Allanw

I can smell the 2-stroke fumes through my screen 😁

You forgot Wangers (Ranger Wankers). Pass everything in sight on the straights, then hold everybody up while struggling to negotiatiate corners and STILL endanger the oncoming traffic, spending half their time over the centre line.

Close enough?

That's totally logical 🤣... I stripped down my Touran engine to fit the thermostat, discovered it was the wrong part, so took the engine out and put a VR6 in there instead. Then couldn't drive it for a year while I finished it. 😁

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.

"Headway Horace" Did someone think "Horace" - it's got race in it, so sounds sporty??? Perfect for a tyre name... I dunno... it's got a "Plasma Booster" on the coil... 🤣

"Somebody" already has SLOWGN on an E61 M5...

Make sure they put mesh in the concrete! (some didn't up here!) Get recommendations from people about who they've used and check out the work. My extra garage (6 x 7.2, plus roof extension etc) was over $50k (although that included extras, and concreting my barn floor too), and it's Brilliant (Skyline Whangarei). One of the competitors wanted an extra $5K for mesh(!), and another $5k to put a half-assed lean to between the garage and house, instead of extending the roofline, like I have now. These guys integrated into the existing roofline perfectly, were super helpful and charged less. They actually made all the frames manually offsite after pouring the floor, so the roof is mm perfect. They were really into doing everything "right". Which was awesome. It's not tall enough for a hoist or anything, but it does have 3 phase power (it was only about 5 metres of cable required).

Pfffttt... All those hand brake slides... E39 hand brakes don't work like that 🤣😁

Yeah - and carefully check the wiring to the sensor - that -128 would normally be an open circuit default value, wouldn't it? Or maybe short to ground? The -20 outside won't help either - they use a number of temps to determine what it going on with the whole cooling system. It won't make the gauge peg or anything, but it does alter fan PWM calculations etc.

If I *had* to have an auto, 325i would be my only option. The autos are very old school... and kinda ruin the "fun" of an E30... but if needs must, they're still fun in other ways. 325i can be a little bit hungry around town, but better cruising and performs OK. 318i isn't quick, but not too hungry. 320i auto has the worst of both. Hungriest of the lot around town, and not quick. They do sound nicer than a 318i... and they sound like they're working hard a lot of the time, because they are 🤣

Nah. Someone just stuck a BMW badge on a Hyundai, that's a rip-off of an E-class. Then they bumped into a classroom and the heating radiators got stuck on the front.

If it was something exciting/collectable etc, low milage is like an extra long horn on your unicorn. On something super ordinary... I don't see the point. If it was a factory manual wagon, would make it 1000x more desirable than it is. Even just a 'vert would be 500x better. As it is, if I was in the market for a similar car, I'd probably pay a 20% premium, just for the unusualness... but I'd rather buy a 1 owner car with 120k, in good nick... which probably also gets a 20% premium over all the clapped out 328i's on the market at any given time. And to be fair... at least it isn't a 320i 😄

... it soon will be???

My Mrs car has jumped up from $470ish to $590ish at AMI. I shopped around and the quote from AA (as a member) was $900! None of the online ones came in cheaper, so I just renewed it. More annoyingly... the house insurance is up $600 on last year!

The hotter the engine runs, the more power it makes (to a point!) for the amount of fuel going in. The hotter the engine is, the less heat energy it can absorb from the combustion... so it helps economy by a tiny amount, and reduces emissions by a tiny amount. I changed our E39 525i (M54) to a fixed temp stat and did away with the Map-cooling. E39's didn't bring up a check engine light for no map-cooling, but did have a fault code (Which was dumb, because when the thermostat heater burnt out, they just ran really hot ALL the time!). The 6's didn't run *that* hot on the mechanical only anyway (98?), like the V8's did (108?). I didn't notice anything dramatic change as far as economy, but you want to make sure the new stat stays 100% closed until the engine is at operating temps, or it'll take longer to heat up and use way more fuel during the cold start enrichment phase. My first kit had a bleed hole drilled in the thermostat and it was stupid and unnecessary. I replaced it with a solid one and it was way better. Later cars may be a bit more complicated, but that unit looks like it still has a map-cooling heater anyway?

If you have club card, and swiped it, they'll refund the difference withon a certain time frame 😉

I've got one of those... Picked up in Auckland, 18/12/23... 3 days and it's somewhere between there and Whangarei. However, the NZPost parcel from Tauranga came overnight... INCLUDING Rural!

At least it looks better than a Tesla!

I launch this POS at them: OK... "Launch" might be a bit strong... but it sure scares people when it's converting petrol into noise and aimed directly at them 🤣

And with the thread protrusion, you can put some nuts on the back now. Safety first! 🤣

shame about that snout...

SA would move down the list for me. They aren't built quite the same. I'd take a german made one, every time. Like how SA E30's rusted in the weirdest places.

I'm far ( Far, FAR) from an expert... just thinking out loud: but I'd have thought a bit of starter fluid would mean it would at least make a few more bangs... if the mechanicals were doing their things, at the right times??? Maybe? The white smoke like that is normally from uncombusted diesel... isn't it? not enough compression to pop it? (I know on a running diesel with a bad misfire, or a leaky injector letting fuel in at the wrong times etc, it can do white/grey smoke). If you have the injectors unplugged, does the cranking sound even? Was the motor from a reliable source? You've had the head off and done the valves, right? No obvious damage then? Maybe double check the timing process, or better yet - have a new pair of eyes look over it? Sorry 😬