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No such thing as more grip than you need. If the tyres aren't on the verge of letting go, enter the corner faster.

so during the week finished getting the car ready for the track. As per my list in my last post, made a door car from some 4mm particle board lying around, will take it back off at some stage and paint it red so its not so garish. Moved seat more towards middle of the car, also added some washers between the bolt/nut and the seat to make the anchor a bit bigger. And fitted a set of Toyo R888s as recommended by everyone here, found two auctions with some good sizes, so running staggered setup, 205 on the front and 225 on the back. Havent got round to putting the M50 manifold on yet. one day... Some of you will know i took it on its first real play date today to iron out some bugs, and try to get some return on my investment in the car! Up at sparrows fart and off to Manfeild for a Playday on Track. Signed up for the slow group. New Car, and never driven at Manfeild before, im not about to get big headed about it. After very first session driving pretty sedately and learning how the car moved etc i was about the upper side of middle. The lower side included a 1200cc (if that) Nissan March and one of the Diahatsu things off mighty car mods, the competition wasnt exactly tough, but awesome to see those guys out there having a go!! Second session started to put the hammer down some more, and by the third i was driving it hard like anyone would. Forth session, noticed a wee bit of fuel surge, by this time i had chewed through about 2/3rds of a tank. Instantly recognised the feel and backed off, kept driving it though, just full hammer down on anything that wasnt a right hand corner! Pulled in, and drove to the servo nearby, those that havent been there Gull are pretty well on site which is usefull, like at Hampton. Will need to research on how to set up a surge tank system, or look at my options here, as running out of fuel isnt a good look. Fifth and Six sessions i decided to drive it hell for leather and try and sort of try and over cook it a bit so i could learn where the limit was. I couldnt find it. The car has more grip and handling than is required. Not to say i told you so to anyone, but an LSD is not required for this car. the whole time not even one hint of wheel spin under power. admittedley, the R888s were well heated by the time i was driving the car hard, but yeh. The suspension setup is nothing flash. Jamex sedan/coupe springs all round, rebuilt Bilstein shocks in the front, and OEM rear shocks (Billys in the back were far too hard in my road testing) At this point, should have moved up to the medium grade, but various other vehciles in that grade were dead or sick by this point, the medium seemed to virtually dry up, so was only slow and fast and exotics. no way near comparible to the fast ones. Was told by various people through out the day that it was a very quick car from what they were seeing, and one guy at the end said i was by far the quickest in the group. The top end of this group was an E55 AMG (pulled off early in the day) and some various Australian and American Muscle, which were quicker in first half of straights, but the little ol' compact can hold a lot more speed in the corners, and brake much much later. Throughout the day, the brakes were reliable, but could and should be better. Was braking at the 120m mark for most corners, any more and i messed up the corner and/or the ABS would let me know its there. and the corners after the two straights more like the 150m mark or maybe a bit more. I dont think the rear brakes are doing much. they are the original compact ones, and like the body, have been sitting for 5 years or so, so not working correctly. still some rust marks on the rear disks where the pads are not contacting the disk, all after a day of beating on them. So will have them rebuilt, and will fit a set of race brakenpads front and back, not sure where to buy them from. Need Compact rear, may be same as E30?? and 328i front. will see how they go, can always look at spending a bit of dough on the brakes to get them right. This initial testing phase and improvements here must also come under my budget, i still have a fair amount of room to play before i hit the $2k mark which as above promised i must not go over ... So Things for the to do list now: M50 Manifold swap still Surge Tank or similar system for fuel. Improve brake performace. All three before Pukekohe in 2 weeks time If anyone is keen for the Pukekohe open day on the 5th Feburary there is a group of us going, mostly E36 some E30s some other stuff.

Its too long for most peoples attention span. Shoot youd be stuffed at a party if you had dislexia youd never know what the hell you were bragging on about. I drive a XXL4XM40LMX04iXXXX?? awww crap it's the silver one blocking the drive way. Let alone tourettes....

yep see second half of my second sentence. you dont buy an M3 to nanna it! but you do buy a 318 auto like Nathan has to nanna it.

I found this interesting, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bkDKqoGSdU

Fixed that for ya.

Shoot you'd be stuffed at a party if you didn't have dyslexia! Only a wanker would say I drive a "X5 M 50d". If you have one, the only correct answers to the question "what do you drive?" are either "an oversized vehicle" or "a X5". If somebody is interested enough in a follow up question you can read them the rest of the alphabet whilst everybody else moves on to a different group.

Buy a MS41.0 from post 1997 and send it to me and I'll remove the ews for free.

Hey, so I thought I should share a video I made awhile back with you guys here. If you have any questions just ask (Installed in a 2001 e46)

Custom made front splitter. Straight bolt on to the M sport bumper/chassis. Very sturdy. -9mm marine grade ply, reinforced with 4msq of 200gsm weaved fiberglass. Wet layered with westsystem marine grade epoxy resin. Mounting points etc have been reinforced with extra layers. - All hardware/mounts are either 316 stainless or aluminium, no need to worry about rust/corrosion. - Length can be adjustable with minor modifications - Mounts all the way to the sway bars, so can work as a full front end under tray/skid plate. Will include all mounts/hardware etc. Currently in storage, but here are some pics when it was fitted in the car. All parts are in mint condition, it was literally on the car for a week until i changed set up. $350. Auckland. Can ship around NZ at buyers expense.

So yesterday I reassembled the transmission after I cleaned the parts in trans oil. The valve body was a challenge to reassemble but I really enjoyed it and learned a lot. I took lots of photos to help put things back correctly and this thread was helpful; http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=1000845 New gasket and filter went in, and today I will attempt to refit it along with the entire cooling system, driveshaft assembly, fluids etc. Big day. And yes, I do drive like a nana.

