kiwi328i

Do I think differently of Clarkson after this ruckus? Meh, it just got him over the threshold, it was the straw that broke the camels back. he has done a load of daft things in the past...they caught up with him. He is a buffoon, a self proclaimed one at that. We all know this. Two and a half men. Similar problem in my mind. The main actor was also the heart of the show, with everyone else playing superfluous roles. The mucky stuff hit the fan, and the shows producers made the executive call. They fixed it by bringing in a big name douche, to replace the big name douche. Whether it worked or not is anyone's guess. Viewing times play into that as well. For me it changed the way I thought about the show. I didn't watch one episode with the new douche in there, because it would be too different, it might have be better even? I don't care even if it was better, but what's better anyway, I didn't give it a chance, some will some wont. For me with Clarkson going, I may continue to watch it, because of my love of cars...but to be fair it will be cringe worthy, on top of it already being cringe worthy in parts. Everyone is replaceable. But whether people will continue to tune in, that's another thing. He has been doing this sort of thing, car reviewing that is for decades, and it had to stop at some stage. I will miss the idiot, like many will. He is not just the heart of the Top Gear show, for many he was also the sole representative of the BBC. It's the only program I watch from them. Top Gear Australia, is like X-factor Australia and Who wants to be a Millionaire Australia, the same format, but it's the characters and their symbiotic relationships that really make the show, and those shows are just...urgh. The originals are hard to imitate well, good luck finding a replacement for Clarkson, if indeed that's what they are thinking. I cannot help thinking the other car shows are rubbing their hands with glee, having been relegated to minor positions for as long as anyone can remember. Top Gear elevated itself above a car show some time ago. I know families and non-car enthusiasts who watch the show regularly, it really is something else. Rant over.

Agreed, priceless and scarily naïve. Who are we to argue? He has his specs.

I am crossing my fingers that this person is not a Bimmersport member. The answers to questions given are childish. That's not the problem of course, but if this is blatant deception, then people need to know.

Hey guys, Any of you see this advertised? I cannot tell if he just doesn't know, or we all don't know anything, or whether he is deluded or what? But even more curious...where the heck are these claims from? http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/bmw/auction-863782514.htm What a hoot!

hi, As the title states, I need to severely roll the arches on the E34. Just squeeze them flat, not push them out any further merely folding the inner lip up flat to the underside of the original lip. Can I borrow one? I would rather do it proper this time around all of my prior rides have been...umm err not so proper. West Auckland I can collect from anywhere really, wont take long I don't think. Cheers Lionel 021795306

You have options, but the main 2 for me would be, if you need the car on the road, it's either a daily driver or whatever, I would just put some silicone on a slighter bigger screw/bolt and just have it catch. It will seal, and be a temp fix, the nm's on them isn't that great and your permatex could probably seal and attach that thing even without bolts. This is not soo ideal, but if you need a running car and you don't have time, I would suggest doing that. If you don't need to drive the thing for awhile. Do it properly, clean it to within an inch of its life, especially the threaded holes, blow them clean if you can and get it rethreaded/helicoiled (fixed), you could have others. Nice new gasket, torque it nicely and evenly and for peace of mind, you may not need to drop it for years, if ever.

Yes apparently. Check out those fullahs doing the M60B44 conversions. 4.4 bottom end, 4.0 heads, intake etc OB1, and full frontal, some gaskets and silicone and bam. Most of the benefits of the larger capacity and the more reliable M60 timing gear, and being OB1, able to mate up to the older Bmws. Conspiracy blokes reckon they got cheap with the M62, maybe?

FWIW I got my muffler delete from Woolf Mufflers, not 10 minutes from you. So he has to cut it off, and replace it with some straight pipes, welding it to the original brackets. One of the best weight savings I have done. Sounds good I guess, its not that high polished tingle you get from spending thousands on remus etc, but its acceptable, and to my ears nicer than the way too quiet standard. Mines an E34, but I am guessing the changes would be similar. He put some tips on too and painted the pipes black so from the outside you would be none the wiser.

