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Fitted some BBS RS 742/745`s. 8x18 front and 9 1/2x18 rears. These were originally on an E38.

Threads on ACC levies and Rego

Time for some interior restoration. The PO painted over the wood trims with matt black paint. Last year I had removed the paint and polished the trims however the deep sanding marks made the trims look a bit dull. Some trims were also sun damaged and cracked. Ex UK I found a set of Bruyere club wood trims from an e39 M5 in excellent condition, no cracks and some very minor scratches that a wet sand and polishing session will bring up like new. Starting with the ash tray cover, i used 1000, 1200, 1500 and then 2000 wet sandpaper. Polished with Meg's scratch x. The Clear coat is quite hard on the wood trims but also quite thick which leaves a good margin before you start sanding in to the wood. Will need a few hours for the rest :

As stated in the other thread you posted in there will be some teething problems with the roll out of any new system. Especially when your dealing with cars. So many makes and models and sub models to deal with. I dont know but I'd assume there would be some kind of review process you could go through. Seriously? You have 5 posts and you want to go poking sticks at someone who's not only a respected contributor to the forums but a moderator as well? Good luck with that..lol

I love the way you not only start another thread on this but also ask a question, get an answer from another member (which by the way is actually correct) and then proceed to tell them they are wrong. Why ask if you know the answer??Oh, and welcome to the forum!

Apparently there's a leak in the intake system somewhere. Of course Mercedes response is to replace the entire system. Crazy. Luckily I don't really care. it's under warranty so cost to us is negligible. But $3500 is eye watering. No wonder the dealership is so flash. Wise words kiddies. Get that warranty.

This is what happens when innocent bmw is left to play with cousin Pontiac..

Why not just leave the styling alone and fit the Z8 running gear instead.

I think it's ok as long as you dont stand in a circle, or polish anyone elses?

She was trying to flog his wallet because he never paid her. He was holding her nipple and was threatening her to do it again for the same price or I'll tear it off

Group wood polishing has implications...

Im a safe sensible driver. Think ill go with the 225 245 set up. Cheers all

If you dont feel like hand polishing all those then you can drop round at my place in Manurewa and I can put the buffer on them with meguiars 105, its their commercial ultra cut compound. Just hit them with 1200 and 2000 first, if your not sanding with finger tips m105 will take out 1200 grit scratches quickly anyway.

Had a weak moment and ordered a pair of Eisenmann race back boxes. End result should be something like this :

I've wanted an E9 for as long as I can remember. They are such an important car in the history and story line of BMW. Their success in touring car racing in Europe in the 70's is nothing short of astronomical. All whilst being one of the best looking cars the company has ever produced. Several have come up on Trademe for sale in the last few years but the timing and budget have never quite married up. About 6 weeks ago I decided to bite the bullet and fly down to Christchurch and have a look at one that was for sale down there. Needless to say the car was exceptional, a few issues but in the whole exactly what I was after. So a week later it arrived at work on the back of a truck. Its a 1973 3.0 CS left hand drive in automatic, malaga red with tan leather interior. Sold new in Germany it was imported to Japan where it had a minor restoration and then to New Zealand about 18 months ago. Its going to be a slow process as i still have my E30 I need to sell before i can really start doing anything to it but at least its a start. I've played around with my set of BBS RS off my E30 and cant wait to rebuild them into appropriate sizes and get them on. Also bring the car down to earth a wee bit.

///M 'track mode' enabled by Hell BM Really nice upgrade. I only drive with this or DSC off now.

Jamez on here runs the 2K Cup as part of their BBQ Committee, it does seem to be a lot of fun with a group of good guys racing. In terms of the E36, well, if you're happy to run round at the back behind all the Jappas then, yeah, it should be a fun drive.

Appreciate all the votes and comments everyone!!! Thank you!

voted but still a close second....good luck

Sounds like normal #merctax to me, shits crazy. Be thankful its not got an AMG badge on it. Small protip too, the dealer makes f**k all margin on parts, the mothership really puts the squeeze on them. Not much money in genuine parts these days.

I kind of don't hate it. In a more 1999 kind of way. Sans mirrors a guard vent it's not terrible, just 90's...

Voted, come on people Isaac is in a close second!

Transitional behavior (feel) of the tyre will be different between the different rim widths. If you went to say a 245 on a 7.5" rim up front, the steering would be quite vague and sloppy with the tyre being more pinched onto the rim (prob' outside the recommended fitment range too). The 235 on a 8.5" is the opposite, albeit not as drastic, but will have a much more positive feel than the same tyre on a skinnier rim. In the real world we are not running 10/10th's at a trackday in our street cars, you probably won't even notice. But it's nice to remove the known variables / compromises. My 2c, find another pair of 8.5's and run 235/40's all-round for track days.

Haha excellent break down dude! Yes well I love the e36 shape, so maybe it's worth taking mine off the road or a few years while all the awful examples die off. Who knows how it'll pan out but it's gonna be fun............and expensive.........and time consuming

Just had a second look... I'd rather the bus (wheel arch flares and side exit exhaust - awesomeness!)

Lol we won our week about a year ago. Great fun watching the votes add up. Voted.

