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The sport seats had arrived, and just needed to be recovered before I could put them in the car. As soon as the leather upholstery kit was delivered, I dived straight into the first seat. Many zipties were used... Some foam was repaired on the side bolster. The next seat was for the driver side. This one had taken a bit more abuse, and needed some more serious foam repair. The rest of the second seat was the same as the first. The seat rails were cleaned up and repainted. Both seats mostly back together. I still need to do some work on the back covers. I'm stoked with the result. I think they look great, although I may still need to tweak fitment in a few places. Quite happy with the quality of the leather kit, especially for the relatively low price.

Hey there everyone, I just scored an amazing deal on our new 1997 E39 528i - I've had a bit of a thing for the E39 for a while now, and I managed to convince my wife that she liked them by finding this one just up the road from us - 94,000kms, NZ New. She was sold as soon as she drove it! It's definitely the nicest sedan I've driven, it's a truly impressive car. Very happy to have joined the BMW club!

Couple pics Nick. Bit of a bummer in rears as offset for the E and F series are around 12mm apart, hence a inboard fitment. Was not interested in spacers and certs, price was right and easy to clean.

Im new here, I will post more photos. My first BMW and loving it.

I wasn't happy with the front exhaust manifold to steering linkage clearance. I removed the exhaust system once again to do some more chopping and welding. This is the result. Much more clearance. I'm quite happy with how that turned out.

I haven't updated in a while, but I've still been tinkering away making some progress. The car is unfortunately positioned under a tree that also seems to be a popular toilet for the local avian fauna. I picked up a gazebo in an attempt to help shield the car. Since I need to do some more work on things, the car went back up on axle stands. The first task on my list was to finish the cooling system. The radiator needs a fan. Ideally, an electric fan using the factory wiring. However, my non-air conditioned e30 didn't leave the factory with an electric fan at all. The fusebox just has a couple of empty spots where the fan relays and fuses should be. This means I have add the wiring myself. I got the biggest fan I could fit. Created a custom wiring loom using an E36 2 stage thermoswitch, and a big ass resistor for the low speed. The loom was run around the left side of the engine bay and into the fusebox. With a bit of fiddling, I was able to connect wiring to factory locations, and add the required fuses and relays. Radiator back in the car with new fan I refilled the cooling system, and tested everything. Both low speed and high speed are working nicely.

The O2 sensors were still original, and were very old and rusty. One of them finally died, so I picked up a couple of replacements. I also found out that the interior blower fan refused to function, and had seized in it's bearings Brand new units are fairly spendy, so located a used replacement locally. The replacement fan was installed, and the blower is now working again...but only on the top speed. Argh, that means the fan resistor is dead now too. Two steps forward, one step back. Such is life.

The replacement parts for the vanos arrived from germany after a few weeks on backorder. They went in without much trouble. With everything back together, I started the engine, and tested the vanos by revving it past the switching threshold. This time INPA wasn't showing any error codes for vanos. I'm glad that was a relatively easy fix. Onto the next thing.

Offshore parts sites like FCPEuro.com in the states and Schmiedmann.com in Denmark are good places to get reality checks on prices. Even factoring freight and soon to be GST (on all orders, not just above $400), offshore prices are generally well worth looking at. And RealOEM.com for entering your cars VIN and getting specific part numbers (works well most of the time... not all .. but most..) Beware the LHD RHD trap on certain parts. Again RealOEM should help in this regard.

If you like to do your own work, we can advise you on here as many members have experience with this engine and chassis.

+ 1 for the GROM. Bluetooth + AUX + power, fit's nice and tidy. Worth the money in my opinion.

Never knew! https://www.linkedin.com/posts/bmw-group_shareyourpassion-bmwgrouplife-bmwgroupcareers-activity-6598841489403453440-_XQv

Update; All fixed, Brake switch was loose and Kerry reafixed it and all systems go, or stop as the case may be

Managed to source a set of sedan sports seats which should arrive in a few days. They're a bit worse for wear, and will certainly require recovering. I've read a few good reviews about the E30 replacement covers sold by LSeat.com, and the price was far cheaper than paying for someone local to do a custom job. https://www.lseat.com/products/1984-1991-bmw-e30-sport-325-318-custom-real-leather-seat-covers-front.html I decided to go with a nice dark red leather with diamond stitching for the fronts. Sadly (but not unsurprisingly), they don't have any options for the split rear seats of the E30 Touring. So for now, I'll just do the fronts. If I'm happy with how the front seats turn out, I'll order some more leather in the same color, and take the rear seats to a local upholster to complete the look. I've got this coming week off, so I'm going to try get as many of the remaining jobs sorted as I can. Looking forward to making some more progress.

That brings us to this weekend. A few things left before I can put it back on the ground. The front control arm bushes were upgraded. Had some trouble getting one of the front bushings off the control arm. Lollipops cleaned up, painted, with Powerflex bushes pressed in. They were quickly bolted back into the car along with the exhaust. The brakes were bled and the wheels went on. Finally ready to drop back on the ground. Looking good! I am very happy with how well the 16x7 et20 style 5s fit. The front and rear will need to be lowered some more. The front is still on the 6kg spring that comes with the BC Gold kit. The rear sits a bit higher now as I got higher rate, 8kg spring to help support the extra weight of the touring rear. The fenders will all need rolling, but that's a job for another weekend. Stoked!