Allanw

The brakes part of the cert process is easy to pass. I can't recall the details, but my VW van with it's stock UNvented front discs pissed in, and it has double the HP and very close to 1.5 times the RPM to play with now. E30 would have no issues.

Haven't seen SP, but I brought heaps of Teng stuff pretty cheap (like 3 sets of spanners, 4 socket sets, pliers... all sorts!) on a run out special, I don't know who usually stocks it now. I haven't broken any of it, and that's an acheivement! I used them for all sorts of crap, and abused it even, but it's tough. I do stuff like using the 19mm spanner as a leverage bar on a 13mm hoping that either the bolt will come undone or snap off.

AND, they SHOULD know what they are doing..... but often don't

The caps came with the gun, and my Wife got extras, which are the same as those included. It appears that the ignition of one, flashes over to the others and sets them off. The whole thing is pretty nasty. 10c might be on the rich side! I'm not 100% convinced it's a "problem" per se, I think it requires further testing

Haha - I would mow the lawns, but I have to get the Kombi out of the barn to get the ride-on out, then move all the toys and TWO swing sets (bloody grandparents) with a total on 10 "stations". Plus it's wet, so I can't be arsed. We used to have a decibel tester at work, but I can't find it My youngest is having his Birthday on Sunday, so I might break out the remaining caps while the place is full and see what carnage we can do. The gun is pretty poked, the the things seem to go off still. Keep an eye on the Sunday News.

DO IT!

Haha! Maybe I should let her pick my next real gun! It might be exciting She actually brought it for my boy after he had a jab at the Doctors. Because he was excited, she fired the first shot in the car! It's FCUKING loud - all 6 caps tend to go off it one explosion. I may need more. Foe safety testing!

Just reading about The Diesel Guy and the trouble he had with that RC car... Wife comes home with this: They should probably be recalled.... but I want more!

I don't have any hard and fast rules to what is a classic for me. It doesn't have to be all that old, to be fair... maybe that's related to me being in my 30's (Early thirties... only just!) Dad has a 1990 325i SE, which I think fits the bill - it was a "significant" model of car - the E30 is what really put BMW on the map, in NZ at least. They just look "right" and do so many things so well. I've also had a Suzuki Cappuccino - One of the best modern-ish classics - very quick for their size, but handles like a go cart, and ALL the feedback in the world. Proper front engine, rear drive. Can be a real handfull in the wet... like the E30 :-) I've also got a 1972 VW Beetle. Obviously a classic but very vegemite - you either love 'm, or hate 'em! Not classic... I think it's WELL past that, but we have a 1929 Ford Model A too. Though technically a Vintage, I think you could argue it had classic status for a very long time, and has simply surpassed that title. While not as many were produced as the earlier Model T, they still brought motoring to the masses! I think "classic" is a very individual thing, but it's hard to think of modern cars ever becoming "classics", unless they are something really special.

Seriously - I laughed out loud! People are looking.

Nah - I'd let them work out the UK thing for themselves. I think those are probably just market/age differences. the SE was never an official "factory" model as such - it was a bunch of options ordered locally to make the spec what they wanted really - a UK SE could be completely different from a NZ SE, and other countries didn't even HAVE SE's. I wasn't meaning to imply yours wasn't as SE, just that there are differences. Basically, people are going to buy or not based on what they like about each car, you just need the correct buyer to come along

About time I took this a little off topic... What's this guy smoking?

Yes, panels and lights etc needed... yours already is though

Not being critical, just a point: Yours doesn't seem to have all the same gear as the NZ SE's have. The NZ ones have the touring style side skirts (body colour), shadowline, body colour lower front grilles (possibly lower front lip too - not all do, but that may be due to replacement of broken ones), rear headrests. I don't know how much is the year thing either though - the NZ ones were only 1990 on. They didn't have the window handle blank in the doors either (maybe a year thing too). NZ ones had no headlight wipers, no mtech suspension or steering wheel - they had the "sport" wheel. Yours may have been options added at order time anyway I guess.

why a 318i or 320i? Either get a 318i, or get a 325i or 328i. The 318i is pretty cheap to run, the 320i usually isn't (especially if they're auto)! A 325i or 328i can actually end up using LESS gas, but can go better when required. They're also more liekly to be manual.

Go to somewhere like www.realoem.com and enter the last 7 digits of the chassis number/VIN.

Maybe I shouldn't say this..... but you might want to know..... some extinguisher powders are corrosive... apparently it's the class "ABC" ones.

it IS a 735i - Vin confirms it.

I'm looking for an E39 rear top strut mount, so I can get all the measurements and see how to make a spacer to lift the back of our car (The M-Technic II is a bit too low for where we go!). I've already done the fronts If anybody has just the top mount, that would save me pulling it all out and have to make the spacer while it's all apart

Looks like just fronts would work anyway - it looks a bit like its going uphill all the time

It's a pretty late E34 touring - It's what I was looking out for when the E39 showed up... Shame that ones auto though :-( It's probably not a bad price - the Tourings are always quite a bit more expensive than a comparable sedan. Someone who knows E34 can better sort you out, but If that has a sunroof, they are very complex and fairly troublesome. Good manual conversion candidate!

No, I think it's probably more likely related to the early Vanos not actually doing as much - it's basically only 3 stages, on only one cam. The M54 in particular, is prone to it, and they are infinitly variable between two points, on both cams. Apparently the 3.0 is affected more, and can actually stall from the issue, during cold idle.They use the cam timing to heat up the cats, and also reduce idle emmisions etc, depending on the engine temps etc. They have to make sudden changes upon opening of the throttle etc, and with the leaky seals, it takes longer for the oil pressure to overcome the leak. The exhaust cam is retarded during cold idle to increase the overlap, and heat the cats faster. Opening the throttle means it has to quickly alter the cam timing to provide more power. Eventually, the seals can get bad enough to bring up fault codes, which is when BMW would fit a new/rebuilt Vanos unit. It was a problem in the US and UK, which probably have much better servicing regimes than the average NZer would stick to! I'd wonder if doing the seals on yours would improve the power delivery? I have no experience with doing it on the earlier engines. The 3 stage thing is probably easier to control though, whereas on the M54, if it's constantly advancing the cams as revs climb etc, it may struggle to keep up with the rate of the revs rising??? It made the most difference at low RPM on ours though (possibly related to the lower oil pressure at lower revs?). I think it's one of those things that people don't notice getting worse, like shocks or similar, because it happens slowly over time. Then when it's really bad, other symptoms show up. I have been told BMW brought out software changes for the M54 to mask the symptoms too. I don't know if that's true, but some users on other forums reported better running after "software updates". Our car has no build up under the rocker cover to suggest any problem with oil, or the changes. Even the entire Vanos assembly was immaculate - the O ring is the wrong material though - it was like all the plasticizers had come out, leaving a shrunken, hard o ring. I could literally snap it by folding it over. I'd be worried if they'd used the same material for something like the rear main seal! The only thing I've ever seen that bad, was valve guide seals of on old aircooled VW - they were probably 40 years old, and would have been hellishly hot on an aircooled head.

I think I need to do that to a 7 seat X5 for the Mrs

At least the back-end looks better than an E60!

SE's look awesome! It's the little details that make them, even though most people don't even notice the little things.