Allanw

"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!

I see not a single motorsport item on it.... Not even the suspension. There is a chance that a dodgy salesman sold it to them as a motorsport based entirely on the wheels alone. It's happened before! VIN WBAAN16080NE11250 Type code AN16 Type 320I (EUR) E series E46 (4) Series 3 Type LIM Steering RL Doors 4 Engine M54 Displacement 2.20 Power 125 Drive HECK Transmission AUT Colour TITANSILBER METALLIC (354) Upholstery STOFF FLOCK RAUTE/ANTHRAZIT (E3AT) Prod.date 2000-11-09 S204A ANTRIEBSAUSLEGUNG EXPORT Shorter final drive ratio S205A AUTOMATIC GETRIEBE Automatic transmission S240A LEDERLENKRAD Leather steering wheel S313A AUSSENSPIEGELPAKET Fold-in outside mirror S354A GRUENKEIL-FRONTSCHEIBE Green windscreen, green shade band S411A FENSTERHEBER,ELEKTRISCH VORN/HINTEN Window lifts,electric,front/rear S423A FUSSMATTEN IN VELOURS Floor mats, velours S428A WARNDREIECK Warning triangle and first aid kit S434A INTERIEURLEISTEN Interior surface aluminium S441A RAUCHERPAKET Smoker package S465A DURCHLADESYSTEM Through-loading system S470A KINDERSITZBEFESTIGUNG ISOFIX Isofix-System S473A ARMAUFLAGE VORN Armrest front S534A KLIMAAUTOMATIK Automatic air conditioning S548A KILOMETERTACHO Kilometer-calibrated speedometer S661A RADIO BMW BUSINESS Radio BMW Business (C43) S692A CD WECHSLER I-BUS VORBEREITUNG Preparation, BMW 6-CD changer I-bus L807A JAPAN-AUSFUEHRUNG NATIONAL VERSION JAPAN S818A BATTERIEHAUPTSCHALTER Battery master switch S823A HEISSLAND-AUSFUEHRUNG Hot-climate version S845A AKUSTISCHE GURTWARNUNG Acoustic belt warning S875A INFRAROTFERNBEDIENUNG Infrared remote control S925A VERSANDSCHUTZPAKET Transport protection package S992A STEUERUNG KENNZEICHENBEFESTIGUNG Control of number-plate attachment

Nice A mate of mine just brought an early E36 318is - I should really show him this I'm worried his Mrs will find out it was me though

Yeah... it would take a LOOOOOOONG time to recoup the $13,000-ish premium in the fuel savings... but then that's never stopped people before!

Did Whangarei to Kawakawa, to play trains. Used 7.2L/100kms on the way up. but managed to change the average to 7.9 coming back due to having a kidney stone and rushing a bit..... Plus we followed an E92 M3 with the plate GO4IT2

Ours is just the standard one. Anyone know if the Jap ones have the same exhaust as Euros? I know some of the other models didn't.

The worn area is much weaker and can lead to a door coming off in an accident. In Theory. It's a common failure point on old cars. I just got new ins and a reamer for my VW, as it had a small amount of play.

Pretty sure the motorsport ones are just a different tip in effect. I'm not sure that much would be gained in performance from an exhaust? The one on our 525i is HUGE and non of it seems terribly restrictive, although I have no facts or info to back that up

At least there was no more face burning! Well done! My secong engine swap was a 1.8 auto Impreza to 2.0 manual - had to split and merge the two car looms... my wife was PISSED when she saw what I'd done It went back together OK though.

I think perhaps that is what happened to my mate - ended up as a $7k bill.

Do lots of Googling! Some of the Engines have issues (N42 I think) Personally, I'd find a well looked after 328i/330i Manual. Fuel consumption isn't bad at all (hauling similar weight to the smaller engines anyway) and the manual trans really wakes them up - any of them!