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From a skeptical buyers viewpoint, I'm always wary of things being sold with known faults, is it simply the owner doesn't have time, or do they know more they don't want to let on... So I'd bargain down accordingly. I don't think that's the case here, but expect the cost of fixing the issue would be recovered by a stronger sale price when issue free.

Pretending something it is not is putting the wrong badge on. Debadging can be a way of saying I don't need a badge to define what it is, or that the badge is no longer suitable, or simply to clean up the look of the rear a bit.

I think that is a 6201 bearing, twin rubber seals. Should be able to get a replacement one from engineering hardware places (take old one in to double check sizing and spec), SKF, NSK, FAG are quality brands.

8-10k, 10-15mins, clear across town. Life's too short for a long commute.

Finally got around to swapping the diff in my e36. 3.46 open out, 2.93 LSD in. Much nicer gear ratios for a daily. The diff that came out is really notchy in the 'diff gears' (turning the output flanges in opposite directions), is this common or is it f**ked?

What's wrong with stock headers? I reckon the go would just be to weld up a cat-back system from some off the shelf muffler and resonators. Trouble is knowing what bits are going to be mint though... Would like a twin exhaust, but with no space on the RHS, exhaust cutout would probably be the way to get that done.

Standard size o-rings? I've had a wee bit of success with dewtech (I think it was) having a few viton seals. Not sure I'd trust aliexpress on that sort of component, nitrile and viton look pretty similar, as do slightly out of tolerance parts. Just bought some 02 bungs and weld fittings from there, 1 out of 5 actually screws in snugly (but will still need a coper washer since the seal face is on the piss).

Welcome to the club! I did mine with vinyl a while back and agree they look mint, actually goes pretty well with the red I reckon.

I got around to checking what DME I have, MS41.0 Silver label by the looks. To reiterate, basically what I want is to do get the car running like a factory manual (it's an auto conversion with TCM delete), and remove the EWS so I can do keyless start; plus a bit more of a sporty tune (chipped etc) for now; but also have the upgradeability if I get the engine bored out a bit or FI or whatever... Looking around the net seem to give both answer to every question, is the current one flashable? yes/no, will a new one f**k everything up because of EWSII? again it's a yes/no, will a new one even be flashable in a non OBD2 car? etc etc. I'm currently looking into getting a red label 413 DME as I wish to delete EWS anyway, but would still need to figure out how to program that up...

For what it's worth, I took apart the whole thing today. Including getting into the lock mechanism, and door handle. Turned out in my case it was the door handle had lost a bit of plastic around the activation lever, so it just wasn't giving enough travel into the door lock mechanism. It worked with the knee trick because it took the strain off the components, so they didn't flex and reduce the travel. The good news is it's easy to check, you can feel the handle travel a little bit before it needs a bit of force and anything actually happens. Also put a finger in the lock mechanism to 'close the door' with it still open so you can look down into the lock mechanism while opening the door handle to see when bits move. Here's a comparison pic between what I had, and the fixed version. Went from a 5mm pin to 8.8.

Vaguely interested, please get some prices up as well.

I've got a similar problem, is it possibly the rubber seal getting stiffer over time as well? My handles will lift to the full range, but it skips out on part of the mechanism and will only open the door sometimes, or always if pressure is put on the latch area. The catch on the chassis side I assume you mean? this is only triggered as the door opens.

I don't want to be a downer, but you should get more time practice welding before welding critical bits. It looks like you're using gas but having trouble getting the settings right? this is especially hard when welding thicker bits (the 3mm) to panel steel. The welds should end up smooth, not blobby, and sort of flow/blend into the metal; when running the arc should sound a bit like frying bacon (rapid crackle etc). It's still a wicked shifter, and sweet build.

Hard work? Of course it is, you're pushing sh*t up hill trying to convince me I should have paid more for something less suitable... It's great you have faith in your local guys, and that your local guys know enough to recommend a suitable product; and thanks for the original recommendation and advice. But I'm happy with the decision to go with amazon, and would do so again; there's no conspiracy theory required.

Standard clutch pack style, I've been eyeing up those Torsen ones, but a bit pricey and hard to justify atm.

Do you referral discounts for repco or something? There's a hell of a lot more to oil selections than just the weight, especially when clutch packs are involved. I mean, on the one hand I had the recommended product for a cheaper price. On the other hand I had something close to the recommended product for a dearer price...

Which is not the recommendation from the castrol website; and still dearer (regardless of rapport) than the stuff I brought in. Lead time doesn't often bother me, since I just queue up and rotate out projects accordingly. That's cheaper than the bmw place I went to, but not by much.

It couldn't hurt, as far as I can tell the guy in palmy is a lifer, but if there's an informed contact elsewhere who can send bits down it'd give him a look before amazon...

Read my post dude, I asked repco and supercheap if they could get it, not just if they stocked it. But if you get in some Syntrax Limited Slip 75W/140 I'd be interested to hear the price and where from...

So this turned out to be harder than I thought, dunno if I just struck numpty day but repco and supercheap couldn't get it, partsmaster and another place don't stock castrol stuff. Emailed the bmw parts dept and they reckoned 50 bucks per L, went in there they didn't have it, emailed them directly and it went to $70 for 500ml. Amazon UK had it, $77nzd for 2L, landed in 10 days. I'm all for giving the locals first look, but it'll be straight to amazon for my specialty oil needs in future.

How tacky are these actually? I bought a set hoping to get the local signwriters to redo the centers to white or silver and bronze cos I like bronze things and the traditional blue doesn't match any other color on her. But, they're actually really well made, stamped metal with colored stickers then plastic coated on top and getting colors changed looks trickier that expected to do right. So I guess my question is, will anyone piss in my tailpipe if I have these on as faux-fibre black/silver?

Too late now obv, but Melbar (sp) cables in Welli are pretty good to deal with for custom cables. Also, holy sh*t those are some big calipers!

Mike Christy does some nice work with their CNC tube bender, mandrel bends etc; good pricing for the stuff we get through em for work. Be at least a few hundy for this though I'd expect. Bender is a recipe for headaches on these tight sort of bend imo, go with the elbows and welder.

All I'm saying is the crinkles can be worked out before it goes live. So nobody bitches about it being too light or dark because they can choose, same as we could before.

Why not both? give us the choice like every other mature forum implementation in the last 10 years... I get that it's volunteer, and appreciate it. Just that I've seen these sort of step chances drive away a significant number of forum users on other sites, which could have been mitigated with a more feature familiar transition.