adro

man that sounds sweet!

+1 for RE003

I had RE002’s on the 16” ACS and now RE003’s on the 15’s and they are a great match. Daily duties or a spirited day at the track. + the sidewall looks sporty 

Today I clay bar'd and applied chemical brothers 'jet seal' to the whole car, not sure how good this product is but I got it for the E39's headlights that i no longer have and it was pretty expensive so figured might as well use it. I feel like this is the cleanest this car will ever be so went and shot a few photos to document it.

yeah I did see those, they look in good condition but I'm looking for some nice clean silver ones. No real rush as the current wheels and tyres will be good till the end of the year , thanks for keeping a look out.

Thanks. I’m hoping to find something in better condition. 

Hi, I’m looking for a set of staggered style 68 wheels. The ones that came on E46 Msport models. 7.5 front and 8.5 Rear 

- ideally in Wellington

- ideally in mint condition. 

Any one have a set collecting dust they would like to move on?

prefer without tyres but interested either way. 

RIP M40

3 hours ago, hunter said:

The little bulb will be the tiny little guy used for park lights. This happened to me on my e46 and took a bit of looking to see it on the back of the light housing.  It’s up the top towards the inner edge of the light housing from memory. 

Oh ok cool. thanks! 
 

...turns out there wasn’t a bulb in there. All sorted and no more lights out on the dash. 

Facelift.

almost 1000km since the engine went in. Had a coolant light on last week. Not sure if it  did a big burp or if it's leaking but either way i topped it up and am keeping an eye on it.

Xenons sourced from Weitz and coded in by @promo. Black corner lights also installed with chrome bulbs.

Black grilles are also in and a few stone chips fixed up.

I've just noticed looking at these photos that there is a little bulb on in the passenger side light. This is consistent with a bulb out light on the dash on the drivers side. Anyone know what this is? I haven't wired up for bi-xenon functionality yet or self  leveling...they will come down the line.

Suspension has also settled.

Dropped the car into auto38 this week for a gearbox flush. ZF filter and 12L of ZF oil. 212K trans oil was very black apparently.

4 hours ago, Eagle said:

Just ditched some flogged out Monroes on the Ti for B4's also. Always good $ spent. 

Nice. Yeah, great price too! 

Suspension upgrade

Before the engine went bang I had just pulled the trigger on some Bilstein Touring shocks and Eibach Prokit springs from Demon Tweaks. I already had rear sachs shocks I purchased from @Eagle which were for the motorsport setup so went with the B4's which from the looks of realOEM are the factory motorsport package shocks.

New bits

Lemforder front shock mounts

Bump stops and dust covers

Bilstein B4 front shocks #BLS22-139948, BLS22-139931

Eibach Prokit springs #EIBE2067-140

Meyle HD rear shock mounts

Sachs rear shocks #556 882

I got a shop to do the spring compressor part but i DIY'd the rest to try save on labour (the rear is pretty labour intensive)

the rear shocks were completely dead. 

rear spring height comparison

bit of trim removal

Found 1 random Monroe up the front.

New fronts

After a few KM's they are settling in.

So far I'm really impressed with the quality of the ride. Comfort vs handling I think it's a great combo for the daily driver.

3 minutes ago, Sammo said:

Oh wow, a lot of 'bonding' with the new wagon already 😐

Must feel great to have it sorted!

yeah, a bit of an introduction to the M54 for sure 🤪

212 xxx km.

I ran into a bit of a problem when I dropped the disa pin into the intake and it found it's way to cylinder 6.

No compression in cylinder 6, Jon at auto38 advised that an engine swap would be his preferred option.

Plug in cyl 6

off to Auto38

Old piston cyl 6

Head off old engine.

Bought an engine before Christmas, organized a mate to put it in. He didn't get to it till the new year where he found 8.5L of milkshake in the sump instead of 6.5L of oil. So the vendor kindly refunded and i got one off Nick Weitz.

Nick compression tested it before sending and it was algood. Came out of a running car so confidence was high. This engine was the older coil style so the manifold and valve cover from my original engine was swapped over (since CCV had just recently been repalced meant it didn't need to be pulled apart), along with the loom and headers.

New parts that went in while engine was out

• Engine mounts
• Sump gasket
• Plastic coolant hoses under intake manifold x 2
• upper and lower radiator hoses
• water pump (graf metal impeller)
• Thermostat
• Valve cover Gasket
• Oil filter housing gasket
• Vanos seals
• Spark Plugs
• Electric Fan from @zero
• upper intake boot
• oil filter
• Penrite 5W-40
• rebuilt Disa Valve

Car was running rough and was throwing lean codes for bank 1 and bank 2. Turns out the 02 sensors weren't plugged into their corresponding bank.

Car is now running very smooth and I'm waiting for the vanos seals to break in.

I replaced the seals in my old vanos unit to make it quicker to install. Also my solenoids were cosmetically in much nicer condition.

