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Update: I bought the car which I had inspected. The PPI found probably ~$1k worth of things that needed fixing, from oil level sensors, to leaking gaskets. All of which is manageable and let's say it more than paid for itself directly on the discount I got from the asking price. I'll post pictures of the car once I have it nicely detailed and such. Thank you very much for your advice, Allan, Glenn and Qube.

Went to the local pick-a-part, and found some E30 goodies that my car was missing. Started repainting them. I'm quite happy with how this blanking panel came out. Now lets get back to the brake booster situation. I did initially intend on slotting the holes in the firewall and moving the booster over, but that doesn't appear to be very easy to do on our RHD cars. The pivot mechanism on the passenger side is fairly well mounted, and I don't really want to cut and weld it. At this stage I'm thinking about doing an Audi B5 A4 1.8T (dual diaphragm) brake booster. I haven't managed to find one for decent price yet, and there is very little info on this option. Any help on this one would be greatly appreciated.

The box of parts did finally arrive after many delays. Now I could finish up the engine. Oil baffle modified. Bolted back one, along with the e34 m50 oil pickup, and sump. Installed the cam sprockets and timed the engine. All buttoned up.

Finally got an 04 545i, wish me luck. Haven't even laid eyes on it yet as being delivered tomorrow. Looking forward to spending the long weekend getting used to it. Had an E39 523i two cars back and been hanging out for another Beemer but with some grunt since. Keen to keep an eye on here for tips, advice, parts, drives/runs and anything social.

all those aerial units and gps receilvers are after market stuff . just follow the cables etc

your radio antenna should be built into the left side glass in the hatch area. Be worth checking if all your factory wiring and plugs are intact behind that (yes, really ugly) head unit install you have. Can you tell me more about the Anycar unit for use with CD43? cheers

i would get a badge delete but the spinning propellor(or bavarian flag) would remain forever

I'm really stoked. My fuel consumption is down to 12.0l/100km and slowly dropping (more highway miles, higher average speed has helped) Most particularly, the LAMBDA light has extinguished and stayed gone. A new fuel filter and a solid Coolant Temp Sensor connection will undoubtedly have contributed to this, along with a good tankful of BP's finest 98. Usually it runs on Caltex 95 with some BP 98 from time to time. Happy Olaf

What's wrong with a de-badged BMW? o.O

Hi Mark It would be helpful if you let people know which part of NZ you'd prefer (or consider) to be located - otherwise most of us will probably assume the North Shore of Auckland All the best - and if you do come anywhere near Wellington, please bring some sunshine! Smithy

0 to 100 vid

Yup goes from tanker style handling to M3 handling at a push of a button ?

