leichtbau

collated 669 page pdf on the official BMW Greece website...

It’s an Autech Zagato Stelvio.

Save me the lot Ray! I’ll come see you soon as we’re in L3.

The ZF "GS6-37DZ" which is the manual found in the diesel 6spd's. Reason for wanting the diesel spec ZF 6spd is that it bolts up to an M20 at the correct angle.

Champion! That's great intel. the 320d ES cars must number in the hundreds, there's always three or four on TM. Edition Sport spec attached for those playing along at home.

Are you able to source a ZF 6spd? Edit: are the 420g's 6cyl or v8 bolt pattern?

The stuff article said it was Tauhinu Rd not Greenhithe Rd, have edited my post.

*edited*

Think it was the hellrot one @coop] Edit: there was the silver one that sold on TM as well.

My money would be on the derv-burner!

@balancerider good shout re: the facelift 330d, I only want to get to 600nm as I’ve experienced first hand how much flex there is in a 750nm E91..! You’re not wrong about the rarity, I’ve seen more E92 335d’s for sale than E91’s in the last year. I wouldn’t mind an F31 but I think they’re still about 10-12k over valued - the same cars are sitting for sale months later without any price movement - is yours x-drive?

Facom / Toptul / Koken / Teng I've used professionally and rated. Ive got Toptul for personal use. I'm eyeing up the Milkwaukee digital range that can also measure to a torque and then an additional degree rating for things that require an angle after being torqued. More of a want than a need though.

Looks like a 92+ spec air box, so let’s assume those are Deutsche Mark prices. The shell would cost you approximately $50k nzd today.

In the interests of S65/85 longevity, you want to avoid periods of high load at medium to low engine speeds - No inertial forces to cancel the firing loads means there's more time for the engine oil film to be broken down. EDIT: the BMEP (brake mean effective pressure) on the S65/85 is the intrinsic design fault cc: @Michael.

High cycle fatigue of the bearing substrate as a result of repetitive peak firing load. The upper bearings (from the rods) show a wear distribution that is exactly in line with the crank/rod angle you'd expect at Pmax. Be it S65 or S85, you'll see the same wear on each banks bearings, but mirrored as they're 90 degree engines. The underlying copper is the support material for the primary soft bearing top surface. It acts to provide a careful mix of strength and compliance / softness. Copper is chosen because it's "tough" and hence highly wear resistant, yet soft enough to be able to catch and embed any debris. However, Copper work hardens; every time you load it, it gets harder, and eventually it can crack. For bearing substrates, the peak firing load (peak cylinder pressure) occurs at 8-12 degrees after top dead centre (TDC) and that load is carried cyclically (every firing event) by the upper bearings (and passed onto the crank to make torque). This fatigue event happens all the time, and is primarily load, and not speed, dependent. Once the substrate starts to crack and degrade, the upper soft metal bearing surface experiences high localised stress and begins to pit and break up. This eventually destroys the bearing and journal's ability to "surf" on a nice even film of oil thickness, and results in catastrophic pick-up between those sliding parts, high friction, heating and ceasing (that then snaps a rod or pulls the little end out of the piston) all of which are curtains for that engine. Now, how to the bearing f**k-up occurred: In the early 2000's Lead was banned due to health concerns, which is unfortunate as it is a brilliantly useful metal for when you need to carry sliding loads - it's tough, crack resistant, wear resistant, has a nice "softness" and comformability. Early bearings without this holy grail of materials simply didn't cut the mustard. OEM bearings are getting close to being as good as Lead was, and race bearings are simply still using it, as they're not subject to type manufacturer constraints.

The following cars was exported to New Zealand; 314 Hellrot; 3 cars, 1 MY 1994 and 2 MY 1996 (the later both with M Pack) 276 Avusblau metallic; 3 cars (all with M Pack and all MY 1995) 299 Techno-Violett metallic; 3 cars (MY 1995) 303 Cosmosschwarz metallic; 2 cars (MY 1995) 305 Petrol-Mica metallic; 2 cars (MY 1995) 324 Oxfordgrün metallic; 1 car (MY 1995) 237 Granitsilber metallic; 1 car, MY 1994) 309 Arktissilber metallic; 1 car (MY 1996 with M Pack) This means that all the six RHD M Sport Package went to New Zealand. Every car except the 2 last doesn't have Catalyst converter.

the 540iS list

I think we all recall your car on TM with the fantastic photos and tasteful modifications, but it just goes to show that everyone has their preferences and individual flair. No one could argue that you've taken a great starting point to a level above.

My first E36 was a 318is, it didn't go past 180 and took an absolute age to get there. Like m325i says, the fruity colours make them a great candidate for a motor swap (Alpina B8 4.6 rep would be cool...)

The Audi battery pack being priced so high will be to comply with right to repair laws and places where it’s mandatory to have replacement parts available for a minimum number of years past the sale of the item. Audi don’t expect to sell any of them, they don’t want to sell any of them, insurances companies won’t want to be on the hook for them, but there’s nothing in the legislation as it’s written that says the pricing has to be fair. Samsung also do the same thing.

perfect car to buy and wrap Fiji Green...

Agreed - no sense in messing with the sparkly new cover. (it has frustrated me enormously) I've seen enough of a gap in the market to do it myself, but I'm six months away from you sending your old cover down to me to blast for you. There's a few places in Auckland that could vapour blast the cover, but the jury is out on how well the magnesium alloy reacts to the shot peening effect that vapour blasting imparts on the metals being cleaned. Ideal for grey cast iron surfaces, but there's potential for microscopic cracking on alloys, and not enough real world testing to give a definitive answer on whether it's a good idea or not.

The "magnesium" covers are MgAl9Zn1(A) aka EN-MC 21120. Maximum mechanical temperature of 130 degrees but they don't start to melt until 490 degrees or so. I'd be inclined to dry ice blast an older cover and then zinc plate it.

Obviously the CSL's have an influence, but from side on, it's surprising how similar the E46 is to the 1M from the b-pillar back.