T.N.R

I'm guessing it wasn't a 40 year old virgin either. Anyway thanks everyone for the opinions/experiences. I'll try to return it again and see what they say.

To be completely fair what happened was: When I took the shifter back the parts guy who I ordered it thorough had a look at it with his other parts adviser colleague. After a few mins he came back to me and said I'm going to show this to the technician. When he came back he said the technician says hes not sure if there is anything wrong with it so install it in your car and if there is a problem bring the whole car in and we will take a look at it. So I asked if they would just return it without me installing it (I mentioned my old shifter had zero play) he talked to someone who said it could be made like this for vibration reasons so no. I asked if they could call BMW overseas or anyone who knows the part better, he said no. Anyway like I said I'll try to return it again, my car is in the middle of an engine swap and I wont be able to take it to them for a while anyway. The whole thing is without a doubt lower quality than the older shifters anyway. It sounds/feels hollow, the ball is plastic as compared to metal, the rubber seems softer, the metal handle part has kind of stretch marks (not sure how to explain but the aluminum seems stretched too much).

This is how it was straight from Team McMillen to my hands. Everyone I've asked says its defective for sure, BMW don't want to take it back. I'll try again.

I bought this brand new OEM shifter through BMW, it seems to have way too much play. My original 20 year old shifter still has zero play. Is it broken? I'm not sure how to insert video inline, so here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-2COlTEB04 By the way, I'm only using two fingers to cause this movement. It doesn't require much at all.

I need the down pipe and catalyst section of an E34 525i (M50) exhaust. It should not have any holes or excessive rust (Obviously it will have rust but shouldn't be complete junk). Also if you have the O2 sensor from the same exhaust that would be good. I'm located in Auckland. ----Update----------------------------------------- Problem solved, no longer need.

I kind of got that impression. Will do.

Yeah, will maybe try to find some from a 525i as a temporary solution. Appreciate the help from everyone.

Thanks Andy for that info, it was helpful in that I found what keyword to search for. I just read the standard right now and it says: "A modified production low volume vehicle that has undergone an engine conversion, is not required to be retro‐fitted with one or more catalytic converters, if the vehicle was not originally fitted with catalytic converters by the vehicle manufacturer." However, there is a note giving the reason for this. To summarize it basically says if it didn't come with cats it doesn't need them because its likely that there isn't enough safe space (taking heat into consideration). However I'm pretty sure the E34 has the space, its just that for some reason they didn't have them on some models/markets. I wonder if they will pickup on this during the inspection and say that the exemption doesn't apply in my case? whatever, I'll find out sooner or later. Also regarding the drive shaft hoop, the standard says: "A drive‐shaft safety‐loop must be fitted to a low volume vehicle with an open drive‐line...(if)... vehicle has had an engine conversion that has resulted in a significant increase in power or torque" Goes on to say: "A significant increase in power or torque in a low volume vehicle is considered to be over 50% of the vehicle’s factory power output." As far as I know: M50B20TU: 150Hp, 190Nm M52B28: 190Hp, 280Nm Which is below the 50% increase threshold for both power and torque increase. I hope this is correct becsue I dont want to mess around with adding a hoop (I know it shouldn't be a major issue but still).

I know no catalyst is pretty bad for the environment, and to be honest I wouldn't mind retrofitting a high flow one in simply because with my old engine the car felt like it was giving you instant lung cancer (was not modified in anyway by me or P.O). Its just that I wanted to know before hand because they aren't cheap. Thanks for the input.

I hope its something simple like that. I'll make sure to talk to some certifier before booking in a time. Thanks for the reply.

I'm doing a straight forward M50 -> M52 swap on my NZ new E34, no fabrication or modification of any mounts or body. For the certification process it says on lvvta's website (an example cost break down for engine conversion) they check the EGE (exhaust gas emissions). I wanted to know if they do this for all engine swaps. I'm a little confused about this because my car is a 1995 E34 and on the spec sheet it says: "Entfall Katalysator - without catalytic converter" Does this mean they wouldn't care about the emissions or I would have to install cat's even though the car originally didn't have them? Has anyone else done a similar swap and had problems with exhaust emissions? Thanks.

Thank you. Nice to know there are other BMW enthusiasts who also have an interest in photography on this forum. My gear is all very beginner spec. My parents bought a Nikon in the mid 2000's for when we went to the South Island the first time. In the last year I kind of re-discovered the camera which was sitting unused and started learning how to take photos with the manual mode, it's amazing what you can do with even such a basic DSLR. I'd really appreciate any tips or even opinions on shooting cars or whatever. Gear: - Nikon D40x (bought around 2005 iirc) - 18-55mm DX lens that came with the camera. - Some cheap old tripod for night photography. By the way do you have a Flickr or anything?

Yeah, I've seen your build thread somewhere I think, amazing work. If it sounds anything like some of the V12 E34's on YouTube it must have been worth it for the sound alone.

Thank you for the welcome. I'm not a 100% sure either but my guess is that the E34 (like many other older BMW's) has these slight oddities or quirks which make it feel a little more unique than a lot of newer BMW's, which are amazing cars but they just feel a bit more normal. I suppose maybe I'm just a fan of BMW's 70's - 90's design style. It also helps that E34's aren't as abundant as E36's, E46's etc. Anyway I'll stop before I annoy too many newer bimmer owners.

Hello BMW enthusiasts, I just joined bimmersport and thought I would introduce my BMW's. My daily driver is a 1996 E36 323i, nothing special other than it being a really clean original car: The car I really enjoy owning though is my NZ new 1995 E34 520i, factory manual (I know: how the hell does one enjoy a 2L 5 series?). I have had the car for about a year and a half now and pretty quickly realized that E34's are for me. Here are some recent pics: It is rough at the moment no doubt, but its a work in progress and will be for some time. In fact I'm actually in the middle of doing an engine swap. I'm replacing the M50b20 with a latter M52B28. It doesn't even have the 2L anymore: Anyway maybe that's too much for the intro but it gives you some idea I guess. By the way I recently started photography as a hobby so if your interested feel free to check out my Flickr (link in signature below). I have few more pics of my car there.