Olaf

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.

abacab

Development vehicle - wow that sounds interesting. Care to share more details of the vehicle?

Table 11-2-2. Approved exhaust emission standards for used petrol-, CNG- and LPG-powered vehicles certified for use on New Zealand roads on or after 3 January 2008 Certified for entry into service Approved vehicle emissions standards Light vehicles Heavy vehicles On or after 1 January 2012 (Note 7) LIGHT VEHICLES: ADR 79/02, or Euro 4, or Japan 05, or US 2004 HEAVY VEHICLES ADR 80/02, or Euro IV, or Japan 05, or US 2004 That's your baseline. If you're not Euro4 compliant, then you need to find the 'get out of jail' loopholes (like SIV). HTH.

hey Will, google is your friend, mate. I searched with a pretty random "vehicle imports new zealand NZTA emissions standards" and got the following string back vehicle imports new zealand NZTA emissions standards which, somewhat interestingly, featured these results: Used Vehicles from Japan Environmental Standards for Vehicles Emissions and Technical bulletin 28 – Exhaust emissions standards compliance Could be challenging. Why not buy a BMW instead? #; ) I'm not biased.

errr awesomesauce with plenty of cheese. thats what makes it a guilty pleasure for me. one wouldn't normally admit to watching something so cheezey. turn brain off, engage SOA, suspend disbelief or expectation of great script or plot, watch plodding "drama" with Harley sounds and occasional gunfights. #8 ) This thread is for any guilty pleasure, not just tv.

keep it clean. 1. Sons of Anarchy on netflix. 2. Wheeler Dealers. 3. boost whistle.

Given it was a rental with about 5000kms on the clock, I'm suggesting 'no, nothing was broken'. If you mean broken, as in 'something was not functioning as designed/built; an element or elements of the system were malfunctioning'. I would not expect a production vehicle that is built and advertised to run on a wide-range of fuels to require re-sets and re-maps; this is the domain or performance modification, as is your case. Interesting that you need to make those resets, though; from what little I've seen of the Haltech ECUs, their flex-fuel sensor tells provides detail of the fuel presented, for the ECU to decide most appropriate map to run. Are they alone in this area of aftermarket ECU tech? cheers

have you driven a VF SV6? They are NO SLUG, and the 300hp V6 was a genuine surprise, free-revving, torquey, and genuinely fabulous in the cut-and-thrust driving to get through traffic for that first 100kms north of Sydney. Furthermore, they're built for Ethanol, up to and including e85. The simple fact is, the Ethanol I put in the tank of the VF transformed it from a quick, smooth, powerfull full-size modern car that was fun to drive, into a slug. Put your biases aside, go drive one at a Holden dealer. After reading for more than 30 years in the Australian motoring press the bullsh%t that the new 'insert new model here' commode was 'nearly as good as an E-class or 5 series', for the first time - in the case of the VF - they're right. I was wondering what they'd done to come up with a transmission control setup that was rarely confused, brakes that were powerful and steering and suspension that genuinely surprised me with its capability and feedback, more BMW-like than any other non-euro that I'd driven. Ethanol could be a great racing fuel where a vehicle is fully setup up for it (fuel lines, filters, flex-fuel sensor, fuel pump, ECU mapping etc); for the rest of us, it's a complete "have", foisted upon us by the corn lobby and greedy fuel companies. Ask any boatie about Ethanol in fuel. They avoid it like the plague.

I used one in the 90's (uniden RD9XL - pretty trick) on my daily commute to upper hutt... was great until they introduced KA band! I also had a newer uniden in the late 90's until some light-fingered asshat stole it from my car. I had gotten out of practice until nearly 4 years ago. After receiving a ticket my response was to buy a radar detector to help inform me when I was about to be targeted, to give me a chance to check my speed. You know how it is, you're cruising responsibly, concentrating on the road and traffic, conversing with your family in the car, and then 'bing' you've crept up to 112 or 114. oooops. Only, with law enforcement in NZ that's "here's a fine, sir" - no conversation. I have a BEL 995, it's very good. Provides reasonable warning for mobile radar, shorter warning for laser, no warning for Vans (I have that turned off). It has provided me with opportunity to check my speed when driving distances; and delivers on that. It's not much chop for instant-on, mode... so I will be upgrading to an sti magnum or an escort redline this year. probably the sti magnum. PS - I really like the audible alerts on the bel and escort detectors. I prefer to run mine in stealth, no lights... so "BlEEEEP BlEEEP BlEEEEP --- Lay-zerrr alert --- is really useful. or "Kay Ay band" #8 )

by lower performance in the VF Commode I meant much more sluggish response to throttle, more difficulty in accelleration. Much worse than trying to run your BMW on ULP91. Had me wishing I'd spent more on PULP, as I was about to drive 600kms. The corn lobby in the USA has done brilliantly with ethanol. Another product for the glut of corn grown in USA, besides feeding livestock. Hardy, relatively easy to grow. Never mind planting crops that people need to eat!

