Mad_Max

Correct, 3 from the tailshaft to the guibo and 3 from the guibo to the output flange. One of the guibo to output flange bolts was missing. I've managed to put another bolt in there for now, see if that fixes it while tracking down the correct bolts for it. Kind of suspect it didn't like the absolute hiding I gave the car lol. Will know next time I take the car out if that was the problem or if I need to look further, next on the list will be hanger bearing and just work my way backwards.

Sorry, when I said "come loose" I meant "come loose and fallen out completely" lol so only has two out of 3 bolts holding it together

Just the front half, undid it at the joint and slipped the manual half onto the auto rear. Yes, did all that. Think I discovered the problem last night, a bolt has come loose from the joint, one that passes through the guibo and onto the output flange on the box. So suspect that's the cause of it. So will hunt down a replacement bolt, check all the others and see if that fixes it. Strange that it came loose and disappeared, so will be putting loctite on the rest for extra insurance.

Interesting.... I shall look for the torque specs and retorque the mounts, see if that helps. I'm assuming it's installed correctly as it was still on the front half of the tailshaft, I didn't remove it. Is there an easy way to check?

So I swapped the auto out for a manual, all went well... Thursday I had to travel from Invers to Cromwell for business, got up there not a worry. On the way back, even quicker trip (yes gave the car death as I do lol), all was well until I hit Invercargill and stopped for fuel. Once back in the car, there was a strange vibration, wasn't there the rest of the time. I'ts a Getrag box, everything has been swapped over for a couple of weeks now and working fine, first time I've ever noticed this problem. Vibrations start at about 2k rpm and go through to around 3, maybe 3500. Happen in every gear, worse under load but still present while cruising/engine braking. No vibrations while in neutral, so I'm thinking definitely drivetrain. Possible thoughts, it's the guibo/flex disc on the tailshaft or centre support bush is gone, allowing the driveshaft to vibrate. Or, one of the output shafts. Or maybe even a uni joint in the tailshaft. Has anyone experienced anything like this? Any ideas, ways to test without dropping the exhaust, heat shield etc? Car still drives fine (apart from the vibration), still has plenty of power etc, and balancing weights still on the wheels so that rules the obvious wheel balance out.

Massive thanks to both John and Andrew. Turns out I must've had a bad copy, as I got another .ISO file last night, opened VM Machine, pointed the operating system to the new ISO file and.... lo and behold, EasyDIS installed..... then GT1............ So next step (sometime over the weekend lol) will be to work through all the advice here on the settings, then I can test it out. Again, thanks to both for your input and help, it's very much appreciated!

Lol that's called a needle that's bent/warped over time and heat.... it'll be catching on something. Common problem with a lot of cars. Changing the needle will fix that.

It may not be the exact same tool by the same developer, however I and I'm sure John as well fully understand where you were coming from, and that's cool - no offence taken, no butt hurt received lol.

I hear your point there, however your assumption is incorrect - AFAIK it's not a pirated version, this is a shareware/freeware version. I can't afford to run the risk of having pirated software on my work computer. And having developed things in the past, I do know the frustration of developing stuff only to get nothing for it. Fully agree with your points about it being cheap and about the developer, there is no argument there. And most freeware versions you can make a donation to the developer.

Pm sent. Thanks, will keep that in mind. And will have a good read at the rest of the tech stuff as well when I get to setting it up, much appreciated.

Fantastic, thanks, I'd say at a guess I got an incomplete version, as my file list looked nothing like that at all. So that may be the problem after all. If you've got the link that would be fantastic, I also have the Siemens MS41 flash tool now if you want a copy of that?

You're a legend, thanks heaps, really do appreciate that. I think mine is an installer version, in the process of downloading another version as well so will have a look at them both and try everything.

