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I'm another new member, finally. I found this place while trawling the 'net during lockdown. Current garage: G21 M340D Touring Porsche Macan Turbo with Performance Package. Yes, that is the official model name - why they didn't call it a Turbo S, only Porsche knows. F31 330D Touring The 330D was a bit of DIY 335D, since they weren't available here, with a remap to ~240kW and 660Nm. It's The Macan was an impulse buy, as it was the last of the true Porsche engines, being the the 3.6, rather than the VAG 2.9V6 group engine. Compared to the diesels, it's a bit more noticeable, so the children nick-named it 'Mr Shouty-Pants'. The 340D I had to have. It's as brilliant as everything I'd read, purchased from Sytner in the U.K., as BMW stopped doing out of region special orders just before the first lockdown. The in-gear acceleration is sublime, and the steering and handling are a big step above the F30/F31s. It was a squeeze to get it before Xmas; it missed the ship from Southhampton it was booked on, the next ship missed its slot through the Panama Canal, so sat there for 3 days, then it had to drop 1 vehicle to Papeete, so instead of cruising down at 17 knots, idled at 7 to push the 3 day journey out to 7 days to meet COVID restrictions for crew. One of the benefits of a small country (and having clients in all the right places) is when it got here I got it off the wharf same day, and to AA Compliance, who received it the 23rd and had it done by the next morning. The next hurdle was that there was no fuel compliance certificate for M340Ds, as they're not sold here, and one of the persons responsible for them at LTNZ had left several months earlier, and not been replaced, and the remaining person left with 1 day's notice to go back to Japan for family reasons, so no one was doing them. Another call to the right person, and we had that by 11am so AA could then complete an MR2A for it and actually get it registered. Next on the list is to purchase a new Alpina D3S Touring, as this to me, is the ultimate sleeper. Alpina are waiting on build slots from BMW at present, which isn't surprising given U.K. orders for M340Ds - and 3 Series in general - are slipping back from 3-4 months to 8-10 months (worst case I've seen reported). The recent news around Alpina's sale to BMW is also a hurry up, as is iDrive 8 on the LCI models (I like buttons to press!). The M340D's breadth of ability is amazing; there's not many cars that'll scoot to 100kph in 4.5 seconds, and still do 5.1 litres per 100km on a trip (55MPG for the older folk).

