kiwi328i

I just went through the whole build. I am guessing by the time I post this there will be another set of wheels on it...lol Nice work bro!

I think they have lost a little soul. The M3, was once compared to everything as it was just so god damn good. It wasnt just good in it's category, it made it's own...and owned it till...recently. That M3/M4 is not the dominant car in it's category. The Caddy, the Camaro, the Audi, the Merc have all been better somewhere, and even beaten it overall, which never used to happen, it doesnt even get compared to cars outside it category like it used to because, it just isnt that dominant anymore. The Nissan GTR is now that car that gets compared to literally everything and only several years later is it coming up short, but then they throw it at literally everything that has 4 wheels on it. The M5 likewise is not the best in its category either, its not the fastest or the lightest or the anything, they used to put the E39 M5 up against everything as well for the same reason. The 1 series, does well, the 2, forget already, the 3, nope bettered by the Jag at the least, the 4, well its a coupe, the 5 nope more people are buying Mercs and Audi's now, the 6, nope Audi has that dicked too, the grand somethings are nice but peeps dont wanna pay and they came too late although I think they are awesome, the 7 looks really good but the S class looks like its sewn that up and they have a seriously good coupe as well which Bmw does not have. The flippin X6M probably fights better in it's class than any other bmw...and I didnt see that coming...

ok. So I got some bigger feet. I managed to buy relatively cheaply (oh yeah this whole shebang is being done on the cheap..well as cheap as). They are old racing tyres, but that's ok, as I only want them for fitting purposes so that I can reform the lips/guards around them. Yes they are flippin enormous, and I wouldn't do any body work if I just wanted ay 275's up there, so went the whole hog and ended up with the other problem of fitment. If you got to this page you would know that the 275/40-17's cant really fit in the back, they hit on compression and I have notched the rear trailing arms, so there is going to be guard work for sure. It's a double skin back there, so no baseball bat job is going to cut it, even hammering it doesn't get you what you want...yes I have tried. SO I thought if I am going to flare the guards I may as well get the right feet on there for an 11" rim and its 315/35-17, if you're American, probably not if you're...not. I think the flared S5 Silhouette used 245/40's on the 11" rears but that's too small an o.d. I always thought E34 wheels were are bit on the tiny side myself. So I got them mounted this morning, here's some pics. I will probably try (that's a BIG TRY) to fit the 275/40's in the front. Here it is next to the puny 225/50-16 on 16x7's, not that these are going to the front. You can also see my recessed headlights, which is a work in progress. I love the twin headlights, and any BMW with twins is usually awesome. I also like the old 70's recessed headlight look, so I have done a bit of work...ok lots of work butchering it up, but I hope it looks nice in the end. This is just a closer shot. These are the monstrous pair next to my Navara. The Navara could do with a bit more grip, that thing slides everywhere. Slow progress...but progress nevertheless. OH...I found the ecu and the chipped B30 chip too.

I would like 2. Pref legal. Mostly for sizing but if they are legal, yay. Whatever you might have stuck in the garage, and please be cheap. please text me on 021795306. Auckland if you can. Cheers Lionel

Whoever munted those wheels should be driving around on steelies. Unbelievable damage!

Yeah sure I have it here somewhere in the original ECU so it should be just plug and play, get me on 021795306

The B30 has been dismantled totally as a miniature project for my daughter and I. Ha, so its all apart ready to go on the trailer.

"I think Polly summed it up once in a thread, buy some bloody oil, change the filter, do an oil change, close the bonnet and just go enjoy your car." Yep, thats what I do. I own a car that is 22 years old. The oil I put in it now has a level of technology that is well past the level of technology BMW had in it's original design. I buy some 'decent' oil, not the best, and well past the worse, it's either Castrol or something, it's synthetic and it gets changed regularly with an oil filter every second one. If I had an M3 or M5 or something, I would just buy the best whatever, that's a different level altogether.

http://www.motortrend.com/news/bmw-e30-wagon-takes-on-2016-bmw-340i-on-ignition-wvideo/ This was awesome. I guess NZ might have a few hot E30's that would be up to the grade of this one?

I can only comment on AKG, I have used their Bump steer spacers, rear trailing arm bushes at 85a, which is for road use they have 75d also for race. I have also used their spherical thrust arm bushes and I like their cost/value ratio. Fitments all good. I prefer those modifications recommended by them, over stock.

Getrag 420g 6 speed

Everyone would/could have their E34 for sale at the right price. What is your budget range?

VW just hurt the trust people have in them. If you didn't like them in the first place, then it doesn't really matter. Diesel isn't going anywhere. Everyone is fibbing. If car reviewers cannot manage to get within cuue (how do you spell that anyway?) of achieving manufacturers fuel economy in the real world, I doubt they can achieve ANY of the emissions figures either.

Mum's car is playing up. We think this is the culprit. Cheap or free or dead cheap would be cool. Could be Fuel pump but could be something else altogether also? Please text me with what you have. Cheers Lionel 021795306

Blenheim wherever that is?

As title states. I havent bought tyres like this for ages. Any recommendations? Cheers

Once you have had leather, its hard going back to cloth, even in other peoples cars. lol

Go adrenalines in you can. Bridgestone have a four for the price of three at the moment. Which is as expensive as 5 somewhere else probably, but you pay for quality. Personally I try to run brigeys, or anything with a stiff sidewall and fairly square-ish shoulders. Heavy cars, no good with squishy sidewalls.

