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At some point you will find yourself with a cracked windscreen. This is a recommendation to NEVER take your car to Smith & Smith Wairau. For the past 10 months I have experienced the most appalling workmanship and customer service that is so bad I have decided to go to the effort of writing about my experience so hopefully no one else has to go through the same thing. If anyone knows someone who works at a Smith & Smith, or their head office, please send this to them because I am fed up with trying to deal with them. A little back story… Last year I was driving my (at the time) Skoda Fabia VRS when I got a cracked windscreen. This was a car that wasn’t necessarily valuable, but I was very fond of it nevertheless as I had spent the best part of an entire year restoring it. I booked my car into my local Smith & Smith branch to have the windscreen replaced. While the windscreen was out their recommended panel beater tidied up the apertures (as recommended) and I got them to respray the bonnet, roof, rear quarter panels and boot spoiler (as I planned to have this done anyway). After about a week my car was ready and I picked it up and took it home to discover a myriad of issues. For a start the paint match and finish was, well, only acceptable from a distance… but that’s no fault of Smith & Smith technically. (Although you would expect that their recommended panel beater would have a higher level of workman ship) Issues: I first noticed my wipers weren’t on properly - obviously that’s an easy fix for me. However, I would like to note that its still unacceptable as if I was someone who wasn’t into cars and didn’t have any tools, I would have had inoperable wipers which could be dangerous in a sudden down pour etc. This serves as a mild taster for the sloppy workmanship… To fix my wipers I pop the bonnet to realise the paint shop had broken my plastic release tab and replaced it with a badly cut piece of metal with some electrical tape on the end. This was eventually resolved by them, but once again adds to the awful experience I had. With the bonnet open I first adjusted the driver’s wiper and then went to adjust the passenger one. That is when I noticed what ended up becoming a frustrating can of worms. My windscreen VIN plaque was gone! Naturally I was very annoyed. Now I had a car that looked like it had been stolen with its empty VIN plaque in the windscreen. The following day I contacted Smith & Smith with the list of issues and of course they first questioned me on whether my car even had its VIN plaque there to begin with. (Which of course it did). By a stroke of luck many months before I had taken a photo of my rego label which was the proof I needed to prove to them that my VIN plaque was there. I was expecting an apologetic business intent on putting things right and getting it sorted, but what I got was the opposite. The manager of the branch thought it was ridiculous that I would complain about them losing my VIN plaque. After all, it was “just” an old hatchback… However, that is no excuse for a blunder like that. If that was one of my Porsches, or my M Coupe, that’s an issue that would genuinely impact the value of the car. And beyond that, on any car, if you are obviously missing a VIN tag, that would raise eyebrows if you wanted to sell the car. Plus, it's just plain ugly. So with that reasoning in hand I demanded the car would get another VIN plaque at their expense. The counter offer I received was absolutely laughable. They were happy to print me a label with one of those cheap portable label makers and put that where the VIN plaque used to be. Like WTF?! Seeing that this was going nowhere I contacted Skoda NZ myself who informed me I was 367 days too late to order a reproduction plaque, as that was something that had been discontinued the prior year. Now I was stuck but still determined to resolve it. I requested I sort the plaque myself and got approval from Smith & Smith that I could invoice them once I had it sorted. So I sourced an OEM plaque cradle, and then had a sign writer make a Vinyl overlay with my VIN in the OEM font. It was a perfect replica. Smith & Smith then removed the glass to fit it, and I sent them an invoice of a whopping $240.40 to cover the costs incurred by me to source and make the VIN plaque. That invoice has been sent to them over 5 times by email, and dropped off in person. They still haven’t paid me... That REALLY annoys me. Yes, it’s a small amount of money. But regardless, it is owed to me and clearly they think they can get away with just ignoring me. So here I am, writing this, recommending that you STAY away from Smith & Smith Wairau. Personally, I will never take any of my cars to any Smith & Smith branch ever again. Some photos for context: My 2003 Skoda Fabia VRS. Originally the NZ demo car for the Fabia VRS so had an Oettinger tuned ECU from new. Incredibly rare to have the tune. In fact, I couldn't find another tuned one anywhere on the internet. Had the bulletproof 1.9TDI engine and was a torque monster. 150hp & 360Nm! 6 speed manual. Was destined for scrap until I saved it. Will write an article on it one day. Was a great little car. The paint match... 1. Wipers that weren't even on the windscreen and would have been unable to move. 2. The bonnet pull tab with some electrical tape on the end so the roughly cut metal wouldn't cut you when you opened it. 3. A great way to make your car look stolen - when there's clearly meant to be a VIN but now there isn't! My VIN tag that I had made. Was very pleased with how it came out.

