rxsumo

K&N Panel. I read an article (either Fast Fours or Total BMW), and the gain in air flow from these filters is nothing like what K&N claim.....maybe 0.5% gain. I seem to recall that your average BMW Panel filter (genuine) actually flows quite well, in some cases its properties are actually better than some after market filters. The filteration on some of the aftermarket filters isnt as good (bigger particles can pass through the filter) as the genuine (this isnt the case with the K&N), which could lead to premature engine wear as well. My preference for the K&N is completely $$$$ related, spend the money once, and with the mileage my cars do, you really dont have to touch the air filter again, just clean the bugs out every couple of years......

It really depends on how far you want to take it.The cop is dishing out the ticket based on his guidelines/intereptation of the law. As has been highlighted the law is unclear.....the reason it cant be found in the late Gazette's cos it isnt there. If it was there it would actually be later than '93, to cover Personalised Plate's Euro, Red, Blue and message plates. It would be a simple matter of taking it to court with a decent lawyer....I'm guessing a decision would be made, probably in your favour....and then the law would be reviewed! The cops are only enforcing the law as they believe it is supposed to be done. Sometimes they are wrong. The biggest mistake most people make when dealing with the Police is trying to argue that case with the Cop. The Cop pulls you up, and writes you a ticket, he is doing it because he believes you are in the wrong. Generally there is little point in trying to argue the law with him (unless you are carrying a copy of the Traffic Regulations with you and you want to end up on a radio debate with his supervisor), its far easier to argue the point in court, or to point out the error of his way in a letter in response to the ticket.

Race Gas and AVGAS dont have a conventional RON octane rating.I cant remember exactly where the RON scale ends, its just over the 100 mark. If you could apply the RON scale to these fuels AVGAS would be around 132 and Racegas is typically in a range 110-120. All fuels have a shelf life, for Petrol fuels it probably has more to do with seasonal changes more than anything. In winter you have a "lighter" fuel to promote easier starting, and in summer this fuel would evaporate off easier. The reason AVGAS probably has a shelf life is that the fuel is hydroscopic....try leaving AVGAS in the tank over the off season.....and everything goes rusty! The fuel is stored in underground tanks....these will condensate and get water through the fuel....when I worked in Gas Stations typically in our 35000 litre tanks there would be around 500-1000 litres of water at the bottom. It didnt really matter because the pumps never drew off the bottom of the tanks, and to have to empty the tanks on an operational service station probably is best left until major refit time. Its a bit different with AVGAS as it will "pick up" the water and, water is the last thing you want in aviation fuel...at altitude it freezes!

Here is lies the problem.The M designation (except for real "M" ie Motorsport Built/Powered cars), has been abused by BMW/BMW dealers since around the E34 days, along with the designation like iS etc. The E34 M535i was a British Market designation used to flog off the 1989 cars, where BMW UK was hoping to capitalise on the success of the last true M535...the E28, which was built by the Motorsport team. The British Market then moved to the iS or Sport designation. The iS designation in NZ was used to sell our "special" manual cars, but it was a marketing term only, there was never a 1990 535iS sold in the NZ market that left the factory as a 535iS, they were just special build, manual 535i's. Obviously since then the little "M" badge has probably been fitted by the dealers all over the world to anything that has had a least 1 item from the Motorsport Catelog. At the end of the day the badges are really only trinket items that really add no value to the car, unless the car is actually a Motorsport car, and I view them as no different to putting a FPR sticker on the back window of your Falcon.

