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Hey folks, been lurking around here most of last year keeping an eye on E30 stuff as I searched for one and now that I've finally got my hands on one thought I'd say hello 😀 Here she is - some of you who have been watching E30 TradeMe might recognise this one. 1991 318i auto 4d, obviously not quite the pinnacle of E30s but respectable enough I think - and managed to get her at a non-insane price, which is probably more than what can be said for what's on the market these days. Have been entertaining the thoughts of a M42 + manual swap but for now will just be getting her nice and cleaned up and addressing any problems as they show up. Got a lot to learn so I'll probably have quite a few questions in the future.

Took up some arts and crafts for a change. Stripped down the scruffy looking driveshaft and bottom brace plates to bare metal and gave them 3 coats of low gloss paint. Came out quite nice. Left the U-joint part of the driveshaft untouched as I didn't want to get any of the actual pivoting bits caked in paint. Bolted and torqued the driveshaft up with a new center support bearing and that's the driveline sorted. Didn't feel like bolting on any rusty bits to went full stupid on the exhaust. Post fact realised that most of it was likely an absolute waste of time but happy to have some shiny exhaust tips at least. Onto less trivial stuff, busted out the laptop and tackled the coding/flashing part of things. All went without a hitch. Threw in the fully charged battery and got the latest 330i EU2 software installed, EGS coded out and adaptations cleared. Got rid of the gear cog from the cluster so must have worked alright. Haven't tried starting it yet but nearly at that point now. At the end of the night, went to roll the windows up by holding down the lock button on the key fob and was met with a pleasant WTF moment - along with the windows going up, the mirrors also folded in. The same mirrors that had refused to work all throughout my ownership. Absolutely no idea what the issue was and what fixed it but not complaining! Finishing touches now. Brakes and clutch fully bled through and feeling nice and firm. The old brake fluid had definitely seen some better days. Went through the underside and engine bay to double check that everything is bolted and connected up. Moment of truth tomorrow morning. Will see if she'll fire up, then hopefully go for a drive if all is looking well. Fingers crossed.

Messaged CMP a couple of weeks ago, Cayn told me the subframe bushes should be back in stock early Jan so hopefully not too far off now.

This is pretty bad, I would be burn down car dealership angry if this happened to me. https://i.stuff.co.nz/motoring/300780384/man-who-lost-100k-on-stolen-jaguar-failed-to-recover-money-from-auckland-dealer

bumping a thread from 2018 where the OP posted the status of the sale. That's a paddlin

Up for sale is my 1996 BMW 540i I bought this for the BBS RKs it had and thought it would be a fun project to get legal and sell. It's got a bunch of AC Schnitzer stuff. It’s got the full kit: front and rear lip, side skirts, mirrors, spoiler, wheels, and it even has the ACS shifter, handbrake, and pedals on the inside. Performance wise it has the AC Schnitzer exhaust, an AC Schnitzer Strut Brace, ACS lowered suspension, and to finish it off it is running an Eibach sway bar at the front and some sway bar on the rear. I have also been told it has an AC Schnitzer tune, but I mean idk if that's actually true I haven't checked. In the time I have owned the car I have put a large amount of work into it to get it legal. The car has had a full service, I have replaced the oil, coolant, brake fluid, power steering fluid, and gearbox fluid and have replaced all associated filters along with the fuel filter and cabin filters as well. In addition to this routine maintenance, I have also replaced the front and rear rotors and pads, the alternator, the airbag clock spring, the centre tie rod, and almost all rear suspension arms and bushings, along with having the car aligned. The car is an absolute blast to drive, it outperforms and out-handles many lighter cars on the road. (Goes great on track too). It is also, owing to its ACS exhaust, the best sounding v8 I have personally heard in my life. The car still has a little bit of love required however. The car has a small amount of rust in the boot area that needs attending, there is a squeak coming from the front left suspension, and it seems like the power steering pump could be on its way out owing to a light whine while driving. Also the glove box is stuck closed and maybe the blower hedgehog is on the way out. In addition to this one its previous owners also decided to paint the engine cover and rocker covers blue. The front lip and wheels are unfortunately replica items, however all other ACS parts on the car are genuine. The car will also come with a genuine front lip for repair. Looking for somewhere around the 5k mark but am willing to negotiate. I've got more into the car than that but it is what it is and it's gotta go.

