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Hey Scott and welcome to Bimmersport and BMW ownership! ... it's good that you've moved to from the 320i 4-cylinder to a 525i 6-cylinder - MUCH better engine Please don't get a band expander - instead get your radio properly recoded to NZ. Eurosurgeon can do this for around $150 from memory and nobody is stuffing around adding wires in the back of your expensive(!) computer/entertainment unit. Some idiot put a band expander into my 545i before i bought it and forgot to reattach the cooling fan and it died ; if i didn't have a MBI policy it would have been ~#2K. Eurosurgeon are Akld based but travel to Welly regularly. @promo is local and also might be able to recode it too. Nav is expensive to localise, does require additional hardware and the maps won't be super current either so think twice before doing it. Eurosurgeon can do that if you want too -but I'd stick with sorting the radio. I recommend Auto38 in Newtown if you want a thorough check of your vehicle. https://www.auto38bmspecialist.com/ BTW - we have the local BMW community pub night this Thursday

Whilst I agree with this answer, and I have axel stands... I also have a ramp which I made from materials from bunnings, looks a lot like the drawings above... I had to put my 530i on the ramps before I could jack them up to put them on the stand! For oil changes I just used the ramp. For real work, I used the ramp then the stands. A reasonable compromise, which I was aiming towards before my car met it's untimely wall-death... was a small ramp to get on the jack stands. Yes, the simple version is two ramps!

Yesterday this was parked up having brunch at a popular local village cafe. Couldn’t help myself to get a photo bomb ?. And the noise it made when it fired up!

Finding the factory kit is most of the challenge, all the converted 6 cylinder ones ive seen had corners cut. Easiest way to get a proper manual E39 is buy an M5, there's always one available it seems.

This would be a good start https://www.trademe.co.nz/2422087846

Found a wrecked msport and finally swapped over all the interior to spec, first and last type of job i think. The car was identical spec to @Autoglym one, born 3 days before even. It came with BMW individual interior that included extended leather option (leather door handles and center console) as well as the sliding arm rest and ski bag. Also got a spare msport bumper now and a bunch of spares which is always a good thing as these things are getting on now. Will be swapping back on my old wheel once i get some alloy trim to replace the wood, always preferred the thinner type and BMW changed the wiring setup so you cant plug in half the wheel controls with my car Certainly come along way from what it was

One owner and I'm unsure what year it is as it was a BMW gift I got for Christmas one year for selling thousands of dollars worth of parts. Hardly ever used as my children and grand children are sensible girls. You will need your own batteries but I have batteries to demonstrate. Won't sh*t it's timing chain or leak oil and coolant on your lounge carpet . This is a White Scale 1:14 model. Proof of funds for test drives required. Demo's and pick up only in Papakura Auckland Due to space requirements I am selling this at a ridiculous price of only $50.... yes $50 Sing out if you need more photos and indicate the image size you would like them at so you can Identify what you are about to purchase.

Hey all. I first bought a 320i from Turners in Porirua - Wellington a few weeks ago but after having to replace the oil twice in that time I figured something was wrong. I was offered another car and I went with the 525i that they happened to have. So far am I pretty happy but have found a few issues I need to work through. First of all the radio and Sat Nav are set to Japan Freq, after doing a bunch of reading in here I know fixing the Nav requires a hardware change so will just flag that but I'm going to keep looking into fixing the radio. Turners are going to install a band extender sometime next week, not the best solution but it will do for now. The other issue is the right side speakers in the front and back are super quiet and buzz a bit, I did not pick up on this until I got home, hopefully that is something turners can look into aswell. To be blunt, I know ZERO about cars, I have only ever owned Corolla's and Civics to get to work and back. But after buying a BMW I have become a little obsessed and also hypertensive to every noise and bump in the road and have been stalking in here and learning a lot. I'm based in Wellington and would love any tips and advice on good upkeep and trusted and reasonable priced services in Wellington to help me maintain my car. Cheers Scotty

I think your car looks better though

The E46 is a nice car, but at the least the supercharged Rangie could pull the skin off a pudding. Dont waste your time trying to get more power, just make it look and sound how you want and enjoy it as it is.

Yeah, seriously don't get a whole exhaust system, there's no value in that. Absolutely don't get new headers, that will be a nightmare and give you nothing meaningful. I was going to post just get a new back-box, you don't even need a mid section but Gareth bet me to it, get one like in that TM link, clean it up and take it to any old exhaust shop to install it. I'm not sure I'd pay $450 though... but you probably don't have heaps of options.

Thank you @zero you know your stuff as I'm a complete novice, this community is great thank you for the suggestions. Milliys in at EuroCare on the 9th for a early Xmas prezzy.

Very cool thread! Car looks so good. @BozzaFC when are you doing a manual conversion for your e39?

Front bumper replaced out, it’s not perfect but substantially better and passes the 10foot test. Ready for paint With the rest of the car now. Should be sorted by Xmas.

In my case it looked like a knock off and was very faded and had nasty looking dirt ring around it. I prefer the no badge look for the car. And mine is an import. The badge is now stuck on my tool chest, lol.

Sold and driving away ......

For cheaper than a high end exhaust system, you can put in the m54b30 engine which is 39 more hp, and 55 more nm of torque, and a much nicer torque curve. Buying a high end exhaust will just give you a single digit increase. If you don't want to do that, put on the m54b30 intake manifold, run a *proper* cold air intake, replace your vanos seals, reset the throttle adaptions (free) and that will give you more power than an exhaust and even cheaper again. Or you could change your diff ratio, or for more money go lsd.

I bought a set of genuine front rotors for e39 530i from Coombes for $335 in August. I believe same as 540i.

You wont get much more power from an exhaust on these engines. And it will be expensive for a minimal gain. If you do decide to do it though, and money is not too much of a barrier, buy a complete setup from a quality manufacturer like the ones the others have mentioned. Go catless, and use the same manufacturers headers too. But if you want more performance, you can get more power for less money.

All finished except the reverse light wiring which will be done when i can find a low OBC wiring diagram. The new shifter setup using the shorter E60 lever and ZHP knob is much improved. The stock setup had the problems of being to tall for me which meant i couldn't relax my arm on the rest perpendicular to the knob. Truck throw length is gone also but shifting is slightly more notchy as expected, still very livable. Throttle response and off the line performance is day and night compared to the old auto, but that's party due to my old torque converter slipping a low revs. I'm expecting it to get even easier to drive and less fuel once i get used to the clutch and its fully bedded in. Counting down the k's till i can really give it a proper work and make it feel like it was worth the ~3.5k it cost haha.