M3_Power

Plenty of those already actually haha!! Unfortunately BMW never really locked down CSL parts, so the Americans have been buying them up whenever a batch is made, resulting in genuine owners waiting up to 12 months for replacement bits. I know of at least 3 genuinely good CSLs being wrecked for parts over in the UK ... it's starting to be a bit of a trend actually. I am also starting to see some unique parts being discontinued for production, so it'll only be a matter of time before more cars get parted out for replacements.

hahah ... never say never : ) The thought has definitely crossed my mind more than a few times!! But with the spares I have I am probably better off building a replica (I am actually not that far from it actually lol).

Another one from Mr Brown's collection ... drug money must be good. http://www.turners.co.nz/Vehicles/Pages/Ca...x?RefId=1089987

Will be watching with interest that's for sure. I know quite a few people that have been waiting to see this resurface so they can buy it - but I don't see a bidding war on it personally. I do wonder if you'd still need a special interest vehicle certificate to get this car re-registered. As it would need to go through compliance again and E46s no longer meet the emission or frontal impact rules. So that leaves Special Interest Vehicles. If it was me I'd buy it and take it apart and sell it in pieces - you'd get more money for it that way. It's what I am intending on doing with mine when I am sick of it : )

Ah so it finally came up for auction!! The infamous Mr Brown drug lord car. It's legit guys, been waiting to see this resurf for the last 3 years. I guess the limitation period finally ran out and the department of courts can finally sell off his assets. Km are legit, the car is legit, probably used for quite a few high speed drug runs also haha. Bear in mind it has sat in police impound for at least 3 years now without ever moving one bit.

Have diagnosed a couple of E39s, but have never had experience coding the E39 in the past, have done many light checks and other things on E46, E92, R60, R56 and the 1 series ... could give it a go if it's just a simple command thing within module (i.e. turn the check off) - Technically you can turn the airbag off also, but that would be highly illegal and I won't do it for anyone. I'll take a look at the E39 modules and commands tonight and let you know.

Paul, the X5 (I can't recall whether it was the first generation or second generation X5s) have longer factory wheel bolts with the correct pitch and head angle. I used those when I certed my car and they had the requisite 6.5 turns to full torque. Run more rear camber and it should clear the guards - I didn't have any issue with clearance when I had the coilovers in there - but again with 15mm spacers, might be a whole lot different. And Welcome to the world of lowered cars haha !!! I could never find a place to wheel align my car because it was too low - the ones with the laser beams that align wheel to wheel are the worst as the laser beam could never reach the other wheel. The official BMW machines are okay as they work off the mirrors and the beams are on the main rig. Getting up the hoist is a whole different story however haha!! You can place shipping blocks in between the springs first and then take them off once the car is up on the hoist ... or find a low loading wheel alignment machine (quite a few up in Auckland).

Yeah $20 for a 20gb IDE is actually really well priced!! I have tons of IBM T30 laptops for building GT1s, hence why I also have an abundance supply of IDE drives, and it just happens that the 40gb drives from the T30 is the identical model to the one in the BOSE ... lol. No 3rd party BOSE repair agents in NZ unfortunately, just the official agent, ET Electronics - called them, wouldn't have a bar of sending me the files or sending me a drive. I had to send the machine in for them to repair - $450 for an outdated hdd ... The files aren't any where on the net - I've looked and looked. Good to know ... at least I know where to source good old dirty IDEs from for the future : ) That's the thing, there's hardly any room in there. Even the standard IDE drives don't actually fit, the model from Toshiba in the BOSE has about 1.5mm off one corner allowing it to fit properly. I am going to throw an IDE SSD in there next. UPDATE! A nice fella from overseas sent me a link to his personal server, where he was kind enough to image his HDD for me ... Downloaded the image, cloned the drive onto a spare 40gb IDE drive I had sitting around ... and bingo ... WORKED THE FIRST TIME around ... So here's the middle finger to BOSE NZ for wanting to rip customers off. Will never spend another dime with you.

Do you mean just a standard hdd or a hdd with the Bose data files on it that will make it run? I have tons of IDE drives - it's the files on it that's important I am afraid ...

