Olaf

^^^ this! Back when I learned to drive, it was simple. "Signal, Brake, Clutch (gear)". Communicating your intention first priority!

@balancerider Matt who is 'they'? The Government perhaps? (genuine question). At any rate, if you've $25k in the bank and want the car, why not? Money's not earning anything in the bank currently, with interest so low. If you have property to borrow against, how cheap can credit be? Holy crap, 3%. One's equity ratio is something to be cautious of in these times, before upping borrowing on frivolous purchases, though. In case things go well south. And neatly looping back to the govt of the day. I guess the way to encourage spending again is to create economic recovery through planning and implementing policy to people feel comfortable and secure in a recovering or thriving environment. Bailouts. Hmmm, yes.

probably at least as much protection for auction buyers in NZ as there is for mom and pop investors on the NZX from deficient company directors.

fair enough, they're lending to people who need to use a rapidly-depreciating mobile 'asset' as security. There's plenty of downside to the risk, so the margin is the upside. Just look at the credit card interest rates... they're still close to 1980's levels! All the more reason to never pay credit card interest.

Peter has explained pretty much why from a technical perspective. If you don't register the battery, it'll continue charging it as per the specs of the last one; capacity, AGM, age. In my case, the previous battery installed hadn't been registered; I forget if it was still set for AGM, and it was a lead acid? It was the wrong capacity, and the date hadn't been registered (so it was charging a newer battery as though it was an old one). Things did not go well. Installing a good battery, and having it appropriately registered by an Independent BMW specialist, was the solution. A year later and all is GRAND. TLDR? "JFDI" ?.

they should be able to get the key code if you provide the VIN to your dealer, then you can get it cut by a good locksmith.

Date: 5 Sep 2020 Distance: 261649kms 1. Rear Brake bed-in Jon had done the brake pad bed-in on the Hawk HPS pads before I collected the car in August. [6-10 stops from 50-60kph, applying moderate pressure. Then an additional 2-3 HARD stops from 65-70. 15 mins for brake system to cool down.]. Since collecting the car, I'd ran a few errands around town, gentle driving only... though I’d not had opportunity to perform the Zimmermann rotor bed-in procedure. When approaching Zimmermann's 'orders', an early start is essential while the roads are clear and traffic volumes are low. You’ve got to hand it to the Germans, they’re very thorough and specific... yes, doing your initial 15 braking operations with three minutes between each, takes thought and planning for safety - clear lane behind, hazard lights, brake whilst counting to three and checking your speedo, re-accelerate and hazards off... note the time, wait three minutes, rinse and repeat. The second round - slowing 100-25, is a bit tougher. Not just on your braking system, but in your body! Clenching your abs Top-Gun style helps. After all of that - about 90 mins of driving, a bloke needs a pie to settle it all down. results: Stomach settled after a mighty Nada Bakery steak and cheese pie; Brake feel improved. More bite, more feel, improved modulation and retardation. 2. Bath time ... So I finished off with a quick wash and blow dry, and a minor smear of Auto Glym Tyre Dressing. "All dressed up and no place to go"

VHT Caliper Paint, mate. Recommended. Goes a long way too. Silver for the cooler gent; like my hair!! ?

he sure has!

Result on the locking mate!

Buy from your BMW Dealer (the BMW batteries do seem to last forever), or from a good Independent BMW specialist. Essential you get the coding and registration done, telling the DME is has a new battery, type (AGM), capacity... as it alters the charging charateristics with age. Most battery shops will shy away from that voodoo, and your new battery won't last. If you have a choice, go for the higher capacity (Ampere Hours). Mine's rocking a Koda, it seems very good. I've stopped using AA Battery service, 'king hopeless round here. YMMV. HTH

"you're awful Muriel!" ?

