Leaderboard

Car has been going great guns through the miserable winter months but with the nice change in weather got out on a few rural backroads with @Cement and @elias on Saturday - Dave and I having to navigate a pretty decent swathe of semi' precarious gravel roads, so here is a rare dirty picture of the old girl! Next project is a cluster refurb and tart up and then a refurbished steering rack before the next WOF. From there will just be dirivng the wheels off it and saving up for some rust repair and full respray next winter.

This is an on-behalf post. I'll answer questions as best I can, and refer to the owner for those that I can't. I recently posted here to try and identify with some certainty whether a given vehicle was a true M325i. On balance, it seems likely this one is. NZ new 1987 Diamant-Schwarz 325i with all relevant M325i attributes. Purchased from Shelley Motors in Wellington who (I think) were bought out by Jeff Gray. Absolute, categoric confirmation that this is a M325i is difficult but it fits the description, and that is what the first owner has said it was bought as. Of particular note are the following options: 0209 - Differential lock 25% 0339 - Shadow line 0481 - Sports seat 0704 - M Sports suspension 0708 - M Sports steering wheel leather And it has the black headlining. 3 owners from new; current owner is the son of the first owner and lives in Auckland. He is moving to Australia and selling the car here rather than taking it with him. Let's get the warts out of the way. The dash is cracked, the air conditioning is shot, there are some seal issues, and some floor pan rust is starting to creep in. The interior was changed at some point from the original houndstooth to full leather due to wear and tear - it's in good condition, but it's not original. Original 15" basket weaves had cracked and were disposed of some 10-12years ago instead of being repaired/reconditioned - it is currently fitted with after- market Bayern wheels. Paintwork is reasonable with some fairly minor wear and tear. There was a respray 6 or so years ago. At some point it was involved in a minor accident and required a new front skirt. The repairer couldn’t source an original part, so a later piece was fitted. No other major work has ever been required. WoF expired in September last year; rego expired in December 2022. I have advised the owner that he should at least put the rego on hold but that back-rego will be due when that is done. Pics attached. If there is anything in particular that anyone interested would like to see, please let me know. Pricing is tricky. Truly excellent examples of the facelift E30 M325i has listed at $50k or more, but prices have come back a bit since then. The PFL cars are rarer, but this one does need work to return it to excellent, original condition. The owner has had some quoting done and estimates $12k or so to get this car to where it should be. I'll pitch this at $30k but will discuss further with the owner.

Maybe this one is more suited to the budget perhaps cheapest E30 on trademe 🙂 https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/marketplace/toys-models/die-casts/corgi/listing/4287582913

Just over a month of ownership, and easily the best car I've ever owned in terms of power, handling, comfort and just sheer enjoyment. Glorious.

I came across a classic vehicle review of a E34 535i Sport in Ireland. He mentions their NCT (WOF) can be exempt for immaculately kept classics. I looked into it a little more and it is for any vehicle over 40years old. It means they only require a check every two years. https://www.irishvintagescene.ie/new-nct-legislation/ Wouldn't this be great for NZ. An extended WOF for classics meaning no more 6 monthly waste of time and money as long as your car is not a pile of junk. As our Rego/WOF/RUC system looks to go digital these sort of categories could easily be added at the same time.

E38 750i (and an Audi) update Yes, I did buy it and have spent *a lot* sorting it out. I will post up some stuff on what's been done... Latest with the E38 750i - had to top up the coolant a couple of times - ~300ml each time ... and boom - new radiator required, sorted by Driscoll Motors. At least it was simpler than an intermittent issue on the wife's Audi Q3 - engine check light turned out to be due to a sticking element on the PCV valve assembly. Lots of troubleshooting/fault-finding time before identifying this. 😕 MBI will at least cover some of it. She was using the V8 X5 while this was being sorted "this uses a lot of gas, doesn't it?" Um, yep - compared to a much more modern 4cyl

Rear axle puller. I’ll check which model tomorrow. I think I’ve got both to cover both PDC sizes

Might be worth pulling it if it's never been off before. Makes the CCV job a lot easier and gives you a chance to do a bit of a cleaning job and also tackle some other jobs whilst you're in there. It's a good idea replacing the two plastic coolant pipes that run under the intake manifold (#6 & #8 on the schematic below). Those always rot and break off at the point where they attach to the block and the head, can often cause annoying coolant leaks that are hard to get to. Just took off and reattached the intake on mine this past week, not too terrible a job. I'd go that route if I ever need to replace a CCV again.

Did a smoke test with the home made setup. Worked well but might need a higher resistance wire or some more patience as I set the oil on fire. Found a lot of smoke coming from under the intake manifold so I have ordered a full CCV kit. Need to determine if I will take the intake manifold or do the reach around. Also the breather hose to the rocker cover so had to make do with a coolant line to keep it going. Also got sick of the loud rear left wheel bearing so tackled that job. Once you have all the tools its not a bad job, just a pain that it is the left one and you have to get the exhaust makes access tricky. But totally worth the effort to have a lot less road noise now. Still idles horribly at times so will investigate further when I tackle the CCV replacement.

You gotta try - it’s probably the only Granitsilber Tech2 in NZ, has low kms and looks very tidy. More info to help would really just be major maintenance completed recently etc, especially if it sat a few years.

So I finally got a good finish on the roof, and learnt how to polish something properly finally it seems !! Never really had the hang of it before it seems. I'll likely leave it like it is and then get it re-cleared after summer perhaps so I can be sure there is a good thickness for UV protection. Only thing left to do is reinstall the weather strips now, these will be glued in with polyurethane. It's pretty hard to get a good picture of it in the garage ... will try and get something more fancy in the future.

@euroriffic the V can in the cup holder doesn’t bode well for scheduled maintenance

30 June 2023. 1875??kms I dusted off the e60. Since the WoF, just a monthly start. Covid mkII in April, life has been quiet. 1. Full Tank of Fuel Posterity post. We'll remember when fuel was "cheap". I took the opportunity to fill the tank before our "finance minister" put the Excise and GST (29c per litre) back on fuel during our cost of living crisis. $2.31/l As I type this 20 July Tinakori Waitomo 95 is $.59.9/l according to Gaspy, BP Connect Adelaide Rd are charging $2.999/l, and BP Connect Roadmaster is rewarding big spenders with $3.139/l of 98. Still, a cruise up country at 9.5 litres/100, it's pure pleasure! 2. Fuel Stabiliser Protecting that fuel 'investment'. I figured while it spends a little more time in my rented garage, I should take measures to avoid 65 litres of fuel going off. Penrite Fuel Stabiliser to the rescue! So yeah, you buy this, it comes with a full tank! I used to run it exclusively on BP 98, stopped a few tanks ago. The Waitomo is good.