Vass

Sounds like an awesome project, great chassis-engine combo, best of luck with it and real keen to follow your progress. I've got a mate that's gone down the same route with his sedan, absolute banger of a car, pretty crazy seeing it today compared to what he started off with. Would be happy to put you in touch for some tips and advice if needed, he's a great down to earth fella.

Haven't looked into it but have wondered for a while why people prefer to go M52 for these swaps as opposed to M54? Is it the cable throttle vs fly-by-wire of it all?

Great to have another touring afficionado on board. Love it! Did see this car for sale a wee while back, did look like a mighty fine package. Congrats on picking it up, the turbo diesels in those are absolute beasts. Love the wheels & body kit too. 

Took her in for a WoF inspection the other week, sailed through without a hiccup. Always enjoy getting compliments from the mechanics, even got thanked for bringing it in. Clearly preferred dealing with what he dubbed a "full restoration" than the clapped out Altezza that came before me.

Hit 240,000 km's on the way home. 12,512 km's since the engine rebuild and 10,308 km's post driveline overhaul. Here's to many more.

1 hour ago, Neil McCauley said:

That’s an awesome 130!  I’m not in the market but that would be bought immediately if I was. A credit to you! 

Same! That's a seriously well taken care of machine and an awesome deal considering how much has gone into it, props to you @NZ_InFerno. No way you'd be able to buy one of these and get it to the same level for anything less than the asking price but yeah, unfortunately the market is a bit stale at the moment. All you need is one buyer that sees the value in what's been done though so you might luck out, just probably won't be a quick sale.

I love how he lists the dodgy wrap job as this mod that supposedly adds value to the car, when in reality it turns it into an abomination that 99% of people wouldn't want to be caught dead in. Top marks for reattaching the badges on the piss as well. Bargain.

Didn't want to say it but I did think you were a bit optimistic with your budget of $7-8k was it? Although to be fair there's not much in terms of fundamentals behind today's asking prices, mostly just hype so you might actually be the realistic one. Just that everyone else's price expectations are floating in space. 

Took it in for its first WoF inspection Friday last week. Ended up 'failing' on two rather laughable points.

First was the rear middle seat "missing a belt buckle", which of course had just slipped under the seat.

The second was the "front RH fog light alignment too high". I was told they could do it but the front bumper would need to come off... In reality the fog light covers/surrounds just pop out revealing the two phillips head screws holding the light in place, once out there's an adjustment dial on the backside. Eyeballed it to match the left side and took it in for reinspection on Monday. I didn't get it quite right so ended up tinkering with it in their shop in front of the test machine thingy until I got the alignment right on both sides.

The mechanic did also verbally mention a few advisories that he didn't even write down, one being the rear tyres being slightly worn on the inner edges. The tyres are still fairly new and the wear was nowhere near close to being fail-worthy but definitely something I will address in the near future. I had noticed a bit of negative camber on the rear, which is likely the upper control arms which seem to be a typical issue on these. The other thing he mentioned is that the steering felt a bit heavy, which I'm not even sure is an issue but he was fairly adamant that it wasn't quite right. Not sure what to think of that since it's not something neither me nor the wife have picked up on so far. Have tried keeping closer attention to it since he mentioned it but all feels fine to me.

Apart from that, no other issues and drove away with a fresh WoF sticker. Just in time to rush us to hospital Tuesday night for out daughter to be born in the early hours on Wednesday. The car seat now semi-permanently strapped in, we took her home for the first time on Friday. Must have been the gentlest driving I've ever done. "Baby on Board" stickers have usually been one of my biggest pet peeves but I now caught myself seriously considering getting one to excuse my ultra grand-grandma driving to fellow travellers. I also became super conscious of how sh*t the roads are down here. I've driven the same route hundreds of times but never noticed how rough some of the surfaces were am now paranoid of even the slightest ridge and pot hole. Full blown dad-mode.

The Family Tractor coming into its element.

On 1/25/2025 at 8:23 AM, euroriffic said:

Just did a quick trip last night to oamaru and back, 240ish kms, and now I know not to shift into 5th under load it never had an issue. 

Yeah same, haven't had it happen again since that trip. Weird that you had completely different codes flash up though with seemingly the same symptoms.

Stumbled upon an awesome writeup about this lady called Valeria Giordano, dubbed the 'Queen of the Clownshoe'. Not your regular neighbourhood grandma. Has amassed a collection of 8 (so far) in all sorts of different colors, tinkers on them herself, uses them to help folks learn to drive manual and even offers them to the local high school auto shop for students to practice on. Such an awesome story, gotta love it.

Something to aspire towards, eh @Kees? :D

Were the plastic bumpers corroded too? Why would you not swap those over while you're at it, especially since they were the same color? 

Those SSC fellas are prolific at overpricing their stock. Pretty sure the other near identical one that ended up being exported to the US last year went for around $30k, if that. 

All the hooning around was a good excuse to bust out the camera and take some glamour shots though.

I keep saying I've given up on trying to track down the cause of the rich running, but then something snaps in my head and I jump to the next implausible thing to try out.

This time around it was the injectors. After helping a mate do an engine swap, I grabbed the injectors off his old engine to eliminate that possible culprit. Dropped them off at a shop to get professionally ultrasonic cleaned & flow tested - checked out fine to within spec.

Swapped them in, cleared adaptations and went for a drive - sure enough the LTFT's were back at -7.0/7.8% after about 20 minutes. Figured I wouldn't bother swapping the old ones back since the result was the same but then when firing up after sitting for 10 minutes or more the engine would run really rough for a few seconds, struggling to hold idle with the red oil pressure light staying on. Decided to hook up the fuel pressure gauge to check for issues.

