M3AN

Yes, mine is evidence of that. Indeed, the next time I have to take it off I'll get a jig made up to ensure a perfect 90* and then do the rest of mine. I've done two so far, one is perfect, I reckon the other is about 89/91*.

If it weren't for the excessive sealant you'd probably be able to loosen the cam cover bolts and push the gasket back into place but I'm not sure I'd risk it with that much crap spread around. Get it hot, take it for a good long run and check for leaks... if it doesn't leak it may be "good enough" until you want/need to lift that cover again in the future. What you can't see is the spark plug gaskets... lord only knows how well they did those or how much crap they put on them... pull the plugs in 500 km's and check for oil.

Yes, I do but I'm a fair distance from Levin... ? In Auckland anytime soon?

I've not read any negative comments/reviews on the bushing inserts... but I also don't have them because I'm not convinced (and TBH the car feels tight enough). What are the detractors of the inserts saying?

Closing the loop on this... US$367 all in. PayPal fully refunded me and cancelled the security deposit. AVIN sent me a new discounted invoice which I was happy to pay (honest boy). So, for all my hassle I ended up with about a NZ$250 discount, nothing to sneeze at. To be honest, I can't complain about AVIN's after sales service despite them sending me the wrong unit (the unit was incorrectly packed, the main box was labelled as I had ordered, the contents were incorrect).

Lovely but I don't think that's Atlantis Blue... https://www.google.com/search?q=bmw+atlantis+blue Edit: although I do see one e30 in that list... mistake or story?

No I've not. This one was a Pre-LCI 120d with horrible beige plastics anyway. But I am mindful that you're looking for some so will ping you if I ever see any. Surely someone will crash one soon enough!

Well, I suppose my 17" v 18" dilemma has been solved... silly not to pick them up for $350 IMHO. And transported from Waiuku to Ellerslie free by my mate who lives out there. Edit: they're LCI versions too so 8.5" rears. Thanks Kyu! In fact I'm feeling like a mini-q at the moment, I have far too many wheels and tyres!

What size? Mine's 75mm to 105mm... more than welcome to borrow it if it will fit (assuming I can find it!).

~$10 from Mitre 10. ? And yes, it's handy for all sorts of stuff. You can also get it from any marine shop, it's mainstay of boats.

First project, more storage because a car is like a kitchen, you can't have too much storage. Out with the practically useless phone cradle tray (what's the point of "Phone Prep" without Bluetooth?). ? Much more usable space... Add some of this... And you get this much more practical tray...

I saw Zebra had an e87 last week so I popped down this morning hoping to pick up a luggage compartment cover but alas the car was a mess, well picked over and beige with no cover so multiple fails. Since I'd paid my $2 I thought I'd grab some stuff for future projects. I want to Alcantara wrap some of the interior trim bits to see what it will look like and I didn't want to use mine. Grabbed this lot for $20 all in which pleasantly surprised me, I thought the trim pieces were going to be $10 each. Missing a right hand door handle trim but I don't think I'll be doing those anyway. Interestingly, although they've got matching numbers the upper dash trim is much lighter, possibly sun fade I suppose.

Semantics. ?

I suspect it will be quite a lot more complex getting into Ireland from outside the EU. The "replacement" CoR is just a printout of the current registration, that's the one I was referring to above. What you'll need is the completed and stamped MR7... if you have your last rego application (stamped) then that will be fine. For the $9.10 you'll get another plastic registration tag for your windscreen which will not help because it doesn't have your name. It might be easier to pop down to the local post office and get it sorted there You don't really need to cancel the registration, it's just a convenience (because you can export a registered vehicle). Although for ~$9 you might as well. It would be worth checking, since it's an ex-UK car, if it's easier to relocate it to the UK first and then to Ireland (well, before Brexit hits proper).

Getting a car out of this country illegitimately without contacts is going to be pretty difficult. I don't think the OP is looking for those contacts here. ? I think you need to understand the import requirements of the foreign country before you consider the export requirements from here.

I think NZ Post will give you a printout of registered owner... might cost a few bucks. Are you asking about getting a car out of this country or, getting it into a foreign country? I would have thought to get it out of this country you just need to get it on a ship, the getting it into the other country will probably be the complicated part.

Yeah, my 6.5 ran 2 bar (~30psi) in 3rd, 4th and 5th and was manic. It was about as much fun as you can imagine a tiny 2l 4 pot could be, did 11s quarters all day long too.

My mate has place in Waiuku, I'm down there regularly enough. I don't have FB, can you share contact details with me? $350 is a no-brainer.

I think that does them a disservice. My early life was over three generations of 4G63 cars and they were all something special. As are GT-R's and Supra's of the day. If you have a clean one now they're worth a lot, because they've earned it.

Please don't get me wrong, I consider the E60 M5 a proper M car. I just think that they, and the E9x M3 are at the leading edge of M cars that won't hold their value, they're not the wedge. I predict those that followed will plummet like Audi RS's and AMG's. Anyone can create a fast boosted car. But I think most would accept that the E60/90 era M's are quite a different driver's proposition than the E46/39's... safety standards, and therefore weight, had properly caught up with sports cars by then. For the absence of doubt I'm not bagging on E60/90 M cars or their owners... nor am I actually bagging on later M cars or their owners, I just don't think the later ones will hold value like the earlier editions. And yes, as @aja540i says, volume makes a real difference.

To be fair I said the E60 was the cross over point... I believe that the e46 was the last of the pure but that the e60/90 still had a lot of the pure... but beyond that? Not so much in my mind.

The $6.5k one is crazy... it's not particularity tidy though. CD changer and rear camera a good options if they're factory. Rear suspension looks shot. The paint's probably better than mine though and Alpine White, sweet. Add some ///M or BMWP pinstripes and that's gold for me.

And gator and pedal covers... calipers have been painted and P-Zero's too. It could have some hidden benefits, might have even been looked after. If I were regional I'd certainly like to check it out. But $13k? Not since about 3 months ago, they've plummeted since then.

Take a pic of any and all Schnitzer badges, internal and external, and post them here, they'll probably tell a story that will help us to help you. Edit: especially if your steering wheel or dash gauges have ACS branding. Or anything that indicates limited production such as 'xxx of xxx built'.

And on my Android head unit... PayPal refunded the original purchase and (apparently unilaterally) cancelled the security deposit for the second unit. So $0. Avin quickly reached out to me (no surprise I suppose) and said 'err, help' and sent me a 3rd invoice for original cost less US$150. I've replied and told them I won't be a dick (well, I might actually be a dick but I'm not dishonest) and as soon as I receive the credit from PayPal in my bank account, I'll pay the latest Avin invoice to settle the transaction. I also told them that, if they'd owned their mistake from the outset (sending the wrong product) and made me whole, we wouldn't have ended up in this mess which has ultimately cost them more than it could have. In 2020 surely organisations must understand that they need to be agile and outcome oriented rather than fragile and process bound. Read a book about the Amazon business model where the customer really is king.