@Gabe79Here's my experience.... In May/June last year I was on the look out for an E39 Motorsport. After driving a 1998 528i that I had purchased from my father after he purchased a 2000 540i Motorsport for himself... I wanted more! I was struggling to decide between the 530i and 540i. 540i Pros: More power/torque, V8 wank factor/fanboy Cons: Costly timing guide issues, uses more fuel, higher maintenance costs in general 530i Pros: Smaller engine/alloy sub frame = less weight over the front end for better handling, nicer steering, better fuel mileage, cheaper to maintain. Cons: Less power, a bit sluggish off the mark. I decided to go for a 530i I kept a close eye waiting for the right car to come up. Suddenly a 2002 540i in Silver popped up with 199kms (don't expect to find these in low kms unless you want to pay a lot) After looking at it, driving it and finding a few unmentioned issues... i thought f**k it, i'll just buy a 540i. Got it home and spent a whole day cleaning it and made a list of things that required attention. Issues: -Both front seats had the issue of twisting when adjusting certain ways - i fixed this myself at no cost, google/youtube is your friend. This was an issue for 2001- 2003 E39s -Spare key had a flat battery - replaced battery and reset both keys following a sequence - google/youtube -Minor interior issues - all fixed using new parts or parts from wrecking yards -My 540i had the auto dimming wing mirror lenses, they fail and bleed liquid, very expensive to replace - ended up fitting the normal blue lenses. -Kidney grilles are loose and don't sit flush to the bonnet - yet to replace. I have kept a document of service history.. July 30th 2016 – 205,654kms -Valve covers pulled, stripped, painted, new gaskets/bolt grommets fitted. -Replaced positive jumper terminal casing on valve cover -Fuel filter replaced -Air filter replaced -Oil filter replaced -Timing chain tensioner replaced -Spark plugs replaced -Engine oil/filter changed – Total 9000 10w-40 -Differential fluid changed, new crush washers used. -New front rotors, front pads and rear pads. Bled system with new fluid. Labour performed by myself. August 23rd 2016 – 207,342kms -Windshield replaced by NOVUS under insurance. August 26th 2016 - 207,521kms -4 New Tyres 2x 235/45/17 2x 255/45/17 -Wheel alignment. Labour performed by The Bling Company, Te Rapa, Hamilton. September 15th 2016 – 210,744kms -CEL – Misfire on cylinder 5, Coil pack on Cylinder 5 failed. -Replaced with new unit, cleared error code. Item purchased from Repco. Labour performed by myself. November 27th 2016 – 215,126kms -CEL and a small ticking noise, I killed the engine straight away. CEL = Intake cam over advance. Removing lower oil pan revealed small pieces of timing chain guide had started to break away. – Common issue with M62TUB44 engine. Researched repair procedures, decided to replace other items, gaskets, seals, water pump, thermostat, coolant hoses/pipes, oil separators, all intake seals, tensioners, pulleys, belts, vacuum hose etc whilst everything was apart as well as rebuilt both VANOS units using the Besian procedure. Labour performed by myself January 16th 2017 - 218,XXXkms CEL- Oxygen sensor bank 2 - cleared the code - hasn't come back. So... A few tips for the timing guide procedure if you were to ever head down that road.... -Research, I spent about two weeks doing researching everything single little thing - I was lucky to have another car to drive. -Spend time confirming part numbers and making lists of the parts you need and tipple checking. www.realoem.com is good for this -I highly recommend replacing other items whilst you're in that deep. -You definitely require the special timing tool kit for the M62. I managed to rent a kit. -I bought the crankshaft holder tool and the Vanos press tool. Other tools, torx and e-torx sockets, seal picks and a left hand torque wrench -Take your time and label/bag up all items. Have a clean working surface when doing the Vanos rebuild. -Thourolghy inspect and clean oil pick up as you will find tiny bits of chain guid -Have a laptop out in the shed for easy access to forums/help -Be very careful removing plastic parts as they can be brittle - replace if you think it needs replacing -Take special care installing alternator with new seal as I pinched mine which caused a small coolant leak. $65 from the dealer instead of $14 from Pelican for the same part.... -Buy a cheap scan tool cable that plugs into a laptop - they work well just for pulling codes and clearing them. -Once you have completed the job successfully. I recommend changing the oil and filter within a few hundred kms just in case any debris/tiny bits of chain guide were still in the engine. In conclusion: It's a massive job, I reckon I spent about 50 hours doing this - a lot of pissing around triple checking, cleaning, torquing etc. There's a lot of info on the internet about all this, as well as some good youtube videos. You can do this job quite a bit cheaper if you only want to replace the timing chain associated items. I'm a fussy prick though and will be keeping my 540i for as long as I can. I f**king love it. She's done 221kms now and still running perfectly. Doing the Vanos rebuild was well worth the time, no more vanos rattle and a noticeable increase in torque down low. Wreckers/Pick a part can be great for replacing those pesky interior items. I have learn't a a lot, spent a lot of money but had some good fun. I am about to do the exact same procedure on my fathers 540i just for peace of mind. Happy to rent out my vanos press tool and crankshaft holding tool for a small amount. Fee free to PM me if you have any questions. Could also scan and send my invoices of parts/cost if you really wanted.

I was on my Vespa with the wind breezing through my hair and eyes, so maybe haha

From my experience this would be totally fine. Just make sure you use bolts 8.8 or 10.9 (better) and locking washers. 10mm is ideal. 6mm is the min for engine brackets.

Hi People, If you thought your old TV tuner is obsolete, dont throw it away just yet! I have just modded my unit with the tuner adaptor card mod from this Site: Link. Straight forward mod really, the most "difficult" part was to solder 1x wire internally - not too tricky at all! (also depends on your current tuner type.. (see site)) there is plenty of info on the site regarding the mod and the types of units are best etc.. the tuner has a usb input so you can play video files etc and PVR function also. it works well with the steering wheel controls, and the ibus adaptor has integrated the std monitor buttons to do all the required tuner functions, which takes a bit to get your head around but once its set, you dont have to play with much apart from the channel up / down... the definition isn't exactly perfect but its stepped down to basic old RGB 7 inch screen stuff so dont expect too much... see attached works ok at speed, but suffers as any TV tuner would going in and out of good coverage.. depends on your location of course.. Any Questions, just ask..

Its useless to me because i dont have anything with a tuner in it atm, i just wanted to post up and say thanks for doing the research and sharing it on here. This sort of thing is what the forum should be about. Thanks!

yeah but dealing through clumsy in car computers such as gen 1 iDrive is perfectly legal lol