Leaderboard

Hi. When I was last here I had a 1999 NZ New 740i. I did a few retro fit projects with in car navigation, rear dash subs, upgraded amps. I sold it a few years ago. I was Jimbo01, no idea why I’m On a different profile. My daughter has a 2008 E87 130i which my wife loves it so she wanted a similar BMW to replace her 2005 Mercedes Benz SLK280. So we got her one but we then decided we should keep the SLK so I sold my 2007 Mercedes Benz ML500. I still have a VW Passat CC 3.6 V6 with 4Motion (currently on TM). The BMW we bought is a Japanese new E84 BMW X1 28i Xdrive MSport. The dealer in Auckland had it modified to NZ frequencies and NZ navigation but seems to have disabled the bluetooth phone integration - we seem to have the bluetooth unit in the boot. We briefly had both the ML500 and the X1. We called the ML Beast, so the X1 is Mini beast. I’m super impressed with the X1, it has a good amount of space for such a small package. Went great for our skiing holiday with the roof box on top. Much easier to access the roofbox than the ML, and I like getting 4km more for each litre of petrol. Things I’m looking to do to the X1: Retrofitting cruise control and am on the lookout for a E84 steering wheel squib with the cruise control stalk, and the lower steering column cover with the hole for the stalk. From what I understand it is plug and play, with programming needed. So I’ll be looking for advice / searching the site for anyone who is good at coding in Wellington. Sorting out the bluetooth phone integration. We are using a bluetooth adapter with the aux in. Adding a tow hitch with removable tow bar for an eBike carrier. I’m selling my Passat to fund an eBike. Changing the tyres for Pirelli P8 All Season. Dealer put it on new Hifly 805 tyres but they don’t rate well although its not urgent as they have not given us any issues. Maintenance on the X1: New spark plugs Transfer case service 1st service for 3 year warranty at 88,000km. New front windscreen Next is probably a transmission service at Hutt Automatics.

I didn't expect you to, don't worry, it's not public yet but nothing to do with a tunnel, much cooler than that. I'll post back in this thread when I can make what I know public. I agree with @Eagle, pistons look fine for reuse as long as they weren't previously leaking or binding, I've seen much, much worse that were still perfectly functional.

DSC gets recoded to M3 CSL settings which tells the DSC the car it has a LSD and disables the e-diff, then adjusting the parameters allows higher slip limits before intervening. Its mostly for stage 2\single press of DSC button which mimics M-track mode. DSC works as normal otherwise. Pistons looks ok to me. Ive polished up and re-used much worse. Guessing they weren't leaking or binding before you took them out?.

Very jel of the ZF you have there. Trying to get one myself without giving up an arm and a leg. Then add the detents, shifter refresh, clutch master/slave (because why wouldn't you?) on top of the 1k worth of clutch it's a very expensive exercise just to choose your own gears.

Haven't done much to the car recently, been very busy with university assignments. Car still needs a wheel alignment, but when I saw that kiwi plates now offered black number plates I was intrigued, then I checked and THE 135 was still available so I had to get it. Plates showed up today, went with the standard black slim as I didn't like the black slim euro design. Mounted them with some scotch foam tape, hardest part was getting them straight and centred. Very happy with how it came out though with the black on black. Contemplating removing the silver 135i badge on the boot now, since it is rather obvious that it is a 135i now with these plates.

Asked around for some more opinions and advice regarding the state of the head. Responses ranged from "completely unacceptable" to "not ideal/would have expected better but shouldn't cause sealing issues". Had a couple machinist - engine builder mates have a look too. Said the gaskets tend to seal better if the surface is a bit roughened up but this seemed way too coarse. Ended up taking it back to the shop on Friday. Said they'd clean it up, and that this is how they send all of their work out. Apparently I'm the first to complain. Nice one. Got it back today. Seems a wee bit better I guess. Still looks all sorts of mangled but at least nothing catches on the nail anymore. Impossible to get it back to what it was of course. Didn't want to take any more material off so this will have to do. Will have to trust them that this is good enough... Did a quick check with a flat edge and looks nice and straight at least. Did take a shop vac to it which blew out quite a few bits of metal shavings so didn't even do a particularly good job of cleaning it out. Will do another thorough clean prior to reassembly. Unfortunate wee episode but... onwards and upwards.