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Its a fun job aye Engine mounts/waterpump/etc are all easier than doing the starter. That block of heating connectors is a SOB, worst designed thing for install removal ever. Ive done it about 4 different ways now, thinking there must be easier way.. there isnt, the BMW gods require the sacrifice forearm flesh and blood.

As a result of lock-down I finally found the time to do a decent detail and polish on my E34 540iA. I then applied three layers of wax to make the car nice and glossy. Thought this would be a good opportunity to make a post in the showroom to show it off! Car has done over 371,000km so was quite impressed with how nice the paint still looked. Need to get my replacement sunroof painted though.

Well that is a step in the right direction. Well done. Does your central locking work? If not, then that is the next place to work. I have not had the pleasure to work on an E34, my experience is with E36, E36/7 and E46's. So, some of the below may not apply to your car. The E34 was made from 1987 to 1996, so the ZKE is likely to be ADS/OBD1. If so, you'll need a scanner that can read the old ADS/OBD1 modules. This thread may be helpful. https://zroadster.org/threads/how-to-scan-early-model-z3s-pre-build-date-03-98.39937/ Lets break the system down to help fault finding. Key Mirror General Module/ZKE Car door switches and actuators Wiring Keys and Mirror You have covered most of this and got the key paired. Use INPA to talk to the ZKE Confirm the pairing with INPA. In the ZKE, there is a spot where you car see the digital input change when you press button 1 and button 2. If this is working, then the problem is not with the Key to mirror pairing. Use INPA in the ZKE to "Activate" the lock and unlock signal. This tests the ZKE Un/Lock input. If the central locking works fine with the Activation but not with the key, then you are looking back up towards the Mirror. General Module/ZKE, Door Switches and Actuators Pull out your E34 wiring diagrams and farmilarise yourself with the inputs and outputs of the ZKE. Use INPA to talk to the ZKE See if all the required inputs are present and changing when the doors/boot lock. Door switches, actuator position, that sort of thing. The E36 and later have a door lock actuator position signal. Not sure about the E34? With INPA in the ZKE, watch the operation of the central locking to make sure that all doors/boot lock and unlock correctly. Lots of digital signals change. Look for the same pattern. For example, the E46's have problems with tiny relays that drive the Un/Lock signal failing. Just like their window relays. You are trying to identify a relay that is failing. These relays can be replaced if you have the soldering skills. Wiring Check the wiring hose that goes from the boot to the boot lid. Broken wires in this hose can cause silly central lock responses. Very common in the E36/7 and E46's. They call it the "Loom of Doom" Use the tests results from above to direct you on the signals, and activations that are not working and go searching.

Anyone got any use for Pre-LCI black/silver alu Msport interior trim pieces, door cards/lowerdash/glove box etc. My pile of BMW bits is getting too big, if anyone wants them yell out and freebies, or they'll get spring cleaned. Probably worth $2000 in 10 years time when 130s Msports become the new E30 325s 😛

@NZ_InFerno really hoping you can have a period without anything breaking on this. Feels like you’ve replaced every engine ancillary now…

Put a new starter motor in today, heck of a job that needed a 2nd person to get the manifold off. Cars been sitting for a month as it didn't start at all just before lockdown, pulled a starter code so ordered a new one through fcp euro and all the associated bits. Or so I thought. Starter got delayed on shipping through lockdown, and detoured through Australia as well, so only started pulling everything plastic off on Thursday. Got down to throttle body on the manifold so left it. Friday I discovered that I should have ordered a breather hose from the back of the valve cover, as they break all the time being removed :S, so I spent an hour carefully getting it loose. The PCV system was done a year or so ago so all hoses were new. I then got the throttle body off and all other connectors, there is a few, and finally it was time to tackle the manifold. And yeah not a one man job 😅 Got my bro in law over today(well yesterday) and we got it out no sweat, 5 or 6 connectors underneath that would have been a nightmare doing it myself. Got it all back together in much less time with: - new starter and bolts - new intake manifold gaskets - new(to me) Turner Motorsports intake boot - nice clean throttle body - confirmed both DISAs have been replaced - cleaned up power steering reservoir to check where its leaking Car started immediately, much improved. Didn't take a photo of the shiny starter but it looked good. Ended up doing some troubleshooting after starting as car ran rough and was throwing misfire codes. Checked all coils/plugs and found when we put the manifold back on that the oxygen sensor wire had got pinched, luckily could release it from the manifold and the wire insulation was torn but the wire was undamaged . Quick repair and fired up again, no codes and runs mint.

God I miss being a mod. I would just ban this moron and his previous accounts.

Boost is a measure of restriction. The sc14 set up I put together was frankly mediocre, and rightly so. They never did much when retro fitted to a 4age, so expectations were low on a b28.

What kind of image are you posting ? My PC doesn't speak the language... all I see is a little round symbol with a white bar in the centre Cheers...

