Neal

Try a Winz work broker. There are some really good ones in Auckland and quite a number of young people on the books so to speak. Some may just lack the self confidence to get into their first job. In my pervious role we'd get to hear many success stories for the young ones that just needed that first door opened. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Walnut blast to get paint off. I can second the clear coat comments above. Did this with some acs rims. However , Clear coat only lasted a couple of years. Paint experts on here will know how to do rims.

That's the one. Plenty of USA M3 owners do this as well just to check engine change as there are rumours of the bearing recall bearings still wearing. The other thing of note is the condition of the oil at the standard change intervals has been fine at 24,000 km. Still within spec but I'd only do this if the car is being used daily with decent amount of run time.

Best way to check bearing condition is to sample engine oil and have a report done similar to what many truck owners do. I haven't checked my own service advisory recall status, but oil analysis has come up with little signs of bearing wear.

Here's the "scare" list that us owners propagate on the internet to keep prices low and second hand options up ( might be some truths ) Window regulators fail Smg pumps fail at an alarming rate smg relays fail Manual gearboxes chew out syncros on second gear which equals box replacement Subframes fail at rear Bearing recall and replacement bearing failure ( get oil analysis done every now and then) Vanos seal failure Vanos bolt failure pre 2003 Diff clunk DIFF BOLTS ALTERNATOR failure Bm53 tuner module failure Airbag seat occupant senor mat failure Oil pump failure Nav screen failure Amp failure Rear view mirror acid of death failure Rear window aerial amp failure Rotor warping DSC module failure Some of these items can be viewed as preventative maintenance items such as diff & vanos bolts. Others can be roll of the dice. Just got to remember they are a 9-14 y/o car.

Owned one for 4 years and use it daily. Clocked up 60,000 kms and the cars done 107,000 kms Went against internet and bimmersport M3 E46 buyers advice guide and brought a 2002 (April) with SMG. Wanted an M3 with less than 50,000 kms . Drove a few and this one was nice and tight and seemed have a bit more go for some reason. Car has most options except headlight washers, electric seat bolsters and 19 inch wheels (prefer tyre choice options in 18s) Issues Rear view mirror dimming failed shortly after purchase (replaced mirror glass ($130 usd) Power Steering hose developed leak. ($500 ish , gold plated part ? ) CD stacker played up after track day. (DYI repair, lub required $15 ) Maintenance Usual services (intervals 24,000 km) Front rotors and pads @ 77,000 km ($1800) Rear rotors and pads @ 92,000 km ($1000 ish) Tyres 53,000 km Bridgestone Re11's ($2,200) Tyres 106,000 km Michelin PSS ($2,200) AMG Battery @ 95,000 km ($500) Mods Run 235/40/18 & 265/35/18 on factory rim rather than 225/45/18 255/40/18 standard size (don't see DSC warning light flash as much) Stereo project $NDA encase wife sees this (BM53 tuner mods for sound quality , kilowatt of headroom, carpc integration) Mk4 Nav with 2014 map , Bluetooth ULF SMG re-flash with Z4mcoupe software (smoother auto changes) Thinking of CSL load next with DME mods ISOfix top tether brackets Dyno ( car is supposedly standard, 56,000km 307 rwbhp , 90,000km 302 rwbhp on dynopack dynos) which is 20 - 30 above what it should be. Good bits Car corners like on rails SMG grin factor Shift lights on tacho with sMg with upper shift programs Xenon headlights , high beam is fantastic Nav options with rev camera (don't back over kids toys) Grip in wet and ability to put power down (see tyres) Cross wind has little effect on car Stable at speed and under hard braking (Taupo track) Induction sound / exhaust rasp Bad bits Hitting cats eyes / highway joint sections Ride on rough roads Stop start traffic uphill with SMG SMG in reverse gear (fine line between moving slightly and moving lots ) Handbrake goes off every couple of years Rubberised trim easy to mark and scuff No Aux in on factory radios / nav until late 2002 Factory hifi option is very average, HK system slightly better. What I'd change / add if money was no object Supercharger ECS 530hp option BBS e88's on 18's 245 / 275 combo P Plate

Have you seen the Denison options for factory head/Nav ? Gives USB , 3.5 rca and iPod plus Bluetooth ad2p streaming ( no aptx yet) Supports most audio formats including lossless codecs and steering wheel controls.

You not really going to get major step in sound quality by just replacing the head unit. Its going to take replacement speakers , amps with more headroom and better bass units. Have a look at gladen speaker upgrade kits with the mosconi amp that integrates into your system. Will work far better than many aftermarket combos. https://youtu.be/YEdzeGrAbto

Bikes a 748r (4 valve) with RS cams . That Alfa must of been full on.

Awesome project, looks so factory. Fantastic build as usual !

