Michael.

I think I remember, silver or grey one in manual right? It would make for a good setup, but yeah with the costs of a cheap 540i it's not really worth it these days, unless you were really keen. I only put the 1UZ in the E36 as it wasnt a factory option & changed the whole character of the car.

Beautiful example! Did I spot a lower side skirt from an E36 M3 in byzanz metallic in one shot?

haha, but Ive already upgraded to Motorsport seats I was thinking of some quirky electrical upgrades. Something shall come to mind soon, Maybe a remote start arrangement

Heh, yeah you weren't wrong! I just needed to work out a stock way of doing it then this idea popped into my head Saturday afternoon, had it sorted in 24 hours Now for the next thing to blow some money on other than fuel...

Obviously just a 4.2, doesn't sound turbo so lets just say the S6 variation

C5 S6 or RS6?

Ahhh I got it, New camaro V8

If its been well maintained and doing "COMMUTED AUCKLAND ROTORUA DAILY" then I think it could be worth a look. Motorway cars are definitely nicer than city bound cars that suffer doing short runs, in start stop traffic rather than cruising at speed for hours.

So cheap!

645i???

Could be worth retrofitting a Toyota/Aisin 5 speed auto in place. They are very hardy gearboxes, no torque converter issues or premature failures, worst thing Ive seen is a failed solenoid.

Hmmmm goodness me! What could it be! ...New Mustang v8 ? Ahh I though Z4 first... possibly one with a V8?

Audi A8 or S8??

Very cool. I like such detailed posts and good quality pictures.

Big thanks to Ray for helping to supply this, M3 SMG wheel for my E36, I've wire up the paddles to work remotely with the custom manualised automatic, goes great now, sooo much nicer than the cruise control stick at the 4 o'clock position I've been using for over a year! Just waiting to source a dead airbag I can re-assemble as part of the center piece / horn.

What to chooose!

Potentially interested in an E46 SMG wheel with paddles on the back at the right price. While I've seen some on Ebay they do seem a bit overpriced... That said, does anyone have one available on here? I'm considering making it work with a wireless remote relay setup for my automatic gearbox in my E36, kinda of over using the cruise control stick for up/down shifting, I think the feel would be much improved with both hands on the wheel for shifting. Cheers! Mike

I couldn't agree more Geoff, I'm 24 and often struggle with those CAPTCHA messages, some are down right ridiculous... while one word is eligible the other is often a guess at best. At least there are some more simple versions out there for similar purposes but nothing pains me more on the interweb when a CAPTCHA doodah pops up!

Alex W in his 328i I think, driving through One Tree Hill today. Did you see my E36 parked on Tawa Road haha? Your 328i sounds great btw.

seems so wrong... Need a landcruiser for such activities.

So I had my diff ratio changed from 3.15 to 4.27 by Neil Allport Motorsports. They charged me $460 to set the gears correctly for 5 hours labour which I was somewhat shocked at. They replaced the front pinion seal only and reused the old bearings which they said were 'ok' I had to however source the side output seals, for some reason they didn't do this. All seemed well. I refitted the diff and ran the car, noticing straight away it had a faint whine at speed noticeable from after 60kph, a vibration seemed to occur at 120kph of which I felt was diff related. The whine would be most noticable on and off with light throttle. I asked the Neil Allport guy I dealt with, Here is our brief conversation: Me: " I seem to be getting a subtle diff whine which gets more noticeable as the speed increases...Not an alarming noise, but noticable, whether its LSD related or tired bearings?Could also be wheel bearings but I will need to investigate further I think! Them: "With second hand running gear in the diff, it could have been noisy when you brought it? but it's def related to the gear inside the diff, not the way it's been built.. " So that was about 2000kms ago and it's got no better if not worse. I decided to remove my diff last night and put the stock one back in. To my surprised the front pinion seal has been leaking, flicking oil all over the exhaust and surrounding areas... the bottom of the subframe was dripping with diff oil. After removing it, I removed the oil which was now dark brown with metallic swirls throughout, and 500ml is gone, filled it to 1.7L and now its down to 1.2L Heres some pictures of the oil and gear teeth. Originally this gear set was bought in good used condition, having centered wear marks on the drive and cost sides of the teeth. Tell me what you experts think! No transparency with about 200ml of oil under light.. Upon putting my old open diff back in it feels like a different car, quieter and much smoother, no vibrations.

I suspected so much! What would be the cost for such a rebuild? If I supply all the parts, including 4 new bearings for the output and input shafts?

If I take my original 3.73 open type diff... Remove the non LSD center...... Take off the 3.73 ring gear...... Bolt the ring gear to specs with loctite to my LSD center...... and put it back in the diff accordingly, would it all match up correctly to the pinion gear in theory or should it be 'adjusted' ?

I was going to say this car would suit you down to a tee Jooles

What a machine, what a creation! I think they're looking better as the years go by too. Such a classic shape...