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Picked up a spare M20b25 this time last year (Jan 2021), planned on rebuilding the engine and using it as a spare for my other e30 that I had recently (in the last 6 months) finished bringing back to a condition I was satisfied with. Got a bit bored with not having an e30 to tinker with so decided to buy a second, this time a 1987 318i that came with a genuine Mtech 1 kit.. both in reasonable condition but needing some work. Before the 318 arrived I'd decided I wanted to repower it with my spare M20b25, so started to assemble some parts that would be required for engine swap and upgraded drivetrain. This 318 was auto so would obviously require the appropriate manual parts to complete the conversion. Dropped the m20b25 off to the engine shop for almost a full overhaul? Bearings, rings, bores honed, block & head resurfaced, test head and install new seals. Had manual fly wheel resurfaced at the same time. I got the engine back and put it back together myself, thankfully as you all know these are pretty easy to put back together and very enjoyable. After completing the engine it was time to remove the M10 and front rear/subframes, removed subframes so new bushes could be installed. Went with Powerflex bushes after using them previously and being pretty happy and easy to get. While the subframe/s, struts are out I dropped them at a mates shop for sand blasting and paint. Decided to Clean the engine bay and get under the car with degreaser, hot soapy water a hard brush and water blaster to remove 30+ years of dirt. It wasn't a fun job but I am pretty happy with the results. Upgraded front brake calipers to stock 325 calipers that take vented discs and while I was there grabbed a purple tag rack and upgrades the steering. Installed M20 loom and 173 ECU, located battery to the boot and put new M20 engine into the 318 for the first time and connect the dots with the wiring. I wish I could say she started up 1st time but I had the leads around the wrong way (maybe a couple to many beers the night before?) but at least it was an easy fix. The original plan was to repair the damaged panels (usual carpark dings) and re spray it in its original color Alpine White but I'm having second thoughts.. do I change color to Brillantrot? Here's the 318 as it arrived at my house Engine as purchased Head back from shop this is the only picture of the block I can find Subframes coming out Brakes and Rack Engine and loom Very Short video of 1st start after fixing leads 20210801_130810_1 1.mp4 20210801_130810_1 1.mp4

Remutaka run for lunch in Masterton, the thirsty old-timer cruised over the hill, autobox did well. Stunning day here 🌞

So today was the day. My iX build order is in and confirmed as BMW New Zealand order number 32! Currently looking at a May/June delivery. Pretty excited, not going to lie! My order specs are below: * Xdrive 40 MSport * Mineral White Metallic (A96) * 22" Aerodynamic wheels 1020 Bicolour 3D (1LD) * Amido Black Leather Interior (SCHA) * ENHANCEMENT PACKAGE - Sky Lounge Panorama Roof (407) - Soft Close Doors (323) - Laser Lights (5AZ) * Active Ventilated Seats (453) I had the option to forward purchase a dealer demonstrator but that car has the crystal interior appliques which I really don't like and lacks ventilated seats. I figured I'd be better served just ordering the spec I want. A few pics from the configurator are attached.

April '21 216,XXX km With the car still in bits, I got onto stripping the headliner of the nasty foam gunk to get it ready for reupholstering. That's one of those jobs that I didn't trust myself to do a clean enough job so opted to have it professionally handled instead, whilst doing some of the prep work myself. Nasty ass task, but actually ended up not being as bad as I'd feared. While the headliner & pillars were in the shop, I kept myself busy by refreshing the steering wheel. The wheel wasn't in terrible condition, I've definitely seen worse, but was showing slight signs of age so thought I'd get ahead of it. Went with a genuine leather wrap with black stitching from Mewant to keep it clean and minimal. After a few hours of mucking about and stabbing myself a good number of times, it came out looking a solid 4/5. The slight added thickness was definitely noticeable, but really only a problem if you want to be super picky. Also figured out why the airbag wasn't sitting properly - a simple matter of slotting the airbag wires back into the wee groove on the top side of the wheel. Also took apart the mirrors for a good clean and to check if there was anything obvious causing the issue - no luck. Nothing stuck out as being missing or out of place and the infamous ribbons all seemed to be intact. Really not keen to have to shell out for new motors... Yikes! Did clean up a few spider webs tho. Had no luck with the dashboard either. No amount of scrubbing or blasting it with steam did anything to get rid of the bloody "footprint". I guess I can live with it for now. Whilst demolishing the interior, I came across a whole bunch of wiring that seemed to be either unconnected to anything or not doing much regardless, likely some old stereo system or the sort from it's former life in Japan. Won't be needing any of that anymore. Finally got the headliner and pillars back. What a difference! Absolutely chuffed with how it came out. The folks at Cover It did a bang up job, would never have gotten anything close to as good a result with my own crooked hand stubs. Onto the reassembly.

