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Thought people might get a kick out of this. His presenting style is sometimes a bit of an acquired taste but his videos are usually pretty well researched on the various odd-ball bits of trivia on unusual cars. Enjoy!

Some little changes, got the adjusters installed for the rear shocks, man even a couple of clicks of extra stiffness makes a big difference! Roll cage mocked up - very similar to this. Looking forward to getting this welded in in the next few months 1 by Christian Taylor, on Flickr Bought one of these bad boys and had it hardwired by Rapid Radio. Paid for itself already. Also picked up a GPS tracker - super cool, has it's own app and everything. Untitled by Christian Taylor, on Flickr Picked up a new spare wheel thanks to Mag and Turbo New Lynn. Found a suitable center cap lying round the shop here. I'll be sanding this back and painting it an eye-popping colour presently for shits and giggles. Untitled by Christian Taylor, on Flickr Finally went to install this steering wheel after it's sat in my shed for a year. Removed old wheel, put this on (without quick release) and gave it the 'yank' test. Managed to bent the center slightly....! Straight in the bin and back to OEM. Can't remember where I bought it but I remember it seemed a bit cheap, must be a fake. f**k driving round with that on the car, my life's worth more than some Chinesium steering wheel. Untitled by Christian Taylor, on Flickr Polished and ceramic coated these carbon fiber canards, still not sold on em. Bought some more, same thing I'm not 100% Untitled by Christian Taylor, on Flickr Untitled by Christian Taylor, on Flickr

My M5 told me that it would like a service over the weekend so I checked the mileage and it has done 20700 since the last one, done by BMW with the proper castrol stuff, I have taken a sample and sent it away for analysis mainly to see how much big end bearing is in it, but I am also keen to see how good/bad the oil is at that age, bearing in mind that it has had 4 litres of new oil added in that time. I will post results when I get them.....

Decided to blow some money at the old girl - Birds B1 Dynamics full kit - Bilsteins/springs/swaybars/quaife LSD (about time on the LSD front!) SuperPro Bushes on everything, including rear subframe, new spring pads/tophats/bumpstops/shock mounts/Meyle HD links etc etc and everything inbetween E92 M3 LCAs etc New SMF and Clutch, deleting the SAC and CDV, new centre bearing and guibos New Waterpump and thermostat (232k on the clock of the original, and got a canbus com error with it last week) Upgrade/Rebuild shifter And decided to say F work for a few weeks and do it all in the carport Might be a lil bit interesting pulling the gearbox with the car on jack stands. The only thing left to order is the tool for the subframe bushes, still screwing around with either just buying it (and probably selling it) or just making something. Pics to come!

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Agree with coop as you can't maintain your way out of a failure. It's all about risk mitigation. Maintenance is one form, MBI is another, either one is good but both is better.

Sorry but it is a valid comparison because the reality of it, is if a component on one of these aging cars fails, then new parts will have to be fitted to the car (would you bother to fit a second hand turbo, or oil cooler, or timing chain kit, if you could find one? Regardless of OEM or aftermarket equalivent, it still won’t be cheap), and you’re forgetting the cost of labour which can sometimes make up most of the repair cost). Someone who purchases a comprehensive warranty/insurance applicable to the car wouldn’t have to worry about this. Your example of the X5 is fine but someone who has to fork out $14k for e63/c63 camshaft & followers or $12k for an E60 SMG pump probably won’t see it as such an investment haha.

Wheels? Price? Size? Offset?

I seem to be very poor at communication in writing. I was saying one of the things that puts me off the E65 is that it seems more complex to work on (as compare to my M54b30 e39.) I could go the route of the MBI, and drop wrenching on my car altogether and just take it to an authorized garage (as I was under the impression this is what I had to do to maintain the MBI...) but to me, that is a major put off, as I like wrenching on my car. Some other folks have suggested that I could still wrench, and just get a certified mechanic to sign off that the work had been done. Keeping my parts receipts from FCP Euro as evidence I actually replaced parts, etc... I am going to just go spend some time reading the Autosure website and see what their fine print says about wrenching on my own car... I do read American forums. I also happen to be American. It's a hood. You're just wrong. There is also a trunk.

