Leaderboard

Hey all, just an update for any interested parties. I emailed ZF in Australia and the told me all 6HP19 internals are the same, EXCEPT if it comes out of a 4WD(AWD). I purchased a ZF6HP19 from an E90 (N46 engine), stripped the internals and put it into my ZF6HP19 case. (E60 with M54 engine). Changed the mechatronics block and pipe seals and reassembled. It went fine, no dramas and very smooth. Happy days. Hope this helps someone.

Yesterday I installed my freshly painted sunroof panel into my E34. When I got the car about a year ago the original sunroof panel was badly rusted so I promptly tried to find a replacement one in good rust free condition (which was actually a bit of a challenge). The previous owners had roof racks on the car which they would use to haul around kayaks and paddle boards. I suspect the salt water dripped down around the sunroof and would get absorbed by the seal and rusted it out. HellBM had a really tidy panel with no rust and good seals. Only catch was it was silver. I bought it and put it in the car, it kept the water out well which I was pleased about. I had always planned to get it painted but I just kept putting it off. The silver looked out of place but on tilt was passable since the wheels on the car are silver too and the car just looked a bit scruffy all round. But after I polished up the car it really started to annoy me so finally I got it painted. Was painted at Shields in Browns Bay on the shore. Was $216 including gst which I think is a very fair price, most other quotes I had were north of $300 excluding gst. I masked the seals off for them and gave them the silver panel and the badly rusted original panel to colour match it with. 36 hours later it was completed. Makes the car look a lot tidier in my opinion. I've included a photo of the car when it had the silver top to show the difference. Before: After:

MTech1 in Heathcote Valley in Christchurch. 220kms, appears to live outside 😕 gorgeous colour and the urge to leave a note to buy is high!

Looking at the full bogan spec of this car, I don’t doubt it is hiding a few secrets.

Saw this, nice honest stock example. I like topaz but yeah typically not sought after. The spec is meh, sunroof, prefacelift, headlight washers etc. The problem with stock M3s like this is that none of the major issues will have been addressed. Nice car but 80k is getting into 997 C2S money...

This is entertaining to watch, MCM buys an potato engine from wrecker, wrecker does the (sadly nearly normal now) scummy wrecker thing and then the internet happens with 3.6 million subscribers. Their google reviews are getting crushed, social media getting slammed.... and probably deservedly. Kinda need to be careful whos on the other end of the phone, if the wrecker had been straight up and fixed the problem honorably they would have 3.6 million people giving them a high five. Southport Wreckers in Queensland if ya wanna watch the fallout.

You may want to re-consider an older bmw then!

This pricing is indicative of the way the whole world is going. This car with this spec would fetch the asking here in equivalent currency in Aus, UK, or USA without doubt. Whether or not the NZ market is at that point yet remains to be seen. Lovely, lovely car. No doubt would help if possible vanos, subframe, and bearing issues were addressed, or perhaps if it were NZ new (but really, does nz new matter?). Hope the vendor gets an agreeable price.

The Akrapovic exhaust doesn't bother me but the air suspension and ugly ass wheels can FRO. Also M5's are meant to be driven but hard pass on one treated like that

Ah yes, my one is now on the way to becoming good again.

And now I can't unsee it, damn! 😂

Had a chat to a colleague today. Didn't think him much of a car guy as he drives a Rav 4 or something but was surprised to know he'd had a late model 2006 M3 in white back in 2017. Apparently paid all of $17.5k for it back then, soon after took it for a service and they'd managed to drop it off a lift ass first, wrecked beyond repair. Broke my heart hearing it. What a sh*t way to go. Crazy what it'd been worth in today's market..

Who replaces a wing mirror without bothering to match the paint? They are so easy to paint off the car and such a ball ache to remove to do it later!!

Leave a note mate. No harm asking, you never know.

Learned something new tonight. Apparently to fix coolant blowing out of the exhaust you should “Pour some oil in the cylinders and let it soak overnight”. Very professional of them to censor the business.

