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To test out the faulty fuel sender unit theory, I did a couple of trips to the servo with a jerry can and poured some 20L of diesel into the tank. Having had the old battery on charge for a few days, I hooked it up and turned on the ignition, to which the car proceeded to have a full on seizure - cluster flashing on and off, relays clicking, alarm beeping etc. Not knowing how old the battery was and the little peep hole staying black even at full charge, I picked up a brand new Century DIN85LHX MF as a replacement. Before I could hook it up, I discovered the clamp on the negative cable had somehow seized so you couldn't tighten it properly. Took some vice grips and an impact wrench set to full blast to break the stubborn stud in half. Luckily I still had a few spare ones on hand. Battery hooked up, you could hear the fuel pump priming as you turned the ignition, although there seemed to be all sorts of modules coming back to life and there was all sorts of sounds coming from all directions all at the same time. Gave it a couple of 10-second cranks, on the third one she fired right up! Happy days. Fuel injection system error still lit up the cluster but seemed to idle fine. Took it for a quick lap around the block, didn't really give it beans but didn't feel like it was in any sort of limp mode. Hooked it up to the scanner, still had the old list as well as a few more errors this time around. It now takes a second or two of cranking but then fires up fine. Cleared all the codes, took it for another quick lap and none of the codes are yet to come back. Great success. Too soon to jump to conclusions but seeing it run and drive really made my day. Heaps of preventative maintenance to do before she goes into full on daily duties but the beginning looks well promising.

Waterpump and thermostat assembly replaced by Skoda/Giltrap under warranty, coolant tank must have failed pressure test as well so I paid to replace that... Fingers crossed this time! Its a good car, when its not shitting itself

Took the E30 for a roadtrip up to Russell this long weekend for a lovely roadtrip. Did some spirited driving and bottomed out a couple of times (thank God I put on that sump guard). Overall I covered 567kms of driving and it was absolutely amazing!

Managed to stumble my way into another problem project. With an addition to the family imminent, I started looking at options to upgrade the wife's mode of transportation. Her trusty Subaru Outback is getting rather tired and is not a car I particularly enjoy working on so was keen to lure her over into the wonderful world of German engineering. With her enthusiasm for eventually getting back into riding and owning horses, the criteria was a 4wd with enough ground clearance to at least not get stuck in a paddock, and something capable of towing a horse float. Easy enough. I wanted to keep it in the familiar era of the early 2000's so quickly narrowed the search down to E83 X3's & E53 X5's. The V8 was never an option and despite my love for the M54, I felt that in a big lump of an SUV (SAV?) it might be a bit underpowered and too thirsty, so the legendary M57 became the preference. Not an awful lot of them around as it turns out, and all close to or above 300k on the clock. One 306k example had popped up, went to check it out and although I was impressed with the drive and feel, I decided against it due to the shoddy aesthetics - passenger door handle was missing, a bunch of interior trims were quite worn, the steering wheel was sticky and disgusting and some underbody plastics being held in place with self tappers and wood screws. The condition was reflected in the price but since the car is meant to be for the better half, I'd have wanted it to be a bit nicer. I then went back to a FB Marketplace listing I had saved a while earlier. The ad had been up for a good number of months, the asking price was essentially double that of the car I test drove but was well presented and looked heaps tidier. Before I got around to texting the owner though, the exact same car popped up on a TM $1 reserve auction with a "FUEL INJECT. SYSTEM" error on the dash and a crank no start condition. Despite numerous messages and requests for a viewing, the seller never replied so I was left bidding blind. Not ideal but it is what it is. I figured I'd go low enough that I could recoup the investment through parting it out if need be, and after brief bidding war I emerged victorious at a price I was happy enough to gamble. The next day, I recruited a mate to help out with towing duties, hooked up our rally car trailer that was barely big enough for the job, huffed and puffed pushing the 2 tonne beast onto it and carted the new family member home. And there she is - 2004 E53 X5 3.0d with 288,600 km's on the clock. Overall looks really tidy, the body is straight with a few paint imperfections here and there but still presents really well. I do love the facelift design, doesn't look at all dated even at 20 years old, in my eyes anyway. Interior is in great condition too with the only blemish that stands out is the passenger door arm rest leather coming apart. Even comes with an Android headunit, which is pretty handy. The biggest drawback, for the wife in any case, is the lack of heated seats, although that's something I can try and rectify at a later date. All of that counts for nothing though unless I can get her up and running again. The car had sat since July, the battery had gone completely flat to the point even the gear indicator light wouldn't come on. Took 2 days of charging to get the battery back to full charge but I suspect it might be too far gone anyway and a replacement will be the first item on the shopping list. Ran out of weekend before I could start properly digging into it but did get the battery charged up enough to pull some codes. Definitely something to do with fuel delivery. Whether the code for fuel pressure regulating points to the regulator being faulty I'm not entirely sure. I've learned that these cars have a total of 3 fuel pumps - a low pressure in-tank pump; an inline pump and a high pressure pump - and it could be either one of the 3. Will need to do more research on whether any of the codes might help pinpoint the culprit more accurately. The glow plugs should be easy enough to replace and definitely on the list of preventative maintenance I'm aiming to take care of. Whether the glow control unit is also a common failure point I'll need to also look into. Another suggestion I found was that the fuel sender unit may have gone bad, the gauge would still show there being fuel in the tank but it wouldn't be making its way over to the pump side from the opposite side of the "saddle", causing a fuelling issue. The fuel needle did indicate barely a fifth of a tank so could be plausible. I'll try pour some 20L of diesel in it and see what happens. Would be pretty funny if that's the cause of the issue but I don't dare hope to be so lucky. On the running gear side, a few codes could be a cause for concern, namely the transfer case code for oil abrasion and gearbox shutdown code due to overtemperature. Will see how she feels once she's running and driving but servicing those two will definitely be on the list. Will take some time on the weekend to dig into it proper, see how far I get with the diagnosis and start putting together a shopping list of parts. Pretty excited for my first diesel experience. Time will tell how much of a bargain it turns out to be. Long live the Family Tractor.

