Jacko

I have done the good 130 every 7000 for the last 10 years, but I screwed with the coding for the CBS, so now it triggers every 7k ish anyway... never had that error before though!

Manual conversions sell for 3.5k+ by themselves. Is that the BMW Performance backbox?

Exhaust back on, now with symmetrical thrust again, then I started playing with the steering wheel... This was an absolute ball ache and I'm never doing it again Started with an easy fix for skanky lemons steering wheel, stitch on a new cover. Turns out the cover i got was a 1:1 copy of the original leather.... So I thought, cool let's just remove the original leather. Things escalated. Found some 2mm EVA foam (quite cool sh*t, its hold it shape once heated, cos play people use it) and then 3m77 and refoamed the wheel, then install new cover. IPA cleans off the destroyed soft touch rubber coating on the centre easily. Total cost, about $34NZD... and waaaaayy too many hours. It's not perfect, but looks pretty good from a foot away and most importantly it feels right.

Had a call around and fairly underwhelmed unfortunately... Best deal was on some of the new BFG Phenoms, but still bit silly for the budget. Anyone tried Bridgestone Supercat Sports? Cant find any reviews anywhere of them, might be a new tyre as well?

Its not far off being allowed inside now that its stopped dribbling sh*t everywhere!

Subframe now part of car again, engine sitting on new mounts, everything torqued and happy. Steering rack all hooked back up with new crush washers and the power steering lines supported by a new technology I'm going to call nuts and bolts, rather than the OEM cable ties and butchery.

Yeah good point, Ive had dragon sports in the past and they were a bit meh, but you're right the name matters for resale rather than how good they are. I get some trade discounts so will make some calls tomorrow.

Looking at new shoes for the Lemonade, I normally write off a bunch of a cheaper ones so am a n00b at all the oddball brands available now. 225/35/19s or maybe 235s (front can rub a little depending on shoulder profile/front camber) whats a good cheap tyre, dont want to put trash on it but also have to make it make sense. Laufenn LK03s? Any suggestions for an allrounder good tyre for the price?

Had the same thing with the Skoda, class action lawsuits in the US against VW result in things changing in their system but have no consequences in NZ. Hence, my 2016 Octavia on its 4th waterpump/thermostat replaced "under warranty", with lots of sh*t fighting to get it (and its still cost me a couple of k). Great car, shocking waterpumps.

Curiously my NZ new 130 was not originally part of the takata recall, as apparently didnt have it fitted (something to do trade deals for japanese market cars at the time), but now it pops up as under recall. Wonder what changed? 3 months to get parts apparently.

51237118370 They're like $10 each from rockauto, small flat blade to pop on and off the clips, takes 30 seconds.

You're looking for the exact opposite of this, use a torch and look along the length where the head meets the rocker cover. Its the lowest point, so it collects on the ledge before dripping over onto the exhaust manifolds. If rocker gasket has just been done, it could be residual oil/degreaser from them cleaning up, or it could be another leak (first thing to check if does has fresh oil along the ledge is bolt torques, if its a silver top could also be broken bolt/s)

Decided to follow the manufacturers suggested bump stop install, may work slightly better... Sump on, for some reason this one was a bitch to get on. Fourth n52 sump I've done but first auto 130, dunno if was the transmission cooler line location or my torn shoulder tendons (still recovering from bike crash) but there was a few more four letter words than "sump" and "auto" used in installation. Front subframe can now go on and will get some real progress.

So not like this then? Great condition, great first car... its neither of those thing https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/130i/listing/5466999213

I made a clean spot, then the rest of it looked terrible, so made another one... then had to stop myself... that'll do Donkey Despite the stupidity, call it period correctness, of the 4 tips its a actually really well made exhaust.