leithcm

SOLD!

Bump...... Any interest out there?? :-)

No, technically speaking, not "legal". These are German/Euro plates that Bimmersport member Ethrty-Andy organised for a few years. I had no problems with using them, but then again, I am in Christchurch and I did hear some of the younger members, particularly in Auckland, used to get a bit of a hard time from the constabulary... Just look at any Alfa Romeo, "E" Type Jag, most English vintage cars - they all sport plates that did not orginate from "Plates.co.nz"... The small plates ARE legal though, so you do have the choice of which you will put up on your car...

Bump! Any reasonable offers???

$450 - this includes "correct legal plates" as well as the Euro plates... The surrounds for the Euro plates are plain, and in excellent order. 021 2177140

Having sold my E36 Coupe I have the plates for sale. In addition to the regular PLATES.CO.NZ plates I have a set of the German made EURO style plates. The EURO style plates are complete with plain surrounds which are in excellent order. Advertised on TM, $400 for just the smaller regular plates or if Buy Now used ($500) you get all 4 - EURO and NZ regular.

Set ordered and paid. PM sent.

Hi Andy, Would like to order a set, to read " 73 STAG " Blue background LHS is the Southern Cross (white & red stars) above " NZ " Blue background RHS is a white fern. Also, a set of PLAIN numberplate surrounds. If possiblew, a half space between the "73" and the "STAG" would be great. Thanks a lot, Regards, Chris

I recognise this tow bar, got one fitted to my 323i. Looks like yours has the same problem mine has; the towing weight is turning the tow bar about the fulcrum point and pushing the floor of the boot (where the spare tyre goes) upwards!! The floor of the tyre well is where the 'bar is bolted onto! Check the angle of the tongue and ball, it has moved rearwards and down!

Hi Andy, Would be keen for a set next time you do this. I got a blue NZ flag with fern set for my 323i coupe a few years ago and have never had any hassle with cops - mind you, here in Christchurch we don't seem to get the level the Jaffa's seem to attract! I have another toy now so need a set of Euro style plates for it. Lets know, huh? Thanks.

Great, thanks very much guys, I will check the brake light switch at the pedal and also fluid bottle sensor. Cheers!!

Hi Guys, Got an issue with the OBC control module and the messages it gives me. For some time now it comes up and tells me there is a fault in the tail lights - sometimes immediately I turn the lights on, other times some time after the lights have been turned on. Occasionally it also tells me there is a fault with the stop lights - refer to the owners manual. Am now getting a new message; this time it is the windscreen washer fluid is low. What have I done about this? I have taken out the tail light assemblies and cleaned all contact points etc with contact cleaner, after giving the aluminium conducting strips a good scrape etc to remove all signs of corrosion etc. I have replace all the bulbs, and checked they all have continuity. When the message has come on I have visually checked the lights - and all are working as they should. With the screen washer, even though it was still 1/4 full I topped it up with water and a screen cleaning agent. Still the messages come on. Is there something I am missing here? Any one with any bright ideas on what could be a cure? Mine is a 01/1996 E36 coupe. The original orange tail glasses etc have been changed for clear some years ago, but it is only recently these annoying fault messages have been coming on with monotonous frequency. As soon as a bulb (genuinely) blows the resistance climbs to infinity creating a change in the circuit dynamics which triggers the message. Thinking the bulbs are on their way out (higher resistance due to filliment wear over time (inside of the glass becoming black) I changed to new fresh Natra bulbs of the correct wattage - but the message still comes. Any help greatly appreciated. Thanks very much in advance, Chris

Gavin's in Auckland, Basil Christchruch. I got Basil to do mine, did a great job -but have no dyno results to show though. I'm Chch, so that was the prime reason for using Basil's services.

Did you get sorted on this? I have a complete driveshaft from a Jatco auto, E36 1996 323 in case you are interested.

Yes, Autopassion - Basil Audeau - does a great job.....

Why can't you go to Carjam and pay the fee to get a list of all owners? This car has appeared several times in this forum. Also, I believe you can go to Transport Agency and for a (typically government) modest fee get a similar list...

