M3AN

GST != import duty - it's important to distinguish between the two. And "online GST" is referring to digital, not physical goods.

Seems like you've got one too many.

Heated steering wheels? WTF pussies.

I've got a "proper" BMW scanner that I have no need for if you're interested. You just need to make sure your car is supported by looking at this table. Have a look around their site, it's a proper BMW scanner with "shadow code" support. I'm offering the "Enthusist" version with 2 VIN slots still available. You need a Windows computer to use the software. Send me a PM if you're interested in a good deal.

You'll probably need to add some spec's like diameter, width and offset...

Passive aggressive behaviour.

They may not be tagging fences but they're fencing goods to cook meth. That's far worse.

I have two here you can borrow if you pick up from Hillcrest on the North Shore... Can also recommend a couple of alignment shops in Wairau Valley if that's suitable.

I tracked down all the part numbers for the various kits on the Bilstein site some time ago and it was possible to cross reference everything. I use B6's with Eibach red springs and bars on my E36. The springs are slightly lower than stock, 15 or 20 mm.

As it happened this all collapsed between Christmas and New Year so for days I couldn't got hold of anyone (and my goods were being returned to Amazon!). When the NZ office opened I eventually got hold of them who eventually got hold of California but not a lot happened. When the Cali Op's Manager got back from holiday (the following Monday) he proactivly reached out to me with the "we'll do it fro free" offer which I was satisfied with. As I say, shouldn't have happened but being willing to fix the mistake and go beyond made it all okay for me in the end. As it turns out I also got a 100% refund from Amazon even though they were not at fault... so I landed my suspension in two weeks and all it cost me was GST on the air freight (invoice for the goods from Amazon was $0).

Kiwi Shipping initially failed me but recovered 100% by sending the goods air-freight for free... it was a monumental cock-up on their part but only cost me time and frustration. They shouldn't have stuffed up but credit where credit is due, they properly fixed it. And now I have the email address of their Operations Manager in Cali. I'll probably use them again because they do make it easy and I got photo's and tracking information along the way.

It's all good mate, 1uf is a tried and tested solution. And since my "oem spec" 0.47 blew out I wasn't going to try that again!

Wow, so I finally put my original VANOS unit back in. It's been a while since I rebuilt the solenoids and I've been using Mark's (SweetM3) spare unit in the meantime. Suffice to say I was very, very lucky to have that option and am very grateful. Nevertheless I totally forgot about it until the other day and still had my rebuilt unit sitting in a bag in the garage! Needed to get Mark's back to his shelf. So I swapped them over yesterday and today and checked my valve clearances at the same time (most between max and out of spec). Happy to report that it all went smoothly! Everything fired up first time and the VANOS passed the DIS test with flying colours! This is (hopefully) my final VANOS journey now that not only have I done the seals and rattle kit, I've also cleaned and re-soldered the solenoids having dug them out of the gunk that a PO installed many years ago. Touch wood!

Fixed my digital climate control head unit today which was a little annoying because I actually had it professionally fixed about 8 years ago and secondly I hate soldering electronics, I'm fine with larger electrical stuff but find electronic components very fiddly. But it had to be done and this time I'm using a 1.0 instead of 0.47 capacitor for more headroom. And to be honest I think I did a pretty fine job... All tested and working fine! I followed this DIY so thanks to Richard for keeping it up: http://www.macadamizer.com/bmwfix.html

Cheers dude, it's a labour of love and hate! Keepin' an eye on your progress too...

Just wanted to throw it out there that the car's just ticked over 164,000 km's and it's running better than it has in the last two years (since I pulled it from storage), it's really purring and, for the time being I'm quite satisfied, maybe she's paying me back? Starts first turn, idle settles quickly and is stable, warms up well and pulls hard and smoothly in all gears, quite as I could hope for too. Nothing's perfect and the list of two-dos is as long as ever but I'm enjoying the experience of driving an ///M at the moment. Nice.

lol - standard e36 problems then! :-/ Long story, see here.

