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Made ~276rwkw (~370rwhp) at 5psi of boost without water/methanol. Heat soak was a problem. We experimented a little bit with water/methanol and reduced the intake charge temps from 60degC to 42degC, but didn’t proceed to pull more power out of it. Car is on a safe tune with more to be done in the new year after tidying up a few things. Overall extremely happy... Christmas has come early for me . Thanks Gavin at hi velocity.

I believe it was for negative gains when measured in real world application. The weight of all the batteries and gubbins needed more fuel to lug around than was saved by driving in "electric" mode for 3 minutes before you ran out of charge!!

Now coming up 18 months of ownership (got it at 232k km, now sitting at 244k km) and it's been a great (and somewhat $$) journey. I absolutely love this car and as I've spent far more than it's worth (price of a hobby..), it might be around for some time... although everything has its price... As a short summary of some work...; Interior and exterior trim/seals and underbody shields, centre console compartment and cupholders, watermark and clear coat scratch removal (2000 grit wet sand + 3M 3 step buff & polish process), paintless dent removal, rear bumper paint, VANOS O-rings, DISA (G.A.S kit), new CCV system, thermostat, waterpump, belts, hoses, gaskets, O-rings, fan clutch, fan shroud, wheel refurb, oil pan gasket, valve cover gasket (weeping again damit), spark plugs, washer jets and pipes, fuel cap, radiator cap (1.2 bar) and a fair bit of underbody and wheel arch cleaning. New tyres Falken FK453 all around (rears today..). Also today I had windscreen replaced under insurance for a faulty rain sensor, now got a BMW screen in with the optical bit of the sensor factory glued... Also today headlight adjusters replaced and lens polished (not cheap exercise but cheaper than new lights...). Also informed that top right rear suspension arm is getting tired so a new set is on the way from FCP Euro. AND finally a new radiator from Schmiedmann is sitting in the garage waiting to go in (the original 2002 built one is still in the car - on borrowed time...). Most of the work above been done by myself and YouTube... some exceptions... In the year or so prior to me getting it, it had a front end re-paint (spoiler not original as headlight washer jets are missing - indicates a bit of a biff in a previous life), a radiator expansion tank, OFHG, and trans fluid renewed among a few usual items... Next year I think I'll have to address the paint on roof as a few historic stone chips up there need dealing to... Like all of our cars - it's had a lot thrown at it, but I wouldn't have it any other way...

No, no one should get a prius, ever!

Hope you all have a great holiday break and enjoy the festive season without too much drama. Botany Motor Worx Ltd will be closed from 12.01pm on Friday the 22nd of December till Monday the 15th of January. And before all the fake news and rumours start, Botany Motor Works Ltd will stop trading as a motor vehicle repair facility as of the 28th of February 2018. Botany Motor Worx Ltd is not in a financial situation and all commitments and financial commitments will be met on or before the 30th February 2018 I've had enough and I'm going fishing, but I do have a phone and am still available for advice and help to the many friends I have made here over the years.

Naw, the coolant expansion tank split, so a simple fix, and nothing to worry (or even be surprised) about. I'm just stoked it happened during a work day and not halfway up ngauranga gorge or over Christmas holidays or something. Thanks though Kyu

Hey dude, let me know if you find out what caused it. If it was a failure of one of the parts that we replaced I am happy to claim warranty for you.

referring to muscle cars before they discovered independent rear suspension.

M54 life

I'm much more a fan of Koni than of Bilstein, but Bilstein are very good too. OE used to be Sachs - don't know if they still are. What is the intended use? Koni produce a kit specifically aimed at road-going drivers who might do a trackday once in a while - the Koni/H&R trackday kit: p/n 1250-1004 Koni.H&R trackday kit.pdf

Look at Koni that way you can adjust the rebound to suit the spring rate. If the bilsteins suit your spring rate then they will be fine. Shocks in NZ can be pricy. Try Demon Tweeks in the UK even with shipping and GST they can be quite a bit cheaper.

Very nice. Price? EDIT: I've never driven SMG, or even hand paddles. I can drive stick just fine. I need to address this gap in my experience...

