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Some more progress. Got my hardware back from zinc coating, all Organized again now. Got the rear subframe back in. Along with new rear inner brake lines. got the steering rack fitted up into the front subframe with some spacers I machines. Also swapped on some new e36 outer tie rod ends. just waiting on rear wheel bearings to show up and I can start putting trialing arms back in.

Another 6 months, and thought is might be time to check in with another update! As ever, car just continues to go and go, and nothing to report in that department! another few trips around the country including a trip to Hawkes Bay to the Wheels on Windsor event (parking alongside the GH Automotive fleet), and to auckland and back last week. I much prefer to take this car than my F15 X5 M50d, which im sure will be a surprise to those that havent owned one of these E46s! In my last comment, I mentioned that it had a very minor incident with a guy giving it a wee nudge: At the time, i just left it, because the minor scratch just added to the patina of the car, the body was very very straight for the age and milage, but paint clear coat gave up long ago, and really couldnt be bothered with going any further. I told the guy that at the time too, he was already going to have enough costs! However, I got an email from my insurance company, saying that a claim had been made, did I know anything about it, and what was my version of events. So i told them all about it, and said I was surprised to be getting a call since the other guy had no insurance. What actually happened was I was waiting to turn right, and he came from behind and tried to squeeze between me and the curb, and hit his front right bumper very lightly onto my back left door. I cannot believe how much his car completely fell to pieces in the process, with just a few scratches and not even a dent on my car ha. Apparently, he made up quite the story about how it was all my fault, and that I turned into him! The part he tripped up on tho was that he mentioned something about seeing my brake lights, which of course if I came from behind would be impossible for him to see. Now those that know me know that I am a very reasonable person, but if you try something on with me, I will show you no mercy. So as they agreed I was not at fault, I told them I want my car fixed, and he can pay for that bill too. Remember, he has now been found at fault and with no insurance lol. So, like that, the left quarter panel and rear door were approved for paint, as well as a curb on the M parallel I really couldnt tell you if it was there already or not but hey. Got quotes, but two different body shops both said because the clear coat was stuffed and to ensure a quality repair, they needed repaint the entire left side of the car, which is many thousands of dollars. I figured insurance would back out at this point, but the repar was already under way. Of course, at that point, they may as well just repaint the whole thing, so I paid for on the other side, so I got a full professional respray for half price! The funniest part is now both the young fella and his father gave me the death stare every time I drive past them, so I usually give them a nice friendly smile or wave to thank them for committing insurance fraud and paying half of my respray. Thier brand new merc is still sitting in their driveway pride of place with the front corner stoved in ha.

3 series compound. Not a single sun roof, as god intended

Hi All, Thought I’d say hi! My daily driver is a 2012 X3 35i and I have recently become the new owner of the Eisblau M3 vert, which actually brought me to the forum after looking for more information about the car! It’s currently on its way back to Auckland from Dunedin. After which I can post some more of my own photos.

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.

I wanted to buy something more suitable, than a convertible E36, for our growing family. I started looking at E46, E90, E91, E39, E60, E61, E53, E83 but it became obvious I had an itch to scratch with the X5. After viewing potentially every E53 for sale in and around Auckland, I managed to pick this up for a sharp price. Thank you @Palazzo for the heads up. New Zealand New, Facelift X5 in Black Sapphire Metallic; even with 381,825KM on the clock, this was the most well presented and best driving example in my budget. M57D30TÜ (cast iron block, large-beam forged rods, forged crank, single Garrett turbo etc) with the 6-Speed ZF Transmission, Brucie Bonus of a factory Swirl Flap-less Intake Manifold. Well spec'd with: Sports Package, Black 'Dakota' Leather Upholstery, 19" Style 132 Wheels, Panoramic Glass Roof, Xenon Lights...), the works. Picked the car up on a Sunday and my wife went into labour on the Wednesday, so I dropped it off to the brother @BMTHUG at Apex Automotive on the way to the hospital for an inspection and a bit of a birthday: Serviced the Engine, Transmission, Differential, Transfer Case; everything flushed, new gaskets, fluids and filters. Fresh WoF to boot. Cleaned up quite nicely too once we got home from the hospital. I can live with the minor cosmetic things I'd usually fix, the reason for purchasing this in the first place was to have something the dog and two young kids can enjoy, there is literally no use crying over spilled milk at this stage! Provided they're not total dicks, I like to name a car after the previous owner. < Boris and Rüdi > sitting pretty.