Are any available here yet?It available overseas, as through Europe most Race Series Cars now run Cat's. Generally "Race Gas" is aged AVGAS, AVGAS has a shelf life in the Airport tanks, and once the tanks are passed their use by dates the AVGAS is brought back and repackaged as Race Gas

When you buy the Race Gas at Mobil Manfeild you sign a release on the intended usage....ie you are not using it on the road. Hence you can fill a trailered car or jerry cans but not a car you have just driven into the gas station. Since the removal of lead from the pump gas, it has been made illegal to drive any vehicle on the road or a leaded fuel. Its unlikely that the cop will do too much about it, because I would guess it actually comes under some MSD, MED law or perhaps under the resource management Act, and would be fairly hard to prove without impounding the car, and having the exhaust emissions analysed....I'm guessing you would have seriously pissed the cop off before it gets to this.... Rally Cars get around the law, due to a loophole brought about for Motorsport NZ, which allows for trace elements of lead to be present in the exhaust emissions of competition cars coming off closed road special stages. It's implied that a Rally car would use pump gas while on a touring stage, and race gas while on the special stage.

A mate of mine, whos girlfriend was studying law at the time has done a bucket load of research regarding this, particularly around the requirements for front number plates on cars that dont suit standard front plates....MX5s...E Type Jaguar etc. While some authorities take the line that you must use that NZ issued plates, that best the research came up with is that your plates should match front and rear. In fact it would appear that in theory you could issue your own number plates so long as they were unique.....I'm guessing that would be an interesting court case! ie. If your are using plates that are black letters on a white background, then both front and rear plates should be the same. The whole thing is dodgy, and the law doesnt actually state what plates you need to run. The law refers to guidelines printed in the Gazette, and the research seemed to find that there wasnt anything in the Gazette. However if you intend to use the car in a Motorsport Event, that requires road registration, the MNZ regulations require you to have NZ LTSA issued number plates. I would suggest that as Personalised Plates issue "Euro Plates", and oddballs like the message plates, and the investment/red plates, I cant imagine the Personalised Plates have to go to the LTSA or Motor Reg for ever plate variation, and hence its unlikely that you could be pulled up for using Genuine Euro Plates, so long as you own rights to the original number plate. I would be guessing that when you are pulled up and the cop does a vehicle query on your car, he isnt going to get a response that details what type of number plate you are using, and the only difference may be size and type of font, and maybe how reflective the number plate is. The cop isnt going to be able to check the last point.

A mate of mine had an issue with the standard computer, and didnt want to splash out the $4K for a genuine BMW replacement, not too sure if it was a 525 or 535 manual, and installed a Link to run the car.On the un-modified internally car, the power increase was said to be significant and noticable. Only hiccup is that the Link wont run all the other stuff that the standard E34 computer does....like the dash etc etc.

but its race car or parts only until next year.... cant be registered at the moment

Ah this is getting a little off topic......but....My description is that its the closest you will get to a M5 without the hassles of the twin cam motor and its associated servicing costs....in fact Cain's car is the best of all worlds because you have the horsepower of the early M5's. In actual fact these cars were better spec'd than the M5's, The M5s got lower suspension, bigger brakes, the boot luggage straps, and the rear number plate filler panel. My car got all the standard interior stuff from the M5 (except the oil temp gauge dash) and added to our cars were climate air, the rear boot spoilers that werent standard on the M5, and our cars on the big metric wheels had a bigger wheel and tyre combo that the M5, I'm not too suer if the M5s got the premium sound system either A mate of mine has owned a few BMWs around the early 90's including a E32 735, E34 535iA and a 3.6 E34 M5, and actually rated our car better than the M5. The M5 may have HP, but its at a cost to low down torque. The M5's suspension is also quite a bit harsher to the M-Tech fitted to our cars, affecting ride comfort. NZ roads really dont suit Autobahn suspension setups.

