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Big thanks to Sam @ Attention To Detail - Premium Vehicle Grooming for his awesome makeover of my `02 M Coupe. Stunning work.

I too have owned a 528 and a 540. The 540 was a far more exciting car to drive and, with the servotronic steering, there was little difference in handling quality. Of course cars are more fuel efficient now - but I doubt the OP would be considering an E39 if he could afford a shiny new car. I also highly doubt he can afford an E9x M3 either, so your point is... well, you don't really have one. It's also interesting that you place so much weight in critical reviews of the E39 yet would happily own a V8 M3 - the one M3 in its lineage - that the critics seem to universally agree is sh*t compared to all of its six cyl predecessors.

i have some 550cc injectors in a m50 rail with the fpr bypassed so you can use rising rate reg also have ms1xtra with ignition module and a m50 tune and a lazy m50 turbo mani with a 38mm wastegate on it mani's a bit home made tho $600 for the lot if your interested be a good place to start you would want to go none vanos if you run megasuirt don't think they have the ability to switch vanos

totally agree wanted to do e46 tried to swap my e30 for one but didn't have much luck and I'm rather impatient plus iv own this one for a while now probably couldn't part with it anyway

ill get to your message soon its my BDAY so heading out the door

Its quite common that the pizza oven fails on these cars. Could never get my pizza oven to work properly. On a side note, car looks awesome man!

Yeah... so what he's saying, is those buttons are for the stuff that doesn't work anymore The cupholders are retarded - buy a "cheap" taiwanese replacement, and they'll last longer than the OEM ones. Then (after you clean all the dust from the AC temp sensor, as seen in your last 2 pics) you can put cold drinks in it, and have the heater go warm, or put hot drinks in to make it go cold, because some silly German person put the sensor right by where your drink goes. Oh yeah, then the drink tips over, because the cup holders ar so short anyway. Yeah - the V8's aren'tn't that hungry really. 9.2 is OK, but you probably weren't trying for your best economy on a run home in a newly purchased V8

A friend back in the UK has (had?) a LS7 in an MX-5. He reckoned that if he was going to use an LSx, he may as well do the job properly. I often wondered why there aren't more multi-rotor MX-5s about. Seems (to me, in my ignorance about the RX-7 and so on) a natural conversion.

Looks awesome!

Right, I stand corrected. Open road and the overall running costs between the petrol and diesel narrow, to a point of making the diesel redundant. This is laughable... Who buys a two tonne luxury sedan to 'handle'... And who drives them at such a pace to notice, and be put off by the difference. My old 540i pulled two tonne regularly no worries. Was a great car for driving around NZ, ideal mix of ride quality, road holding and enough balls come over taking. Just a good all rounder. Highway mileage I could get down to 8.6l/100km Wgtn-Akl. E39 540i would have to be one of, if not the best used car bargain, if a larger sedan is on the cards. If OP is worried about a cost per km basis then a 530i will probably be a better buy. Then again, 10 year old car, anything can happen down the track that will blow the budget.

Wow! Just wow. Brilliant work.

Very sharp Ray.

here are my vorslag mount copy i bacillary copied them from Google images the engine was setup for my cousins race car so already has rear sump but it sits way to low so going to have to do something about that at some stage but in gets the engine in so i can at least make the mounts any way i took a bottle of rum to a mate who had a closed down parts shop and walked away with some nolathen rubbers to make the mounts with and a combination of left over steel from a bull bar i built for a mate hears the result monro gt shock sticker for professional look

E36 318ti... runs on the smell of the proverbial oily rag... Use it as a daily to save killing my Alfa in Auckland traffic as the Alfa costs more in parts than fuel to run and everything is made of unobtanium!!!!

Stage 2 almost complete. Test driven -DSC working and coded. Spare tire well delete to be done next. Then install Agency Power Back Box.

Just get the 540! The difference in the economy on the open road will be small, and the 540 is just fast enough, especially with a 6 speed manual! They can be expensive to maintain, but worth the effort. I have had mine about 8 years and i have no idea what i would replace it with!! I have taken it to Wellington a few times and it gets from Auckland to Bulls before it needs gas, and when you get there it doesnt feel like you have been driving all day. Good luck

530d!!!

Haha it was a thought Josh. Heading to Waikato this weekend, just not with the right car! Not to worry though, will be doing a few longer trips in it soon. As for the exhaust, I decided against the Akrapovic with the expense of the engine looming. Maybe another time but at this stage I'm happy!