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.

Started getting the shocks and brakes off today, also test fitted the f8x brakes while I still had the chance. Next time this car rolls under it own power it going to be a completely different car. Its going to take a while but it will be worth the wait.

TLDW; Keep the 130

F'ing love those wheels.

https://www.facebook.com/share/1BVWT6Fd7R/?mibextid=wwXIfr

I know most have already seen this but I will post it again anyway. https://youtu.be/2cyBMqT-LNQ?si=x4v7yn4jkTHANSMH

Try putting some of these cars on a hoist when it automatically goes into park when you open the door. A mechanical key for ignition usually coincides with the lack of bs in general.

M3 is heavy and can be high maintenance, the M2 is overrated in my opinion and I also don't like turbo cars ( I also could never give up hydro steering so m2 is out ). Besides either of those car you would still have to put 20k into them on top of the 40-50k purchase price to even get close to making the most out of them. I have been fortunate enough to drive a good few cars and still haven't found anything that puts a smile on my face as much as my 130i. I'm only 18 as well so much easier to buy a 9k car and slowly drop 45k into it. I'm not a fan of financing a depreciating asset unlike most people my age so would have only just got the M2 or M3 now when I have already enjoyed my 130i for a year. Also try to get insurance for an M3 or M2 at 18, you would find the the cost laughable. Sorry for the rant but that's just my opinion on it.

The LS7 was more like $12k upwards as a crate motor. Double the torque, nearly double the horsepower and about 25-50kg heavier (depending on what you read.

Where's the fun in that ? Why does anyone build a project car ?

For shits I asked ChatGPT to value it for insurances purposes. Wasnt too stupid to be fair as it did nuance between various things (including the NZ market, it looked at trademe and bimmersport!) and valued it at 31k insurable value, that's cost to actually find one similar, then all the parts on it (try find some Recaro SP-DCs, or at current exchange rate you wont get Birds B1 kit here for less than $7k).... I told it insurer isnt going to buy that For sales prices It figured 18k if found the right buyer, 12k to sell "quickly" on market to buyer who wanted a sorted manual, if it was just stock NZ new manual its 8ish in average condition at 300k. After some prompting, got to 16.5k insurable, which is about what I think it should be insured for. Did a surprisingly thorough job with little prompting, just images and k's.

I think the Van would have been the better option in the end. The lane assist on the Yaris was actually taxing. I had had enough of driving it by the time we got back to the airport on Sunday. Just the constant adjustments it tries to make to your steering. Always attempting to place you in the center of the lane even if it doesn't make sense. It kind of made the entire drive twitchy. My wife doesn't usually get motion sickness but she was getting it with this car. I actually googled if this was common. AI told me it is. Yes, some Toyota Yaris Cross owners find the Lane Keep Assist (LKA) or Lane Departure Alert (LDA) system to be overly sensitive or aggressive. This can manifest as the system providing excessive steering input or beeping when the driver is intentionally or unintentionally drifting within the lane. Fortunately, the system can be adjusted or disabled through the vehicle's settings.

Bump. New WoF (07/26) and registration extended (17/09/25).

Took a punt on a crashed damaged M3 too good to scrap. So far so good but still need a few more bits to complete and comply 😁 Car: E92 M3 2008 pre LCI FR/Drivers head light - adaptive xenon (would considered damaged ones as I could rebuild one out of two. May also match up with non Ms) FR headlight bracket/arm iDrive CCC unit - See image below Front bumper - PDC & washer (don’t mind without washer) DCT Trans cooler ducting steering rack - TBC (might be rebuildable or just clunking tie rods) all front arms and tie rod assemblies - only if mint condition otherwise will go new If you have any other parts or a whole car wrecking get in touch! There’s a few bits missing of the list. The soon to be resurrected….