Unfortunately, due to my special ability to keep bringing neglected cars home with me, I now have a dire need to make some space, so the BMW will be sold. But of course, being me, I can't sell the car without first making it better than when I got it. That meant I needed to look into why the car kept marking its territory everywhere it was parked. The previous owner mentioned it had an oil leak when he sold it, but "didn't know" where it was from. A quick look around under the bonnet at the common failure points identified two sources of the leak; the rocker cover gasket and the oil filter housing. I identified these quite early in my ownership, and ordered the relevant parts to fix it. It's taken me until now to actually do it though (and typically, only really for sale). The first step is to pop the bonnet and glare at the engine that didn't magically fix itself. The leak from the oil filter housing is both a very common issue, and quite easy to see. Just grab a torch and have a look around the housing and look for pools of oil and lots of muck The other source was the rocker cover, which was leaking on the low side of the gasket. It's harder to see, but look for wet black muck along the side and front corner of the engine I started with the oil filter housing. To access this, first, the airbox and all associated gubbins need to come out. The top comes off nice and easy once you undo the hose clamp to the AFM, disconnect the air temp sensor and AFM and unhook the clips around the edges. Remove the lid and filter. In both the top of the lid, and the bottom of the box it was lined with some noise-dampening foam. This was all starting to crumble if you so much as looked at it. Its held in place with a plastic cage that is clipped into the bottom of the box. Then I just scooped the foam out of the bottom. The rest got tipped into the bin once the bottom of the airbox was removed. Which is done by undoing the two bolts on the inner guard, and then normally it would just lift out, except for the giant stupid air duct that runs over the radiator. That needs to come out first, by undoing the four bolts on the top housing and removing the housing. The lower half of the housing is clipped into the fan shroud. So much room for activities. It's crazy how much engine bay there is in front of the engine on the 4 pot BMWs. How much space? You can fit a jandal between the radiator and engine. The next job to do, is disconnect the battery as we will be messing with the feed to the alternator It's best to crack the oil filter housing cap off now, whilst it's attached to the car. Mine was done to eleventy-thousand NM and needed a breaker bar to crack it. The force started to round the brand new filter housing tool. It only needs to be 25NM, and heck it's moulded into the cap if you forget! I like to completely open the cap, as this can let the extra oil in the filter housing drain back to the sump. Now I had to remove the drive belt. This is done by backing the tensioner off. Remove the plastic dust cap to expose the 16mm hex bolt in the center Use a rachet or bar and turn counterclockwise to loosen the belt, and slip it off the alternator pulley It pays to take a couple of photos of how the belt runs too. It's pretty simple, but could be easy to route incorrectly. With the belt off, it was time to work on removing the alternator Undo the two wiring connections on the back first. One is 10mm, the other 13mm. Now the two alternator bolts need to be removed. The top one will come out easy enough But the bottom one will hit the power steering reservoir So the trick is to undo the two nuts that hold the res on, wiggle it off the studs and gently move it out of the way Now use lots of wiggling and a pry bar to remove the alternator. Take care because it is quite heavy. Now we have access to the bracket, but still not the housing. Remove all four bolts. Once you remove those bolts, you can pivot the bracket away from the engine on the lower power steering pump bolt. This gives you access to the oil filter housing. Yup, I think it's been leaking Gently crack off all the bolts and remove them. That bottom corner one will envoke some great curse words, since it's got very limited space to work with. Once the bolts are out, the housing should need some wiggling to free, since the top bushing should be sealing to the block, but in my case, it almost fell out. The bushing was stuck in the housing The bushing has a pair of o-rings on it. The old ones were flat and hard as plastic. The new o-rings are visibly larger. Everything got a real thorough clean down, to make sure the gasket surfaces were spotless. I then lubricated the bushing with some oil and pressed it into place in the block. A very thin smear of Hylomar was wiped on the block side of the gasket surface, and the gasket stuck to it. The housing was then refitted, the bolts all done hand tight and a new oil filter fitted. The braket, alternator and belt were refitted. That's half the job done. Next was the rocker cover gasket. The spark plug cover comes off first, using a screwdriver to turn the two locks Hey, what's that blue thing? It's a built-in spark plug boot puller. Slip it over the top of the boot, pop a screwdriver through a hole and use it to pull the boot out That's a really cool touch. What wasn't cool, was finding cylinder two was drowning in oil I completely removed all leads and coil pack together All the cover bolts were loosened. If they have been there a while the rubber seal will stick them to the cover, otherwise they will come right out. Once again, the back corner ones will make you hate BMWs. Don't forget to carefully remove the PCV hose from the back of the cover (although chances are this has turned to chewing gum and will break). With some careful prying in various places, the cover will pop up and can be removed. Something tells me it's been leaking a bit And here The gasket was pretty moist I didn't think the gasket was too bad; it still felt flexible like rubber, but once I removed it, it held its shape and was stiff as a board. The new gasket is all floppy. The new gasket kit came with seals for the bolts too. Not all kits come with these, I specifically chose one that did. The old seals were quite hard and had been compressed. Since the bolts bottom out, if the seals are too compressed, they won't seal. I used some side cutters to snip the seal and then ripped it off Then using an appropriately sized socket, some silicone grease and a soft face hammer, I knocked the new seal on, using the socket as a driver and a couple of good whacks from the hammer to get it over the shoulder. A stack of old bolts with new seals Now it's time to bugger around getting the new gasket into place. I tried a few different ways to do this, and they all sucked. The one that worked was to fit the gasket to the cover, zip tie it into place (with an additional zip tie where the arrow is), and try to keep the gasket from snagging too badly as you refit the cover. Don't forget to bad some sealant on the corners of the half moons at the back And on the timing cover joints With the cover in place, as long as the half moons are correctly seated, insert a few bolts finger tight and then snip and remove the zipties. Insert all the bolts, and torque to 10nm working from the inside out. Now is a good time to grab a mirror and check out the back of the engine and make sure the half moon sections of the seal are correctly located and seated. The mirror can also help to check the rest of the gasket. Before refitting the rest of the parts, I changed the spark plugs. The old plugs were genuine BMW, and quite worn (even for the weird 4 electrode plugs). I wouldn't be surprised to find they were original. In went a new set of BKR6EK (twin electrode) and the leads and coil were then refitted. Next was to change the PCV valve. I had heard these can cause the unstable idle if they are tired, so I thought I'd give it a go. This is a real fiddle to do. First, remove the battery. Next use a T30 on a 1/4" ratchet to undo the two bolts, trying not to drop them. You can unhook the hose from the PCV if it's in good shape, or in my case, I just cut the hose to remove the PCV. You can see how dirty it was around the valve. The gasket was very flat and the internal components were covered in filth The old hose was soft like chewing gum and had crumbled internally I replaced that hose with some oil/fuel safe 5/8" hose. I did need to cut the plastic sleeve that joins the PCV hose to the coolant hose. I carefully did this with a sharp knife. Finally, I ripped all the foam out of the airbox top And drained the old oil and filled it with 5.5L of nice fresh 10W50 Penrite. The old oil wasn't due to change for another 4000km, but was overdue by time. It was black and stank like old oil. The previous owner had been topping it up too, so who knows what it was. Starting the engine up, it still started and ran the same, so the PCV hasn't magically fixed the idle. I suspect it requires the typical M44B19 timing adjustment, but I'm not going to mess with that. The idle is a bit lumpy, but harmless. I backed the car up the drive and gave it all a real good degrease and wash down. There was old oil everywhere, and it's still not perfectly clean, but it's better. It was ridiculous how much fresh oil there was on the underside of the engine/steering/gearbox/everything. It had leaked about a litre of oil in the short time I had been driving it, so it was getting through it. A quick run around the block to dry the engine off, and into the garage it has gone. It needs a clean inside and out, and then it'll be ready for sale. The engine got a quick wipe down, which helped, but I can't do much about the old yellow cosmoline wax all over the engine, that's just an old BMW thing. Hopefully it won't take long to sell. It's a good little car and I have enjoyed my time with it, but I'd enjoy the space and cash more.

