M3AN

I'm not sure about race to the bottom, good reproductions are as good as the original, the originals are just criminally overpriced. So the open market tells us what they're actually worth, and highlights how unreasonable BMW branded parts prices can be. My Renn coolant hose was $70 including shipping and GST, same part from BMW, same manufacturer, over $150. So, what are they worth? Well, ~$70 obviously, certainly not $150. And there's no real value added service in supplying spare parts, that shouldn't materially affect the cost of the product.

Right, I didn't know it was the same thing, it wasn't when tried Spark Sport (some time ago now). Regardless, 100 bucks a season is better than 25 bucks a month, there's very little else on Spark Sport that I'm interested in.

That's ^ true, and I'm a pirate (ironically considering I worked for a DRM company in Europe), but it doesn't work well for live sport and for F1, which I don't watch live because of the timing, a hundred bucks is much easier than pirating the content. I also pay for Disney+ because it's awesome and not particularly expensive.

No more than good reproductions I'd say, I paid US$36 for mine. Edit: Gloss/matte might make a difference, I wouldn't want gloss ones.

Price reduced to $6100 (from $6300). So now I'd offer $5800 and that would be a steal IMHO.

What's up with the $3000 "registration fees"?

This is so true. I worked at Sky at the time everyone was bitching and moaning about their monopoly, we knew exactly what would happen with market fragmentation, the total cost to the consumer goes up. FWIW you no longer need Spark Sport in NZ for F1, F1TV Pro is available here for NZ$100 a season and it's better than the Spark option (multiple cameras, commentary choice, data feeds etc). For some bizarre reason the Android/Google TV app isn't available here so you need to either cast from mobile or sideload the TV app (which is what I've done).

Welcome and nice car! I don't really have the answers you're looking for but the car will continue to decrease in value for quite some time, how quickly I couldn't tell you. On that basis, if you're not using it your simply burning money, on the other hand, if you get a great deal of value (enjoyment) from it when you do drive it then any loss might be acceptable to you. Purely from a subjective standpoint, if I had it, and didn't need the money or care about depreciation, I'd keep it just to have it in my garage!

How did you lose brake fluid replacing bushings?

Cheap LCI auto, I'm sure you could drive it away for $6k... https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/130i/listing/3640263332

White interior does take some getting used to but once you have, it's epic, it elevates the class and opens the space, it feels quite special compared to black.

Oh, I didn't know that, is it a blanket rule of thumb across their range? Interestingly the LSD claim has been removed, I had read it when this car was posted earlier. It's still mentioned in the Q&A.

Yep, 16k 3 years ago for a good 135i.

Wheel Fix It on the Shore will paint, and GT Refinishes in Penrose. I've used both, for a full repair I'd use the former, for painting alone I'd use the later. I wouldn't say either were the "best available" but still delivered good results for me.

Yeah, check those endlink bots @Sammo, one of mine loosened itself and clunked. If you can't see anything obvious you can always remove the bar and go for a drive to isolate (or eliminate) that as the cause.

Good lord they're hideous. For those that refuse to use Crapbook: https://www.vintagebimmerparts.com/products/vintage-recaro-seats-w-blaupunkt-headrests

Yes @gjm, take the wheels off. The swaybar and links can be installed/removed unloaded, there's no preload involved. With no end links the bar itself should pivot freely in its bushes.

Great work, and persistence, Elias, this is coming along nicely!

As Chris rightly says there's a lot of crossover with other vehicles and I've had E87 success as a result with FCP. I still check in with Schmiedmann from time to time but their shipping costs and timeframes are less attractive than they used to be. I also do a "site:com.au" search for common parts, if you can find a supplier over there willing to ship to NZ (many are) then they're often cheaper than getting stuff here because they don't automatically mark up 100%.

Well, in the first instance I'd tell them to removed the pulley they made and install a factory one.

I don't know how they work to be honest, will need to wait for my new one to arrive to inspect it.

Nice one, thanks Chris. I'll yell out if it doesn't look like it will land pre-weekend. 👍

I still need to do all the motor seals and gaskets, another "next summer" job. 😇 Whilst it's not a priority at the moment I will share the list once I've created it. Just ordered the OEM (Renn) hose from Australia for $5 less, delivered, than I could have got a no-name brand locally and that included Australian GST lol. Hopefully here this week.

Yeah, I don't know the provenance of my cooling system either. This will be a quick fix but I think I'll start working out the parts list for a full overhaul come next summer. Although I'll keep the radiator, it still looks mint on both faces and around the joints.

So finally, after a long weekend on Waiheke, the crap weather, and recovering from covid, I finally got a chance to search for my two week old coolant leak in the 130i and fortunately it's an easy enough fix. Of course without the poor BMW design and engineering it wouldn't have failed in the first place...