Agreed, but its a good brush, just too new really. On wood its fine, but it stands out in leather. You are always going to get some bristles out of any brush. The main point is, take them out physically or dry and sand, but most importantly, the heavy brush strokes really show out. To get to this quality you need to spray it really, but with such a low pressure spray the old school part of me just really want to get in there! Hence the brush work.

S$#t that's some history. Well they are now a much lighter manual version and should last for years more. The E34/E32 leather is wicked. I also have the back seat but mine is as good condition so neither here or there. I have the leather console, but I have been thinking of going full custom, something lower profile etc. I still have to do those big meats too come summer, I guess the fact the car is running beautifully means I just wanna drive the blasted thing. I will get some in-car shots of the seats. Here's some more shots. Electric headrest thingy...out you go! See the silicone I have put at the bottom of this bolster. The bolster material disintegrates over time as it hits the metal chassis of the chair, which is why you might see yello/orange brownish bread crumbs under your seat. So a sliver of this inside the cavity will stop this somewhat. I let it dry before assembly. Just checking fitment. The chassis are very close, only subtle differences, but still check 15 times fit once as they say. So checking fitment of side bolsters with clean tatty leather, both bolsters have been 'siliconed' for strength and peace of mind, just the cavities. Same check, but with bolsters cleaned, filled, sanded, filled , sanded and brush painted many times, then sprayed 3 times, 3 clear coats. Remember the spray coats are light as. Here I have jammed a hunk of padding in the lumbar area. Flash aye? I have also doubled the amount of bracing bits in certain areas because...I can. See the unpainted areas...big difference, and I was going from blue too. Just a paint brush at this stage. If the leather wasn't so buggered I may have used bits of foam. So I just poured it into an old ice cream container and painted them nicely, you don't want large brush strokes OR bristles in your leather. I ended sanding sh*t loads of bristles out, hence the numerous coats, so plenty of sanding too between coats. In this picture I am showing you the plastic cable ties. Bull nose clips..hell no, too heavy too much hard work for me. So they all get thrown out. Cable ties also mean you set the tension and they are a lot more flexible...or not depending on how you work them suckers.

Oh, cant remember the cost, but if I bought it, it must've been cheaper than any other alternative because I hate spending money.

http://bimmersport.co.nz/topic/49215-1993-530i-v8-5-speed-manual-m60b40-swap/page-6#entry580512 Put something up for ya.

Well here is a few pics from a few months ago now, with the leather restoration. Give them a clean as you do, do your carpets etc whilst you are in there. Its not too bad to do holes as I was swapping seats I had a lot of sacrificial leather hanging around, with the filler and glue, it's a breeze, if you can do basic panel beating you can do this, pays to have some natural artistry to you too I guess. Its pretty bad, another way would be to totally replace these I guess, but I like old s%$t and oh well. Normal clean, then of course there is the cleaner in the kit So once you have cleaned it too death, fill in the bits you really think needs it, you could spend a lifetime at this stage and if you want it looking new, this would be the hard way, I still wanted an old patina of sorts. With the filler and laborious sanding it's very rewarding. The turps takes off the glean and really is the etching stage. You can use a more specialized primer at this stage but I think Turps...S%$t could be meths, cant remember is vastly cheaper. Now its starting to blend in with the old leather, I used a brush too at this stage as the leather was pretty brutal...hence the brutal approach. Rubbing between is good, you don't have to be too fussy at this stage, not if you are spraying later, but you don't want large brush marks either. So in general you concentrate on the worst of the leather, no point layering in areas that are still good. Mind it's relative, these were pretty bad, so lots of elbow grease on these. The back seats of our cars will be a breeze. I wont even use filler, no need for glue and might go straight to spray for example. This is looking good now but keep in mind there could be 5-6 coats in some of the more worn areas. This is pretty much it. You don't need the last clear coat, but I wanted the better wear value included. Obviously you need loads of sandpaper of various grades just use your head. Pliers for all of those pesky bullnose clips in my case. You need plenty of rags, you need to buy your own Meths, yeah meths. You can make a fair mess with just two front seats and you need room to lay everything out methodically (theory of course, my garage was an abomination). So I bought a 3x4m Marque cheap s^%t one off trademe. Got a reel of number 8 and cut it in 12 inch lots to tie various pieces to the under carriage of the Marque. The instructions are comprehensive. But in general, use a very low pressure, high volume? Cant remember, but I just go by instinct. If you can paint, you can paint. Be patient, drying times a relatively quick too. This was an enjoyable mini project within the bigger project. Much more enjoyable than finding vacuum leaks that's for sure... I don't have pics in the car or fully assembled as I had to do that part real quick. But its been 8 months in the car, there has been some stickiness between the leather initially but then they settle. I think they look great, and so I have myself a full seat of front seats in black leather, not dark blue, that are fully manual and s*&t loads lighter than the originals. Im happy. Enjoy

Boy that would be a long shot. probably easier doing the german ebay thing...probably cheaper too, us kiwis dont like selling the rare stuff, we tend to hold on to it and hoard it. ha

I used the products from Paul Ford Leather. He is awesome, he makes sure you understand everything! paulfordleather@gmail.com The weather is getting perfect for this. I set up a marque and went the various stages of cleaning, prepping, dye then dye fixing with clear. I am lucky I have access to tools and a compressor and spray guns etc. Mine came out awesome. It's also a very satisfying job. Well the leather part is anyway, pulling seats out and s*&t wasn't too cool. Mine hasn't rubbed off on me or anything, it doesn't look perfect because I wanted to retain the fact they are old and worn, unless you want the leather to look new where by you will need re-leathering which is replacing the leather altogether. I will try to get somepics for ya