The report I read indicated that was the case, and in fact I made no reference to it. We appear to have disparate view points on the issues that I am attempting to highlight. If we consider the incident with the bikers... I believe the initial report said that the driver stopped his car and got out following a minor traffic accident involving one of the bikes. My bad in being influenced by media headlines. None the less, the end result was that the man was severely beaten. Your view is that eventually some person or persons will be identified and arrested for for their part in the assault. My view is that in a decent society gang/mob incidents such as this should not occur. We have a legal system that bends over backwards to protect the rights of criminals. The police are restrained from being proactive in suppressing the activities of criminal gangs, only being called in after the shooting/beating/stabbing has occurred. So what about the rights of the victims ?? Do they not have the right to go about their legitimate activities without being assaulted or murdered ?? What we have is the equivalent of a rugby game where the opposing sides have to abide by different sets of rules. One side can wear steel cap boots, kick, gouge and maim, while the other must wear sandshoes and play with one arm tied behind their backs. If a body has cancer it has to be cut out to save the body. Criminal gangs are a cancer on society. It is as simple as that. Cheers...

This Auckland place sounds like a shithole, I must be living on the right side of the bridge. Closer to the Equator too 😃

I spoke to early for my cert! NZTA think they have tagged my car with their own vin number, but there is no sign of this tag on the car. Has anyone else had this before? I have the factory VIN plate which matches the stamped number under the windscreen, but no sign of the NZTA number, or any evidence of where it was once riveted to the vehicle. i put the mudguards back on but quickly decided that the scraping on the driveway is annoying and with the car being low it looks a lot cleaner with out them . Throw back to when I first bought it.

I remember in the late nineties a supplier to us had his reps and himself in E32s, got them about 5-8 years old. If you where good you’d get a 750 otherwise a 735. He reckoned that it was worth it, cheaper to buy then a new Corolla at the time, gas was cheap, he’d get a good warranty and be balling it 😎😂. His staff retention wasn’t a problem either 😉

Thanks @Olaf. Will be sad to move away from Pick-A-Part, but I'll manage

Congrats on the new job Cam!

