BreakMyWindow

There are official instructions out there on the web to do this job.

might be a bit of trial and error that i'm not willing to do on the rear deck, so I'll probably buy a small piece of alacantara and try some light mist coats, as well as dying to see what is best.

Good way to kill some time, and save a few brain cells.

That will destory the Alcantara fabric ?

Wonder if I can buy that wheel, need a spare.

Finally got around to fixng a problem with exhaust fume coming in to the cabin when doing some full-throttle driving. Here are a few reference pics, and notes if you intend on tackling this yourself. The trunk vents are about $12USD each. On all e39 sedans there are 2 trunk vents, they are one-way and are designed to let air flow out from the cabin when the fans are on. When they get old the rubber flaps loose their seal and cause an undesirable smell from the exhaust to enter. The new vents before some labour takes place : The vents are held in by 6 plastic clips, and are near on impossible to remove from inside the trunk, or from underneath in behind the bumper. To install the passenger side vent, the Audio and NAV system needs to all come out as the supporting brackets are in the way. Off comes some trunk trim, the Audio and NAV system, and then finally the rear bumper. There are 3 press-in-type plastic fasteners holding the rear bumper to the rear wheel liner, they are a pain to remove unless you remove the rear wheels. 3 nuts on each chassis leg inside the trunk come off, unplug the PDC sensor, some careful pulling on the bumper and she's off The old vents are removed by pressing in the bottom 3 clips from in between where the bumper sits and the lower rear quarter panel. E39's are getting on so these vents where well stuck even with the lower clips pressed in. A rubber mallet and some hitting did the trick. The old vent about to get the bash : Pic of the old vent removed, and Audio and Nav gear brackets removed, and the wirey mess left behind. Installation of the rear bumper can be tedious with one person, but can be done. The 3 nuts attaching the bumper support to the car can be loosened to adjust how much gap you have between the bumper, and the lower tail panel. Recommend putting some masking tape around the rear quarter panel edges to protect the paint work.

Did it harden the fabric on the shelf? I used some ages ago on my old 540i and it hardened the fabric.

They're no good. Don't have the charcol grey colour I'm after

Anyone know where I could get some cans of fabric spray paint in NZ? I'm wanting to give the sun faded alcantara parcel tray in my car some light mist coats to bring the colour back. thanks!

I think there was some interesting discussion on here about shred. Involving a court case they lost...

A w124 AMG hammer would be my pick. Or a 500e

Weekend turned out well for maintenance items : 1.) Replace both rear control arms 2.) Replace timing chain tensioner In typical fashion, the first control arm took me 2 hours as I was mucking about with tools and getting my vice grips to grip on the ball joint thread end. I had also installed the new control arm with the cable routed underneath it, so I couldn't secure it to the control arm. The second one was done in 45 mins. Below are a few pics and notes for reference that should help if some one else plans on DIY'ing the control arms in their e39 sedan. Remove wheel, and use as additional support in case the car falls on your head.. Unsecure the cables first from the control arm and be careful not to damage them when removing the nuts. 18mm for the connection to the sub-frame. 21mm for the connection to the hub carrier. tightening torque 110 and 142Nm respectively. Nuts must be torqued in the normal position, which can be achieved by jacking up on the hub carrier to the position when fully loaded with a full tank of gas. In my case it was approx 34.5cm from centre of wheel to wheel arch. Get a damned good grip on the thread end of the ball joint side of the control arm. You can use a 10mm spanner, but that nut is pretty tight and you will probably end up rounding the thread end like I did on first attempt. The drivers side control arm removal is a lot easier in this regard as to counter-act against removing the nut, you can place the vice grips up against the shock absorber making removing the nut a breeze. Bolt for connection to sub frame goes in towards the rear of the car. The ball joint on the passenger side control arm was f**ked, no resistance at all, nothing left of the rubber boot either. This was an original item as it was date coded 99' Drivers side, not too far behind from f**kedville, still had some resistance, but still very loose compared to the new items. Rubber boot a gonner as well. I did a visual on the other control arms known as guide links, and they appeared fine, the rubber boots were in good order, probably some looseness in the ball joints as they are original, but I'll leave them for now. The rear sway bar brackets felt a bit loose, so I'll be doing those along with the sway bar bushes soon. As for the timing chain tensioner, it took 20mins to replace. After 170kms the original one was still good, and came out in one piece. Oh well, preventative maintenance ftw.

Coolant temp. Test no.7 in the 'secret' obd in the dash shows it in real time.

Dual mass fly wheels are not only BMW specific, many late model manual cars use them. It's not so much to protect the gearbox, but to avoid complaints about harshness and noise that a single mass flywheel produces - Not suited to the character of luxury barges as per turbolizzard's comments. There are some high mileage M5's around the globe with their original clutches. Mines done 171k's now, and still doesn't slip in 6th at 1500rpm full load up a hill. I've found a tech document that suggests that the Sachs dual-mass flywheels should be replaced after the second clutch change. Unless of course the flywheel doesn't pass inspection during the 1st clutch change. http://understeer.com/pdf/dualmass.pdf

Seems far too cheap!

re the Blue 328i on TM for 12k : 'This car has been fastidiously cared for and maintained.' ...with cheap Chinese tyres... Back in 2007 when I was looking for my first bimmer I was offered a very tidy (with Michelin tyres lol lol) black 328i M-sport in manual, nz new FSH for 12k This guy is dreaming at that price.

Possibly, feeling a bit sluggish after driving in stop/start traffic, or when the radiator fan turns on? The M62tu runs a lot hotter in terms of KTMP. My old 540i used to in summer range between 100 - 106 deg. C Where as the M5 sits between 78 and 90 deg C. Not sure about the M62tu, but the s62 dme does use KTMP as an input for when controlling ignition timing and fueling.

behind the bumper, under the headlight at the beginning of the inlet tract. This should give a more accurate reading of sucked air temp. There is I reckon about 30 - 50hp difference in power when the sensor is heat soaked. very noticeable when putting the hammer down...

More progress for this coming weekend : - New timing chain tensioner (preventative maintenance, and should quieten the idle down a bit) - New rear upper control arms. LH side ball joint is shot. Causes a rear shimmy at around 100+ km/h and a bit of nervousness in my experience. - Relocating the Inlet air temp sensor. As the sensor is built in to the MAF, during summer, the sensor does get terribly heat soacked. This means excessive ignition retard, and more fuel resulting in 540i performance :-P More on this coming soon...

Up north collecting pohutakawa needles.

Several oinkey oinks on the way up to Tutukaka this weekend. Of course all strategically parked by the passing lane straights.

Restoration is coming along nicely. Bumper and all the bits around it are back on. Got a few suspension bits to sort so the cosmetic resto. side will be taking a break. Some pics I took after a wash and a wax earlier this week.

Very nice addition there Jooles. Sucks about the smaller mirror size though. Can you still auto-dip the left mirror when reversing?

Beautiful Gsd! I am looking to get a male pup next September. So hard to find males up here in akl...can u recommend a good breeder in the north island?

Interesting history!!