Ahmedsinc

Never mind the racism, here comes the uninformed opinion of an obscure friend of a mates I met once at a party for three minutes and he told me about this guy who got off a charge of farting in public by giving the law the middle finger. Any photos of the E28 dude? There's an E28 525ee that belongs to a guy at work I'm trying to convince him to selling it to me. Rough as old guts but what a car! UV faded red paint, dings and dents all over the place, but one owner from new, manual & rust-free. Just begging for a rusty bonnet, a set of RS's and a dose of boost!

Thanks Ash, much better SN1TZR, any dirt on the Lotus project? Closest I've ever gotten to one was watching a Caterham Seven at a gymkhana a while back, Christ it was rapid! Agile too! Keen to learn more if you've got any info to share

I'd be dubious about using plastic. Tried approaching a local engineering shop to get some made out of stainless? Cost would probably be higher than ones made of nylon or whatever but at least they'd last, wouldn't deform either. Just my 2c

A quick bit of number crunching tells me the Type-R offers 7.18kg/kW (1179kg - 164kW), the E46 M3 6.05kg/kW (1549kg - 256kW). Yes the M3 will probably embarrass the Honda in real world scenarios, but given the same year and similar mileage the Honda comes in at nearly 15k cheaper. Same price bracket puts you in E36 territory, with 6.95kg/kW ( 1460kg - 210kW) Given the same budget I'd rather own the E36, have done the FWD Jap pocket rocket thing in the past but I now prefer RWD. No reason to go prattling crap about other peoples choices. Sigh.

Love or loathe the Volvo, it does seem interesting that the bulk of the forum content of late seems to be centered around bashing other peoples preferences. Maybe I'm being a bit sensitive, but, from my observation, it seems we've gone away from being a place to ask advice on maintenance, float ideas for potential projects and sharing progress reports on projects to being a thinly veiled troll-fest interspersed with the odd photo gallery of pics from the latest meet. I'm not suggesting for a second that peoples opinions be censored, nor that my opinion is worth more than anyone elses ( It's not. I'll happily admit I know f**k all about anything!!) just observing the shift from how the forum used to be when I first joined 5ish years ago to how it is now. Or am I just getting too old for the internets??

Ring Ray, pretty sure I saw one in his yard a couple weeks back

Hmmmmm! Food for thought though! Always wondered if one of those old donks could be shoehorned into an E36................

How many k's had they done? I hate to think what state mine are in after 175000km & 20 years

Pretty sure Gregs thread outlined why the SC14 was a poor match for the S50. Iirc the charger just didn't flow sufficient air for the engine, the project was binned pretty quickly. Might work ok on a B20 but I'd suspect the eaton charger from the 3.8 commy would be better matched to the bigger M5x. Or just turbo a B28 or B30.

Best prepare your wallet for a shock, have seen these sell for 2k+ with rubber

Drugs are bad, mmkay

If you haven't already, now would be the prime time to overhaul the cooling system. The failure of the plastic components is a well documented phenomenon, I suspect it'd be catastrophically expensive if you overheat and crack the S50 head, good luck finding a spare in NZ! Might set you back a few bucks but better to have peace of mind than an engine in pieces

Pulled the tails out, couldn't see any sign of leaking there but replenished the seals with outdoor rated HVAC foam sealing tape while I was there. Haven't had any major rain here in a few days, will get the hose out this weekend to test if my theory is correct. Still have a hunch water could be getting in around the towbar bolts, noticed the pitstop installer didn't even use a grommet when they drilled a hole through the spare well for the trailer plug cable. Dorks! Yet another job to add to the list!

Looks remarkably like my sons Hot Wheels cars Each to their own, I guess. A rotary repower probably isn't too much to swallow, it was designed by a German after all. That sound, though

Plug 17 disintegrated in my hand when I attempted to remove for inspection There is a second rubber cap the same as 15, replaced all three just to be on the safe side. So the leaves the fuel regulator hose and the CCV along with the third hose that ties back into the manifold. Sigh. Hopefully fourth time's the charm!

Is this the diagram you referred to?

Not yet, have been having trouble finding the correct diagram on OEM. Will do some more digging around today, fun fun fun!

Still throwing 227 & 228. Is the smoke test likely to be useful on an M54? Scanned in DIS and confirmed lean mixture though P0171 & P0174. So far I've replaced both intake boots, oil return line from CCV to dipstick & valve cover breather to CCV line, plus the wee hose that goes from the "F" splitter on the intake boot to god knows where. While all the hoses were from my spare engine they were thoroughly examined for any sign of cracking or perishing. Used some RTV silicone after inspecting the DISA valve o-ring for signs of cracking. As Glenn mentioned, there's a chance it could be injector seals, manifold gasket and / or the manifold. I've read there's a vacuum blank plate used on engines that didn't get the cold climate secondary air pump. Any clues on where this is? Starting to get frustrated!

Two are in the carpark at work quite often. One is a full resto with two tone army green over cream ( looks better than it sounds) and the other is mono with an EJ20 WRX repower

As qube says, unless the fix cost is uneconomic get it repaired. My personal opinion is max 8k, assuming preventative maintenance has been done. If it's in rough condition cosmetically I'd not go any higher than 6.5k for an I6, 7k for a V8 My basis is the cars and engines are getting older, if the head gasket for example were to fail, cracking the head the rebuild cost would be almost the cars value. Again, I am cheap, so others opinions will differ. All depends what you get offered for it vs. what you believe its worth

If you're wanting to go a little lower than stock but not sacrifice ride quality look at H&R or Eibach springs. Nice drop but not compromising comfort. Looks like there's a few toys in there already - short shift kit & ZHP knob by the looks. Which BBS wheels are they? De-cat the exhaust, find a nice Remus backbox and some M3 headers and you'll be sorted Nice car!

Bought an 01 non M 530i wagon with 144ks for a hair over 8k. Kinda feel the sedans (unless low km minters) are a bit overpriced given they're starting to get a bit older. Then again I am a cheap bastard. Advertise it at 10k, chances are the market will meet you at a fair point inbetween GLWS!

Reckon the three Kombis it's perched on would be worth more, even in that rusted out state! Such a bloody waste!!!!!

Can't vouch for others, but TJs experience with his engine would be enough to put me off an E9x M3. Obviously not every engine will go bang, but the thought of an 18k rebuild would always be in the back of my mind! All hypothetical as it'll be a cold day in Hades before the Mrs lets me spend 50k on a coupe!!

How odd. Like the post and you can see the images. What black magic have you been casting, graham??