_ethrty-Andy_

yes he does.

as do all of BMWs Mxx 4 cylinders.

every time you waste someones time be it a dealer or any other shop or professional, the price keeps going up. conversaly, the most you send thier way, the price comes down.

good to see progress! i hate doing headliners! changing is easy but refurbing is not enjoyable.

also once yu turn the car off, parked on the side of the road, push the indicator stalk up to first setting and then up again (will spring back to the first setting again), and youll find the park lights on the right hand side of the car only have come on. this is on all BMWs i have tried it on from the E30 onwards, and is also common on many other european cars too. symbol is P<

i guess you hadnt arrived here in the 80s, when there were the biggest cuts in NZ, under a Labour govt.

Councils are all of the problem, and they have got worse since property values have gone up. they just treat home owners like cash cows, endlessly increasing rates, charging someone to put on a deck or build a garage $20k plus in costs before the first sod is turned. Want a new build, cool, $90k in costs. And instead of maintaining the roads berms parks beaches, they go and do stupid vanity projects or solve problems that dont exist. Only reason im not running in this years council elections is because i no longer live in new zealand, sick of this tax anyone that tries to do something with thier life to hand out to either those that cant be bothered, or some slush fund for politicians so the cycle continues.

no they get it new more than weekly, Actually after this post came up i messaged an ex bimmersport member who works there, he confirmed my eyes were correct, and said they wont be changing to Shell any time soon either, and is the same at the Wellington , Palmy and Christchurch Dealers as well. Cant speak for the other ones as part of a different dealer group. Oil is oil at the end of the day, and BMW AG is a different entity to both BMW NZ and the individual dealers, most of which have more than one brand under thier belt here in NZ and probably overseas too.

as i said, an early non vanos.

interesting reading Allan, keep up the good work!

interesting! Definately still Castrol in November when i last went out the back at Hawkes Bay BMW. wiil follow up!

Rubbish. the rate is the same regardless, the bank just want a safer position, and 20k over 800k or so is very little. Talk to a mortgauge broker instead.

Nicely done, bugger didn't realise it was you when you came to get it! could have yarned about V12 stuff ha. i have a lot of experience with the M70, Lance and I built the red V12 E34 Touring that is flating about (who knows where it ended up now). Having said that i recal i was in no state for serious banter anyway ha. did you work out what the noise was in it ?

Dealerships use Castrol and has been for decades. prior to that was Mobil.

small things likt <$50 i usually get from the dealer anyway, so what if its 20% more, $5 extra is hardly breaking the bank. Also find large items are viable to import through dealer too such as spolier kits, replacement bodykit parts, trim panels etc, since the dealer (at least Winger BMW and Hawkes Bay BMW) do not charge freight, so it ends up being cheaper.

and further more on special order parts over a certain value i am asked to pay for it before they will even place the order, so they dont even run the risk of being lumbered with something they cant sell.

what about the speakers from the front floor wells ? they are part of the set too.

if it fits what you want why would you let it go? if its because its loosing money, well thats just cars for you, until you get something old and rare it will continue to happen.

if its an early nonvanos 325i then will most likely be the ZF you are looking for!!

North American S50 is not like your euro S50 engine. the one you ordered from the states will be the M50/S50US unit. Also for starter motor bolts, and also bellhousing bolts and any inverse hex or torx bolt, a light tappa tappa on the end of your socket or extension is worthwhile to make sure the socket is all the way over the bolt head. stripped too many over the years to not do that these days, 10 seconds now or hours of pain if not done. especially so if the bolts are covered in oil etc

Mum had a Pukeko hanging out the front of her BA Falcon for many many months, was quite morbid lol.

the dealers do not have line pricing either. youll find if you price at different dealerships youll get a different price.

bear in mind Glenns past is in a workshop environment where you are accountable to the customer and need to keep the cost down. he does not have the right to cut corners in the workshop, and risk blowing up components, and can depreciate all the gear as well. Whereas at home on ones own car, one can take that risk. I too, would use a normal battery charger.

prehaps a younger model would be better, they never as good as they once were over 30 years old.

prehaps i wasnt clear. if you use a Z3 one you will not have to change your drive shaft or half shafts. you should already be using E36 stuff so will just bolt in and good to go. If you fit an E30 diff you need to change the input and output flanges of the diff so it uses E36 parts. by the way. i forgot to mention that you need to given the body a bit of a tweak with a small club hammer on the reinforcement box section that crosses behind the diff to make room for the breather. doesnt have to much, 5mm was all i did on mine