NVADER

He may have third party as well

Every modified car is rare in its owners eyes As for the insurance thing... Depending on how old he is, my guess would be that it's due to cost. Before I turned 25, my premiums on my automatic 1991 320i with 18" wheels were $200+ a month because wheels count as modifications and BMW's are "exotic". I hate to think what they'd be for an E30 with "engine modifications" and aftermarket wheels. Even if that's not the case...he's not at fault here. Bus drivers are a law unto themselves in the cities - who wouldn't do their best to take them to the cleaners?

I'd say it depends on your inspector. Some of them (especially VTNZ) will kick up a fuss about it being modified from stock and they can also fail it if there are things that could potentially cause harm if not covered. But as Slybma said, there's no set standard so you can argue it if they cause a fuss. http://vehicleinspection.nzta.govt.nz/virms/in-service-wof/general/vehicle-interior/interior-impact

^ That was the exact car I was about to try and find pictures of and post on here. I'd go with bags personally Those Alpina rims you posted earlier would look cool. I also think the rims on this suit the E28 really well but only in three piece and finding a set could be hard and expensive: http://stancewords.stanceworks.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/e28-schultz-wagon-estate-touring-title.jpg Depends on the look you're going for I guess. Nice car either way!

Yeah a bit. The ball joints on the drag link are definitely very worn and in need of replacement so that's the first thing. If that doesn't fix the wobble I'll go through the shimmy list. Does anybody know the differences between normal and motorsport suspension packages on these by the way?

Hey mate where is this?

Who's taken an E38 interior apart before? Mine is two tone brown/cream. The cream's good, the brown is horrid. Is it possible to swap out just the top half of the dash and door cards? Or are they one piece?

Are the 325 boxes interchangeable with the 320 ones? Or do they require a 325 driveshaft/diff as well? Also, have you got the torque converter off it by any chance? Cheers

Time for a quick update. The beast hasn't been driven much lately as I noticed a bit of a wobble in the steering over 70kp/h. Took it in for a warrant and turns out one of the ball joints in the tie rod drag link is pretty close to falling out. The advice I've had is that genuine is the only way with these links as aftermarket jobs tend to not fit or wear out quickly however, the company that supplied me the faulty ABS sensors has agreed to exchange them for a drag link at no extra cost so I'm going to run with that first and see how I go. After that I'm going to get stuck into the interior.

Awesome. Thanks for the help. Will try an oil change and see if that helps. Do you know what the mod is Brent?

^ True that!

My brothers just got his learners so I'm attempting to fix up my old E36 320i so he can have it for his first car. The main issue is the Japanese auto box. It's always had a fairly brutal first to second shift when cold but after some hard yards being driven (spiritedly) daily over the Rimutakas and back as my commuter, it now refuses to change from first to second unless I button off the gas completely. I think it's probably beyond a simple oil change now but I rang up Jeff Gray to see what the oil's worth regardless...Retail is about $90/L and best price through my mates garage is between $50-$70p/L. Given the above prices, it looks cheaper to find a second box with the torque converter still on it, and the liquid gold still in it... Is there an aftermarket alternative to Dexron III that will do the job properly these days?

Hey, This could just be me being a bit special...but I just can't seem to be able to get any decent results from the forum search tool. Basically if I put in any tags to search for it comes up with no results, and searching for words will bring up any topic that's had even one of the words used in it which isn't particularly helpful when you search for something like 'E36 Automatic Oil'. That gives you every single topic that's had oil mentioned in it Searching by title is pretty hard as well as a lot of people use fairly vague lines like 'E36 Problem' or 'Gearbox Trouble...' Is anyone else having these issues? Maybe it would be worth setting some sort of standard for titles/tags? It's not really a major issue as the community here is great for replying quickly; I'm just conscious that all the information I need has probably already been posted..

If that's the one with the lowering springs then yeah I'm keen on those. What colour interior does it have?

Tires finally arrived so new rims are all on now. No noticeable difference in ride quality or handling compared the the standard rims which is cool. Pretty happy with them but definitely need to lower it a bit in the front. May possibly look at some spacers for the rear too so that they're in line with the guards. I'll take some better pictures after I give it a wash tomorrow. Also, speed sensor issue is all sorted now thanks to a genuine second hand item from Brent.

Glenn that first comment made my day. Crack up. This would obviously be included if you were to get the whole car thoroughly checked by someone who knows BMW's but failing that, get the seller to have the fault codes read and send you through the printout. It's usually very cheap, and while it won't necessarily tell you the exact issue, it may give you an idea as to whether it's worth making further, potentially more costly inquiries.