New engine looks really clean. No idea of the mileage as it had been swapped into the car it came out of.

Up at mt Vic watching the hill climb today. 

The list of things still to do:

• Gearbox filter and oil - have parts.
• Fuel filter - have parts and have replaced the vac line.
• Xenon - have parts but need to code LCM and there are still some wiring to do.
• Bilstein touring shocks and Eibach prokit springs. (these were in the post when the engine went bang)
• Remote key still isn't working despite changing the FTZ module
• Tints
• soundsystem/handsfree bluetooth.

So been a bit of a mission, I was completely stumped by the lean codes and was  pretty stressed out that the engine was toast. I'm really enjoying having it back on the road.

Bump. Lights and sway bar links still available too. 

I have an LCM III from a 2000 540. Pretty sure forwards compatible just not backwards (as in it will work on your older car) $50 if you are interested. 

1 hour ago, Eagle said:

Added things to do:

Clean ICV, power steering and brake fluid change, camshaft sensor o-rings, fuel filter and belt pulleys

Things ill eventually do:

Replace most of the wearable parts on the car and fix any cosmetic issues 

Oh yeah I cleaned the ICV and throttle body when I did the PCV. They actually weren’t too bad ✅

Tried to do the fuel filter but obviously original as it had those weird special hose clamps, I’m guessing vice grips? so bailed out on that. The vac line down there could do with replacing. I broke the one that goes into that F connector in the upper elbow straight away. 

2 minutes ago, hqstu said:

Recent history suggests that is a very very small list...

You know it ?

7 minutes ago, TermiPeteNZ said:

Thanks for sharing your journey with this Adrian- especially your fantastic photography!

My pleasure, thanks for tuning in! 

E39 out, E46 in.

Transported it up from Arrowtown last week, picked it up this week.

211,000km

NZ New

2 previous owners. Last owner had it for 12 years/173,000km

Known faults were the remote keys don't work and it has a vacuum leak under the intake manifold as diagnosed by an indy shop in Arrowtown.

A few bits of service history but nothing significant.

Fresh off the trailer:

After talking to experts (forum members) I've started what looks to be a bit of a maintenance mission.

Started with the PCV. It was dated as 2002 so original and very brittle. The oil return line disintegrated in half as I pulled out the dipstick tube. I left the manifold on in a bid to have a driveable car to pick my daughter up from day care in and in my haste I forgot to plug in a few things. Idle was smooth but it was real jerky and had a big dip in the throttle when you initially got on the gas. Scanned it and it came up with cam position sensor fault. So out came the airbox and it turned out I had forgotten to plug in the cam position sensor, alternator and something else...whoops...anyway, seems to be running alot better now. Revs are constant and it's not throwing misfire or rich codes. Did the classic air filter, cabin filter and oil + filter too.

It's pretty oily down here...

Pretty dusty up here..

ewwwww

New stuff

I went with 5W-40 just because I had 1.5L left over from the 540 so figured I might as well use it up.

New Roundel. I got a cheap one off trademe last time and it wore really fast so went all in on the dealership one this time.

Changed the plates over too. DQZ346 lives on.

Things to do:

- coolant system overhaul

- vanos

valve cover gasket

oil filter housing gasket

- New Disa valve (rebuilt)

- Tints & chrome delete around the windows

- Motor mounts

- Get the remote locking working

- Trans oil and filter

Things I would like to do:

- Tyres

- Suspension Eibach prokit, Bilstein B4 shocks front and Sachs m sport rears

- Xenons + black corner lights

- Bluetooth hands free

- Bavsound upgraded speakers

Feel free to add to this never ending list ?

Yes, car has been sold.

On 10/30/2020 at 10:16 AM, Eagle said:

Never had one in my old car. Just set mine to manual mode and adjusted them with the level control on 0. 

I did the same although when coded as manual adjustment I’m pretty sure I lost the use of that dip knob to the left of the steering wheel. 

I just bought this one:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/121144809321

Looks  to be the same as in Martins photo.

Besian want $35 USD for shipping some O rings ?

10 hours ago, hunter said:

Did you use a kit to do the Vanos seals etc, Martin? or buy parts seperatly. thinking of having mine done

Santa came early! Wow, what a haul. 

1 hour ago, topnotchrally said:

I will buy the sway bar endllinks  pm sent

Yep, yours. 

These parts are all located in Wellington. Can ship at buyers expense, none of it is too big.

PFL tail lights

used condition but not scratches at all. Really shiney

$100

Meyle Guibo

Brand New

$60

https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw-drive-shaft-flex-disc-giubo-540i-840ci-740-750-26111229065my

Bowa rear brake pad sensor

brand new

$5

Headlight adjuster, not sure what ones these fit but not my Xenons, new but un-packaged

$5

ATE rear caliper piston seal kit x2

Brand new

$10

https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw-caliper-repair-kit-rear-34211164440