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Hi Peter. We have replacements @ Hellbm. Can code to the car easily.

https://www.trademe.co.nz/trade-me-motors/car-parts-accessories/personalised-plates/auction-5361163544.htm I'm not brave enough to ask if the car is included in the sale 😅

I got one of them adapters when doing mine, can't remember where I got it from but looks identical. Paired it up with some ancient, fairly low profile trolley jack I borrowed off a mate, but that's not the point. The whole thing ended up being too damn fiddly to use... Trouble I ran into was, even with the car raised to the max height allowable by the jack stands, the combined height of the trolley jack and the adapter was such that even lowered all the way, the transmission was left wedged in the transmission tunnel with no way of wheeling it out. It then became a whole new mission lifting up the transmission while trying to slide out the trolley jack from underneath. In hindsight, would have been much easier without that adapter, either resting the rear of the transmission directly on the saddle or a wider block of timber and manhandling the bellhousing end. Unless you've got some extra tall jack stands, I honestly wouldn't bother. Only ever "used" that adapter once and now it's essentially scrap metal on the shelf somewhere.

Greg's our go-to mechanic as well. Top bloke. Does everything from the classics to modern stuff. Coombes Johnson BMW in Hamilton told me they send the cars they can't fix to Greg.

This car is gonna be so clean. Injecting new life into it. Love seeing the progress.

Installed a bunch of sound deadening in the floor of the car in an effort to keep this one more comfortable and street friendly than the 135i… installed the clutch master as well, now that I have the feed line, only to find that it runs the brake linkage. Turns out there’s meant to be an elbow fitting in the master not a straight fitting that my pedal box came with, luckily Peter from P&S auto has an elbow in stock so off to there after work then to give it another go

Pics: PA3330/AE54276 when we took it on trade and UN3871/AE53800 when I spotted it in Taihape post the Covid $62K sale. The other Brilliantrots: BMW649/AE53932 which is now caged with an M54. HOT325/AE54389 which has been off the road for some time. Haven't seen any other than these four in the last 25 years of monitoring open market sales. For reference - E30MS is actually Zinnobar and the entire kit was dealer fitted here in NZ - the headliner was beige when I looked at buying it in 2002.

Thank you! Had a smile on my face since I bought it!

Yup, and the other potentially huge money pit is the customer coming back and blaming the workmanship when it’s the cheap part that’s failed (as M3AN mentioned above). From my experience customers that want to use cheap parts (as opposed to genuine parts sourced elsewhere) are also quick to throw blame around to get things fixed for free.

RHD 6 cylinder E30 cable. P/N 35411154504

New treads on, flares arrived and test fitted up rear to be goo’d on

Time for a fresh windscreen. The old screen was covered in little rockchips from living up a gravel driveway and was probably still the original screen. The sensors also didn't work very well - both rain detection and auto lights, the lense was pretty cloudy after many years of UV. A decent rock hit the screen a couple of weeks ago on the way to work, conviently large enough for a replacement screen through insurance. I ended up going through Smith and Smith Mt Wellington as they were nice and close to work. Overall they did a great job, trims seated nicely with nothing scratched, 10/10 would recommend. I was initially leaning towards trying to get it replaced with OEM because that would always be nicer but after some research it looks like it is pretty difficult to get done. Of course paying the difference is always an option but when an E91 screen is ~$1400 I don't think so. I ended up not sweating it and they replaced with an 'equivelant' brand. I've got no issues with the product so far, apart from the sun strip at the top missing. I figured if it was an average install and the glass was subpar I could have whinged enough to get an OEM replacement. What a difference a fresh screen makes! To anyone with a chipped up old screen it is well worth the effort.

Greg was always good to us when we were in the area. E46, E36, F30 - all went through his workshop at one time or another. He was our go-to.

Just got off the phone with Greg from Greg Hantz Autos in Hamilton. Booked in with them. Was happy for me to supply parts. Super friendly. Thanks @gjm for the recommendation. Tracked down an old post last year where I was asking for recommendations for local BMW specialists around my way. You recommended Greg.

I had a bit of a think about whether I would do this job for someone else and came around to “yes, but”. Before I say more I’m not a qualified mechanic, I just enjoy working on cars at home. I’ve done the job on my own car using the AGA tool method, and I recall someone saying that if you’ve done the valve covers then you can do the valve stem seals too. I agree with that statement. To do it yourself with the most limited stripping of the engine you’ll need the AGA tool, plus some other things like a leak down tester or some rope to stop the valves dropping into the cylinder, and a week of your time. There are other options (e.g. cheaper tools) out there besides the AGA method if you don’t mind removing the camshafts and retiming the engine. I also recommend doing a valve cover gasket job at the same time (it’s coming off, so you may as well replace all the gaskets while it’s off), and I’d encourage you to consider replacing the spark plugs if they aren't newish as they have to come out, and it’s so easy to install new spark plugs with the valve cover off compared to when its on. Beware though, other unrelated parts in the car may break during disassembly or reassembly as with age and heat some materials such as plastic and rubber become brittle. You may be up for extra parts (and $$$) to replace those also. Here's a parts list I put together in case it helps you. I suspect it will be the same for your X5 as it was for my E61 but maybe double check just in case. Description Part Number Quantity Valve Stem Seal Kit 11340029751 2 Valve Cover Gasket Kit 1-4 11127513194 1 Valve Cover Gasket Kit 5-8 11127513195 1 Spark Plug Domes 11127570219 8 Upper Timing Cover Gasket 1-4 11147506424 1 Upper Timing Cover Gasket 5-8 11147506425 1 Valvetronic Actuator Seal 7119903596 2 Camshaft Position Sensor O-Ring 12141748398 4 Eccentric Shaft Sensor Gasket 11127518420 2 Vanos Solenoid Seal (large) 11367513222 4 Vanos Solenoid Seal (small) 11367546379 4 Vacuum Pump Seal (small) 11667509080 1 In my notes I wrote down the Febi Spark Plug Domes I used didn't fit as well as the genuine ones so I would use genuine Spark Plug Domes next time. Genuine ones are quite pricey though (e.g. $100 ish each). As much as I enjoy working on cars, this isn’t a couple of hours on a weekend helping someone out job, it’s a take a week off work to do it job. Because of that If I was going to do this work for someone else I think I’d be looking to quote somewhere around $3k depending on current parts prices. That's a lot of money so swapping hats for a minute if I was looking at $3k for some random guy who isn't a mechanic vs $5k for a proper mechanic that comes with all the guarantees etc I'd be seriously considering the proper mechanic option. Hopefully that helps.

Yep I still have the tools. I'm not overly keen to lend them out but if you want to chat about some options send me a PM . I feel like the parts we're somewhere in the $600-$800 mark for all the "stuff" (e.g. apart form the valve stem seals, new spark plugs, all the spark plug tubes, valve cover gaskets and associated o-rings etc etc) but please don't quote me on that .