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martyyn

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Everything posted by martyyn

  1. Daily driving a v8 is awesome my friend....you see a gap....you take it, simple as that. Around town driving is just so easy you hardly ever get out of second gear and you just seem to waft around town with almost zero effort.As 3pedals has mentioned the 6's have a slightly better 'driving experience' due to different steering than the v8's and are lighter too, but the grunt from the v8 more than makes up for it. Suspension can get soft but Ive just had poly bushes put in the 740 and it makes a world of difference. Milages are not a problem they can go intergallactic on the e39's. Just make sure ALL the electrics work, that can get pricey if something isnt going. Im thinking of getting one for the wife because they are just so cheap at the moment. Ive just seen two e39's go for under 10k ! Admittedly one was cloth and not leather but for 9k I think she could handle that A 528 would do the job, but Id go for a 530 myself. Check out the e39 ultimate guide that someone put up, that covered pretty much everything from what I remember. I see the link on the sticky is down so try this one E39 Ultimate Guide
  2. GST is payable on whatever Customs decide is eligible But the general rule is that if its under 400 NZD and can realistically be considered as a gift then they will not charge GST. Anything above 400, or that they feel is not a genuine gift is liable for GST unless you can convince them otherwise (highly unlikely). Just a note to anyone who does import something and its stopped by customs. Dont pay someone to do a customs clearance for you. You can do it yourself, in 10 mins, over the phone and even pay any GST by credit card. They will do all the paperwork and give you an entry number. You can then ask them to fax that entry number to whoever is delivering the goods so it can be realised. You should then phone the delivery company and give them the entry number and ask them to keep an eye out for the fax from customs. Dont be surprised if customs forget and it takes a day or two ! Dont take the pish though. If you upset them you have lost your chance. Be honest and friendly and you may be surprised at what they will let you get away with.
  3. So can we clarify a few things here. Its 1k USD to ship 4 alpina rep alloys to NZ ? As for the duty and gst, Im not sure there would be any duty as they are for personal use and not for on-selling (but am not sure on that) but we may well be eligible for gst. Im interested to learn more anyway. Ive been checking out a few places in the UK through some friends. Ive seen two sets of genuine 16' Alpinas (4 lug) for around 3-400 gbp in the last couple of weeks. Both have had new tyres on them though which has increased the price, so I may see how much they will cost to get from there too.
  4. So what other sites are you guys using ?
  5. Here end'th the lesson
  6. martyyn

    Forum request

    I hadnt noticed the location bit was working if you had filled it in. I guess when I saw the postings offering parts those people just hadnt done it cause it was the first place I looked !
  7. love the flick of the lights as he was going through the odd corner !
  8. martyyn

    Forum request

    In the old days we used to have our rides and location listed on the left side under our avatars. We dont seem to have any more with the new forum software. Now Ive noticed recently wth people selling things that the first question is 'where are you ?' Also when people are asking for help with something they are regularly leaving out the details of their cars. Is it possible with the new software for us to have our cars and location listed again ?
  9. I can see this to some extent but working in a 'service' area like this you very quickly pick up who are the muppets and who are the real deal.If someone comes in and rattles off their chassis number and part number and can politely explain that there car is not 'standard' and explain perfectly well why its not standard then why should the parts guy ignore them and order something completely different ? Thats happened to me twice. Having said that they did have an e30 4 cylinder rotor arm that I managed to pick up with relative ease the other day
  10. I can only echo what Daryll has just said. All e34's and e32's should sit at exactly 12 o'clock on the temp gauge regardless of what they are doing. If it doesnt then there is something wrong. I would also expect a BMW check to be able to tell you whats wrong too, they are after all supposed to the be experts
  11. martyyn