Gets popcorn

Hi Doug, I wouldn't be too dismissive. Having seen a few hundread installations that typically are setup to make 8PSi or more...and these having run on 3.2L Engines that have been in enough races. The M54B30 is nothing special apart from having 15mm longer headbolts. The M90 is the same size as the SC14? A lot of factors come into play, and a M122H that produces 600+ HP on a 5.8L Ford modular engine is 2L. A lot of factors come into play and for a mesely 300HP at the crank, I would not invest my money on anything but a M62 (1L) or SC14. The M90's would cost and arm and a leg. An SC14 with a 80mm pulley will be all you need for 8PSI +. Here are some maths, you can input your values as you go. Hope that helps and do whatever works best for you. ====================================== Calculating Engine Liters/min @ 0 Psi Formula: Liters x RPM / 2 = Liter of Air/Min at 0 psi (N/A Motor) Multiply engine capacity (in liters) times maximum engine Rpm. 2.8 liters x 7000 rpm = 19600 liters/minute. Divide this figure by 2 as engine only fills every second stroke. So, 19600 / 2 = 9800 liter of air/min on a naturally aspired M52B28. Calculating Boost Ratio Add the boost pressure desired (5 Psi) for the engine to 14.7 Psi (atmospheric pressure). 5 psi +14.7 psi = 19.7 psi Divide this answer by 14.7 and this gives the boost pressure ratio. (21.7/14.7=1.476) This is the boost pressure ratio above atmospheric pressure. 19.7 psi / 14.7 = 1.34 Calculating Actual Air Requirements at Desired Boost Multiply the boost ratio by the liters/minute obtained for 0 Psi and you get the actual air requirements in Liters/min for the engine at that boost. In our example this is 9800 liters/min X 1.34 = 13132 liters/min Often the question arises if the SC14 is adequate for the 2.8L or even 3L M3’s, They flow more air(1.4L) vs the Eaton M62(1L), and we will be doing some calculations to decide on the correct size of supercharger for your car, you need to know:- 1. The swept volume per revolution of the supercharger. (Eaton M62 1 litre/rev, SC14 from a 1G-GZE 1.4 litres/rev) 2. The maximum continuous safe operating speed for the supercharger. (Eaton M62 14000 rpm continuous, Toyota SC14 12000 rpm??) 3. The maximum pressure that can be safely produced by the supercharger continuously. eg. Eaton M62 = 12 psi, Toyota SC14 = 10Psi(? Beyond that Teflon on rotors melts?) Calculating Supercharger Rotor Speed Divide the desired air flow (13132L/min) by the swept volume of the supercharger (SC14 from the 1G-GZE is 1.42 litres per revolution). This will tell you the maximum speed the supercharger rotors must be run at to produce the volume required. 13132 / 1.42 = 9248 Calculating Pulley Size Ratio Divide the rotor Rpm by maximum desired engine rpm to get the drive ratio of the pulleys. For an SC14 on a 2800cc @ 5psi boost the desired supercharger pulley ratio is 9248 / 7000 rpm = 1.32  Pulley Size Ratio With an 4″ (103mm) Pulley on the supercharger the size of the crank pulley for this ratio would be 1.32x 4 = 5.28” Note: M52B28 Crankshaft Pulley is around 6” or 152mm, the SC14 differs between 115mm and 125mm, We are using a 103mm pulley.) Final Calculations Pulley Size Ratio –> 6″ (crank pulley) / 4″ (SC14 pulley) = 1.5 Max SC14 RPM –> 1.5 (Pulley Size Ratio) x 7000 (Max Engine RPM) = 10500 RPM Air output with 6″ Crank Pulley –> 1.42(SC14 Displacement) x 10500(Max SC14 RPM) = 14910cc Boost Ratio –> 14910 / 9800 = 1.52 Max PSI Boost –> 1.52 x 14.7 = 22.34 – 14.7 = 7.6 PSI at 7000RPM or 5PSI at 6000RPM – both using the 4” (103mm) Pulley. ===========================================

@Kees you’re kind haha. Red is a b#*ch right? It looks pretty good, up close it has the usual signs of a life lived, but is pretty nice. The Golf is an early NZ new Mark 5, and I think they are just Monza (charcoal grey inside spokes) and the Monza Shadows had black inside spoke holes and were for the Mark 6 (just Googled it since you asked…) they’re the 18” factory option style and designed to be curbed 😕 . I like that it is dark blue, bought it 3.25 years ago with 68k on clock, now 113k. PO had stage 1 chipped it and for a 16 year old car it is torquey, comfortable and quick enough for the daily duties. The Euro plates were on it. Am getting Euro plates for the E30 shortly too

@Olaf Only recall I'm aware of is the EGR cooler on 2012-2017 N57-engined models (also common to N47). Not sure if the manifold may have been an issue on earlier ones. What car are you looking at? n=2 but both of the N47's in our family are >250k km without issue

Topas-Blau looks good on a Z3. Manual Z3's are not that common in N.Z. That would have been one desirable Z3. Good luck with the repairs.

