What'd you do to your BMW today?

[LemonHunter 583]

Put my new wheels on. 

Previous were a little wide and kept hitting guards. 

Before (forgot) 

 

After

Also, anyone know a fair market price for the previous BBS? 

ET38

RX204

17 x 8

Complete with three borderline and one toasted tire

 

[Gaz 1062]

8 hours ago, gjm said:

Mrs M's Baur failed it's WoF.

Front wheel bearing (I'd not noticed, but on the ramp it's more evident), wiper blades (gave them a clean and they're fine), and... faded seatbelts. Now, there's a rort. Faded or discoloured seatbelts are a fail - UV damage to the belt mayhave occurred and the belt should be replaced. Upwards of $150 (probably more) per belt for re-webbing.
I asked about UV-stabilised fabrics, but the tester assured me that the letter of the manual is such that discolouration to a significant part of the belt is a fail - absolutely no allowance for belt integrity whatsoever.

The manual says the following are a reason to fail:

"e) fading so that most of the colour has been bleached, and:
   i. shows signs of chalking, or a powdery residue is evident on the webbing, or
   ii. it has become stiff

f) been dyed to conceal fading, or

g) contamination from grease, paint, solvents or similar products.

h) been replaced or shows other signs of repair (Note 14) and there is no evidence of approval from the seatbelt manufacturer.
Note: Such approval is very unlikely."

I concede two belts have faded in part, but not to a 'most of' situation (too open to interpretation imo).  There is no sign of chalkiness, residue of any sort, or stiffness. They have not been dyed, or repaired. A third belt has been replaced by one which is a different colour (brown, not black, and unfaded) but this was also cited as a fail.

However, taking the words at face value, it seems that unless a seatbelt is replaced with a genuine manufacturers item, it is still a fail! Anyone care to guess the price of BMW seatbelts for an E30...? Sit down before you ask. ?

Bloody annoying. Yes - I know... Wrong WoF station, etc...

How about this? No idea if it helps 

https://www.trademe.co.nz/2483868085

[gjm 3258]

1 hour ago, Gaz said:

How about this? No idea if it helps 

https://www.trademe.co.nz/2483868085

I'll check to see if early and late can be swapped. 

Edit: age appears irrelevant. Coupe/sedan are different though - I've asked which these came from. 

Edited January 10, 2020 by gjm

[Navin 180]

Installed F series paddle shifters, what a difference in look and feel. Thanks @Badical for the idea and links!

[M3AN 4016]

1 hour ago, Navin said:

Installed F series paddle shifters, what a difference in look and feel. Thanks @Badical for the idea and links!

Looks good, I wish it was this easy for the slush boxes (that aren't all the slushy actually).

Can I have your brushed aluminium trim? Me likey.

[Navin 180]

1 hour ago, M3AN said:

Looks good, I wish it was this easy for the slush boxes (that aren't all the slushy actually).

Can I have your brushed aluminium trim? Me likey.

Haha I'm actually contemplating changing it up to either piano black or the carbon trim. Got too used to it over the last few years

[M3AN 4016]

1 minute ago, Navin said:

Haha I'm actually contemplating changing it up to either piano black or the carbon trim. Got too used to it over the last few years

?

If you do change it out and don't want to store the alu then tap me on the shoulder.

[NZ BMW 368]

Cleaned it - is there anything better than a properly clean steering wheel? ☺️

[qube 3570]

Nosejob

[M3AN 4016]

lit

[sweetm3 180]

Set the car up for driver training tomorrow at HD

[E30 325i Rag-Top 2963]

Chucked the battery from the race car into the vert and she started first pop, so that confirms my thoughts on where the problem lay.

Took her for a run to work as weather was mint.

Realised how poor the boot space is for large parts.

Got home and into garage with no issues so will call that a win!

[M3AN 4016]

Installed 12 interior LED lights in the 130 to match the exterior. No codes, pretty happy.

Only ze Germans could make changing a light bulb so complicated... it took me ~90 mins to change 12. When the instructions start with "get a T20 driver" you know it's going to be more complex than it really should be... lol.

But another 'Fun 1' win and I love the contrast with the ambient cabin lighting.

Edit: oh, and I discovered there's a 12v power socket in the trunk which is a nice feature.

Edited January 20, 2020 by M3AN

[Eagle 1676]

Luckily it wasnt always the case.

[Badical 21]

Retrimmed my DCT shift knob in alcantara, took a few goes until I was happy. Now matches a few other interior bits and bobs.

