Jacko

Car threw a CEL the other day for cat efficiency, which happens when the secondary O2 sensors (post cat) throw spaz numbers. Ive seen it before when I was stuck in the wops without a supply of 98, had to run 95 ,which near instantly threw the CEL. Plugged bimmergeeks protools into it last week and coded out the cat check... and it appears to have worked... which now obviously means I need to remove the cats! ... be rude not to replace them with some equal length headers. FWIW, Ive had Carista/Carly etc in the past, and Protools is yearrrrs better than both of them. Pricing structure is a one off, and its way more powerful, very recommended.

Probably some N54 owner angry at their intake valve mess.

Yeah, think its the same one, or nearly identical. It was listed on tardme for like 14k, dripping in dealer slime silicon, then disappeared and came back on tardme for like 8k by same dealer... Seems... fishy.

Separately (grab new boots too)

Roughly same size as my shed, which is a totalspan. I want a hoist but hard to justify the cost.. technically my shed is my business location and fixing cars is not my business I carpeted my shed using garage carpet, its pretty hard wearing, have had it in for over a year now and its certainly nicer to work on compared to bare concrete... just try not to spill oil over it (is cleanable though) Cost roughly $1800 for carpet install, worth it. I lined the shed using ply, think its 12mm from memory. Made up some framing between the steel and screwed the whole lot together... no insulation or ceiling but much better place to spend all day/night in. Because its all screwed together, adding insulation in the future will be simple. Made a whole swag of benches up using pine laminate and screwing legs too them, worked out WAY cheaper than pre made benches and added benefit of being whatever size you want. Few pics from when I did it, and how it currently looks. If I ever feel rich again Ill sort a ceiling out and insulate it, but for the roughly 5k it costs to turn it from a steel box into a work area its pretty good value.

Beautiful, essential, E9 on SH1 just out of Hampton downs this arvo

Hit 100kmh today, which feels like an achievement after 5 weeks Really loving the storm motorworks V4 gearknob, with all the new/teflon bushes etc in mine the shift has always been really tight, but the big lump of stainless has done wonders for the weight behind the throw

I dont know anyone in Pukekohe either, but give a shout out to http://greghantzautos.nz/ as he did a really slick job on the 130 years ago.

12 hours making the 330 shinier, and smell less like the dog.

Carbon black is pretty trick

E30 N52 would be a beautiful thing.

Found this, pretty epic.

New M8 art car, spotted in my lounge. Unfortunately its owner didnt option the carbon brakes as they were a girls colour. and blue is a boys colour.

Its sits in it with the two little lumps, shouldnt catch though. Maybe its not properly lined up on the back of block, has a couple of dowels?

Should finish this up, all back together and good to go. One thing I noticed on this and the 130 is that is engine feels significantly smoother with new engine mounts, and neither case the engine mounts looked toasted. Im guessing its the lower diaphragm in the fluid filled section that dies (and Im guessing at around 100,000km?)

Lies. N52's never break.

The factory Msport knob is a leather job with M on it, your cars build sheet is my ones clone (other than the cruise control which is rare) https://www.mdecoder.com/decode/ps88744 The heavy weight knobs do seem much better, I didnt expect much from the storm motorworks one I just stuck in mine (other than not falling apart like the factory one) but its really improved the gear change feel.

For the money and image of the car they all should have had that more substantial front bumper as standard. BMW - You want bigger kidney grills? done.

Decided to drop the LH suspension arms to give myself another few inches of room, Sump cleaned up, new oil level sensor seal, and a bit of sealant on the gasket this time and Bob should be uncle. Discovered a good trick to getting the RH engine mount done up, as access to the top bolt is blocked by the steering shaft. Leaving the two steering rack bolts out, If ya line up the bottom engine mount bolts and put in loosely so key lines up, then shove the rack over a few inches can get the top bolt in, then shove the rack back to the right and presto. LH mount can be got with a spanner, so not so bad. Its amazing how many stone the subframe collects, good weight reduction!

Engine supported, engine mounts unbolted from the bottom side, subframe bolts out, tranny cooler loosened off, steering rack unbolted, CCV drain disconnected then undo all the sump bolts... 10 minutes of swearing and jiggling and the sumps out, the auto sump is much more of a chinese finger puzzle than the manual. The tranny cooler lines and extra bulk compared to the manual sump make it much more challenging.

Might as well document this little project... same as all N52 sump gaskets, they eventually fail (normally in the rear left corner). Parts are cheap but its a lot of work to get access to em. Will do the same as what I did on my 130i, drop the subframe down without removing it and work around it... its a bit of a mare but totally removing the subframe really requires a hoist! My 330i is an auto, so has the bulkier alloy sump rather than the 130i's pressed steel manual version sump, hopefully it doesnt make it more of a prick to remove. Obligatory engine mount replacement at the same time. Step 1 - degrease the sh*t out of it all and give it a clean up

Altered Carbon is a good watch, so is the Jack Ryan TV series. Hand maids tale isnt terrible if the missus wants to share the tv

Modern corollas are pretty reasonable to drive, I get lots of rentals due to work, the newest gen with the 9 speed CVT are actually very impressive. Stick a BMW badge on the boot of a Mazda3, maybe an //M badge if you want some more street cred, and feed it 91 all day Im sticking to If you want a BMW, buy a real BMW, or whats the point other than having a badge on the boot. Im sure 116's are perfectly reasonable small cars, but unless you absolutely must have that BMW badge, the math makes no sense.

130s get better with age