speed manual trans, and I get the luxo barge thing too. Comes down to price, heaps of car for not much money (by comparison)

Hi guys, I thought I'd share my little journey with my faulty GM auto transmission (in my 2007 BMW 130i LCI) so that anyone having similar issues might take away something from it. The symptoms: a "phasing" vibration at lower RPM (below 2000) under load (uphill). It's to do with the torque converter delamination. There are 3 stages to fixing it: 1) Glycol test to make sure the sealants and gaskets are fine and there is no water or antifreeze in your oil - this only costs only $100, so it's totally worth it. If you skip this and just go for a full service/rebuild your trans issues can come back in a year, as the electronic and mechanic components will keep getting corroded by water. I'm getting this done today - I hope it comes back "negative". 2) Full transmission service (oil change, filter, and optionally anti-shudder additive). These GMs need this done every 80K kms or so, but most people don't even think about trans service when it comes to general maintenance. Mine has 127K in it and I'm sure it's never been done. In most cases this will sort out the vibration and the additive will create a nice protective layer on the components. This costs around $500. 3) Torque converter rebuild - well, obviously this is the most expensive, starting around $1500 but can easily end up in the upper 2K range. Luckily I still have warranty from the dealer and I also have 2 years mechanical warranty from Autosure, but still, fingers crossed that it won't come to that. I'll see how the glycol test goes today and I'll update this post as I go. As a side-note , as much as I love European cars, I've always had issues with auto transmissions (except my MK5 GTI I had was manual). I had an Audi A3 - mechatronic failed, then a Golf 1.4 TSI with the infamous DQ200 DSG - mechatronic and clutch pack failure, and now this. I'm pretty sure Autosure hates me now - they paid out about 7K in the last 3 years Cheers Dan

Date: 5 Sep 2020 Distance: 261649kms 1. Rear Brake bed-in Jon had done the brake pad bed-in on the Hawk HPS pads before I collected the car in August. [6-10 stops from 50-60kph, applying moderate pressure. Then an additional 2-3 HARD stops from 65-70. 15 mins for brake system to cool down.]. Since collecting the car, I'd ran a few errands around town, gentle driving only... though I’d not had opportunity to perform the Zimmermann rotor bed-in procedure. When approaching Zimmermann's 'orders', an early start is essential while the roads are clear and traffic volumes are low. You’ve got to hand it to the Germans, they’re very thorough and specific... yes, doing your initial 15 braking operations with three minutes between each, takes thought and planning for safety - clear lane behind, hazard lights, brake whilst counting to three and checking your speedo, re-accelerate and hazards off... note the time, wait three minutes, rinse and repeat. The second round - slowing 100-25, is a bit tougher. Not just on your braking system, but in your body! Clenching your abs Top-Gun style helps. After all of that - about 90 mins of driving, a bloke needs a pie to settle it all down. results: Stomach settled after a mighty Nada Bakery steak and cheese pie; Brake feel improved. More bite, more feel, improved modulation and retardation. 2. Bath time ... So I finished off with a quick wash and blow dry, and a minor smear of Auto Glym Tyre Dressing. "All dressed up and no place to go"

As shown on a recent $1 reserve auction someone won on another forum im on, and trademe is allowing the seller to bail on the sale as the reserve set was "a mistake" and "being sold too low", trademe is a complete waste of time and money. No care and no responsibility.

Over my motoring years, 52 of them as a licenced driver, I have come to the conclusion that there is no such thing as a budgetary restraint, especially when it comes to wheels and tyres! Do it gjm.

"you're awful Muriel!" ?