Marty Irvine (well known BMW racer) runs Takapuna Panel beaters over in Wairau valley did the painting for me. He also had the full front Tech 1 bumper assembly tucked away that I grabbed off him. The sound deadening is the BMW part, the 3 pieces come as a kit. Still available to order. I have great expectations of the bumpers, have turned it into a major project! Will be too scared to drive it once they are on.

I thought I'd share a (non BMW) dealer experience I had this week where the genuine parts were half the price of aftermarket. Mrs Spinner's mitsi needed a new thermostat, and I started by looking at Supercheap and Repco and thermostats were about $80 including the gasket for Tridon brand. During the web search I found some genuine ones for cheaper out of Australia so I took a punt and rang the local dealer, sure enough $40 got me a genuine thermostat and gasket! The only downside was it took a week to arrive. So there you go, sometimes genuine parts can be cheaper

And these are some of the part that I have been collecting this year and it will my job to install over the next 2-3 months ready for summer. Main things with be an M3 LSD, axles, steering rack, rear subframe, rear spring arms and some M3 coilovers. Along with f8x m2 brakes a GM to 6hp21 swap just to name a few.

I installed a new diffuser today that hides most of the "cow udder" effect of the M2C exhaust. Probably should have removed the bumper because I broke the stock one during removal (very surprised at how brittle it was!). Not too much of a concern, it's an inexpensive part and I quite like the new one. This is just a plastic one from China, fit is good and tight, installation was easy enough, the plastic is arguably more durable than the stock one. Hopefully it doesn't melt! 😭 Old: New:

Another one for S&S Wairau, they messed my old man around very recently with a screen for his Mercedes, and completely f**ked the wiper linkages. It’s not exclusive to them though, I’ve had a horror story in the past with S&S Penrose personally.

The 130i's are great bang for buck, for well under 10k you've got a great handling rwd manual with 190kw so it's very attractive as a base for a project.

That engine swap is sacrilege if it was by choice. However if the S54 grenaded itself, or somebody hit the money shift, an LS7 in the US would be a reasonable, and much less expensive replacement. A crate V8 only costs a couple of grand over there.

I have my M3 with Swann under "Classic" cover (currently "laid up" so it costs almost nothing a year) and the M2 under "Modern Classic", they just asked me for the value of each (edit: and photos) and set the premiums to match, no arguments. They have great benefits too, agreed value, first refusal on write-off, choose your repairer, track day uplift, roadside assistance, etc. The M2 is insured for more than I paid for it and they were fine with that. Edit 2: I had to select an annual mileage option, I think I had 3 choices, <5000kms, 5k - 10k, 10k+ IIRC. And they were literally 60% of the cost of State, AMI, and half the price of Star Insurance who are recommended by Hampton downs but seem uncompetitive across their product range. Might pay to see if they'll cover your 130 under their modern classic coverage, agreed value. All said and done though, I think much more than $12.5k for a 300kms 1 series will be tough, regardless of how well sorted, and looked after, it might be.

Happy to recommend Classic Cover, got my E46 insured for $15k with them with a $250 excess and $600 premium (including roadside assist). At the same time AA were only offering up to $6.7k cover at nearly double the premium with a $500 excess. For further comparison, got the car evaluated with NZVV (Christchurch-based so probably not much help in that regard), initial valuation cost $200 and every subsequent one is $100.

IT has cruise control!!!! (since it's not NZ new). But, no airbags 😞

I don't know about that. I've had good experience with Toyotas in general. Been reliable family cars.

It's because you haven't fitted the carbon intake in those photos. How does Classic cover work in this situation? I just called them and said my E55 was worth the higher end of what is around and they accepted it no questions asked. Even my 130i is insured for like $9500 through them. Obviously I am paying a premium they are happy with to cover that high.

