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The fun actually began today. Thought I could do the entire rear axle but only managed to sort out one rear corner before getting too tired and over it. After 21years and 197k kms the larger control arm balljoint and the shock was F’d. The rest was actually ok but since I only ever want to do this sort of job once, may as well do it all. Hopefully get the other rear corner sorted tomorrow then on to the front, which I think is alot easier in terms of access to nuts and bolts.

It's been a while since I visited this site. It's almost 2 years since I posted this thread. So far we still have the car, and I think we will be keeping it after what has happened in 2020. We have replaced the rod bearings at 61k kms. Here is the laundry list of things that was done along with it. rod bearing set, and connecting rod bolts vanos pressure hose timing chain guide engine mounts lower control arms tie rods drive belt pulleys (idler and tensioner) tensioner (a/c and auto belt) drive belts coils and spark plugs air filters wheel alignment Clutch, pressure plate Dual mass flywheel Release bearing, release bearing guide Clutch fork pivot, clutch release arm spring Crankshaft bolt, Crankshaft rear seal SMG relay Driveshaft flex joint, Driveshaft center support bearing, Driveshaft end bushing Transmission mounts Exhaust pipe gaskets, hex nuts, torx bolts Gear box oil Jon of Auto38 has been great in serving the car, his craftsmanship is top notch. We are very happy with car, knock on wood that it doesn't blow up in 2021... otherwise we have to file for bankruptcy 🤣 . I wasn't planning to do these things in 2020, the plan was to do this over the next few years. It was only to check for a misfire in July, one thing led to another. I also have some bits and bobs that maybe some owners of E60 M5 would be interested on. 5 old coils, 1 new coil, new release bearing, clutch alignment tool, input shaft seal, old driveshaft flex joint, tire rod, etc. Just message me if you are interested on these parts. We are still breaking in the rod bearings, so far just 300+ kms only. Some of you probably have seen the car over the past few weeks, usually we go for a milk run at Te Horo and some vegetables and strawberries at Penray. So the things in internet about the E60 M5 is true and not true. Happy to share our ownership experience to anyone that is interested. I also would like to thank @Olaf and @TermiPeteNZ for help and advice.

Classic Winger Wellington service. 1. They broke the passenger door mirror and refuse to even acknowledge it was broken by them, despite the scratches down the side of the passenger wing on the paint. Replacement mirror housing required... $$$ 2. Did an oil service on my new car and refuse to update the service history in iDrive because “it wasn’t due an oil change so there’s nothing to update” Thank goodness it will be out of warranty by it’s next scheduled visit. None of my vehicles will ever go back. They aren’t all terrible though. Sales team and Parts team who have been there for a long time are great.

Oh and my rubber grommet from where the airbox sits is gone and replaced with a piece of f**king rag....

A V8 manual swap could be worth it if you had donor and manual bits already but otherwise would be a huge expense of time and money (ZF's aint cheap anymore but 420g boxes are crazy $). You'd be better off buying a V8 then getting a respray and swapping the interior if you like your colour combo and want a V8. Personally id just stick with the B25 or B30 and manual convert it, much easier and cheaper and will feel like a different car. Ive a chunk of my E39 manual conversion bit left if wanted.

FCP have good transit times. They use FedEx who have dedicated fleet of planes. 10 days is norm to our shores.

Yes the clutch disc was much worse than I would have expected, it's the original clutch from new. The SMG robot probably would be cursing while moving from standstill, it did an admirable job to be honest. Now the car kinda drives like a normal auto box if you don't step on it. It is one fallacy of the internet it's bad in slow speeds, it actually drives well in low speed. What it doesn't do well is somewhere in the middle, where you don't step on it or being gentle on the throttle. What was a really bad was the release bearing guide, sorry forgot to take a picture of it. I guess the amount of power that goes into the clutch system during high rev, upshift and downshift is really puts a lot of pressure on this part. If you have a M5 or M6, make sure to buy the newer part 23117564680 which has superseded 23117539951. Jon thinks that the release bearing guide may also contribute to the rod bearing wear due to undue stress to the crankshaft, aside from the fact the tolerance of the bearings are really tight. Jon double checked all of the rod bearings, torque, etc. Effectively making the bottom part of the engine to be hand assembled, there are theories out there that the mass production of the S85 and small tolerance levels of the rod bearings maybe the culprit. Why also some cars have their rod bearings wear faster compared to others. I haven't been able to do any high revs, I am still waiting for me to get above 600 km before I try to rev it pass 4,000 rpm. At the current rate I am going, that maybe sometime in 2021. Also all parts are from FCP Euro, so maybe sometime 2040 if they are still in business and I still have the car I get a new clutch for free. 🤣 Jon and I also noticed that this maybe the first time the car had a major service, all of the factory clamps, etc where all untouched. I guess that looks to be correct, as we got the less than 54k kms. Looking the service history in japan there was no service period where it had more than 3 hours of work, so assume only prescribed maintenance was done to it on its expected intervals: 3k, 6k, 10k, 14k, 32k, 40k, 52k.

You may already be sorted but I strongly advise against trying to replace the bushes in the lower control arms. Tried and gave up and just bought complete new arms. They’re basically a piece of folded steel with a bush in each end so given the low price it’s not worth messing round

Just a little more preparatory work so I can tidy up the under body properly ... removed the side skirts, front guard liners and the rear brake + fuel lines. The painting is going to be a bit of a drama as if I want to spray it, its looking like I'll have to do that myself and that involves investing in a fed air respirator as the only mobile painter isn't interested. Might try and roll / brush it still to see how annoying it is.

6L v12 from a e65 760i , rear sump engine

https://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/bmw/auction-2900920578.htm