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Got onto the 330i brake refurb. All disassembled, I had them vapour blasted by a fellow bimmerhead I'd met, saved a good number of hours on the wire wheel. Gave them an additional scrub and 3 coats of satin black caliper paint. Then threw on new seals, guide pins, rattle clips, OE rubber hoses and a set of speed bleeder valves, as well as Akebono pads (sorry @Olaf, I'll be careful). All tidied up and set aside. Also scrubbed down and major rust off the subframe and control arms, gave it a few coats of rust converter primer and the same satin black paint. Will get onto pressing in the new bushes and bearings next. Front hubs are also now disassembled and awaiting a tidy up.

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.

Hey team, I'm looking for recommendations for an engine builder who can put together a M20B25 2.7ltr stroker, preferably in the North Island. I have the engine all in bits (minus a few of the ancillary bits eg. water pump, fuel rail, etc) as well as all the components to make it 2.7ltr (conrods from a m20b20, crank from a 2.8ltr m52, etc). I have no idea how to competently put it together. Going to use this in my '71 2002.

Looks like a well sorted 535i that could be turned into a stunner. Just like an E30 but better and cheaper. https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/listing/4324187882?tm=email&et=45&mt=79F4475F-6C8D-4859-8EC2-79132A4FA124&bof=qQMhrgaC

Jesus.. This might not be as exclusive of a club as I thought hahaha. I've been thinking about building one of these for ~2 years and when I finally start, 5 of them show up for sale Yeah sounds like a 325ti with the B30 dropped in, no 330 brakes and gretrag box. Still, probably a very quick fun car for 5K, they all seem a bit rough though. Looking forward to making mine into the tidiest example in the best spec

You need to start bringing this back to me lol

@BMTHUG have you moved?

Nice pickup there Danny. I wouldn't be afraid of the solenoids, I've done 3 x N52's and never had a problem. The filters are a bit more of a challenge but that's only because they're quite hidden and access is somewhat limited.

Apex Automotive Services North shore. We do these all the time

Alright, finally got it checked by my mechanic and he says the sound is coming from the gas pump and not from the car's gas tank. Just putting it here in case anyone else encounters this!

Ta daaaaaaaa ...

I was getting sick of the diff noises so i swapped the mfactory helical back into my original diff. Decided to do it myself to avoid the shipping hassle and buy the shim kit with new output shaft bearings from difflabs.au. Since i had 4x original shims from both diffs including thinner shim i could build up, figured i could make most sizes without needing to get them machined down. After a bit of fiddling around with different sized shims i got the backlash and gear pattern looking like it was originally. Backlash @ 0.09mm down from 0.14mm so clunking\knocking mostly gone or much quieter. Unfortunately still have a similar gear whine when cruising ~110kph. Both diffs have wear to some extent, but i can only guess based on the previous diff being ok before the solid subframe mounts and\or meyle front diff bushings that they are allowing more noise to be transmitted. The plan now is to convert most of the suspension back to 'OE' spec, chuck in a replacement open diff and sell it when economic outlook is better. I did plan on keeping this but i find i don't really desire to drive the car after converting my Ti to manual. Given the state of the average road these days its very harsh (compared to that) and only really enjoyable when driving fast\hard on decent condition ones. The 80's BMW ethos is what drew me to them nearly 2 decades ago and why i had E30 for 8 years.

335 update! spent the last couple weeks chipping away at this. Replace spark plugs, rocker gasket, oil filter housing and cooler gaskets, got myself a cheap walnut blasting setup and cleaned the intake ports, they were pretty gross! Cleaned out intake manifold, flushed coolant out and replaced, new oil and filter, new battery, new smoked fog lights, replaced headlight lenses and painted the inside bits all black since the chrome on the one with the broken lens was all coming away, new led halo lamps as well. Had a spare set of wheels that I got for the e39, style 125’s, 19x8 et20, 9.5 et32, but never painted, so got them done and new tires and now she’s ready to hit the streets…to have it scanned to clear some codes, register the new battery and injector and make sure it’s all good, then off for a wof, get the ding man to pop a couple wee dents out and a detail to get it gleaming.

Time for the yearly TLC for the ‘vert whilst the weather is not so flash On this year’s list a bit of panel and paint for a few bits and pieces - bonnet (to remove the dent in he middle where it fell on the battery charger 🤬), boot, high stop lamp and the Tech I spoiler insert. Also pulled the rear bumper off to give it a good clean and check behind it. Had a bit of a panic when I saw what I thought was some serious rust in the bottom left corner of the boot when I took the bumper off. Turned out to be rust from something that had been stored in there and got wet, stuck in some waxy gunk. Came off when I gave it a vigorous clean and picked at it with a plastic scraper - phew! Also found a Travis CD stuck in the boot when I took the stacker out..

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

Penis or genius? So e39 has sold and gone, so have bought a e90 335i sight unseen for $1000 with no wheels or key. Finally arrived and laid eyes on it last Thursday and whipped the dme and cas out of it to get a new key made, which should all be back tomorrow to see if it’s a runner or not. All I knew was it was black and had 17x,000kms on it. wish me luck!

Seriously that inspector should be hand writing scripts for the local GP.

Anyone interested in buying this send me a message. Potentially looking at selling due to its lack of use.. looking for $25k