Dubious looking bidding. I certainly wouldn't sucked into a bidding war with a zero rated bidder. It's a 318 auto sedan for crissake

Central and North Shore, the E30 appeal is universal 🤣

March '21 216,XXX km On the trip down, the issues had kept on piling up. The windshield washer pump wasn't working, nor was the rear window wiper. The speakers were rattling at even the slightest hint of bass and most annoyingly of all, going over uneven patches of road that I wouldn't even classify as bumps at highway speeds, the rear tyres would rub against the fenders. All things to address further down the line. "At least she's solid mechanically," I kept on reassuring myself. For now, the dismantling continued, with the main bish jealously looking on. All the interior pillars had been rather shabbily redone, the fabric had become stiff and crunchy with visible patches where it had been saturated through with liquid glue and had begun to peel again. Definitely needed a do-over. Up until now, I'd somehow also failed to notice the headliner beginning to sag in a few places, as well as having a few rips and poke holes through it. So, out it came. Went on a wee shopping spree, bought a shop vac, a pressure washer, a steam cleaner as well as a Bissell carpet cleaner. She might be a bit ragged, but at least she'll be clean as. Got the carpets looking all crisp. Next, onto the seats. The alcantara was looking a bit tired so went with a wee hack with a lint remover. Topped it off with a soft brush and a little diluted Koch-Chemie MZR to remove some of the lighter stains and they came out looking a lot fresher. Best $7 ever spent. What an absolute trooper of a device. Next, onto the interior plastics. Went through all of the scratched up center console bits, scraping off the rubberised plastic gunk to expose the bare plastic with the help of warm water, scrub pads and some plastic pry tools. Absolute menace of a job, took a solid 3 nights of scrubbing and had skin peeling off the fingers by the end, but makes such a difference every time. Treated all the bits with Aerospace 303 to finish it off. By this point, this had snowballed way beyond the scope I'd ever intended, much to my despair, and to the dismay of my housemate/landlord as I managed to occupy nearly the whole garage for the better part of two months. Oops

Hi folks! After only a short 5/6 months I am dumping my e-tron and ordering an iX. The e-tron is pretty capable and the ride and handling are excellent but Audi’s MMI and car software are a hot mess and now that there’s a BMW alternative I’m coming back home. Our order spec: Xdrive40 Sport Mineral white metallic Amido interior Comfort and Enhancement Packages I drove the iX (test car photos attached) this week and wrote a quick comparison to the e-tron: https://evforum.co.nz/quick-reads-bm...on-50-quattro/

Still April '21 Still 216,XXX km With the first bits going back on the car, I compiled a huge wishlist and went off on a scavenger hunt to Pick-A-Part. Pulling the car apart had been like peeling an onion - the deeper I went, the more it made me want to cry. Absolutely no clue how or why someone had felt the need to dismantle some of the bits previously, but the level of care taken was that of a rabid sledgehammer. The absolute majority of the interior plastic bits were either cracked, had clips broken off or were scuffed up to hell. Some of the stuff seemed utterly idiotic. Instead of taking a bit of care to check where the bolts and clips were, or, I don't know, going on YouTube and watching any of the dozens 2-minute videos on how to take every single thing apart without breaking it, it seems that the approach was instead "right, f**k it, brute force it is." So a long list it was. Turned out to be a whole day exercise. Buggered Gone Raped Shagged f**ked Meh Crap A bunch of the bits were touring-specific, and we haven't had many of those being parted out down this way lately, but did get quite a few other things ticked off. Got a new armrest, rear rubbish compartment cover, nabbed a fresher-looking gear knob as the old one was rather crusty, all sorts of clips, bolts, wee sensors, fasteners and rubber bits that were tired or missing. Also found a tidy driver's storage compartment and a tidier looking rear seat center armrest off a local fella. I did pick up some unbroken front wheel arch liners, but upon getting home discovered that the non-Msport ones had different air vent openings, so those were a no-go. Brand new ones are typically silly-money so ended up doing some zip-tie stitching instead. If anyone's got some tidy Msport arch liners laying around, hit me up. The underside of the front bumper was also well shagged and had fastener points ripped out, so again, zip-ties to the rescue. Actually lined up pretty well, and fixed the sagging issue to an acceptable degree. Not perfect but beggars can't be choosers I guess. Also installed the tow bar I had taken off the coupe (who puts a tow bar on a coupe!?). Didn't get round to doing the wiring just yet, but at least I could now lug some pushbikes around. Finally got the car to a point where I could actually drive it. Hallelujah. That's until a couple of trips to work later, the coolant light came on... f**k.

