zero

Depends on what you want done. Just oil and filter, or a full service?

I dont know where 'Randell' is but if you are in Auckland take it to Glenn at Botany Motor Worx.

Is it towable? ie does it have brakes and steering?

What a great score!

How is this project going Hans?

Definitely go for the m54b30.

What engine mounts did you use?

So you got stung by customs for customs fees and gst? Did customs cause some of the delay?

How much was your total order?

You might find this interesting too; http://mywikimotors.com/n52b30/

I would imagine a tune would be where its at. Gavin at High Velocity isn't cheap but widely considered the best.

Yea, I'd love to remove the backing plates on my project car, but I'm scared it would fail wof or cert. No one seems to know.

Sadly no.

Hey Richard, The vifas i got turned out to be just chinese crap that had just bought the brand name. I got them from jaycar and they were cheap, but I should have done my research first. Below is a picture of the pods I made, but I'm sure a decent car audio installer could make and install some for you. This was by far the biggest improvement to my system. I did one door first and then sat in the car playing with the balance and the difference was night and day - the volume almost doubled, the bass extended a long way and became much stronger, and vocals improved dramatically with better clarity and separation. It was an effort to make the 6.5 in the front, and a 6 inch would be much easier but I wanted a 6.5 as I'm not running a sub. A sub isn't really necessary in this setup unless you listen to alot of drum and bass etc. In my opinion on all the e46's the weakest link is the speakers. IMO first upgrade on a e46 would be speakers, second upgrade would be speakers + amp, third upgrade would be speakers + amp + head deck. The factory wiring is not too bad, but its proboably worth looking at some cheap sound deadening and removing rattles. Neals suggestion of using a four channel amp to actively biamp is a good one, although I must admit to not being a fan of class D amps. Keep us updated, and good luck.

Richard, I like the old skool sound just like you do. Prat beats everything else. At home I run a combination of sonic frontiers, ead, sansui, rotel, denon, and b&w. When I did the stereo in my wifes e46 I was on a very tight budget, so some sacrifices were made; I retained the bmw headdeck and stacker and ran high level lines to two second hand alpine v12 amps in the boot. (the good v12's from the nineties before the quality went downhill.) These then powered some cheap 6.5 vifa front components, and cheap 6.5 vifa rears. I used decent cable and soldered and heatshrinked the connections to avoid oxidation. The biggest improvement by a HUGE margin was cutting holes in the front doors and building pods behind the door card. Dynamatt is expensive so I used butyl based sill flashing tape. If I had my time again, I would use better speakers as that is my weak link. I strongly suggest you get some front door pods built and the hole cut in the doors - I can put up pics if you like.

Can you put up the dyno sheet so we can see the curves?

Are the backing plates/dust sheilds required for a road car? Im seriously considering removing them but wont if i will fail a cert or wof.

What was the rough weight increase with the lexus v8? And what was the rough horsepower? Thanks

Yes dry sump is a good idea. What did the dry sump setup cost?

What a great project. I'm doing something similar but progress is at a waaaay slower speed.

Great post. Thanks for the detailed info.

The numbers in this link are very interesting, and quite funny; http://www.driven.co.nz/news/news/how-clarkson-an-co-blew-283-million-trying-to-mow-down-top-gear/

The fluid expands greatly at different temperatures. There is a specific temp (cant remember the number right now) that the oil must be at when setting the level. If this is set incorrectly you WILL damage the transmission.

The fluid level has to be done with the fluid at a certain temperature - if its not you will either drastically overfill or drastically underfill. That is why when you drained the fluid you thought there was too much, and when you refilled much less went in. Getting the level right is absolutely critical.

Part it out to get your money back.