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Expanding from e30 joints to now cover e36, e46, z3, z4 etc. These are a really nice super slim (20mm wide) unit which has BMW OEM ends grafted on as shown and have a 40mm collapsible section. Great for turbo swaps, larger manifolds, engine swaps, v8’s etc. $150 each plus shipping. All are built to order to ensure the length and ends are 100% match. As with all brake and steering items these are used at your risk. PM me to discuss your requirements

DISA flap in the manifold is another one to check. If it's not working the fuel economy will be up. They also have a tendency to fall apart inside the manifold and get sucked into the cylinders, so it's a fairly important thing to check up on.

Well, 3 years later, she’s had an extensive resto and nearly back on the road. I got a little carried away..

I bought this car! Had a crazy family connection and had to have it. I spotted my dad's car (74 Tii race car) in the background of his last Trademe pic. In the paperwork pile with the car, there was old pictures of my late father at the same meets as his late father with both of their 2002's in the early 2000's. A beautiful coincidence. Very very happy.

I bought a 2.5l M54 X3 for my daughters. Yes I have twins. They just got their learners and they have already done about 500km in the X3. I didn't pay too much for it and it had a fresh warrant and its got a nice spec, no sunroof, m-sport and most importantly heated seats.. I had the trans serviced, as it was holding gears and was slow to change up. The service helped, and it changes up earlier. What I have found is that it gets really poor fuel economy. Around 13.5 to 14l/100kms. This is not what I expected. I was thinking of getting the injectors cleaned, replacing the o2 sensors, cleaning the MAF sensor and throttle body, new plugs, new fuel and air filter , as well as an oil change. I have driven it by myself, just a normal combo of motorway and urban running. The economy doesn't change much between myself and the girls. Am I chasing my tail here, are they really that thirsty?

Who wants an E30 when you could have this? https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/listing/3060937618

For your ZF6 back when I was dealing with Pageeuro they used a Fuchs equivalent. It was okay... if I was doing it again it'd be Lifeguard. You can use less fluid by getting it done on a transmission service machine. I'm about to have Jon @ Begley Motor Works do a ZF8 service - it'll be getting either Lifeguard 8 or the Shell stuff from BMW. Or Penrite ATF BMV, at a pinch. @E63 why not get it done by Jon at Begley Motor Works (Marton) - he has the transmission machine that pushes new oil in as it pulls the old stuff out. That's how we did a service (incl filter) in Jan 2023 last year at 205.5k km on my ZF5 (my e46) with Lubeguard Full Synthetic ATF and it's shifting superbly (212k kms). Previous trans service was ~50k kms earlier.

Hmmm, yes I think the M54B25 and even B30 e83's are not very light on fuel. VANOS seals, DISA, vacuum leaks, O2 sensors all conspire to rob M54 of power and thus drink more, so you're returning to familiar territory. Main rule for any X-drive is to ensure you've the right-sized rated tyres on each corner... incorrect tyres and circumferences that's what leads to the bind-ups/diffs/transfer case issues. Have a good sniff around under it for leaks, particularly the transfer case. It should be a decent wagon for your daughters to be driving around in John. Tyre wear likely to be much higher than an e46 wagon though.

Vanos seals, plus you'll probably find it's not really getting up to temp properly (remember the gauge is totally useless). Check the REAL coolant temp. They should heat up fairly quick, and stay there. Dunno if the X3's can still access the KTMP vis the dash, but you could do it on E39s' really easy. Otherwise check with a scan tool. The gauge will show Normal (straight up and down) from about 70C, but it's still not pulled all the cold-start enrichment at that point.

Looks great in white and Msport that. I'm contemplating getting one for the wife to replace her 3.0L Outback. That also gets around 13L/100 of mostly city driving so not expecting much of an upgrade in terms of fuel economy. Thinking more in terms of ease of maintenance of having several M54's in the family. Heated seats are an absolute must too. I'm sure the maintenance items you've outlined will help to a degree. Also remove and clean out the ICV whilst dealing with the throttle body. Worn VANOS seals can also affect low down torque and fuel economy but that's a bit more involved. You'll probably recoup an extra 1, maaaaaybe 2L/100km doing all that, don't imagine it'll make an earth shattering difference though. I was struggling to stick to 12-13L/100km in my old 325ci with the same engine. The X3 being AWD and significantly bigger & heavier those numbers aren't that surprising I comparison.