I think one of the defining points is whether the insurance company pays out the total loss - declaring the car a write-off and cancelling the policy - or pays out the repair cost for you to take care of the repairs yourself, and continues to insure you. At this point you should know inside-out the wording of your policy. I expect has to be offer and agreement here somewhere, and there must be more than one solution option. Knowing your policy will help you to reach an acceptable outcome, rather than being quickly shuttled through the processes (more on that later). Can you get a copy of the assessment that the two panel beaters provided to AA? Is there anything preventing you from getting a future booking with Airflowe while you hunt for a tail light? Steel bumpers can be repaired; the skills are rare now with plastic bumpers having been the norm for 30-plus years. FWIW I thought my chrome bumper was toast on my early 80's Datsun, around 1992. The panel beater owner (with more than thirty years experience under his belt) looked at it and said 'these are no longer available new, and hard to find used now... would you like me to have a go at it? I can get this straight again'. I was amazed at what he acheived with patience, skill, gentle tap-tap-tap with hammers, dollies, and (ISTR) a leather bag filled with lead shot. It was almost as good as new. As to whether the car is a classic, it's a 33 year old e28 that's had a great deal of work done to it and is very tidy. If it's not a classic then what is? e28s are increasing in popularity and decreasing in availability. Is the car on an agreed-value policy? If (say) it's insured for $5k, if repairs are coming to $4k5, they'll almost certainly want to limit their exposure and simply declare total loss, write the car off, pay out, de-register, and cancel your insurance. AA Insurance? I've had nothing but excellent service and satisfactory outcomes from them for more than two decades, including home and contents (plumbing failure/flood) and, automotive (from windscreens to tree fell on car, to total loss). It's down to how you deal with them IME. First place to start is ensuring their clock/calendar doesn't dictate closing this one with "proceed straight to write-off/total loss" option. Your claims manager is probably measured on metrics such as time to resolve claims, margins, reducing exposuure position by reducing open claims cumulative value, and possibly customer satisfaction. As this one has been open for some months, it might be drawing management heat "you've got ten claims over three months without resolution, what are you doing to resolve them? We need to get these off of the monthly report, it's bringing down the team stats!". As you've almost all the parts required, and want to keep the car, it appears your priorities would be: Know your policy, ensure the claim remains open while you work through the options to reach resolution. "It's a classic car on a classic policy; surely you have some cases where gaining parts and completing repairs takes longer than a modern appliance on wheels?" If all else fails, play the covid card. Get repair estimates for *you* having the repair done. Surely one option is going back to Airflowe and agreeing to have the Insurance-paid repair done when you've found a bumper? Identify a suitable repairer - may be out of Wellington. Phil mentioned the guy near Rongotea (details to come), and the electro-plater out of Christchurch... possibly someone in the Wairarapa. Knowing the costs for repair, you can talk with the Insurers about managing the repairs yourself. Can you keep the policy open - remaining insured with them - and take the repair coststo settle the claim? Tell them you're seeking to avoid a) write-off and de-registered status, and b) cancelation of your policy. What are your options? (this is where knowing your policy is essential). At all costs, keep it up-beat and pleasant, courteous and outcome-focussed. They're used to dealing with assholes and fraudsters, and have sophisticated systems, technology, processes, investigators, and a closet full of lawyers to protect themselves from loss. Do avoid getting into those queues, as your experience will become less satisfactory and pleasant, and more tiresome and frustrating. Also, you're seeking to extract parts from people with classic car hordes. Think of Smaug in The Hobbit. I'd recommend having a list and being specific. You're not a threat to their entire parts stash after lowering their guard and granting you that bumper piece or tail-light only to find you wanting a dozen extra items; you just need x, y, and z, and you can move forward. Can they help? Enlist the camaraderie of classic car folks, you're a worthy fellow-enthusiast wanting to save a classic. Hope that helps.

I paid $149 on sale two years ago (with a cooler bag and some accessories). This is a tasty deal, buy a few to keep your fleet on trickle/maintain.

Welcome, Ian @Rallyenut plenty of e30 love here. start prepping one and planning to come to e30 Mega Meet, the annual national e30 gathering. April 2021, Ohakune.

I'm still using the BELtronics version of the Escort Redline. There are newer detectors, though not with the extreme range sensitivity. Newer detectors have location muting and online connectivity features... someone with the latest gear will be along soon, no doubt.

fully agree, @Herbmiester. Mine listens on the band they're broadcasting on, alerts me of revenue gathering and prompts me to check my speed. My preference is to concentrate on the traffic and road conditions around me as my active contribution to road safety, rather than constantly checking my speedo and using the brake for compliance correction.

Happy days! Looks like you've got it sorted. A quick question or two on mention of your parts washer, @KwS. Which one have you got (and would you recommend it)? and what degreaser/solvent are you running in it (and what would you recommend)?

