gjm

It's the little things. Big things I can normally sort!

Thinking about getting a new phone - mine has done well for the last several years, but it is showing signs of being quite tired. I like the spec of the Galaxy S7 Edge... Except for the size. OK, you can get the Galaxy S7, but that doesn't have the curved sides. Bit of a gimmick, but I like it. The Galaxy S6 Edge was the same size as the S7, and it had curved sides... Why does the S7 Edge have to be bigger than the S7???

There was a time when the merest sniff of the possibility of a E30 coupe with a manual box would have seen hoards crowding round... I must've missed that boat!

^ That's about it (re the manual vs auto box). I'm just a little short of a paddock for her to learn in!

It could well be just me, but it is similar to swimming and cycling. I don't expect her to excel at either, but I want to be sure she can. Driving a manual car is something that she'll probably never learn to do, if she starts in an automatic. So I want to be sure she knows how, even if she is out of practice.

Some will have seen the project pages: http://bimmersport.co.nz/topic/54047-1985-e30-318i-5-speed-coupe/ Rather than repost the pics, please take a look at page 2 of this thread. Miss M, longer term, wants an automatic (at the moment) and while I'm insisting she learns to drive in a manual, this does mean there is little point taking this coupe in the direction I had planned. I'd thought of using it for something for me, but we may well be (finally) buying a house, so less to move is good, as is any money that can be put towards the house. I could put this back together but it's pretty much ready for someone to sort properly, so I thought I'd see if there's any interest. The link above takes you to pictures and many details. The manual is a conversion - it was originally an auto. Sorry - I don't know specifically which gearbox it is. The interior that came with it was mismatched. I've accumulated more interior along the way and should be able to supply something that doesn't feature burns and rips. Dash is cracked. unusual to find one which isn't... I thought of getting a good one, but at $400+++ it wasn't worth it. (I saw one recently sell for over $600. ) Rego is on hold, WoF expired, probably years ago. I've not been driving it around but it did start, run, idle smoothly once warm, and didn't make any silly noises. I can sell on the Momo rims (16x7 et38) pictured, or on 14" weaves. I think the Momos came from a MX-5 (Miata) and use spacers. It's complete less side trims, front and rear bumpers, and rear quarter lights (although I may be able to help with those). If anyone is really keen, I also have a 1985 E30 318i rolling shell. Both are Japanese imports from July '85, only one is white and one is black. The black one doesn't have a sunroof. and rego has lapsed. I'd planned to keep the black one and do something exciting with it, but house plans mean that may not be as practical as when I first thought of it. The black shell has a hole in the firewall where rust has been removed, and usual 'nibbling' around the tail lights. Nothing significant, and the tail light area could easily be sorted using fibreglass. Any rust on the body has been sand blasted to bare metal and primed to protect it. I might even be persuaded to include the strut brace and a rear disc set up. Make me an offer I can't refuse. I do have someone interested in the white car, and so long as he's quick, he'll get first dibs. Price? I paid $1k, and I'm offering more than I got. That'd be for the white car with as much as I can provide to get it sorted. The black one will be extra.

Change of plans. Oh boy. Miss doesn't currently harbour any long-term plans for driving stick. She'd learn in an automatic if I'd let her, but I'm insisting she learns to drive a manual first - she can do what she likes after that, As such, I'm not going to pile blood, sweat, tears and money into sorting this car in a way I'd describe as 'properly'. The temptation is to put it back together and go from there, but if it was subsequently sold then the new owner would probably be stripping it again. So, it's for sale. I'll sort a proper posting for that.