I finally got around to replacing my old floor mats too and I have to say the new (to me) ones look fantastic. Finally I have floor mats that match my carpet perfectly and are all clipped down properly. I'll keep my old mats because whilst they're OEM they're some type of super heavy duty ones that I've never seen before. Could come in handy if I'm hauling around dirty crap. Thanks to Brent at BM World:

I recommend everybody with an E36 coupé should check their boot latch and surrounding area for damage right now... It's apparently a common problem (see here) and can lead to total failure. There's a reinforcement discussed in this thread but I made one and it prevented the boot from closing. So I've replaced the latch with an undamaged one but I imagine that too will fail over time (especially now that this area is weaker). I'll have to just keep an eye on it for the time being.

Picked up my inner tie rods from the machine shop today. They look okay but it remains to be seen if they'll work. There are 3 slots, about 120 degrees apart from each other.

No, not fixed yet but I have a set of inner e36 links at the machine shop now which I've asked them to cut grooves in them. They said it's possible but I've not heard back from them yet, I need to give them a call. The other option I found was a bellows/boot that has a nipple for attaching a hose. There are quite a few out there but it would be a bit hit and miss as to what would fit.

^ Cheers buddy. Now I just need to work through that 'track ready' list and address a couple more things (that's a list that never ends) and we can hit Hampton Downs - I won't be keep up with you but it'll be fun anyway. I thought to myself after you left that we missed a good opportunity on a sunny day to get a pic of 1 Sweet and 1 Mean Estoril M3 together!

^ cheers and agreed, peace of mind.

PSA: Expansion Tank Return Line An interesting one this - part number 17112227483 and less than $30 from BMW NZ - although I have no idea of the failure parameters and I've never heard of one failing I'd recommend replacing yours anyway. Mine basically perished in my hands when I removed it. Difficult picture but here are 4 of the 5 or more bits it fell into. I don't think you can test this pipe without breaking it and yours may be fine but for $30 I'd consider a preventative replacement because if that line blows you're out of action. Bonus Update: No coolant leaks so far!

More Cooling System I (practically) finished the job today, all the covers need to go back on but I needed the car to cool down after filling and testing. Today it took much, much longer than I expected - around 6 hours all up and that's on top of the time I described in my recent post! The journey I went through, appended to the last list is: 12. remove radiator (and clean dead animals from front) 13. attempt to remove hose clamp from back of water pump (fail) 14. remove 5 water pump bolts 15. crank engine by hand for clearance for 6th water pump bolt 16. loosen water pump with rubber mallet 17. spend 60 mins accessing and loosening hose clamp (as per #13) 18. remove water pump 19. spend 60 mins cleaning half of the old gasket off -- break for beer. 20. spend another hour cleaning the other half <angry> 21. install new pump and gasket (curse for not noting exactly how the hose mated) 22. spend 20 mins second-guessing where the hose should mate 23. torque water pump bolts 24. install and torque thermostat and housing 25. realise I've failed to install the engine bracket 26. undo thermostat housing bolts, place engine bracket, reinstall housing bolts 27. install TPS and bracket 28. install belts 29. install radiator and hoses 30. install new return line to expansion tank 31. fill with coolant That took a lot longer than I expected and was much more intricate than I expected. To be honest it was a real PITA! And just to make me feel even better the water pump that came out seems to be in perfect condition (it's original based on the stamped production date and it has a metal impeller - manufactured week 23 1996). + 1. The hose clamp I needed to remove at the back of the pump was obviously done up at the factory with the engine out of the car, it was almost entirely inaccessible and I had to turn the head about 1 degree each time, it took me a seriously ridiculous amount of time to get this out. 2. The lowermost bolt on the water pump (S50B32 only) is accessible through a slot in the harmonic balancer, crank the engine manually to align access slot. 3. After spending 60 mins scraping 50% of the old gasket off I pulled out the Dremel with a couple of abrasive buffs and spent another 60 mins cleaning it all up and making it smooth. Least satisfying two hours of my life. 4. Self bleeding coolant systems rock! + Given that the thermostat and water pump I replaced look perfect I'm not sure this job was worth the anguish I went through but it's done now and, aside from leak paranoia, should be something less I need to worry about. We shall see...