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ahh what a pleasure she was to work on! She's stolen a piece of my heart this old girl

I like your use of "" around investment. All classic cars are speculation. Some have reasonable odds, but it's still not an asset, nor is it one that produces a return during ownership. Much as I love my e30, I'd not mention it as an asset in any statement of position. It's clearly a liability, soaking up coin for storage and maintenance [edit: and insurance] It's a Hobby - the kind of dirty secret the Govt currently has our bankers running around digging up the dirt on. "what's this $200 worth of lube every six months? Kinky."

220,000km I scooped up some power folding mirrors from @Vass This was a pretty simple install, door cards off and a bit of trim removal, modules already there so was a matter of plugging and playing. The last step was to swap the colour caps over.....and of course, to my horror mine had the tabs broken and have been RTV'd in place. wazzup 2 tone. Went to Union Hardware this morning and got a colour matched can of spray paint to return them back to white. These silver ones were in good condition so didn't require a massive amount of prep work. Light scuff and pissht piisshhht. The old mirrors were in bad shape so needed tidying up anyway. Old mirror: The bloke at Union thought i might not need the clear coat (clearly did n't think my car was very shiny 😜) but turns out i think it does. So they are in place for now but will go back and get some clear coat another day. Thanks to @Eagle for a nicely greased idler pulley. No more squeaky engine bay noise for the time being. My pulley was all crusted up with dry old grease. I noted the hydraulic tensioner pulley is spinning very freely and a bit wobbly so that's next on the list.

Car got a mini overhaul this week with @BMTHUG - Timing belt & tensioner / drive belts, water pump / thermostat / coolant / crank seal / rocker cover gasket / rocker shaft seals / spark plugs and Valve adjustment. Car is running great, little smoother, bit less chattery and perhaps even a placebo 2.5whp. Just gotta do my fluids then time to get on with suspension, interior, wheels and cosmetic stuff.

Hey all, Picked up my first BMW, and newest car personally, a 2014 M135i, quite nicely spec'd and a very tidy car overall. Having been a mostly JDM car owner up until now (Plus a couple of Falcons), it's definitely a change! Loving the build quality and the power delivery, very smooth. Seems to have lots of options, Prof Navi, M Sport Brakes, Adaptive Suspension, ConnectedDrive (Useless in NZ?), 436 Wheels, Comfort Access, Reversing camera + PDC, cruise, Driving assistant?, a million M sport bits, etc. So far I've only found a couple of issues. It's been flashed to be an AU car, has NZ maps, full english etc. But it appears they failed to code it for the Adaptive Suspension. It doesn't show any options in sport or sport+ mode to adjust it, and when I read it with BimmerCode it doesn't show it as an option. I've confirmed via the VIN, and physically on the shocks that it has the adaptive suspension. From my googling of removing it, I need to VO code it back in? I do have an E-Net cable, but haven't yet installed ESYS and still trying to get my head around all of the acronyms.

3 Generations E46 M3, E90 M3 and F80.

From a practical and environmental viewpoint, we should be considering this... Based in Canada, Carbon Engineering’s Direct Air Capture system directly removes CO2 from the atmosphere, purifies it, and produces a pipeline-ready compressed CO2 liquid using only energy and water. This CO2 can be combined with non-fossil fuel-generated hydrogen, to produce ultra-low carbon intensity hydrocarbon fuels such as gasoline, diesel, and Jet Fuel-A. https://energypost.eu/extract-co2-from-our-air-use-it-to-create-synthetic-fuels/ A Carbon Engineering staff member holds clean synthetic fuel made from Carbon Engineering’s Direct Air Capture system and hydrogen split from water. / SOURCE: Carbon Engineering So why fcuk around with building an entire new distribution network for hydrogen when you can manufacture and use a synthetic fuel that can easily be distributed thru existing networks. And it helps remove a major greenhouse gas from the air we breathe. Works for me Cheers...

we seem to manage that very well with LPG, and we used to with CNG as well. We just need to solve the problem. Perhaps the issue is that this govt will have racked up so much debt bankrolling hermitville lockdowns and wrecking the economy, investing a little in a distribution network will be viewed as "too costly". And they laid their bet on electric cars (pssst - do we have a distribution network to support the additional load?!, or the generation capacity?).

