Vass

8 hours ago, gjm said:

Why is that we now seem to accept that genuinely expensive (when new) prestige-badged cars need to have huge amounts of money spent on them at (what I'd think of as) low mileages?

A recent article in the news talked about a 2-million km Toyota Corolla based somewhere north of Auckland. In the UK, I'd routinely see older cars advertised with 200000, 300000, 400000 miles and more. Yet I now see reports of engine life expectancy, without $BIG being spent, to be as little as 200,000km.

Has the accountant's pen really slashed through so much good engineering that cars are now inherently unreliable, and even regarded as disposable at 10 years old?

To take a bigger pircure view, this is the natural and sadly predictable progression of the optimal economic strategy in late stage capitalism. Everything is moving towards a subscription model instead of just selling products, whether overtly or inadvertently. Apple and such were notoriously blatant and shameless with implementing it at first, but now all industries seem to be moving in that direction, wherever they can. If you're not pushing planned obsolescence into the design of your products, it hurts your business in the long run.

All sorts of stupid sh*t that does not need to be a subscription service, now is. To stick to BMW-related examples, even something like the Carly app. I was looking into it for my E46 to have some powerful coding features without having to resort to specialist software on a laptop and such, but you can't just buy it and be done with it, instead it's a yearly subscription. Why? There's nothing you're going to develop any further when it comes to working with my 20 year old car, so how is a subscription fee justified on something that isn't going to be improved upon from its current form?

Can't remember the finer details of it anymore but I often recall the example of some Swedish military equipment company that produced some sort of armoured people mover. The product was good, the sales went really well, they took all the profits and reinvested them into R&D and improved the product even further. When they rolled out 2.0, they could not get any repeat customers because the original product was so good, so reliable that it didn't break and did not need replacing, so the company ended up going bankrupt.

Out economic system just does not reward building things to last anymore. I'd actually argue that it never has, it's just gotten to a point of very high market saturation in most consumer products that it's become blatantly obvious. You can't even blame the companies themselves, these are the incentives baked into the core of the economy. It literally incentivises the inefficient use of resources. Economic efficiency prioritised over technological efficiency when it should be the opposite. It's utterly perverse and quite frankly disgusting.

And then were ever-increasingly bombarded with the notion of 'sustainability' at every step, when quite frankly, any kind of notion of sustainability within the framework of an economy fully dependent on cyclical consumption is nothing more than a marketing slogan or an empty platitude.

Being sustainable means consuming less, and we can't have that in an economic system hopelessly addicted to infinite growth. How that is supposed to be compatible with life on a finite planet I'll never know.

The only way I see myself coping with it all mentally is to just care less and less. Sorry if that's a bit doom and gloom, I've kept myself up at night a few too many times mulling over this topic lately.

To get back to cars, this sh*t is the reason I'm rebuilding my E46 almost from the ground up, and I honestly don't see myself ever buying a car much newer than that. At least not an ICE vehicle anyway. 

It's just such weird decision-making on many levels. I mean if you own that sort of car nowadays, surely it's not the only car you own, or a daily driver. Why would you decide to roll your pride and joy out of the garage on a day like that!?

My brain explodes in awe every time I check the progress on this thread. Seriously, seriously impressive stuff. Nuclear physics level sh*t.

Someone testing out the buoyancy of their M3 vert during the recent Auckland floods 😅

Anything touring is 🖤🖤🖤

I wasn't the biggest fan of the old style 68's but whoever thought this would be an upgrade must have been dropped as a child. Those blacked out indicators as well... Was such a clean and original car. All downhill from here 😢

My mate spotted my old coupe up in the North Island. I rather wish he hadn't... 

What the actual f**k are those wheels!? 

5 minutes ago, Sammo said:

You didn’t grab those style 32s did you?

Nah, somehow stumbled upon the same set of wheels but in literally brand new condition 😄 Difference with these is marginal but thought since I'm getting all new rubber anyway, might as well let these go and someone might get some actual use out of the front tyres.

BMW Style 193 wheels.
Staggered set, 8" front, 8.5" rear, 5x120.
Will fit E90 & E46 ideally, cannot comment on others.
Front tyres are near new 225/40R18, rears are unusable with wires poking out.
Great condition overall, just a couple of minor scuffs as per photos and next to no kerbing. Have just gotten a thorough wash so are looking very presentable.
Bought recently to go onto my E46 but stumbled onto a different set that I liked.