NO WAY would I have expected a Yaris of any kind to be better than the van 🤣 As long as the van wasn't a Toyota! Every Toyota I've had (all work cars!, never owned one, myself) feel like they're about 15 years behind the clapped out old euros I've owned. Toyota can't even make a car where the front and rear suspension feel like they're from the same car. While driving a 2019 / 85K Corolla in Wellington a few years back... I found myself continually yearning for my mrs clapped out 2006 VW Touran 2.0 with 280K kms on it. The VW would have done EVERYTHING better, except economy. The rental guy looked pissed, when I told him it was "fine", just as sh*t as I'd expect from a Toyota. The trans was forever in the wrong gear - it was either doing 1800 RPM, or 6000. "Sport" mode meant it was just as slow, but it would drive the revs up to 4000 as you stopped, but it would still die on every hill. It would hold onto a high gear, until it was so slow, you needed 6000 RPM to get back to the speed of everyone else. It would hold on, until you ended up with your foot hard down, then try to go to max RPM, while Nanas in their Hinda Jazz were cruising past you. The boot was smaller than the storage cubbies in the VW. It made a horrible buzz at anything over 3000 RPM. The SatNav told you to turn just AFTER every intersection. We nearly had accidents, from flooring it and (wrongly) expecting some acceleration, when I was in the wrong lane on the motorway or trying to match speeds of other lanes etc. I ended up using manual mode on the trans and just keeping it between 4000 and 6000, unless it was flat and straight... and even then, the CVT would decide what the RPM should be in any "gear" and not do the same thing every time. Then there was the "steering"... Horrid things. Dull as f**k. Possibly reliable, but I'd rather die early, or be in debt longer, than own one 🤣

Would love to see this when you do.

With lot's of extensions, elbows, and flex shafts... or remove engine. It's a royal PITA to get to some of them.

The plastic valve cover itself could be cracked, seems to be quite a common occurrence. Worth checking it over thoroughly every time it's off, cracks can be hard to spot being black plastic and caked in gunk.

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

They are a staggered set 8 inch front and 9 inch rear, I weighed them when the tyres where off for painting and they were roughly 8.8kg for the fronts and 9.5kg for the rears

I have just been researching this as I want to change the oil in my diff and you need the right kind depending on the diff type. I have found that early Z3s had clutch diffs ands sometime in mid-late 99 they changed to torsen. This seems like reliable information to me, people saying the only way to tell what you have is to take the back off and look, but that the early ones definitely came with clutch diffs. What do you say to this? What is your statement based on? Also, IMHO the ABS can take care of locked wheels...I'd rather have a torsen, it doesn't wear out.

Hi all I've recently bought a 120i & I'm loving it!

Funny you mention that! Just got home from taking mum to a yard so she could sit in a few vehicles to get a feel and first impression. 2012+ Honda Fit is what we're targeting now. She liked that the seat could adjust highest amongst those she sat in, and the option for hybrid.

Hope you're not dead set on a BMW. I'd be real hesitant recommending any small BMW petrol engines that aren't 20+ years old, which probably is a no go in this case. Most modern 4-cylinders are riddled with problems, which is manageable if you don't mind some DIY, but not something I'd go for if your main goal is trouble free motoring. And the ones that aren't will be well beyond that budget. Honestly, I'd probably look at something small and Japanese, a Honda Fit, Suzuki Swift or similar. Should be plenty to choose from in that price range.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/15XAyuwzF4/?mibextid=wwXIfr a bog standard e30 steering wheel in what looks like average condition. $100.

If your's was for sale a year ago when I bought my car I definitely would have. Your car would have been a much better starting point. I keep a spreadsheet of how much I have spent on my car and it hard to believe how quickly things add up.

I agree, it would seem they should be worth 10-12k but I think it's a small market. Another reason they are a good buy is they ALL have LSDs! (All 2.8s) I bought mine 4 years ago on a bit of a whim. Turned out to be an excellent decision. I put B6 Bilsteins on stock springs. I am all in on the top down motoring, such a pleasure to drive moderately quickly. The engine, gears and steering are perfect. If you buy one, put new HD front control arms on, it makes a huge difference. (factory arms have huge wobbly rubber bushings). Sorry for the rant....

