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211,450km installed new lemforder control arms. Tension and thrust arms both sides. I hadn’t done this earlier due to @rusteee having already done them 30,000km earlier with Meyle HD ones (which still looked really good when I pulled them out?) But the big news is that it has cured the 100km shimmy i had. This was a lasting frustration I’ve had with this car since purchase, so I am so happy to finally have it silky smooth as it should be. I ordered the arms from FCP in two orders to avoid gst and they were on the limit @400 each side but they both came in under the radar. Since these seem to be a real consumable on the E39 I’m hoping to be able to use FCP’s lifetime warrenty should they fail in the future.

Love the whinger in the Q&A complaining about the black grilles. GTFO buddy.

Couldn't help myself when this came up. It needs a bit of work. New guibo, headliner and a few other small things like fog lights but it's been well maintained and was only sold because the owner thought the trans was completely stuffed. I kinda feel a bit bad not telling him about the guibo but it was a good bargaining point..lol Anyway. Here it is.

just quietly cause this is a bit sacrilegious, but a 3.7 v36 model 2008/9 skyline coupe has all the power and features, ride is amazing and won't cost you a cent in repairs year after year, and fuel use is phenomenally good boot is rubbish

That looks like a nice car to me. Go for it.

http://bmwfans.info/vin/decoder?vin=4148346 yes m90 style block 93.36mm bore

Car is on a hoist with all the paraphenalia removed to allow the sump to fall off, found a leaking power steering hose so that is on its way from Germany, power pulley arrived yesterday so will be fitted at the same time, should help with the running in donuts! Also noticed some tired bushes in front suspension but will get those replaced at next service after bearings are run in.

probably starved the engine of oil and given it the full jandal

Not mine. My old one had ACS wing mirrors and is still on the RSII wheels as Martin says. It was for sale in the FB bimmer group a while back. Think they wanted $7-8K. Apparently had a replacement engine. Given everything I did (which was pretty much everything) someone must have thrashed the sh*t out of it.

can bolt up , angle will be sleightly different , and the couple of the bottom small bolts wont line in , and different length box to getrag 240 260 etc so will need a different driveshaft etc

no...

Fixed that for ya: 'Hey yeah, I want to [delete def, egr and dpf] make my car into a toxic emmitter that will kill my neighbours, friends, and family with the products of its tailpipe! Who can I get to make my BMW worse than any VW Diesel ever? I want to disable all of the emissions systems that were so carefully engineered into my BMW at great time and expense, and make it more like a 1970's truck.' ?

A bit of a review on this car now that I've been driving it for a month. The good: 1. This is a stupidly fast car. The 8 speed auto is amazingly quick and responsive, the engine is powerful and doesnt even need to be in sport or manual trans mode, just comfort mode is enough to get it going quick, really quick. 2. It is much more comfortable than the previous 1 series E87 130i or E82 135i chassis. I owned a 130i hatch and driven a few 135i and these ride quite harsh and stiff. This new 1 series is much better and comfortable (in comfort mode). In sport mode the chassis feels a bit stiffer and this is also a nice feature. 3. Definitely feels like a new/modern car. The keyless start/stop, door lock/unlock on the handles, the whole dashboard and display, iDrive features etc makes it really feel like a new car. The late E chassis cars feel dated in comparison. Also the sports seats are comfortable and provide heaps of support with adjustable side bolsters and back support. 4. Depending on your circumstances/needs, this could potentially be the perfect all rounder car providing that you are either single/couple, looking for a great car to do daily duties as well as weekend cruises as well as long holiday trips. It is not a huge car but it is definitely not small. Especially for the front two seats, plenty of space and comfortable. Boot space is also excellent and convenient being a hatchback. The bad or at least not so good: 1. Is it too fast?! With the weather being a bit rainy the past few days, I have noticed that giving it just a tiny bit of extra gas is enough to make the rear slide out in corners or wheel spin going 100km/h on the motorway. Not quite fair because I am using 235 tyres on the rear as a temporary measure while I get my wheels sorted (then I should be going for some 255 wide tyres in the rear) but nevertheless, the car is very very quick and could potentially be quite dangerous if you are careless.. could end up carless. (sorry) 2. The handling is not as great as the previous models. I still really enjoy driving my E46 and miss the handling on the E87 130i because it provided really good feedback from the road and inspired a lot of confidence. This one, even if you put it in sports mode which tightens it up A LOT, it still feels very disconnected and video-game like. 3. Rear seats are really not great. If you have a young kid or a baby seat then its fine but for grown kids or adults, you dont want to put them back there for more than an hour at most. 4. Can be quite a thirsty car if you are heavy footed (and its hard not to be!). Fuel consumption for me is currently about 9.5km/L which is actually really good but I have been mostly driving it weekends only and not too much start stop traffic. 5. Really annoying thing about 1 series in general is wheel fitment. These require around 40-50 offset depending on width of wheels. Mine came originally fitted with a mere 7.5" front and 8" rear and I want to go at least 8" front 8.5" rear so I can run 235/255 tyres. Very difficult to find wheels that fit well. Anyway, thats a bit of a short summary of my initial thoughts on the car incase anyone is looking at these as their next car. By the way, I have also driven 116i 118i and 120i of the F20 chassis in stock and sports models and these are suprisingly good cars if you dont need/want something super powerful. They are a lot of car for the money, safe, relatively reliable, looks better than a golf or audi (subjectively) and is still a RWD BMW at the end of the day.

211,000 km loving the Xenons. Worth every dollar. Couldn't resist a quick pic on the way to work this week.