Wow, more than two years since my last post… *trigger warning - children/babies & medical stuff* A few weeks after my last post my son fell extremely ill. After several long hospital stays he was diagnosed with post transplant lymphoproliferative disorder, in his case caused by the Epstein-Barr virus. At his sickest there were 16 million copies of the virus per millilitre of his blood. He thankfully completed a course of Rituximab (kinda like a chemo drug that wipes out all the T cells in your immune system). By August he was home, and after a couple of blips he has been largely okay since. If things stay good for another few years his doctors will declare victory over the PTLD. In September of 2020 we found out my wife was pregnant with #2! Our second son was born in April 2021 at 32 weeks, following a rough pregnancy. He spent 5 weeks in NICU before joining us at home. 4 days later he was rushed to Starship with respiratory issues. He got a tracheostomy about a week later (which has been amazing) and then spent 47 long days in PICU battling infections and myriad issues that couldn’t all be tied back together. He finally made it up to the ward, and then a few days later started having seizures. Over the course of a few days we watched our little man lose all ability to move, turn his head, hear, and interact with us. Since then it’s been a long slow journey of improvement for him. After a couple of weeks he started looking at things, and us, again, another few weeks later he started responding to sound again, by the time we got him home at the end of September he could turn, but not support, his head. Another 8 weeks later and he could fairly well hold his head up, and today I took a photo of him sitting, propped up, in his hospital cot (he’s been in this week fighting a nasty virus) playing with a toy. The teams at Starship have been incredible. The head consultants from a bunch of different teams have been heavily involved in my son’s care, and their skill and the wonders of modern medicine have been life-saving for both of my children. I’m forever indebted to them, our public healthcare system, and, by extension, taxpayers of New Zealand. Wow. That was cathartic to write out. Not very on-topic, but cathartic. Thus concludes the explanation of why it’s been two years since my last post… I only drove the M3 a couple of times in 2021. For most of the year I wasn’t even sure if I was going to keep it (hard to make plans or think about what’s fun when you’re constantly in crisis mode). But the last few months as things have trended towards our “new normality” I’ve been enjoying driving the car on occasion and making some more plans for it. A couple of days ago I ordered a new OE steering wheel. The current wheel is quite badly cracked along the top, and the paddles and trim are in very poor condition. I looked at options like getting my current wheel rewrapped and buying new trim, etc. but for what that was going to cost it made more sense to order a brand new wheel. I found one for a good price, and, importantly, cheap shipping and pulled the trigger. It’s coming snail mail (hence the cheapness) so, given the current state of global logistics it should arrive sometime between the beginning of April and the end of time. I have a bunch of other items I want to get as well, but they’re all significantly cheaper, so I figured it was best to buy the expensive thing first, so I don’t keep putting it off! I also have a couple of little projects in mind to keep me busy as well so will hopefully be posting those up here soon! Matt

Didn't end up using them for my m54 project. Stubby, tubular type. Price $150 plus postage. Located in : Wellington

Yeah, true. Just rewatched 50skid's videos on it and seems simple enough. Will pick some up today, $12 for a pack at Repco. Interestingly as well, 50skid reused all of his old main bearing bolts. Apparently still going strong 3+ years later. Might just do that, clean them up properly and box on. Also, unsurprisingly, you were spot on with the piston rings. Snagged a few photos before running off for work this morning and sure enough, the bottom ring is well gunked up. Very happy I'm changing those now.

Always check clearances. Plastigauge is easy enough and cheap enough

Do like where this is going. Interestingly my first E46 touring (also Jap import) had rust in exactly the same place - under the scuff plate on R rear door. Took it to a paint/panel place - they dealt with it for <$100, although that was 8-9 years ago...

Check for colored marks on the backside of the bearings before ordering, measure the clearance of the old bearings (plastigauge or micrometer, either is fine for this application) There are 3 colour codes, off the top of my head it goes Yellow, Green, White in order of largest to smallest clearances. Hopefully there is a spec for the colour coding easily available Replace the rod bolts, too. Use the old bolts when clearance checking the journals And oil pump will be fine with lock wire. If budget allows, replace chain and gears. Otherwise just check em carefully

Bloody thing went full euro yesterday and failed to start when leaving Mitre10 Turns out it was the perfect storm, which resulted in the DME taking a face full of water when i parked nose up in the carpark. Removed and cleaned the DME and seems to be running fine now.

