Herbmiester

Yes actual code will help us help you.

I dont know who this is but could be good for the MHD stage 2 enthusiasts. http://www.trademe.co.nz/a.aspx?id=1383087770&member_hash=4d3cfcc4dc0da99dc4e51de2c29a52270eb9808ee071b1fd29

Primacy 3 is a touring tyre, I would have thought there were better choices.

Yes great deal.

Looked at it yesterday. Tidy but the 3.5 V8 puts me off. Would almost be better as a 6. I don't like the steering feel in the V8 E39s, the rack and pinion setup in the 6 cyl cars is definitely better. Might have drive of it today.

I was part of that industry for quite a while so I fail to see why you are taking offence. As to just charging labour to fit supplied parts what else would you charge? A few ancillaries like some grease, zip ties etc might be appropriate but if there is no parts costs and its pure fitting then what else? As it stands you have made it quite clear you are not keen on fitting parts other people supply, So I have suggested the OP go somewhere where they dont have this policy. You dont want to do it so that's fine someone else will and as it's not really a BMW specialist job most performance shops will likely have no issues. Oh and the reason I get other people to work on my car sometimes is simple, opportunity cost, what I pay them to do the job is a lot less than I get remunerated to do mine.

Yeah, I second that take it to a shop that does Intercoolers turbos etc and show them the video. Its straightforward and they should just charge you the labour . Many shops dont like it because they miss out on margin on the parts.

Yes that's true.

I have just ordered some more parts for the 335i. The goal was to get springs with a firmer rate than the stock sport springs and as I have Koni yellows I should be able to match the damping to the spring rate. The springs I went with in the end are made by Tein. I could have gone with H&R sport or Eibach pro's but they have the same rate as the sport springs but with a lower ride height, the Tein's are about 8% stiffer than m3 springs so it's a noticeable increase. Reports are that with good dampers the stiffness is quite liveable. I didn't want to drop the car much lower than it is already and the Tein's would have done that so I was going to bypass them until I did a bit of research and found a way to add some ride height back. At the front I will swap in E30 spring perches and thicker 9mm spring perch pads. this will give me up to 19mm more ride height and overall should be 5-10mm lower than the current sport height, which will be about spot on. It should theoretically give me a little more shock travel as well. At the rear 10mm e30 upper spring pads will keep the rear drop in check. I dont mind a low car but I like to be able to get up driveways, get over speed humps and not smack into gutters all the time so a small decrease was acceptable but I just didn't want the slammed and tucked look. Plus I want the car to handle. As I have been mulling over how to get to this solution I thought I would share this information in case anyone else wants a stiffer setup that maintains a useable ride height. These parts will go in when I do the M3 front arms and hopefully a bigger rear sway bar.

QV costs the same as the M3 Competition in Aussie, not sure about NZ.

And it keeps coming.......... http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/a10308214/alfa-romeo-giulia-issues/

You've got to take your hat off to the Alfa tragics, they are a die hard bunch.

Is that the 4 cylinder one? If so thought they were 206kw.

Yes that's Tardeme alright. I like your car it looks great and it's not as if you driving round with the build sheet stuck in you side window. If people want a by the numbers car then they can go and find one, if they want a well presented e36 with some appropriate add ones then your car is a very nice option.

My NZ new 93 325i coupe did not have M sport Suspension, nor did it have sport seats.

Trust me pretty only lasts for so long before it is becomes a curse, cars are similar.

Looks ripe for a LS conversion.

I have a Jan 2007 car and just used a generic K=DCAN cable no problems.

If you are not running catless downpipes off the turbos I would stick with Stage 1 Plus. I had an in depth conversation with a guy on the E90 forums in the US and he felt that by running Stage 2 with stock downpipes he stressed his turbos to the point that the back one failed. His opinion after a lot of research was that stage 2 tune puts just too much pressure unless you have replacement downpipes to allow the turbos to spool up efficiently.

I Wil take them.

even when not broken they can leak and this was the cause of my check engine light issues.

I have an upgraded intercooler and chargepipe and run the stage1 plus 95 tune. It's a big difference. Your next purchase should be a limited slip differential. The tune really exposes how easy it is to break traction with the extra torque.

I had the opportunity to drive a modified e92 335i in the US a couple of years ago. It had m3 suspension components and upgraded shocks of some type. It also had an LSD. The engine was a custom tuned JB4 according to the owner. Anyway the upshot was a 335i with m3 suspension and just over 400hp, but a shed load of torque. Was it an m3 beater? Hard to say but compared to the M3 I had driven in Wellington a few weeks before it had to be at least as fast. Handling wise I thought the 335i was very buttoned down, perhaps more so that the M3. That said it's hard to make a fair judgement as the cars were in different countries, different conditions etc. The conclusion for me was that for under 30k I could have a car that was M3 like for half the price and without the engine reliability issues. Not that 335is don't have there own issue's but it seems like the engine itself is pretty solid. That 335i in Las Vegas was my inspiration for what I am doing now, goal was 400hp, good daily driver, track day capable handling in a car with modern features, safety and style. All for less than 30k. Looks like I will get there for 26k.

Looks like Alfa have kept some of their heritage intact. http://jalopnik.com/the-alfa-romeo-giulia-is-the-perfect-unreliable-italian-1796883384

It to was around $500, mostly labour.