    I'm not dead

    Getting him to buy a round would be a start Jim !
  12. Dont you hate it when people take advantage knowing there is no come back for you.
  13. Like drifty said mate, take it back, I wouldnt stand for that !
  14. Oh I see, you mean to get certain links stickied so people on here can just go straight to them....not a bad idea, I dont know how they would see it from their point of view. But then I cant see why they wouldnt want more links to the site.The down side is that Bimmersport just becomes an index to everywhere else in the world. I think we need more writeups like was done recently with the car stereo being swapped.
  15. Having owned e28's and e32's I can say that a well maintained 5 or 7 is pretty good on petrol.Thats Cain's point though isnt it....an old but well maintained car is going to be as good if not better than some Jap shopping trolley that just gets run into the ground. Dont just jump to the conclusion that big is bad.
  16. I was only using 20 years old as thats what they said in the article.I know that will cover alot of cars here, but I would expect that most older BMW's would have a decent fuel economy already. As Cain said, if my car passes the emissions test I should be allowed to choose between my V8 and a 3 cylinder sewing machine On the open road my car is as fuel efficient as the next car. Its only around town that I struggle ! I worked it out with a friend a few weeks ago. The difference in fuel consumption between my 4.4 v8 and his 2 litre Jap motor was 70 dollars a month more for me. Seeing as I sit in luxury everyday and he is forced to use a cloth to wipe his screen on a cold day I think thats a price Im willing to pay !!
  17. I honestly cant see how this is going to achieve what they want, which is cars with lower fuel economy (or is that higher fuel economy !). In order to get rid of the 20 year old bangers you need to make newer/imported cars cheaper not more expensive. You also need to have tougher warrant standards so they cant be on the road in the first place. As it is now, I see very little reason why 'most' NZ's cant have a fuel efficeint car already. There are lots of places to get decent cheap cars but those people at the bottom of the heap would rather spend their money on birds, fags and booze than a half decent car. Make cars more affordable and you will get newer and more efficient cars on the road. Ill get off my soap box now, but this really winds me up.
  18. Well I wasnt going to mention any names
  19. Thanks for the suggestions fellas but I think Ive found the culprit, thanks to Ian (Hartage) who spotted the salient words in my initial post....'a little pressure on the dizzy cap and she fired up' Taking it off again and pulling the little cover off that was over the rotor gave me this.... It looks a little cooked to me and judging by what I found on the OEMparts website it might not even be the correct rotor arm. Its certainly a different shape and it also appears to not have a wide enough diameter as its only making contact on the base of the contact points and not the points themselves. So Ill get myself a new one and see how she goes tomorrow.
  20. Right then. Ive read the recent thread about the 325 not starting and although I think I know what you were all talking about I have no idea what to do here. Up until this week she was starting and running sweetly. Slowly she began to struggle with idling, starting was still no porblem but twice she stalled when in traffic and then struggled to start. Today I went to start her and although she turns over and I can hear a 'click click click' as she is turning over she wont start. The is a slight whirring noise when the ignition is initially turn on, but I would say its less than half a second - is that the pump ? Ive pulled the relay out and reseated it, the contacts all 'look' ok. Ive pulled the cover off the dizzy (told you I was a n00b) as the dizzy itself appeared a little loose so I reseated that and with a little pressure applied she fired up. Struggled but at least stated. So I took a little drive and all was ok. I stopped at a local garage to turn around and she stalled again before Id even come to a stop. Again with a little pressure on the dizzy she started up but rough as guts. After a couple of seconds it settled down and then idled perfectly. Got home and again stalled before coming to a standstill and this time wont start. She is stranded at the bottom of the hill outside our place at the moment ! Any suggestions are more than welcome but please go easy. Im on the first rung as it were with e30's but am willing to learn which is why I got her in the first place :-) [edit] A common solution Im finding on the web is to give the fuel pump a tap to at least get it going again....where exactly is the fuel pump, I can find dozens of pictures of one taken apart but not one in the car ! [edit part 2] So Ive found the fuel pump and given it a tap bit no dice. When I remove and reseat the relay I can hear a whirring which I assume it means that its nothing from that end onwards....so can I assume that the fuel pump is not working ? Unfortunately I cant turn the ignition and listen to the pump on the other side of the car !
  21. martyyn

    removing tar??

    Meguiars Clay Bar will get everything off anything. Use it on your alloys and then wax them afterwards to make them easier to clean in the future.
  22. Offset is not the problem its the hub diameter as Paul has said. The e39 has a 74mm hub and the e38 has a 72mm hub (give or take the odd mm I cant remember the exact sizes)If you want e38 wheels on your e39 then you will need to use hub-centric rings so you dont end up wobbling at 55 mph. The tyre profile should be no problem as that will obviously change if you go to a bigger wheel. Personally I think 18's make a huge difference to an e39, both in style and handling, and I wouldnt bother with 17's
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