Been a while since I had a proper fang in the E30 so great to get out today with a buddy and was great fun to switch cars for a while - with a polar opposite build - Supercharged M42 with 4.4 LSD / lightweight flywheel and Z3 rack - certainly made mine feel a bit lazy and luxury orientated haha. Must say mine looked pretty good in the rear view mirror 🤌🏽

And... SOLD. Thanks for the support and interest, it's going to a good home. My little FUNWON will be missed, thanks also to everyone who convinced me to get one and contributed to my 5.5 year journey with her, it really was a Fun One.

SOLD $22500 Excellent condition. 70000km Lowered on Eibach Springs Near new Rotors & Pads LED light upgrade (OEM) NBT 3D Design genuine front lip M Performance Carbon fibre interior trim kit,pedal covers, & rear difuser. FTP Charge pipe kit included.

Another perfect Saturday, another early morning drive. This time went over the Awhitu Peninsula - through Waiuku to Karioitahi beach, then up and accross to Grahams Beach / Big Bay and Glenbrook. Stunning area, especially with the morning low fog today. Roads not as good as last weekend (from City to Waiuku is pretty boring) but once there its beautiful. To do list: Need to replace my drivers window seal - 51321904782 (bloody expensive) and sort my drivers seatbelt reciever before the next WOF. Also have a rattle from the exhaust that I'm hoping is just a hanger / mounting issue.

And usually 5 of them are with the NZ couriers lol

Hahahah I thought I'd be clever but someone already beat me to it. Inevitable https://www.carjam.co.nz/car/?plate=nnl573

Thanks to @darren_mk I finally got a set of Startec lights to complete the aesthetic I was going for. So stoked with how they look on the car. The difference is night and day. Also had my little helper help me wash the car due to my injury and then she washed hers haha

Got my ITB's for my stroker build. Pretty excited 😊

Did some late night Italian tuning - quick run out to Arrowtown and back. Got absolutely DUSTED on the Dalefield back roads by an Alfa GTV. The 1.6 was well above 7K and spitting flames as it rocketed past me 😁 God they're an achingly gorgeous car. 1299691.jpg

Not mine. But the wife's. Just rebuilt the gearbox and got it up to scratch for her.

Rear subframe prepared and ready to go in. Treated the surface rust spots were the weld lines were and painted any gaps in the paint, low effort compared to refinishing the whole thing but should definitely prevent further rust. Installed all the new bits as well, aluminum subframe bushings, super pro diff bushings, ball joints in the trailing arm, M3 spring arms, hard race toe arms, SPL eccentric lockout kit and new knuckle side bolts.

Have aquired an e30. Not a coupe but a tidy prefacelift sedan. Also have an m52b28, front sump, and a getrag 220 box. Any tips tricks/advice for the m52s are appreciated.

1952 Ferrari 212, only 5000miles on it

One of these is not like the other... 🎶

F'ing love those wheels.

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.

Have racked up about 1500kms since the camshaft surgery and all is well. Great car to drive, rewards smoothness especially with the clutch. Penrite synthetic in the gbox has significantly reduced the notchy shifting. Wof and rbf next week then Hampton Downs on one of 2 dates end of month that isn’t expecting rain.

That was a good send off for the old girl; 1600km and 4 nights living out of her from Auckland to New Plymouth, Wanganui, Wellington, Coromandel and back to Auckland. After ten years in NZ, I fly out to the UK today, been a pleasure Bimmersporters!

Chipping away at re-assembly while waiting for parts. An old coil must’ve been arc’ing on cyl 6 as the Mg has blown out turned in to dust. Had to clean alot of crap out of the spark plug well. Cleaned up the corrosion out of all 6 holes then brushed 2 coats of epoxy enamel to give it a seal. Giving some high heat jb-weld a jam on the blown out damage.. Vanos oil strainers had no sludge but a couple of small bits of swarf on them. Gave everything in the engine bay a good clean to help with future traces of oil and coolant leaks. 😄

The major engine work is now done. 4 lifters were squishy so replaced all 12. This was a thunder c&nt to remove (blind plug for locking the flywheel at tdc. The end you pull on snapped off so I spent about 4 hours stabbing and hitting it with a punch and bfh until it slid most of the way in to the flywheel. Then use the locking mandrel with a prybar to lever it all the way through. It got stuck to the flywheel so was able to remove it via the starter motor hole. The exhaust cam bearing and ledge journals had seen better days. Got the cam polished and lightly sanded the scoring on the caps. The state they were in: After a polish and sanding followed by a quick clean up: Engine timed up and now waiting for a few little gaskets and bits to arrive for the intake manifold. The large Disa is cooked so taking a gamble with a new one from aliexpress.

Meanwhile...

