rogan

We'll settle on a charcoal Honda. I've heard the stereo in that car, one of the louder music bass systems around (not talking test tones). I know one guy who was physically sick after being in the back seat for a while. Not my kind of stereo system but the 3 piece sub box is a work of art. For everyone else we're talking about CSS on Wairau Rd. One of the few shops in Auckland I'd recommend I do a fair amount of business with them and I wouldn't go anywhere else. Their good sales guys know their stuff, don't feed you with marketing bs and they give sharp prices. Looks like International got the bad egg on a bad day. Rapid is a mystery to me. It has a great reputation and caters to the affluent market yet the brands they carry are decidedly average, I surprised they don't carry some of the high end brands like DLS and Focal to cater for their 'money is no object' customers. It's almost criminal what they put into $80K+ cars. Alpine stuff I can accept in those value cars, but Soundstream and Sony no way.

lol I know exactly who you're talking about.

Rapid is pretty expensive, and Mark's a very good salesman. I certainly wouldn't call Alpine Type E 'quality', I dislike them immensely, the tweeters are harsh and the mids aren't anything to write home about. $60 fitting sounds a bit steep but then I'm a diyer so I'm out of touch with fitting prices. The type R are OK but also have a listen to the Infinity speakers in that price range Another outfit to try is PK in Penrose, they have a very good reputation. Don't know what the E36 mounts are like but depth can be an issue for BMs. Certainly the E30 and E46 have depth issues, so it follows that the E36 should have some too. 20K is a sh!tload to have in a car, very few cars in NZ with that amount of gear. And it's easy to quote screaming retail prices rather than what the gear actually costs.

e39 parts wanted: Front driver and passenger door cards. Driver door must be suitable for the memory seat buttons (don't need the buttons themselves). Must be in black Centre console cover to replace the phone fitting one. Again in black. Be interested in angel eyes, clearside and rear lights depending on price.

Optical illusion but the exterior trim makes the rear wheel look way smaller than the front one. Gotta say chrome isn't my thing but should attract some decent attention.

If your front are anything like the e46 328 I had a nosey at, 5.25 don't actually fit. The originals are 5.25 but have a custom in built mount to fit into the factory points. You simply can straight swap a normal 5.25 into them. Rainbow make some speakers that will fit directly in and that's what BSW use on bimmerfest in their upgrade packages. Same with the rear, normal 5.25 won't drop in. How much upgrade the Rainbows give for the price? I have no idea and I understand that they're not cheap. Pauls Audio in Christchurch should be able to tell you over the phone (or email) what models will fit and give you some pricing. http://www.paulsaudio.co.nz/ The headunit swap isn't a straight in/out either unless yours is like my wife's where there's a normal h/u already in there. My mates 328 has an integrated h/u (like my 540) and they're a pain. To be honest I thing you're gonna have to spend a fair bit more than $1K to get a good upgrade and then the question begs is it important enough to you to be worth doing. Subwoofer wise, you're gonna need a decent amount of power and a decent amp to get the sound from boot to car - you could easily spent $1K+ on sub and amp alone. I doubt putting 300rms into a sub in the boot would make a huge difference (unless you've got the ski hatch) but I could be totally wrong on that as I've never heard a sub in an e46.

That's exactly what the girl at LTSA told me, but then she refered me to s.14 of the Transport (Vehicle and Driver Registration and Licensing) Act 1986. Nowhere does the act mention anything about where they have to be manufactured or issued by, just the stuff in subsection (1) paragraph (a), ie size, shape, font and visbility. I went through the ltsa website trying to find any stuff on it but couldn't find where the girl had got her info from. But at the end of the day, still sure they wouldn't be legal, but would you get a ticket for having them on your car - probably not, but you do run the risk

Jochen, what do you know about alternators. I've got the 120a one on my 540 and will need about 60a for the stereo at normal to high listening levels. I've read there's a watercooled 150a factory alternator but will I need it?? Battery is a din92 (or is it din 95 ? ), so that should be able to handle it and if not I'll find another battery solution. At 123a it would be 1,700 watts. 17,000 would be an absolute sh!te load of current draw

Got mine today, took about 9 days but included the long weekend. The mounting frames are very easy to use and well worth the extra coin. Lined up with the existing rear screw holes and went straight on. Re the legality, I asked around some and the law only specifies that rego plates must be of a certain size with lettering in an approved font. So it's probably a different font and so not legal but I can't see that the font is that much different to the genuine euro plates so can't see it being a big problem.

You're probably be better off just buying a cheap 2nd hand 4ch amp. Can't imagine the reapir bill coming in under say $80 and you could pick up an amp for less if you hunt around.

Meant to reply earlier but never got to it. Done a few 4wds (Rangerover x 2 and Terrano) Yep you get increased bass from having no wall to play through but also your cabin airspace is heaps bigger so there's more air to pressurise. Regardless 2k rms will be hell loud but for that kind of power I'd be looking at bigger power wire - 2ga minimum, maybe even 0ga, depends how hard you're gonna crank it. If it's a beach cruiser, then cover the subs with a decent blanket whilst on the beach, especially if you're running a ported box. Sand is not a sub's best friend. With a sealed enclosure you shouldn't have too much issue with sand but best to veer on the side of caution. The biggest sub I've run in a 4wd is a 10"with 400rms into it and that was plenty, so what you've got will be way overboard. Although I like my bass I'm not a basshead so 400rms is more than enough for me (says he as he plans 1600rms into the e39). Now where's the Pathfinder pics?

Bump, Still looking for some E39 door cards

Thanks for that. I had a google around but couldn't find anything. Even getting the middle up 1.5" is hard. I'll have another crack tomorrow

Bought a new door rubber cos the old ones a bit perished in places. To fit it I've gotta take the sill protector plastic thingy off. Tried a few things but it don't move easily and I don't want to break it. How do they come off?? Slide forward or backwards ??

