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Suggest that the search function is your friend, as this has been covered off before. Depending on where the car is based In Wellington City + 1 for Page European - they have done vehicle inpections for me before In Porirua you could try Mike Wallis at Poriua European In Kapiti you could try Mike Page at Mike Page European

Depends on what spec and what options are on the car. A tidy E34 540i, is probably only likely to get $3500 - $4500 in the current market, so the average punter wouldnt pay much more than $1000 if the car was going to be put back on the road, otherwise it would be cheaper to buy a running car. I can't see the wreckers paying much more than that.

I've got a set of rear springs that came out of an old E12 that I wrecked...not geniune....look to be Lovells, you can have them, PM me if you are interested.

as mentioned previously steering wheel could be airbag vs non-airbag vs motorsport options seat controls electric vs manual ? ASC and LSD would have been options If you want a specific specification suggest you might want to check out the car via a dealer with the VIN, and they can tell you what the option packs were. With the early NZ new 535i's, most the option boxes were ticked....the major difference was the autos generally didnt get the M-Tech stuff (Suspension, wheels and interior pack) that the manuals got, the 540i specs seem all over the place. Our '93 540i didnt get a sunroof, electric seats, dipping LHS mirror, the full high end audio pack, that the 535i's had as "standard"....my guess was that the airbag cost so much, that the option pack took a hiding to maiintain a price point in the market. Any imported car, would really depend on what market it was destined for originally, and the first owners preferences - hence probably best to check out the VIN.

Depending on what information you are after, I might be able to assist There are generally two aftermarket manuals for the E12s, one for the 4 cylinders and baby 6s, and one for the big 6s. There were still manuals available for the 520's but you need to search for them by model designation.....have you tried Amazon.com? For engine related stuff, the engine is shared with the '02, so a 2002 manual might be useful if you cant find an E12 one.

Are you after photos of a specific car? I've got photos from the BMW Museum of the white IMSA car if thats a help

I'd be listening to Glenn's advice.... My M30 528 has a similar problem...which I reckon is the AFM....but as its only a parts car it isnt worth investigating, To check the exhaust.....break the exhaust at the first joint....manifold to front pipe.....fire up the motor and see if it will rev out.....if it does- you will need to go down the exhaust breaking it at the various joints to determine what section is blocked. As for the fueling components - an external fuel pressure gauge for testing might be a good start, and check whether the pressure is within factory tolerances and see if it falls off as the revs come up

Safety requirements are here, basically the difference between Clubsport and National Race - is only the apparel - 2 layers of Fire Retardant Material, the vehicle requirements are the same. The responsibility of making sure that the car is safe is actually on the driver/entrant. MNZ Schedule A Link Suggest that wording like "but cars will be inspected to make sure they are safe" is not a statement that you want to make, as since the advent of H&S and OSH, the technical description is a safety audit. This is to stop the organisers being sued or prosecuted when an item that wasn't checked - like a kingpin collapsing because you couldn't cracktest it. If you have inspected the car, and deemed it safe to race, you are potentially libel - it's crazy but is the reason the MNZ stopped "safety checking" scrutineering a number of years ago. The vehicle rules for the Intermarque series might be a good starting point for standard vs modified. As the organisers you set the vehicle criteria, what equals standard vs modified. In Schedule A, there is no requirement for modified vehicles to run roll protection. Definition thereof: A Standard car is one that in its present specification could have been driven off the showroom floor. A Modified car is one which includes any mechanical modification, whether homologated or not, that enhances performance on the track. Definition of Standard Bodywork - factory standard including brightwork, except hubcaps, non-performance extras are ok e.g. towbar, sunroof, bonnet locking device. Rollcages are deemed to be a non-performance extra. Interior - all fittings as per standard, except for front seats. 3 point or harness belts are required. Drivetrain - all as per factory specifications, excepting air-cleaners. Exhaust - as per Appendix J 2.3.5. Rotary engined cars with extractors are in the Modified Class. Tyres - minimum of 50% profile, road-legal (DOT) tyres with WOF standard tread depth. Wheels - mag and steels ok, so long as width is no greater than 12mm over factory, and diameter no greater than 1 inch above factory. Brakes - friction pad material is free, dual circuit system enhancements for safety ok, rest unmodified. Suspension - shock absorbers are free, bushes can be upgraded, ride height to remain standard. General - ancillary components to remain in original locations.