I'm a little late with this thread, but the cat/no cat mystery might be answered by something that happened to a friend of mine. A mate of mine owned the NZ demo E34 M5 (3.6 I think). When he got the car it idled roughly and generally didnt do things quite as nice as it should fuelling wise. While the car was still under the warranty, he did so reasearch and found that the car was an Aussie spec car (ie should have a cat), but the car didnt. On further research, he found that the car was shipped from Germany with a new front pipe sitting in the boot and that BMW NZ swapped the front pipe on arrival (no other changes) and ditched the cat ....because we werent lead free at that stage. The only hitch of course...ECU is expecting a cat....no cat...ECU runs those sensors in limp home mode, hence fuelling at idle and slow running all up the creek. BMW NZ eventually swapped the ECU for a South African one at their cost....funny enough the car came right....idles nice....fuel economy increased. Perhaps the cars actually need the cat in place....havent actually checked our one but that could explain the intermittent fuelling issue that you have on startup Paul.....

Except for our one......it's car dealer pikkies...

Main Street Oturehua

Somewhere around the Ida Valley

The 2800 down south on the Classic Motoring Society's Alpine Classic Rally. Top of the Crown Range before heading back to Queenstown

Some of the replica wheels are available here. I was looking at some Alpina and M5 copies before I found the Racing Dynamics rims to replace the Metrics on the E34. If you have a tame wheel and tyre place hassle them about doing a query back into their supplier, they might not have them in stock, but they might be able to supply them to order. As for importing....no drama. If the total cost of the transaction including freight exceeds $500, count on paying 12.5% GST on top. You might want to confirm who the shippping company is. I've had good and bad experiences......I've just had some trim arrive in from Germany via FEDEX, good experience....phone call on a Sunday afternoon...."we have a parcel for you, how would you like to pay for the GST".....give them the credit card details and its all done. I imported a bumper for the RX3 from Aussie....crap experience....unknown freight company....ended up paying some fee for Auckland International Cargo handling cost of $90....a bumper costing $A300, actually ended up costing me about $900 Lesson learnt....dont use unknown freight companies! Try Aussie, I've been into a Merc and BMW Aftermarket shop on Flemington Rd in Melbourne, they had wheels....lights....bodykits etc

Wasnt one of the Avus Blue ones for sale on Trade-in a few months ago for around the $18K mark. I know of a 3.6 M5 that sold for less money than this....a few years ago. But there's a couple of B10 Alpina Auto's that are fishing for this sort of money as well. Guessing they will be keeping their cars for a while...........

This seems to be getting a little off topic, with all the "buy a manual" talk, when its fairly obvious that an auto is actually required. To add my 50c worth, I would recommend an auto for the likely use, as the manual isnt really that nice around town. The driveline has a tendency to shunt quite badly, and the clutch is as heavy as hell.....typical commuter traffic in Wellington aint that much fun in our 535. Get it out on the open highway or a windy back road (or the track)....and the car transforms. Fuel economy....14-16 MPG around town, and the only time I have seen better than 20MPG on a trip is on the Canterbury plains.....so they are thirsty. Does 14-16 MPG with the race car on the towbar, which is the same as my 4.1 Falcon Ute (just quicker) This seems to be a common trait amongst the "big sixes", as my E3's perform about the same. I'd be guessing that the late E34 525 with later engine would be the pick for fuel economy.

I would budget a little more than $200-$300. We did a head gasket in our 4.1 Falcon motor last year, and it ended up costing $2500. We ended up ditching our old head, and having to recon a good used head, as our old head had been machined badly before and the combustion chambers varied in size as the head was a banana shape (front to back) prior to the last machining job, the head had also gone soft from being overheated previously. You need to get the head to a engine reconditioner/head speciallist. Not only do you need to find out what actually caused the gasket to blow, but as mentioned previously the head should be checked for cracks, also if the head has gone "soft", whether the head has been machined previously, and if so was it done properly. If the head is off you might want to check the condition of the valves, valve guides, rockers and the rocker shafts. You might want to consider replacing the thermostat, the water pump and the radiator, if the exact cause of the gasket failure cannot be determined. New head bolts definitely should be used. You can do a dirty and cheap job and just do the bare minimum work, but if you intend keeping the car it might cost you more in the long run.

