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Bought my first E46 325i touring a few weeks ago. Previous owner had been chasing what he suspected was a "vacuum leak", causing a slight miss at cold start but otherwise drove well. I got under yesterday to do the fuel filter and trans mounts. Took the cover off the fuel filter and sre enough the vacuum line is perished at the regulator. Take the filter off, replace the fuel lines and vacuum line while I'm there and finish up. Had the old fuel filter on my bench with black fuel and sediment coming out of it and that's when I realized the date on it was the build date of the e46. 22 years / 160000kms later.. yikes!

part numbers for 6cyl z3 msport type https://www.google.com/search?q=31316753262&rlz=1C1GIWA_enNZ599NZ599&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 https://www.google.com/search?q=31316753261&rlz=1C1GIWA_enNZ599NZ599&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 and older part numbers 31311094191 & 31311094192

z3 has much shorter struts and little lower springs so yes will fit but will lift the front up quite a bit

Swapped pink top m52/s52 injectors in as I was having intermittent fueling issues, everything related to fueling has been replaced so this or the ECU was the last thing to do. Put in a new Fuel pressure regulator etc but nothing solved it. These injectors solved it. The car is smoother then ever and the power delivery is a lot better. I will be tuning this engine and running standalone engine management once my 2.8 bottom end goes in. I also redid the tail pieces on the exhaust and welded in these ones temporarily. I am off the UK on Saturday so I will be buying another Scorpion full stainless system to chuck on here and bring it back with me. I am going to miss my e30 so much. Took it down for a blast to Tauranga and back today to go pick up my DLSR camera from my mate. She went so smooth and I managed 464ks with over a quarter tank left so safe to say the fuel consumption has decreased.

Hey folks, thought I'd just chime in with my experiences as well, though a few aren't particularly recent: Vogel Motors in the Hutt - had pretty good experiences with them when I used them, always helpful and after an owner change in about 2019 I think, they were still good to deal with (probably last time I used them was about 2020?). My parents are out in the Hutt though, and if they needed a mechanic I'd most probably send them there I'd say. Also they used to have a Gearbox Specialist called Ben - I think he ended up leaving, but awesome guy and did some awesome (non-gearbox) work on my car! Hutt City European - again reasonably good experiences with them. My car previously had an issue with not being able to plug a scanner into, and then conveniently developed an Airbag light which needed rectifying. First time round they did this pretty well and got the code and all was well, the next time (again about 2019/2020 perhaps?) they'd had some staff move on, and this time it was an ABS Light. The tech did manage to get the two codes from the unit, but couldn't figure out one of them (one was a wheel speed sensor, the other was the unit not turning on). I eventually solved all the issues myself (including the non-diagnosis ability), and the ABS unit turned out to be a faulty relay, where it made a click but didn't connect one of the two output poles, so it seems they didn't check the relay function, which didn't leave me super impressed given the time and money factor. Still, hear very good things about the shop and the owner and a couple of the higher up techs are definitely car-nerds, which is always a good sign. Plus, when I was there they were working on my car, a Saab, an Alfa, a Ferrari 355, a Maserati Granturismo, a Porsche Cayenne (Fuel Pump) and something else I can't remember, so they've got experience with a lot of brands (and quirks). Jon at Auto38 - Easily the best BMW Mechanic in the region (well used to be) - knowledgeable, friendly, helpful, and also was passionate about the cars, so knew all the random stuff you find by owning these cars and scouring the internet for the strange things they do. A shame he shut up shop (but understandable)! Wellington European - I went there for a warrant, and there were loads of nice older/newer cars, but I found they were quite rude and condescending to me - a very strong "Your kind isn't really welcome here" vibe as I've got an E36 (one of the cleaner examples on the road), and they seemed like the kind of shop that was about money/status/flaunting etc, rather than car-passionate. With that said, a wide mix of Euro vehicles when I was there, including an Isetta. Auto Tech Miramar - not a BMW Specialist (or even Euro Specialist), I just happened to go there for a warrant. The owner seemed pretty nice and to care about the quality of work, however I was charged both labour for the warrant and a warrant fee, so was close to a $180 Warrant (with no mechanical work required). Heard from others that they were happy with his work working on their non-euro cars. Sutherland Performance - Again only experience was a warrant, but seemed to be a pretty good shop full of car-passionate folks, and quite a mix of cars/things in there - when I was in, there was an E90 getting some subframe bushes done from memory, a Civic Type-R (current generation) getting an exhaust and a tune, a Saab getting Saab stuff done to it, as well as the usual Golf Suspension work etc. So clearly got some experience with Euros and with a variety of stuff, my only thought was the labour rate is $150/hr, so if any tasks blow past the estimate, that has the potential to stack up pretty quickly. Was thinking I would go there again for a warrant, but might check out All European Service looking further up the thread. Hopefully this is helpful to someone!