Leaderboard

This... ^^^^. FCP and FEDEX is faster and cheaper than NZ Post Shop, and to date I have never been charged GST when using FEDEX. And FCP shipping charges are way less than any other us parts company = WIN

We should get tax rebates since we're buying car parts, we are keeping our cars on the road pumping CO2 out for the trees to thrive which improve crop yields and greening of the planet. More busy courier vans is probably a good thing too.

FCP is super fast via Fed Ex, reasonably priced and no GST. Win-win, I pay lots of tax already.

Mmm new parts.. New center console switch compartment and sunglass tray, new door sills (clips on mine were 90% broken), new headlight lenses, and a bunch of other service bits and clips. Unfortunately the seat brackets were further delayed. Now pushed back to early October. The finish on the center console stuff is so soft that if you breathe on it, it will scratch. But admittedly, it does look great when it's brand new. My old piece for reference, you can see where someone has previously hacked it in half and had siliconed the sunglass tray on.. Yikes Really looking forward to level 3. Will finally be able to pick up the remainder of the interior and get it off to go get retrimmed. Getting tired of the throwaway leather front seats that are in it. By the time that's done I hope to have the seat brackets and everything can go in. The interior will be more or less 'completed' and I'll have a swap out set of OEM Mtexture front seats to clingwrap and leave in storage... Car got a much needed wash today as well.

I've made nearly a dozen FCP orders now, it's amazingly cheap and fast with Fedex, can't go wrong at all. Probably one of the best online shops I've ever dealt with, Rock auto is also excellent, and then Pelican parts.

I had a 2006 M540I M sport for 4 years and i have just traded it in for a smaller, newer BMW... https://youtu.be/d_6y3sIBFHY

E46. Carry over the flared arches, front end conversion. S54 with carbon airbox. Screw an M3 touring, that's what I want.

This one took a bit of heating, but still only the 4T pump, got it within 1.8mm of perfect, also removed 105g of balance weights that were probably masking the effect of the dent somewhat!!

No point. Youshop is expensive and slow compared and always collects GST. Much cheaper with FCP Fedex.

Sandblasted, powder coated, back together, Next mission is a bent style 66 that is part of a set i bought for the E39 530d touring...

Sorry I'm late to the party. I'm Keith of KC design concept - Hyde Motor Works. Nobody's saying that superchargers are the best option for everybody. But they are an option. All of the Hyde Motorworks Supercharger kits have been proven thousands of times over. Adding to that, the superchargers that have failed were used units that most likely had extremely high mileage and or were not properly maintained. The sc14 in question, has proven itself in the American Endurance Championship Series. In many cases involved a 24 hour race. With zero failure, running 9 PSI on a m52b28. But once again this was with proper maintenance, on a strictly track prepped race car. Now if you are just looking to add a little more power to your street car, without modifying everything else , the sc14 would be ideal. You can literally bolt it on and tune it in a weekend. But once again this is offered as an option, to build something different, do something different. Personally I prefer 600 + horsepower.

I currently use a charcoal furnace but I am in the process of upgrading an old electric kiln to use instead, I have done some stuff with steel moulds but mostly just use sand moulds and MDF patterns. To satisfy my own sense of humor I made sure I used some of the old suspension arms from the M5 in this casting!!

In the style of singer, but now with electric supercharger and turbo hybrid setup (presumably its now an EV and tax breaks 😛 ) . This thing is pretty much perfect....

Agree ^ regularly shop through fcp and use fed-ex as the shipping option without any issues so far. Parts delivered within 10 days, on average, once they are shipped. And that's even through our current lockdown. My first go to place for parts.

The ebay ones are probably same like one of these https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?catId=0&initiative_id=SB_20210917201009&SearchText=11517586925+ Alternatively you could spend a bit more for Pierburg & Mahle from FCP euro https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw-engine-water-pump-11517586925a https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw-thermostat-11537549476-1

I'm still waiting for someone to build an M3 compact.

yep, Olaf. French enthusiasm abounds. Even after 10 years. I also own the HellBM e46 m3 Touring tribute car and a mint '73 Mazda rx2 coupe and can confirm anecdotally that it's the Clio that gets ALL the attention and random people coming to chat about it at the gas station and supermarket carpark.

😄 I see what you did there! Seriously though, what a brilliant combination of thinking and engineering. Bravo Andrew!