The 535 is a 5 speed manual, all the old gals are 4 speeds...... The old 4 speeds are a lovely 'box to drive with, the 535 is a dog...heavy clutch....heaps of driveline shunt However the 535 does improve on the open road or the track

On some big items for the E3, I've found its usually cheaper to shop off-shore. For the chrome waist trim for the car, I was quoted around an average of $200+GST per component (and there are 9 of them). I had them shipped from Germany (via FEDEX in around 5 days), for less than $1000 including shipping and GST. Same for tie rod ends.....$350 + tax each from your local dealer or $280 for a pair for OEM parts (made in Germany) from Bavauto in the US. For service components like oil filters....I would use genuine parts where possible. Why...... BMW spend a lot of $$$ making sure that the service components are up to a standard. An oil filter is designed to filter down to a certain size of particle, BMW have the filters built to ensure that this specification is meet with their original parts. If too bigger particles flow through the filter this could cause build-ups in the engine or damage engine components (like bearings), and large motor accessory companies tend to source there components based on price rather than specification. Can you tell if the spin off filter cartridge is made of special filter paper or reformed toilet paper? You need to "trust" who you are buying stuff off that is fit for the job. Its a bit differcult to prove that a Kamakooza oil filter used 60K ago has caused the bearings to prematurely fail....at least with Genuine Parts you would have a fairly good crack at BMW fixing your car if something prematurely failed.

The Surgery dont have a chassis machine, however they can get the car chassis pulled if they get the work

why do the g boxes need work? the e30 ones are bullet proof (std power). IS this a weaker box? Off topic but..... I wouldnt think there is too much difference between the gearboxes, with the exception of shaft sizes and bellhousings. However, I would suggest that the gearboxes come under a bucket load more torque loading than the E30 ones, therefore the gearboxes will run hotter... My car has a towbar....and I know I've had a couple of tonnes on the hook which also will put stress on the driveline....and who knows what any of the previous owners have done. And to clarify....the gearbox wasnt stuffed or noisy nor were there any issues with gear selection....it very occassionally dropped out of 1st gear, the bearings were replaced as there was a slight movement in them....and this was attributed to have caused the gear droppout issue. The syncho rings were discovered once the box was stripped, there were no symptoms to indicate that the syncho rings had any issues. There was a quip about proper maintenance....to my knowledge the car was in a BMW service program up until about 20K prior to me buying the car (previous owner was a car dealer), so the problem was unlikley to be caused by poor maintenance. A E30 gearbox with this many KMs on the clock could be in exactly the same condition....it might be that the extra torque of the 3.5 engine actually caused the box to jump out of first.

This would be a worry, and perhaps a indication (not so flash), of the cars true conditionThe English magazine, Total BMW, buyers guide for the E34s, reckon, that as these cars are galvanised, rust shouldnt be a problem, unless they have poorly repaired accident damage. If the doors are rusting then I'm guessing that the car was some extreme conditions in the UK...salt...damp? Perhaps its a car that it might be best to steer clear of......

Time to clear out the backyard. I've got a early ('81 pre ABS) LHD 735 manual to get rid of, so if you want some bits for one of these PM me. Its probably easiest to list the stuff that isnt available Engine long block (thats why I brought the thing) Oil cooler Gearbox (wasnt with the car when I brought it) Diff head Air con pump (wasnt with the car when I brought it) Wheels ................................... The shell isnt too bad (around 200K mark), some rust around the front and rear screens (easy repair), and has been registered in NZ (although the rego has now lapsed but plates are still with the car) and rust in the bottoms of the doors. The interior is a khaki colored cloth, the drivers seat has some worn through holes , and the hoodlining material is sitting in the boot?. Windcreen is cracked. Car has a BBS front bumper/spoiler that seems to be in good shape (but will need repainting) All the FI, computer, pedal box, steering, controls etc are still there so if you you have a LHD 735 and want spares let me know....at some stage in the next 2 months anything that remains, will be trashed.