Yeah man. It sounds amazing. The only things in the exhaust that aren't stainless are the colby hotdog resonators. My old mans stroker is ready to go. 1.5 mm oversized valves, shrick 284 cam. Heavy duty rockers, titanium valve springs, new rocker arms the works. Oh and the ITBs haha. I am itching to finish mine

Thanks Graham, i am doing a return trip WLG/AKL/WLG next week. Will have car transporter trailer with me too, and could fit a car on both ways (just using it for a few engines and panels etc at this stage) I dont come on the forum much any more, but feel to message me on (oh too sevin, 3079322) Koha appreciated, especially if i'm heading all over the place to pick stuff up!

Update on last nights work. New valve cover installed, this n52 wasn't as clean as my 130i even though they are both at 123,000kms so this one hasn't had as many oil changes most likely. Also found a bit of foil from the cap of an oil bottle under where the oil cap is, don't know how people can manage that. There was also quite a bit of oil in two of the spark plug wells, surprised it wasn't miss firing. Plugs look old and coils are dated 2011 so both will need replacing. The air filter is a almost brand new Hengst one so that nice but it wasn't clipped in, it was just resting there so there is a chance some air wasn't being filtered. Also swapped the intake boot to the original one of my 130 as it has the sound generator, which reminded me to do the golf tee mod while I was at it. Over all the car runs a lot smoother however using an obd reader the car doesn't get about 70c oil temp and 60c coolant so I think the thermostat must be stuck open so not healthy for the engine.

@Eagle fair - the M43 was the last good one

Before the next few months of overhauling the car this is some previous stuff to catch up on. IMG_20250308_104937_536.webp

Loving the content James is making since leaving Donut - quirky, weirdly informative, a tad cringe at times but always funny and entertaining. Find myself craving an X3M40i all of a sudden.

I have the new 2025 release of the evo AU/NZ maps of any one needs it.. ( map only. - you will need lifetime FSC. ) PM me.

Time for some decent audio. This is something I've always been big on, maybe not to an audiophile extent, but life is too short to listen to stock car audio. My first car, my ford focus, was when I first got my feet wet with car audio. Just a bluetooth single din head unit, front components and a little active 250W sub in the rear. My last wagon, the white 325i e90, was a touch more in depth. It came with a mechless double din, most likely just for the bluetooth and reversing camera aspect, definitely a japanese addition. The stock e90 base audio is pretty sad, 4" door speakers all the way around with 6.5" woofers under the front seats. the front doors and underseats share a channel which is just a joke really. All 4 door speaker were then replaced with 4" kicker coax units, with the tweeter disabled for the rear doors. Adding a 4 channel Pioneer GM-D8704 amp to split the doors from the underseats helped massively. Between the headunit and amp HP and LP filters I managed to high pass the doors from 250hz and cross the underseats from 80hz to 250hz. Throwing a 10" 400w sub box in the rear then filled in everything under 80hz. Onto the latest wagon, I told myself I was going to hold off on doing audio for a while and learn to deal with the stock tunes, that didn't last long. The biggest hold back was the headunit, to get a wireless carplay double din headunit the entry cost is around $700, seems absurd campared to the $140 I paid for the single din in my focus back in the day. Anyways I bit the bullet and bought a Kenwood DMX7522S, the cheapest wireless carplay headunit on the market with active crossovers. Step one was mounting, some 3mm C channel kicking around in the back of Dad's garage got chopped up into right angle and shaped to make some brackets to fit it into the stock position. Step two was to wire it in, with this one I wanted to make an effort not to butcher the stock wiring, instead opting to make an adapter harness. An aliexpress fakra quadlock extension loom was butchered to join up to the kenwood harness. Temporarily the constant 12v and accessory power were connected to the terminal 15 pin in the quadlock harness, which means that the headunit has no memory and has to be switched off manually as terminal 15 takes 30 minutes to time out. This is fixed later on. And for carplay to function the gps must be plugged in, the centre dash speaker location is ideal for this. I printed a piece to bolt in where the speaker goes and stuck the gps onto that. And we have liftoff! This concludes step one of the process for the car audio upgrade. This has already taken some time to write up. I will carry on in my next post with: mounting amps, running new wires to all the speakers, powering the amps, making new rcas, replacing the doors speakers and underseats and adding tweeters.

lol, i love the sport alcantara interior on the E39. If i got another it would have to either have it already, or i'd swap it in. So much nicer than leather.

So, he spent $50k on a $10k car. That's a bad investment unless you keep it and really enjoy it. Also, (rant coming) it's a classic car. Don't put adjustable suspension on, it's not a race car! Stock springs(airbags) and B6 shocks, there's nothing better for NZ roads. Big stereo, ok, but you can't get the money back. $7k for seats! You can't get that back. 19" wheels, I don't get it. 17" nice, 18"- a stretch.... really, there's no need for 19" (but that's just me) ok, I'm done. I'd love to have it but not anywhere near the asking price. I think I'll buy that M5 for $26k on FB and spend $5k on it, which I will get back (eventually)

I've had dreams of putting a 4.6is motor into an E38 740i short wheelbase and 6 speed manual conversion. 740shortysporty.

