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Got married and the wedding car was my very own e30. Massive thanks to RAERAE and Simon for helping getting her back together in time. Wedding was on the 1st day of spring. Best day of my life

Hello, everyone! When I came from Germany last year, I bought an E39 540i straight away. I was lucky to find a New Zealand new one with low mileage and previously driven by an elderly woman. I love my bimmer and don't regret the buy. In my opinion, a lot of these ‘modern classic' cars come for a very fair price here in New Zealand. Even, if I needed to address a couple of issues, such as valve covers, brakes and many smaller items. I believe this is a great forum, and I'm looking forward to swapping ideas with you.

Up for auction - tomorrow morning, 1st September, is a 1995 Alpina B12 5.7 with manual gearbox, one of only 25 manuals ever built. The spiel: " Extremely Rare one of 25 manual 5.7 Litre Alpina B12 5.7. 1995 reg with just 48k kms. 57 made in total ,32 shifttronic autos and 25 manualsThe B12 5.7 Coupe enhanced the 380PS (375hp) 5.6-liter V12 850CSi with a slightly larger displacement 5.7-liter V12 featuring a number of upgrades such as the reprogrammed ECUs and modified intakes to develop 416PS (410hp) and 570Nm for a 0-100km/h (62mph) sprint in 5.8 seconds and a top speed of 300km/h (186mph). Not to be confused with the earlier B12 which was based on the 850 ci auto. this B12 5.7 was based on the 5.6 liter 850 CSi which is already a rare car as it is so finding an Alpina is even harder so expect this to reach a hefty price at auction on Thurday Morning the 1st of September." I'd buy it, but it's left hand drive.

ENGINE BAY IS PAINTED its not 100% show stopping paint job, but i am happy with the outcome esp for a garage can paint job Also picked up some new wheels over the weekend to replace the e38 wheels, now to adjust everything so they fit nicely

+1 to this. even if your doing all the work yourself, price your labor, the time/effort/expense of doing a rebuild at this point is about the same as taking it out in 6 months if one of the above things fails (and then you'll have to spend the money anyway or roll the dice on another engine), it may have been running mint N/A, but as soon as you strap a hair drier to it what was an acceptable amount of bearing play for an N/A may cause some dramas. it will give you peace of mind and add resale value if you ever move it on. I once chose not to do this, and the excitement of getting it on the road 3 days earlier and $500 cheaper dissolved in short order... At the very least visually inspect and check all the tolerances anyway, maybe they are within spec...

The owner of this is an older lady - used to be my neighbour

Glad to see this is coming to an end and that you are able to drive it . Well done that man

Paul, he can't bring himself to move the driveway sculpture!

From what I have seen you wont be able to skim much, if anything, off the head before a valve kisses a piston, unles you cut bigger reliefs for them. The M42 has knock sensors and unless you are going forced induction the oil squirters shouldnt be necessary, why not just drop the M42 straight in? I have match ported and polished mine, there is a bit of room for improvement there, but the cams will make the biggest difference. I also made custom headers as the factory ones are a bit too small for my liking, and they always crack at number 4 pipe where it meets the flange. The 6mm /7mm valve stems diameters dont seem to make too much difference, but the 6mm ones leave a tiny bit more room for porting. Also, the valves are sodium filled so dont cut them in half! (Sodium can explode on contact with water) Good luck

Big figures, do the engine bearings need replacing / upgrading before running the supercharger? A lot of those kits I've seen suggest changing them, and headgasket / stud replacement.

yep... I do haha

Well... in the end I went with the 4.8 petrol. I picked it up yesterday. It's very nice and being the larger engine most of the options boxes seemed to have been ticked. Look forward to seeing how it goes. At the same time I made sure to get the 4 year Autosure warranty with the most comprehensive cover.

made an impromptu decision to trade it in for a 7 seat SUV over the weekend... lol.... thanks to all of you for your input and sharing of knowledge. it helped me get the most out of the old girl for the last 2 years. one day i might come back to a BMW but needed the people mover and the x5 is just to far beyond my budget. good luck all e90 owners.

Just remember, as with any project, it is most likely to cost 2x as much as you think and take twice as long, so factor that in also

Here are my 'secrets' 2002, 145km (NZ) 'CSL' software (HellBM+Tom) Simota panel filter (lol) Gull 98 Last oil service - Dec 15 Red line it every day Amber corners (+10hp)

Here are a few snaps...

Welcome to the forum, I think that is possibly the cleanest e39 engine bay I have ever seen !

Not a BMW but worthy mentioning - followed 'Rene' the Tinman this morning. Nice seeing it in the metal. Reference picture:

Heading north.

Some people.... This guy, Rare, Top of the range 230E (lol), . Actually it's common as, bottom of the range and MB Tex (vinyl) not leather. Some one has put a Sportline steering wheel on it though, but no mention. http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/mercedesbenz/auction-1141232072.htm Take one C126 500sec and call it a "Terminator" 500SEC..... with extra badges "licensed by Mercedes-Benz". More like someone went badge shopping on eBay and tried to cover as much space as possible. Would be a nice car if all the extra badges and plate were removed. http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/mercedesbenz/auction-1141082704.htm I don't know why I let TM ad's annoy the sh*t out of me, but some people are just clueless.

Still awaiting comparisons and excel sheet from Ron to advise on best to use.