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A looming track day and diminishing self-control led to some browsing (and ultimately buying) over at Demon Tweeks. Tried not to do too much soul searching but there are quite a few opinions on e30 suspension combos and the forums are a bit of a rabbit hole. In the end I went for a shock that I have found very driveable in the past and a spring that would give me the height I wanted while being solid for daily use (if useless for anything more). Bilstein b4 and eibach pro-kit. Pretty happy with the ride, although I haven't really been able to drive it because of a comically bad vacuum leak. Will be even better once I get time to install a 325i swaybar I've been waiting on brackets for. Also excited to bolt up some acs wheels that I bought before lockdown 2.0 but have only just managed to get shipped down. Hoping for fine weather this weekend!

I like how you consider 2007 to be a "modern car" !

Yes. I wasn’t assuming all Bimmersporters knew that ?

Hey guys, sorry for not writing anything in a long time. This Tuesday, I finally got the car roadworthy! The week before I had the certification done but got delayed with the WOF. Currently, it is running the 4.44 auto differential, hence the max speed will be 166 at 6200 rpms.. that is short! If anyone has a small case LSD 3.23 or 3.45 diff to sell, I am happy to hear your price. Back to the time line and some pictures, Last yeas I was lucky enough to go visit my family twice (September and October) and then there was some construction, so the tear down of the E36 started in December 8th 2019... with the summer around, it was a nice moment to get some sunburns working on the car. December 22nd I've managed to remove the old M44 engine and by January 25th I was presenting the M54B30 into the chassis. Remember that I kept working 9 to 5 in a completely non-related industry, so, working only after hours, weekends, but also enjoying the wonderful landscapes NZ has to offer, so although the project didn't have the speed I wanted, I wasn't going to burn myself on it. Jan 26th with the engine mounted I started the measurements for the driveshaft, and the modification of the joint, driveshaft hoops installations, etc. The guys at ADL did an excellent work Meanwhile I had to ship the DME to the US to have it re-programmed and the harness sent to connect the OBDI chassis withthe OBDII engine, and by March 25th, the engine was "running", and thatwas already under lockdown... so my birthday (March 29th) I spent it working on the car, as well as that endless month of march, in which I decided to go with a set of XYZ coilovers and the next day, it was June 20th (Where did all these days went?), so, took it to a proper workshop (Pit Stop Albany, with Nathan, another crack who helped me a lot on this), and did the bits and bobs that I was not able as it was winter, wouldn't be working on the floor, or didn't have the proper tools..so, they purged the brakes, aligned the wheels, did the exhaust and put a very nice sounding Adrenalin-R Muffler (see the instagram video) and then, off to the certifier... failed but just for a couple of details, nothing major, which I had the guys at pit stop working on it again, the freaking airbag light decided to make an appearance but given it was a custom work, a trip to the electrician (Gareth from GT Electric in Glenfield, another superstar) and then, August 26th the LVVTA plate was issued, and then, back to the warrant this tuesday... I don't know who will read this of them but like I said, Gareth from GT electric, managed to get the cabling fixed in less than a week, and charged me next to nothing, Pit Stop Albany, Nathan did a really good work, Brent from BM World gave me a good guidance the times I went (would love to get the compressor but not in my budget now haha). and will probably be forgetting somebody else, so, sorry for that. I wanted to get more details but don't have pictures of everything, or they would need too much explanation. If anybody has a question on how I fixed this or that, I am more than happy to reply below to keep track. By the way, I designed an LED circuit to replace the silly 12v lamp for the heater lights... I'll be testing that out and let you know how it goes if anyone wants to try it out. I'll be uploading more stuff into my instagram https://www.instagram.com/bmwupgradeproject/ Next Sunday, will try Hampton Downs in the caffeine and gasoline run with (hopefully) some telemetry from Track Addict. cd5f88fc-9930-4e92-b19a-ff47ea7383dc.mov

Dent magician has taken care of ripples in drivers door. Car still available. Hit me up with your offer

It's been a long time between drinks since I last posted on this forum but have finally realised BMW ownership. @BMTHUG great to chat to, answered all my questions and everything checked out. Smooth transaction, recommended. Cheers.

They generally have a tube that runs inside the radiator tank to heat/cool the trans fluid. This is common for failing and mixing fluids. In the case of the 130i it appears they have a heat exchanger mounted to the radiator and acts as its own little radiator with coolant and trans fluid flowing through it. I guess the internals of this heat exchanger must have failed.

