gjm

Wheel rims... Looking to get some refurbished. I'm not in the least interested in some bling chrome, and would much rather have something understated. I've read the powder coat vs paint thread.. Good start. But not quite the finish I'm after. Has anyone had alloy rims anodised? Pros, cons? I appreciate you can touch up a painted or coated rim, but an anodised one will be different. And anodising won't hide imperfections in the way that powder coating could.

My first car was very similar to this: I was 12.

And it's an E30! Apologies - it's not on TradeMe and is for sale in Germany, but this will stir something for some of us. Here I suspect the price is just a number - call if you're interested. That sort of thing. The seller also has a B10 bi-turbo, and a B10 4.6 Touring for sale.

Meanwhile and back on topic, what is the going rate for an E34 M5? (If you want to feel sick, an E28 M5 recently sold on US eBay for US$5000.)

Hmm. I wonder what this will eventually sell for?

Seconded. Nothing wrong with folk up this way either, of course, but Paul does deal with other European manufacturers too.

It's an extremely unpleasant thing to do. OK, circumstances change. But if that's the case, just offer them back on here at the price paid. Share the love. As it is, I have no idea who is involved. Not sure I want to know them, either.

The E34 is a Jap import, so quite possible.

Still cheap for what it is.

JML Motorsport is (was?) a Swedish company run by Mikael Lund that did a number of conversions, all (reportedly) to a very high standard. They put the ex-850 V12 into a number of BMWs, including E34 saloons and wagons. (But we've seen that here, too. :-) ) They also did 5.6 and 6.0 conversions for the S70 in the 850i. Not a huge company or huge production, but there are several 356CS conversions (the V12 M3) around, and I saw an E34 V12 wagon for sale in Germany, 2 or 3 years before we moved here - it was in the for sale 'yard' at the Techno Classica in Essen.

I drove a 2-door Integra(? May have been an Accord?) with the 3.0 VTEC engine and a manual 'box (conversion - the autos apparently get a bit suspect quite quickly). It was a lot of fun, but always felt a bit 'made of paper'. I was stepping into it from a 1988 Mercedes 560SEC, which may have had something to do with it.

Don't drop anything!

That was my thought too. Yep - lovely. $260k lovely? Don't think so... Not even with the low mileage.

Sadly, this one is not an ACS, despite what Carjam says. ACS said so. I asked. Still potentially a nice car, though.

Yup. 2.6. And four zeroes. Why? Because: It's a JM Lippert 356CS. 368kW of 5.6 V12 in a M3 body. More info here.

Of the two, I'd probably have the Alpina. But that choice is based as much on the 'different' quality of an Alpina - there'll be an owners club for the F80 M3, but Alpinas will always be more exclusive.

Washed it. Sorry about that. Probably explains why it's raining, now.

Penrite Enviro+, errmm... Off-hand, not sure the spec. Only that it exceeds whatever BMW says it should meet. I did a lot of research before settling on this. Greg Hantz reckons 7000 miles or ~11000km between oil and filter changes. The BMW computer says 13000+ miles, or well over 20000km. In future, I may well opt for an oil change between filter changes: oil every 5000km or so, filter every other oil change. Keeps things sweet.

Replaced the fuel filter. It's running a little bit better. Again. Hardly surprising - pouring fuel from the 'input' side of the filter showed it to be quite dirty, and while the filter appeared to still be doing it's job, it could well be original. (It's not a lot of fun to change, despite appearing to be a straightforward task.) The idle thing is getting more tricky. I tried following the instructions on the link above, but there are one or two issues. Like... Just where is the base idle control screw on this car? I had the throttle body off again, and there is nothing obvious. Absolutely no adjustment, other than on the throttle cable. There is a plastic cover on one side which while it has torx-head bolts through it, also has peened over plastic plugs locating it. Obviously not designed to be a service item. (The throttle body is by VDO.) OK. ISV next, then. I really want to get back to working on the Mercedes! And there is just the teensiest possibility that the BMW count in the driveway could double. To two. I'm a-plannin' an' a-schemin' ways to make that work.

Another oil change completed today - a little later than I'd planned, at around 4500 miles since the last one. Still means I'll do three changes to every one that the BMW computer says is needed. While under there I remembered to replace the oil level sender. It seems I swapped one light showing on the dash (the yellow oil can showed for 10 seconds or so to let me know the sender wasn't working) for another - everything appeared fine on the way home from work, but it looks as though a tail light has decided to give up while I was in the chip shop. The dash shows a red light, at least. Still, it'll be an easily resolved item. Not like headlight bulbs... Have you tried buying one standard headlight bulb lately? Blue this, cool that, multiple different temperatures of all sorts... But nothing 'normal'! SCA had none at all, and Repco had to go and 'look in the back'. (This was a Sunday - sources were limited.) And then it cost more than many of the fancy aftermarket bling ones. Looking forward to wearing out the tyres to be honest. Currently running on 215/45-17s which look nice, but I don't like them. They're at the width limit for a 7" rim and I feel they wander a bit, something I'd not noticed when running the 205/50s. It's just possible the extra width has marginally impacted fuel economy too, as we're not getting quite as far on a tank as we were. We'll pass a recorded 250,000 miles tomorrow. 402500km, or thereabouts.

Yup. I waited 30 seconds or so, too, as it has sometimes taken a short while to populate the bottom of the page. No worries. The result is what counts.

Damn. If it were the drivers door, I'd get the window regulator fixed at the same time...

I tried that site too, but only got he basics returned in the search I did. Oh well. Glad it got sorted.

I tried a couple of decode sources but don't get more info than the car being a RHD, 4-door, E46 320i, produced in April 2004. Basic stuff, and doesn't answer the 'big' question. As Paul suggests, I suspect the only answer is going to be to ask a BMW dealer