Mark

Pretty much everything is different between E30 and E21 as the E30 was a ground up redesign of the 3 series platform. Regardless, if you build an E21 that looks like that I will bow down to you sir.

OEM pads will produce the least dust. Unfortunately, dust is an unwanted side effect of good brake pads. You can buy wheel cleaners that repel dust making it easy to rinse off the dust with a hose.

Nana, is that you?

Beau and Jamez are the 2 members of the "I like to rock just one smiley" club. Perhaps you could swap so you have matching sets? Might be paper scissors rock for the smileys yeah? BTW, car looks hot... do want.

Nice M3! Welcome to bs.... What colour is your interior? Looks kind of olive, but that could just be the pics.

It's "pics or ban" round here old man! I'll help you out though... Maybe joining here will give you a kick up the arse about doing something with the car. Forum peer pressure does a great job of helping empty your wallet.

HB bro!

I can go take a look at it for you if you like? Looks pretty tidy... wanna swap the leather for my cloth sports interior?

They're just a VW Golf in fancy clothes. The 1.8 turbo cars go alright but are known to have turbo problems. Parts won't be hard to source, but you'll be paying a bit more for servicing and maintenance than a Jappa because that's just what happens. You'll get some good advice over at the VASK forums. vask.org.nz

15 inch HARTGE's for 50 bucks! Deal of the century if they're not buckled. 4x100 is a fairly common stud pattern too. Honda, Mazda, Rover etc.

Try taking a look at the thermostat. My car used to make the same noise, it would even sometimes stall when warm. It was because the thermostat was stuck half shut tricking the ECU into adjusting the air fuel mixture too rich and causing the engine to bog down and hesitate etc.Â

Haha... I had the same problem, I didn't realise there was a valve either so I replaced the T-junction with a garden irrigation piece from Bunnings. I failed a warrant on that because the inspector insisted my screen washer didn't work.... however he hadn't held the lever on for long enough. Passed as soon as I showed him though. Learn something new every day eh!

Jap import car? Sounds like you have the dreaded "Jatco Jerk". The problem generally occurs between 1st and 2nd gear. The reason it doesn't happen when you have Winter mode selected on the transmission is because this instructs the transmission to start off in 2nd gear. I had this exact problem on my E36 and I documented my attempt to fix the problem here: Jatco Jerk - Official thread To be honest, the easiest (EDIT: and cheapest) way to solve the problem is either a manual conversion, or replace the auto with the ZF trans.

Rinsing the car without the nozzle is definitely a good idea, but only because of what I said above which is that it helps the water sheet off the car leaving less water to dry off the car. There isn't polish in any car wash I've heard of. Polish by nature is a compound which gently smooths off the surface of the clearcoat to rid the clearcoat of imperfections. It's like very fine liquid sandpaper. Polish isn't something that stays on the car, you're supposed to buff it off. If your old man means blasting off the "wax" with the high pressure nozzle then: 1) Car Wash and Wax combos are useless IMO. and 2) Wax does gradually break down, but usually over a few months, I certainly wouldn't waterblast a freshly waxed car!

Don't use a chamois... they just leave streaks. Buy a big pack of microfibre cloths. And +1 to what Jib said about washing and drying it in the shade. Also, once you've finished washing, take the spray nozzle off the hose and douse the car with water again, the water will sheet off better meaning there's less water to wipe off the car. As for car wash products to use: I use Kitten gentle car wash, comes in a red bottle. It's cheap and doesn't damage your wax finish. Use a lambs wool mitt if you can... and the two bucket method. One for the car wash solution and one for rinsing the mitt after each panel. This stops you scraping grit from one part of the car all over the other parts which is the main cause of swirl marks in the clearcoat. Oh and wax, wax, wax! Saves a lot of effort down the line when next washing the car!

If it's been sitting a while it could be a combination of things. Sticking caliper / old perished brake lines / failed booster etc. Perhaps flush the brake fluid with some nice new stuff and go from there.

I always see this car around town. God it's heinous! Looks like a retarded German version of Knight Rider.

Beautiful! And I see Henry left you some fresh skidmarks to grunge up the photo a bit!

Link to DL the 1280x960 version. http://www.megaupload.com/?d=LT5HUYB6

Track rod / tie rod end has come loose or needs new balljoints etc? Failing that just adjust your driving style to accommodate

Yep, is def HDR... Andrew: Shot was taken in the deserted industrial area at the end of Bernard Street off Lincoln Road. ^^^ Bro, pretty sure it was Bernard Street? Meh... one of those ones!

Does your warranty specify an AA approved repairer? MTA approved repairer or other?

My brother came round this afternoon to try out some of the new photography equipment he got for Christmas. This is the result: If only my paintwork looked that good in real life! Thanks bro!

HB bro!

HB Jase... hope you're working on getting the V8 up and running again!