Very kind of you to say, Nick @nick496. If I recall correctly, my springs were under NZD350 landed. I lucked out with Konis used with under 40k kms on them, though the freight wasn't cheap. I'm confident one can do the springs and shocks and all the bushes for under $2k, particularly if weilding spanners oneself (which I've been doing little of lately). eBay.de is worth a good look if one is shopping on a budget. Though as Nick aludes to with the linked Spec e30 kit with Billies, if you're spending a greater proprtion of your seat time on a course (or track) - rather than on a road - the stiffer H&R Race Springs might be the thing for you. US forum-goers seem to love them, though most of these peops seem to be predominantly highway drivers enjoying those beautiful concrete roads they have in the states. I've not tried the race springs; I'm sure the 'more' rate would be great for the track though suspect my back and kidneys would complain on general NZ roads. I find the Sports are an excellent compromise between ride comfort and handling on the road (firm, but not harsh), and the overall setup is fully grin-inducing when the car is shown a twisty road such as the Rimutaka hill road, or the road to Castlepoint. I need RE003s (for the better grip, stiffer sidewalls, and sure-footed wet performance), but that's another story (and a different budget line). And yes, Hawk HPS pads for street use at least are 'adequate' ?

I too run a CTEK MXS5.0, f**king brilliant. And as it's close to fathers day, pricing is excellent, as Dave has linked to. Quality unit, almost capable of reincarnation.

looks inexpensive, though you're up for destroying a set of 51mm legs, welding, crack testing, certing etc. by the look of it. Are thos rear coilovers bolt-in on an e30? (I think not) - perhaps that's a stock photo. Oh - do you have a disc rear end on this beast?

Koni Yellow, H&R Sport Springs (hint: eBay.de will help). You can get these shocks in 4x or 51mm variants. Thicker ARBs - 20 on front, 14.5 on back (if you can find one) - that's 318iS spec, the setup I run. And as @gjm says, arb bushes and end links front and rear. Luxury spec - new spring pads. At the back, go for Meyle HD e46 rear shock mounts, they're inexpensive and better than e30/e36 spec. If the RTABs haven't been done, do them (Lemforder) and the subframe mounts - the parts are cheap, though it's a labour intensive job. Probably your diff bush needs changing too - get a diff cover gasket while you're at it, and diff oil. Now the rear end is working as intended, and following the front end. At front, go for the uprated (solid) e36 LCA rear bushes. Whole LCAs are inexpensive out of the states. If you've a press etc, you can buy the balljoints and press em in; e30 = steel. Front shock mount - OE Lemforder. Once you've done that lot, if the steering's imprecise, there's only tie rod outers (and maybe inners), rack boots, and the steering guibo... but if you're going to e36 or e46 rack, save your coin and buy the right stuff for that setup. Throw in engine and gearbox mounts (cheap), and you've a drivetrain that is supple, and capable of surprising modern car on a twisty road; it's down to your tyres and whether you can fit your gonads into your big boy pants. By now you'll be annoyed at sloppy gearshift/missing shifts, so it's time to do your shifter bushings, maybe spring for a short shift? Z3 1.9 is ideal, though there are some Aliexpress units reported adequate. If your front brakes are still 4cyl non-vented spec, easy to replace with 6cyl calipers and carriers and the vented rotors. Plenty of this stuff on my Grey Thunder thread, I'm approaching the point where I swap in an M42, LSD and Purple Tag, and get certed... after e30 Mega Meet in April. HTH.

These cars are very power hungry, and not tolerant of a battery anything less than fully grunty. Low battery causes all kinds of unusual faults. There's also the IBS cable which is subject to recall in other markets, but not recognised by BMW New Zealand. The newer IBS cable has some different connectors. I chased a number of shitty faults and no-start conditions, until replacing the IBS cables, and later, the battery (despite it testing fine a few times) with a high capacity unit.

many thanks @modz @Gaz @M3AN and @nick496 for getting back to me, much appreciated. I had e46 inners in my parts stash for years, though used them on my... e46, oddly enough. e46 inners, e36 outers for this lad. game on.

Woohoo!! Nearly there Mark, it's looking great. I can't wait to see it in the metal. Hope you're planning to come to e30 Mega Meet in April 2021 ?