I don't think there's any avoidance necessary, at least I don't practice any. I'm pretty sure the pins would push aside any wires rather than pierce the sheath. I used the ones in the link below because they were cheap and readily available, if I had more time I know there are ones with more suitable heads available (like plain matt black or charcoal). https://www.mitre10.co.nz/shop/hillman-upholstery-pin-pack-of-16-clear/p/277799

Hi, I’m looking to buy a used aux fan for my e53 diesel and am trying to find a simple way to test it prior to buying, fan is in CHCH and I’m in bay of plenty. looks like you need a signal generator or another X5 to plug it into. Would a good auto sparky be able to test it? Cheers

We're talking about an E82 William, don't wander away from the context. I'd be surprised if any BMW has 9 or 10 degrees caster, the 1 series, and E82 in particular certainly does not. Your theory is probably right (I'm not one to judge) but it has no practical application in this case. -2 degrees front camber in an E82 has absolutely no disadvantages, it's not even a trade-off.

I'll send him a PM over there and ask.

Love those wheels! So period correct.

Few minor things tiked off the list this last couple of weeks; - new radiator was dripping, turned out to be the drain plug wasnt as snug as it needed ot be, eaay fix - realigned my under tray brackes (how i saw the rad was leaking) and now all under tray hardware can find it's home. Also instaled new captive washer where needed for the under tray screws. - treated the rear cubby to a good clean and protect to remove the white ashy condition the rubber coating was starting to take on, now looks near new. - sorted rattle in drivers side seat belt mount and poorly fitted B pillar trim in the same job. grear and a tighten applied to the seat beld mount and removal and reinstal of the Lower B pilar trim meant i could liine it properly with al the clips in place. some whwre bent fomr soem haphazard reinstall in a previous life thankfuly they werent broken, as i had initialy thought. however in the processi noticed the rear seat trim is broken and missing a clip, so in the market for those, if anyone reading thiss has one. - Oil change this weekend, bit over due, due to lock down forgetfulness and other priortities but going to smash that out tonight or tomorrow.

On the topic of adjustable coilovers, I had 2 sets on my some of my Subaru Legacy's and they were AMAZING. The Legacy already handles as well as most BMWs anyway but the adjustable suspension improved both the handling and the comfort. Around town was firm but not jarring and on the open road at 100 literally everything was soaked up, it was SO much better. These particular units were a niche Subaru specialist brand called Prova though and had nothing more than a basic install and alignment done. Height was maybe a little lower than factory but not much. On the same note I had Ohlins coupled with Swift springs in one Legacy and they were so hard that they were dangerous, no traction at all and braking distance was terrible as it would skip over the ground. I'm not sure what the likes of BC and KW are like in BMW offerings but when I looked at M5 suspension they consensus was that KW was much better than stock. YMMV as always but I suspect a KW setup would do a decent job of things. Certainly my experience has shown that BMW do a pretty average job of suspending their cars, probably cheap $$ targets, cheap components and a weird desire to have adjustable suspension modes from comfort to sport.

Plenty of info online about these swaps, E30 wiki r3vlimited Google in general Theres also a project swap on here that Modz is doing under the project area with the same motor One thing to be wary is if this is your first project swap, that it might look cheap on the surface but it often snowballs, so you have to be prepared for that. Youll also probably want to sort suspension, wheels, brakes, diff out at the same time. The motor is the cheap part,

I'm putting one into an e28! Yo make it easier I'm getting premade engine mounts for any m5X in the e28 (from e28goodies, e30 versions exist) and also a plug and play ECU plus custom harness to allow easy install: http://www.redline-motorsport.com/main/page_e30_adapters.html You will also need m52 exhaust manifolds. Have you read: https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/forum/e30-technical-forums/24v-engine-swaps/m54-s54/351110-e30-m54-swap-guide ?

If you decide to get some I'll get a set as well (stage 1) so we could split the shipping. -2* camber up front is no problem, there's no disadvantage so it's sort of a "why not?" equation.

Its back And 5 stud swapped tonight Have some old eibach springs in there and original shocks bolted in to hold all together. Will work on getting medium case tidied up and lsd in. Steering rack on its way so will swap that over and finally start bolting the main parts in

my friend owns "The Mod Shop" he gave me a really good deal, hit him up https://www.instagram.com/themodshop.co.nz/

Have you tried Murray? He has been helpful in the past for me for 02 and e12/28 stuff. He knows what he has, but it's cheaper than Youshop ping something from the UK! Good luck.

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.

Lol good flipping luck. I'm in the middle of a nightmare of a simple contents claim with AA atm and they are diabolical in how sh*t they're handling it. I'm at the point of laying a complaint with the ombudsman.

Seems odd they are putting no effort into helping you fix it. No doubt they have not attempted to find the parts from the specialists. One of the BMW specialist wreckers will have what you need. Can you get quotes yourself and offer it to the insurance company?

Happy early Father’s Day to me. New low profile 3000kg jack.

Took three days but the result is most excellent!

Dave, I just buy in 20l lots when the sales are on, it should get you ~$8/l for Penrite HPR5.

Dont you start... that guy spams his videos everywhere.