Nope, the main shaft is broken - the problem has absolutely nothing to do with the barrel spinning (see photos above showing the broken main shaft). If it was a barrel problem I'd be happy. It's not!! It's spinning because the main shaft is broken, period, no other problem - please read and view the photo's above... This is a 30 year old car and the problem is not the usual barrel related issue.

For what it’s worth bmw.com now have a page on this topic with a bunch of commentary and info from the archives, including mention of the possible “Texaco” origins of the red, and the shift from purple to dark blue, etc. https://www.bmw.com/en/automotive-life/bmw-m-logo-and-colors.html

Thanks mate, pretty glad to see there ain't anything catastrophically wrong in there. Bit of encouragement to soldier on. OE rod bearings look to be just $49 USD from FCP so not a big shell out to switch them out. The main bearings are $106 USD so won't be too terrible either if they'll need replacing. Will take the crank out in the coming days. Good stuff! I'm probably in a similar boat as you were with your first build - doing most of it more out of interest rather than necessity. Not really chasing any serious power so will be keeping most things stock, just wanting to recondition and have a reliable engine to power the daily driver/weekend cruiser for the next 10+ years. Power output wise I was actually reasonably happy with the 2.5L, it just made more sense to rebuild a 3.0L. With the oil pump, do you mean you upgraded the shaft & sprocket or just changed out the whole thing? I was going to just give it a good clean and fit a slotted nut with a safety wire. Didn't think it was a problem area unless it's a race build?

Given it will take approximately 25-30 years to theoretically change the fleet over, we can probably manage the extra 2 megawatts of load that we can almost already manage anyway And we will all be far to impoverished to own a car by then, anyway. And I'll probably die of boredom or a messy self flagulation related death in a Leaf

Yeah they have been my go to for awhile and we get our customers cars done there too. Never had an issue with a vehicle driving poorly after being done.

Just a few minor things to report on. Have mostly been busy with dismantling the donor engine, which I've been documenting in a separate thread here, so the bulk of the progress was made on that front. With the car itself, all I've done is clean up and swap over the rear door cards as well. The new ones do have a few marks and dings themselves but do look tidier with the leather inserts instead of the sagging fabric. The leather rear seats are still sitting around, biding their time to go it. Still hoping to find some tidy Msport black leather front seats to match them up with. If anyone's got any leads, shoot them my way. Not looking beyond the South Island at the moment as shipping would take it beyond what I'm reasonably willing to pay. Annoyingly, whilst I was at it, I discovered a patch of rust peeking out from beneath the rear right door sill. Not really sure how to deal with it as I'm always hesitant to mess with paintwork but probably worth cleaning up and addressing somehow. Just don't trust myself to do a tidy enough job with it. Product recommendations very welcome. Also, the window tints are really starting to annoy me now. I do like having tints, but the current ones have way too many defects that let the car down. Will probably ponder an action plan for those for after the new engine and transmission is all up and running. Otherwise yeah, she's still kicking on, seen here pretending to be a grasshopper.

Given their performance with Kiwibuild, that'll be conveniently swept away from any media briefings, and the bought-and-paid-for press won't question it.

Dang that sounds like a rough time, those little buggers sure know how to put mum and dad through the wringer alright !! Glad things are looking more settled now mate

Typical of any infrastructure build round here. "We are gonna do this!" With no planning on actually how we are gonna do it.

Capital Tyres in Hamilton sorted me out. Good bunch of guys, happy to hear me out, and dialed the car in to as close to the specs I provided as possible. Excellent customer service. It was toed out both front and rear, now toed in slightly on the front and stock in the rear. Car is much more confident at high speed now and seems to have decent turn in without being hyperactive. I'm not going to call it perfect, but i'm happy with it for now and I don't feel like I am going to die at high speed. Have a look at the sheet.

Well this looks promising, replacing the 6hp with a 8hp although quite a good idea it seemed be quite a challenge, but after looking at this it looks like it isn't the challenge it used to be. ZF 8 Speed Swap | E46 Fanatics Forum But is it refined enough to be just wire up the harness, fit the trans and drive it, or do you have to spend countless hours programming it and teaching it to shift? One of the benefits of the latest technology, the software adapts to your driving style and the wear, thus adjustments etc have become a thing of the past, they still need serviced despite what the manufacturer says.

