Twistee

I'll stand by my statement having done a stint in that industry, yes it is painful because insurance continually and competently adjusts rates - but it is also a consistent income stream that you can run a shop on. 

@ctho GT Refinishers are also really good, close friend had a bare metal job done by them and it was stunning. But from memory they are always in demand and it took a while to get into the shop, if you are happy to wait then they are possibly worth investigating.

Best of luck finding a panel shop that wants anything but insurance work these days. It's been a long time since I had major work done, but Takapuna Panelbeaters have done a couple of full bare metal resprays for me and the work has always been fantastic - and they know how to properly fix things. 

For those who cannot justify another BMW grill you could aim for the Mitsuoka Ryoga, drink enough and it totally looks the same.

Avant version. Glorious, sleek grill, dripping with chrome, you would never know that there was a Nissan under that beaver front end  

All this for the sum of $12,500 

https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/other/other/listing/3406935925?bof=jWXxlIBH

Pricing is about 10% sticker price of the car at the moment.

I bought my M5 from Southern Specialist Cars, and they are motivated to sell - and move on price and stand behind what they sell. They paid a fair amount to sort out post sale issues and I would be happy to recommend them. They have this - much newer build and far less milage. Price is not far from the asking price on the one you are interested in. 

https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/m5/listing/3505510325?bof=IHdxNkUT

E39's are famous for being lightweight, I'm sure you would have walked it off  Glad the story ended the way it did  rather than you bench pressing the wagon. Must almost be ready to sort the exhaust and enjoy the new velvety ride.

Fantastic, you should be very proud @Sammo

That's great news, fingers crossed.

When you check the fuel pressure in INPA does it hold or drop off once primed ?

Some good reading for the diagnostic walkthrough 

https://www.bimmerfest.com/threads/e90-n52-crank-but-no-start-issue.1402751/

Good luck. 

Recheck your fuel pump / filter, it should absolutely fountain out of the fuel line when priming. I have been caught out assuming that a running pump and some fuel coming when priming means the pump is all good. 

14 hours ago, aja540i said:

Let me know how you get on with your "worlds fastest LPG powered station wagon" record attempt!!

I don't know that I could bring myself to buy that kit with such an eye watering price, let alone hack up the wagon and orange would just clash in the engine bay. 

Just take a minute to look at what they are selling for over the Tasman 

https://www.carsales.com.au/cars/bmw/m5/?offset=48

And that is one of the cheaper ones, pre LCI. In NZ at present I couldn't see that car moving for more than half that price. And don't think that this is anything new or a bunch of dreamers advertising M5's at an overinflated price, I've been watching this for quite a while and E60's are already starting to increase in value and are selling at those prices and higher. I would like to think that at some point NZ will follow, although I doubt any of us bought these as investments. 

That's great news, NZTA can be painful to deal with. but it could have been much worse and drawn out.

@NZ00Z3 Thanks, I'll have a crack with that on the weekend.

I went to remove the rear number plate surround on the wagon, only to find that either some ass hat has bonded the number plate on with 3M or BMW has another form of black magic to hold the plate in place. I don't want to pull the plate and destroy the paintwork - any ideas?

A gratuitous ass shot :

Back up for sale, 

https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/535i/listing/3542923920?bof=XTNmWP9q

Looks like the real estate agent has run out of reals to estate and is moving to Aus. 

Let that haunt your nightmares 

I was pulling out the credit card right up until the "they delete the centre bin". This just sounds like a whole bunch of the Porsche approach of you pay more when we remove everything from the standard car..... But where else would I store my junk that is in easy reach? 

I love the "bronze" (looks like gold to me) kidneys and rims, the green is not for me though - but I would hardly kick it out of bed given how few will be available. I would like to see the latest 5 series next to a F01, it doesn't look bloated, it just looks like it's been scaled up yet again. I have no issue with the size increase, if buyers want something smaller they could go for the M3. 

With the coming apocalypse I think as a responsible v10 owner I should be applying for some green car rebates to invest into making the M5 more "green". 

https://www.motor1.com/news/25581/g-power-bmw-m5-hurricane-gs-the-worlds-fastest-lpg-vehicle/

You would have to burn through some huge distances to get any return on investment for your blown swamp gas conversion, but Jacinda would be happy so that's a win.......

  @GorGasm I would argue that as a local that regularly travelled through these areas for the past decade it has gotten significantly worse recently.  

This is a real sleeper wagon, quiet, standard looking, at first glance it's just another E91, and apparently every B road in the Netherlands is driven like the Autobahn. (And yes the channel this is from AutoTopNL do mostly unlimited runs on the German Autobahn, so I'm guessing the high speed runs here are over the border). 

BM Workshop

Wow, I had a headset on and watched that on my phone... Almost crapped myself when the duck tromboned into life. It doesn't ramp up, the duck just arrives. Interested to know what that is as well. Good luck.

Someone came back last night and baked it up (pitiful attempt) much closer to our place, so I wasted a huge amount of time doing something I meant to do last year during lockdown and installed another camera covering the cul de sac. 

My neighbours are well pissed at the state of things, fingers crossed they try their luck again tonight. 

@Breaker Thanks for the input, love your car and that plate! If I was looking at a daily these seem to tick boxes all over the place. After I started this thread I went out and bought some well deserved Pizza and dropped into the local Bottle'O, parked out front was a F01 730D M Sport - and it's for sale.....I laughed my ass off, was so tempted to chat to the owner. In the flesh they have some presence wow.