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Update: I towed the car to Jon @ auto38 who advised the box was busted. I towed it home, did some thinking, looked at replacement vehicles, looked at replacement boxes, sort council from multiple forum members, then towed it out to Hutt Automatics for them to drop the box and diagnose further. They have advised this morning that the A drum has failed, likely due to pressure spikes from the pressure regulator/valve body. After further discussions about how the car was driving prior to it failing I've decided to rebuild the torque converter too while it's out. Hopefully it's back on the road in a couple of weeks...

Hey Team She is offically alive! what a long weekend from motor on the engine stand to fully in the car up and running. As always never goes as smoothly as you think, so many hurdles while putting the motor back in. started off good resetting the self adjusting pressure plate, bolted PMC flywheel, puck disc and pressure plate on, bolted 390z box on and then dropping it into the car. That was the easy part, I knew the exhaust was going to be tough to put in but man took me roughly 3-4 hours on each bank to fit. im just going to type the order out just for my own info just incase i need to redo it. Passger side: starter off, work from front to back loosely have nuts on to able to fit 2nd section, do up nuts Driver side: Undo steering shaft bolts. Cylinder 4 top nut loosely on. cylinder one in no nut. cylinder 2 fully tight bottom nut, loose top nut. cylinder 3 top nut fully tight, bottom nut loose. fit remainder nuts on loose. slip fit 2nd section and do up remainder nuts. This is why it took so long. Took me 3 goes to figure out this was the order it had to go in or it wasnt going to work. Driverside being the worst. Also fitted some adjustable lower control arms. Mounted the electric water pump in. Also converted the trans cooler to a power steering cooler. So once all done and wired back up. Gave the key a turn but nothing happened. dash lights came on radio worked but nothing starting. Called up Gee ( mechanic mate) to pop around and after a few minutes of looking around. He bridged the starter with a screw driver and it fired up. So will need to find out why the ignition is not telling the starter to kick in. But then there was more, once car was running for a bit it had 3 major water leaks. One from Radiator, one from water pump area and one at the rear watercoolant pipe area. So spent last night and abit of today swapping back to factory cooling system Got everything back in place and fired it up. no leaks other than the radiator. Both water pump and coolant pipe had little pin holes where it had been wielded when modified. Happy to see no oil leaks though. So hopefully find a new radiator setup finish off putting pedal box in and roll the guards this weekend then she should be all done. once i get it running with no leaks ill do a exhaust clip for you guys too. Thanks

Hi All, I have just joined as a new member. I have enclosed a pic of my M sport 330i hard top convertible. I purchased this in England a couple of years back & did a great road trip through the lakes district & up to Devon, before delivering it to the shipper in Essex, to ship back home to Christchurch. Just love this car !!! Its my third BMW. I have been giving some thought in finding interest to restarting the BMW club in Christchurch, and have had some discussions with the Peter at the Wellington branch. I would like to say hi to all, & any interest club etc ?

Went for a drive in the Brother Inlaws 2019 Beast in the weekend. Absolutely amazing. vehicle. I've never been so thrilled and scared at the same time with the performance and superb handing. I can't say where , what and how quick. Pity it's limited to 250kph ? The technology in this vehicle is amazing

And from a dealer. https://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=2355284616

oil cap looks normall , seen that many times, just wipe it away and drive it hard for a while

I would be getting time serts installed on this motor. Have you checked on the tools and equipment you will need to carry out this repair ?

That's pretty standard for an M54. The crap solidifies on the coldest part of the rocker cover. The cream is just from condensation. Your valve cover will have a crack somewhere. Also standard for M54's Buy a new one. It's not the cleanest of engines inside, but you'll notice the crusty stuff is limited to the cold areas, and the cams etc aren't too bad for the mileage. The change intervals or oil quality is possibly lacking a little. DON"T rely on the service indicator for oil changes either - ours used to go out to about 22K, but I shortened it up to about 15K, which is fine with the volume of oil in there and getting up t temp properly. If you do short trips all the time, reduce the mileage a bit. You possibly do quite a few short trips and/or your thermostat is a bit dodgy - taking too long to warm up. Don't trust the gauge, use the OBC secret menu - the gauge is a waste of time for telling engine temps - straight up covers from about 75C upwards, which is still very cold for an M54. See here:

Its a nice car, and even better since I last saw it. Although, looking at the photos, it needs the cowling near the hinges cleaned

Hi guys after a driver's side rocker cover and the eccentric cam sensor on the inside of the cover. Also need a retaining clip for the hose on the bottom of the expansion tank. Happy to buy, please help!!!!

Well spent a fair bit of time on the door alignment....... Car goes back for a groom next week, if the boys dont give it a pass mark at the coffee meeting. I will get the panel beater to have a go.

You’re not from round these parts are you?

The X5M is more ‘car’ like then suv, jeep, Ponsonby tractor with it’s lowered suspension, low profile tyres and the s63 from the M5 car, barge, whip. Might’ve been called a car by someone who’s native tongue isn’t English. Point is, no need to split hairs over what someone calls something with 4 wheels that goes broom broom.

Clearly Mike doesn't know the E28 and E24 M5 came out before the E30 M3.

not much to be gained in performance with that model. if you want to go fast sell it and buy a 335i. otherwise spend money to do maintenance, good oil and filters, transmission service, and drive it normally. good daily car.

Hand brake needs adjusting bad, and still feels like there is a little air in them still, but they definitely look the ducks nuts.

Yup, there common as muck up here in Auckland. The Back to the Future one is absolutely epic (if you are into that stuff) flux capacitor, time / date settings all work, car drives, etc. So well done. Wonder what happens when you hit 88mph in it...?

Haha, very true. I only have the vert on the road for summer cruising (Nov - Apr) and then sh’s tucked in the garage for a rest over “winter” (May - Oct). Totally passes me by that it’s November next week - fark! Better get my skates on with the jobs to do on her.