jeffbebe

Thanks. Very interested to know. I wondered whether a lot of people like to think replacing it has made a massive difference because it cost them a fair bit of time and/or money to do but an honest appraisal would be great.

Been tinkering with the car all weekend and have come to the conclusion that the issue is not a lack of power - at least not when the car is running at peak temperature. The problem is that she's not that happy from a cold start. in particular the car just feels sluggish until it's warmed up and idles pretty roughly until the temp gauge gets well above the blue. It wouldn't be such a big deal if it wasn't for the fact that 80% of my driving is around town from cold - so I don't get many opportunities to drive the car when it feels good. If I could get it to feel half as good when cold as it does at peak temp I wouldn't need to improve it in any other way (though I might still do it for fun!). So far I've done the following: Replaced all ignition coils + spark plugs Cleaned fuel injectors and replaced all o rings Checked vacuum hoses for leaks and can't find anything Scanned and the only fault is memory module because I've got the wrong driver's seat in at the moment Any advice/ideas or is it something I should just live with? I've got a replacement o ring for vanos but haven't got round to replacing. Have had mixed reports about what difference it will make. Lots of people in forums talking up the benefits of replacing the vanos seal but quite a few mechanics I've spoken too think it's a bit of a placebo.

How did the touch up work out? My understanding (from the dipyourcar.com videos) is that if you f*ck it up when painting or it starts to peel, etc then you have to remove and redo the whole thing.

Some people, sure, but I think that's a sweeping generalisation. She's actually a very competent driver and has been on several of those advanced driver courses (for work) so she can probably handle herself better when the car gets sideways, etc than I ever could. She's just never learned to drive a manual and I don't think she has any desire to learn.

Didn't get a good look at the wheels, noticed they were deep dish and wide (9.5-10s at least) but didn't see the spoke pattern. Can't be too many about in as good nick so likely it's the same one.

Saw an absolutely mint blue 840ci in Newmarket yesterday morning. License plate GT840. I think the driver clocked me ogling!! Didn't have time to take a pic but wondered if it belongs to someone on here.

Would love to do a manual conversion but my better half can only drive autos and, unfortunately, she has to borrow my pride and joy now and again!

I've reset the adaptions before... Didn't make a great deal of difference TBH.

Does look a bit HSV-ish - maybe it's all the blacked out grill, emblem, wheels and trim on a bright blue car. The giant spoiler doesn't help either. Still, bet it would be a lot of fun if you had $200K floating around.

Typical E46 driver

Neither require big gains, nor want to spend a lot of money! Long headers and diff ratio seem best bet and affordable (in the new year!).

Cool. PMd you.

This I think... http://www.bimmersport.co.nz/forums/index....showtopic=42519

No doubt it would be a heap of fun to drive but it's just so bloody ugly.

Should be easy enough to replace just the glass - - this is a standard mirror though it's probably much the same for a sport mirror.Lots of the forum sponsors can probably help with parts. Brent HARTGE535i Ray @ HellBM If you want a brand new one, Gavin at Euro-Italian is great. Cheap as chips on fleabay too (though can't vouch for the quality) - http://www.ebay.com/itm/MIRROR-GLASS-DRIVE...H-/350603951006

Hey Brent, you know I'm not overly technical! So a lower ratio will provide slightly higher acceleration at the expense of slightly worse fuel consumption, right?How easy/cheap is it to do?

Have sorted fuel consumption issues so now interested in any simple things I can do to improve power at the wheel in my E39 528i. Particularly low-end power - she's very comfortable and has more than enough grunt at mid RPM levels but a bit slow off the mark. Not looking to race anyone off the line so don't need major power gains (i.e. no supercharging, turbo or upgrading to 4.4 V8). Would decat and ECU remap make much difference? Anything else I can do that wouldn't cost an arm and a leg? And anything I can do myself without too much technical know how?

Yep. Sorry, should have put my previous comment in sarcastic italics!

Who can tell anymore?!

Tidy E60 M5 at the AKL international airport this afternoon. Can't say I think it's a good looking car but I'd love to have a blast in one! You can see mine behind it with a bit of green tape on the roof spoiler (choice!). Might as well take the opportunity of being away for a couple of days to let some adhesive really do its work!! hah

In other news, there's a tidy E38 parked opposite my house. Wheels look v. nice.

It's either not the only red one like that or it was parked by Grey Lynn park for a weeks a couple of months back. If it's the same one it looked very nice (genuine ACS or not). Shame to see it trashed.

Yeah, sorry. I shouldn't be mean - I've only met him once or twice but he just seemed a bit of a twerp.

He calls himself Scrapwall - http://www.isaaclikes.com/2010/06/1276-sna...-scrapwall.html - 'nuff said, really. I was at SPQR's 20th anniversary bash last week and he pulled up outside, parked illegally, wearing a balaclava. Hmmmn. Really want to tell him to sort out the tyres but that would require talking to him... And I just can't be @ssed.

I'm going to buck the trend and say I like it. I've always liked the 7 series because it's just a bit OTT. The new one looks very tidy. The grilles are too big - as is the rest of the car - but so it should be... It's for too big business men to drive round in feeling self important! It does look a bit sleepy, but it's meant to because it's just soooo comfortable! The back end is the major improvement though I wish they'd get rid of that crappy chrome strip. It looked crap on the last one and no better on this.