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Took the E28 for a WOF, flew through (once they figured out how to open the bonnet). Promptly took it for a drive and couldn't help but take a couple of photos.

Hey! After a couple years overseas it's time to rejoin the family. Have around 10k to spend. Cheers

nice and tidy there sir... http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/bmw/auction-1403309288.htm

i remember this car when it was on TM as a 316i with a stuffed engine or dented guard etc for about 10% of that price ,

UPDATE I got given a m62b44 non vanos by forum member @francoisv, so huge shout out to Frank. I disassembled the block and cleaned it with degreaser and the water blaster. Then I took the block, heads, pistons, crank and cams to Taylor Automotive to be thoroughly checked. The bores in the block were out of round by 7 thou, so the block is no good, but I will keep it to use as a dummy to test fit in the engine bay. Then maybe a coffee table The heads, crank, pistons, rods and cams all passed with flying colours so I'm really happy about that. I put the block in the engine bay to get an idea of fitment. I made cardboard mock ups of the cylinder heads to scale, and taped them on. This is just a rough mock up stage and I don't want to risk damaging the good heads. There is a metal piece on the passenger side of the engine bay that fouls the passenger side head. So this piece was cut out. It will be tidied up later when I smooth and paint the engine bay. The cardboard engine now fits. I got a bellhousing for $30 from Zebra wreckers today, so I will bolt that on to the dummy engine to help with the placement in the engine bay. I want the engine as far back and as low as possible. This will make it even harder, but its what I want. While this has been happening, I have been slowly progressing with the rear axle. Forum member @BatMansWilly was a great help with removing all the suspension from the car, and now its time to put it all back in. Once again its all been sandblasted and powdercoated. The difference between the old, and the sandblasted and painted part, is displayed really well by this next photo. All new rubber bushes were pressed in with my homemade bushing tool. I took all the suspension and underbody bolts to the electroplaters and it only cost $40 to have them all zinc plated. I'm really pleased with the result and with the price. This is a budget build after all. Then I spent literally hours with the tap and die set, tidying up the threads, on the lounge floor in front of the tv. My wife, who is not at all interested in cars, volunteered to help with this process so it was really cool to do together. Here is an example of what the zinc plated bolts look like in the rear upper control arm.

If I had the 16k...I would have bought this without a 2nd guess...obviously.

Finally finished my turbo project, tuned up the weekend just been. All certed and road legal, this things a street beast that scares me to say the least haha. M20B25 stock block rebuilt and balanced Mild Turbo cam regrind HD rockers Garrett GT3582R Tial MVR 44mm and 50mm BOV Megasquirt 2 running wasted spark 282kw/378hp 531nm torque Tuned by Lin @ CDM Tauranga ...before

Ceramic coating is enough on exhaust headers, wrap is quite a dated solution and messy, and if you get a leak or crack in custom manifolds it makes it harder to find it. I read wrap increases moisture retention which can make things rust faster. Not sure what the go is with ceramic + wrap, but I suspect it's not recommended. Talk to the guys at HPC coating.

Lucan did because there's a little faffing around to get em out and back in again.

^ +1, especially the part about chopping up through the trees using the rotor blades....

Im trying to remember from when I did the clutch in my 540, im pretty sure the 420g is a bit smaller than the auto bellhousing, have you managed to source a box yet? It might help to have it for getting the motor placement correct.

Im using a cheapish omni clear from car colours, have also used autothane 2k and had decent results with both.

An interesting project you have going Nathan and will follow it be interesting to see what you come up with to get it lower and back motor wise.The piece you removed from memory was the mounting point for heat protection of the DME, auto control unit, some relays, engine fuses and the meeting place of both vehicle and engine wiring loom. Are you going to relocate these of make up something to replace it?.

I'd be keen as if they would fit, I think m3 may be different spacing on the front hubs. If ya like bring em out and I'll try one on dyno day is wedensday but may have to delay it, with all this time spent on my car there is still a half finished hallway at my house and Hayleys getting a bit impatient lol ethanol now that's a thought... I thought I'd start with 98 and see what it can make off that, hey it might just be enough... then e85 with an upgrade of pump and injectors

Re the E85 idea.... it's worth considering the stoichiometric air/fuel mixture ratio for petrol is approximately 14.7:1, with ethanol it is around 9.79:1. That means you need a lot more fuel. Sooo in fuel-injected applications you may need to upgrade the injectors and you're fuel pump - then it's a matter of tuning it to suit, no idea if the stock DME can handle that. Probably not worth the extra work, I'd stick to premium 98, the closest fuel the engine was developed for.

Got my E39 running again thanks to Gabe79, new keys coded and fired right back up. Then proceeded to drive E39 to workshop to replace the pair of front thrust arms, PITA job btw. Slight shimmy at 80kph now gone. WoF tomorrow.

Washed the e46 and I'm currently in the middle of swapping the e28 fuel filter and putting the exhaust back on. As you can see it was definitely due for a change.