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Date: 29 Nov 2024 Distance: 215742 kms 1. Battery Replacement I've had a headlamp bulb out. A couple of times the vehicle has spazzed-out while running when I turned from sidelights to headlamps - dashboard-reset with a BeeeEEEp tone, clock resets, trip meter resets. I thought it was about 7 years since I replaced it last? With the help of @Autoglym we metered the batty during start - 11.3v. A new Koba batty was sourced. The old AA3772 (720 CCA, 140 RC, 80 AH) was in fact 2013! I recall when I last replaced the batty in 2013, the original date-marked 2002 BMW battery was in there. So 11 years per batty - nice! The Koba SE57510 was a case of 'nearest avalable' in-stock, 730CCA, RC 125 min, 75AH. It's slightly shorter in height than the AA, so a couple of bits of rubber beneath the sole of the hold-down plate had it sorted. Figures 1 & 2: A Koba batty, amidst the chaos of my sub-floor area, yesterday. Yes it's true: I am a closet hi-vis vest wearer - at least when changing a tyre on the roadside, or photographing. The previous AA install in 2013 was swings-and-roundabouts. He'd used Permatex Battery Protector & Sealer, which foams up and dries in a purple colour - brilliant stuff - and all was clean and intact. PS: Does anyone still distribute this in NZ? It seems to have gone unobtaneum. Unfortunately he didn't reconnect the battery breather vent. 🤯 So the bottom of the battery compartment was a little crusty. I vacuumed up any loose scale and gave it a couple of liberal coats of Brunox. That'll slow it down until I can get in there and paint it. Figure 3: the artist formerly known as crusty, now tramsformed with Brunox. Figure 3a: Brunox. The gold standard in Europe, particularly loved by the folks on retrorides. Figure 4: battery breather vent now reconnected. Car now starts more snappily. (8mm socket for the interior frame. 13mm for the hold-down. #2 phillips screw for the clamp tension. 8mm for the battery clamps). Battery lifting by messrs tricep, bicep, & latismus dorsi. Remixed by paracetamol and codine for us old geezers. Next to order a couple of Xenon bulbs. I didn't have bulbs in my spare headlamps.

Reluctant sale of: Boris Please click on the link for full details, but the short of it is WoF and Registration until March 2025. 168,626KM and I have partial service history. Previous owner was the archetypal ‘lady owner’, wife of an old boy I play golf with. She owned the car for fifteen years, both privately and under her company name, always garaged and serviced on time. The condition of the car speaks to that, drives great and everything works as it should. I have driven it all over the North Island without issue and up until the arrival of our second child, commuted 100KM in it daily. Really nice spec’ with all the M Sport bits, Hellrot exterior, leather interior and Style 24 wheels. I bought an E53 when number two arrived and to be honest the only reason I am selling this is because it isn’t getting the use it should, and it won’t for the foreseeable. I could use the funds to set the X5 up for family camping. Plate ‘328 S’ included. Located North Shore, Auckland. It would be great to keep this one in the community, $9,000. Great buying in time for Summer! Please send me a message if you or someone you know is interested in discussing further and I will send you my contact details. Thank you, Josh

Has been sorted but thank you for the offer!

Mine were second hand and I rolled the dice as they did look a bit average. However the inserts were in excellent shape and the bumpstops were perfect. I just cleaned them up and installed them. I did regrease my strut mounts as they had no roughness and the bearings looked fine. The reason I went with them was that one of my KW coilovers had blown. Replacing it was going to be expensive, and time consuming to get to NZ. I have subsequently found a KW insert so I will rebuild them. The Bistein is a little softer, not by much but the bumpstops are as new and the bumstops on the KW were perished. This is a pretty important factor with lowered suspension. My rears are KW. You could acheive the same with a B8 and lower springs.

Got the front calipers painted, baked and decals applied ... only to find the Textar anti rattle spring ordered is the wrong size Located the (hopefully) correct one which is on the way from Spareto now. Just in case anybody else stumbles across this looking for the correct part, this is what I have ordered and should be correct: https://spareto.com/products/delphi-accessory-kit-disc-brake-pads/lx0469 I already hate the retention pin system, potentially as I have new pins and have put an extra layer of paint in the holes I'm trying to whack them in to ... but still, just seems pretty suck. Forgot to mention previously also I swapped the bridging pipes end for end as the Renault mounts the caliper to the front of the car and the E46 to the rear.