Divorce settlement finalised! Ding dong the witch is dead now it’s time for a midlife crisis Young bird - ✅ Time for a (vehicle) upgrade anyone thinking of selling their e90 M3? will consider e92 - if the colour combo is right

I am honored and amused that you think there are plans!! Its all out of my head and made largely from what I had kicking around the garage. If anyone is keen to replicate it I can post up some photos with measurements, and I have the pattern to cast the aluminium block so I could work out a price to supply that, the rest is pretty straight forward. A couple of points to note: 1)I used an E39 hub but that might not be the best option considering the odd bore size on the E39 hubs. 2)As it stands it has no ability to deal with dents on the outer lip of the wheel, it wasn't an issue for me as all the rims I have to repair are only dented on the inside edge. If a wheel is buckled on the outside edge I would question whether it is wise to attempt to repair it anyway given that it is probably cracked as well. 3)I have used a 4T panel beating hydraulic pump / ram kit so far, but I would recommend getting a 10T kit as I am getting to the limit of the 4T pump quite easily. 4) I have no problem with anyone using my design and making one for their own use, I will consider it a dick move if someone starts making them and selling them! 5) I am open to hiring this out in the Auckland area but I'm not keen to lend out my dial indicator so you would need to aquire one if you don't already have one, pm me if keen.

Thanks very much guys.

I've been ordering from FCP Euro for a bit over fifteen years now. They're good. Their FedEx rates are excellent. Service is very good. Prices are on the whole pretty good. I've tried Pelican, found them more difficult by comparison. I happily recommend FCP Euro. The less said about GST the better. Keep your orders under the threshold, all is good. Find 'what's my duty' on customs. govt. nz and use it. I would not use YouShop for anything at all. When I need drop-shipping for anything, I use MyUS.com - which gives me great service - customer-focussed service! - an address in USA and UK, a great web interface and a reasonable app, and excellent rates with FedEx, very good rates with DHL, and a choice of other carriers too.

I love 037s. ❤️

I agree, I really like the E46 compacts.

Yeah it ships fine, ive got 3 of those kits through FCP now with no issues. Latest order from FCP has PS fluid in it, and that appears to be fine to ship too (so far anyway)

No worries, you'll need a little torque wrench for the ali bolts (10Nm + 90 degrees), a battery charger and ideally something to trigger the bleed cycle (ISTA/Protools etc, you can also do it manually but). Its not a bad job, just a bit messy and fiddly, dropping the front antiroll bar etc to help with access makes a big difference.

Nice lockdown Wx so mandatory make it f**ken shiney exercise... There is noticeably less sh*t stuck to back of car, that Maxton rear lip does a thing!

Thank you 🤙

This is the right kit for your car - https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw-water-pump-replacement-kit-n51-n52-n52n-oem-11517586925kit https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/showparts?id=UD52-EUR-10-2007-E87N-BMW-130i&diagId=11_3754 I have yet to be charged GST on arrival on stuff from FCP with FEDEX, with the change in GST legislation more stuff seems to be coming through than used to without being stung by tax man (its like they assume all the sellers are applying it now....). Most FEDEX orders seems to be going Honolulu-Aussie-NZ at the moment, so takes roughly 7 days to arrive Vs the 3ish pre-rona.

WBAUD52020JM27512 or this:

Dont put an ebay waterpump in it , get a pierburg and decent thermostat and same time. Make sure you get the ali bolts and some BMW coolant too, FCP do a kit of the whole lot for good price. https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw-water-pump-replacement-kit-n51-n52-n52n-oem-11517586925kit

waterpump https://www.rockauto.com/en/partsearch/?partnum=11517586925 tstat https://www.rockauto.com/en/partsearch/?partnum= 11537549476

Digging the interior on this, Im going to get me one of those steering wheels... when I have a spare $1600usd floating around

Yea, I wouldnt mind having this sit as a spare car any day. if only it was closer to AKL

https://www.trademe.co.nz/3266993441 @SmithyInWelly back again for a modest $3550! some new badge emblems and wheel emblems, revinyl the interior trim and you got a lil winner.

Slick video and wicked little car

I heard that you guys like this kind of stuff.... Brake test dummy.mp4

Correct (I use Castrol myself in my M3). But what it illustrates is that it's the viscosity that's important, not any minor differences between formulations (e.g. TWS). The differences between Shell and Castrol 10w60's will be vastly greater than between (for example) Castrol 10w60 and Castrol 10w60 TWS. The answer to the OP's question is "any quality** 10w60 oil", there's no need to make it more complicated than that. Edit: **fully synthetic

Nice video! Fantastic colour indeed

Got the laser cutting on Monday ... removed the mill scale off the large flanges with white vinegar which worked great !! Drilled and tapped the M10 holes on the large flanges and drilled out the holes in the individual stainless flanges plus removed the cut start / stop marks. Have made the call to switch to mild steel for the headers, with a ceramic coat ... will probably work out the same overall insane cost but cheaper up front for the bends and better thermal performance ultimately. Next up I can assemble the bank 1 plastic headers onto a flange and start on the jig proper !! Yay.

https://www.repco.co.nz/en/oils-fluids/engine-oils-fluids/engine-oil/castrol-edge-synthetic-10w-60-engine-oil-5l-3412396/p/A1304624 This and only this pretty much. Occasionally goes on sale every now and then so I just grab a few bottles each time.