good choice @gjm - the 3.0d is quite a bit rarer but i think worth holding out for especially as you're mainly doing long runs. Plenty of LCI E9x 320d's around at your budget but suspect the facelift 325d (has the N57 rather than the 2L diesel of the F3x) might be the sweetspot if you can find one. M57 is an old engine now. https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/320d/listing/3378943297 This also might be close to budget - good k's and will ride a lot better than the E9x series, my E91 was way worse on SE suspension/17's than my F31 is on 19's

Ohh mate I feel ya! My missus has her Outback for that, tows alright being AWD and a 3L. Dread getting into it though, she cleans it about once a year at best, you can barely see the floor mats through all the hay, feels like a barn on wheels. Horse people ey...

I did wonder what you were up to collecting all these parts when your one was mint!

I may have also ordered a cheeky custom number plate 😛

https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/x1/listing/3434046037?bof=JWOZbkQf You're welcome!!

Ill race it in my $1000 318ti 😂

Nice. I liked that colour so much in the early 00's that I painted one of my 180's with it. Chucked in a little extra white pearl and it was amazing. Blue Mica Metallic. Purchased two of these E-Tunes crashed from Japan to fix up. Great cars. Best of luck selling it. Can't be many at all in that condition. Both the ones I fixed and sold were written off by the new owners who are probably still paying off the finance.

Yeah we need to do that this year!

Hey team, long time listener first time caller. Attempting to dip my toe into the fickle e30 market. Thanks for having me!

Gotta ask, what parts of Auckland are you cruising 😂😂

Man this is a cool car for sure! GLSW. If only i had garage space i would love to have it as a spare work wagon

You can hang out with it again next week haha 😎

if i am not mistaken ,weren't E-tune tiptronics tuned by Porsche? Edit: I was mistaken, it was the Blitzen being done by Porsche Design cosmetically.

Sold for $11k for those curious.

Took this one into work today for a little run, first time I've driven it more than 5mins since installing the CSL airbox and the new front end. It's really quite low at the front now haha extreme care is required...! Also the sun was just right when I got in to see all the little imperfections in the paintwork. Overall the paintwork is still good bar a fair few chips on the front end; I'll spend some time over winter and compound/polish then ceramic coat it again. This car has run a few different ceramics over the years, Gard-X 2yr in 2012 - 2015, Carpro C Quartz 2yr 2015-2017 then Gyeon MOHS+ 2017-present. It's about due for a replacement as the latest was a 5yr ceramic; I'll install Fireball Dok Do (10yr) next.

Typical 90s Auckland scene

Thanks but already have this sorted. Just need a security coded nearfield/proximity unit with a digital output.

Not a BMW but the OG fast wagon so thought someone might appreciate it (just looked, performance is extraordinary for a mid-90's 1600kg wagon, 4.8s 0-100 🤯)

Added another coat last night, finished it off with a wool pad. It's sooo clean, I just can't handle the thought of driving it in the rain - spring time in Auckland is just great. Mind you with level 3 point something lockdown I have got no where to go anyway. I also ignored the CMX polish instructions and tried to apply it with a wet applicator pad before completely writing it off, it worked significantly better. So anywhere that I had small blemishes I touched up with the polish before using the ceramic (ish) coating. Polishing aside, I thought I would include an image of the danger sticker on my (baby) drill press that always makes me smile - health and safety first Back to the coating - I think the additional application has made a difference to the depth of the gloss. I need to buy some touch up paint for the rear of the wheel arches that have a bit of road rash, if anyone has any suggestions other than the obvious go to BMW please let me know. Cheers.