Technically its a BMW, so I guess it still works here. Also not sure if anyone is interested, but its something different from the usual 130/e30 etc posts here. Ah yes, nothing like buying a car sight unseen, and then choosing to fly across the country and drive said car back again. Yup, I've done it again. Much like the BMW E91, I found a car on Trademe that I liked, but it happened to be a few hundred KM away from home. This even came from basically the same place as the E91. The details of the purchase are on the cars page, but this is the story of the adventure. The Plan Having put a deposit on the car, it was time to book flights. I thought since last time I picked the car up and then just made a straight shot home again the same day, it might be nice to take my Wife with me and make a weekend of it. Flights were sorted for the both of us, at what I consider a very reasonable price for a short notice flight post-Covid. The plan was to drive the daily to the airport, fly to Hamilton, have the seller meet us at the airport, buy the car, drive it down to Taupo and stay there the night. The next day, continue on back to Wellington, pick the daily up from the airport, drive both home and bask in the glow to a trip well done. The plan quickly changed. Why not go somewhere different, somewhere we haven't been yet, like Napier? Hmmm. Saturday Ugh, 5:30am on a Saturday should be illegal. It's still dark. It's also foggy outside, which doesn't bode well for flying. We get ready and head to the airport. Flights are still coming in and out, and the fog isn't too bad. Ours is delayed by about 10 minutes. We then proceed to get onto a narrow tin can packed with other people. If we get Covid, at least we know where it came from. Not the greatest social distancing. On the plus side, once we shot up and above the low cloud it was quite a nice morning out After an hour and a bit in the air, we arrive at Hamilton airport. We meet the seller outside and agree to follow him 10-15 minutes to his place. Jump in the Mini, take off, and the Tyre Pressure Monitoring System light comes on within seconds of leaving the airport. Not this again. We make it to his place OK, shoot the sh*t for a bit, do the deal and head off. The tyres look OK, but the warning is still there. A quick stop at a petrol station on the way out confirms its a false trigger, as all the pressures are fine. Nothing to see here. I gas up and reset the TPMS. The light stays off for the rest of the trip. At the petrol station we also do one other thing. Change the wipers. The seller had a copy of a PPI done by a local BMW dealer, which advised the wipers were less than effective. This was proven on the drive to the sellers house, where although they cleared the glass, they also made an almighty racket. We had been having a fair bit of rain recently and the forecast for the country was to bucket down all weekend (something like a months rain in one weekend). With this in mind I purchased some replacement wipers from work before I left on Friday, and packed them in the carry on ready for the trip. My Wife looked at me weird, but I had the last laugh because it was a life saver. Even with the new wipers, visibility was low (or so I thought at the time, it got much worse later on) The rear was even worse. I didn't bring a spare for that, and every time you wiped it would clear for about 30 seconds, and then be useless again As seems to be my tradition now, we stopped at Tirau BP for an early lunch. This was the first chance I got to actually look around the car. It looked quite nice. The colour suits it. Much nicer than a black or grey. We continued on, towards Taupo. Although we were going to Napier now, we were going via Taupo as this was meant to be our lunch stop, but we were running behind so had the early lunch at Tirau instead. Going via Taupo gives us proper roads to Napier too, not small backroads. It wasn't all rosy though. Other than seeing this sweet, surreal, super bright and sharp rainbow that touched the ground next to the road, issues were starting to appear. The worst issue was that the car was starting to shudder when the engine was put under load, like going up hills, or passing. This started (or I started to notice it) about 100km into the trip. The car was still running and driving fine otherwise and cruised OK. We made it to Taupo OK, and had a quick rest break there before heading on through the Napier-Taupo State Highway to Napier. We took it fairly easy over here due to the constant rain, and I'm glad we did, that road has claimed a few lives recently. There was one surprise though. Somewhere in the middle, we almost shot right on by a nondescript sign that just said "Scenic Lookout". Instead, we jammed on the brakes and went for a look. Little did we know this was the Waipunga Falls, a hidden gem in the middle of nowhere. NZ can be quite stunning. If only people would stop dumping rubbish there, you scummy bastards. This stop also gave me a chance to take some more photos of the car. The sky was looking pretty moody. It was here that I noticed just how much carbon was building up on the back of the car. Obviously the misfire was throwing some unburnt fuel around. The shudder from the misfire was slowly getting worse, but wasn't otherwise impacting the ability of the car to continue. We got into Napier late afternoon. Still in one piece, with a slightly unhappy car, but still chugging along. After finding, and checking in to our AirBNB we went out for dinner. This was about three shades of frustrating chaos for various reasons, but we eventually had a lovely dinner at a Mexican restaurant near the harbour. Part of the frustration was trying to use Google Maps to navigate in the pouring rain, in the dark, with some of the worst headlights I have ever had the pleasure of using. These are JDM As Fk Bellof HID bulbs, which must be about 9000k temperature as they are almost solid blue, and project little to no light more than a foot in front of the car. If I didn't have fog lights, I would've been out of luck. It's hard to capture just how blue they are. After a lovely dinner of some tasty, hot, Mexican food we settled in for the night. Sunday Not a bad view from our AirBNB But now was time for the hard yards. 