Leaderboard

In Auckland, weaving through traffic, speeding, up someone’s arse, generally driving like a c@&t, “Oh, that’ll be a 320i then.” I always presume they’re rushing to the mechanic.

Geez, if you took 30 seconds to look up N43 on the 'net, like I did, you would never buy this car. And yet someone imported it from UK.

What a Beauty https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/listing/5374709387?utm_source=tmm-savedsearch&utm_medium=email&bof=XCofFioM Ray

Spoiler alert, E60 FTW.

You love them

325i convertible in what looks to be immaculate condition. 48(?),000kms. $40k.

https://www.facebook.com/share/16UGuM62LU/?mibextid=wwXIfr sub 50,000kms?

Car is for sale maybe ?

241,000km Had noticed an intermittent fuel smell after giving it some jandel over the last month. Had taken the beauty cover off to expose the fuel rail to keep and eye on the injectors to see if they were the culprit but there was nothing obvious. Then I had a misfire the other morning on cold start which went away pretty quickly but it was enough to motivate me to look abit harder. When it came time to wrestle the fuel rail off it just came right out, I didn’t even touch the quick release connector…thought that was a bit odd. Anyway while I was there I swapped the injectors out for some second hand ones I had blasted some carb cleaner though using an AliExpress ghetto setup and an old 12 Volt battery. I might get my original ones cleaned at some point and put them back in but will see how these other ones go for a while first. Pretty sure my issue was the fuel rail feed line somehow being loose, not the injectors. got a very audible click from the fuel line when I plugged it back in. I did have a rogue vac line that I couldn’t figure out where it had popped off from as it went from the vacuume resovoir into the manifold but the only uncapped port was the little top one and this hose was quite big. Can’t see anything at the back of the manifold so I ended up swapping a few of the hoses over that seemed to fit the hole diameters better, not sure if I’m wreaking havoc here but it all seems to be working ok. The O2 pilot mod is now taking vacuum from the top port and the bottom capped off port is now supplying vac to the resovoir which feeds to the exhaust flap. I didn’t realise but OBD fusion hooks up to the vepeak scanner giving me some live PIDs which is pretty cool. Be even cooler if they were within spec. I also got a bike rack this week which is an older legit BMW one. It’s the same as the Thule 591 models but has this little fin at the back. Had to drive to Eastbourne to pick it up but it was a good chance to do some motorway pulls and check for any fuel leaks, trigger any misfires etc. looking forward to getting out on the bike with the kids now I can take mine too. Might need to trim this tree, although might alert me that i have a bike on the roof and to not try drive into the garage.

TunerPro have a bunch of xdf's (definition files for tunes) for the Motronics as well as binary reads of the tunes - might be worth poking in to: https://www.tunerpro.net/downloadBinDefs.htm#BMW

Yeah absolutely. I was going to reply to your thread when I got a chance. The key thing is to figure out what processor your ECU runs - I think you're Motronic 1.0 right which is some derivative of the Intel 8051 I believe. Ghidra has def files for the 8051 I believe so you might be in luck. The second thing which is really needed is some sort of definition file which describes the locations in memory of parameters, etc. so you've got something to start with. From there it's a case of loading in Ghidra, trying to find code blocks, data blocks, etc. In terms of other tools it's pretty much just been Excel, TextEdit, and the like. Do you have a read of the program ROM from your ECU?

Price seems realistic though - or maybe I have just been conditioned 😂

It isn't reverse engineering, but another option would be to go plug and play standalone. https://speeduino.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=2667

Sure is. I went to the Wellington launch of these. I remember the presenter saying “and representing outstanding value, the 740il at $214,000.” or $224k. Had just paid $131k for a 3 bed, 2 bath townhouse in Hataitai. That car looks lovely.

What is it? I don't have FB. Mtech?

https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/z4/listing/5373975389 $32k Worth about $18-20k imo ”Great all round car and a reluctant sale due too many tows” surely he’s not saying it beaks down all the time??