The MBI Company will also require copies of service invoices if a claim is made and these must be GST invoices with labour, parts and and sundries itemized . Doing anything dodgy to make a claim can also result in a fraud prosecution

If I didn’t already have three cars and wanted something sensible, this would be appealing. Nice car, GLWS

G'day guys. Long time no poster here, after a long and succesful ownership of my e30 320i... I'm looking at a slight upgrade. So there's an E92 M3 I'm looking at purchasing, which I'm very tempted by. Full NZ service history by BMW (no reciepts just the service book + stamps etc)... and boy is it tidy inside and out, + manual! My car perfection brain keeps me up at night however, regarding the 'rod bearing issue' which has been covered to death on the internet I know. The current owner/seller has an oil report by 'Gough' from the last oil change, which I've looked over, I'm wondering if someone with some decent knowledge on this subject could give me some re reassurance with this oil report, as it looks good to me but I'm not particularly knowledgable on this subject. I understand that high Copper and Lead content is one to watch out for (the car is an '07 so not updated bearings). However the high Ti reading, as well as Molybdenum and Boron have me a little concerned. Or is the Mo and B readings probably from oil additives? Essentially I wouldn't mind some reassurance from someone here that general internals of the engine are in good enough nick, that I don't have to worry about changine bearings for at least the first year of ownership FYI: The oil appears to have done roughly 7kms on this oil from the report and is the reccomended 10w-60 Castrol. Any comments welcome. Edit: also the car idled quitely, with no stand out ticking noise or abnormalities throughout the rev range Will

here's a thread I made earlier for the ZF 6HP26 (same trans, just greater torque rating)... I believe this has the info you seek. make sure you replace the bolts and the mechatronic sleeve (seal) too. If you're DIY-ing, you'll need to have the car dead level, and you need the software (or an infrared thermometer) as you sort the level out at cold (initially) and then warm (running - but not hot)...

First of all, buy the following : • Front Component (Split) Speakers • 4 Channel Amp • Subwoofer • (optional) Rear Coaxial Speakers Obviously installing will vary from vehicle to vehicle, but heres a few tips to help you do things right • If you're going to install your component tweeters in the A-Pillar sail etc, try facing them into the windscreen rather than right at you : this can take off some of the harshness of the sound. • If possible, try and angle the component woofers towards you • Wire your front speakers and sub off the 4ch amp : if you have rear speakers, wire them off the headunit rear speaker outputs. • ALWAYS either get a sub box professionally made or make one yourself to spec, do NOT buy off the shelf ones : they almost universally suck. • If you want Sound Quality, ask for or make a box with a total Q (Qtc) of 0.707... if you dont know how, ask here. If you want to make a ported box for Loudness, most ported subs sound reasonable tuned to about 35Hz • Always do some form of panel sound deadening : nothing ruins the music more than panel rattle. • Use Y-connectors to split the single RCA output from the Front output on the headunit to both the speaker inputs and sub inputs on the amp : this solves problems in the setup guide below. And now a quick and dirty guide to setting it all up • Turn the headunit all the way down : if you have rear speakers connected, fade the headunit all the way to the front. • Turn the gains on the amp to as low as they will go. • Turn the headunit up to 4/5ths of as high as it will go. The sound should be medium volume now. • Now slowly turn up the gain for the speakers until they JUST start to distort, and then ease off a tiny bit. Then turn the sub gain up until it either starts to distort or its at the right volume to match the front speakers, whatever comes first. • Now turn the headunit down to normal listening volume. If you have rears connected, with the music playing fade the headunit slowly to the back until you JUST hear the rear speakers come on : this way its set up for rear fill for a bit of ambience and wont stuff your soundstage. • Enjoy the music If you follow those steps you wont overly go wrong, and it gives you a good base to start to experiment... have fun