• 52 psi at idle
• 48 psi after shutting the engine off
• 38 psi after 10 minutes
• 32 psi after 20 minutes
• 22 psi after 40 minutes

The pressure shouldn't drop below 43.5 psi after 20 minutes to be within spec so this is well off. Not sure how it passed the tests at the shop or whether I managed to damage them somehow when installing but back out they came to revert back to the original ones. Picked up some tricks whilst fiddling with them the first time so the removal-installation process was way quicker the second time around. Ran the same test to make sure all was in order.

• 52 psi at idle
• 48 psi after shutting the engine off
• 45 psi after 10 minutes
• 44 psi after 20 minutes
• 44 psi after 30 minutes
• 44 psi after 40 minutes
• 44 psi after 60 minutes

Mint. Also swapped out my DISA valve for the spare one I also grabbed from the other engine. Mine had been rebuilt with a metal flap and (supposedly) a new diaphragm but figured I'd check swap it out as well and check if it makes any difference.

Went for a longer drive, initially things looked promising with LTFT's staying close to 0 but after a while suddenly jumped into the negative again. Stopped by to do some shopping and upon returning they'd somehow gotten reset back to 0%. Took the car out for another run around some back roads and the LTFT's remained promising throughout - 0% on bank 1 and -0.8% on bank 2 by the end of the day. Was beginning to think it had been the DISA valve all along but took it out again for an even longer run yesterday to confirm. The numbers remained low at first but then very gradually began to creep up, settling down in the familiar -7.0/8.6% territory after an hour-something and 70-odd km's.

For the 37th time, I give up. I've now tried a bunch of stuff with the same end results:

• Swapped out MAF sensors - from brand new VDO & to several originals
• 2 different throttle bodies
• 3 different ICV's
• Air filters - stock panel filter, K&N high flow filter
• DINAN CAI with additional air inlet
• 2 sets of injectors
• Different fuel grades - 95, BP98, NPD100
• Swapped out DME's with different firmware & software versions, reflashed tunes
• Stock exhaust manifolds; catless headers

Fuel pump & filter are just over a year old. Fuel pressure is sitting at the higher end of the spec at 52 psi at idle. Might try swapping in another fuel filter & pressure regulator at some point, because what the hell...

@Eagle also suggested crank & cam sensors might have something to do with timing and fuel injection so could be another thing to try and swap out for some spares I've got laying around at some point. Brand new OE/Genuine sensors the lot though so probably another stab in the dark. 

Chasing shadows is fun.

My rough understanding is you have to maintain a minimum 100mm clearance to the lowest point of the underside. Cert is automatically required if you're putting in adjustable suspension so stick to traditional springs. Cutting springs is also a no-no. 

2 hours ago, Eagle said:

From the same guy wanting 35k for NZ's worse condition E39 M5 

He is a "multi-media personality/trend setter" don't you know...

What an absolute tosspot 

41 minutes ago, Xander said:

I get short shifters but what the hell...

11 minutes ago, BigPoppa said:

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1651673495742159

Looks like it is in relatively good condition visually, but I have no way of interpreting mechanical condition easily. 

Stay well clear of that one, and any post-2000 BMW 4-cylinders in general. Does look nice but the engine is absolute garbage with a myriad of issues that'll become a headache in no time.

The second one looks a better option, The N52 engines are relatively reliable with a few typical BMW quirks like oil leaks and rubber hoses. Something looks off with those wheels though, they look almost comically small and pressed into the arches.

Honestly though, since you identify as not being mechanically minded, I'd think twice before getting a BMW - you'll just get taken for a ride and get charged a premium at every step just because "premium brand". They do require more stringent upkeep than the average Japanese marquee and the bills are quick to rack up if you're paying someone to do all the work.

I'd also vote against the high-mileage prejudice. My own wife can be pretty scrupulous but I recently got her an X5 with the aforementioned M57 engine. Despite the 290k km's on the clock, compared to the younger, lower mileage Subaru it's replacing the X5 is an upgrade in every conceivable way and she couldn't be happier.

Condition is everything and mileage is just a number.

That's real peculiar. Have you taken it apart just out of interest? Haven't heard of valve stem fatigue on these but have seen a few reports of valve springs randomly shearing, would be interesting to find out what it was in this case.

Yeah you're right @deedub. Just played around with the calculator and looks like it checks out. I've always thought the total sum needs to be under $1k to sail through but looks like it's actually just the item value. I've trimmed down quite a few orders to get them under the $1k limit, needlessly so as it turns out. That's great to know for the future.

11 hours ago, paulo said:

hmmm, if I was the vendor, I'd be a little worried about the bidding by the zero-rated "Jay from Hamilton", first registered as a Trade Me member in January 2025...

🤫

1 hour ago, euroriffic said:

Turns out because it was slightly over $1000 $1036, plus $199 shipping, I had to pay duty on it.

Pretty sure the combined sum (items+shipping) needs to be $1k max to fly under the radar, so you would have been well over. 

Dealer should be able to sort it with just the VIN code. Be prepared to fork out around $500.

I personally couldn't justify that so found a DIY solution.

AK90+ module off Aliexpress - $30
Blank key off Aliexpress - $10
Get a locksmith to cut the key - $30-50

Install the software that came with the AK90+, unbolt the EWS module from the car, an hour max fiddling around and you've coded yourself a new key for under 1/5th of the price.

1998 E36 should be EWS 2 so will be compatible. Plenty of easy to follow guides out there. Turned out a much easier process than I had feared. Just have a go.

I reckon it's a god-tier chassis-engine pairing. I do appreciate an original build but this looks real tastefully done, I'd probably take it over the S14 if I'm honest. If I were to nitpick anything at all about it is that they kept it LHD. Since originality got sacrificed anyway and all the effort that's gone in they might as well have converted it to RHD.