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This week I have met two distinct types of car people, on the one hand I had a couple of guys who were genuine car enthusiasts checking out the M5 and I was more than happy to talk rubbish and answer any questions - great experience. On the other end of the scale were the totally mono brand focused anorak wearing crowd, by the looks of it the Porsche owners club. I dropped into the local New World and saw this gaggle of beetles and unmasked folk (apparently they are immune to any virus - just don't tell them) parked up and having a good old chat, as a car guy I can appreciate any metal (well most...). So with that in mind I thought it would be nice to park up, say hi, and take some pics - I like a bit of 911 regardless of year. I soon noted from the general glare of disapproval I got on approach in the wagon that this was a closed thing and I should just "F off", bit of shame - continued on my way and did my shop. They were still parked up when I left so I figured I may as well reinforce the stereotype and gave them a good old v10 salute as I left. 😁

Big week-end and week nights and the end is in sight with the convertible. List of jobs ticked off: Rear shocks and springs replaced with Koni / Kings from race car (old springs not captive on last WoF, after 14 years of being ok) Front tie rod ends done both sides Front struts stripped and re-freshed springs swapped for race series Kings Exhaust secondaries replaced with non-holey set and re-installed with new nuts bolts gaskets and brackets Muffler patched up and painted ready to go back on. New plugs, dizzy cap and rotor fitted. Lots of old oil & dirt cleaned off the bottom of the gearbox and engine to see where oil is leaking from. Left to do: Refit back-end of exhaust with new nuts bolts and brackets. In for WoF check Wheel alignment Then if all good will crack on with a few more cosmetic clean-up / touch up type jobs. Hoping to get some good summer cruising in this year!

GFJ249 spotted in Welly today

Should have added- all 1989, 635 photo is at Herne Bay

So after having a few issues with the X540D, I pulled the intake off to replace the glow plug controller and found that even though the intake was cleaned about 5k ago it was filled with carbonised oil residue. I can see a fair amount of oil coming from the where the PCV breather hose connects the valve cover so I am assuming the PCV is stuffed. However I can't help but wonder could it be a blown turbo seal? While I think its unlikely I am unsure. Does anyone have any thoughts here? Can I easily replace the PCV unit?

Would be cautious about the EGR delete @Herbmiester - You might have a pretty expensive driveway ornament if the govt decide that they want to enforce emissions testing

Plan was for some track days, but mainly weekend fun car. Got the quote back from Birds including the suspension upgrade kit, 3025 pounds delivered, or around 5800NZD, then add 1200NZD customs, so around 7k all up in parts. Not really worth it in my mind, be better off financing the difference to get into an M2....... now thats an idea lol.

Of those I think three were Cabrios and one was a CSL. Quite a few were 2004 builds, but registered in 2005. A pretty rare beast indeed.

Yeah, I contacted him about it already, will be viewing after work today

Its basically to free the pins up. I used a reamer the same size as the pin. its just to remove the material of the bush down to how it should be as it swells up over time.

Yours will be an exciting auction. Not many 05's in NZ.

Update time! What has happened since the last update. My exams are all finished, interviews completed and now we wait. At the same time, my order from Schmiedmann finally arrived (Of note, FedEx is very slow in NZ) and I got the wheels done. The beginning Giving them a first clean and scrub after buying them Stripping them down with wire wheels and paint stripper (Took a long time) Etch Primer. I actually quite liked this colour, and the centre covers have the etch primer with 2k clear over them on the back face and it looks really nice, so it was food for thought. High build primer to fill in my careless mistakes when I got trigger happy with the wire wheel Honda Satin Silver Metallic (NH623M) was suggested as a close match for the BBS factory colour and I think I agree. The colour is superb. Covered it with a 2K aerosol clear. While I was on a roll, I decided to tidy up the engine bay and install some new gaskets that I got. Valve cover and upper intake sandblasted and cleaned New upper instake gaskets Installed freshly painted parts, I am glad I did it, because it makes the whole thing look a lot better than it did. Should tide me over while I figure out what I need to do for an M42 swap. On the to do list - New intake boot from MAF to throttle body, mines cracked. Maybe someone has a non-cracked spare? - Install new bonnet foam - strip front calipers, spray them silver and rebuild with all new parts - Tail light seals - Repaint entire car - Radio aerial to be found and fitted - K8 Foglight relay to be found and purchased. Im having trouble with this one, does anyone know where I could get the correct relay in NZ? BMW weren't able to tell me what relay I needed, and the part numbers I found online didn't come up with their parts catalogue.

@Ghost Chip some of the better looking Recaros popped up on FB marketplace - pretty clean and in a nice fabric IMO

No cats?

Airbox arrived, and has swiftly been named Geoff. I have a CSL decal on the way, but think I'll leave it as is

These might be even more polarizing than ACS Type IVs Flow formed, 900kg rated, right offsets and most importantly - available. Also some sticky rubber to suit. Will weigh them and compare

Did another track day. This time mates came with me. As you can see, it was a bit wet on Saturday, so times weren't great. I drove around on my ACS wheels with lots of trend, and surprisingly didn't have many traction issues, which gave me some good confidence in the car. Came back on Sunday, and for the first time saw another E30 there at the same time as me. The weather fined up in the afternoon, and managed a 1:59 by the end of it, which wasn't too bad. Managed to burn some of the paint off the rims due to the heat. And then managed to get some H&R springs and install those. The car actually sits higher than with the Eibachs though, as I also replaced the front strut mounts at the same time. I clearly didn't bother to clean the car after the track day and before installing the new springs. I must say, I can see why everyone likes the H&R springs. They're firm enough to keep the car fairly level around corners, but not too harsh driving around town. I might swap to Koni's later on to get the damper adjustability, but until then happy with the Bilsteins.

The "magnesium" covers are MgAl9Zn1(A) aka EN-MC 21120. Maximum mechanical temperature of 130 degrees but they don't start to melt until 490 degrees or so. I'd be inclined to dry ice blast an older cover and then zinc plate it.

OMG only just found this thread. This is my old 130i (I always regretted selling it - amazing car). I'd wondered what happened to it and now I know! Good to see that she is much loved