It was a total rebuild down to the bare block, machined, oversized bearings the lot. Probably many things I'd do differently , the biggest thing I'm glad I did though was fit an aftermarket oil pump. I did not have any issues with torquing the head down. I had the supervision of an experienced engine builder as this was my second proper rebuild. In hindsight I'd have a clearer goal for the project, given this is an NA engine and I wasn't aiming for vastly increased power the rebuild didn't have much point other than gaining good experience. In later builds I've had a clear goal (like super charging a K20, or hitting 500 WHP with the N54) etc. Good fun though.

True, I think it was more in terms of the deep water port that is there so you can pump it straight on to gas tanker ships. Whether it would be primarily for export I’m not sure.

Main bearing bolts are not particularly worrisome and aren't under a lot of stress. Using a 10.9 grade fastener is fine. You're taking all the right steps 👌 Be very gentle cleaning the cam caps up, I would remove any high spots and leave it at that. The rod bearings aren't really a worry with that "wear" pattern, thats pretty standard. There however has been some contaminated oil judging by the scoring Doesn't appear to have anything worrying going on, just a lack of general maintenance casting the oil control rings to stick

Here's a run down in order. Handling has always been a bit busy but nothing overly concerning and the car could be pushed pretty hard confidently. Rear PS4S tyres were shredded through to the belts. Replaced them with Atturo AZ850s based on some positive reviews from USA Charger drivers and being cheap as hell, alignment done at the same time/place as the tyres were fitted but no spec sheet provided after the job. Handling now totally off the wall scary at speed, drive in one direction, suddenly feels like it's going in another direction, way too scary to do any spirited driving. Not going back there since I wouldn't trust them to align liquid down a funnel now. Replaced front upper control arms since I knew the bushes were completely shredded and things seem better but still could use improvement. Called up this other place based on a recommendation from a friend, spoke to the owner, and briefly explained what's happening and booked an alignment. Turned up for the booking and as luck would have it the owner is the free person at reception so hand over the key. Guy walks out with me to look at the car and literally 10 seconds after laying eyes on it starts laying into whoever (newsflash moron, I fitted them and you have managed to insult me minutes after arriving at your business) fitted these cheap Chinese (they're US brand, Taiwanese made) tyres and that they are obviously the problem, cue diatribe on manufacturers spec tyres and unprompted pricing of 4x Pirelli replacements. Heck the front PS4S still have a solid 10k on them. I was pretty f**king annoyed as I ended up writing off a whole days work and likely a half day tomorrow. I just want an alignment done as I have no idea whatsoever what camber and toe the car is running. If the alignment is dialed in and I still have issues then I can look at loading up the parts cannon. That's about it really. The way he should have handled it is by looking at the car, asking some questions and then suggesting that maybe the new rear tyres could be the problem and they he could put it in the machine to check out and adjust the alignment to make sure it's all good but that perhaps that might not be the end of my problems. I would have been on board, 10 4 amigo. Unfortunately he chose to be a douchebag. My general MO is that if I get sub par or even poor service from a place is that I just won't return, nothing more. This guy really shat in my morning coffee. Quick rant eh? On a positive story. I had adjustable suspension fitted and aligned in my Subaru Legacy 3.0 at P&S automotive many years ago and that thing had sublime handling. My M5 didn't even match the level of confidence that thing had.

Right, so I phoned around a few machine shops on Friday to get a gauge on an approximate budget for machine work. For the head, I've currently settled on a hardness & pressure test + getting it surfaced; for the block I'm getting a hardness test and a cylinder deglaze/hone, and have both the block and the head acid dipped & cleaned. With some variations in scope between different shops, I'm looking at around $600-1000, which I guess is fine. Also asked about timeserting/helicoiling the head bolt threads in the block and was strongly recommended to not take it on as a purely preventative measure as it's likely to be a waste of money for potentially a poorer outcome. The recommendation was that a hardness test would give a good indication whether the original threads are likely to strip out or not, and if the test indicated that the block has gone soft, then there are bigger problems to worry about. That seemed to make sense and, having read through a few more engine build threads on e46 fanatics where the standard head bolts have re-torqued just fine, I decided to box on. Quite a bit of gunk stuck all over the cam tray studs. Lifters were also quite gunked up. Unfortunately it doesn't look like the car had been blessed with regular servicing. The exhaust cam bearings looked mostly fine, but two of the exhaust ones had a wee bit of a munch at some point. Does look pretty bad but hopefully nothing a bit of fine sand paper can't fix. The oil pickup tube spit out a whole bunch of RTV worms as well as tiny plastic particles, likely chunks off the cam cover. The pistons had quite a bit of carbon buildup. Those will take some scrubbing. The cylinders looked in pretty good shape. Bit of varnish but the factory hone marks are still clearly visible so I'm hoping to get away with just a minor hone/deglaze. Only visible defect was a mark on cylinder 6 which I'm not sure what to make of. Hoping the hone will sort it out. The rod bearings looked worse than I'd hoped for. Did read that they'd supposed to be pretty solid on the M54 but these looked well shot. Another item added to the shopping list. At this point, all that's left on the block is the crankshaft. Made the mistake of checking how much replacement cap bolts cost and got cold feet. Yikes! Read a few threads of people using just regular M10x90mm 10.9 bolts (instead of 92mm factory) from a hardware store for years without issues. Also of people reusing the old bolts similarly trouble-free. So... one to think about. Anyway, long weekend well spent. Will get onto a further teardown and cleaning duties next.

