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Indeed, why should number-8 wire New Zealand join the First World by enforcing emissions standards, rather than just accepting that 5 extra horsepower by removing a CAT is okay, along with poisoning your wife/neighbour/cat/stranger down the street as a result of these mods. It's bloody unreasonable, and we should be left to do whatever we like! Especially those who can't afford to safely operate a car on our roads, they should be given a get out of jail free card, exemption from WoFs or any form of safety test because owning a car is expensive enough without compulsory insurance or emissions testing, even though there's just one WoF test per year instead of two (as long as the car's less the eighteen years old now)... I've been advocating emissions testing for years, I don't vote Green, and would prefer to ensure testing is implemented as most lack enough common sense to ensure their vehicles are well-serviced and not polluting. EDIT: I've also lived in two first-world countries where emissions testing is compulsory, and had no issue with being a responsible citizen operating a vehicle within the law. For more than thirty years we've made a national sport out of importing worn-out cast-offs from Japan that have finished their useful design lives (I drive two of them), and these days we continue to import used Trucks and Busses from Europe (notably UK) that no longer meet their emissions standards, but appear to be good enough for us. As for Environmentalists, I'm not a fan; they're more likely to recommend a battery-powered vehicle that could have questionanle ethics around the production of it's power cells, or adds stress to our national grid.

What’s the obsession for emissions testing at WOF? A system already too by the book and over regulated. (Maybe I’ve been spoilt after living in WA for the last 8 years where there is no WOF type system, even for heavy vehicles. It seems to work pretty bloody well.) Is this so faux environmentalists can pat each other on the back in their circle jerk while thinking they’re saving the planet? The result will be more regulation and cost. Cost for those who can afford it the least. Or aren’t able to afford it at all.

More like Aliexpress special

The Germans are crushed and the cars are repaired to standard and sold. ?

Today's update, Started off with a mate dropping by in his M5. Three things to sort; Airbag light on, fault was in drivers side airbag, disconnected and cleaned contacts, reset the fault and the light goes out... sorted... hopefully... Next up the HVAC control panel was rather secondhand with missing buttons etc... Fitted a replacement I had and all good... Then upgraded the cabin air filter boxes and tubes to the later type as the rubber securing straps had perished. Then spent the afternoon sanding back the filler in the style 66's. Then applied a layer of etch primer as plenty of alloy had been exposed. They are looking good. A coat of primer, and light sand back then colour (Reflexsilver metallic) and clear they should be back to as new. Also sanded and primed the left wing mirror cover as that was looking rather sad. The aftermarket towbar came off and boot floor holes bogged up. I have the proper fitting BMW type bar to go on when I address the rear bumper. Engine wise I've fitted @adro's spare MAF (cheers) and engine is now running smooth and as it should... just waiting on the arrival of coolant hoses etc before getting into that and gaskets etc...

Put my ST XA coilovers on today... went well - really stoked, so much flatter and more responsive through corners and WAY happier changing direction, no rubbing and rides pretty good too - firm but well damped (in middle of adjustable damping range at the moment). Might do a little more fine tuning in the next week then its alignment and cert time. Is about 325-330mmmm hub to arch all-round which is a good balance between looks and (relative) practicality I think. Was thinking of rolling rear gaurds and getting a 10mm spacer on there for a little more thicc before cert but given its not rubbing may just leave it. Bonus pic - new Piano black trims installed - loving them.

This doesn't fit with the kindness paradigm @Olaf

E39 out, E46 in. Transported it up from Arrowtown last week, picked it up this week. 211,000km NZ New 2 previous owners. Last owner had it for 12 years/173,000km Known faults were the remote keys don't work and it has a vacuum leak under the intake manifold as diagnosed by an indy shop in Arrowtown. A few bits of service history but nothing significant. Fresh off the trailer: After talking to experts (forum members) I've started what looks to be a bit of a maintenance mission. Started with the PCV. It was dated as 2002 so original and very brittle. The oil return line disintegrated in half as I pulled out the dipstick tube. I left the manifold on in a bid to have a driveable car to pick my daughter up from day care in and in my haste I forgot to plug in a few things. Idle was smooth but it was real jerky and had a big dip in the throttle when you initially got on the gas. Scanned it and it came up with cam position sensor fault. So out came the airbox and it turned out I had forgotten to plug in the cam position sensor, alternator and something else...whoops...anyway, seems to be running alot better now. Revs are constant and it's not throwing misfire or rich codes. Did the classic air filter, cabin filter and oil + filter too. It's pretty oily down here... Pretty dusty up here.. ewwwww New stuff I went with 5W-40 just because I had 1.5L left over from the 540 so figured I might as well use it up. New Roundel. I got a cheap one off trademe last time and it wore really fast so went all in on the dealership one this time. Changed the plates over too. DQZ346 lives on. Things to do: - coolant system overhaul - vanos valve cover gasket oil filter housing gasket - New Disa valve (rebuilt) - Tints & chrome delete around the windows - Motor mounts - Get the remote locking working - Trans oil and filter Things I would like to do: - Tyres - Suspension Eibach prokit, Bilstein B4 shocks front and Sachs m sport rears - Xenons + black corner lights - Bluetooth hands free - Bavsound upgraded speakers Feel free to add to this never ending list ?

