Yuen

Are you talking about the cowl under the windshield?

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showt...;highlight=cowl

There's the DIY replacement, part numbers and all, you can use them to call the dealer for a price. It shouldn't be a warrant item.

Get the BMW coolant, it has been said that it is different in composition to the standard off the shelf stuff. The colour is different too. Some people may say it is marketing BS, but IMO you are paying a small price for the peace of mind, it is one less thing to worry about. Personally I only run BMW coolant with distilled water.

did mine with a can of selleys KWIK Grip and black vynal from spotlight did all the pillars aswell cost me about 80 bucks all up for the material and glue, my second attempt (tried a different glue) turned out pretty good.

So what was the different glue? Glue is the biggest worry in this project... how long has yours held up? I'm on 1.5 years with the 3M stuff.

Awesome looking wheels.

If you don't mind the work, you can actually do it yourself - I ordered 3M Hi-Strength 90 glue in from a place in Auckland and re-did mine in black Microsuede which I got from Spotlight. In the end, though, you might pay slightly more than $200, but then again that was the price I paid for enough material and glue to do the A and C pillars too.

It is a bit risky though, you may not be 100% satisfied with your work especially if it's your first time. So you might want to get someone to do it.

Yeah, when I saw them I was like "Don't those belong on Jap cars?"

Incredible. Keep us updated, I'm glad to see these projects being done in NZ!

Congratulations!

Hmm, the front bumper looks a bit iffy. It kinda looks like a sagging chin. Other than that, I like how it's coming along. Have faith in BMW, they haven't made an ugly M3, yet!

Ohh yeah.

$3500 sounds like a great buy. I'd be pretty tempted myself if I was offered those at that price! Let us know how it goes.

Im kinda thinking i wanna keep the plates - ill prob transfer them to my brother for his 318..while its no BLZKRG it belongs on a german car..plus that way someday I can claim em back from him.. heh

Hey Dennis, got your msg, what a bummer to see it being put up for sale. It's definitely been well taken care of.

Alex, the cast BBS RC and RK wheels are both one of the lightest around. 18" is only 18.xx lbs. 17" are about 16.xx lbs. The CH model is pretty heavy.

AC Schnitzer wheels are also heavy, the 17" ones are already ~22lbs. But then again so are most wheels. I think the BMW 17" Lightweight wheels (forged) that came on some M3s (maybe on yours?) are ~19lbs.

Then you want to consider forged vs. cast wheels... but if you're not too worried about pot holes then I wouldn't worry.

CRIPES! USD$1400!

I'll have to think hard about it first. That's quite a bit more than I expected to spend.

Definitely a hell of a lot of money

I have no idea what they are so can't tell you haha.

Haha, they're the little black dots surrounding the windshields on E36 and above. I'm not sure if E30s have them, I thought they would. E34s have them. A lot of shops seem to be unable to tint over them nicely.

As you can see by my question, wtf not staggered?

Quite sure some years had an unstaggered set while others were staggered... but they could be replicas.

Yes the lights are aimed properly. Its hard coming from an Accord with HID to the Bosch lights. Driving from the Te Puke turn-off to Whakatane at night and I really notice the difference between a HID setup and the standard BMW one. If the Hella one is legal, that's probably where I'll spend the money.

Hmm Hella NZ don't have it on their website.

Here: http://www.turnermotorsport.com/html/detai...CT_ID=1AL-XENON

Just to show you what we're talking about. I'm not sure if the beam pattern can be switched from LHD to RHD, or you have to buy a RHD set specifically.

Personally I wouldn't go that dark but it looks OK on a black car. Did they manage to tint over the dot matrix on the front and rear windshields?

Guessing the blue tint at the top of the bulb gave it a whiter colour at the expense of output. I'm running Osram Silverstar bulbs, which are supposed to look whiter and increase output, and they don't have a tint. They are only very slightly whiter, if I didn't point it out no one would notice. Same goes for brightness. In the end, 55W H1 halogens will all be roughly the same. So there isn't much point at all paying a premium for better bulbs.

Some people like to use higher wattage bulbs but that can hurt the harness. So... as my_e36 mentioned, in the end the only legal way to do it is going for the Hella HID kit for the E36. Those have Angel eyes as well They're called the Hella CELIS HID kit. I think for legality the HID system must have auto-leveling, which I guess the kit comes with. In fact LTSA's booklet on lighting modifications has the E36 with the Hella CELIS HID system on the cover, so it must be legal?

IMO, our lights are pretty decent. Have you got yours aimed properly? After aiming them using the adjustment screws on the lights, I usually adjust them from inside the cabin depending on the area I'm in.

I put some tips on mine for the same reason - price! What was unexpected was the change in sound going to two outlets from one. I really didnt think just tips would make a difference but its quite noticeable.

Good or bad difference?

Those look nice. Reminds me of Beyern wheels.

Btw, go for 17" if you want to minimise the loss in performance after you chuck on your new wheels. Lighter

Damn, thanks for the pics Andy, I want to attend one now, LOL. Looks great! What model E90 were you driving?

Badass.

n00b question...is that yours to keep (thing with sigs) or was it on the wall somewhere lol.

I think it was on the wall and Andy just took a pic.

Ouch. Sorry to hear about all of your cars getting broken into... it's getting too common nowadays.

okay cheers guys, will do that josh, rang them today and im going in on monday to let them look at the car. Its still drivable but i have to pick my time so i dont get caught in traffic, radiator has a bit of damage, towbar went straight through the kidney grille. gutted, at least they reckon it;; only take em about 4 days depending on if they need to order sh*t frm germany. so thats good, im used to having it take like 2 months lol, god damn Hawaii 5-0 i just hope precision are good at colour matching

Hey Chris,

Sorry to hear about this. Hope you'll get her back to original condition in no time!

Hey guys,

Car starting mis-firing a few days ago, losing 1 and sometimes 2 cylinders, then it just came right and now its perfectly fine. Also recently the check coolant warning came up, and it took about 750ml of water to get up to the cold line, the water was clean and green. So not sure whats going on but it got me interested in the motor and I found this noise. Its a loud hiss and sounds to be coming from near the center of the intake manifold and is loud (louder than the fan and engine itself). Not sure if all of this is related, but thought I'd ask to get your guys thoughts.

It had a BMW Inspection I less than 2 months ago, and has a history of good servicing.

Anyway here is the video of the noise:

http://s83.photobucket.com/albums/j307/DrR...gine_noise5.flv

Thoughts?

Hmm, sounds like a leak somewhere, my car has got a sound too but it's a whistle, said to be the crankcase ventilation valve or breather hoses so I will be replacing them. I couldn't even hear the motor in your video, so I'm not sure how accurate the sound was. Does it go away when you accelerate, ie: does it only occur at idle, or anything else you've noticed?

Btw, 750ml of water is quite a bit to top up, if you do that regularly I would definitely look into it, maybe some hoses aren't tightened very well or the expansion tank cap is not sealed properly.