I haven't read the whole topic, but if you intend running a flag started endurance race, at a MNZ sanctioned track, I would suggest that as an absolute minimum you will need a competition race licence, and a double layer fire resistant suit, as per MNZ rules, and its extremely unlikely that MNZ will excempt you from this. The other issue you might encounter if you decide that you dont want to run under MNZ (because of the desire to keep this thing cheap), is that most tracks wont allow racing unless it has a MNZ permit - racing usually defined as flag controlled grid start group of vehicles. Also if you decide to not go down the MNZ path, I would be getting legal advise on how the OSH rules and regs apply to you. If your dad and you are the organisers, you might find yourself personally libel for a whole swag of grief if anything goes wrong. Think Queenstown Street race a few years back, when the Police took a case against the organisers....I wouldnt have wanted to foot the legal bill....it cost MNZ a heap! I've been down this path with car clubs over a number of years, and come to the conclusion that it isnt that easy to do it "on your own", and the potential for getting into a whole swag of hurt...is pretty good

If you get really stuck, you might want to try K-MAC in Oz. I'm struggling to locate M-Tech Springs (non-A/C height) for the E12, so when I came to looking for alternatives, there are very few listings - the best European Solution from from Fritz bits for Spax springs and it would have cost me over $1000 to land them here, and Spax wouldnt give any details on the springs. K-MAC have springs for the older cars and if the worst come to the worst, they can custom make a spring for you. They guessed that their standard lowered spring might be based on a M-Tech spring (or at least similar), and they are 30% uprated. I've just ordered a set, $A210 per end + $A80 for freight. www.k-mac.com.au Brent - if you read the Lovells catalog's recommendation about Super Low springs, they are for cosmetic purposes only - hence they drop the car, but have no improved handling advantages, I would guess that the same rule would apply to the other brands mentioned.

In my experience, with the E3s, this isnt the case, it would appear that most of the pre'75 cars (suspect its actually whenever BMW went to the global standard VIN) havent been loaded onto their computer based systems. My original 3.0Si did not exist according to Shelly Motors, and they insisted on viewing the car before getting parts in for it - claiming that I was reading the chassis number wrong - which is rather ironic, as Shelly's had sold the car new. However when I queried with Mobile Tradition, they knew the date of manufacture, and could have issued the car with a "birth certificate". The only E3 of mine,- one of the 2800's, that worked with the VIN decoder, came up as a BMW Motorcycle As for the SA built cars, ignore the chassis number try using the engine number instead, it works for my M535i Back on topic - while it might be a pretty tidy car, its still a "heavyweight" CSL, and for that sort of coin, I reckon that you would find a useable LHD "proper" CSL in Europe.

An update so that if anybody else decides that they need some information on Munich The Factory tours for Munich, are generally block-booked for new car deliveries, so that's why its differcult to get a booking, however if you rock up to the museum, I found them very helpful, and they said that the spaces for the tours get released daily so when I rocked up they were 6 spare spots, the tour started at 10:30. The museum was pretty cool - Quicksilver - I'm not too sure when you visited the Museum last, but it didnt seem outdated to me, the Motorsport area was way cool, with a mint E9 CSL from the US - absolutely mint. There were basically one of every type of BMW model range up until the 90's, however the selection of the models was interesting. For the E12, there was only an early 520, there was no E34, although the 7's were well represented - having a complete area for the family lineage of the luxury cars....including the only E3, a 3.3iL. The Deutsches Museum - Verkehrszentrum was also worth a visit, a display of the new Hydrogen cell 7 series, some interesting old cars and trains, and some rare 60 and 70's cars.

Amazing race...the diesel cars were really...really quiet, the whine of the driveline was noiser than the exhaust. The GT1 cars were the opposite....they were probably in excess of 100db...especially the Corvettes The Finish from the Maison Blanche Stand The Legends race was really cool, all cars from the 50's and early 60's...I'll post up a clip of the first lap when I get a chance