How do you fit the headlamp washers to it; is it just a case of drilling some holes in the top??

The tops of the windows on our new 1998 e46 are creaking. Sounds like old floor boards. Stops whn I lower the windows out of the rubbers. Guessing the rubber's perished and I need new ones to quieten them down. Interesting it happens on all 4 windows, so is this a general fault; will replacing the rubber get rid of it or will I always have some creaking??

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motors/C...n-117220633.htm Wow. gotta be something dodgy doesn't there? Same car here (same rego) for $49,990 http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motors/C...n-117119481.htm ???????????????????????????????

Firstly, what is your personal perception of BMW? Overpriced quality new, but well worth it second hand. Good solid all round car which does everything reasonably well. Some parts are dirt cheap, some of them are ridiculous. Take the BMW badge on the front bonnet, what are they new $50+, I mean get real, that's advertising for BM so they should be out at minimal price so those who have a faded or stolen one can renew them without big cost. I got a free BM key ring for the dealers, so why is the badge so expensive. And then the key remote battery, it's $12 from BM parts, or $4.50 from Dick Smiths What makes the cars so good? Who said they were so good?? They don't have the reliability of some Jap brands (toyota etc), they don't have the handling and engaging ride of something like an Alfa Romeo. But all round they do all areas well. People rave about the e30, personally I thought it was a complete piece of junk, ffs the designer had a senior moment and forgot to line up the pedals, seat and steering wheel. What do you love about them? The comfort level. The e39 has a real nice solid feel but also smells of luxury. It just says it's gonna get you there comfortably and safely. Oh and did I mention it goes like stink when you hoof it? Secondly, how do you think BMW is regarded New Zealand wide and partcularly by non-BMW owners/drivers? Expensive to buy and maintain. How do you think people in NZ see BMW drivers? As a recent buyer (wife's had one for ages) - complete tossers who value image over value, that or rich. Very similar to new Rangerover drivers. (Damn I own an old Rangerover as well) Thirdly, what do you think of BMW advertising/marketing? Very image orientated, the last TV ads have been a bit flashy, don't tell you anything about the car, just badge promotion. Did it have an effect on your car choice? No, in fact it put me off, but then I'm not your target market. How do you think they could advertise/market themselves better? (1) Get real on the pricing -- true (2) Don't show any pics of the latest models, they're well ugly. The 6 series has grown on me but that's because the 1,3 and 5 scare children

Because yours was valued by a BMW dealer who has no concept of what the car is worth on the private market. Having bought a 1998 e39 540 for $16k (107kms NZnewfsh) and a 1998 e46 318 for $8600 (123kms NZnew fsh) in the last 3 weeks, an e36 Msport 328 ain't worth $15k, but you should be able to get $9 to $11 for it

Rightee, water pump out, looks fine, impeller all good and defo not the problem so back in it goes. Hooked the radiator up to the fresh water and gave it some blast and no problems with water flowing through it. So put it all back together with no thermostat and with no fan on the water pump. Bled the thermostat housing and the top of the radiator. Ran it up to 1/2 on the temp dial - centre of the radiator is still stone cold. So I figure radiator is the problem. Is there anyway these can be flushed out well. The radiator's only 2 years old and car is used as a daily commuter from the Nth Shore to the CBD

Radiator is an option, could be blocked but I figure it's easier to yank the water pump out and check that out first. Defo not the thermostat

20K, shi!t. My budget is about $8k and I reckon I'll have a hard to beat sq system. If you're spending that much cash on audio, go see Chris at Pauls Audio and have a good long chat about options. He knows his stuff. Personally I wouldn't recommend the E30 as a sq car, you sit far to far to the sides of the car and the dash isn't deep enough - this creates path length differences between drivers which are difficult to overcome even with the best time alignment and eq'ing. With the way the car is set up there's limited options of angling pods for on-axis sound, and the only way I can see of getting any decent staging and imaging into an E30 is to use horn loaded compression drivers under the dash and put the midbass drivers in the doors. I'm not convinced the under-dash shape of the E30 is suitable for horns (need a curved surface to extend the horn throat up lifting the sound stage to winscreen level). I'll be putting horns in my E39 - will be a very interesting experiment

Got an E30 318 M40 and there's a cooling problem. Cooked it about 2 years ago; got new radiator, new water pump, thermostat and heater core then a few months later had to replace some plastic hoses. It's started to do some funny thing with the temp gauge so had a feel of the radiator and it was hot at top and bottom but cold in the middle. I've pulled out the thermostat and put the housing back on, refilled it and then ran it. Same thing happened. radiator top and bottom hot, middle is cold. So I'm thinking waterpump. I'm fairly mechanical so shouldn't be a problem pulling it out, but how do I get the radiator fan off - looks like I just need a big spanner - anyone know what size and any other tips on replacing the waterpump?? Thanks

The E30 isn't the greatest car to do audio installs into. The factory front speaker mounts are rubbish. 5 3/8 is the biggest size speakers you can realistically fit unless you do some decent work on the mounting, and even then you can end up having the pack out the trim panel a little to get them to fit behind. I ran tweeters in the triangle by the wing mirrors, the sound is a bit in your face and directional. Next time I'd look at putting the tweeters in the A pillars or maybe in the front corner of the dash just to try and get them a bit further away. I run an old 10"Soundstream Exact off 300rms and it's got plenty of grunt, it's in a sealed 0.75ft3 enclosure pointing through the ski hatch. But your instal depends on your budget / what you're wanting to achieve (street bass / sound quality or somewhere in between), and how much you can do yourself with making sub boxes, mounting for the fronts etc etc

Why not just use the reversing lights feed instead of ignition position 1