I certainly wouldn't downsize just to fit a tyre that's arguably no better than the alternatives. That's regardless of tyre brand subjectivity.

M20 are a more head weakness than gasket failure, certainly not the strongest engine but they still hold up well given their age and as stated cheap\simple to repair if needed. Cam belt was always stated shorter interval than average but people driving to cambelt snap isnt uncommon in any car. Water pumps are water pumps, some go longer some shorter than expected. 4\6 of my M30 engined car experience head gasket failure when flushing the block due to neglected cooling systems, all done 330k-500k. Certainly are more susceptible but not all exclusive to BMW's of that era. A-B with minimal maintenance => reliability? Reliability usually encompasses durability and simplicity. Generally people who aren't spending money on their car all the time consider it reliable for all intents and purposes. You got to remember the average non car person can't even or doesn't want to change a light bulb in a vehicle.

I got within sniffing distance of buying a V10 TDI one of these and then wussed out at the ongoing cost of ownership; that, and it would touch each end of my garage with nothing to spare 🤣 Awesome cars though, and so understated. Everyone just thinks they're a Passat.

HellBM

You would have to overdrive the piss out of an SC14 to get close to 8psi at reasonable rpm on an engine that size It's not worth the hassle on an m54b30

Went for $18,100. These auctions seem to be going very well for nice cars, think I'll auction my E46 when the time comes.

Today I did a machine polish of my E34 540i. Car has done over 370,000km so I was pleasantly surprised at how nicely the original paint managed to come out. All up took about 5 hours including a pre-wash and then application of a ceramic wax after the polishing had been completed. Used a cordless Dewalt polisher which worked very well, and used Turtle Wax Hybrid Black Polish. Usually for hand polishing I stick to Meguiar's Ultimate Compound, but went with Turtle Wax this time due to the large amount of Polish dust Ultimate Compound produces which is annoying when you are polishing an entire car. I did do a little side by side comparison between the two polishes on the bonnet and the results seemed identical to me. An added benefit of the Turtle Wax product is it has a dark pigment so for a particularly nasty scratch on the passenger rear door of my car, the scratch was darkened and is less noticeable. Only down-side to polishing the car is the insane amount of rock chips that have been accrued over the 370,000km are now more obvious lol I then coated the car in Turtle Wax Hybrid black wax and will hopefully do another coat of it tomorrow (takes about 24 hours to fully cure). Included is a before and after to display how well the Turtle Wax Polish did, as well as some photos of the car post polish.

The exhaust finally sold, booked in and had Hyperdrive come out with the mobile van to fit some Michelin PS4s. Absolutely chuffed with how much better the car looks vs the black wheels.

Date: 7 Sept 2021 Distance: 263271 kms 1. New Battery The batty had become increasingly less cooperative in storage since June, despite the gentle pulsing care of the CTEK MXS 5.0 in maintenance mode. No sense in flogging the dead horse. I consulted the schedule on on RealOEM, and found they equipped 46, 50, 55, and 65Ah battys for the 316i and 318iS. Existing batty was an AA 3552, which is a DIN53L, 510CCA, 50AH. (interesting AA no longer recommend this, favouring a DIN55 instead (heavier). There are plenty of options out there, and I've completely given up on AA Battery Service following really crappy service by them in 2019/20. The DIN53L is a relatively small batty, both dimensionally [L=242, W=174, H175, TH=175, all in mm], and in capacity (around 50AH). A really stonking version can put out 600CCA/60AH, though ~500 CCA/50AH is more commonplace in Niu Zild. Prices between about $195 (Repco 40 month on special) to over $350 for a Century with 36 month warranty, were found via a quick search. What's a fella to do during Lockdown v2.0 eh? So we ordered a Koba as the quality is good (my e60 is still very happy) and price is reasonable. Many thanks to @Autoglym for arranging. The MF55457 is a DIN53LMF. Time to get a WoF and some rego. Spring is here! PS - it's three years of ownership on 9th Sept. Somehow there's always a necessary anniversary purchase whether I like it or not!

Leant my car to my brother in law who lives in Wellington. Got the car back today and someone has opened their door onto it pretty damn hard. Absolutely typical for Wellington. Where the people who live there are surprised when the wind catches their car door and damages someone else property..... it's like they still don't realise that Wellington is windy on occasion.. Anyway. I need to get this fixed. As dents make me care so much less for a vehicle that has them. It's in a terrible spot. Right on the crease. Should I bother with paintless dent removal? Or is this a trip to the panel beaters. Sorry about the photo quality. My $1000 Oneplus phone struggles with anything that is white. Or black. Edit. Not sure what happened to the photos. But re-added.