Long shot and I've searched high and low for this. The HDD in my system crapped itself over Christmas so I pulled the thing out so I could still use it. Low and behold it's a crappy IDE 20Gb HDD - I wish I had cloned the damn thing before it shiat itself. Bose wants $450 for what is essentially a decade old technology when I could just pop in a HDD myself for little less than $80. I however need all the firmware files on it so it would actually work. If you have a system at home and is IT smart, can someone please clone their HDD for me (without the music files) and maybe burn me a copy - the files are apparently very small (just a bunch of folder systems and initiation files - couple of hundred KB only I believe.) And yes I've searched high and low for these online ... nothing. Thanks.

Glad to hear that you got it all sorted Paul The car is looking superb!!! (better than new I am sure!!) One thing I noticed in the photos but can't be certain - did you use the washers I included for the rear shock? (if you didn't, best to use them instead of the ones you have on there) - how you liking the coilovers? And bloody hell they are CLEAN!!! Here the photos: Before soldering After Soldering

There's always the OEM option - although probably more expensive:

Okay first of these are NOT the FTDI chipped ones ... I needed the FTDI ones to convert for BMW use, unfortunately for me the ebay sellers I got these off had no idea what chips were inside and they all contained a random CH340 chip for USB to serial conversion. I've downloaded the datasheet on this:see here http://wch-ic.com/product/usb/ch340.asp I have no idea whether these cables are any good for you guys with VWs or Audis ... so sold AS IS with no guarantees. All the cables came with some sort of software for VW, Seat and something else I think ... $8 each take them away. And yes I have 3 of these .... stupid ebay seller ... (turns out I have 4 of these !!! from two different ebay sellers - they sent me two each for some reason) call or txt 021 281 0155 will ship anywhere in the Country - but you pay the postage. Otherwise I am located in East Auckland.

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Buy me!!!

buy me!!

VERY COOL!! I am going to pop into spotlight in the weeked to see if I can find the correct thickness foam sheeting to glue to the back of the alcantara ... otherwise plan B is to use my very expensive 3M double sided foam tape!!! (hoping I won't have to use this!!). Sorry have some updates, but thought I'd put more up when it's a bit more 'together' so to speak!! I was very lucky when I opened the stitching ... happened to open it from where it was actually started!!

Mods, if you don't mind leaving this up in this forum until somebody replies with some photos? After some good resolution photos of the E46 Coupe rear side panels - I just want to see how the leather panel is held to the main plastic panel itself (so just the photos to the inside of it please!!) - if with the speakers removed, even better!! Thank you p.s. MUST BE FROM A COUPE!!

The MSS54 DME is a little more sophisticated I think ... that plus 3 knock sensors, pre-designed limp mode open loop map if one goes off or a sensor fails ... Actually not hard to throw the s54 into limp mode .... just drive really hard at the track on slicks and I can almost guarantee that it'll go into limp mode on the stock DME.

I can hear those horses dying inside that s54

Brand new ... $40 take it. PM or txt: 021 281 0155

That would defeat the whole purpose of a rubberised coating. You'd get a better colour match and finish with standard matte paint. Trust me Plastidip is NOT durable. It's NOT a permanent coating.

I have the plastidip stuff ... and believe me when I tell you that the colour doesn't match the BMW interior coating (unlike what you read on the internet) - also the product itself is crap ... it isn't durable at all - any slight nick and the thing starts to peel off like no tomorrow. Don't waste your money or effort - it's a waste of time.

Yep upholstery threads are the correct threads to use - either that or ones used on jeans (maybe a bit too thick, I'll have to check) The factory leather or alcantara isn't actually glued on, instead a double sided thin foam is stuck on the bottom of the leather or alcantara, which allows it to stick to the steering wheel itself - depending on the thickness of the sticky foam used you get different thickness in the rim. That's easily solved. Leather harden over time, so the only way to soften it and flatten it enough is to heat it up - various ways to do this, the quick and efficient way is to have a very hot iron on high steam, place the leather between a top and bottom layer of cotton and go nuts - but not for a long time, do this a couple of times and the leather will soften and be flat enough to trace a pattern. If you really want to, you can cut slits into the leather so it'll flatten out more - but I personally don't think this is necessary: Before steam ironing: After steam ironing, ready for pattern tracing: