jeffbebe

More exotic?! Your garage is the envy of us all!! Aren't we all?

Anyone got any wrecked E39 xenon angel eye headlights with the reflectors still intact? If so, please PM me!

The OE reflectors are vacuum metlised... Seems to be a company in Christchurch that does but am guessing it will be expensive for a small custom job. Was hoping there might be a paint alternative but I don't think the Alcad stuff is up to the temp test.

I like it! So the wrap worked out well then. Good to see your boy-racing around Auckland CBD haha

Plastic.

Fixed the headlight adjusters on the passenger side light today for my car's warrant on Friday and noticed that the PO has obviously attempted the repair (badly) previously and made a mess of one of the chrome reflectors. It's not that noticeable but my OCDness wants it gone. Don't think you can buy the reflectors separately (for FL xenon angel eyes headlights) so wondering how easy/possible it is re-chrome/re-paint them and if anyone's done it. Thanks in advance.

Good man, thanks.

Yep, factory fitted Celis don't require the voltage regulators as the LCM is programmed to do that internally. Hopefully, Josh can recode my LCM to manage the voltage as well as deleting any faults so I don't require additional capacitors.

Well, you do go and buy fancy newer cars instead of mopping up the oldies like most of us, Tom!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-OEM-64226958748-Instrument-Panel-Vent-Grille-/321185557095?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item4ac826aa67&vxp=mtr

A friend of mine spotted this. It sounds tasty:

Like you, I'm keen to learn to do as much to the car as possible but when it relates to an absolutely critical part of the car (and one that is horribly expensive to replace if you f*ck it up) I prefer to pay the pros and get it done right. Auto trans service is not the expensive - the fluid is the most expensive bit and you'll pay for that regardless - and you'll know that it's been flushed and serviced properly. Mine was 100 times better after a pro service when I bought the car last year.

Actually, got a feeling Ray might be able to get OE fluid at a reasonable price. Worth checking with him first.

Ray will almost certainly be able to help with a direct replacement engine if yours can't be fixed but if you want decent power than it would be cheaper to sell and buy a 540i - there have been some okay ones for sub $7K on TM recently. Quite a few sc options for the M52. Dinan do one but it's expensive, VF engineering, ESS and Vortech all make M52 superchargers. Think the VF one is around NZ$5K brand new.

^ +1. Auto trans servicing is best left to the pros IMO, unless you have experience of doing it. EDIT: Use OE fluid. Here's the fluid chart, though from memory you can only get it from dealers or BMWorkshop. Think Esso fluid has been superceded by ZF Lifegaurd. It's pretty expensive but if you search the part# on eBay or similar you might be able to get some shipped cheap(ish).

You can get just about anything to fit... eventually... But an N54 into an E39 will present a lot of complications. I imagine you'd need to completely overhaul the electronics (i.e. basically swap the complete electronics from a 335i into the E39) as very little will be compatible. I think there will be far more cost effective solutions to getting the power you want than an engine swap from a much newer more complicated car. I could be wrong as this is not my area of expertise but it sounds like a strange thing to consider doing to an E39 528i. If you can afford the N54 engine you could easily afford a 540i or a bolt on supercharger or both.

Thanks Allan. Do your tail lights require separate voltage regulators (usually installed in the spare wheel well)? Not sure which LCM I have but presumably not 3B if yours has 3A and is newer than mine. Don't want to switch LCM because of issues with tamper dot, etc so if LCM can't be coded to regulate voltage will probably code out the check tail light error and splice capacitors if the LEDs flicker. Josh (hybrid) is pretty handy with re-coding, etc and is local but thanks for the offer! Much appreciated.

Had planned to install the supercharger on the last weekend in March. Unfortunately, Hi Velocity's dyno will be out of action as it's being moved, so I've had to put the project on hold until they're open for business again. Looks like it'll be in for winter. EDIT: Got some other bits and pieces to do in the meantime: Headlight adjusters before Warrant in 2 weeks Upgrade tail lights to facelift LED tails - I'm aware I'm cutting to have to do a bit of drilling in the bodywork to fit them but have read that some of the later LCMs can be recoded to operate as voltage regulators to avoid the need of splicing in capacitors. If anyone's got any experience of this it would be a massive help. Picked up a very sexy E46 steering wheel from Ray, going to refurb the leather.

I expect the rust has mostly been earned in Invercargill and I imagine the performance with no engine is probably pretty woeful.

Diffuser looks great! Reckon you should carbon wrap the front lip to match the diffuser now!

Ha! Not yet... And I'd need to sell the sc to have any hope of scraping together some extra cash! hahah

How about swapping for an E39 540i + some cash? I know of a mint tuned 540i, all remedial work done - will happily go for another 200-300K+ kms

That's what BMW said when it was new. 8.9L/100 highway, 18.2 city and 12.3 mixed. I'd be lucky to get 15L with mostly city driving in Auckland. If I do half highway, half city I get around 13-14L/100. I'd expect it to be a little less efficient after 14 years. I think a lot of the people who claim very low fuel consumptions with big engines probably don't check how accurate their dash readings are. Doesn't bother me, but saying 12L/100 with town driving sets an unreasonable expectation IMO.

If only I'd known you were going to sell... Sadly I have committed to a supercharger and other goodies. GLWS, this is an awesome car and will make someone very very happy!

E39 autos have a trans cooler... It's just not that great. I'm planning on fitting an aux cooler behind the bumper and ditching the fogs. Can hopefully do it all for under $300.