jon dee

Yusss.... there is what is theoretically legal / illegal to the bureaucrats and there is this ^^^^ which is what happens in the real world Primary cats do the real work and secondary cats are there to help out during cold starts before the primary cats have reached full operating temperature. But since not all cars have two sets of cats you are pretty safe to assume that the average suburban garage will see "cats present" and tick that checkbox. Not sure that I would want to try getting that past a BMW Service Centre though !! Cheers...

Good question Here is the official NZTA REASON for REJECTION at WOF time... 2. A vehicle (other than group L vehicle or a class MA or MC motorsport vehicle with a valid motorsport authority card) that was first registered in New Zealand on or after 1 May 2010 and manufactured from 1 January 1990 has a catalytic converter (or diesel particulate filter (DPF) in the case of diesel powered vehicles) removed where there is evidence that one was originally fitted, and there is no written evidence issued by an entry certifier that the vehicle passed a prescribed metered emissions test in this condition As it is written in typical bureaucratic language the meaning is not immediately clear. So here is my positive interpretation... 2. If your car was built after 1 January 1990 and first registered in NZ before 1 May 2010, you can safely remove the catalytic converter (if the car was originally fitted with one). First registered in NZ after 1 May 2010, built after 1 January 1990 and factory fitted with cats, be prepared to explain why you don't have cats fitted if the inspector asks. The hook here is that is your car is a used import (like mine) manufactured in 2008 but first registered in NZ after 1 May 2010, then according to the rules it should have a cat present and correct to obtain a WOF. As I still have the cats installed I would probably have an off the record chat with the garage that does my warrants before fitting downpipes. Just to see if they are likely to reject a respectable car with an otherwise clean exhaust (no smoke, unhealthy smell or CEL) just because the cats are missing. And if need be, use an emulator or otherwise make sure you are not showing an O2 sensor fault. I'm not sure how many suburban garages actually have emissions testing equipment, so that is another factor that may act in your favour at WOF time. Having a good tune so your exhaust does not smell like a gas oven is also a wise move Cheers...

Under those circumstances I would consider that a set of four matching wheels of any type showed an unexpected degree of motoring sophistication for the Far North Cheers...

I believe that LSD conversions for an N54 335i are rather thin on the ground. For OEM parts that may be able to swap into a 335i I would suggest you ask a specialist BMW dismantling / recycling company such as HELLBM (one of the forum sponsors). Or for aftermarket solutions you could contact SPEEDFACTOR who are also a forum sponsor. Some good reading here... https://www.vacmotorsports.com/news/335i-and-135i-differential-faq-no-lsd-really-1483338466.html Cheers...

I know it is a free world and people are entitled to pretty much do what they like. But I find it rather disappointing that a couple of poseurs cannot do anything more interesting with an expensive car than do skids 🙄 Yes, I know that it is all in the name of getting internet points so that there is enough cash coming in to afford the next expensive car to thrash and keep the cycle going. Only these cars are good for other stuff... like driving nice scenic roads, turning fast laps or showing some actual driving skills. Personally I find the current preoccupation with doing smokey donuts rather juvenile (regardless of the driver's age). I like to think that it is just another of those fads like rubrics cube or fidget spinners that serves no useful purpose, and will eventually fade away. Cheers...

The internet allows everyone to be judge, jury and hangman. In the old days this was how you organised a lynch mob. Nothing has really changed. Don't expect the social media to have morals... its function is to sell advertising, not teach people how to behave responsibly. Cheers...

There are good reasons for this regulation... Land Transport (Road User) Rule 2004 - New Zealand ... Motorways — A driver must not stop or park on a motorway except in an area set aside and indicated by a traffic sign as a parking area. OSH should be looking at this to see if NZTA neglected to provide a safe working environment for the camera van operator. Cheers...

You could try these guys... https://www.merckmillipore.com/NZ/en/product/Formic-acid-98-1000-0,MDA_CHEM-100264#anchor_orderingcomp They have the good stuff and do a range of sizes. Only that is lab quality and will be priced accordingly. Cheers...

Good advice ^^^^ there !!! Fuses are there to provide over-current protection for the connected circuit. They do not blow unless there is some kind of fault condition, and before replacing the fuse the fault that caused the fuse to blow should be located and rectified. Never replace a blown fuse with one having a higher rating to try and "cure" the fault... that is a recipe for disaster. In the case of a dead short to ground the battery can easily deliver >200 amps into a circuit designed for 20 amps and that will instantly result in the smell of burning money... unless a fuse pops to interrupt the current flow. Fortunately, most cars have several fuses of different ratings in the current path to electrical components on a car, and the lowest rated fuse should blow first before the current gets high enough to do any damage. But if you accidentally short out an alternator or starter motor you can get some pretty good Guy Fawkes sparkler action Cheers...

I think all those incremental bids were removed. But the bidding is up to $27k now and reserve has not been reached, so perhaps $25k was bid as it was the max that the bidder was prepared to go to ? Sometimes that is not a bad tactic if you want to sort the men from the boys Cheers...

Not shill bidding... way to obvious for that. More likely just someone trying to get a feel for the reserve. Although I imagine that having someone with zero feedback doing that on ones auction would make the seller nervous !!!!! Cheers...

One of the lucky ones !!! Good to hear Cheers...

Clearly another victim of Global Warming !!!! I predict sun umbrellas will be the next big thing Cheers...