Im sure that would've been a 30-40K car a couple of years ago. Madness. I do quite like them in Topaz. At that price the least they could do is throw a ZHP knob on it. This one is minging.

I wonder how this idea snowballed into this. Not even mad

You could make a fair bit back selling off the parts for the mods, although it'll be some work finding the stock parts... Almost certainly has been tuned if it had downpipes so warranty is probably gone, even having downpipes might be enough to be an issue. The burnouts might be off-putting but I don't think a few burnouts are much trouble for an M5. Although, check the tyre tread if buying lol. Price is high though... this one is newer and has less milaege, but is much cheaper: https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/m5/listing/3305969901?bof=p067FGkS 2019 with 6100km, for $118k...

Oh my Lord. That MTech1 deserves my a garage... It almost looks too clean to have been an outside car for very long.

Yeah each to their own, there are at least two kinds of E30 lovers. I am a boring “factory” look type.

Not at all uncommon (and not just with E30s). "Just needs a couple of little things..." So why not do them?

At least it has got a cert so can get a proper WoF, which is much more than many hori-fied E30s that come up for sale at silly prices. Again, it’s got little problems which can be easy fixed with a little time and little $$s, then sold with a new WoF to justify the price. Seems very odd to me.

If ever there was a poster child for reliability, a TVR with a S85 😂

I use Gough, they have a branch just around the road from work but all the testing is done in Christchurch I believe, you buy the kit from them and drop it back to them, they send it to the lab and email the results.

Got back on the horse today, lapping valves.

Regular changes and not following the BMW super long intervals is more important than what brand 10W60 to use. Half the problem with modern car engines are due to the long intervals.

A couple of 325i e30s competing at the Hawkswood Sealed Sprint today in North Canterbury. The black one was quite possibly the best sounding car of the day. On the way back to CHCH, also saw a Silver-Grey E46 M3 on what looked like CSL’s heading north on SH1. Rego FZC 299

That's just ridiculous, nobody would ever buy a Le Mans Blue 130i sight unseen at auction. Ever. 🤨 😂😇

Very pretty touring at Totara Park MTB track.

I'll avoid turning this thread into a mental health journal, but I have not had a good time recently! The missus convinced me to go to hospital last week, a place I stubbornly avoid. I ended up staying for a while... Long story short, I had to have surgery to remove my gallbladder, and I was diagnosed with type one diabetes. I've been feeling less than well for years, but recently it really ramped up with severe pain in my side. I'd been to my doctor, had all sorts of scans and tests, and it was chalked down to chronic back pain. I was always pumped full of painkillers and sent home, not good for the physical or mental health once they wear off. I'd actually quit my job as a builder, stopped playing sport, stopped surfing, and was worried I'd have to stop working on cars because everything was just getting too painful to do. It basically felt like I couldn't do any of the things I'd worked hard towards and the things I loved doing anymore. The diabetes thing, well, the doctor said I'd put up a hell of a fight and done well to avoid a coma with the blood sugar level I came in with, but my body had just given up, but it can all be managed well now. I'm actually relieved to have a diagnosis, and since the surgery my back pain has all but gone. It's honestly gave me so much hope. It's a six week recovery, with the first two doing very little, something I'm not great at. While I was laid up in bed I came across SOUP Classic Motoring on Youtube: Might be of interest to folk. It's really kept me going, and I'm looking forward to getting back in the shed when I can. The reason I've posted this here is that I've had a lot of support from communities of like-minded folk like Bimmersport, and I just want to thank the people that have reached out, offered to help and everything else. Hopefully I can get Mo on the road for Summer, not much left to do there, and then turn my attention to saving the 325i. Bit to do on that one! Josh

I would just go for the best low kms example you can find/afford and hopefully its previously owned by a sensible person. Wouldnt personally bother with dealer warranty and just put that $2-3k for my own maintenance. I dont think you should discount the N54 if its a nice example but definitely drive both N54 auto and N55 auto/dct and see how you feel. I personally am biased towards the N55 engine being "better", especially if you are not looking to modify it like most 135 owners.