Cam basics http://www.freeasestudyguides.com/camshaft-lift-duration-overlap.html Next link, Profile difference between cam three durations 211, 276 , 288 which gives a good visual of duration differences . At 270 you get a lumpy idle and more hp towards higher end of rev range. 255 would be classed as "fast road" http://www.diyautoftw.com/images/imported/2013/05/710.jpg Have a bike with 272 inlets and 292 outlets cams for example. The 750 Ltwinn engine is rough below 4000 rpm , but fantastic between 7000-12500 rpm.

P town Porirua

Local council passed a bylaw which means you can no longer wash cars on the driveway. Apparently the local BP drive through car wash is my only option now unless I create a grass area. Only thing with creating a grass area is the council passed a bylaw protecting the trees on the rest of the section a couple years before. Might as well start using sandpaper on the paint finish now

Darren The launch control is similar to a 4000 rpm progressive manual take off. Ive only used it a couple of times (cone time trials) as I'm concerned about the rear subframe with continued use. (haven't reinforced mine yet) I'd imagine the clutch wear would be higher . I hear about clutch and flywheels be changed at 100,000 kms but not sure why .

first world problem Tyres up for replacement. After another set of Re11 or the new Re71r Bridgestone tyres. Ring Bridgestone NZ , don't bring them in , but suggested tirerack Email tirerack. Informed that they are export controlled and can't send to nz. Wtf , try for some PSS's , back order to well after I need them Anyone tried RE55s as a daily plus odd track day tyre ?

Unless you enjoy or do left & right foot braking with heal and toe then with an open mind try an smg. I'd had 28 years of driving manuals as a preference but have only had a SMG for the last 3. I really don't miss a clutch pedal and enjoy the smg as it brings a different driving dynamic . I still however use the gear lever rather than paddles as a preference. I'd be more inclined to find and by and M3 that feels tight as first choice and choose transmission type as second. This was my first consideration and its worked out well so far.(60kms of trouble free driving)

Learn hex and the principles behind it. After that treat coding as a conversation Can you tell me your settings My settings are ........ I'd like change your settings Ok You can change my setting by giving me instructions Thank you, Your new settings are Ok I received that, (or I don't understand your changes to my settings) Please confirm the settings I've sent to you My new rpm limit is now 7500 rpm Or. Cheapo $10 hacked ebay software tool plus half the fud on internet forums in terms of advice. I'd like to change your settings .... send ........love you long time in qweans bestst engwrish Module ....... I'm now a teapot ...... please take me to the dealer The thing with coding is start with something basic on a single module and understand it well Something like a light module unit , the language it needs and the flexibility it may offer in terms on programming. (like lights on for 2 mins after engine off) Also learn about how the module communicates. Does the module sit on a bus , is they only way to change the module via reading and writing to an Eprom chip etc. I'd suggest that you get something like a raspberry pi and a few learning modules to get started. It will give you the basics of o's systems and microcontroller control systems. Taking this learning back into a coding car modules will make it seem less daunting. Nice thing about the raspberry is there is a number of apps available for programming or interfacing into various car bus systems.

Was the first owner of this car based in Wellington ? ( MT Victoria or Wgtn City Terrace) If so it was on old boss's car and I drove it a number of times in the 80s :-)

The maintenance has been high. Bike spec is somewhere between R & RS. vavle train takes a hammering with RS cams Peak power is 12250 rpm rather than the usual 10 ish. Does 8 l / 100 km

Interesting concept My reckoning I have a Mini that owes me about $3k per meter A Ducati that is roughly 5 cents per meter A 328 that is .10 per meter and the M3 would be about $.15 per meter. Hopefully the wife doesn't read this otherwise two vehicles will have to go

Got 23 l / 100 km around Taupo (m3) . First time I've seen an expected range of less than 300 km on a near full tank.

Pass me the 1/4 inch or 5 mm spanner please. Translates well on the metric and imperial sides of my garage

They're not bad eh Between Taupo and Wellington I got 6.9 / 100km average ( it's down hill though) in low traffic . I get 26.7 mpg on my 60km daily commute......10.5 in those metric thingies

Jap VICs system toll road card holder ?

And that beeping noise on turn off is a reminder to either return the level to r or 1 position Others On s1-s4 you can drop 2 or three gears by tapping the downshift paddle in quick succession (RPM dependant) S1 mode ignores 1st gear on takeoff to limit wheel torque on slippery surfaces S6 mode is only avavailbe with DSC off on normal M3s CSL tune allows full engine torque on gear changes rather than slight reduction on standard smg or half second delay on manual ( interesting enough antadoataly csl are less prone to subframe tearing) Later mcoupe smg software load has smoother auto mode changes ( running this on my 2002 )