switch Tiwai Point from Aluminium to Hydrogen production

Finally got the welding done. Certainly not a job i ever want to do on axle stands again but i think it looks decent for an amateur? Penetration appears good so certainly don't anticipate any future problems. Paint will have to wait due to weather.

And where do we get lithium from?

Hyundai has already started, the first Hydrogen truck arrived in NZ at the end of last year. I believe Waitomo is working on the Hydrogen fuelling network. https://www.newsroom.co.nz/nz-gets-its-first-hydrogen-truck

Hi there name is Jason and glad to be a member of the community even though I am all the way over here in the Caribbean. Finding RHD information is quite the problem. I have been into JDM cars most of my life and have ventured in to euros since I began working at our local BMW dealership. Some past projects would be turbocharged Primera GT, Subaru Forester, Subaru Legacy Spec B, S14.5 conversion, S15 Spec R, R34 GTT, R34 GT4, R32 GTR. Current projects are: 1. GTi-R with SR20VET - on the last stretch to getting her running. 2. E60 M5 - Should be done in a month, replacing CAS and finalizing custom headlights 3. F30 328i - Bought it with flooded engine, waiting on final items for the engine rebuild 4. E30 Sedan - Came with M20B20 and swapping an M20B25 and turbocharging it with a GTX3582R twin scroll with GCG billet collector vband setup. Early stages as the car needs major bodywork 5. E30 Coupe - Collecting parts to do an M3 exterior body and building an SR20VET for it, sorry guys but it was my cheapest option.

Uh oh ... spaghetti oh !! Some really good progress today, managing to get the two ECU's slotted into the factory BMW electronics box insert with small modifications to both. Stoked !! Should give a really nice OEM look once all is completed bar some additional cable length. The smaller ECU is dedicated to the VVEL control, the one with three plugs is the main engine ECU. I await my Egis 8033 fuse block so I can get things finished up on the wiring side. As always happens I've completed the power wiring design now and I need another awesome part from Egis which is only available from offshore but it won't hold me up, will just make things more untidy.

When they were $3,000 for a good one people probably didn’t have to as they were relatively affordable. Now they are in the $30k-40k price range I would think most are being financed in some way or other - including stick it on the mortgage. The cost of lending, and availability of funds, has a big effect on car sales as a whole, as was visible in December and Jan. which indirectly affects the prices of all vehicles due to the movement in the supply v demand balance. Classic cars, including E30s, are an “investment” now apparently.

And of course, if the E-Type is too modern for your taste, what about an XK150 ? The last, and IMHO the best of the XK series that still retained the classic English sports car styling. When you have a car that looks this good you don't need to drive fast... https://beacham.co.nz/beacham-xk-150/ Cheers...

No, it's the main shaft - appears I need photo's to prove it. How it should be: How it is - main shaft sheared in two. This is non-repairable and the way the steering column goes together it's most likely a replacement part can't be extracted / fitted. Even if it could it would be old and fatigued.

As I've said before, BMW today is only enhancing the value of e39/46...

Anyway. I don't need one right now, but so i know for future, does anyone have a valve shim tool for S50B30/32?

Yes interesting isnt it, the members that dont want the off topic and childish carry on are the instigators, and you and I are the people they blame. Yup will update now

Can this go back to Tools for hire? Probably the best thread in ages, being turned into a rant fest. Looks a lot like Facebook to me.