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Went to zebra and pilidged a 540i for conversion parts and picked up a nice 2.93 diff from sd European ?

I already can!!

Looks like I'll be cleaning seats this week/end... 2 x Recaro SR3's with fold forward leavers on the backrests.

Made a bit of progress on weekend. Mezzanine / clean room for engines and parts

Spent the day in auckland yesterday pillaging parts from a e39 540. came home with a oil filter remote setup, power steering pump and lines, battery relocation kit. wanted the driveshaft but some bugger had rounded the bolts off on the diff so had to leave it :/ Stopped in and had a chat with brent at BMworld and picked up a new wiring loom and needed rocker cover. And a big shout out to the boys at SD European, stopped by for a chat and left with a nice 2.93 med case diff from a e28 and a e30 rear cover for a bargain price. Home for a clean up with a wire wheel and a quick spray to get it looking nice. A new revshift diff bush and the diff spacers and studs and already to go in when my axles turn up. Things are moving along nicely now. rear end almost all back together finally.

Check out that interior!

Classic! It's good to be different. I can't really say that with *any* credibility since I drive a Silver BMW with a black interior.

Hans that looks a lot like the AC Schnitzer arch caps

Looked at it and noticed how many dents it has and how iffy the paint is in certainly lights. Sigh...

Update; So far it has taken way longer than planned. I encountered a few problems, and have had limited time to spend on it because of family commitments. Also, I have been doing a very thorough job of cleaning every single part as I go - even if its not seen. I have degreased, water-blasted and cleaned the underside of the car. I've also done some maintenance while the car has been up on ramps; Replaced engine sump gasket. Replaced engine oil and filter with castrol edge. Replaced fuel filter and fuel hoses. So today I started it up sans the exhaust. Everything pretty much went as planned. No oil leaks from the transmission, and no oil leaks from the engine. A small water leak which I will hunt down tomorrow. Still to do is connect the gearshift cable to the transmission (I'm having difficulty with this as its not gripping the cable), reconnect the underbody heat-shield, and reconnect the exhaust. Then go for a test drive.

They can be disassembled. i have disassembled tons of these in the past to fix bolsters, it does not require unstitching. The whole thing can be taken apart. There's even a way to fix the seat back wobble that's common on these from usage.

SR3s, SR4s have separate belt holes and a taller headrest.

Re which I like the best : today.. Well the E39 is the go to Daily and Hammer it in the hills, the E38 is the weekend cruiser and the E61 does everything and gets you there quickest. Sum it up, and pretty much in my order of favourites.... E38 - Cheapest, quietest and the one we are taking on a 2000km SI trip, sit back relax and smash the distance out. E39 - Daily sporty lots of fun, noisier then the E38 for trips though E61 - Sporty and bigger, not as much character as the E39, Technological tour de force compared to the other two

Nice danger. What's the ducted thingie next to rx4? Actually, more importantly, plans for the rx4?

You know why they would install a Jap unit? Because thats what the car came with. It would be hard for them to guarantee that everything will work 100% if anything is changed from original spec so generally its something dealers wont do (and they literally HAVE to guarantee the work). Depends on how lenient the dealer is. Youre not wrong about taking it to an independent workshop if you want to change your car from stock, they generally have more experience with aftermarket or unauthorized solutions.

I have some spare helmets / overalls if u r in need...

I think if you're going to stiffen one part up, any movement / stress is simply going to shift to the next weak link, IE the sheet metal holding the subrame to the chassis Having dealt with an E36 falling apart at the rear it was plain to see how the sheet metal in various places split from the welds. My thought on rubber mounts is they would dampen the shock / stress transferred, of course the older they get the harder they become. I don't know what the new F80s are designed like, but if its anything like the E36-E46 setup that is concerning.

Breaker - as a matter of interest which of your 3! V8 BMWs do you enjoy driving the most?

The F80 M3/4 run solid rear subframe bushings ala the old E92 M3 GTS ... It is simply brilliant for a road car. So I am not sure what all this negativity is about? The rear subframe floor will tear the same way with rubber or solid bushings, It makes no difference as the torque loading from the differential loading and unloading is verticle and upwards on the front right and downwards on the rear left not side to side. In fact I would wager that the solid bushings will probably place less stress on the verticle torque load as there's no actual verticle movement as you get in the rubber bushings. Force = mass x acceleration.

Whitesnake

Bit of a tidy up this morning. Still a mess but much better than it was.

Love that material!! You could try re trim it yourself if you have LOTs of time I just gave re trimming a spare steering wheel a go for test purposes over the weekend. Not totally perfect but found some ways to improve it. Of course one has to learn by doing first.