Michael.

18 hours ago, KwS said:

Having lived with a CVT for many years as a daily, its perfect for many things. No gear changes, always in the powerband, effortless acceleration, its never in the wrong gear. The CVTs that drive like an auto with "steps" are a waste of a good transmission just for the sake of pandering to idiots, basically having the worst of all worlds. As with most things in life, the majority of the CVT naysayers havent lived with one and are just regurgitating what they have read/heard.

I've driven a few, not a fan. 

Beautiful photos. I've always through the E46 touring is probably one of the most interesting cars BMW has made as an overall package. Perfect size, styling and level of tech you can easily DIY service. 

Looks like some fun is to be had. Also you have name your car Barbara? 

X

The LS600H is the same operation, but you get a constant rpm sounding V8 that changes a few times as you go faster. They pull well but its just odd compared the the usual 6, 8 or 10 speed automatic shifting points. 

I read somewhere there were complaints from buyers with respect to the operation so some manufactures don't bother with CVTs anymore, or have changed them so they have more steps to the acceleration. On paper they are quite clever but in practice quote odd compared to what people are used to. 

How fascinating, some interesting data there. 

24 minutes ago, GorGasm said:

Have any experience with the GS450H?  I have been idly thinking about one for a while now if I ever sell up the Maserati.  Or even just a GS350.

They aren't a slow car but do accelerate weird with the CVT, usual rev holding and switching thing at different points. Gives the impression the car is broken. Would be a nice cruising car I guess. 

Awesome, this will be a great project with plenty of learning on the way. 

I get the slight impression you had the most fun in the M5. Can't imagine much joy an a CVT V6 Hybird soft Lexus. Maybe if it was a GS-F 5.0 V8 that would have been different. 

Those PS4s are great tyres, can't go wrong with them at all. 

Proud hillbilly here, whats the problem? 

I enjoy being backwards. 

I'm just poking fun anyway duh 

Nice!

I actually hastily needed a signal generator for a dash repair I was doing when the one I had stopped working, ended up with the same one you have. It still amazes me for $10 bucks or whatever it was you can get something that does it with such a nice little LCD read out. Very nifty! 

Would be interesting to put the outputs into an accurate oscilloscope and see how accurate it actually is though, probably isnt bad. 

x

6 hours ago, E30 325i Rag-Top said:

I know you’ve got a thing against EVs, but the really funny part around that post is the fact the fire had nothing to do with the electrical elements of the car. How many petrol or diesel vehicles catch fire compared to EVs? Even as a percentage? How many petrol tankers or petrol stations catch fire compared to EV chargers?

Moral of the story from the post above - if you pay peanuts for servicing  you get monkeys working on your car, and this is what can happen.

In general Don’t believe any scaremongering, do some research and make an informed decision.

It still caught on fire and released toxic fumes. A study should be done on that.

I'm happy to be bias to petrol cars vs electric cars, just how god made me  

9 hours ago, Young Thrash Driver said:

It comes down to looking after the environment, no surprises then that they are dropping the oil dripping coolant swallowing seal munching V12s.

Instead they make will make blow torches haha (i3 incident)

I wonder if any studies have been done to examine the co2 output of a singular fire from the specifications this runaway fire would produce. 

40 minutes ago, E30 325i Rag-Top said:

 

The M760Li engine is crammed into the engine bay on a G12 7er, it would be a TARDIS like effort to get it into anything smaller. I’m not sure it would be worth all the effort tbh, unless it’s a kit-car / replica of something V12 and you need that sound a boosted 6 or V8 would probably give better output and weight balance?

I was more thinking of an M73 or something old and simple. These modern engines likely will not be used for many conversions, too much going on - but who knows. 

That said I don't really like V12s that much, I think they are just fun with the number of cylinders and smooth 60 degree power strokes. Arguably your best with a I6 turbo or V8 of somekind, as a retrofit. Depends on goals or intention though. I agree about weight balance... on youtube theres a guy with a Toyota V12 being shoved into an MX5 which just strikes me as idiotic, with accessories its nearly a 300kg engine haha. Probably end up with a 65/35 weight split in a car that was about being balanced.... 

RIP. Oh well plenty of used v12 engines around to shove in a smaller cars hehe 

Looking to buy a used front right door insulation / foam piece as pictured, anyone able to help me out?

Kind of the essence of the S54B32 engine, always has had a raspy twang even with all of the different exhausts I've heard. 

16 hours ago, gjm said:

I like that the styling theme was so period suited to that era. 

These autostop starts are a real con imo, extra wear on the engine equipment and the vibrations you have to feel every time the engine cuts off and turns back on. I hear them at the traffic lights and just cringe! For such a small engine the fuel consumption is minimal at traffic lights anyway. I know from experience my 30 year old V8 Soarer engine uses about 1 liter of fuel idling for 30 minutes from a cold start, a modern 3 cylinder would be a fraction of that, especially at operating temperature. 

Hopefully you will work-something software related out. It would be good to bypass that. 

A while back in one of my Soarers to disable TRC on start up (a momentary button, single press) I made up a timer than closed a relay for a around 500ms which would activate and close the circuit after a few seconds turning the TRC off each time, this of course required modified wiring which is likely not ideal in your late model warrantied car however but it worked for my application. 

On 11/5/2020 at 9:48 PM, Herbmiester said:

The head lining on my 540is is starting to sag, not too badly, but enough to affect my OCD. I went to the local auto upholsterer who had a heap of grey linings but none that matched the color perfectly. Does anyone know if you can get the original material?

Hi John, did you have any luck with this problem? Hoping you found a viable solution in the last 13 months! 

So the M5 is just as fast and make cool sounds. Arguably the only good looking car BMW makes at the moment too. 

Also notice how the bonnet to fender line gap grew as the M5 got faster, air pressure in the engine bay must have been pressing it up..  that's some rather disappointing quality, I'd prefer not to know my bonnet was lifting at higher speeds haha 

Fun job. Whats the plan other than changing chain guides? 

1 hour ago, Eagle said:

Penrite ATF FS. Far superior to that Castrol.

I just put about 8 liters in my 5HP30, shifts perfectly. 

2 hours ago, CSET said:

Here's a little 0-99kph on a closed road in Mexico

 

Ohhhhh glorioussssssss ❤️