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it's been a weird week. Went about trouble shooting the cold idle, back tracked what I had done and started again. Everything checked out. Ran like a champ warm but was like it had lost it's cold start functionality. Since motronic 1.3 has no manual adjustment for idle speed and all the inputs seemed to be working i swapped out an ECU for another one I got off Bimmersport a while back. Last time I used this ECU i had this bucking/lurching in every gear around 2500 rpm (which lead me to rebuild the driveshaft..which was good to do regardless). This ECU has a fuel map tuned for "Marks Rally Car" which i understand had a nice set of headers on it, my car has no 02 sensor and no cats so i guess is reasonably unrestricted. Swapped ECU's and its fired up perfectly. Hot run out to the hut has yielded the best fuel economy yet of 10.1L/100km (according to the OBC anyway) car feels strong, and I think that lean condition/stumble was probably because I was running 91 octane last time this chip was in the car, now I'm on 95 it's purring. After idling for a while it does have a little 50rpm stumble but it's very minor and seems to correct itself. It's still got the old VCG on it but once I'm happy with the valve adjustment I'll put on the Victor Reinz one i got off Gavin @euroitalian. Great service and prices as always from Gavin. I got the power steering reservoir o ring for the E46 off him too. Cert tomorrow for the gearbox swap.

I remember it being on the market for a long time for a ridiculous (about $20k?) price. The previous owner obviously spent way too much on the paint job / conversion, realised it needed the same amount again in mechanical work, and tried to recoup his losses. I wouldn’t touch it, personally.

So BMW, Porsche and VW are all shutting down production in coming days due to supply constraints of wiring harnesses sourced from Ukraine. Incredible how far reaching Putin's was actually is. It does feel like I have all the car gods on my side though. My car has completed production and been handed over to carrier for shipping (status 182) well ahead of the original production date of 9/3/22.

Edit 06/03: all parts sold aside from style 66 wheel. My m540i was written off by a stolen Nissan Safari before I got around to fitting any of these parts. Time to let them go. Where applicable the parts suit a facelift E39 with the M62B44 engine. Everything is new except for the water pump. I'm in Wellington Central. 17" Style 66 wheel. Msport badge. Warrant-able 235/45/17 Dunlop SP Sport 2000E tyre. $100 Fan clutch. RealOEM link https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/partxref?q=11527502804. $100. SOLD Elring crankshaft seal. Realoem link: https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/partxref?q=11141275466. $6 SOLD Auto driveshaft bushing aka centering sleeve. RealOEM link https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/partxref?q=26117526611 $6 SOLD Center console storing partition. Realoem link: https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/partxref?q=51168159698 $45 SOLD Intake manifold gasket. $5. Part no 71-31826-00. Can't find it in RealOEM. $5 SOLD Centre hanger bearing/mount/support. RealOEM link https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/partxref?q=26121229243 $100 SOLD Used water pump. I'm not experienced at judging these, but it's not corroded and it feels tight. $40 SOLD Water pump gasket. $5 SOLD Door card clips. RealOEM https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/partxref?q=51417001629 free with any of the above SOLD

It's a trashy colour too. Why spend all that money to downgrade it from it's factory titanium silver?

inb4 boat catches fire and sinks.... you know, because EV bad.

There was never going to be anything salvaged from that vessel. Plus Porsche, BMW and the like take any mass-damaged vehicles back to their recycling facility and strip them down to raw materials for exactly that reason. Surprisingly car companies aren’t always as stupid as they may sometimes seem.

Yeah pretty much reinforced my thoughts, thanks peeps. I think I'll give it a miss, I'm willing to do a few mechanical repairs but the paint job and rough interior puts me right off. Wish I saw that M5 before it was withdrawn / sold 😭

A small meet up and cruise last weekend with some local fellow BMW enthusiasts.

He's been trying to sell it for awhile. Don't even know why you do all that work to a rough non msport. If syncro's are bad or depending how bad, then the box isn't worth very much imo (given the cost or if even possible to rebuild) Im sure you can look on US forums, ebay etc to get an idea how much a conversion goes for. Ive only seen the boxes for sale here locally for around 4k, so adding another 1-2k for the rest of the parts id say gets you in a ball park if one was available.

god works in mysterious ways 🤭

Yeah the higher profile tyres certainly mask the stretch. Crap picture of my old E30 on 205/55R15 15x8 rear with Toyo T1R (soft sidewalls) I recall ride quality and grip was rear grip reduced somewhat though compared to 15x7's. The increased tyre pressure was probably partly responsible.

ok cool that makes sense, glad that thats the case, not too keen on doing a whole lot of shock tower reinforcement, so threads on the strut are for adjusting overall length of strut for ride height, and collar for preloading spring then. Will install them on Sunday and see how I go, thanks for the help, appreciate it

It does not pay to have high expectations from the denizens of FB marketplace...

Pretty cool time lapse of the old V12 going together on BMW Classic insta today..

Anyone else had the same opportunity to but it at that price.

What if I or a private individual did it? Is it OK then? No different from a sparky buying a plug socket for $10, then selling it for $15 as part of an install

Gave the paint a going over with the Meguiar's DA microfiber system. Stopped using foam pads after i tried this as i found it delivers good results for minimal time and outlay. No swirls or holograms so maybe someone has cleaned well over the years or corrected it in the past? @hqstu ?. Got most of the light scratching out leaving some the time consuming deeper ones alone. With thinner clear and stone chips present in certain areas i dont think its worth the risk given the light blue hides defects very good. Ride height has increased a little with the new parts but im a fan of factory lowered height. Yet it scrap it in all the typical situations after a few 100 k's so should limit any bumper damage.

Been a bit slack on sharing this... First track day in the M4, featuring a pair of Lotus' owned by a couple that are regulars there: And some better driving with a better angle on my 3rd trackday: Used a video editor to add in some laptimes here. Might do another one from my latest session in June if it's any good to watch.