M cars are always going to be awesome and I'd have one in a heartbeat. But yeh it's just fun to imagine what you can do to the car you have outside on the drive! I think I'd just be after a fast street use, so as long as it had the brakes to stop it and suspension mods to put the extra power down in a "controlled" manner then I'd be happy! Watch this space.......but don't hold your breath I've got some saving to do/a car to find that I'm happy to drive while this one is off the road

He has my vote Tom - they say all babies are cute but some of those other critters?????????

car just standard E34 .I wish e34s broke down then I can help.

neck and neck, voted

Happy wife happy life?!

You'll be up for brownie points if you pull this off

Was looking at it more from the perspective of someone who doesn't have the space / time / expertise / available cash to take on such a project. As far as hp/tq gains from FI on the M5x engines all you need to do is look up Garrets thread on his B28 drift car. Mental! Big undertaking but it does show what can be achieved. I'd be keen to find out what locally available used superchargers would fit the bill for an I6. The Toyota SC14 (?) that Greg used on his M3 a while back proved unable to shift sufficient volumes of air for the 3 litre without acting as a heater. Possible to adapt an Eaton M90 as used on the V6 SC commodores maybe? No idea, but it'd be pretty cool to find out!

Yes and no. While an M car is great, you're buying a 20K+ car that is high maintenance and because its an M car it would have been driven enthusiastically for most of its life. Typically you'll find a regular 330i M or something has just been driven casually by a mature owner will be in better condition - of course this is a generalization but I think the logic stands. At least with a genuine M car you will have all the unique features and the M suspension, quicker rack, LSD, big brakes and axles, something that most non- M cars don't have, you could spend at least 5k on an E36/46 upgrading the suspension and brakes to that of an M car standard so not cheap. A good buy for someone who doesn't want to have to modify or do custom work and doesn't mind dealer services costs. But if you wanted a project that takes a bit of time and money its hard to beat building something yourself starting with a cheaper car If you had a 328i, in factory spec they are a "191hp / 280nm" car. I would expect a 6-7 psi setup that is intercooled and ignition / fueling is tweaked to suit such boost a realistic 40% hp/nm gain should be expected on those figures, of course its just a general guide - removing the tuned M52 intake runners would affect things to a degree... but.... 140% of 191/280 does make for 267hp and 392nm - theoretically. Heck thats more torque than an E46 M3. That kinda flywheel figure is pretty realistic too, that would equate to at least 200-220hp at the wheels,.. Graham aka Bravo proved that too, I recall with his cars M20B25 S/C setup made150rwkw / 200hp. Blah blah blah.

What the hell are M-Class Mercs' intake pipes made of??? Pure platinum??!!! Kind of scary that you can pick up a whole M-Class for not a lot more than the price of a new intake pipe... no wonder they're so cheap on TM.

"START AND DRIVE VERY SMOOTHIES" It makes SMOOTHIES? Buy it! Haha. Yea price is rather high, if that's your budget maybe rather look at E90s. Otherwise I'm sure you can find much cheaper ones, not sure SMG is worth the premium...

^hahahaha first world problems

Factory S54 one of only 165 R/H drive and only 2 ever made with combo of sapphire black/kiwi nappa interior.

Nah ACC is a scam. You should just drive around with no rego. FTP!

Should've dumped it all in a mk 2!!

Changed whole Interior to M Sport Leather out of a NZ New crashed coupe. Also changed boot lid to an M Sport one. Black headliner etc. Only parts that didnt get changed were the front seats because I am missing the drivers side full leather seat

Spotted !

speed dependant steering + power steering issue = requirement to check operating at speed. I'd bet the owner of the car would lose his sh*t if the tech had driven the 3KM or so just to get to a 100KPH zone, the southern motorway, plus he would then have to get to the nearest offramp, and then the return trip. Getting that car from 50kph to 90kph and back would be a matter of seconds. I dont have a problem with what the tech did, looks like a standard road test to me. I have more of a problem with the customer getting his apology, free groom, and then still dragging the company through the mud.

*penrite*... Damn auto-correct

Ah right - I was thinking stable as in viscosity :-) The W rating is actually at 40C (which is considered cold for an engine), and the second number is at 100C. So the 10W-X when cold is about as viscous as a Xw-60 would be at 100C - average about 25 cSt, the 40 part at 100C is about 15 cSt (the SAE 40 range is 12.6 to 16.3 or something). The most I paid for Castrol Edge 0W-40 A3/B4 was $88, but last lot I got was $82 - over 15K, the difference is nothing, really. I've altered my SI figures to give about 15K, instead of 23K like they would normally (15K on 6.5 litlres is no different to a jap 2.5, holding 4 or 4.2, doing 10K, really) I suspect the improved short trip economy probably saved more in gas - I just switched from Penrite 5W-40 back to the Edge 0W-40 and even with the sudden colder weather, the economy has improved slightly on the Mrs Kindy/School run. Just .1L/100km would be about a $30 savings over the oil change interval, though Currently the average has dropped almost down to summertime levels - prior to the change, it was slowly getting worse and worse - upto 12L/100 kms (wifey doesn't do economy!), and since the change, We've had 11.5, 11.7, 11.4, 11.4 over 4 tanks. The last time we had that economy on the Penrite, was Febuary 8, and it's been climbing steadily as the weather got colder.

Cant even remember if I changed the filter...

Id paint the rear of the boxes black at least.