4 hours of driving to get to Wellington, plus another hour or so to get back to the airport. Not many places in the middle to stop until you get about half way. We pushed on, choosing (for better or worse) to leave Napier via State Highway 50, instead of following SH2 through Hastings. This road was an adventure. The rain was so hard the wipers could barely keep up on full speed, and the surface water was quite deep at times. Thankfully that only kept up for a few KM, but the rest was still in heavy mist and periods of rain. SH50 is a long, twisty, winding road that is a fairly decent drive as long as you get a straight shot. Its when you get slow "brake for every bend" drivers in front of you that its starts to drag on a bit, until there is a safe space to chop a couple of gears and listen to the whine of the supercharger as you fly on by them. The Mini took all the corners in its stride without so much as a second look. Passing was starting to cause more and more concern though as the shuddering was getting worse, to the point I was wondering if it were a stuffed axle or CV. Eventually, we met back up with SH2, and kept heading on towards Woodville. Woodville is where we had a bit of a whoopsie. Instead of turning off towards Masterton to continue down SH2, we missed that turn off and didn't realise until we were already on Saddle Road, a very narrow, steep and twisty road that goes over the hill to Palmerston North. This is now the main road since the Manawatu Gorge has been closed due to risk of landslides (what a shame, it was a great road). Oh well, we're here now! Once again, the Mini handled all the turns like a champ, and the torquey little motor hauled us up the hills with no issue, other than the annoying shudder under load. About halfway over Saddle Road we came across the Te Apiti Wind Farm. Quite a stunning place, with a 230 foot wind turbine right in the middle of the car park. Not easy to look at if you get vertigo, but a very cool place. Just over the other side of Saddle Road we traded the rain for high winds instead. I said to my Wife earlier in the trip that I would take the rain over high winds any day, well, looks like we get both. During one particularly windy section, which the Mini handled very well, much better than the Honda would, we came across an accident which I can only presume was due to the truck being pushed off the road by the wind. Emergency services were already in attendance (unlike the accident I came across driving the E91 back). That's really the end of the excitement. We more or less had a straight shot through from Palmy to the Airport in Wellington, except for the usual congestion around Otaki (which showed the Mini starting to idle a bit lumpy at times). We finally made it home, 780km after picking the car up, and the only casualty appears to be RH hydraulic engine mount, which in the last few KM had decided it was done, and dumped all its fluid onto the frame rail. So, what do I think of the Mini? Well, after checking the coil and finding the terminals corroded, cleaning them, resetting the ECU and driving it, I'm impressed with the power. I thought it was rapid before, but now it's even sharper off the line. Its a shame I didn't have this power and response for the rest of the trip, but oh well. The shudder is also 90% gone, proving it was a misfire all along. The handling is a little strange. The car kinda pivots on its axis when you turn, which I remember from the R50 Cooper, but there is a little more body roll than I expected. Might be the difference between the 16s on this and the 17s on the Cooper. The condition isn't quite what I was expecting. It's nice from the outside, but the inside has seen some sh*t. A couple of the boot lining trims are held in with wood screws, the boot light is missing, some screws are missing in things like the door cards, and various other things aren't quite right. Obviously there are mechanical issues too, like the misfire, the engine mount, and the control arm bushes are stuffed too. All common Mini stuff, but annoying none the less. The control arm bushes were mentioned in the PPI as "cracked", but they are ruined. The misfire also shouldn't be a surprise, the plugs look old as hell, as do the coil and leads. New parts for all these items are en route now. Despite the misfire, we somehow still managed to average 8.5L/100KM (27.5MPG) on the trip. Im very impressed by that. I'm undecided about this car. I was so disappointed by its condition last night that I was ready to just fix the mechanical issues, give it a clean and sell it on, but I'm thinking I should make the most of what I have and give the car the love it deserves. Its low KM (128,000KM), a good colour, facelift, and it's a good solid car under it all, I hope.