This was posted in another thread and found some info on it on my travels: i would be interested to know how much airbags actually cost the manufacturer at time of instalation. could indicate wether we will see a market for replacement bags in another decade when half of them are getting to old to function. Car airbags are part of a vehicle's supplemental restraint system (SRS). They have been around since the 1970s and are now standard equipment on every vehicle. Since airbags were new technology then, a number of automakers erred on the side of caution when estimating their lifespan. The owner's manual on early-1990s Honda and Acura vehicles, for example, recommended a dealer inspection of airbags every 10 years. "That inspection was simply a visual inspection and a confirmation that the self-diagnostic functions were working properly," says Chris Martin, spokesman for American Honda. Mercedes-Benz, on the other hand, was a bit more conservative. The automaker installed airbag replacement labels on all vehicles sold in the U.S. through roughly 2002, says Diedra Wylie, a spokesperson for Mercedes-Benz. The labels called for new airbags at the 15-year mark. After 2002, Mercedes research concluded that the airbags it produced after January 1, 1992 would last the life of the vehicle, Wylie says. "Advances in airbag module technology now ensure the lifelong, functional reliability of the airbags," says Wylie. In pre-1992 Mercedes vehicles with airbags, the part needs to be replaced after 15 years. The vehicle's owner will have to foot the bill of roughly $2,000. If you have an airbag-equipped car from the late 1980s to mid-1990s, make sure you check the owner's manual to see if the automaker calls for an airbag replacement or inspection. http://www.edmunds.com/car-safety/do-car-airbags-expire.html From what I've read, most manufacturers put an expiration sticker on the bags and most seem to say 10-15 years a.k.a "the lifespan of the vehicle".

FYI on the whole E38 mat sensor thing: http://papers.sae.org/960226/ Due to the increasing amount of cars equipped with passenger airbags, there are now a larger number of accidents during which passenger airbags are activated although nobody is actually sitting in the passenger seat Even when one discounts those accidents which result in car “write-offs”, the unnecessary deployment of the passenger airbag increases repair costs in an unjustified way in order to avoid this type of situation, all BMW vehicles as of June 1994 are equipped with a seat occupancy monitoring system (SOMS) installed in the passenger seat That's definitely not the only reason. The mats also will not activate the passenger airbag for any passenger under 40lb (18.x Kg's) to prevent harm to children - who would put an <18kg child in the front seat anyway? But that does coincide with what Jason H was saying about weight detection, although in a fairly primitive form in the 90's models, and is probably the most important piece of information relating to these sensors.

It is NOT the same as taking the warning bulb out. The SRS bulb lights to show the system is self checking, and when a fault is detected. Removing the bulb would not solve the problem. Bypassing a faulty mat sensor so that airbags fire on impact regardless of occupancy does solve the problem. The only downside would be that if someone crashed into my car while no one was in it, the bags would still go off - my cost, my problem; not anyone else's The system can still self check, and the bags still fire, which would not happen by just removing the bulb. Again; enough about airbags. If you don't agree with me, good on ya; huge fan of independent thought that I am, but you don't have to keep going on about in this thread. The decision's been made.

Refreshing. Good point - I'm a shocker for doing that in my work vehicle :/

You can legally remove airbags from a car that's over 14 years old but it needs to be certified and lights must be removed from the dash etc Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

It comes down to who you get on the day really as to whether they think that 20x10's are an appropriate wheel size given that the largest factory spec is 18x8.5. It also means there's less likelihood ofhaving to wait on the side of the road while the Police jack my car up. But no, a cert isn't essential. It just saves time in the long run http://vehicleinspection.nzta.govt.nz/virms/in-service-wof/general/tyres,-wheels-and-hubs/tyres-and-wheels#table1011

Yeah, although given the genuine BMW part price and the fact most oem suppliers charge around the $300 mark for them, I'd seriously question the quality of a $40 unit, and not being able to rely on it would definitely be unsafe; whereas the bypass leaves no doubt I'm also dark on ebay at the moment. Bought a whole bunch of stuff recently and a good 60% of it was either wrong or faulty

Because the wheels are bigger than factory spec and because it's being lowered. Technically that means neither are 'sole' modifications. I've had some hassles with warrants (and roadside police checks) in the past so it's just easier to get them certed and be done with it

Ill be getting a cert for wheels and lowering springs anyway so it wouldn't cost me any more. That's also a worst case scenario. Pretty sure that it'll get a legitimate warrant with the bypass installed. I'm not convinced 18 year old airbags will do anything to help save anyone regardless. Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk