gjm

I was doing some research on oil pumps. An interesting topic, for many reasons, and it crosses over into dry sumps, scavenging, aeration, emulsifying, reservoirs, multi-staging, and so much more. One of discussion points was about when to use a better-than-stock oil pump, and the consensus was that the huge majority of stock, or mild performance engines, were fine with a stock oil pump under normal conditions. It went on to qualify 'mild performance' as "up to 550hp". I suspect that as this was a US-based site I was reading at the time, that the writer was talking about 305ci (5.0 litre) V8 engines. (Or larger.) By extension, this suggests that anything producing less than 100hp per litre is little more than a 'mild' performance engine, and there's perhaps some truth in that - high performance NA engines typically do have higher specific power outputs. That said, it is only relatively recently that a NA engine producing over 100hp per litre has been sold in a production car. (I think BMW may have been the first to do this? In mass production, anyway.) What thoughts do folks have? When does an engine become a performance engine? Is the absolute power produced (or torque) make any engine a performance one, or is it the case that specific power output - hp per litre - is the yardstick? Does forced induction move the line?

Just flicking through Facebook while having a coffee and saw a couple of For Sales come up. One was for a 2000/1 E46 325Ci with a manual 'box. Business Edition, leather seats, multi-CD changer and added BMW Bluetooth and USB functions, and all the rest. One was for a 2001 320i saloon with a Tiptronic box, cloth interior and M3 badges. The difference? One was £750, one was $6500. Guess which was which?

I've gone overkill. Or plan to, at least. E46 M3 front brakes and E46 325i rear. In an E30.

OK... May have found a cheaper way to do a 5-stud conversion. Of course, there have been lots of those! E36 front hubs, Z4 rear hubs. Retain other E30 parts. Bit more to it than that of course, but that's the gist. Keeps stock geometry, too.

Would have done this already but having ridiculous problems at work. Apologies. It's a July 1985 318i coupe.

I'm sure they could, and it's probably not worth buying just the gears from them. Get some polybushes or something else useful, and add the gears to the order. The VDO gearkit is USD17, the Motometer one is $30. Worldwide shipping is USD 13.95.

There's a small market for these. I've wondered about stocking some things like this. The odd bits that the other guys tend not to keep. On a related note - how do I test a cluster when it's out of the car?

I have mechanisms from a coupe, but I'll need to do some research to check they'd suite a Touring. (I think they do...)

Same here. This was certainly true in the UK back in the 80s (at least). Standard spec was virtually nothing. Radio? *Just* a radio - no cassette player - was an option. Don't tick it, and don't get any in-car sounds. Cheap cloth seats were standard as were steel wheels. The 'standard' car was more reminiscent of something from the eastern side of the Berlin wall. Just better built.

Not the BMW, but two days ago fitted the new plugs, leads, dizzy cap and rotor arm to the 500SE. This seems to have fixed the misfire issue - the dizzy cap appears to have been the culprit as no matter what I did (new plugs, leads) no.6 was showing corrosion on the spark plug pin where it contacts the lead. Then yesterday I finally fitted the new exhaust rubber hangar. Looks like someone has had problems with the exhaust in the past as it appears to have been welded, and is now nearly a half-inch longer than it used to be. Which means the exhaust rubbers no longer line up correctly, are under additional strain (have you felt the weight of a Mercedes V8 exhaust? ) and are likely to break more often than is at all necessary. I am so looking forward to dropping the exhaust system to fix someone else's mess.

And today it has arrived. One week from order to delivery - very good service.

This. Definitely. Not replacing both is at best a false economy; in the worst case it could be dangerous.

Which next week?

Typically, this (too). Bear in mind also the benefits of shopping locally for the support you get, and the ability to pick up the phone and speak to someone without having to calculate which of many time zones you're calling.

@qube - Kyu, you must have something to help here?

Agreed.

Just placed an order with FCP for an ignition kit for the 500SE - Bosch dizzy cap, rotor arm, and plugs, and some other leads. US$268 including shipping. Should sneak through under the $60 of charges threshold.

Entirely agreed. The two weeks is a ridiculous amount of time, especially when the seller/sender has used an 'express' method to ship. Having found a helpful contact in Customs (he stayed late to sort paperwork for me), I'll liaise with him to see if there is a way to expedite this sort of thing and avoid future delays. I'm keen not to hassle him or waste his time though. Hopefully NZ UPS is better than UK UPS! They made NZPost look like a shining beacon of efficiency! An advantage of using Pelican Parts is that they offer aftermarket and tuning parts as well as OEM quality parts. (I've not checked FCP or Schmiedmann to see if the same is true there.) PP are useful for me as I can order Merc and BMW parts in one shipment.

How did you get the GST payment sorted so quickly? It took NZPost 4 days to send me a letter saying that something had arrived and fees were due, but they forgot to calculate how much so I couldn't pay online. I spent 30 minutes on the phone to NZ Customs in Tauranga (who were very helpful) and then it took NZPost another 3 days to get the parcel out for delivery.

Have a chat with Chris at Suspension Tech - 09 273 1232 / 027 214 5325

I can imagine. I'd like to think I'd not do that under any circumstances, but it's quite possible my avoiding 'pushing' is also due to my brother being a HGV driver in the UK, and knowing people like you. It means I better appreciate what you do, and the problems you experience.

Pelican Parts can sometimes be cheaper. Check with local supplier - forum sponsors, MillAnd, etc - too.

Very keen. I'll drop you a line.

We were so very, very nearly involved in what could have been a horrendous high speed accident, one where speed would have been the primary cause (leaving aside monumental driver stupidity). A silver 2012 Audi A6 3.0TDi Quattro saloon, rego GGP*** (I have the numbers) forced it's way passed us on the southbound SH1 as the dual carriageway narrows to one lane just north of Te Kauwhata. We'd been in the left lane, travelling at a solid 100km/h, and had passed the last of the lane dividing dotted lines when the Audi, which I had seen to be several hundred metres back only a few seconds before, came barreling past us at very high speed. To make up the ground that he did, more than likely a long way into license losing territory. Having passed us he had to brake VERY hard to avoid running into the back of the car which had been in front of us. I was forced to swerve hard left to avoid contact. My wife screamed, and our daughter looked terrified. Fortunately there is just a hatched area of road surface to the left - anything solid and we would have hit it. (Or maybe I wouldn't have taken evasive action.) I sounded the horn and the Audi driver lifted his left hand from the steering wheel to perform the likely action of a teenage boy with his first gentleman's magazine. Had I not made that one final check before completing the merge into one lane, the Audi would have been squashed between us and the centre rope divider. No accident. I was quite shaken (and I've seen some seriously crap driving!) and my daughter was close to tears. I'm still furious that someone could have so little regard for the safety of others - if he wants to kill himself, that's his problem. The police will not prosecute based on a *555, but will - I think - write to the registered keeper of the vehicle. Is it worth it?

Regulators and glass are out - I have a pair of coupe door shells to play with. Useful t know I need to look into new glass as well as the winding gear.