No idea, maybe the thermostat?

Had to rebuild my 3.73 lsd diff today. It suddenly became very noisy and turns out the last person who rebuilt it didn't set the preload on the pinion shaft bearings properly leading them to seize up over the usage it has seen with me. Took the time to give it a lick of paint and properly set the preload after changing all the bearings for good measure.

1952 Ferrari 212, only 5000miles on it

I was surprised to read they are a twin turbo V6.... how did they manage to make that sound so bad? Its a real weird sound, not like a V6.

Spent a little time on this one over the weekend, removed the wrap and tidied it up a little. A fair few carbon fiber replacement parts are on the way, this should look a bit different again by xmas.

Don't look at 2005-2012 320's, they've got the same shitty engine. In fact, don't look at any BMW that's not a straight 6.

Yeah man. It sounds amazing. The only things in the exhaust that aren't stainless are the colby hotdog resonators. My old mans stroker is ready to go. 1.5 mm oversized valves, shrick 284 cam. Heavy duty rockers, titanium valve springs, new rocker arms the works. Oh and the ITBs haha. I am itching to finish mine

Installed a new Stainless steel rear section the other day. The difference is night and day. I love how it sounds and looks. Also in the process of building my stroker engine. I have sent my cylinder head away for porting and polishing. Quite an agressive port and polish with oversize valves and titanium springs etc with upgraded rockers,oversize eccentrics and new arms. Plus a 292 cam. It should be a really nice flowing head. The bottom end will receive some loving too. Sending everything off for acid dipping them balancing. Will be running a Link, standalone engine management and my RHD ITB kit with open trumpets (with little filters on ofcourse)

Few little updates. I did some exhaust work on the vert and man it's livened it up a whole lot. I chucked on my headers and test pipe and deleted the resonator and put in two coby resonators in it's place. These are so much better. I have noticed a difference in power delivery and I must say I am stoked. I also finished one out of 4 wheels to see what I will be eventually going with for my wheel set up. Here are some pics for those interested