Ordered a new set of rubber all round in the end. Went with Dunlop Sp Sport Maxx 050+ off Hyper Drive, 225/40R18 front, 255/35R18 rears. I wanted the same tyres all round and these were one of the few options they had both the fronts and rears in the right sizes. Reviews seemed decent enough so will see how they go.

In preparation, spent a good 6 hours on Saturday scrubbing the living daylight out of the wheels. Cleaned up really well with just a few minor black spots that I didn't want to go too hard on in fears of scratching up the top coat.

With my wrists and back absolutely killing me, sat down for a minute scrolling through FB and... stumbled upon these.

Typical. Haven't seen a set of these pop up locally forever and suddenly there's two sets in one week. When it rains it pours...

Went to check them out and was blown away. Apparently had come off a new car having done all of 800km and have been sitting in boxes ever since. And they certainly looked it. A couple of tiny marks but absolutely no kerbing. The original set I bought looked really good as is so the difference is very marginal, but the difference is there. And since I'm getting all new rubber anyway, thought I'd pass the other set on and someone might get use out of the newish fronts instead of them going to waste. So if anyone's after a clean set of Style 193's...

Funnily enough, just like the first set, bought these off a guy that got them to go onto his 130i only to discover the fronts stick out too much 😄

They look so good that I'm now looking to get them ceramic coated before going onto the car. Anyone have any product recommendations in that regard, and if it's even worth going the DIY route on?

Might also just wait until I switch to the 330 brakes with new ceramic pads as the current ones produce more dust than a bloody steam train.

Speaking of which... project anyone?

https://www.turners.co.nz/Damaged-Vehicles/Damaged-Cars-for-Sale/bmw/m5/21987750

Might have been the other one, I believe I stumbled upon it on a Turners damaged car auction whilst looking for a 330i donor, but might be mistaken. 

I remember there was a crashed M6 not long ago that I think BMWorld snapped up and soon after were selling the engine alone for like $15k. That considered, this is unreal value. 

Damn. That's a well sharp price. Amazing how poorly these hold value compared to E46 & E30's. Seems a good buy.

I always thought the CSL's had neither AC nor radio..? 

On 3/1/2022 at 9:34 PM, dirtydoogle said:

OEM springs and retainers are pretty mediocre on most BMW motors. If they're willing to check a few valve seat pressures you will get a good idea of condition 

Chances are the old springs will be at 45-50Lb of seat pressure. Fine for tootling around, not particularly good for giving the bash 

A fast road m5x requires 85lb at a minimum for 7000rpm and a moderate cam

sh*t. That makes me think twice now. Although not really keen to shell out $600 on just springs alone.

Would you look at aftermarket springs instead of OEM?

2 hours ago, duluth said:

Hi all, 

Looking at buying some Style 193 rims and just wanted to double check if the fitment would be alright for the 130i. I can see in that trademe post M3AN posted above that they look to fit fine. Wanting to see if there's anything I should know before purchasing. Thanks. 

Just bought myself a staggered set for my e46 off a fella that tried fitting them on his 130. Said the rears fit perfect but the fronts stuck out too much and were a hassle to try and make work.

14 minutes ago, qube said:

Style 193s are a great fit on the e46 and looks awesome imo

Ohh that's gorgeous. I saw an identical coupe sitting on 193's down in Queenstown a few years ago that I instantly fell in love with. Don't suppose it would have been the same one?

9 minutes ago, Braydon said:

That RTV in the oil squirter terrifies me tbh.

Yeah it ain't great. It was also clogging the non-return valve and the pickup tube was full of it. Glad I'm ripping it all apart instead of just dropping the engine in.

1 hour ago, Sammo said:

@Vass Yeah, 3.38 isn't really good for road trips - 1st gear is usable but you would be pulling around 2800-2900RPM at 100km/h.

Wakes up the M54 big time though, grunt in every gear - perfect for windy back roads but not so much for mile munching and fuel economy.

Yeah, true. I'll see how I go with the 2.93 but might try that out for shits and giggles, probably after I've sorted the cert. Don't think there's much value or demand for the auto diffs so I suspect it'll be left laying around the garage anyway.

On 2/25/2022 at 5:35 PM, Eagle said:

That's quite reasonably priced given it included the diff, im sure that added a bit to the shipping costs if going by weight. Never thought about using a currency converter service, good idea. 

Whats wrong with the diff? it looks like it will clean up fine with a waterblast, rust converter and paint? 

Ive got a new LUK dual mass flywheel and\or clutch kit if wanted? 