I'll always try to buy parts here if I can, but it does have to be competitive. I'll happily pay a little over the odds for something for the convenience of having it quickly (if it is fairly local) but even locally sourced parts can cost more and take longer to ship than something from overseas. And that's before we factor in the price of the item. I use Paul at MillAnd for a lot of new parts, and go genuine BMW for many others. Some will come from overseas (but not the final stage 'hedgehog' resistor - Chinese crap!) I hope I've developed a good relationship with suppliers. Paul, and BMW, are able to supply most things. However, there are many less satisfactory examples. I was recently looking for a replacement brake caliper for another car. Used, here, $230, after negotiating down by $60 or so. Same item, shipped from the US, just under $160 delivered to my door in 3 days. I offered the local supplier the opportunity to come down further on their price but they weren't interested. That's fair. It's their business, and I will go back to them again in the future, because they're not always too expensive. But if local suppliers can't or won't match price on a used part, from a parts car, which is on the shelf (and in this case unlikely to go anywhere very soon!) then what chance do those suppliers stand? I do buy parts from Germany because I know people there, get very good deals, and know they'll have stuff on the shelf. Over here, it is likely not practical for dealers to keep the same range of products (as Jeevan said), because the customer base is a tiny fraction of what there is in Europe. A little lateral thinking can pay dividends - there's a lot of good engineering and fabrication work done here, and so long as you want quality but aren't hung up on originality, that can be a real benefit. [Edit]: Just checked brakes pads suitable for those calipers. under $50 delivered from Germany for ATE parts; unknown manufacturer on the shelf locally - nearly $80. If the prices are at least close I'll go local. Support local business. But...

I have friends living in Wanganui - they love it there. We've visited a couple of times and really enjoyed it. I know a lot of people have a contrary perception, and our feelings are based on good weather and suchlike. We liked Stratford and Plymouth too, Stratford particularly. Hopefully someone is intimately familiar with the area and can recommend places to live.

Accelerating hard inside me, then diving into a gap in front of me that was suitable for following the car in front at around 105km/h, but not to put another car into, and then standing on the brakes (this last bit really got to me), forcing me to brake hard Following far too closely Cutting off a lorry to get to the Pukekohe exit Accelerating hard (from 100+) on to the slip road, then having to brake hard (and sounding the horn) at the another car who also decided, a little late, to use that exit... What might be funny is that the two cars in front of me were both Holden saloons, one silver and one black, both had more antennae than you'd normally expect to find on most cars, and both appeared to have discreet additional lighting. Nice car. Dumb driving on a busy, fast road. Hopefully a one-off.

Dark blue E60 (I think) 535i driving up Bombay Hills from the SH2 interchange, before getting off at Pukekohe. Three letters, two numbers rego. Don't know if the owner is on here, but if you are - mate, you need to check your driving. Your exhibition this morning was exactly what gets BMW drivers a bad name.

Were wagons (estate cars, Tourings) issued with these a standard equipment when new? Somewhere there is a huge stockpile of covers and roller blinds for our cars, For whatever reason, they just don't seem to get left with the car when it is sold.

How did I miss that...? QUBE, on 09 Mar 2016 - 7:16 PM, said: i dont think they will be 8" wide. probably 7" or max 7.5". offset probably around the 35-38 mark id say? Ta.

Hans - price...? Are they 17x8, and what is the offset?

This one has been put to bed. Following my writing an extensive diatribe on what happened, accompanied by pictures and annotated diagrams, the insurance company have replied: "Thank you for sending through your statement and diagram along with the images. We will not be holding you liable for the damages to our clients vehicle," Given they'd already said that I doubt they'd have had much luck had they changed their mind.

Slight circumstantial, to be fair, but we now know who did it since the spunkbubbling cockwomble told several people in the pub. He drives a white and carbon fibre (look) Skyline R34, and has regularly boasted of the speeds he has 'achieved' along the road outside our house (and other people's houses, obviously). Police aren't interested since they've not caught him. Must've been fast, since all that was heard was "Meeeooooowwwwwwwwwwwwww......................"

A M5 followed by a M-badged 535d. In fairness, the 535d has an option list as long as your arm, including lots of M-sport stuff.

It pays to be careful. I was told, many years ago, that a 205 tyre on an 8" rim was optimal. That was in the old days before you got quite so many variations in profile, but the idea was that the sidewall was an effective continuation of the rim. And it... Well, it just fitted nicely. I know from experience that one manufacturer's stated tyre width isn't necessarily quite the same as another. We're on to our third set of 215/45-17s and the current ones - Hankooks - look to be slightly narrower than others. They have a more aesthetically pleasing look on the 7" rim, while Michelins seemed to have pronounced sidewall bulge. I didn't buy them because they look good, but that is a happy accident. If a stretched tyre is more effective when cornering, it suggests the owner doesn't have their camber set up correctly. Stance is another case where I admire the effort and engineering that can go into it, but it's certainly not for me.