Time for another post! In around august or september, i noticed a small puddle of oil directly under the right hand side of the intercooler after a long haul back from Hawkes Bay, which told me two things, one that the intercooler isn't completely sealed, and two that something upstream of the intercooler is leaking oil, which of course can only be the turbo. i recalled that Graham had fitted a new turbo to it during his ownership, however after chatting to him, found that it was fitted, didnt solve the problem he was looking at, so the original one was put back, leaving a minty one in the box with him. A deal was struck, and I was the owner of the new turbo, ready to be bolted up for the second time. (As anyone who knows me knows, I have owned several hundred BMWs, at least another 50 or so non-BMs, and worked full time off and on in other shops as well as for myself. It was the first time I have ever done a turbo swap!) I also made sure that the exhaust was clocked properly, and reinstalled the chassis brace I removed a few years back im sure I mentioned here somewhere! Road test, and wow, what a difference, and now i believe that 320d are quicker than 325 328i as the internet says they are. initial 1990s/2000s/diesel turbo lag and then hits hard! Never done it again tho, as thats not what this car is in my life for! Tho it does have a very audible whistle to it which i do enjoy, and wish my F15 M50d did the same! Intercooler went back in as it is, and will deal with that air leak at some other point, if it becomes a bigger problem. As it turned out, after a few weeks of driving, with the added boost, the DDE was obviously demanding more fuel pressure, and two weeks later the mid fuel pump decided to quit 3km from home on another little road. The 320d run three fuel pumps, one lifter pump in the tank, one mid pump located next to the fuel filter/regulator (both of which are same location as a petrol E46), and a third HPFP which i replaced already. Upon diagnosis, I found all that happened was the plug had come off the pump, however it was covered in diesel, as was the underside of the floor. plugged it in, and the car fired right up, but drips formed quite quickly from the plug. Have seen this a few times before, especially on N52/54/55 waterpumps, but not on a fuel pump before! Ordered a replacement, and good to go once more! I mentioned earlier i ordered some Bilstein B4s and had some used msport springs here. While the car was in the air and waiting for the pump to arrive, and another WOF a month or so away, i had a quiet day so time to swap the front struts over. Again, these turned out to be another original part from 2002! on removal, I managed to snap the bolt holding in the ABS sensors on both sides. I doubt they have been moved since 2002 either. for now, i have just urethaned them back into place, and will deal with them if/when they ever fall out. Cant say a huge difference in handling since its not a car i throw around anyways. however, there is a bump in my drive way, and three speed bumps on my street, that feel a lot more solid going over. As for ride height, i was expecting a bit of a drop from the msport springs, but nothing! I measured the car before and after and at best would be 5mm in it! A pet peeve of mine with the car has always been that the cluster is in miles. I respect that the car is a UK import, and with Graham being a pommy too, i like its part of the cars heritage. but mpg means nothing to me, and if the ODO was in kilometers the number looks much bigger!!! I played around with NCS Expert and PA Soft, and now have the digital part of the dash showing metric. Its still the original cluster with the M35080 chip which means not a lot else can be done with it, which is reassuring! And of course the physical speedo is still in Miles, so still true to its heretige! Last week, I was pulling out of my street, and had a wee incident with a Mercedes. Young indian chap, learners license unaccompanied, and only in new zealand for a few weeks. almost brand new A class merc, and rubs his bumper along my left rear door and wheel. ripped the whole corner of the bumper off his merc, and only a paint graze no dent at all to the 320d. Which brings us up to today. Intending to take it for a roady up to Hawkes Bay tomorrow and being out of a WOF (expired two days after above incident so that was lucky), i took it down today, and another clean sheet WOF. Unfortunately while there, they did mention the fan looked a little wobbly, and sure enough its time for a new water pump! Ive known the viscous clutch has needed doing for some time, however being a diesel they dont get hot anyways. So another couple of things to add to the list. So tomorrow I will have to take my F15 M50d, which im not upset about obviously. Planning to catch up with Graham too, who has some old paperwork for the car he has kindly kept to give to me! Its funny these old cars. It's definately not the prettiest in my driveway, and i have parted out much tidier cars than this one. With the parts ive thrown at it over my ownership its not the cheapest to own either, even if the economy would say other wise. But for some reason, I have quite the affection for it, so Im planning on keeping it on the road as long as it wants to!

Spareto.com has nearly all the same parts as ECS and FCP however spareto's shipping is usually more realistic. I think the build thread for that car is on here somewhere. Should be good fun.

Sorted out today by Elite Wheels (thanks @Gaz!). 5 stars - would recommend. Dropped off this morning, picked up this arvo. Just need to get some new rubber on now (not related to pothole - just old and shagged).

I got my brake lines, supplied locally via https://nz.helperformance.com/ ... if you're in need of tasty braided lines I recommend 👍 Last week also got the misc items from Spareto (front caliper pin kit, basic pads and M3 parking brake shoes). Have yet to pull the trigger on the custom brackets and hats due to cost ... hopefully will order on pay day 😬 Then only need to arrange the remaining cross over pipe for rear caliper I stuffed up.

This thread is so next level, thanks for sharing!

I've baked the painted calipers in my 3D printing enclosure, ramped up to about 60 degrees and let them cook for a few hours. This has hardened up the paint nicely and they look great The front Meganne calipers arrived today right on time, ordered them from https://eurofrance24.com based out of Poland and was a very smooth experience. Came in under the GST / duty threshold which was great ... still need to get the pin kit and bolts etc from else where. 3D printed some dummy brake pads which I will use to validate the rear before ordering (as looking to use the deeper D737 profile pads) and the fronts will be critical for caliper mounting bracket design. Also printed out a small jig for drilling the rear M3 disc location set screw hole to suit my 330 rear hubs. On the other side of the starfish there are 5 nubbins which locate into the disc holes.

Keen to see how you go with it. Not that I need bigger brakes on mine but keen to take on a similar project eventually. My plan is to go with a simple 135i setup, mostly because it's tried and tested, adapters are readily available and the brakes themselves are relatively easy to come by locally. My main fear being that shipping on such bulky items will be the biggest killer, not awfully keen on dumping several grand on brakes alone. Wonder how 135i brake performance compares to the setup you're going with. Pretty sure all non-M E46's had the same master cylinder so your 318i one will be the same as on a 330i. From what I've read on the 135i conversion the master cylinder and booster should hold up just fine with the bigger brake setup, so long as they're in good working order. Pretty keen to know whether there are any out-the-box upgrade options out there though.