Gotta be $45k Black / Tech 1 / winning

Thanks 🙂 The M340D is the replacement for the 330D, but I haven't exactly raced to put the 330D up on TradeMe. I'll likely do it in the next week or so. It's just had paint restoration (Rupes DA-Course + blue wool pad, Rupes DA-Fine with yellow wool, then two coats of Uno Pure and 2 coats of Chemical Guys Blacklight), and full groom, so now's the time to do it. I've been in to a couple of dealers with the M340D, and they've gone for a blast, and loved it. It's deceptive in how fast it puts on speed - it feels like it's loping along, when in reality it's flying. I was not a fan of the blacked out look - and especially wheels - at all either, and had even arranged with Coombes to swap the 791s for 792s (Cerium Gray) they had on a demonstrator, but once I saw the wheels on the car, and 'Chelle made the comment 'it looks menacing', I decided to keep them. BMW Car Key is also really useful; great when going to the gym, sailing, or mountain biking/motor biking etc, and can use an iPhone - or my Apple Watch - to lock/unlock the car, and run. The Macan was supposed to be being traded on a demo GTS in Miami Blue this month, but it looks like the dealer's replacement demo was on the carrier that sunk. It'll likely go anyway, as looking after 4 cars is time consuming. There will likely be an M3 Touring in the future as well. Just need to do something about that face. If I can't, it may be a B3 instead!

Just saw this pop up for sale. Seems like a pretty good deal for $5.2K. Doesn't look like the tidiest example but seems to have good bones. Probably is one of, if not the cheapest running V12 car for sale in NZ, and the engine is encased by a gorgeous E32! Prices on E32s is only going up anyway, as are all classic BMWs. Heap of car for the money, and a nice spec too, with silver paint and black leather.

That isn't too bad. I'd head to the supermarket and grab a tin of Kiwi polish and two brushes, one to apply the polish and one to scrub it in and polish it out. Then buff afterwards with a cotton rag so residue doesn't rub onto the Mrs favourite white fabrics. I'd budget at least 15 minutes per boot. I have always avoided dubbin, having seen it make leather too soft and perishable. I suppose you could also use the stuff you have on the shelf for car interior care 😂

My theory is that the spring pads add length to the spring area, but don’t actually affect the physical spring length? If that makes sense. I’ve been told it’s arguable as to whether the rear springs are fully captive, but if they have less physical room due to thicker pads, this should be cured, as in they are held more securely in place? Just trying to get a gauge on if my theory will work or create more issues I’m unaware of. For reference, centre of the rear wheel to top centre of the arch is 270mm, so I can afford to have a bit more height.

Not to be a "hater", but If you want a "loud" exhaust on a 320i, you probably have the wrong car, especially if its an auto.

It has a little plus inflation / interest rates, but the only M325i that hasn't shifted in the blink of an eye in the last 12 months or so is the Silver Tech 1 dealer flip that was asking $70k now asking $60k - clearly too high. Mtech1 is very rare and Black is THE colour for a lot of people.

If it just needs to be loud, and you don't want to pay to have it tuned properly, then take it to any exhaust fabricators. If you want to reduce the chances of it being sh*t then take it somewhere with experience. I haven't used these guys for probably longer than you've lived but when I did get a full 3" for my 4G63 VR-4 they did a good job, and it was loud. https://woolfmufflers.co.nz/

By Tech 1 I guess you are referring to an M325i? Market has gone a bit soft but still very sought after, and deserving of a good premium over most of the others. So much of the price depends on the condition - has it been maintained well or is everything worn out, paint still good, interior wear, etc. No rust is a good sign as is an untracked dash. Even if it is a clapped out WoF fail it would still be $15k+ if it’s a genuine NZ M325i, how far you go up from there is down to the above.

How much would a NZ new Mtech 1 be worth in a current market? 242xxxkms Diamond Schwarz 15" Basket weaves + 16" BBS reps No rust. Leather interior (not original obviously) 370mm mtech steering wheel Dash is not cracked Supersprint muffer with unkown brand headers

Hmmm think I might be higher on one side too. I’ll measure too. With 16’s maybe it’s just a bit more noticeable with less profile? this was my side profile on 16’s

FTFY. 🧐

It's Auckland, what do you expect?

Just want to give a huge thanks to Gavin. I enquired about the cork gasket and magnetic drain plug for a Z3 diff. He later called me and said he was talking to a diff specialist and said the gasket gives issues, a 3-part sealant is best. He also sent me a trademe link for neodymium magnets suitable for the OE drain plug. Overseas parts suppliers are great but you can't beat local knowledge and customer service.

