Herbmiester

Having used Poly bushes on a few cars now I dont believe there is that much of a trade off on NVH, but it depends on how many bushes you replace, where they are fitted etc. Personally Running an E92 on standard tyres (not runflats) with M3 control arms (Stiff bushes) the ride is probably better. I dont think you can apply blanket generalizations like poly for race rubber for road. and considering you do a bit of motorsport in your I cant see the problem.

For my Koni rear shocks I dialed in more rebound damping, approximately 3/4 towards full firm. This works at motorway speeds but is a but crashy around the rough roads in the Valley. I have Tein springs which are progressive and firmer than M/Sport. Reasonably happy but not sure its any better than linear but slightly softer Eibach's or H&R's. If I did it again I would probably go Bilstein B8 if staying with lowered springs of B6s if staying with factory M sport springs. The Bilstein monotube design is superior to a twin tube setup but there are other factors like quality of manufacture and as mentioned damping vs spring rate. Koni adjustability will allow you to get those two things right for your application. All that being said I had some Koni Strt (orange) on one of my old E36's with some King springs (They were on the car when I bought it) and the setup was really good.

as was mentioned 500hp is an arbitrary number, what you are better looking at is what mods do you need to support a nice power increase while not shortening the life of your engine. MHD would be mu choice and if you went IC, Cat-less DP, Charge pipe, airbox/filter and an MHD stage 2+ tune you will get to around 420hp. If you want 500 then its a new turbo and exhaust and perhaps a modded inlet system. That said the N55 is not as strong internally as the N54 so you may be approaching the limits of reliable HP. You will also need an LSD as even with stock HP grip is an issues and with a tune and bolt on's the massive increase in torque makes getting two tires hooking up difficult. Where the n55 seems to work best is with mild to medium increases in power.

M Suspension is essentially just control arms and shocks. Yes there are other parts like the sway bars but if you just did the M3 front end you would get big bang for your buck and that is a whole truck load cheaper than an M3. Shocks are consumables, replace every 80k or so. I used Koni yellows with M sport springs and they work fine. You can adjust the rebound of course so that allows you to get a pretty close match. That said Bilstein and Eibach kits seem pretty well matched according to the US forums and I did read a post by someone at Bilstein talking about how the Eibach/Bilstein kits are matched. What changes is when you add an LSD then you can play with the rear sway bar diameter because you will be getting you power down more effectively.

I think I would have to sell my house to buy that engine.

I found you can go about 20mm lower on the front before speedbumps etc become a hazard. The back seems a wee bit more tolerant. As the the M3 control arms its money well spent.

Draggy is a stand alone device you place in the car it uses GPS to calculate acceleration. It Bluetooth's to your phone.

I had a G-Tech back in the day but like most of those accelerometer devices they were a bit hit and miss. GPS based stuff like the Draggy is cheap enough now.

I sometimes think purist are a bit OTT. Porsche Air Cooled enthusiasts are a great example as are manual drivers who dismiss modern DCT and auto boxes and of course the N/A engine guy's who shun all forms of forced induction. I guess this will rankle a few "purists" but it will be a very quick car with this swap so while I would have preferred a BMW engine in there this still works.

I would have liked to have seen an M50 stroker with some cams. Or a s54

I did some testing with the Draggy but there too many other variables at play including the updated map and the boost by gear settings. I was right on 5.1with this setup and before that 5.4.

Sorry but this is just not true. I build a new PC (MB CPU, Video card and Ram)every 5 years and it costs me about a 1/3rd to1/2 what it would cost to buy a new MAC and I get to configure it my way. I have no issues, nor do I have to upgrade anything it all happens automatically. My current PC(MB, SSD and Video card) is coming up 5 years old and I have not had to upgrade anything apart from Windows which was free and pretty seamless. I like games on big high res monitors so that's a good reason to stay away from Apple, But I wont buy their phones either as I see no point in paying more to get less. I agree Apple is easy but so to is Windows and Android these days.

Without an LSD I have worked out that somewhere between 10 and 12 psi of boost is all the chassis can handle on dry chip seal roads before it sets the Xmas lights on or wheel spins. If I had an LSD or I was on a stickier surface It would be different. I has improved since I put in the M3 control arms as the bushes were much firmer and it seemed to all but eliminate the odd bit of axle tramp I would sometimes get. Fitting subframe buses and a diff reinforcement support supposedly also helps. I also noticed that when I went linear throttle I has less slip. Trying to figure why but can only assume that the throttle just opens a bit slower and allows a bit more forward momentum before the turbos really spool up. Need to get the old girl sorted so I can do more testing with the Dragy.

No zero to 60 is a YT channel that has a big focus on N54 tuning, testing and modifying. Most comprehensive actual testing you will see. times were 0 to 100kph.

The head lining on my 540is is starting to sag, not too badly, but enough to affect my OCD. I went to the local auto upholsterer who had a heap of grey linings but none that matched the color perfectly. Does anyone know if you can get the original material?

I am pretty sure mine has had that swap because 1st is quite short. The seller did mention something about a better diff as well.

zero to sixty did testing on second gear starts and the verdict was that its slower.

I had mine done a year or so back and I used a TV repairman who know how to solder.

Mine was that color maybe a bit softer but had original wheels and Firestone wide Oval tires.

Yes Datazap is the way to go.

30k sorry but that's laughable.

Looks good.

Did you see their vids on the effectiveness of carbon cleaning solutions? Not that good really.