Interesting, it shouldn’t be too hard to share the name of this world-leading company, then. Maybe the addresses of these global branches too so we can order these amazing products? Pretty sure Elon Musk’s career started by writing open letters an EV forums.

Today I did a machine polish of my E34 540i. Car has done over 370,000km so I was pleasantly surprised at how nicely the original paint managed to come out. All up took about 5 hours including a pre-wash and then application of a ceramic wax after the polishing had been completed. Used a cordless Dewalt polisher which worked very well, and used Turtle Wax Hybrid Black Polish. Usually for hand polishing I stick to Meguiar's Ultimate Compound, but went with Turtle Wax this time due to the large amount of Polish dust Ultimate Compound produces which is annoying when you are polishing an entire car. I did do a little side by side comparison between the two polishes on the bonnet and the results seemed identical to me. An added benefit of the Turtle Wax product is it has a dark pigment so for a particularly nasty scratch on the passenger rear door of my car, the scratch was darkened and is less noticeable. Only down-side to polishing the car is the insane amount of rock chips that have been accrued over the 370,000km are now more obvious lol I then coated the car in Turtle Wax Hybrid black wax and will hopefully do another coat of it tomorrow (takes about 24 hours to fully cure). Included is a before and after to display how well the Turtle Wax Polish did, as well as some photos of the car post polish.

Some users get (multiple) warnings and are up for days with no price. I report them and nothing happens. Others are removed without explanation even when borderline. Guess you're not in the cool club? I just list everything on TM now.

Bit of an update: My new dash trim arrived today. The paint I used on the handles is pretty much perfect. I don't think you could easily tell my homemade spray painted handles from brand new OEM ones judging by the finish on the new pieces. Honestly much better than I could have hoped for. Got a bit carried away and ended up ordering a brand new centre console switch centre (part that is removed in the third pic). I did pull it out with the intention of refinishing it the same way I did the underside of the door handles. It was in much worse shape though. Really scratched up and sticky. However once getting it out it was clear that a previous owner had hacked it up and it was held together with silicone anyway, probably for an aftermarket head unit or something. $300 later and a brand new one is coming. Ouch. Should make everything feel a bit fresher though. Once the seats are in, all that's really left on the interior is an alcantara wheel and new A and C pillars (sagging), then I'll have a breather for a while. The following all happened prior to the above and is much less interesting but I thought I might as well do a photo dump and that way it's documented. Best thing about lockdown so far has been ticking off all the sh*t jobs I didn't want to touch, nothing very exciting (hopefully that is to come in the next few weeks). Biggest one being painting the CMP subframe reinforcement bar. Was terrified of getting overspray somewhere that mattered or it looking rubbish so my boot was left stripped out for weeks. Finally got to it last week. Basically spent a whole day just turning the interior into a spray booth, paranoid about overspray. I had already previously stripped the spare wheel well down to bare metal as a previous owner at some point, not the person I bought the car from, had fiberglassed a subwoofer in and there was a bunch of leftover fiberglass stuck to the boot floor. Fool. Primer then paint went on. Just used the titanium silver body colour. Goal was never really to make it perfect. Just improve it. The CMP stuff is never going to look super OEM so as long as it looks decent then I can live with it. It is in the boot after all. The paint came up really good. Finish was nice enough given I couldn't clean or sand the surface perfectly. Next was the miserable job of cutting the carpets to size. Climbed in and out of the boot countless times and going back and removing slightly more. Came up with an okay enough fit I think. The board that goes underneath the carpets was a bit trickier because it had to be cut with a jigsaw and fit around the tube sections on the main beam. I managed to get it close enough but not perfect. My jigsaw skills are a 5/10 at best. If I was really smart I would have left the centre section slightly longer and it would have tucked under the beam nicely. I'll know for next time... Didn't like the exposed silver between the bars either so I made some templates out of cardboard and cut some sections to fit from a donor boot floor carpet I had. Everything went back in with brand new clips. Once the carpet was in with my new OEM trunk mat it looks about as close to factory as I'm going to get. Only sign of it is a hump in the floor, and when you pull back the carpets it's not too ugly. Stoked.

I have an entry in my phone called "Cluster repair kev" who's in Chch. Did a great job on my old M5's cluster and was $150 back in 2015. I can provide the ph number via PM. @jeffbebe can also vouch for his work.

Oh wow. Had one of these as a paddock car many moons ago. Only lasted about an hour. It was actually pretty mint. Got it for free out of the trade and exchange.