Yep its the same thing for battery electric cars, taxing to make the big heavy batteries that have a life span, and it just shifts the load from petrol / diesel to the electric grid which in most places is still those terrrrible fossil fuels like coal. The real electric car revolution wont begin until a long term solution is found, that exists as hydrogen fuel cell cars with very small or no batteries, hydrogen is an abundant resource, yes it require processing to gather and infrastructure needs to be build but its a similar model to LPG, and could easily be implemented in regular fuel stations. The fact a hydrogen car can be gassed up like a petrol, diese or LPG/CNG vehicle is exactly what the consumer wants. Depending on a battery that will go flat and takes at least 30 minutes to get a short range charge is taking steps backwards. It could work for some people that drive short distances and can charge it over night but I'm thinking of the bigger picture. The ease of long distance travelling is what has made the car so good for the last 100 years or so, that wouldnt have been the case waiting between trips when it runs out of fuel!

I can see the guibo on the E36 Ti. WoF'd a couple of days ago, and noted that while OK now it will probably need replacing for the next WoF.

Because of this, I should really consider getting a Prius.

That is a pretty car!

Hi Charl, Cheers for your reply and good to know. Yes I was looking more at mechanical differences or I guess any in general really, a few of the e36's I have seen for sale here when you carjam them says they are SA imports or trying to decode a vin# I see had build plant ZA which I thought meant assembled in South Africa. Some seem a bit conflicting though as says imported here from South Africa but vin may say assembled in UK/Germany so I guess either decode was wrong or could have been imported to South Africa then imported here. Mainly wanted to see what was different on them as the odd one I have seen people comment they were odd ball models with slightly different parts and hard to find or not interchangeable with others. E30s many seem to say SA ones are better but e36s seems a mixed bag but I think most of what I google is rubbish or people just repeating what someone else said and they don't actually know themselves. Some of the things I have read was SA 325/328i had detuned ecu due to poorer quality fuel, 328i had iron blocks like the 325i (USA models were too ?) instead of alloy due to poorer fuel quality and that 328i had same driveline as 325i instead of the heavier. Again I was hoping to decode the vin#'s better but I haven't found sites yet ones that get to the detail of engine block option and driveline like others say is findable so that should clear things up more. Ideally I am hoping there is nothing much different or that even if an ecu was different that is hopefully swappable and an iron block 328i while a bit more weight could be more robust so not a bad thing and hopefully does have the heavier driveline.

ah ok , yea most aftermarket fans are rubbish , just use a factory e28 or e34 aux fan they move heaps of air I ran the factory fan blade and viscous on the silver car , with the factory aux fan wired on the e46 fan switch was fine . also yea I think when I 1st switch the m88 in the e28 years back was doing low 15's with the 3.07 diff and old basic tyres . but never ran it again at the drags but did do a rough 0-100kmh in the car just before it sold and was in the low 5sec range but there was more to be had if it was on a proper road surface and tyres where a bit warmer etc not bad for a old square tank

Went to a drag day over the weekend. Finished second in DYO, broke out in the final by 0.6 of a second. Car was running super consistent, I just need to sort an over heating issue when the car is not moving. It starts getting hot when sitting in line and especially during burnout, but once moving it cools back down. Might need a better fan. Set the fastest time so far, 15.75. Not bad I think for a stock M30B35 with 3.07 diff.

That's a bit deep and philosophical for a car form Mike!!

Mans progress always comes at a cost and nothing is perfect. It's also more convenient for some to make money out of imperfect solutions.

Wind and solar are very inefficient, expensive, and generate the power at the wrong time of day for usage. Hydro is what provides the base load but the Greens dont like them.

Oh dear, you clearly haven't stood and watched a wind farm for a length of time, or over successive days / weeks / months. One of the joys of my old house was it's spectacular views of the wind farms on the ranges over the Manawatu. It was a surprise if any more than about 20% of the turbines were in operation at any one time. Not a very efficient energy gathering solution. There is a very defined envelope of wind speed, consistency, etc. that a turbine can operate in, different designs of turbine have different envelopes. So when the little two bladey ones are whizzing around (sorry don't know the technical names..) then the big 3 blade ones are sitting still and vice versa. Also the Danish company that built the big three blade ones, Vestas I think it was, used to hire a shed at the back of the factory I ran for overhauling the gearboxes from the turbines. Roughly once every three months pretty much the whole generator unit had to be pulled off the top of the pylon and brought into the workshop, stripped, re-built and put back - I wonder how much CO2 all that lot generated?? Again very selective how you choose your metrics and measurements, but yeah EVs overall are great.