Yes. It's this entire sub.

https://www.speedfactorshop.nz/products/bmw-3-series-ap-suspension-kit?variant=50652095938860 looking at purchasing this suspension kit (45mm strut 6cyl 40/30mm Version) for my pfl m52 swap e30. has anyone used this suspension before? Got any photos of rideheight can’t find much online cheers!

Awesome, that really good information. Ride height looks exactly like what I’m after so that’s perfect. In terms of the shocks themselves oem plus is great, the e30 I’m building will only ever be a street car and never get pushed too hard, have the 135i for that. Will be used for the occasional spirited drive but mostly for a road trip or a cruise down to the beach so sounds like exactly what I’m after and not a bad price at sub $900 for shocks and springs. In terms of weight the m52 is about the same if not slightly lighter than the m20b25 as it’s an alloy block.

Yeah saw that one, wild pricing. I’ll be listing mine up for $60k once it’s finished 🤣

Tyre reviews tested the Primacy 4, PS4s and PS5's

There was another '318is' I saw on FB today - UK import, flat black with clapped seats and chavvy add-ons - for the low low price of $30k

Yeah this is what makes me suspicious of his claims. Nothing he is doing there is any form of manipulation. Jaycar use to do a kit that you could build that allowed you to intercept the A/F input and output whatever you like (lying to the ECU). I had one of these kits back in the early 2000's. Without a wide band A/F sensor you are risking your motor. I found out the hard way. The unit failed and ran my motor lean while at the track. Piston melted. I have a piggy back MAP ECU2 in my E34. It is probably going to be replaced as I develop the car. But it has been good for what I am doing. https://map-ecu.com/

Not sure if you ended up going another way - I have their shocks (51mm) on mine (H&R sport springs though) and they are good - nothing special - maybe an OEM plus type deal. Fine for daily and occasional push but in hindsight I would have sprung for a bilstein / Koni sport - no rush to change though, totally sweet. 40mm/30mm should be very similar height to my H&R sport - not sure if an M52 is heavier than an M20? With a PFL, rear is going to look higher, but you can tweak that easily by whipping different spring pads in / out.

I honestly don't think he would be manipulating any of the data. He seems to be just using the script to visualize and scale the pulse count. You could use this to make a display/gauge. @hybridan old Bimmersport member on here was building a nice display system for his E30. Have a did back to see if you can find the posts. If you wanted to cheat without having to write any code you could pick up an old mapecu2 which is a piggy back and use their UI to monitor anything required for tuning or switch/trigger states.

Thanks for that. My car is going in to Greg soon. Nice to know I've found someone I can trust with my BMW's.

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.

Gazelys. Charge $92 for a Fiat oil filter (only supplier in the country for this particular one). Spareto, $30 for 3 plus shipping. Do Meyle, Mann, Filtron and ATE fall into the “cheap parts” basket?

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.

It’s the small details that make the difference..

I spy with my little eye, something that hemorrhages money:”scaffolding”

Blew a head gasket (cyls 1-4) so spent the past six months sorting that and coming up with a better expansion tank solution (from a Merc A180). Did chain guides and OSV at the same time and now it runs perfectly and not a drop of fluid leaking anywhere (probably for the first time since either the donor or the wagon left the factory!!). Gave it a wash to celebrate.