I'm in Christchurch, and we are having a really cold winter this year. Plenty of frosts - and down right miserable, bitterly COLD days with low overcast. We have a Mitsubishi 10 kw unit - just the one feeding into a underfloor ducted system. Trick is with these is to have the underfloor ducting FULLY insulated - ours is with a silver backed "pink batts" about 5 cm thick. The system heats the whole house - it is a 53 year old home, about 250 m2, with no wall insulation but good ceiling. The temp is set to 20 deg, and the place is toasty-pie warm - all the time. Monthly power bills? About $355 to $380- but we run night and day rate tarriff system, about 700 - 800 KWH per month for both tarriffs. I think the Mitsubishi is an excellent system, better than a lot of the others that are designed to cool rather than heat. Just my 2c worth.....

I had Pirelli runflats (215 45 17's) on my '96 E36. Frankly, they were bloody awful. Would tramline etc and a VERY hard ride. I took them off (after were worn down a bit) and fitted conventionals in their place, and the ride etc was so much improved. FWIW - IMHO - unless the suspension of your car is specifically designed to use run-flats I would not use them. The conventionals to replace cost way less than half of the cost of the run-flats.

Ah, yes, that used to be the case. However, a story a while ago of a burglar falling through a skylight and smashing his legs got sufficiently large number of people up in arms in protest at his ACC funded recovery. I am sure the law was changed so that if you were convicted of committing a crime, or if the injury was "conceived" during the execution of a crime then ACC does not cover.

Or the case of a child in a coffee shop spilled his drink on the floor, so mother got up to get a cloth to wipe up. She slipped on the (wet from her child's drink) floor, sued the shop...... and won!!

Agree with Glenn; you have 4 or 5 bulbs in the tail light cluster, all separately fed. The earth return is the same size and capacity as any one other live feeds, but can be required to carry 4 - 6 times the load of any one of the others. This causes the earth to burn out. I just replace with a hard wired earth wire to by-pass the earth connection, solves all problems.

One other thing - was chatting to a couple of the Jeff Gray staff, who had only just got back from a BMW drivers training day at Hampton Downs (I think it was.) They were going on how great this experience was for all BMW drivers etc etc - so I asked them when are they going to put a similar event on - here in Christchurch at Ruapuna - for the local drivers? The answer - "Probably we will be organising one for sometime in October this year.." So, local Christchurch Bimmersport fans, this could be something to look out for - and possibly get onto Jeff Gray BMW and put some pressure on by way of support?? I certainly, for one, would be very keen to attend!

Got an invite to go to the Christchurch launch of the new 3 Series at the Colombo, 363 Colombo Street last night; hosted by Jeff Gray BMW. They had on display examples of the 2002 turbo, E21, E30, E36 (which was a 4 door Alpina), E46, and E90. A couple were their own vehicles, rest borrowed off clients etc. The "stars" of the evening were the 328 twin turbo 4 (in a very nice deep black), and the 335 twin turbo 6 (in Arctic Silver). The 335 was the "Sport" version, the 328 the "Luxury" version. The night was a local success, I suppose you could say, some 150 - 200 people there, all enjoying the free bubbles, still whites and reds, as well as beers and fruit juices. Oh, and a damned nice assortment of canapes as well! The NZ MD of BMW was in attendance, as well as a large number of the local sales and management team. The sponsors of the night signed up people for test drives - 2 hours at a time - anytime Saturday through to the next Saturday. Didn't know anyone who was there, but soon got chatting to a number. Surprising to learn of the frequency some people change their cars!! A nice way to spend an otherwise wet drizzly night - was anyone else of this fraternity there?

It has been suggested to try a manual ECU - I have one from a M52B28, non ASC and non traction control - which I was going to try. However, the tuning people did not recommend that as my car is the M52B25, so would have different basic settings. Someone is welcome to try mine if they like......... I have the EWS that goes with it.

Well, time to report - again. Took the car to a local tuning expert who has the ear of a number of people in Europe with experience in this type of ECU modification. He searched a number of "trade only" forums, and spoke with a number of people who had experience with this procedure. One person had performed this successfully 6 times! Eventually he acquired a manual file from an expert in Switzerland. Nothing worked. Even after 9 hours trying!! Best he could do was to load up a file which the ECU would "take", but then the idle was too low (it would stall) and the mixture was too rich. Finally all he could do was put the original file back in, and now the car is exactly the same as it was before. My tuner was of the opinion that there was something odd about my car - it seems to have have a pretty aggressive locking system in the ECU that prevented a "normal upload" of data and file information. His experience was that this type of aggressive system was only apparent in much later model cars. Ah, well, win some; loose some!