[M3AN 4016]

Wow, that looks fantastic, well done.

Did you use adhesive backed Alcantra (wrap) or did you glue it yourself? And what colour code Alcantara do you recall?

As a matter of interest how do you find the 135 compared to the Evo? I've had a couple of Evo's in my time, loved them to bits as a driver's car.

 

Edited January 23, 2020 by M3AN

[Badical 21]

I got a sheet of this, not genuine alcantara, but close enough:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Genuine-Ultrasuede-Ambiance-HP-High-Performance-54-Wide-Fabric-by-the-Yard-5709/131393921273

Way more than I ever needed and has been enough to cover my door handles, dash trim piece and other bits and bobs like the gear knob, that black is a good match with the BMW performance alcantara steering wheel trim piece.

I then glued it on with 3M super 77, couldn't find any 3M hi-strength 90, but the 77 is doing well.

The gearshift boot and handbrake boot I got from https://cobywheel.com/

As for my 135 vs evo, my 135 is so much of a nicer road car, my evo is an RS so is an arse to drive sometimes with no aircon and sound deadening, plus its modified to the point now where it's only happy going fast on some back roads or track days, absolutely brilliant at that, it has a certain basic raw charm to it that my 135 doesn't have nor would I want it to have.

 

[jasera94 29]

@gjm I failed wof on my Vert for a seat belt too, got quoted $800 for a genuine one. got in touch with seatbelt specialists in Wairau for $195 for a whole assembly, fits and works fine... but will probably fail again seeing that clause.

[jasera94 29]

On 1/10/2020 at 10:53 AM, E30 325i Rag-Top said:

Now it's all good to go and legal the 'vert has had a hissy fit and decided not start.

Took it to work the other day for the first run out this year, got home, went to put it away in the garage, no start. Absolutely nothing, no clicking solenoid, squat.

A week on charge (with a good quality intelligent charger) and it's telling me it's fully charged - but still nothing. Uh-oh, starter...? Immobiliser...? Something else..?

Whacking starter with hammer, made no difference. Really felt like taking to the car with the hammer, but just stopped myself.

Another week or so on charge, using the "refurb" mode and I've not got a clicking relay, but nothing else. Fingers crossed a bit more time on the charger will bring it back to life, if not, it looks like new battery time.

Remind me again why I 'like" classic cars...??

 

I can relate! 

I feel you're pain! last week my injectors were leaking, put in new O-rings and all together again.. pretty simple.. and now it runs like sh!t without having changed much at all.

Still cant figure out the issue! 

[Totalled 3]

17 hours ago, Badical said:

The gearshift boot and handbrake boot I got from https://cobywheel.com/

 

They look awesome. What was your experience like using them? Thinking of getting the full kit for my 120.

[gjm 3258]

6 hours ago, jasera94 said:

@gjm I failed wof on my Vert for a seat belt too, got quoted $800 for a genuine one. got in touch with seatbelt specialists in Wairau for $195 for a whole assembly, fits and works fine... but will probably fail again seeing that clause.

We had three done - both fronts, and centre rear (won't have an issue with the centre rear on a cabbie - that's a Baur / coupe issue in 2-doors. )

Cost was perhaps a shade more than you paid - $650 or so for all three. Drive in, drive out. In fairness, the two front belts do operate much more smoothly now.

[Badical 21]

20 hours ago, Totalled said:

They look awesome. What was your experience like using them? Thinking of getting the full kit for my 120.

They are pretty good quality, the hard part is gluing it onto the plastic frame, this takes a bit of time.

Doing the handbrake boot probably took me about 3-4 times of pulling it off and regluing until I had it just right, luckily the glue I used was weak enough to pull off and remove from the fabric without damaging it.

I recommend getting some second hand bits to pull apart, I just got the parts from pick a part when a 1 series showed up and re-trimmed those.

[Cale 36]

Tidied up and installed some Bosch smiley's in the wagon today. These replace the bullseyes which were a touch faded and some of the adjusters a bit rusty.

Made me happy (excuse the pun).

Will have think about whether I put the washer system back in also but it does look cleaner without it.

Edited February 2, 2020 by Cale

[balancerider 771]

@Cale I love your pairing!

[tawa 150]

Finally got round to spraying my fog lights (the vinyl didn't weather so well).

Top tip, nobody in NZ seems to sell yellow glass/headlight tint, but metalcast is transparent top coat in various colors (has a metal flecked basecoat so it looks all fancy, topcoat coverage is garbage but seems fine for glass tinting!)