It's a (rather expensive) model. https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/marketplace/toys-models/die-casts/auto-art/listing/3938093233

I understand it’ll average somewhere between 15-18l/100k in that sort of use. So 400k out of a 68L / $170ish fill every 10 days. That’s gonna get old fast IMO

Extensive service history.........yep.

hello, I have lurked this forum yet never actually joined and now i am! I have two bimmers, my favorite is the the palmetto green Z3, and my daily is the 320i!

That is basically my commute and I use the M5 once a week to keep everything working, it is more than enough to get everything up to temp and keep the battery topped up, but I can't justify the horrendous fuel bill for doing it every day! I also didn't want to get sick of the M5, and driving it to work everyday is a good way to make that happen with any car!

Motor was left in - I had to take out dash as I had to redo the whole area under the wipers & its drainage area. I was lucky the rust didn’t reach the brake booster so it saved me from taking that out.

Welcome Jeremy!

Here's a dump of the matte finish wheels mounted on my E36, if you need a little convincing 😏 These are some of the best OEM fitment wheels available!

All wheels sold They look incredible on 3 series or 5 series: http://www.bmwstylewheels.com/bmw/66 17x8, ET20. P/N: 36112228995 17x9, ET26. P/N: 36112229035 (NLA) Centre bore: 74.1mm, recommend hub-centric spacers with 3 series (available at most tyre shops, eg: Mag n Turbo) Pictured below on my E36 are the matte finish set (RHS above).

Yeah CMP are the cheapest on market too. Hopefully they back in stock when you want them.

Wrapping up most of the rust repairs this month after putting in a lot of time over the Xmas break. Starting to re-assemble including DIY resprayed guard, bumper & lip ECU & tune next after going for a WOF....

Mines a UK import and 99% rust free, I put it up on a hoist and checked it before handing over any money! The 1% is from stone chips incurred locally!

I've been thinking of doing both solid subframe mounts and monoball rtabs as well next time I drop the subframe, glad to know they are worth while. I'll go with CMP for both since I'm lowered and have camber plates. Love the colour of this, wish there were estoril m3s in nz.

How prophetic that was.

Have to admit, this is very tempting… is rust an issue with it being a UK import?

Good to hear that some decent work was put into it and not a straight flip. Fair play to them on that front. Don't know if that justifies the asking price being what it is but meh. Interesting that they seem to market it being LHD as sort of a selling point? Is that a thing? Personally would have thought that it acts more to its detriment so don't really get it.

Took me a few weekends to get this done; removed the previous lap weld rust repairs & redid the repair. Tried my best to protect the wiring from heat & the grinder so I don’t have to bust out the soldering iron 😂 Will tidy up all the flash & surface rust before KBS rust seal top coat.

Funny you should say. I'm a fleet mechanic and we're hauling lithium in the Australian North West. 20,000 tonne per day using road trains 174-197 tonne depending on configuration. Payload of 120-140 tonne. Sucking an average of 100l/100km. On a hard pull these are using 500l/100km (or one litre every 200 metres). Then approx 250,000 tonnes loaded onto a ship destined for China burning the dirtiest fuel possible. Then there's the machinery and manpower used to dig it up and process it. And the fact these workers are on either an eight day on/six day off, or two week on/one off roster flying to Perth. A lot will then carry on fifo to the eastern states, SE Asia or NZ like myself. Far from an environmentally friendly process. So I have to laugh when some vocal holier than thou greenie who likes to take the social moral high ground says we need to ditch our older cars for more environmentally friendly ones. In reality it's no laughing matter because if these clowns get their own way expect to see hybrids and EVs heavily subsidised while older cars are taxed off the road. Gabe79 - would you not be better off buying a 10-15 year old Civic/Corolla/323 for around $3000. Some of if not the most reliable cars on the road, basic, will return around 8l/100km around town and have done all their depreciating, so will still be worth the same value in a few years time when you want to sell. As for the M5 Touring. Beautiful car, but a bit pointless? I use my wagon for tools, car parts, house renovations, property landscaping, carrying the dog. What a wagon is made for... I'd be scared of someone sitting in the back seat of this thing let alone any of that. Still, I like the towbar, and be tempted to hook up two tonne and blow away the floggers who think they're untouchable in their overpriced over rated double cab utes.