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Brief history on my automotive needs is that I like to have a daily vehicle, particularly a wagon/touring, even better a diesel. This was my previous one ( I've actually had two), despite the look they are awesome, super cheap to run and minimal maintenance Super stylish! Anyway, this next touring was actually spotted by fellow member and good friend @euroriffic who knew I was on the look out for an e36 touring and suggested this. I actually told my father who brought it and then he actually owned it for 6 months as I said I was to own it if he ever sold. Alas, it sat around and I finally got to grab it! NZ new, 320d, touring, 210kms, goes pretty good! First job was a wof, cracked brake hose, swapped over and legal! Completely pulled it to bits, First week of ownership and day 1 of new wof Removed intake to remove swirls and someone had beat me to it, although used the factory plates and resin the hole, I brought a kit from X8R Ltd in Europe. Also cleaned the EGR Replaced glow plugs while I was in there. Plan is to put in new/refreshed suspension and OEM 18inch wheels I currently have sitting other end of the country 🙄 Other than that will drive around the countryside and keep working on my E30.

I bought an E70 X5 40D a few months back to replace my trusty old Highlander as the family vehicle. I didn't gel with it at first probably because the previous owner left it in a pretty untidy state and my OCD got the better of me. After a few wash's and a thorough interior clean I started to appreciate it. I had the intake ports and inlet manifold de-carboned and fitted a replacement EGR valve. This made quite difference performance wise and my economy improved by just over 1l per 100kms and it also got rid of the dreaded check engine light. Ironically the light did not cause the check control to report a fault. The 40d makes 225kw and 600nm so it gets up and goes for a big heavy thing. I have had a few traffic light drag races and have surprised a few punters including a boy racer in his WRX who finally flew past at 100kph only to see the blue flashing lights a few seconds later. I had to laugh as he was a typical flat peak bogan with a fart cannon exhaust. I was going to buy an E53 as I think they are a great looking wagon but I wanted better safety and I was underwhelmed by the performance of the 2 diesels I drove. The ZF8 speed is a great gearbox with smooth quick shifts, I have driven a few BMW's with this box and it always impresses me. My 40D has the M Sport suspension and its pretty firm, body roll is minimal and I am still surprised by how much lateral grip there is even with the average Bridgestone Duelers. That said it does run on 275 and 315 runflats so replacing them wont be cheap. The downside is that the ride can be a bit crashy over rougher roads; on the highway though its a treat. On twisty roads you really can push it, the steering is quite direct and the sport seats have decent bolsters to hold you in. It is a pleasant place to be, and the CIC while not as nice as NBT works fine and the heated seats front and rear keep the woman of the household happy on cold mornings. The biggest downside is my wife likes it and I often find it gone and I am resigned to her Bio Hazzard Skoda.

I caught up on e46 maintenance yesterday. Well, at least Auto 38 in Newtown, Wellington caught up on my behalf! It had been seven or eight years since the last cooling system refresh - about 80k kms. Last time it was Hepu water pump, hoses, sensors, reservoir, thermostat, cap, thermostat clip. There had been some slow leaks - coolant loss over about 3 months bringing up the level light, and about 150ml of deionised water to top up. Now was the time to sort it. This time it was *all the hoses* - not just the top and bottom ones, every hose, including the hard plastic one that bolts to the block, and the one(s) intake manifold. New thermostat (Borg Warner), new water pump (Graf this time - metal impeller again), reservoir, support bracket, cap, sensors, auto trans thermostat, pulleys, belts. And of course BMW coolant with deionised water. Replaced fan shroud too, Jon had a spare one that wasn't cracked. Jon showed me the state of the hoses, many of them had turned hard like thermo-setting plastic. There was a little play in the Hepu waterpump bearing. Doesn't feel like much, but as Jon pointed out - there's a fan on the end of it! My impression on the drive was that the car feels a little smoother. Happy days. Great service from Jon and Keren at Auto 38! If you're in the Wellington region, this is the place to go.