Yeah would probably been around $400 cheaper without the diff. I checked with BMWorld, Weitz and a few other places and none had 2.93's in stock so felt it was worth it.

Probably nothing to worry about with the diff as it is but the rust is an eye sore, and a bit concerning with the rust all over the flanges as well. Would ideally like to address somehow but might just see how far a scrub would take me.

Could be keen on the flywheel-clutch combo aye. I'm just having a mate price one up this coming week as well but haven't sorted anything yet. Shoot me a message with what sort of money you'd be after. Cheers

On 2/25/2022 at 7:21 PM, Gaz said:

Who did you use for shipping? DHL direct?

Seller sorted the shipping but I believe it went through a few carriers along the way, DHL taking it the last step.

On 2/25/2022 at 9:14 PM, Sammo said:

M54B30 + ZF + 3.38 = win

From what I've gathered, it renders the first gear practically useless and shoots the cruising RPM's up way too high. Looking to have this car mainly as a weekend road trip cruiser rather than a drag racer 😄 Sticking with a stock gearbox-diff combo should also save me from having to recalibrate the speedo I'm hoping?

On 2/25/2022 at 10:01 PM, Eagle said:

ZF 6 speed would balance that out. With the 5 speed + 2.93 running nearly 3000rpm @ 120kph and $3.00+ per litre now for 98 octane you would loose i reckon.   

I did consider it but reckon it would have demolished the budget completely. The higher cost of the box itself, likely difficulty sorting suitable gearbox cross member, likely having to modify the prop, that leading to needing driveshaft hoops, plus a myriad of other potential compatibility issues, figured it just wasn't worth it for what I'm going for.

Took the missus out for a wee cruise to Arthur's Pass yesterday. Been a while since I'd wandered out onto the open road so definitely enjoyed the drive, even if it meant the engine light decided to wake up from its slumber... So lucky to have these awesome roads right on the doorstep.

Also, picked up a set of relatively tidy style 193's the other day. Been meaning to get either these or style 135's for a while now as I'm not awfully keen on the current 194's. Absolutely love these wheels, fit them on earlier today and love how they sit. Exactly the same offset as the current ones so shouldn't have any fitment issues having rolled the rear guards already.

The front tyres are near new (even if they are Vitora's) but the rears are absolutely shagged with wires poking out so will need new rubber before they can go on. Open to suggestions as to what to go with. Had Potenzas on my old coupe and was pretty happy with them but open to options. Will probably just get the rears at the moment but might do the whole set if I get a decent deal.

Nice one man, cool to see you digging into it. Love those 1-series coupes, absolute go karts those things.

5 hours ago, Sammo said:

Any 30 minute video of some dude detailing a car haha

Ohh mate, if that's your jam... I give you - Chromatic. Dude mostly does bimmers and damn, the production quality of this guy is insane.

Have really enjoyed Frank Stephensons stuff out of all the suggestions so far, been binging all morning. Eye-opening to know the rationale behind some of the styling choices. And M539 is of course the absolute favourite.

Ohh goody, oh goody, Christmas is here! Was sipping my morning coffee at work when I got a text from DHL that my manual conversion was finally out for delivery, so I rushed straight home to greet it.

The package came in looking all sorts of beat up but luckily everything in it seems to have remained in one piece. Looked a close call though after taking off the wrapping as the box was barely hanging onto the wee pallet it was perched on.

A couple of scuffs here and there but overall nothing significant and all the bits seem to be there.

Bit of rust here and there, which isn't surprising coming from the UK. Will be treating and refurbing everything regardless. The diff seems particularly bad so I'm thinking I might look into just swapping the 2.93 internals into my tidy 3.38 instead of using the current casing? Not sure if it's possible but will do some research on it. If anyone knows their way around diffs, some guidance on that would be very much welcome.

The slave looks a bit tired and has the shaft missing, but at ~$40-60 for new ones, I was going to get a new one anyway. Same with clutch, flywheel, pressure plate etc. The one thing I forgot to make sure would be included is the reverse light harness, but I'm hoping it won't be hard to just wire together. Otherwise the kit looks to have everything I need.

Will be doing all the bushes, rubbers, detents before it goes onto the car so will be a wee while before it's all together. The 3.0L engine is now at the machine shop and will take a while as well. At this point, I'm hoping to have everything up and running sometime this winter.

On 2/1/2022 at 11:59 AM, Eagle said:

I'm curious what the shipping process for gearbox etc is like. What did it cost or you still waiting for a tax bill etc?

