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I have finally got the silver 540 back from the transmission shop following the post rebuild symptom of a harsh jolt going from 5 to 4 on deceleration when oil hot. All is well with them finally tracing the problem to another part of the vale body system which they have replaced a section with a good refurbished unit. Not a section they normally have to replace in a full rebuild. The car feels much better now across all shifting actually. A good result and a huge relief... except for the wheel they curbed.. which they will sort... good bugga's though really and went the distance with me... In other news the Bluebus finally arrived and has been installed so just getting the hang of that one now. Thanks to PO Rob for helping me recode the thing to suit the Japan video, something which the developer in the US did not factor in...

Over on Bluey, the reassembly of the engine can begin with the Vanos rebuild complete, the timing system goes back together with new rails, chains, tensioners, etc...

And not for speeding! I took my daughter to the shops to get a birthday present for a friend tonight, as we plan so well and the kids party is tomorrow morning... After grabbing some overpriced lego we were crawling out of the empty carpark and I see the Police cruiser behind me, next minute on come the red and blues. Officer comes over looking all confused because my drivers license which was issued in Pukekohe somehow has my inlaws address attached to it from the other side of town from more than a decade ago - yet the LTSA mailed me the license to my current address of the past 12 years?!?!? Basically he was checking out why a car from the other side of town according to my license was in Pukekohe on a Saturday night. And when asked how do I fix this ----- he had no idea other than maybe try LTSA, so I guess I'll try LTSA. Sorry not an exciting tale, but it made me laugh

Similar to housing market I guess. Supply, demand, hype, FOMO and cheap money. Add a bit of nostalgia into the mix, and that these people have a bit of coin (or equity) now. I do get it for a mint Tech1/2, but ridiculous when every man and his dog think their scruffy, neglected 318i sedan is now a gold mine. It’s happening to any other desirable jap performance car from the 90s as bad or worse. $40k for a 1JZGTE chaser, anyone?

They're in! Cheers for your help @M3AN The look is so much nicer than standard. I think that's enough to justify the change. I'll also be more inclined to actually use these over the weird original setup. I definitely took more than the suggested '30-45min'. Part of that was a trip to bunnings to get smaller pliers 🙄. The rest of the time was me figuring things out and watching YouTube videos

@Palazzo it'd pay for itself in saved fuel after a week or so.

That's just bmw engines in general

Yup - and this has been my point for a while. Good cars are worth good money; scruffy ones are not, but many are being listed at - frankly - ridiculous prices. There's more than a little buyers remorse out there. So many vehicles are becoming VERY expensive. The "extremely rare" byline is accompanying many adverts and acting like clickbait. 2001 Land Cruiser for $45k? Well-worn Hiluxes for $15k++? I've driven both and really don't see the attraction, but presumably someone does.

One side of the headers are completely mocked up now, managed to get the lengths the same to less than half a mm which is a good result. Modeled them up so I have a long term record but will need some tweaking due to errors introduced going from plastic to digital. Will likely build off the glued up plastic tubes making jigs to support the tubes at key locations.

Fuark me I remember when M tech IIs were like 12k. When I saw that 3 years ago I couldn't believe what I had seen. Got offered a 325i manual sedan for 4k. That is the dream now. 40k seems literally insane to me now. What happened?

So good.

Hmm good question, Invercargill is a bit of a stretch, dash crack and repair to seat bolster (done quite well) and red number plate surround (bin it), and dent in bonnet, and rough looking front lip… still think $38-40k?

What are we guessing for the black Tech2? Looks very clean, but not concourse and kind of feels like the recent Mtech frenzy has died down a little. I'm going with $35K.

Yeah they all do, think it was an option only with xenons though. Thats how you spot an import - No washers The factory alarm also appears to rare outside of the oceania market cars.

2012 is a model changeover year I believe. F31 - (newer shape) yes, buy it E91 - more likely - (old shape) Poor value and a poor engine choice - get a 325i

@Jacko I have one in the shore and @HalfJobHarry has one out east.

Thanks for the offer mate but I’m not in the market for one. I realised the other day that my car actually has a tech 1 steering wheel. It’s like finding a 5 dollar note in a pocket without knowing where it came from.

Kidney grilles are now lung grilles.

Bags! If you did buy it @Ghost Chip would happily pick it up for you if the seller won’t courier to you, you can arrange pick up/courier from me

https://www.trademe.co.nz/trade-me-motors/car-parts-accessories/interior/steering-wheels/auction-3211345459.htm Here’s a tech II steering wheel for ya.

A few e30 and e36 this weekend it seems. Tech 2 showed up but isn’t that steering wheel a tech 1? https://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/bmw/auction-3211636399.htm

@M3AN Thanks! My gf actually worked it out for me. I knew I'd need her help at some point 🤣 Cheers for note about changing wires. Seems daft that an issue has been highlighted but they haven't acknowledged it.....

Sadly, just when I thought it could not get any worse...... it got worse Seems that the grille is no longer essential for cooling so instead of making it smaller and less conspicuous, it got changed into a styling "design element" that looks like a closeup of a fly's eye !!!!!!

God that thing is horrific. Does it double as a refrigerator, toaster, and dish washer in one? It looks like a second rate appliance. I enjoy seeing all these daft new BMWs as it makes me appreciate the old ones more and more. They were a product of a special time.

Locking ring added to rear spring, so 8- 10 mm height added🙄.all temporary. Fuel reg relocated for cold inducted air box...soo looking forward to the design of that, dont know whether itll duct from underneath, relocate horns to right, or from kidneys. Shifted filter. Enough clearance. Have a stainless shield. After fuel sector done with P clips fitted, then to heat shields. Will modify headers to lift exhaust by 15 -20 mm...WHAT A STAGE GUYS...!!! Perfecting...well trying to...final completion of this project for the cert. 🤗🤗😎😎