During the last 2 years, when petty crime was insane around here (nice neighbourhood with walking access from a bad one), I have called one 111 about 6 times in total. People smashing car windows down street, group of kids stealing sh*t and running amuck, guy throwing punches at his car/house/letterbox while screaming, etc etc... cops turned up once. Still have a whole bunch of stolen crap under the tree in park next to house 6 months later... Im not blaming individual officers at all, but the police are pretty bloody ineffectual and its a systemic problem. I have zero faith if I actually needed them they would be here on time, if at all, hence have a number of 1/2" drive power bars around house...

Jesus, this thread really went to sh*t over the last page or so. Reads like a bad reddit thread. Yeah, lets just arm the police and let them shoot everyone. That'll never backfire.

I feel like the biggest issues with having a big engine like that in a barge, in NZ, is that unless you do long haul up and down the country often, there is just no where to drive it. Even then, being capped at 100kph in something that would be more at home on the Autobahn just doesnt do it justice. It would be completely wasted around town.

Name one Western country that doesn’t have organised crime. NZ is just a piss in the ocean compared to other countries. John Dee your posts just reek of a ‘stamp it out’ approach towards it. The outcomes of organised crime are disgusting, something that I think we’ll never get rid of.

Pretty cool business model! Wouldn't mind bombing around in a V12 E32 on company fuel! Bet some of his clients thought he had an illicit side hustle thanks to his fleet of E32s 🤣

Yeah when you consider inflation they certainly haven't appreciated at all if you sold yours for 3.5K 14 years ago. Bit of a shame in my opinion, I think their time will come soon though. As E28s, E30s, E24s, etc continue to sky rocket, naturally, the prices of once less desired models like e32s/e34s will begin to rise up. Surely a classy V12 7 Series with the classic twin headlights is a 10K car in the next few years... Seems criminal if that doesn't happen.

After almost 3 months, 2 windscreens, a windscreen moulding, a flooded workshop, another failed WOF, and a pair of new shocks, my 540i finally has a fresh WOF. My streak of never passing a WOF first try with this car continues 🤣 Took her out for a little drive to celebrate.

Yeah the last engine i would recommend to anyone that wants a cheap reliable bmw is an N4x series! 😂 Horrible things. Nice colour on that one though...

Most e36 and e46 will be due for a second, or 3rd cooling system now. I would put zero confidence in the plastics at that age. They're also a bit harsher on brakes and suspension than a generic Japanese car. And window regulators, and...everything else. Unless you don't mind DIY, avoid it

Interesting! I thought the shuddering gearbox would have been a sign of impending doom. Its good that its not a terminal issue! i guess any small car is not exactly very safe anyway.

E46 M43 318i.

"Can I buy a cheap and reliable BMW" NO. that is all.

$3,500 I would be looking at a mid 2000's Mazda Axela / 3. Good reliable practical cars, if a little boring.

Spotted this E46 M3 going for a little swim in a news report of all the Auckland flooding

I guess you are cool with this then ?? Let the bad guys keep their guns and the Police unarmed ?? Just saying... Cheers...

Seriously ^^^^ ??? Customs and border control were onto that because of information received from overseas. I didn't read anything about shootouts with mobsters or fierce hand to hand battles. The police were just there to handle the arrests and do the paperwork. Tell me about how many of those bikers got arrested after dragging that guy from his car and beating him close to death. There is a societal problem here in NZ whereby certain groups have discovered that if they get a mob together they can can pretty much do as they like with minimal risk of arrest or incarceration. The so called boy racers are chicken sh*t when compared to the hardcore criminals that are starting to compete for the domination of the drug trade in NZ. We are talking about armed thugs who think nothing of shooting at police. Don't minimise the problem by focusing on a simple annoyance like boy racers... tactics as outlined in previous posts are available to deal with this issue. Boy racers without cars are just boys There are larger issues that are mainly confined to the criminal underworld and cause a huge amount of harm and suffering in our society as a whole. Despite all their PR and corporate spin to try and convince the public that they are just a friendly bunch of club members helping old ladies across the street, there is no place in our society for patched criminal gangs. Read this exercise in futility.. Think about this for a moment... does anyone REALLY think that a gang member or criminal is going to (a) apply for a gun licence, or (b) give a single solitary f**k about this stupid piece of legislation ??? This will give you a clue as to who is hamstringing the police when it comes to them getting stuck into cleaning up criminal gangs. Cheers...