Its been awhile. So I bought these massive ex-commodore arrows three piece wheels late last year. I got Arrows to bore the hub out to 72.6, so that's sorted. I got the 275/40 17 mounted. As far as my investigations on googleland showed me...there were not bigger widths on any size rim that could actually fit without a wide-body kit or similar, so I played it safe. The yanks throw 305 and 315 widths on 11's but as far as I could tell it wont really work on an E34. So..I was told they were ET20. I did some calculations and there are actually 22.5. Not the best way to go, so I try to fit them, and bang, trailing arm. Out comes the grinder, then the whole fit, grind, fit, grind, fit, grind, fit...anyway quite a bit of grinding later it still doesn't fit. Bang...Shock absorber, and I think the original thinner shocks would have been better, but hey. So I put some spacers in there,and yeah like a very long triangle, a 10mm extension at the bottom, might give you a couple of mm or so. Doesn't help that when you drop your car the camber is positive till you drive a few metres then the tops roll in naturally and bam, hits the shock absorber, so after making some horrible grating noises with the rim trying to carve into the side of the shock...I buy some hub-centric 10mm spacers with extended lugs. Better this time, I will still weld the plate into the rear trailing arm but even with the spacer its close everywhere, it did hit my mildly rolled lips, but with some more rolling, it might get there...next week. Enough for today, too warm and I got to get to The Eagles. Heres a pic, what ya reckon?

Yeah possibly, but the E34 interiors are hard wearing, the leather in these things age very well as does the rest of it, well compared to my E36, even my headliner is a 100 times better than the E36 I had. In terms of this car though, its only done 163k which is great, my 2nd hand engine did more than that, ha which is less than the 200k miles the original did, so enough to suggest its had all the main things done, but not enough to cause any concern. I noticed that the valve covers on this one have either been blasted or painted, suggesting, plugs, oil, filter? valve cover seals should/may have been done, which is great. That sort of previous care, is what I would be looking for as well. It's bloody tidy this one.

Ha, sad but true, but the stuff that works really well on E34's are E31 OEM stuff, esp wheels and brakes, I even have spherical front uppers and lowers, so I have already have some E31 $$$ stuff. I tend to go aftermarket only because I want to do more driving than maintenance, and that's when the good stuff really counts...and costs. Having an E34 has made me think twice about getting up into an E31 regardless of how 'good' they may look, like what you said...x2...x3??? Back on topic, don't judge an E34 on its bodywork, because they are tough, the suspension esp anything with a bush, bearing, anything plastic or anything that can degrade..will. And this is a V8, slightly harder to service etc, and more costly again. But what fun to be had!!!

Unfortunately the 'budget car' scenario only gets worse with these. Initial price for the amount of car you get is very good I think. 1, Then you have to buy parts for it, and being the heavy car it is, it hard on everything, so basically overhaul everything.. 2, But wait, you cant buy crap stuff, you have to get the BEST stuff, because these things eat crap for supper 3, But wait, even the BEST OEM stuff has its limits, and when you are driving it like you rented it.. 4, The aftermarket stuff, has now made your car where you wanted it to be when you bought it, but now 'budget car' it is not. 5, Anything that was connected to anything that was passable, is now going to be mud soon too because everything is now harder and firmer than before...so they need replacing (see note1 and start again) ha. But mate, I have my car exactly where I want it now after spending a bit of money (cough cough) and I would drive it ahead of anything else I can think of, only because, its fairly rare, it looks awesome, its not super refined, or fast, but it gets the westie nod of approval everywhere I go, and that means as much to me as anything.ha.

The bodies hold up really well, its all the suspension stuff that I would want to know about, I don't think many on here spend a lot on E34 body work, because it's mostly solid, but the coin that goes on the suspension...have big pockets is all I want to say.

Gavin at Euro Italian as you're over the Shore, would be one contact? 15 Saturn Place, Albany 09-444 9817

Welcome Vince, I had 2 factory towbars for both of my E34's, to the dump they both went. Pity. Nice looking wagon. TDS, cant be many of those around?

Wow I have only heard about doing the ZF manual front casing onto M3 box in theory, but cant find any info on it actually being done, until I saw this. Awesome. I considered getting the TTV flywheel also, but I got mine machined for less here, well kinda, I got a hunk of metal fit on to an auto ring-gear which together is in effect the flywheel made here much cheaper, but sure the TTV piece looks very nice.

