Allanw

I just replaced the backlights in Dads E30 last weekend - I only realised then that it eeven HAD a light! I never knew. I asked Dad if it worked, but he has never let the tank get that low in all those years of owning it! Is it supposed to come on at ignition on, as a test thing like the oil light etc?

Yeah, me too! It'll be interesting to see what technological advances happen to the internal combustion engine, which is an ANCIENT design. You'd think there'd have been so radical new developments, but all this tech is still being put on the good old banger!

Can I see some kerbing on the front wheel in that pic???

Rough. They were probably stolen by some retard who thinks they'll fit on there E30 or starlet of something.

They may be referring to the rear lower balljoints - the have a bolt right through them. You need a special tool to change the rear balljoints easily without removing the lower arm, but everything else is press in, press out (although a proper balljoint splitter of the correct dimensions is required to not damage the balljoints on the arms and aluminium carrier). If you fit new arms, the bushes are generally already pressed in anyway. If you're doing that kind of work, replace the bushes/arms and balljoints - why to the work twice, and if one part is rooted, how far behind are the others??? I got all my stuff from paul at Milland, including genuine rear balljoints.

What year/engine is it?

Great idea!

Ideally you want a load rating of 97 or higher to help prevent it, but I hear that a small amount of rear suspension wear can accelerate the inner wear on the rear. E39's tend to wear rear inners anyway. Wierdly, we have inner wear on the rear of ours (I very recently rebuilt the rear end) but it's showing a tiny amount of canvas BETWEEN the tread chunks! There is still plenty of tread, so I'm not sure how it's done it. They are cheap crap tyres though - I can't even remember the brand - I can't wait to get rid of them though!

180 is quite a bit cheaper than 550! Some cheap pumps can be noisy though - Airtex brand I put in the Mrs subaru was replaced 3 times under warranty, and I didn't even put the last one in - I brought a Walbro, and it was silent from day 1. All those 3 oils are the same thickness when at operating temperature (100C). There is only a difference when cold (20C), the 0W will flow better, but it will still get thinner as it heats up. thicker oil shouldn't clean better I don't think - good oil should though - so No, it would just be a waste of money. Those oil numbers don't work the way that most people THINK they do But have fun walking an hour to Mitre 10

Snapping Arse! Were you there when it happened? Did you need clean undies?

"Parrot Screech Yellow" Like the van in your first pic

Nice SE! It's Glacier Blue - Dad's E30 is the exact same car, but manual and with the factory 15" basketweaves. His has nearly 220K on it though, but he's had it about 15 years. Yours was made 2 months later than his, but your was registered december 1990. Dads was registered April 1991 - I have a funny feeling it may have been parked at BMW NZ for a while or something. When we saw Dads on the yard, I thought it was a bit of an old man colour, but it REALLY suits the E30, and somehow looks far more modern than most of the other colours. Very nice!

I dumped AVG and AVAST when I realised how slow my computers were getting. I'm not really a Microsoft fan, but only use Microsoft security essentials - doesn't seem to slow my stuff down at all, and some of my PC's are 8 years old.

Have you got the twin rear mufflers side by side behind the bumper? (only on has an exit, the other is just a chamber). If so, drag out the hole saw and make a hole in the empty chamber - mate did it on his touring and it sounds great when being caned, but never obtrusive. Has a nice rumble down low too. If you wanted, you can weld a pipe from the hole into the existing tail pipe.

I ended up downloading a few of those russian car crash compliations onto my media centre and watch them surprisingly often... I've also got an incar DVR coming to video the retards on the road

It's hard to say what it is, but if you have a bit over 100K on the clock, and the bushes etc haven't been done, it's probably due. Our car had 115K on when I did it all. I guess in theory, if it's brakes, you should have the shimmy at all speeds when braking. If it's bushes etc, it tends to do it at certain speeds (at least on E39's, it's usually around that 80-100 bracket, under light to medium braking). If you choose to do the brakes first, just be aware that it will make very little long term difference IF it is bushes. As I say, I never touched the brakes, and our shimmy has gone 100%, and all the front suspension was original. I replaced the control arm bushes, thrust arm bushes, tie rods, shocks and top hats, sway bar links, and sway bar bushes. E38's are renowned for shimmies from worn parts - they ride and handle so well that something has to wear with absorbing all those shocks and loads - it's all those parts above, and they need relatively regular replacement to be "right".

Very likely! Our E39 used to have a slight shake braking from 80 down to 100. Rebuilt the front end, and no shake whatsoever now. E38's and E39's eat suspension.

Got all the paper works to proof FUNCTIONAL STEERING WHEEL DYNMATIC STABILITY CONTROL YOU WONT MISS IT!!!

No tamper dot showing doesn't gaurantee accurate milage - it's pretty easy to get around. The tamper dot showing is more likely caused by fitting a used LCM with a non matching VIN.

I assume the non M E46's are similar to the M54B25 in our E39, which works on 2350 litres of fuel. With our average fuel consumption (lots of town driving) of 10.3L/100 kms, it works out to around 22800kms. If it's been serviced like that all it's life, it's done it no harm - the inside is VERY clean - I was a bit worried when I took the rocker cover off to do the Vanos seals as to what I might find, but I was pleasantly surprised. It may have always had the correct oil in though. I have changed the Service Interval litres to give me a service interval of about 15K, which is fine for an engine run on the correct oil with 6.5L on board..... ... but as mentioned - probably not ideal for an M3 that gets a work out every now and then!

You used to be able to register an import as just about anything in the "model" field. What you wrote on the form was what went on the sticker. Dunno it it's changed yet. That's how some cars ended up with RANDOM names like "Ford Falcon 4.0 Aut GLi Sedan" and others were "Ford Falcon" Or my favourite - there is a VW Variant (70's Aircooled station Wagon) which is registered in NZ as "Volkswagen Valiant"

Saw that this morning. Could be good, could be a pile - depends how much the owner liked it! It'd take some big danglies to buy it though... Major reapirs to it could be expensive!

330Ci weighs around 1430kgs manual, 530i seems to be around 1530kgs manual Me? I'd buy a 530i motorsport and get it manualified. The V8s are nice, but do require a bit of maintenance. The 6 cylinders have less expensive issues on average, and are easier to make manual. When it come to resale, a manual 530i is pretty rare, and pretty desirable. The manual seriously makes a massive difference - our manual 525i goes really well - I'm sure most on here don't realise how well. Whichever you get, you'll want some extra money for things like Vans seals, Disa Valves, CCVs, suspension bushes, cooling systems etc, etc etc! Don't spend ALL the cash on the car!

I wonder how much damage is hidden in the front.... Have it checked if you aren't sure.

There was always the 518i My mate put one in the Demo derby and it did awesome!