Dream big, baby https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/740il/listing/5360049790

Really interesting question and responses, most of which I agree with. Things have changed over the years! Bellars used to allow customer supplied parts (early/mid 2000's), I know because I did that a lot with the M3. It doesn't surprise me that many no longer support this. As above, if you have a good relationship with a not-too-big shop, they will often accept customer supplied parts... there are a few members here with shops that will. Main reasons for not supporting this are discussed above in this thread but, let's be honest, the bottom line is they make no margin off customer supplied parts and, for better or worse, that's their choice. I have had recent success requesting work at a shop and indicating (with links) what I could land the parts for and advising them, that if they could match that price, I'd get them to order the parts directly (basically from FCP or Spareto). The shop set up a trade account with the vendors, got the parts cheaper than I could and made a little margin, I had to wait a few weeks for the booking (for the parts to arrive - also a challenge with the NZ BMW network because they keep very little in country), but I paid the same as I would have buying the parts directly, the shop made a little margin and was happy with the (genuine or OEM) parts, and we all walked away happy with less money lining BMW NZ's greedy pockets. This problem wouldn't exist of course if dealers didn't want to put a 100% margin (or more), on parts. This is not a problem unique to NZ but BMW NZ really takes the piss.

This is pretty bloody good!

Couple of jobs recently, rear brakes on the E39 and Mickey on the 130i. Brake job went smoothly I find brake jobs very satisfying. Mickey did not go so well I stupidly stripped the Aluminium threads, was furious with myself...had to get my mechanic to save me with some Helicoil work I was very embarrased Lesson well learnt though, be f****ing gentle and precise with Alu threads, make sure stuff is seated properly Yep my OFHG needs doing as you can see

😍

240,200km Just returned from a school holiday trip down to Nelson. Ticked over 240k on the way and averaged around 10L/100km although it's not exactly a huge amount of km's from Wellington to Nelson but a nice open road drive with some hills and some twisties. Had terrible weather on the way down but lovely on the way home.

Stumbled across this today.. NZ new too..

Shiny bits starting to come back from the painters! Re-assembly time, with kid gloves so nothing gets scratched or marked. Excited!!

Changed out the nylon motor gear in an E70 X5 transfer case actuator. What a c**t of a job on the ground, with basic home garage tools. 1. Move heat shields out the way to gain access 2. Drop cross brace as there's still not enough access to the E10 bolts 3. Remove worm gearing from actuator to remove E10 bolts 4. Curse a lot while getting to that last E10 bolt 5. Cuppa tea to cool off, and begin to disassemble actuator casing 6. Soak in WD40 to help split press casing 7. Curse more as pocket knife which would've been perfect to split casing is in E91 with your partner across town 8. Finally get it all apart, replace nylon gear and reassemble 9. Curse some more getting all the fiddly bolts back in their fiddly holes Highly recommend only going ahead with this if you have access to a hoist. Otherwise budget around 4 hours for as many cups of tea as it takes to not throw it across the room.

Inspired by @CSET and the Facebook series “playing with cars” I decided to use some spare bits to get the convertible back together so I can at least take it for a WoF while I wait for the parts to come back from panel and paint. So I now have a “rat rod” style Vert, fingers crossed for the WoF!

Piecing together my M42/44 hybrid. Ended up ponying up for some valve springs so I can rev the nuts off it. Schrick cams are backordered and the exchange rate sucks so that will be phase two. The flywheel weighs nothing and everything's been balanced so it should be pretty zingy.

Finally finished the Mrs car. Upgraded the grill and painted the left side as it had bad clear coat peel. The liquid yellow is the exact same paint code as the e36 M3 Dakar yellow. Makes me love it even more now. Also did the rocker cover gasket, front crankshaft pulley (vibration damper) and crank seal. So all the engine oil seals have been done and now it is completely leak free. Was pleasantly surprised with how clean the inside of the motor was. Also painted the strut brace as it was looking tatty. Lot's of hours into this now. Replaced the faded GTS Logos too. Now I just have to put the door handle on and put the door card back on and it's good to go

This car has no rust thankfully. The third brake light is properly sealed and the owner has put cavity wax around the studs and fasteners to future proof it 😀

That's totally logical 🤣... I stripped down my Touran engine to fit the thermostat, discovered it was the wrong part, so took the engine out and put a VR6 in there instead. Then couldn't drive it for a year while I finished it. 😁

Not sure what to make of this one! fballs