Car batteries do not take kindly to being totally discharged (like in the clock stops working). You really need to get the battery tested. If it is old and tired it may only be taking a surface charge. It will look like it is fully charged when to you test it with a multimeter, but it may only have enough stored charge to start the car once before going flat. A battery shop or garage should have a load tester that will check that for you in a couple of minutes. Cheers...

Reading some of the comment on-line the throttle sensitivity mod seems to have been welcomed by a number of people who had been complaining about slow throttle response... as in stabbing the throttle does not bring the kind of engine response typically found in a tuned N.A. engine. Having a small delay in throttle response helps smooth out the rise in power delivery and gives the turbo controls a little more time to do their thing. This is not really an issue with an auto trans. But with a manual trans, a fast throttle response is pretty much mandatory if you want to drive quickly. Gear changes, especially when using heel and toe techniques, rely on precise control of the engine speed. So your comment is on the money... I suspect that BMW knew what they were doing when they put a little delay in the throttle response on auto trans cars. People who buy the auto version (me now) like "smooth and powerful" whereas people who buy the manual like to have full control over gear selection and shift points. Nothing wrong with that... I loved driving manual trans cars right up to the time that I discovered a late model auto could shift smoother and faster than I could Cheers...

Heater tap is a generic term for whatever mechanical/electrical or pneumatic device that controls the flow of hot coolant into the heater. This is apparently what you have on a 550i... Appears to be two solenoid valves that work like a mixing valve to send coolant with the correct temperature to the heater. Cheers...

What specifically did you not like about it ? As far as I can tell on my car it does not bang the shifts any harder.... just shortens the (small) delay between moving the shift lever and the shift actually occurring. But I'm on 50% and haven't tried any other settings. EDIT: Had another read of the MHD press release and get the impression that the throttle sensitivity thing is more for the manual gearbox cars. Maybe that is why I haven't noticed any big difference with my auto ? Cheers...

Doesn't really bother me... it's all part of the learning process. I was doing a conversion that as far as I could discover, no-one else had ever done anywhere. So I had no reference installation and had to nut everything out for myself. Pretty much a full custom build from the ground up, and of course none of the bits I needed to make it work were readily available. Just simple things like tight radius 2-1/2" ali bends had to made from donuts sourced from Aussi. Long, slow process but there was a lot of satisfaction in seeing it through to completion. Tackling a project that is outside of your comfort zone is a is a real test of character !! But so worth it when you are driving the finished result 😎 Cheers...

Yeah... you need to figure out everything you need (or might need) and put it down on paper first. Solving problems is a lot cheaper when it is just at the sketch on paper stage. If I had done that I would not have bought two different bypass valves and discovered that neither of them could do what I needed. After some serious googling I ended up re-purposing a valve from a junkyard Subaru Legacy turbo that turned out to be perfect for my application !!! I know all about making mistakes Cheers...

Would be cool if you could make a build thread for the install as I think that there will be a few people contemplating adding a s/c to get a bit more out of their car. In particular I am interested in what kind of tuning hardware and/or software you end up using. As has been mentioned, the SC14 is an old school Roots-type blower and they do get hot, so having full control over fuel and ignition is key to keeping your engine safe. Toyota equipped the SC14 with a clutch to disable the blower during cruise and when the engine ECU was not calling for boost. Some folk do away with the clutch, in which case you would want a bypass valve to unload the blower when out of boost. Throttle before blower or after blower etc. How you handle these kind of things is another part of an s/c install that is sure to generate a lot of interest and good advice Cheers...

Supertrapp style silencer on a Jeep... sound data at the end of the clip... too much blah... blah... in the middle

Ahhhh... OK. Gas flow and sound are low at idle so anything that makes the exhaust pipes smaller will block some of the sound. Won't help with high rpm performance but you likely don't need 6000rpm to keep up with city traffic Cheers...

REV IT UP !!!!! 😉😀😎

I have seen those "canister inserts" being advertised as being helpful in toning down "cannons". And they may have some effect by restricting flow, forming an expansion chamber inside the cannon and reflecting some of the sound back into the muffler. But I have never seen any test figures, so probably more to disguise the cannon so the WOF inspector doesn't pick on it Pushing some exhaust gas down the outside of the plain tube and into the louvres won't do any harm. But like water, gas will tend to take the path of least resistance which will be down the inside of the plain tube. Certainly worth a punt... I'm all in favour of trying something different when the opportunity presents. It might just do enough . Cheers...

I'm having a little trouble working out what part the plain steel (silver) tube plays in this assembly ? The black painted items appear to be resonators/hotdog mufflers with one end cut off, and if the outside of the resonator slips inside the outlet of your main muffler, then they will form a significant restriction to flow. If the non-perforated steel pipe is placed inside the louvred pipe then you will pretty much nullify the sound absorbing potential of the hotdog while providing a straight through path for exhaust (and sound) exiting the main muffler. The purpose of perforated tubing is to allow sound to pass out of the tube into the sound absorbing packing, and you would be preventing that from happening. From the title of this post I guess that you are looking to make a removable assembly that you can use around and remove when at the track. I applaud your consideration I would suggest that you might get a better result if you omit the inner non-perforated pipe and make some kind of cone to feed exhaust gases smoothly into the louvered section. If possible re-pack the hotdog with fibreglass exhaust mat, and clamp the extensions onto the main muffler outlets. Definitely not a performance modification, but combined with a light right foot it may be enough to keep your neighbours happy. Cheers...