Michael.

Nice work man! I like that you're paying attention to the smallest of details by the looks.

Love the sound of the exhaust, has a great clean aggressive tone. Although the clip volume did seem up and down - maybe just down to the way the gopro recorded it?

This is a good point.

Whoa that photo is huge! I like what you've done with the air box, ties in nicely. Seems you have a 1994-1997 1UZ given the type of air flow meter your engine has. Ideal if you keep it NA, lighter thinner rods and slightly higher compression compared to the earlier version.

yeah, as John said, an M50/M52 swap would probably be the best, and to try keep costs down. You would be looking at 10k min to do a decent 1UZ swap, realistically 15k+ once you add on drive terrain costs and all the other small things required to make it all work.

Can't say I have any sympathy for that driver. No excuse for manic driving like that on a public road, what if there was another car coming around a blind corner too? Idiocy at it's best.

Mmm a dead rat. How charming... it's quite nasty what one can find. In light of that it's good to see an M5 get back to its former condition, keep up the good work Martin!

Haha yeah, well now that I recall, this example was definitely not running on '12' cylinder sounded more like what you've described above.

Boysen is probably the most common, they do stock Audi/VW exhausts, heaps of variations and sizes, many rear mufflers are straight through stainless ones, I've seen some 2.0" up to 2.5" All decent quality and generally from cars less than 5 years old. The good ones are those from the RS and S spec vehicles, and R line VWs. There are some stock BMW and Mercedes mufflers worth a look too. It really just comes down to finding the right size for the E39 chassis' exhaust cavity.

Yeah totally, actually... you would probably be looking at around 1k for a nice I6 custom manifold and around $500 for a good single system on an 3.0 six - Although you would have to do the work yourself or have some you know with the skills/tools do it for a reduced rate. (for a second, I thought you had a V8 E39 which would obviously be a bit more expensive) It's the only way I'd go tbh. Wouldn't waste all that money paying for a brand name on basic pipes etc. Although, it does pay to go for good mufflers, I tend to use stock high performance ones with good results, can pick up some good deals if you look for the right thing.

Hmm expensive. You could make you own headers for around $1.5-2k if you were committed enough, header back exhaust would be $500-1000 for a decent system.

Front lip held together with painters duct tape?... I'm not sure that adds up on a 26k car..

Provided they are in good condition. I drove an absolute dog of an 850i a while back, which was said to be in 'good condition' ....Easily the worst BMW I had ever driven, the handling and braking where shot, and the acceleration comparable to a 80s Falcon - pretty sure it was miss firing. Either way it was a bad introduction to the model, I can help but think ever since a 3 or 5 series would be a much more enjoyable car to own in the long term or that at least an 840ci would be the pick of the bunch.. in good condition of course.

Wow that is ridiculous, good on you for taking matters further.

Most interesting. Is it clean inside from what you can see?

Pretty extreme Steve. Say, will it be road legal?

Haha, I fell into this trap about 2 years ago, I need a cheap daily for around 3k, couldn't bring myself to buy a boring eco shite box so caved in and bought a 535i for 3k, this one for 2k seems like a bargain in hindsight. But they are gas guzzling, but then again, aren't all 3-4L cars from 25 years ago?

Has he let you drive it yet?

At this level on such newer cars I would leave it as standard if I were you.

I like it. But it does have a generic Commodore / Ford Mondeo look to it... maybe a hint of Mazda 6 too.

Yeah fiddling with the needles is one job to avoid where possible , I replaced my temperature gauge with a variable rate VDO unit and refitted the needle by having a resistor on the sender end to give a 90-95 degree reading, ideal as the mid point position for the needle to sit.

Some cars suit wood if it's in good condition, but yeah they are usually from the 90's - I don't think it's out of place on E34s or E39s. E36 with that stick on wood is an example of tacky detailing, I'm not even sure if those add ons are even a thin wood veneer or just some synthetic stuff. My 540i E34 had nice wood in good condition, looked good with the two tone white/grey dash.

Cleaned the headlights inside and out, it's amazing how dam dirty these can get, especially the reflectors inside.

No doubt a 'individual' option?