Stopped looking at e30's - people are crazy 🤣

Hi All: Newbie here, just got a 2013 F11 523D Japan Import car, today just use bimmercode to change to NZ radio, thanks for this forum to keep all useful message.

Never been happy with the way this car shifted gears but after perservering with different gearbox oils and knobs I am pleased to say I am now happy. Turns out the final piece to the puzzle was a gen ZHP weighted knob, I am sure I probably have worn bushings in there but it's much much better. Would not have thought a knob would make such a difference. Also if anyone is considering Wipertech blades I can report I am happy with mine.

Have you driven one? There’s no way it’s passing anything on the straight unless it’s a bicycle.

Update: I love this car.

these two tell you everything you need to know about the PO.

I got my brake lines, supplied locally via https://nz.helperformance.com/ ... if you're in need of tasty braided lines I recommend 👍 Last week also got the misc items from Spareto (front caliper pin kit, basic pads and M3 parking brake shoes). Have yet to pull the trigger on the custom brackets and hats due to cost ... hopefully will order on pay day 😬 Then only need to arrange the remaining cross over pipe for rear caliper I stuffed up.

The shadowline trims that go around the windows were looking real tired. The finish is somehow different to the vertical pilar trims, they were heavily oxidized and no amount of cutting, polishing or even wet sanding seemed to do much to improve the look. Ended up giving up and passing them on to professionals to get properly repainted. Ended up at Evan's Colour Works in Sydenham. The turnaround was quick, the price reasonable and the finish was mostly good, although did have quite a few dust bits stuck under the paint and a couple of runs. Ended up leaving one piece to get resprayed but the rest came out decent enough with a quick polish. Will have to get some 'after' shots later on. The roof rails were also pretty bad, with paint bubbling up and peeling off in a few places, as well the 3D printed plugs needing filling in. The finish was satin black so I felt more confident in taking these on as a DIY. I epoxied the plugs securely in place, carefully masked off the rubber seals, filled in the gaps around the plastic plugs and sanded down all the rough bits. I used 1 coat of etch primer followed by 2 3 coats of flat black enamel. Turned out mostly fine but I did a pretty poor job of filling in around the plugs so was left with a few craters. The spray nozzle was also pretty poor so ended up with a few drips here and there. Will sand it down at some point, fill in the imperfections properly and give it another few coats, whenever I've got some surplus motivation. I had epoxied one of the taillights back together a few years ago. Mucking around this time I noticed the other one coming apart at the seams as well so it also got the epoxy treatment. Whilst I was at it I also gave all 4 rear lights a cut and polish. Came out really nice, getting rid of the swirl marks and the yellow haze from the clear bits. Photo of a before and after of the inner lights below, no points for guessing which one is which. Finished them off with all new bulbs throughout and chrome bulbs for the indicators which made a surprisingly noticeable difference. Ohh, and I ended up swapping out for a slim black plate as well. Don't care much for personalised plates and wouldn't be able to justify the price of one, but for $200 I do love the stealthier look. Plus, it'll pay for itself if it does a good job of confusing a speed camera or two... Did get a new standard issue combination though, as a symbolic start of a new chapter if you will. Naturally, the plate holder plinths got trimmed down to size once again. Also, took off the towbar for now. Looked way too rusty for my liking so will give it a lick of paint before throwing it back in. Hoping to come across a towing module soon so I can wire that in at the same time. Another small tidy up mission were the rear arch liners. When having the rear guards rolled, the fella doing the job took a good few chunks out of them in quite a crude manner. Fair enough they're the part that rubs against the wheel as much as the guard lip itself but he took away way too big a piece either side, leaving a gaping hole for road dirt to get flung into against the chassis and inside the bumper cover. Not a big deal but has bugged me ever since. I picked up a pair of tidy ones and cut away the protruding parts in a more conservative manner. Then gave the bits some Carpro Perl treatment (the bumper and door trims got the same) and threw them in. Can now sleep a bit easier at night.

Would like to buy Michelins. But the Merc eats them way too quick when towing. So I just run Hankook's. I like Hyper as I didn't have to deal with a human trying to convince me into buying Farroads for my E55 at the local tyre shop for a good price of $350 per tyre...

I still hold onto the only reason E30's, S13's, R32's etc were good was because they were cheap. Sorry to those that missed those 20 odd years.

I rolled a facelift ZE1, the cops said I'd turned over a new Leaf.