Ive done it on an e46. it was 6k for the rebuild, new gearbox was 6.5k. second hand 1.8k. even if you had to do it again, its still way cheaper and makes more sense.

It's between the Pure turbos and Hexxon turbo's - i'm personally leaning towards the Pure offering http://www.pureturbos.com/store/bmw-n54-pure-stage-2.html http://www.hexonautowerks.com/products_detail_36.htm?pg=&PdSearch= Am around 400 RWHP at the moment on stock turbo's - been pretty happy at that power level, but it's been 2 years and I'm getting a little bored and want to get some more , with the above turbo's - should be around 500-550 rwhp on 98 and 600+ rwhp on E85

They die on E36 M3's before 200k, it's almost a certainty. I agree that they're silly expensive! Miland have some for good prices occasionally.

the guibos are not cheap either for some reason. in most cases it should last the life time off the car, but other failure in the driveline or abuse from erattic driving style of course speeds up failure too.

Lion Brown.

Pm me dave

I don't want a cheap job but a cheap place sounds good. Looking to get a set of stamped style 24's sorted with a polished lip and also have a set of 18" RC's that need a complete refurb. If you have contacts I'd be keen to hear about them.

Seen it before. No one checks fuel hoses and the fuel rail when doing a service

efa..

My worst fear

LOVE this little thing! Bet it goes well! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes, I will be a pro at swapping boxes by the time I'm finished. And now that I've done the sump gasket, I'm much more confident about doing it on the wifes car which has the same leaking sump problem. Thanks for the advice - I will reuse the guibo.

I think the sedan and wagon are the same, but happy to be corrected.

mtech2 coupe: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/JpB6kWFMclU/maxresdefault.jpg mtech2 sedan: http://www.bavauto.com/assets/product_images/mtech/e46mtechfront.jpg (the black plastic mouldings on the sedan is replaced by a indented line for the coupe)

Make sure you get the right one, pretty sure sedan / coupe / wagon are subtly different.

Liking that throttle linkage.

http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/car-parts-accessories/bmw/interior/auction-1017474287.htm http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/car-parts-accessories/bmw/accessories/auction-1018736843.htm

Reading Toyota technical literature

Preping the engine bay for the Engine drop. Had to redo all the brake lines as im moving from a vacuum system to a hydraulic ABS system. The brake callipers should be fine after having them looked at by the guys at Sterling. So fingers crossed the car actually stops. Now, since the car will be Fly by Wire rather then cable throttle, I have been scratching my head on how I was going to mount the throttle controller under the dash or even on the gas pedal as there isn't any real space or mounts on the pedal box. I was going to have to get a complete custom box fabricated up from somewhere, But then while I was doing the brake lines, I notice that the old throttle system that used a unique way of pulling the cable, will work perfectly with the electric throttle controller. I don't think I could have made it any easier. The only thing ill need to do is fabricate a brace mount for it and a longer cross piece to pull the bar. Ill have to do this once the engine goes in this weekend so I can see spacing requirements etc

So just a heads up for anyone looking to purchase Koni shocks for their E30, I would advise checking your front mounts can take a 22mm socket. I ordered a set of 8641 1021SPORT shocks for the front, and had issues installing them, due to them using a M14 nut, as opposed to an M12, like my set in a previous car. Old vs New I suspect the old shock was a red Koni, but there were no markings on it to confirm. Anywho, so I got the M14 nut on with no issues, using the existing shock mount. But when I went to tighten it, I couldn't get a 22mm socket in there I did try with a filed down socket, but that didn't work either. Ended up contacting Gavin at Euro Italian, and we got out our rulers over the phone, and order a set of new front mounts. Here are the new mounts, 22mm socket fits in fine. So in conclusion, check to see if you can get a 22mm socket in your shock mounts before ordering Konis, otherwise you're probably better off going the Bilstein route.

Hey another slight update brought a few stock exhaust and i wanted to gut one and see what it sounds like and before you judge me i will have anoth stock one to revert back to if it sounds like crap they were very cheap so it doesn't matter either way. Not finshed yet (on holiday at the moment) just thought id post what ive done. I went thought 3 cutting disc and a big rubbish bag of what looks like hair. Only removed baffling from chambers 2, 3 and 5 may do chamber 1 depending on how it sounds

Fair comment do some research and learn from what others who have gone through this process on their e39s and some will turn out OK others have had problems. All I was trying to do was to make you aware that it is not as simple and inexpensive as some would have you believe to do this job correctly and achieve a good sustainable out come. Their are from memory some three standard e39 suspension set ups for the six cylinder models standard, M sport 1, M sport 2 their is a difference in spring tension and ride height plus strut set up after that their are the coil overs etc but these have to be certified so extra cost. The m sport I believe is some 20mm lower gives a harder ride etc other member on here are more experienced with the geometry side of things and could explain it to you.

You are driving a cop car

Wish my girl helped me on my cars. She just yells at me when I bring another home. Looking forward to the finished project

The numbers probably bear little or no relationship to the engine size anyway.

They leak oil & water..... now they are starting to make icecream

Hi all. Just joined. Currently running a 1987 635 Csi sitting on metric 415 M6 wheels. Gradually getting her back into drooling condition, with a few "non-visible" tweaks.

I'll butt in here as there is something worth saying. I noticed that my e46 M3 key (Not infra-red type) on 433.92MHz works all day every day EXCEPT in the local supermarket carpark and various other places around the Kapiti Coast. I decided to take a radio scanner and check out what was going on. Low and behold it turned out that there was a local radio station repeater or link that covers that UHF frequency...mystery solved. So, moral of the story...don't always assume that it is the car when the key plays up.