Welcome. You will learn loads here, I know I do, which means you will save loads from this site. There are E34 and E36 owners and enthusiasts galore on here. Like you I had an E36, but a 328i and loved it to bits, learnt heaps, changed heaps, but found the E34 just..I dunno, more desirable in an old school way. Went from 2.5, 3.0 to 4.0. But I love my E34 in a way I didn't with the E36. The E36 was a better car in most ways, I cant put a finger on it, but I think its because I could forgive the shortcomings of the E34 more than the E36 maybe. It didn't help that the interior of the E36 collapsed around me like a deck of cards.

I have used Pauls' products, and whilst I haven't used any others, it's nice to back a fellow Kiwi who is enthusiastic about leather refurbishment. My supper tatty blue turned up shiny black and just well bloody awesome. He is very helpful, he will ensure you have no doubts about what you are doing, with a bombardment of texts, emails and calls. He goes the extra mile, there is no stone unturned I tell ya.

Do you have a budget? Any define your 'good', I assume as in good sounding? Good sounding with some added performance potential? Because this bunch of enthusiasts are going to spit out names and numbers like...mobile numbers.

I think you just got a whole load of opinions about poly bushes. I am guessing you were actually asking about our opinions on you getting pinged for having poly bushes? I have had plenty of cars with poly bushes, none of them have been pinged. I got this from googleland, and I would tend to agree from my own experience, but I could be wrong... "Says the LVVTA: “A vehicle is not required to be certified to the Low Volume Vehicle Code where a suspension modification is the sole modification, and the following criteria is met, provided that the safe performance of the vehicle is not compromised.”... ...(d) Aftermarket suspension bushes may be substituted for the originals, provided they are made from an appropriate material such as polyurethane, and there has been no cutting or machining of the suspension arms to fit them; I guess they may have you on 'sole modification', but I think whilst he may have an opinion about using poly in certain areas for whatever reason, he is just dead wrong about it being a WOF issue. I am calling BS on this one.

Would be nice to see that happen. It would be one of the more impressive projects if it came to light. Nothing quite like a really nice E38.

Just seeing if I can resurrect this thread., from the dead... I was looking at cheap (relative) diy kind of hanging around type options for our beloved E34's on google, and this old post, was the best one I reckon, all the way back to NZ. No real surprise there, a nice surprise actually. So...who remembers this thread, who had them, and is anyone still making them?

You can still make the most of that donor 728i. Move all the better stuff over, but tbh the 750il, stuff you would think is better? At the end of the day, your biggest calling card is the V12, that is the thing you have to secure. For a lot heartache, going to a swb version is not worth it I don't think. You can move all the better interior over from the 728i and you are half way there. But heck go for it, if you want to, mucking around with cars isn't always supported rationally. Having a LWB V12 probably isn't that rational anyway, so what the hey? Sometimes doing stuff with our cars, is because you want to, because you see the justification, and that's all that matters. Cheers

What a mission. You would want to take everything off the front of the V12, everything north of the firewall and the transmission and throw it under the 728i. Work out what you have left. I am guessing the steering is different as well. It will be a load of work and you would want a large garage, under cover at least, because you are going to have lots and lots of parts hanging around. label everything and have containers for everything. Exhausts will be different obviously, but your front suspension will have to swap over as well. You would have to ask yourself if it really is worth it? Certification...and to think you will only have what you had in the beginning, a V12 E38, less than standard,. You may be going upwards from a 728i, but you are going backwards from a std 750i, to a 728i with a V12? That's how I would look at it. I would rather spend the money doing the body on your 750iL. It is supposed to be that length.

Hi, You say the left. Is it just the left? Or are both sides equally yuck? it look like brake pad dust to me. Autosol should fix that, maybe some 800 grit if its really mucky. If its only the left, I would take a look at the caliper and make sure it's working as it should, it may be that, the left side is taking the brunt of the braking force? Some cheap brake pads, maybe not so cheap too, but some pads inherently produce more brake dust than others.