Olaf

ported subs are the work of the devil! sealed box is faster and more tuneful! #8 )

this linky might be useful... though reading that they're up for sale, reminded me of a herald article last year about BMW NZ in court over race car lease/loan/sale to M Delmont. I wonder if it's resolved? They sure look like a great racecar, if you're sufficiently well-heeled.

yeah, love the wheels on the 'Z. the grey rocks on your e36, too. I saw a Z3 done up on RetroRides in gloss grey very similar, loved it.

buy some earplugs, Elijah. your parents will be uncorking chapagne and celebrating tonight! #8 )

mate, your parents must be worried at the prospect of another non-moving BMW on their driveway!

do a google on 'trademe used car sale scam' or look at this link as your starter for ten... I was approached when selling my maxima, they weren't too clever ultimately. The story was he was working on a ship, buying car for his son, liked the look and could see I was very honest, was happy to buy sight unseen and ship to england. Every time I asked a question to qualify, their answer involved a compliment or reference to my trustworthiness. I asked which port he worked out of, and name of vessel. They wanted to communicate via email, and lo and behold... gmail messenger, they really took off with the pressure, though it was clear they were having muliple conversations at once and forgot which name they'd used with me. Then we ended up on voice calls. They were funny. I decided to turn the tables, and said yes, I would sell to them. I was very concerned they were buying sight unseen, and the only way I'd feel really comfortable is by obtaining a PPI. I'd be happy to arrange; AA (cheaper as I was a member), VTNZ, Car Inspection Services... provided prices... and when they'd selected which PPI and paid me via PayPal, I'd arrange the PPI and provide them with the report same day. If they were satisfied the car was good, I'd then proceed with freight arrangements. I was scamming the scammers, though I think they knew I'd twigged. Suddenly the comms dried up; they were working some other mark. They didn't even bother with the pretence of "oh, I've changed my mind, I don't like the colour". Key thing is, don't tell them you know they're scammers, otherwise the'll learn to change email address etc, and could be harder to spot for other unsuspecting punters. The scam works on you paying freight deposit, which they'll pay you back for in their bankers draft - which of course never happens. Just remember: if it seems too good to be true, it probably is. You could have a genuine offer, though if it is, you'll have to spend a lot of time qualifying it. cheers A Maxima for sale, some time ago...

looks great, not much work to return to the road, yeah? wheels look mint too.

welcome, Dave. one of these days I'll have to try a 130i, sounds like they're a hoot.

are you the first NZ owner? Wondering how/if any deferred maintenance impact as your ownership develops.

lovely vehicle, well done! do keep us posted on the radio/sat-nav conversion. an e60 or e61 is in my future too. regards

yes, for the cost of the car yard, they need to turn over x units with a $5k margin to make costs. They'll balance that with some units with higher $$ return (prolly same margin) and on it goes. I've a friend who's brought in a few cars through IBC, you take on the risk, and save a little money - if it all goes your way. PS - today's the end of the month, today's the day to SEAL THE BEST DEAL. Tomorrow (1 Feb) is a new month, and your salesman is starting again on his rush to meet budget. First car of the month he'll be fighting to retain margin.

jolly good sir. I guess the extra stiffness is magnifying the impact of the bushing wear. Sorry I don't have the tool to assist, looking forward to meeting someone with a well-sorted e46, especially going to stiffer bars. EDIT: I'm sure you've looked around; this DIY press looked cheap and easy to source parts for and make http://www.bimmerdiy.com/diy/e36rtab/

John, have you already done the rear sway bar links and sway bar bushes? If not, recommend you start there. Replacing these has radically tightened up my e46 Touring (152,000kms), I've not noticed the RTABs needing attention since having these components replaced. HTH

I drove a 1967 Falcon in the US that had been in my former sister-in-law's family since new. All of the siblings had learned to drive in it. all ten of them. one had had a fender-bender around 1974. They repaired by chaining it to a lamp-post, and reversing up, replaced the guard from a wreckers, and rattle-canned it the matching bronze-gold colour. I gave it a brake-job in 1988 or 89, found the crumpling, and a broken coil spring on the left front; asked about it, and got the whole story. It was a car you had to lock because it looked so bad, people thought it was abandoned so they'd fill it with trash. Anyway, this form of panel repair was 'Ford (ap)proved', back in the 70's, so I guess these engineers in Nevada have graduated to BMWs now #8 )

listening to Gary Numan. loud.