Try www.e12.de, and select the english option - the link I provided is in english for me. If you are wanting to compare the heads, use the realoem site and compare the part numbers. Generally pre E34/E32 the heads are pretty much the same - just watch for distributor position (motronic have dissy caps at the front of the head and no drive for the "normal" dissy on cam - L-Jet have a normal dissy side mounted), you might find that the E23 has the front mount, and the E12 doesnt, so the cams will need to be swapped or buy a "camshaft repair piece" to convert to the other dissy drive, and carbbie vs injection heads.....carbbie heads have a hole and mounts for the fuel pump - injection heads dont. As for the Motorsport badges....these have been available since the '80s, long before Ebay. If the car had left the factory as some form of Motorsport special, it would have most probably looked more like this. I've brought a couple of E12 525s that have had these spoilers, the 7 inch Motorsport wheels and the 3 spoke Motorsport Steering wheel on them I suspect that to smarten the car up at some stage, the spoilers were added and the badges were put on then

from the Realoem.com site 03/1981 E12 528i Saloon M30 Europe Right hand drive Manual Production Code: 3972 Short of the rare M535i, the 528i was the top of the line E12. If the rest of the car is as tidy as the body looks, its probably quite rare in that condition. Most of the E12's over here have pretty much died due to terminal rust issues, and even really tidy ones aren't worth that much money. I brought my South African M535i sans gearbox for $1000 - albeit pretty scruffy in overall condition, and a roadworthy South African 528i manual for $900. I reckon you would struggle to get much more than $2000 for a really tidy car on a private sale. A local dealer sold a really tidy LHD car that had been repowered with a worked 535 engine, with the Motorsport spoilers and suspension for around $2500. The best site for E12's is http://e12.assertion.de/primary/01001l20.htm

Extremely unlikely unless its been seriously screwed with. The German factory E12's in RHD would have generally had the factory front (plastic and replaces the bumper) and rear (rubber) spoilers - this car doesnt The M535i is a 5 speed, not a four speed, and has 14 inch x 6.5 X-Spoke alloys or 7.0 inch option wheels. There is a whole swag of other bits that are different to the standard non-Motorsport car. The South African E12 M535i's are similar to the German cars, except they dont get the spoilers and the C/R 5 speed I would suspect what you have here is a 2nd generation 528i manual Looks to be a nice clean car - a good buy at that price regardless

Some updates..... 5 Series factory tour is only open on Mondays @ 17:30, as production now doesnt run all week...so that now out ...my Mondays away are at LeMans or in Tokyo Nurburgring, was already out, didn't really have time, but found out that the 'Ring Taxi only runs on Sundays, and the Zakspeed Viper rides weren't available until the end of the month. There were only 2-3 hour nights sessions available at the track on the days that I was there....and it was hardly worth hiring one of the 'Ring rental cars for that length of available track time. Read the warnings about taking normal rental cars out ... 2000 euro fines on Avis and Hertz cars if you get caught...bit rich for me to risk. Still stuggling to get a Factory tour booking at 3 series plant Munich....either there is no bookings available for June via the website, or the website is really only for group bookings, and I'll have to do a phone booking.

Hi Team Thanks for the advice...great work Fortunately I have a friend in Munich....not a car guy....who will take care of the Bier stuff , he was out in December, and threatened to show me what a real beer looks like. The 5 series plant sounds like a must do.... I reckon that the trip might be BMW and beer only....all good

I'm off to Europe in a couple of weeks, and I've booked 3 days in Munich - obviously to do the BMW thing - Museum - Factory etc. Are there any other "must do" things, that people have done in or around Munich - especially car related

From a Performance Car road test back in '89 325i Sport = 132.3 MPH or 213 kmh. Car had a 3.91 rear end, and a 0.81 fifth gear, and top speed was at 6250 rpm. Given that most of the cars around here probably dont have fresh engines, I would expect that most actual top speed would be lower than that.

I would agree, a stock E3 3.0Si would achieve very slightly slower 0-60 times (7.5s), and a much higher top speed (132 mph) with the same bhp, and at least 50% more kerb weight. The only real factors I can see screwing up the acceleration would be a ridiculously high first gear in the C/R box and a camshaft that was all about HP and had little or no usable torque.

Keep an eye out at Turners or Trade-me. What I would suggest is trying to find a 535iA with a busted transmission - which are fairly common. Basically they arent worth repairing - and that would give you a relately easy project. I'm sure that Brent might be able to give you some pointers on the manual conversion of a E34 Personally I would only buy NZ new - and providing that the car hasn't had any dodgy accident repairs you should get a rust free car. My old '88 535iA was brought off Trade-me 2 years ago for $1700, as a running unit that needed a few parts swapped to get a warrant - and a trans service. I've seen a couple in Wellington sell on Trade-Me for the $500-$1000 mark. The other place that you might want to try is Speciallised Auto parts in Upper Hutt, they werent going to buy any more E34's the last time I was up there (too old for commercial wrecking), so they might have a shell that they would be keen to get rid of.

car sold

I've got a spare head that can go with the car