So, all in all, the conversion cost £850. I also added the manual 2.93 diff on top of that and with shipping everything came out to £1,550. That would have included the front part of the driveshaft. I looked into how much balancing the driveshaft would have cost locally and after getting a quote of $300+GST, I transferred the guy an extra £80 to ship the rear part of the same driveshaft separately as well. It was too long to fit onto the same pallet because of the size restrictions.

The purchase went through PayPal and I made sure to check prior whether Buyer Protection would cover this type of purchase, which gave me the assurance to go through with the deal. I used Wise to convert currency instead of just going with the bank rate, which saved me a good $150 on the conversion rate alone. If you're sending money overseas for whatever reason, it's definitely worth trying out.

Not sure if I just lucked out but everything came through without any duties owing, so didn't have to pay anything on top of the purchase price. All in all, with the exchange rate at the time, the whole kit cost me $3,300 (or $3,303.15 to be precise). Looking at the $4k+ asking prices on TM and such, I'm well happy with that.

Timing wise, I transferred the money on the 25th of January, the whole thing was on a pallet a week later, took another week for the shipment to go into transit and it was on my doorstep this morning, so exactly a month later. Well happy with that. If anyone's keen, I can pass on the details of the fella I dealt with. Great guy to deal with, communication was always prompt and on point and was happy to help out with and advice I was after. He's not a massive operation, just an enthusiast pulling cars apart and usually has 1-2 manual kits at the ready. There's a few folks importing boxes en masse now but I figured I'd cut out the middle man and go straight to the source. Would definitely go back to him again if I ever need to.

In the meantime, I also pulled apart the whole rear end and borrowed a press and bearing plate kit to start pushing out old rubbers and dig into refurbing the subframe. Plenty going on. Just need to carve out more free time...

Wee progress update. The engine is now fully dismantled and dropped off at the machine shop to get some love from people that actually know what they're doing. Decided to go with Car Aid. Not the cheapest shop in town but have heard good things about them both from some mates as well as Eurocare recommending them. They've got a bit of a backlog so will only get to it in a few weeks, which is fine as I've got plenty of other bits needing tinkering to keep me occupied.

From what I could see, all components seemed in fine nick and perfectly serviceable. Besides the heavy carbon buildup on the exhaust valves, all seemed straight and no visible scoring. After looking into the topic, I decided that valves were something I will leave to the professionals to refurb, test and seat properly. Apparently, it's best not to lap valves on these engines as that would increase the contact surface beyond what would be optimal. They come with 3 surfaces cut at different angles from factory so the shop will re-cut those if need be. Dropped off a new set of stem seals along with everything and will have them do a full valve job.

Tested the clearances on a couple of journals taking off the crank, all fell at the 0.05mm mark, which is within tolerance (0.020-0.058mm). The journals seemed in decent shape overall, no visible scoring on any of them so was pretty happy with that. Left it at the machine shop just for looking over and a wee polish.

Rod bearings look a bit worn so I'm definitely replacing those. The main bearings looked less bad but I thought I might as well replace those too, at just about $150 a set it seemed reasonable to do but interestingly, the shop guys said they'd just need a wee going over with a scotch brite and they'd be good to live on. Instead they recommended I spend the money on new valve springs, which was an interesting take. Naturally, brand new springs would have more compressive strength than ones with 160k km on them but I hadn't come across any info of that being a troublesome component on these engines. I considered it, but at $17 (USD) a piece, I'm not sure what the ROI should be to justify that. Think I'm going to stick with the current ones.

Another thing of note whilst pulling it all apart, I kept on finding this black rubbery goo all over the place, likely RTV from somewhere. One bit was even stuck right inside one of the oil squirters, which couldn't have done much good. Doesn't pay going overboard on that sh*t, folks.

But yeah, this is where it's currently at. Along with the block and head, I also dropped off the oil pan, rear main seal and timing chain cover to go for a nice acid bath to have everything equally fresh and shiny for when the time comes to put everything back together again. In the meantime, I'm ripping into redoing the subframe bushes and compiling a list of parts to order. Received a first small batch including the head and lower gasket sets, along with a few other bits earlier this week. First time ordering from RockAuto and must say, I'm mightily impressed. I usually swear by FCPEuro and whilst their inventory is more extensive, I found the prices for some of the identical OE items on RockAuto to be 1/2 - 2/3 of those on FCP. Having put the order in on Friday, the package was already at my door by Tuesday morning. Rapid.