mate, I'm halfway through series six already. #8 )

watching netflix (US, UK etc) on my TV. sky via cable is getting very little viewing already. (disclosure: Gaz, I've been bingewatching SOA!)

you're very welcome #8 ) yep, they need some TLC as they age, perhaps more than you're average common-or-garden mid-market runner, but as you say, very rewarding. let us know how you get on!

there's so much work involved in selecting suspension on-line. ISTM most of the US forums are guys driving super-smooth roads; UK doesn't feature the kind of shitty metal-on-bitumen seal that features in NZ. The opinions/experiences you read in the forums for road use will need a whole lot of filtering. The benefit of buying locally for your springs/shocks combo will be local knowledge and support; this is wrapped in the price. There may be a forum sponsor/supporter who can listen to your needs, and sell you the right product based on their experience. FWIW for my Volvo, I couldn't find much support locally, and went with H&R Sportsprings with OEM shocks after doing what you've done; trawling forums, filtering conflicting info. What I've learned was, H&R Sportsprings are very firm and controlled, and great for highway and pressing-on. For round town, they're frankly a bit stiff. And although the drop is pretty conservative, they're probably not ideally matched to my OEM shocks; Koni Sports would have been a better bet. So yes, that's for my swedish wagon; I have no reason to expect things would be radically different in character on BMW applications. Vogtlands - for the Volvo - are said to be softer than H&Rs. After my long-winded intro, my learning is: for a car with plenty of local knowledge and support (BMW), in future if I am replacing springs I'll be taking local advice and buying from them.

ahhh! I saw that. looks like it was a tourist delivery jobby. pulled pretty good money for 170kms, leather, reasonably tidy, but just a 2.2l. interesting where they ticked the option sheet for some nice fruit; the seats, manual gearbox, sunroof, PDC, unusual wheels, but no Xenons!

Hi Ian, sorry for the slow response. For the effort of removing your front end suspension assy, or indeed just the rear struts, you don't want to do the job twice. Your bump stops will be knackered. There is no point re-fitting a stuffed bump-stop to new struts. You know all about it if you hit a broken bump-stop - bottoming out. I found - on my e46 rears - the top of the shock was rusted and swollen, the (perished) bump stop was stuck on it, and tore off when we tried to remove it. Bump stops are relatively cheap. Similarly, your dust boots will be hardened and won't prevent dust and grime reaching your strut/shock seals, promoting wear of your new shocks. The front strut bearings - an essential part of macpherson strut assembly - will be knackered, with wear and play. The strut bearings are what allows your strut to turn with the steering. The rear shock mounts frequently fail, and in the long run - particularly in lowered applications - contribute to damage to the body where the shock passes through to the mounts. As a guide, for my recent e46 suspension refresh, the bushes/bearings/bumpstops/dustboots/fasteners came to about 40% of the total budget. The car now rides like new. Seriously, why would you drop the strut, use spring compressors to change springs, disassemble the strut assembly, and then re-install/re-assemble worn-out parts? IMV, do it once, do it right. Most of the fasteners are recommended by BMW as one-time-use. You can choose to re-use... it's false economy, and I don't care to second-guess the BMW engineers for an extra $20. The good news is that most of the bushes/bearings etc are standard parts, regardless of M Sport (though the sway bar bushes may be harder durometer). It's your shocks and springs you want to consider for performance. You can save a few clams on OEM or similar parts, ten bucks here, twenty bucks there... the only thing you gamble with is longevity. For example, five or more OEM or OEM-quality suppliers for Strut bearings, with a variance in price for the part. It's worth noting that a lot of folks have a car with shagged out suspension, consider they need lower/stiffer etc and have never driven the car performing as factory spec in new condition. They might be surprised! good luck with your search. You've a car that was streets ahead of the rest back in the 90's, and was a benchmark in it's class. Taking a Toyota Camry approach to your suspension will be knobbling it's true performance/ride/handling/comfort/safety. Adopt the noodle and beans diet for a couple of months, feed your car the care it needs! #8 ) regards

it's a tough job, someone's got to do it! #8 ) Chris makes the sacrifices so we don't need to #; )

watching "chasing classic cars" on tv.

watching my son and daughter happily playing minecraft together, cooperating and inventing stuff.

indeed, thanks for the update, and all the hard work you do to keep things running. hopefully disabling thermal shutdown protection doesn't put your kit at risk.