Neal

The E 36 glass comes out easy enough, take off arm rest, door cards etc, but be warned that you'll need the right kind of glass glue for the "stays" at the bottom of the door. If you don't the windows will occasionally come of the sliders and will get stuck half up or down requiring a second visit.

In the past 16 years I've used Shelly's and Page. My current car goes to Shelly’s to keep FBMWSH and I've found the service to be excellent, Car gets a decent services , comes back spotless and I get a loaner if required (Brought current car via them).If it needs anything other than a service Hamish or Vicky are on the phone with approx cost etc and it gets sorted quickly. The older E30 323i I had went to Shelly’s for a number of years , Then I started doing the basic services myself, leaving cambelts and brake disc changes to Page. One of Pages mechs originally serviced that car in the 1980's and was still working there last year. People must have known what they were doing as the 323i was still going strong at 335,000 kms last year. Not sure if the car is still around , Rods are probably in use on someone’s 2.7. My wife’s 318I went to page as well. In the last 10 years or so I've had no issues with either place. Mike left Page a couple of years, but the guys there are more than up to it. Use to be another BMW place in the Hutt, but to cut a long story short, the car (e30 323) dumped it's water and blew a head gasket after a exhaust stud replacement. They stopped trading a number of years back, so be careful who you trust for your services.

Thanks for the advise guys , Have arrived back in london , but have missed the window to find a E30 M3 to import under lhd rules, Only here for another 2 1/2 months. Looks like the E30 M3 plans are on hold for a couple of years. After seeing the 740i pics not so sure I want to ship a car back with the household stuff. Have had a good talk to the wife and she's put priority on her replacement car on our return so we'll be looking for a low KM 4 door e36 /e46 in April for her , preffer a six with leather so will check here closer to the time.

Thanks Juzzie Wuzzie, Can understand the car pride, you've got two very nice cars!, I prefer the E30 M3's to the e36's / e46's. Probably too many years of watching Nissan Mobil 500's in Wellington with first the 2.3's and then the 2.5 Schnitzer's and the yellow Tony Longhurst M3 (RIP). You tend to find many of the M3's here are looked well looked after, and a few are garage queens and only see dry days. Also you get less salt on roads in the South such as London where there are a reasonable number to choose from. With the London cars dent's and dings are the norm though. Many owners seem to be worried about the expense of doing the timing chain, and worn suspension bits , so 100,000 miles seem to be the point where the cars are moved on and something to check for. I see the main expense in converting to RHD, the Aussie's talk about buying a e30 325i nose cut which would have most of the bits and hopefully AirCon. Add a reconditioned M3 e36 steering rack so I'm thinking it could be converted for about $10k NZ providing I find one with a good Motor / Body. I'm I being too naive? (not looking to rebuild to concourse condition) Not so worried about the time factor, spent 8 years slowly rebuilding a Mk1 Mini so I'm not too worried, packing up home moving to London, moving back has to be done anyway. Adding a car won't make too much difference. My biggest hassle is going to be convincing the wife who just happens to be an accountant.

Is your's the E30 M3 Race car that featured in the BMW mag last year ?.A bit rich for me anyway , but thanks for the offer , I'd have to sell the bike and the wifes car.... Never of us would be happy.

That one is tempting , but I think I can do better price wise , a silver 1988 sold for 4800 pounds a couple of days ago or 12,000 nz had 150,000 km on the clock in very good condition, I get free shipping on return to NZ (Wife works for shipping company) so only need to pay GST / Import costs / Comp costs.To give the rest of you an idea of how cheap these cars are in the UK then check out the links below. E36 M3's are getting down in price as well. Have seen a couple of 1998 55km - 65km E36 Evos for about 22-25K NZ. http://atsearch.autotrader.co.uk/WWW/cars_...rch_full=SEARCH http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/54461.htm Convert http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/49403.htm http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/39174.htm Track day spec http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/52369.htm Race spec http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/53948.htm

Brillant , thanks for the info. Looks like I'll need to get onto it shortly to get within the 90 day period.

Thanks Grant , sorry for the repeat post and thanks for the info.Hopefully I can find an 1986 to bring back next year. Re-export / import sounds like a hassle. I guess that leaves out the Evo1/II options , but can always to the 2.5 upgrade in the future. In regards to wanting RHD is because for the odd bid of motorsport use and after 14 years behind the wheel of an E30 I'd rather rely on gut reaction rather than re-learning a lhd. Bad enough going from wifes auto to the manual let alone going to a lhd not to mention the motorcycle Sounds like the E36 M3 rack is the way to go !.

Ran an E30 323i on mobil 1 for about 12 years , had done 330,000 kms when I sold it and it was still running fine.

First post and all , had a few BMW's of the years , E21 323i , E30 323i , E36 318i & E36 325i. Good to see a board dedicated to BMW's. For the audio guys my E21 323i might have had the first Sub fitted to a BMW in NZ (Back in 1987) Thought I'd check with any of the members to see if my idea is possible ... I'm living in London at the moment and will return to NZ next year. I'm thinking of buying a E30 M3 and importing to NZ as the prices here are low (5000 -7000 pounds). I've always lusted over the first M3's. I'd like one for a Sunday driver and the odd bit of motorsport :thumb: Most of the versions here are the LHD versions and only a few have been converted to RHD by Birds London. RHD E30 M3's in NZ are rare as hens teeth and the prices are high. My questions are to anyone that might know Would I be able to buy say an 1986-1988 , convert it to RHD and wait until it's 20 years old to road register it. Who converted the NZ new E30 M3's to RHD Thanks Neal