WTB rear bootlid seal and boot handle (bit between the number plate lights that actuates lock) for an E91 (LCI if it matters)

bigger question is why you would spend 20k on a 320i? (even if Autosure were paying, speaking as a previous owner of a 320i)

Same seller, "sold" for 16k

There is no dark magic. The DME stores two things about the battery that is called the 'coding' by the community. The chemistry of the battery (Wet cell, AGM etc) and the capacity of the battery. The DME is able to control the alternator charging of the battery when the engine is running to charge the battery in an 'intelligent'/appropriate way. The DME monitors the condition of the battery via the IBS (intelligent battery sensor). So what you have is a 'closed loop' of battery health monitoring and charging. This is a stark contrast to the way other vehicles did / do their charging, no intelligence to it at all, when the engine is running the alternator charges at a charging voltage and that's that. The issue becomes if you change the battery chemistry and/or capacity, the DME has no way of knowing and will maintain the battery in a way that could likely be detrimental. Also the DME has tables that says things like "if battery capacity 90 AH and voltage 12.3v then it's 40% full" ..."if capacity 70 AH and voltage 12.3 then it's 50% full" or whatever (These are not accurate examples). If it doesn't know the capacity of the battery actually fitted then it cannot truly know the charge state, this can lead to over or under charging of the battery. Yes. The IBS is the thingy connected to the battery in the boot. It has special data line (Bit Serial Data) to the DME Here is a good tech description of the system if you like that kind of thing (I do): https://bimmerscan.com/bmw-intelligent-battery-sensor-ibs/ Possibly tricky situation for them, as if the original issue wasn't cured by the repairs, then they may be faced with defending unnecessary repairs/charges. Much tidier for everybody (except your wallet) if you have a new claim and pay a new excess, that way the flood gates of funding open again without question. ISTA-D is what the BMW dealers use (or used) for guided diagnostics. The software isn't / wasn't supposed to be available beyond authorized dealers AFAIK, hence don't buy anything from anybody offering ISTA-D "setups". It's always beneficial to have the ability to understand what your BMWs modules are telling you or what possible faults may exist. This gives you a good base from which to start conversations and guide your next actions. I often do this before making a decision on how to proceed or what guidance to seek. That's not to say that you will always (or ever) take action yourself to rectify any issues. Getting setup to perform basic diagnostics is usually going to cost you little more than buying the appropriate cable and having access to a decent laptop.

OK cool so this actually works. Might do that right now and hopefully the key that sometimes spins/sometimes starts will lock in

Mine did that, but only because the key wasnt the right one for the car (given two keys with car, one worked and spun sometimes, one spun in the barrel every time). I drilled a hole in the bottom and ran a screw up to lock the barrel. There is a slot in the barrel that the screw is engaging with, but you have to drill it in the right place. https://www.tasteslikepetrol.net/2019/02/bmw-m328i-spinning-ignition-barrel-fix/

VHT Caliper Paint, mate. Recommended. Goes a long way too. Silver for the cooler gent; like my hair!! ?

Maybe due to Covid , import laws, or just me, but i feel like everything has gone up in price (incl worn out money pits) and there seems is a distinct lack of older stuff for sale ie < 90's I dont browse facebook etc much as its too mentally exhausting so maybe im not seeing all there is.

Bye-bye Baby Blue. You were unwanted but nevertheless loved and appreciated and you left stronger than you arrived. Farewell, Godspeed. Sold!

It's only $15 from Repco. It's the most common solution for the box in other brands that have the same box.

^you can take mine for a drive one day. Come to the meet and ill bring it out instead of the bmw

So far, I have replaced the windscreen, stone damage, fitted a repair kit to the drivers door lock, replaced the central locking micro switch, central locking now works I have a set of six cylinder front calipers & vented discs to go on Have on order, sway bar bushes, suspension bushes , mounts etc

Money is also cheap to borrow at the moment, people can't travel either so are looking for a vice. Classic cars may just be that vice.

