kiwi535

well thats tough.Obviously every thing being as it should a 20 year old car will cost more to run than a 10 year old car,but it will depend entirely on how they have been looked after.If you get an e30 which has been well looked after it could well be that it requires no immediate work whereas a 10 yr old e36 will require its first lot of maintenance.I am not particularly familiar with what goes wrong with e30's or E36's but the E30 will prolly be easier to work on than the e36 in that the e36 will have more computers and more "systems",which if they do go wrong =$$$$,unless you can get them from a wrecker.....and what are you looking at 316's or 325(8's ) to many variables.

Also that realise any car that is over 5 years old WILL require some maintenance,be it radiator,thermostat,water pump,maybe suspension bushings(not unheard in BMW's by the way),and get ready for consumables like brake pads rotors,tyres,filters.......

ok some patience for old skool dude plse!.

I have an old sony system in my 535 with cd player in the boot quality is good but cd player skips like (*&^%$# and wont play some cds at all.I will prolly one day upgrade the head unit.I have an AUX input,must be o the back of the unitCould i hook up a cable to my laptop to get say an itunes playlist on a long trip.?

i would think that the filter would be replaced at an inspection1 or inspection2,prolly every inspection 2

no contest!

are you thinking it will increase the compression or have you got one available and your old one is stuffed????????

I guess "THE COMPUTER" will get the blame

you need to find out if those wheels have the correct offset.In my (limited) experience beemer seem to have a different offse than mst other cars.....The offset is the specfic measurement of the hub face in relation to the centre line of the wheel width.I am sure someone here will know what you need.The other thing to bear in mind is the overall wheel and tire diameter shuold be the same otherwise your speedo will be out.....If you tell your tire place you want 17 inch wheels they have a chart to tell you the closest you can get to your original tyre wheel combo...

has any one tired the ipod car system,i think ithe ipod plugs into a very small radio transmitter and your radio picks it up.......????

if one could be so bold Andrew wot (in simple terms happened)software or hardware?

looking forward to some bimmer talk! and :beer:

whatever you guys decide i wouldnt mind joining ya.....but a carpark??????We wont actually be doing any work will we,what about that pub on thorndon quay,pretty cebtral for all of us .....this thursday????

Page european home st off kent terrace near nissan place.The place is full of older bimmers,they know their stuff but they aint cheap.

i can asure you that the factory location for the amp is in the boot on the lh side(looking from the back of the car)It is mounted high up and doesnt look like an amp at all just a small square box.You didnt really say what year your 535 is it could be a e28 like sparlkles or an e34 (see sig pic).There are a few tricks with stereo upgrades on these cars takea look at this link(for american e 34s but it may help.If you lift the carpet there is a neat little depression in the floor of the boot that would fit a shallow amp /crossovers etc.

the potential for serious NA power is fairly likely.

Failing that, they are nice engines for a turbo, 500 odd hp would be easy enough 

interested in what you would do to an M30........

what parts?????

that picture of the valves is amazing.The chamber is so clean!!!!Is there a "kit "that you but that includes new gasket new boltsetc or do you have to buy it all seperately?Do you buy that stuff from the dealer or sd or ????Glad you getting use of the bentleys!!

and keep going until all the old fluid is gone ussually the new fluid is noticeably cleaner.

most any xhaust place will do it.

look in the phone book for freight companies.I was surprised how cheap it was.I was quoted 130 us per cubic metre and weight wasnt a factor,plus a few other charges.The minumum charge is 130 or so.Container ships come to nz all the time from all over the place.Check it out.Obvously air will be weight dependent.

some say beamer = BMW motorcycle,Bimmer = BMW car.

As for the mods I would say save your money on the performance mods and make cosmetic mods instead......the filter and bigger exhaust wont do much on an already well sorted setup....my 2c

If you want more performance get a second hand 325 or 328 .......and welcome!

for what it is worth unless I am pretty serious my m30 is no rocketship either,top end might be something else tho>>>>>

a bit of car plish will lean most things off.......Most whels cleaners are pretty caustic.Yeah the BBS thing,just compare the bbs catalog with the bmw catalogs.....

most freight is calculated on the overall size of the package. my guess is usps will be your only choice(given you dont want to pay 100).I got a set of mtb forks with usps,took about 6-7 weeks cost 35 us i think.

it looks like cain got a gear for free!

I thought 540 sports were six speeds?