I like the paintwork! So, today, the 320d was washed and driven to Mt Wellington so I could have coffee and talk car stuff for a couple of hours. The Merc 500SE - I investigated a graunching brake noise from the front o/s. Turns out that when the PO had some brake work done for the WoF, he was done too. The inside piston has seized solid in the caliper. I can rebuild, of course, but it'll most likely need new seals and possibly pistons which I can get, but they're 2-3 weeks away. There were two manufacturers used for the calipers: ATE, and Bendix (Bosch). Everyone carries ATE parts, so guess which I have? I can get a s/h caliper from the local Merc parts specialist, but even that is ~$250++, and I could buy a whole 500SEL parts car for that. I really don't have space for a SEL. I've got a lovely pair of 4-pot ATE calipers that could suit, if the mounting holes lined up. Sometimes you're a pigeon, sometimes you're a statue. Today I feel I have been both.

Cuz... Cuz... (Isn't that the same as brother/sister/wife/father in some parts of the US?) Cuz I might wanna actually drive it? Because it's there to be done, I guess. I do the same. I dare say some of the things I do would seem equally pointless to those who put a lot of time and effort into stance and the like.

Sounds like a Porsche 911! Take an ill-handling car that'd kill a driver not on top of his game, and spend years making it work! A triumph of stubborness over physics. Take the two most significant (in weight terms) parts of a car, hang them over or behind the back axle, and then make it go 'round corners. I really admire the technical capability of a lot of newly-developed cars, 911s included. I wonder though how we'll get on with repairing them in 20-30 years time? That said, many main franchised dealers seem to struggle to look after any car more than 20 years old anyway. The brute force approach does have this to be said for it - it'll probably be repairable down the line. Smaller engines making big and economical power are remarkable, and while electronically and computer controlled everything giving infinite variability is great use of technology, is it actually robust? That sense of strength is a contributing factor to character. Maybe I'm a dinosaur. Maybe young people today think 4-pot screamers have character too.

Why? I suppose it is a 'look', but is there any technical reason why anyone would want to stretch a tyre on to a rim that is too wide for the tyre? I've commented on someone who has 16x9 rims who wishes to fit a 195/45 or 205/50 tyre. The lower profile although narrower tyre could be legitimately fitted to an 8" rim but the 205/50 isn't typically designed for fitting to anything wider than 7". OK - that's your (grand)dad's view of the world, but it's my engineering view, too. I know some tyres are now designed for that stretch 'look.' As I said... Why? Is there any possible benefit to doing this, or is this just another performance-impacting mod that's done for looks? There's even a website for those keen to do this - www.tyrestretch.com. There are some examples on there where the bead on the rim is simply not used! Here's a 105/70 on a 6" rim:

Yup. It's an excellent starting point, and no mistake.

Use? No idea. Fun, definitely. It's as much a case of doing it because it's there and I believe I can as anything else. I want it to be road legal and have long since cast off any thoughts of avoiding certs and the like - that's going to be needed. Just one thing though... It'll not be like skintkarter's Gp5 E21! I don't have the skills to produce a build like that.

It's a BAD thing. Some of you will know of the near financial destitution we've encountered as a result of paying for operations for our cat after he was hit by a speeding car outside our home. It's a nice, long straight piece of road with good visibility, but also with a number of small children and many animals living on either side. The incident happened in very early January, the first weekend (incurring even more expense), and he is only now returning to his normal self. Gerard is much better now, recovering from several operations. He had a jaw broken in three places, broken nose, broken mandible, collapsed lung, the other lung at least half-full of fluid, and when we found him, blood coming from mouth, nose, ears and eyes. His claws had been ripped from his paws where we can only assume he was trying to stop sliding on the road. He's had wires inserted in his jaws to hold them together, but the blood supply through his jaw did not resume in time so he subsequently had to a piece of jaw and one of his lower canines removed. Not everyone likes cats. Fair enough. And let's be dispassionate about this one cat - we could have bought dozens of pedigree kittens for what it has cost. (We don't want dozens of kittens, so no thanks, before anyone asks. ) However, this could have been any other animal, or a child. Or an adult. We're all in a hurry sometime, but arriving late is better than not arriving at all. Or causing someone else to not arrive. On a lighter note, I've spent some of the intervening time coming up with a way to sort this issue. Speed bumps. Yes. I know, cars zoom between them, braking hard at at the last second to ease over the bump, then burning rubber on their way to the next one. Still, it's worked in trials. https://youtu.be/vuunB0XGQPs