this was my first e30

I have recently got a couple of dash cam's for the cars after nearly getting cleanup up by a young driver on a back country road. Remember that the dash cam is recording, so its a two way street. The footage can be used for your insurance purposes after an incident and the police can use it to look at your driving infractions. GPS - Shows speed and location. Very good evidence if you are within the speed limit. - Shows the Police how much spirited driving you do and if you were speeding. Camera Angle of View - Get as wide as you can. 110 degrees is not really wide enough. You want to be able to see and prove that other car did not stop at the stop sign on the side street. Memory card size - Loop recording is a must have - A 4GB card gives about 20 minutes of recording time. G- Shock Recording - This is where the shock of the accident tells the dash cam to save and protect the most recent footage. It's a must have if you run a small memory card. Otherwise the camera keeps recording after the accident and records over the accident footage. You will likely to forget to pull the power lead on the camera after the accident. Super-Cap battery - Provides power for the camera to save the most recent footage when the power is turned off. So if your positive battery lead pyrotechnic goes off during the accident and cut the power, the Camera can still save the accident footage. Mounting - Good old rubber suctions cap mounts are sort of OK. They will fall off on hot days and be a pain to get to stick if the inside of the windscreen is dirty. - Sticky pad mounts are better. Just make sure you know what type they are for replacement, when you have your windscreen replaced. Power Supply - Needs to be hot in start and run. Not hot all the time. BMW cigarette lighter sockets are typically hot all the time and using an adapter in the socket puts too many wires around the gear lever. - A Separate USB power supply wired into a hot in start and run supply works well. I have this one in my Z3's and E46 from Aliexpress. It is mounted under the center console with the wire coming out from under the side of the console. The three 2A USB supplies allows for a GPS, Dash-cam and charging a phone all at the same time with the wires away from the gear lever. Plus no holes drilled or other cosmetic changes made. - Power supply wires can be run up the inside of the A pillar etc. to hide them or left exposed.

Most people like to call a increase in price as a Tax you hear it used all the time for other brands of cars when they start to move up in Value . It should be considered more as appreciation than Tax . Tax is generally perceived in a negative context as payment you make for little or no value return . What you are in fact is paying the appreciated cost and amount which you could get back when you sell plus a gain in some cases after cost . Unlike like tax which you will never get back . They way I look at an Investment car is I have paid to be the custodian of the Car Which I can get a lot of pleasure out of Driving and Using . The down side you have to maintain the Car is the Best Condition possible so you can Charge the next Custodian a Larger fee to cover the Cost. Downside these are Generally not used as Drive Cars.

Take a nice NZ new N47 powered 120d and repower with M57D30TU. Swirl flap delete along with DPF and EGR delete, Tune should be good for 700NM.

Hi, I am after some front fog lamps for a facelift e46 M-tech bumper as mine are cracked. I also need a piece of trim around the RHS of the window on the inside, of a tailgate on a touring model. Thanks

Whilst I was pulling my hair out searching through the depths of hell for anything of worth I saw this. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/435040174543638/ It's on Facebook. And like everything else on Facebook there is stuff all information. Also typical of BookFace there is multiple prices. $6500 and 10Kono.

Ah....okay that's a bit more of a worry then. I've used this guys resources before with great success so at least for the stuff I used he knows what he's talking about, takes a look at some of these codes in depth here. https://bimmerprofs.com/oil-pressure-n-series-engines/

love the colour! (duno why pheonix yellow gets so much hate, honestly its so special and nice) the lens distortion not so much

A few more photos after a full exterior detail

I prefer smart chargers for my phones. Old style chargers like those above are far too slow. Needs to support at least QC4 or QC4+ protocol. Thermal balancing is a good idea especially if you phone is dash mounted and in the sun. I got one of these for the dashcam. https://www.trademe.co.nz/electronics-photography/video-cameras/car-cameras/listing-3091451981.htm?rsqid=4101486e6ab64e2f9f16119e5f8c3050-002

Yah... basically, the clip sits down in the groove until the lugs on the hose end fittings get under as you push the parts together. Then the clip is pressed up out of the groove until the lug gets far enough in, and then it snaps back down into the groove and the parts are locked together. So if the clip is down in the groove on both sides you are good to go Cheers...

looks good to me!

I want to use my m54 to design my owm parts. In let flanges,headers,different cam grinds, 3d print custom velocity stacks orher things, then build m60b40 v8 to put in other 46.

I'm going to have a look at a SL320 later this week. It'd make a lovely stablemate for the 500SE. It's not like I have to do to at the moment! Gotta keep busy.

If you can take ownership and leave it there with your brother for year you could avoid GST. Probably go up in value too.

Finally got around to replacing the ugly blue-lit Sony head unit for the factory one in the m3. Had to track down another factory stereo plug first since it was removed when the previous owner had them swapped. also added a Bluetooth receiver that plugs into the CD stacker input, so brings it into the modern age while still looking factory. Took a while to track one down as most are for the CD43 or newer. was from maakbaas.com if anyone’s interested

Happy to help. It's always a great feeling when you notice the difference.

Got the required imperial hardware needed to get the dry sump pump apart today ... all looks to be in good order. The new housing to switch to a left side mount is almost on the way from the states along with a new seal / bearing kit. Pretty impressed with the engineering and techniques used to make the pump !! Created the required clearance for the shifter relocation ... just needs a couple small tweaks and some epoxy primer which can wait until the engine is removed. That shaft will need to be cut down some what

Sorted the low rpm lack of boost issue, new pressure converter and some new vacuum hoses, an hours work and hey presto! Also found the bracket that holds the vacuum canister was broken so it was just rattling around between the chassis rail and engine mount, so stuck it back together withe some extra high temperature hot glue

Now that is an interior after my own heart! Beautiful

Picked up my new seats... And bought some Throwing Stars 😎