Couldn't let the crappy weather prevent me from taking the new toy for a test drive. edit: showroom section might have been more appropriate. Mods feel free to move it...

Oh sh*t, @Olaf will be in here to give you a stern talking to about them cats ? How does it sound now, more raspy?

Trackday ? I'll share GoPro footage when I've had time to edit it. Might be some more good pics of it if you follow Christchurch trackdays on Facebook, they had some photographers about... One of the spectators snapped this with his phone and sent it to me, pretty good pic!

They're just doing what they and their tuners support. They could wrangle a S65 in but who would figure out where the wires go? I imagine it would be much tougher in AU to find a BMW guru to integrate a BMW engine in.

I have lived in a city so badly polluted they go to TWO carless days when polution levels pass the threshold. At this level everyone's personal health and safety is far more important than the individual liberty to drive one's car - whether it's meeting emissions regulations or not. I can take the bus. It's not a big deal. I will allow your right to *breathe*, to trump my desire to drive my 30 year old 4 cyl factory non-cat e30, or my 16 year old emissions-compliant V8. I hope you'd afford me the same courtesy. If there was good reason for it - eg our current pollution levels were measured daily and data published, I would get by. I think you've made too great a leap - from a vehicle that fails emissions to a fancy new one. Is there no middle ground? Perhaps a car someone can afford, a few years newer - or even older - that meets emissions levels? What would I say from my middle-class palace? I'd say "you do what you have to do". When I was a nipper, my dad commute about 80 mins (bus/train/bus) to his job. Coming home he'd do the reverse, only adding a couple of extra bus rides and more time travelling on night-school nights - studying to get ahead. A wife and four children, one income, rent, no money for the luxury of a car, just putting food on the table and saving a dollar here and a dollar there for a house deposit. In those years I think if he heard your argument through a time warp, he'd have a quiet laugh - "having to have a car?".

All of what you just listed is more f**king nanny state bullshit. Sounds like you'd be quite happy for the Govt to tell you you can't drive your 545i or E30 on certain days restricting your freedom? Id be interested to what you would say to lower socio-economic families that can't afford fancy new cars with modern emission systems, should they get fined for just trying to get to work that could be months of wages? How do they get to work on car less days? Making life easier for everyone should be the goal, not going backwards with regulation.

Take wheel off and remove the calliper. Just 2 bolts holding it on. Spin the disc and have a listen for grinding noises from wheel bearing. Could be the dust shield behind the disc. They get crusty and get a bit of play when the speed nut doesn’t secure it to the carrier fully.

@SmithyInWellys old car. Hasnt had a good life it seems after it was sold..

Viscous fan was stuffed so he got halfway through an electric fan conversion before he lost interest/money. I think headgasket is good but i cant guarantee it.

not to mention durability/negative impact on longevity. Yes, I'm the kind of sad git likely to add a cat to my e30 as part of the M42 conversion! The e36 had it, engine management expects it, so why not? It'll give me some peace of mind.

Isn't this one the one from Those car dudes?

The TUV inspection is to a very high standard, any modifications must be certified and it's quite intensive...as you'd hope with no Autobahn speed limit.

Bit of a change! Looks clean and no doubt in a couple of years it will be one of the cleanest in NZ

Saw a black e30 m3 on the back roads of Howick this morning...

more f**king nanny state bullshit. if they were really serious about cleaning up the vehicle fleet, they would: introduce vehicle emissions testing at WoF time introduce emissions laws - no tampering with emissions systems for road-legal vehicles introduce stiff penalties for non-compliance. introduce carless days under certain conditions (eg high polution readings). It's as simple as based on the last character of your number plate. It doesn't have to be a heavy drain on workshops to buy equipment - the govt could establish drive-in testing stations, independent, job done. I've seen this in operation in one of the world's most densely-populated and poluted cities, and since it's introduction, polution has fallen significantly. Meanwhile, shuffling the deckchairs here in Godzone makes for good PR for green voters.

PBTech's Black Friday Sale starts soon, and I think it is going to be a ridiculous rush to save less than 10% on most parts.

And who do you suppose should be the arbitrator of what 20yo car is worthy? I for one consider the Century an interesting and somewhat desirable future classic.

I sometimes think purist are a bit OTT. Porsche Air Cooled enthusiasts are a great example as are manual drivers who dismiss modern DCT and auto boxes and of course the N/A engine guy's who shun all forms of forced induction. I guess this will rankle a few "purists" but it will be a very quick car with this swap so while I would have preferred a BMW engine in there this still works.

I'm still running a 32bit OS on my 2013 MBP because Blizzard won't update Diablo 2 to 64bit.

Sorry but this is just not true. I build a new PC (MB CPU, Video card and Ram)every 5 years and it costs me about a 1/3rd to1/2 what it would cost to buy a new MAC and I get to configure it my way. I have no issues, nor do I have to upgrade anything it all happens automatically. My current PC(MB, SSD and Video card) is coming up 5 years old and I have not had to upgrade anything apart from Windows which was free and pretty seamless. I like games on big high res monitors so that's a good reason to stay away from Apple, But I wont buy their phones either as I see no point in paying more to get less. I agree Apple is easy but so to is Windows and Android these days.