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A smoke tester is used to find vacuum leaks. I decided to make my own from stuff I had lying around. I got an old steamed pudding pot, but any pot and lid will do. I then drilled two holes in the lid with a step drill. Use a long bolt to connect the base of the pot to the lid and tighten it so its airtight. I used some rtv here to be sure. Then I got some old hose and I connected it from one hole in the pot to the brake booster vacuum pipe. The vacuum pipe just pulls straight out of the brake booster on the e46. I got a second shorter piece of hose and connected it to the nozzle on my vacuum cleaner (I just used duct tape so no air would escape) and set the vacuum cleaner to the 'blow' function. Now we need to block the inlet on the engine so we get a proper airtight seal. I removed the airbox and maf and put a rubber glove over the inlet pipe wrapped with a rubber band. Then its just a case of dropping something inside the pot that will smoke, turning on the vacuum cleaner and putting the vacuum cleaner hose in the second hole of the pot. If you don't have a vacuum cleaner with a blow function you can just blow into the hose with your mouth. I tried many different things as a source for smoke, from tightly balled newspaper coated in citronella, to engine oil, to transmission oil. In the end the thing that worked best was incense sticks. I bought a whole box from the dairy for $1 (which was also the total cost of this project). Then just start looking for where the smoke escapes from. I found it easier to see with the pollen filter compartment removed (just 4 torx screws), but with real tough to find leaks you might want to take off a few more covers. This homemade smoke tester setup discovered the vacuum leaks on both my cars - neither of which I knew for sure had vacuum leaks. I hope this is useful for the community

An Update: Now at the 6 months point, and I still feel happy to own my BMW 330i M-Sport. Just a few things of Note: 1) Switching to 'Sport Mode' makes it like a whole different car, the responsiveness is awesome, However, even in 'normal' it is more than adequate 2) Fuel economy, for short while I worried about it, but as I just use about $100 every 2-3 weeks with Mobil Supreme+ 98, it is not really that expensive for the joy of driving it. 3) Still have not taken out for a really long open-road cruise in the country, but feel it will perform well when it does and have not yet enabled or used cruise control 4) Noticed a little safety feature the other day, when the temperature outside dropped from 5 C to 3 C at little dashboard warning light came on alerting me to the possibility of 'black ice' - Nice! 5) It is still a great looking car stock, with its M-sport kit, and I still have not decided whether I will put on "M-sport badges" on the grill and on the rear boot lid. 6) Changed the Japanese Import tyres to new Bridgestones and it felt a whole lot better, especially in the wet. Next up, will be it's first service in about October with Glenn in Botany Motor Worx and subsequent WoF, which I suspect it will pass.

And finishing up at the very good Thirsty Whale in Port Napier .... what a day!

And lining up before heading along for an excellent lunch .... with a nice contrasting hedge

And another stop on Gentle Annie - what a view!

Next stop - the historic Springvale bridge!

And on the Gentle Annie itself ... what an amazing road!! This was stop #1 ... not that easy to find places for 13 cars to pull over!!! E39 goodness .... 3 generations of 3-series ...

Here's the first batch - early morning at Mana and then the big meet at famous Rangitikei Junction

PM SENT

this is true.The 120 d did about 6.5 l 100 k round town.A trip would just about always yeild 5.5.And it hardly ever varied from that.Stop start traffic seemed to make hardly any difference,And there always(except when you have to lift for a bit)torque.Very steep sharp turns would require first gear and a bit of clutch slip,otherwise.......nothingYou have to learn to lift of early and get the power on early

I have edited the challenge. Didn't mean to make this exclusive or anything. I am just kind of old school and thought it shouldn't be too hard. Look forward to see some pix and further challenges. Point taken to make it current and exclude historic photos.

Nice video Brent, I may use this in my waiting room at the office

I guess I'm the odd one out as I like the front. I wonder what it would look like with the grills painted black.

hahaha but I do :-)

Paging @kulgan

BMW M8. The BMW M8 is the icing on the cake of the sporty BMW 8 Series line-up. Munich. Alongside the ongoing development of the standard 8 Series, the engineers at BMW M are also working flat out on the M model. A fully camouflaged, early prototype of the future BMW M8 will be unveiled in a driving presentation as part of the support programme for the Nürburgring 24-hour race. Classical M features like larger air intakes, modified brakes and a sports exhaust with four tailpipes hint at the significantly boosted power and dynamic potential of the car and whet the appetite for a driving experience of intense emotional richness. “The conception and development of the standard BMW 8 Series and the M model run in parallel,” explains Frank van Meel, President BMW M Division. “The future BMW M8 will build on the genes of the 8 Series and augment its DNA with added track ability and generous extra portions of dynamic sharpness, precision and agility. It all flows into a driving experience that bears the familiar BMW M hallmarks and satisfies our customers’ most exacting requirements.” Development is also underway of a race-spec car – the BMW M8 GTE – to spearhead the return of BMW Motorsport to Le Mans: “The BMW M8 GTE development programme for our Le Mans comeback is in full swing,” says BMW Motorsport Director Jens Marquardt. “Developing a new racing car is always exciting, and in the case of the BMW M8 GTE the anticipation is that much greater still. We can’t reveal any pictures yet, but I can promise you that the BMW M8 GTE will look spectacular. We are planning an initial roll-out for the first half of this year and are looking at giving the car its race debut in the Daytona 24 Hours in late January 2018.”

thought I better make a tribute video

It will replace the 6-series and will be available as a two door coupe, four door Gran coupe as well as a two door cabriolet. So either your prayers are answered, or your worst fears realised. That front-end is going to take some getting used to!

had a good run out of our X5 4.4i 2001 model , done about 230ks , trans was rebuilt by previous owners about 10-15k's ago yea just watch out cam chain guide repairs also trans , other than that not too bad late v8's have the N62 engine , they have a lot more issues but use less fuel , 3l petrol too under powered really diesel 3l turbo probably a good option but the petrol v8's are cheaper to buy , just get one from a family or company that's owned it for years as they probably have spend the money on maintaining it rather than the quick flick it before it breaks guy

Have you actually read your policy as a starting point? That should clearly lay out what's accepted, and what is prohibited. It may be a blanket term: "no modifications", which provides you with guidance. Then as Matt5 suggests, you go to your insurance company - initiate a dialogue - and lay out your proposal and ask them if you could still expect cover under their policy for this deviation. Hint: if you use the term "what can I get away with" with your insurers, you'll probably come off with a bunch of dis-es. Disingenuous, Dishonest, and (if you like) "deceitful'. Try the search bicycle, someone else has asked this same question wrt a 335i within the last year. There was some excellent advice from @*Glenn* on the folly of trying to get away with mods and subsequently defraud the MBI insurer. You can reasonably expect that a policy decline or cancellation on your insurance record will hurt you in future. Hope that helps.

So it will be less for Bimmersporters then? Needs a price in the thread pretty soon or it will have to come down.

It's $6500 buy now on Trademe and $5500 no reserve Nice car by the way, if I was in the market (read: had any money) I'd be all over it!

Price required Rohil....Forum Rules

you'll be needing a price on here, surely.

I was thinking the same, however you'd want to get a warranty with that age and mileage and I don't know how well these would qualify. I owned an E39 and it wasn't very reliable, sample of one I know but I had to replace the whole cooling system between 100-120kms which wasn't that fun. Fuel pump failures and various suspension components meant a folder thick with receipts over the three and a half years I had it. The only advice I can give is buy the best example you can and make sure you keep a few bucks in reserve, they are not cheap to maintain or fix if you're paying someone to do it.