Yeah I have seen a guy throwing wheels over the fence at PAP. So anything nice is removed. Do they still have those manky cobra chickens guarding the place in Mangere? Loved being hissed at while your under a car pulling parts.

Exactly. What I also find ironic is that Pickapart will not have come close to maximising the parts value of the car. Anything rare/desirable/expensive has to be sold at a low fixed price, and people are so rough with the cars that anything left (particularly on the interior) generally gets ruined. In a weird way everyone loses... While its a shame to see a nice car getting parted out, often it provides the parts to keep 10+ more on the road - yet when a car is at Pickapart there is so much wastage and you have to live nearby to physically go get the bits you need yourself. This was absolutely mint, but I bet it won't be long until it's ruined with people leaving doors open etc.

Got a little bit more work done recently, been busy making a plan for all the suspension stuff and figuring out which direction to go for the clutch/flywheel. Decided to keep it oem and stick with a dual mass flywheel and oem 240mm luk clutch kit. Got all the underside parts taken apart and sandblasted, in the process of getting painted at the moment. gearbox is back from kayne Barrie now with fresh detents. More or less just need to order the clutch kit now and then can put the engine and gearbox into the car. picked up a e90 325i auto front half driveshaft and a e36 medium case rear half from @Toast which so far seem to work together, will see if they end up the right length. Paid $80 for the front half instead of the $700 people charge for zf 5 Speed Front halves nowadays. will need to swap the carrier bearing over to an e30 one as well. Fuel pump is back in the car too now ready to start replacing subframe, trailing arm bushings etc now and reassembling the rear end.

Gave the spare exhaust a quick lazy polish before bolting it up and dropping the car off at the shop. Even on the way there I still hadn't fully decided on the final course of action - whether to cut out the resonator or the secondary cats. Sound wise both would probably have had the same effect but the smelliness of it all was my main concern. Had the guys at the shop start up a couple of decatted cars to get a sense of what life would be like cat-free. Don't know if I got an objective feel for it or if my sense of smell had simply been decimated from sniffing all the brake cleaner fumes over the years but it didn't feel as bad as I had feared so cat delete it was. Somehow turned out to be a bit more work than I thought it would be, they cut out a bigger section than I'd envisaged but the end result looked really nice, the welds were tidy and the sound exactly what I was after. This was a progress photo they'd sent through, I forgot to ask for a full underside photo at the end. I'll be taking the exhaust off shortly to fit new exhaust gaskets, refit the damper at the back of the resonator and finish off the polishing mission so will take a photo of the rear section then. Loving the end result, the purr at startup is awesome, has a nice deeper tone to it throughout with a tinge of the signature BMW rasp. Loud enough to be enjoyable but not loud enough to be obnoxious so shouldn't annoy the neighbours too much. Once warmed up it's still surprisingly quiet at idle but definitely feel a bit more kick when giving it some beans. Took it onto the motorway to see if there's any droning but all good on that front too. The smell isn't nearly as bad as I'd feared as well, probably would only ever be an issue if left idling inside the garage for a while. VIDEO: Cold Start VIDEO: dB Meter Test VIDEO: Before Comparison with the 325i Exhaust Took it out for a quick bash along the hills the other weekend with @Carbon and his Honda mates, as well as a certain infamous M5. The muffler-deleted V8 and well as my newly opened up exhaust reverberating off the surrounding hills was a bloody nice soundtrack. Have now clocked up a couple hundred km's on the new exhaust setup and couldn't be happier, a nice finishing touch. Quickly running out of things to improve on this car. Thanks again to @Gaz for the hookup. Wifey called me a bogan as I pulled up into the driveway so that's the mission well and truly accomplished.

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.

$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.

Love the thread bud! love the car too! SJ from Apex here she sure is a beauty

$172 for insurance valuation, and its just not high enough to cover replacement, very frustrating. Im not planning on ditching it, but there is no way 12.5k would cover replacement. 12.5k would probably cover parts to bolt to another 130! Anyone got any ideas on a valuation service? I could keep going through the phone book and finding people who just look up values on tardme and the k's on it...