Yes, I can get a virtual drive set up and assign a letter to it, then change the settings in VMware Workstation 12 to tell it to load the ISO from that drive letter, and change the BIOS settings inside the VM to tell it to load from the virtual drive, but it just doesn't do it. It keeps defaulting to a network boot. Occasionally it has looked like it wanted to try but gives up saying it can't load the operating system...... starting to think it's a corrupt copy of EasyDIS, might have to start searching for another version me thinks

1. I'm not sure to be honest, I think it's 6.4.7? If you know how to check, let me know and I'll tell you the exact version. EDIABAS, INPA and NCS Expert all work fine, both on a virtual XP machine and my Win10 64 bit. 2. Yes, I did read that part was critical and ensured it was done. 3. Have followed the instructions given in the link above to the letter, and it doesn't seem to find the *.iso file to load the OS, hence why I'm sure it's something I'm doing wrong. 4. I haven't gotten anywhere near any of this part yet to be honest, it's the first I've seen of that needing done so will keep it in mind, thanks for the tips! Basically I just can't seem to get the virtual machine to load the OS off an .iso file, no matter what I try, convinced it's a setting I've missed or something I'm doing wrong - or could be the copy of EasyDIS I got is no good.

So I'm having a few problems installing EasyDIS v44 on a virtual machine, hoping someone can tell me what I'm doing wrong? I can get the virtual machine set up and configured correctly (there's a few differences between the guide and the version of VM I'm using), and have been able to set up INPA, EDIABAS etc, and that's all working correctly. Following the guide found at http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?1297683-How-to-install-DIS-w-EasyDIS-v44-step-by-step, I set up a new VM with the same settings, but for the life of me I cannot get it to install EasyDIS. Anyone have any pointers? I'm positive it's something I'm doing wrong but for the life of me cannot work it out

Pm me if you want (now I'm able to get back into the forums) as working through chip tuning mine (MS41), have most of the software here, and have also just done a manual conversion so in the process of reflashing the cluster to make the car think it's manual. There's a bit of a process but there's one key piece of software that will make your life easier.

Thanks Jon, will look into that a bit more and ask the seller some questions.

As far as tuning goes. if you've got an MS41 ECU (usually MS41.0, MS41.1 or MS41.2 for the E36's I believe, but could be a bit off with that info) that's more than capable of being tuned and reflashed. I would highly recommend getting someone who knows what they are doing and using a dyno to do it, I can easily talk them through the software that they'll need to read and reflash the ECU.

Yeah have been reading up on the procedure, doesn't seem too bad. Might see if I can hold off until I do the cams up as well. Sorry can't remember exactly what the code says (taken from INPA), it's to do with the Vanos piston jamming which research says is usually the seal has failed. I'll give it a few days then check the code again, let you know exactly what it says. Yes have been looking at full kits..... not sure if I trust the Ebay kits without knowing who their supplier is but will keep looking, thanks for the info.

So been getting the "vanos jammed" code quite a bit, so I'd say it's time to replace the seal. Does anyone know a good place to sort them from? Or anyone else looking at doing theirs so we can split the freight?

Well have spent the last few days tinkering away with the suspension, finally sorted out the rear as close as I can get it for now, and the front..... now sitting about 30mm lower than it was, debating if I want to go lower. But thinking for now replace the ball joints and bushes, get a wheel alignment and see how she goes. Also been chipping away at some other side projects, working through the tuning files bit by bit ti figure out how radical I want to go with it, so that's going to take a while.

Yes thinking I might drop the front another 30mm to 40mm, the rear I managed to drop a further 10mm last weekend and I'm happy with how it's sitting in the rear, so will look at the front when doing the ball joints. Yes had that thought too, thinking it might be time to redo the whole front end. Might just slap some cheap outer ball joints in it for now and start gathering parts, do the whole lot in one hit then get an alignment done and she should be like new again.

Just came across these, wonder how legal they'd be over here, instead of ball joints: http://www.ground-control-store.com/products/description.php/II=939/CA=254

Sorry Ron, I didn't clarify it properly - the front sits too high for my liking. The car itself is pretty much dead level all the way around, so I'm assuming the springs are a correct set - I'll confirm that when I go to do the ball joints and can get a good look at the fronts. It's just an optical illusion that the front is too high, ideally I'd love to drop it another 1 1/2 inches all round, might have to hunt down some new springs for it. But first things first, sort these ball joints out and go from there

Spent last night and today messing around with the rear suspension geometry, got the car sitting a bit lower now. Just taking as much camber out of the back as possible.