BreakMyWindow

It could easily soak up a few grand though on maintenance if you want it running perfectly. But i'm sure it's a really good example.

DaveO : have you considered this one? http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/...n-613489372.htm I saw a note on the auction saying that he has bought another car, so this needs to go. I could take a look at it for you as it's not too far away from me.

One thing to consider : Open-road driving means your more likely to have an example with paint defects.. stone chips etc

Here is a pic (which does not do justice to the amount of haze, and finger prints left in between the two sheets of glass) It's actually dangerous in direct sun-light. Even glass companys will swear black and blue that the oem quality glass and the oem glass are from the same factory.. Now that may well be true, but I'll bet there are more stringent QC checks before the glass is supplied to vehicle manufacturers like BMW, Mercedes etc.

After multiple arguments with my insurance company, the have decided to replace my windshield with a genuine BMW screen. Hooray!

Or just disconnect the battery. I had mine disconnected for 6 weeks last year when I was in Europe. She started first go when i returned.

I've had some bad experiences with after market windshields on my e39. The first one i had replaced for my 540i had a rippling effect when you looked to the sides of the windshield, then the rain sensor delaminated. I've just had the M5 windscreen replaced with an aftermarket windshield, and this one has some large hand prints in between the glass all over the windshield (yes i've tried cleaning both sides lol). I've asked my insurance company to pay for the difference of a genuine bmw screen this time around. I'm fed up with this 'oem' quality rubbish.

Yep, couple of things done recently : -New pre-cat o2 sensors -New MAF sensors -Full GT1 scan and adaptions reset. -New oil separator hoses, and oil separators cleaned out. I'm happy to report that there is no more 'shaky' hesitation on the odd occasion anymore since doing the above. I'm also happy that the VANOS tests reported no issues. Here's a few pics of the GT1 scan. Thanks to Ray@HELLBM for the assistance.

Gorgeous!

Loving the sarcastic question/comments on the auction :-) And i'm sure Chris Amon specified springs that lower the ride height that much. Because every road in nz is race track smooth.

Any reason for one with under 100k's on the clock? I've seen 1 in akl being a 2002 model in le mans blue. I think the owner is a member on here.

The bushes and trim you should be able to source o'seas for much cheaper than over here. I use bmfans.info to obtain the part numbers then paste them in to sites like : Ecstuning.com pelicanparts.com autohausaz.com schmeidmann.com You can setup a usa forwarding address to cut down on shipping costs.

Do a wheeler dealer on it, or restore it back to original then store it and sell it when the inflation bug hits the e36 M3 like it did for the E30 M3.

Since replacing the relay, the issue has returned back once, so i am pretty sure that it has triggered the knock sensor code.

Cut and polish complete. Paint work is not perfect, but is MUCH better than it was.

Wow thats a fair bit of work. Looking forward to hearing of the results once the Vanos is refreshed, I wish I had done mine when I got the rail guides done, but Besian had not finished their testing. Are you doing the timing chain guide rails also?

Mine is a bit different from that diagram. I have 3 minty green coloured relays, the fuel pump relay is the 1st one to the left of the row of 3. I hate just throwing money at problems I can't get to the root cause of, but i figure a spare relay can't hurt. have now replaced the relay and will see if the problem comes back.

Any ideas on where it's located? I don't seem to have a large Black relay behind the boot trim cover on the right side. This is where they are in the US spec cars according to m5board.

I'll be throwing a few 'guesses' at it soon. I have a new fuel filter, new MAF's and new pre-cat oxy sensors arriving. these were ordered for preventative maintenance. Gut feel tells me fuel related. When I had the car apart to do the valve cover gaskets, and thermostat I had the batt. disconnected for about 3weeks. When i re-connected the batt, and fired her up without the inlet mani installed, mafs etc it took 3 starts to get her running. I did this as i could check for water leaks easier with the inlet mani off after replacing the o-rings on the thermo. housing. I did go to see Glenn about 2 weeks after, and there were stored fault codes for : Fuel pump relay, knock sensor cyl 3&4, and ign. coils cyl 1&2. Since clearing those faults, and going back to Glenn for a scan, I got re-ocurring codes of : knock sensor cyl 3&4, fuel pump relay. Cleared the codes again, and now the only re-occuring one is Knock sensor cyl 3&4.

Nope, not misfiring. Well, no fault codes for it - the only code pulled up this morning was for knock sensor cylinders 3-4, however im not convinced the shuddering is caused by this fault, as if knock is detected, the power should be down, but smoothed out. The engine sounds like an old school rs turbo legacy with a 3' exhaust when it shudders/hesitates, which leads me to believe its something to do with exhaust timing, or a lack of fuel. this seems to occur more often after stop/start auckland m'way traffic, and then disappears when the flow of traffic is smoother. I really wish I could get the live data read whilst driving, but chances are the car will behave normaly when trying to reproduce the fault!

Have been trying to get to the bottom of an issue i've noticed since owning this thing. I think I may need to get it hooked up to Ray's GT1 tester.. Intermittently, the engine will start to hesitate and shudder when applying some throttle in the 1500rpm rev range. This is more pronounced in higher gears, i.e 4th 5th 6th. It will also feel flat if accelerating in any gear to the limiter. I'm not sure if the shuddering is related to this, but it will at times certainly feel down on power, and torque in the low-rpm rev range. Other times it won't. Have a set of brand-new mafs, fuel filter, and oxygen sensor arriving soon (as preventative maintenance) but im doubting it will be one of these items causing the issue. The re-occuring fault codes i've had so far are : Knock sensor fault cyl 3-4, and fuel pump relay.. maybe the early signs of a dying fuel pump, maybe a bad knock sensor, but i doubt the knock sensor would cause the shuddering and hesitation. All this is intermittent, and a pain to troubleshoot. #///Mcarproblems

I have the old 4:3 monitor with mk2 nav and tv. Main purpose i got navcoder was to turn off the stupid 'check brake light' warning. There was no fault, just the old school lcm not happy with the facelift cellis tail lights.

Purchased navcoder, and also ordered a USB to IBUS interface cable. No more annoying 'Check brake Light' message, and TV is now on in motion :-)

They actually run a lot cooler then that. The thermostat is set to open at 79deg C. I havn't seen the temp go passed 89deg. Summer may be a different story however. This is a board members car. It's a fantastic example, but it was a out of my price range. DIY on these cars can be a pig. Especially engine work. There is a large following in the USA though, so parts are not eye-watering expensive. (i.e Thermostat is $40USD vs $200+ NZD via BMWnz) And there is plenty of good diy info out there.

Got some time to address the rear end paint work this weekend. The rear bumper, and boot lid looked like they had been washed with 1000grit sandpaper. Im not sure if the previous owner was trying to do a rangi 'Frozen' paint work effect or what. Meguiars clay bar, Meguiars scracth x 2.0 a whole lot of elbow grease, and some Mothers caranuba wax to finish off. I still have 4 doors and the front section to complete. This is before, a trademe as pic : After :