I had an Alpine 3516 back in the day, running Alpine 3-way 6.5". Couldn't afford an Alpine head unit. Bought it from the first incarnation of the Car Stereo Company on Willis Street. Happy days.

Mobil also mix Ethanol into their fuel. Accordingly I steer clear of Mobil & Gull. Boat users specifically told to avoid Ethanol fuels. With greater amount of water in fuel tanks due to condensation, filling with Ethanol blends is a *bad idea*. The ethanol emulsifies (makes 'mayonaise') with the water, sinks to the bottom of your tank, clogs your filter, f%cks up your injectors, stops your engine. There are plenty of BMW service bulletins on-line from the US detailing this phenomenon as well. I use Caltex 95 or BP 98, FWIW. No ethanol. I don't know what Z uses; and I don't know what the acquisition of Caltex by Z is going to do to the fuel. BP 98 is good when you can find it; bloody hassle in Rotorua recently, found BP station on my GPS, then found they didn't carry 98, so had to use website to find right station etc etc. /rant. Perhaps you can use Ethanol blends in your modern (as in very recent) BMW. I avoid a world of pain by avoiding Ethanol blends. Slightly off-topic, in Oz last year I tried different Ethanol fuels in my rented VF-SV6 Commode (it could handle all the way up to e85). lower pump price, way lower performance. cheers

awesome, Glenn. You're understandably very proud. She makes it look easy.

I'd like to offer an alternate view. I think that - in light of the pedigree of your fine e28 - that you should find a circa 1989 or 1990 quality cassette stereo. Perhaps an Alpine, a decent higher-end Kenwood (better), but really, work a little harder and get hold of a Blaupunkt or Becker out of Europe. Then you need a decent cassette deck to record on, and some tapes. If you've never heard a Nakamichi, you don't know how damned good cassettes can sound. Build your system around this head unit. By all means, use a pair of later amps, and some more modern speakers. Be retro - all the cool kids are discovering the joys of analogue through Vinyl, and Cassette is making a bit of a comeback as well. It's all in-line with your most excellent vehicle. You can use a cassette adaptor to play iPhone etc. I've just been fiddling around with a couple of Naks I picked up nearly two years ago. One for my workshop, one's going to work for my desk. Tapes on a Nak - recorded well from a great source - sounds better than an iPhone with spotify, or crappy MP3s. Go to it! Oh - get the car running and on the road first! inspiration:

looks awesome, Josh. thanks for the pointers on spraying, particularly how you shimmed the trigger, started spraying on the floor to avoid the spatter, and rolling (your wrist?) at the top. I'll give this a crack one day. I think I've pretty much clocked roller painting, getting an even better finish on top of level 5 plastering would be a cool acheivement.

removing your spring pads will probably introduce noise such as creaking. treating just springs and shocks on an older vehicle is only doing part of the repair. If they've never been replaced, you'll also be needing strut bearings, bump stops, nuts, bolts, dust boots, probably the factory tower reinforcement plates, sway bar end links, and sway bar bushes. Consider these parts as you do your research. If you've got the suspension in pieces fitting new shocks and springs, you'll find the original bump stops will be knackered.... as will the strut bearings. Best be prepared, this will transform your car.

hmm, I started 'practising' in NZ at 13, and sat and qualified for my full license at 15, a couple of months before I turned 16. I drove mostly off-road or on dirt before I turned 15. Back then you weren't allowed to drive (on the roads) until you were 15. No learners license existed.

yeah call me conservative, I reckon the drop you have already looks good. you're right about matching struts to low springs. Suggest you safely raise and support your vehicle, get under it with WD40 and a rag, you should be able to find the part numbers. Same with your springs; somewhere there (under the grime) should be a reference that you can google with. Hope that helps.