I think one of the defining points is whether the insurance company pays out the total loss - declaring the car a write-off and cancelling the policy - or pays out the repair cost for you to take care of the repairs yourself, and continues to insure you. At this point you should know inside-out the wording of your policy. I expect has to be offer and agreement here somewhere, and there must be more than one solution option. Knowing your policy will help you to reach an acceptable outcome, rather than being quickly shuttled through the processes (more on that later). Can you get a copy of the assessment that the two panel beaters provided to AA? Is there anything preventing you from getting a future booking with Airflowe while you hunt for a tail light? Steel bumpers can be repaired; the skills are rare now with plastic bumpers having been the norm for 30-plus years. FWIW I thought my chrome bumper was toast on my early 80's Datsun, around 1992. The panel beater owner (with more than thirty years experience under his belt) looked at it and said 'these are no longer available new, and hard to find used now... would you like me to have a go at it? I can get this straight again'. I was amazed at what he acheived with patience, skill, gentle tap-tap-tap with hammers, dollies, and (ISTR) a leather bag filled with lead shot. It was almost as good as new. As to whether the car is a classic, it's a 33 year old e28 that's had a great deal of work done to it and is very tidy. If it's not a classic then what is? e28s are increasing in popularity and decreasing in availability. Is the car on an agreed-value policy? If (say) it's insured for $5k, if repairs are coming to $4k5, they'll almost certainly want to limit their exposure and simply declare total loss, write the car off, pay out, de-register, and cancel your insurance. AA Insurance? I've had nothing but excellent service and satisfactory outcomes from them for more than two decades, including home and contents (plumbing failure/flood) and, automotive (from windscreens to tree fell on car, to total loss). It's down to how you deal with them IME. First place to start is ensuring their clock/calendar doesn't dictate closing this one with "proceed straight to write-off/total loss" option. Your claims manager is probably measured on metrics such as time to resolve claims, margins, reducing exposuure position by reducing open claims cumulative value, and possibly customer satisfaction. As this one has been open for some months, it might be drawing management heat "you've got ten claims over three months without resolution, what are you doing to resolve them? We need to get these off of the monthly report, it's bringing down the team stats!". As you've almost all the parts required, and want to keep the car, it appears your priorities would be: Know your policy, ensure the claim remains open while you work through the options to reach resolution. "It's a classic car on a classic policy; surely you have some cases where gaining parts and completing repairs takes longer than a modern appliance on wheels?" If all else fails, play the covid card. Get repair estimates for *you* having the repair done. Surely one option is going back to Airflowe and agreeing to have the Insurance-paid repair done when you've found a bumper? Identify a suitable repairer - may be out of Wellington. Phil mentioned the guy near Rongotea (details to come), and the electro-plater out of Christchurch... possibly someone in the Wairarapa. Knowing the costs for repair, you can talk with the Insurers about managing the repairs yourself. Can you keep the policy open - remaining insured with them - and take the repair coststo settle the claim? Tell them you're seeking to avoid a) write-off and de-registered status, and b) cancelation of your policy. What are your options? (this is where knowing your policy is essential). At all costs, keep it up-beat and pleasant, courteous and outcome-focussed. They're used to dealing with assholes and fraudsters, and have sophisticated systems, technology, processes, investigators, and a closet full of lawyers to protect themselves from loss. Do avoid getting into those queues, as your experience will become less satisfactory and pleasant, and more tiresome and frustrating. Also, you're seeking to extract parts from people with classic car hordes. Think of Smaug in The Hobbit. I'd recommend having a list and being specific. You're not a threat to their entire parts stash after lowering their guard and granting you that bumper piece or tail-light only to find you wanting a dozen extra items; you just need x, y, and z, and you can move forward. Can they help? Enlist the camaraderie of classic car folks, you're a worthy fellow-enthusiast wanting to save a classic. Hope that helps.

M60\M62 hybrid if you got money to spend, best of both worlds. Ive yet to see a M62 non vanos with bad guides in NZ but that maybe down to build numbers. Either way the non vanos motor is the more reliable version.

After weeks of weather too cold or wet to even bother with filler body work, put in some more hard yards on getting these contours 99% there. Lost count of how many guide coats, filler and primers I've done but it's finally nearly there. Started making some real progress when I got innovative with a long sanding block a half cut knee pad as I was not keen to pay $100 for a durablock. In saying that, I know why panel shops probably spend thousands on an war chest of sanding blocks shapes lengths and firmness. And I probably would have got this done in fewer runs with better tools. It finally looks good by eye now so going to sand down this layer of black paint as guide coat, and either cry or celebrate. Hopefully seal it with high build and move onto the other side which won't be too hard because I actually have metal reference points as opposed to a over all rippled panel.

Hello folks. Ive been thinking of joining the forum for some time now, and have finally got around to doing it. I have three E30's, all different build specs, all non standard. The plan is to race them, and have some fun when they are finished. It would be great to get to know other like minded people, and compare notes and ideas.

Poor mans euro plates ?

Best way to fight these sort of issues is for people to dispute the infringement and go to court, courts will get overwhelmed quick if enough people do it then they likely be forced to backtrack.

I couldn’t think of a better enthusiast to own it. I struggled selling it and still have regrets but my new mistress is helping me overcome my doubts?

