KwS

yup, shes fair f**ked

good lord they are good looking cars. Saw your one when it was listed, seemed like a bloody good deal. Very jealous!

If we could get all the old early 90s diesels off our roads it would be a small help, those things are terrible and even though they smoke like buggery they are still on the road. Its certainly not the bulk of the issue, as already mentioned, but its one thing that bugs the sh*t out of me. Old Hiluxes or Hiaces, light commercial trucks etc.

You local Mercedes dealer will have it on the shelf. A001 989 52 03 10

In which case its probably in good condition still. wouldnt expect issues from a new unit for many years. Some good reinforcement kits here, http://www.turnermotorsport.com/BMW-E36/c-87-bmw-reinforcement-kits.aspx

The tensioner is always a good idea on the 3.0, so would definitely install that. You already have the Z3 rack so might as well chuck that in too. I would also reinforce the boot floor and front cross member mounting points as they are prone to failure, and while under there i would do all the susp bushes and ball joints as normal maintenance. Vanos is a hard one, its a decent size job and would be very labor intensive if you didnt do it yourself. If you cant notice any signs or rattling, you could still be down on power.... or it could be in good shape. Was it your one that was advertised as having a new vanos unit by the previous owner?

until it has the inevitable terminal failure

Should get a plate frame, so much easier to mount euro plates with them.

Anything with a dual mass flywheel is going to be expensive to replace.

i must be sick in the head, i love seeing photos of vanos rebuilds. Vanos units are such cool pieces of engineering. Excellent work.

s2000s are amazing little cars. Very reliable and a great engine and box. Only real issue with s2000 is that they hold their value so you have to be damn quick to pick one up for cheap. I wouldnt touch a merc either, but im very biased (which is funny considering my current employment).

Asking way too much from them there Glenn...

This is disappointing to hear. A great opportunity for someone. The state of youngsters these days is terrible.

try opening the sun visors and vanity lights and see if it changes anything.

Congrats on his new car, good choice.... but i cant help but think the whole show sounds ridiculous and over the top wanky. Mind you, im the kind of buyer that would rather tell a salesman to get lost and deal with no one.

This topic was already being actively beaten to death in another part of the forum... didnt really need to dredge this up.

The E36 in the OP. Non-Msport, stupid wheels, stupid suspension, horrible stretched tyres. Its a fail in my books, even with the stupidly over inflated price. Buy Brents.

IMO just use a good quality synthetic oil with a decent, short change interval.

750 would look good in silver with the clear indicators from the 728

Can you rock the cam back and forth whilst pulling forward on the piston? I used that technique when i did the vanos on my M3 as the varnish buildup (and the fact the solenoids were sticking) meant my vanos was getting stuck.

My 323i had issues with revs hanging between gear changes. Apparently common with manual conversions using auto ecu. i just learnt to drive around it. Otherwise it ran fine on the auto ecu, with the tcu removed. Looks much better in manual, and i know the feeling of that first drive. So good. Well done.

So this is scary. just tried to insure my new Suzuki Swift Sport, all was going well until it came time to list the modifications. So, to be clear the mods lists are adjustable suspension, exhaust, pod filter and wheels. Nothing too serious. That all went well, other than the stupid woman not knowing what a modified intake was, but then suddenly im slapped with a $2000 excess because my car is "excessively modified". When questioned they claim its system imposed and nothing they can do about it. When i questioned why out of all my cars insured with them i have never had a special excess, she didnt want to hear about it. I pushed further and demanded to speak to her supervisor because she was just arguing with me. She refused, telling me that he would say the same thing. After much argument i finally get put through to a supervisor, who indeed does proceed to tell me the same thing (obviously in the 5 minutes on hold she brought him up to date), but when i questioned him about why i have never had this excess before, he decided to do some further digging. As it turns out, the reason i didnt have a special excess on my previous cars? because they never noted all the modifications at all. My golf, which had a modified exhaust, adjustable suspension, carbon front and rear, and tints was listed as just an exhaust and lowering. My turbo integra type r, which i advised of each and every part was listed as alloy wheels and exhaust (not even turbo). Basically, if i had stacked any of them, or had them stolen they would have had grounds to void my claim on the basis i never declared the modifications. Essentially what it came down to, is apparently 4 modifications is enough to increase the performance of a suzuki swift to the point where it is racekar and high risk and all my previous cars have not had their modifications correctly declared. My partner is now arranging to speak with a broker and i will be taking ALL my insurance (both cars and contents) away from STATE INSURANCE and having them correctly insured elsewhere as i cannot trust State to have competently insured me. This is just a warning to make damn sure you're insured correctly.

also seems to be fairly low spec with only basic options. The fact its diesel is about the only thing going for it IMO.

the ABS/DSC units are also fairly common to fail on the E39 and E38, so wouldnt put it past it to be that too. I never did get an answer to my low offer, i suspect its a no.

Apparently a failing battery can also cause issues too.