Absolutely gorgeous!

That's some high numbers. My supercharged V8 is 11.8l/100kms on average. A friend did have some pretty severe drive train issues in his N52 powered one. Rear Diff chewed itself out. The transfer case bound up. And he had to replace the torque converter which was possibly due to the other two problems. Suspect was incorrect oils when serviced by car yard. Never proven. Dollar reserved it.

And she's back on the road

Also, it turns out it's got a Miltek exhaust. At least that's what the tips say, and they're welded to the back box so that much is Miltek anyway.

New car day.

The NAM3Forum guys hate on the 135i setup, supposedly those calipers are a bit junky but maybe that's just in comparison with M3 calipers. Probably still a significant upgrade over the 330 ones. I've had a set of 996 front and rear calipers sitting in storage for about a year waiting for a rainy day to rebuild and fit to my M3. Almost identical to the OE CSL brake bias with way better pedal feel. The stock brakes honestly are completely sufficient with decent pads and fluid even when I had them on track. I haven't quite been able to bite the $2000 bullet for new CSL front and rear rotors and rallyroad adapter brackets for a mostly visual upgrade but it's on the to-do list. The brackets from rallyroad are far superior, lighter (about half the weight), higher quality, and allow you to run the 98635193915 D737 shape pad which will sweep the entire M3 rotor, where the stock 98635293910 D738 pad won't. https://nam3forum.com/forums/forum/main-forum/e46-2001-2006/3153-porsche-brembo-996-bbk-conversion - Very good write up comparing the different brackets Look forward to seeing how you go with this and what your impressions are.

Any use cases not covered here?

Just been looking at your e61 M5 thread and realised that I took a couple of photos of this car back in Feb 2021 in Christchurch. Prior to your ownership, I think… Epic wagon! Great colour!

Any reputable oil that meet the specs would be fine. Yeah i usually buy a 20L which is usually far better value. Ive used Fuchs in the past but Penrite is well priced and easily available so i tend to stick with it. You'd definitely want to reset the adaptions as well if you do change the fluid, sounds like it probably needs more than that to remedy it.

That isn't the correct spec Penrite oil for the 6HP - this is which is much more expensive - https://penriteoil.com.au/products/atf-bmv-full-syn You need at least 2 changes (3 if its bad) to get most of the old oil diluted enough with the fresh stuff if its never been done before (using the drain and fill method). The only time i would do one drain\fill is if its clearly been done before and the oil looks still looks fairly clean.

So Grey Thunder has been languishing in the garage for a couple of years... I've pulled it out infrequently to run it up to temp, give it a splash of sunshine, a gentle wipe-over with detailing mist when the dustcover comes off. It's dry and undercover, just waiting for it's time for the project to re-commence. I've been picking away at the parts list. Bits sourced and added to the stash: Brand new Mahle/Behr heater matrix to replace the used one we put in back in 2019. Luckily I took a pic of the part number at the time! Internal plastic weathershielding for behind the door panels. Sourced all the seals & bearings, (pinion and output), to rebuild the 4.10 small case diff for the M42 swap. I already have a diff housing gasket, drain and fill plugs, and a Coreteco diff mount (my last - they're no longer made - I think the only aftermarket one that's sold now that's similar to OEM is the Moog item). Sourced all cooling system hoses for the M42B18 (not just the big ones, all the ancilliaries too) Spare e30 window winder (can't believe they've nearly doubled in price since I last bought one) - now USD61.99 New DME and Fuel Pump relays Got a Barina/Corsa steering linkage - still needs to visit a driveshaft specialist. New e46 rack inners, to replace the used ones and go with the new e36 outers on the Purple Tag rack. Antother rack bellows kit to replace the ones I used on my e46. I finally put a BMW Car Club sticker on it. Next steps... it's time to get out the Right Hand Drive 318iS loom and clean it, perhaps replace the tessa tape. Certainly clean all of the contacts. And I'll clean off the 4.10 diff and take it up to Begley Motor Works for a rebuild in a month or so. Blue Thunder on Ori Bay - winter 2023?

Lifeguard is specified for many ZF 5HP models (look it up). It probably made by Pentosin along with the BMW labeled stuff.