It's been like Christmas around here, with all my individually boxed RockAuto parts arriving for the Mini. The good thing about common cars like these, that were basically the same in all markets, is that parts can be had for cheap. RockAuto stocks heaps of R53 parts at really good prices, so I went to town ordering a bunch of things I knew the car needed. The obvious things I needed was a replacement hydraulic engine mount, as the old one had dumped its guts, a torque mount as I noticed it was a bit thumpy when I picked the car up, and a full ignition system refresh due to misfires. I started with the ignition system refresh first, as this was easy and should have a pretty noticeable difference. Started with a pretty OK looking system Don't be fooled though, there be horrors lurking beneath. Two cylinders had their leads wrapped in insulation tape (and rusty, despite being dry). The spark plugs were well worn too. These are weird ones with a tiny little center electrode that is basically flush with the ceramic. Well, should be flush... a couple of mine were recessed, but all were looking very end of life. The coil wasn't doing much better either. These are well known for the terminals corroding, and mine was no different. One of the first things I did when I got the car home was to clean the corrosion of the terminals, and I noticed a big reduction in misfires, but the terminals still didn't look good. I decided to go with NGK BKR6E plugs gapped to 0.8mm as they are easy to get, easy to get to, and are cheap, so replacement in 10,000km isn't too much of an issue. 27NM is the correct torque for the plugs. The new leads and coil were fitted, and a quick test start showed everything was working as it should A short test drive, in the rain, showed that I had oodles more torque than before, and the misfire/shuddering was gone. The engine was very punchy in the mid-range. Traction was now suddenly an issue. Next on the list was the thumpy old engine mounts. This is all pretty straight forward, with the only small catch being the need to support the engine when the RH engine mount is removed. The car was jacked up and supported on an axle stand. it still amuses me that these are so rigid and short that both wheels are off the ground on this side Off came the wheel, and the jack was repositioned under the engine, using a block of rubber to spread the load. There are a few bolts to undo up the top. Obviously the big main nut on the top, but there is also a little nut and bolt holding the ground strap to the mount (this is not a captive bolt, once the nut is off the bolt will fall out too). I didn't do anything with the black valve next to the ground strap bolt, this comes off once the mount bolt holding it on is removed. There are two bolts at the front of the head And two around the back The last one up top is holding the mount to the body Once they are all loose, the engine will no longer be supported, it will float around freely on the jack. Now, move into the front RH wheel well, and remove a couple of clips from the liner. You don't need to remove the whole thing, just free it up so you can get your arm behind it The bolt you need to access is behind the liner, on the underside of the chassis rail. It's an E12 E-Torx bolt, and located about here, going vertically up into the underside of the mount. I found cracking it with a bar and then using a cordless ratchet was the easiest, as its a very long bolt and quite tight. They can rust in place, and are torque to yield, so have a replacement ready. Be aware that if the mount is leaking, a bunch of smelly oil is going to decide it wants to pour out of the hole where the bolt is coming out of and all down you tools/arm. With all the bolts out, the top mount bracket can be removed, as can the mount, leaving a whole bunch of mess to clean up. Installing the new mount is basically the reverse of removal. Just leave everything finger tight until all the bolts are in place, and then torque them up together. The four bolts that hold the bracket to the head are 74 ft-lbs And the engine mount bracket to engine mount nut is 50 ft-lbs Next was the lower engine torque mount. Apparently you can get away with just undoing the two main bolts holding the mount in, but I couldn't seem to slip it out, so had to also remove the 4 smaller bolts holding the bracket to the sump. With it out it was easy to replace the mount, and bolt it all back together. A quick and easy job. The two large bolts are 74 ft-lbs, whilst the little ones are about 28 ft-lbs. It's clear to see why the old mount was due for replacement With the major work done, I carried on with a couple of smaller things. I wanted to check the air filter since I wasn't too confident on the rest of the servicing, and sure enough, it was absolutely packed with dirt. The good thing though, is its a reusable K&N filter, and I happen to have a cleaning kit, so that got a thorough clean and oil before refitting. Score. I also fit a boot light with LED, since for some reason that was completely missing, as well as the storage tray that should live in front of the cup holders in the center console. No photos, they aren't exciting, but are very useful. The last thing I tinkered with was the headlights. They were yellow and cloudy, which ruined the projector beam and made the terrible blue bulbs work even worse. Using a foam ball on my drill, and some PlastX polish, I went from this To this BIG difference. The other side got a polish too. They look almost new. A great result from this little guy After all this work I took the car for a good drive over some twisty roads. The thumping and banging is 90% gone, I suspect the only way to completely remove it is with poly bushes, but I'm not going down that track. The misfire is also completely gone, and the engine pulls smoothly, and strongly no matter the RPM. It's now a fight with DSC when driving hard, trying to keep the wheels from spinning. All in all, some good maintenance. I suspect it's been a while since it last had anything more than an oil and filter change.

Can always put a BMW badge on it!