Michael.

A pity you're not in Auckland, Ray at HellBM would have this sort of thing. Although to be fair theres probably little gained by removing these cats, don't forget too if you remove them you will get a more tinny, rattly sound unless you fit some resonators in place.

oh my

What...

Yep I'll get em pictures up. It is a TCM-2000 made by Powertrain Control Solutions. Can also control other stuff like relays too, very expandable and has a good reputation from those that have installed them.

So after sorting out a few minor issues I took the car for a good drive tonight. Runs superbly, totally effortlessly and surprisingly smooth. The 328i stock exhaust is probably too quiet, so I will probably change the rear muffler to my Remus rear box that I previously ran. Automatic gearbox is silky like most Lexus gearboxes are... a bit too smooth so at some stage I will upgrade the valve body inside and wire up my stand alone transmission controller to program the way the gearbox responds, allow for torque converter control and manual push button shifts. Further more as I anticipated the gearing is too long... so I will need to change the final drive pinion and gear, 4.1 will probably be the way to go. Couldn't be happier though. Will post some videos/pictures this weekend!

Great value!

Fantastic!

Yeah, Trade Me classics those ones! "just needs some wiring done and a cert" YEAH RIGHT.....

So I managed to take it down my road and back. ^ Unfortunately I didn't manage to get a clip, too fiddly with the rain and noise Didn't go too far, probably 500m Seemed to pull well, even with a bit of throttle, didn't notice any issues, although its too loud to hear if anything is wrong, since the exhaust is running off the headers - I'd imagine that would have pissed the neighborhood off. (oops) Quite pleased to see there were no fluid leaks too Ill be taking it to the exhaust shop later this week (probably Saturday morning) and once its quiet I'll be able to take a video of how it goes, a drive by/interior shot perhaps... I'll upload a few pictures later this week showing how I've done some of it. Now that it is actually running I get the sense all my work and the money invested is paying off. The costs over the last 12 months since buying the engine have just kept building, one thing after another! To put it in perspective the entire project has cost in excess of an E39 540i Motorsport or an E36 M3 EVO, so it has not been a cheap exercise! Be warned when taking on these sorts of things. (I haven't cheapened on parts either, everything I've put into this is American, European or Japanese.) If I were to do it again it would be cheaper, but I expected to have to cater for additional costs to cover mistakes and what not being this was the first attempt. In saying that I wouldn't want to take a project on like this for at least a year or two.

Yeah I'll stick up some pictures of those soon. Yeah ended up doing a customized rear sump, the pan needs to sit pretty far back, all stock sumps are a no go. Just running the automatic, I wanted to run manual originally, but then I decided I to run the automatic as its cheaper and well I don't have anything against automatics. At least with this one Ive fitted a modified valve body and installed an M3 SMG tiptronic shifter which at a later date I will wire up to this trans ecu I bought so I will have full electronic control over the gearbox, which means fast and snappy changes. Although for now I'm just wiring the stock ECU to control the auto for now, one step at a time! Yeah just running the stock 188mm rear mid case diff, fitted a stock E36 LSD to get the power down. Using the factory radiator with a couple of fans, will see how it performs, but I will probably need to look at some upgrades. Unfortunately I've been busy the past month as I've started a new job so it's put this car on the back burner for a while, athough today I sorted out some electric issues, now its running nicely. Tomorrow I look to taking it for its first gentle spin around the block... Should be interesting..

Looks like you will need one of these!

Wear 3M Ear muffs? Install double glazing? Play loud stereo? Sell up and move?

I once made a similar post about the upgrade of a negative battery terminal cover on a Lexus forum I used to frequent.

Welcome. Excellent purchase!

Hmmmm the modified exhaust is enough to instantly put me off something like that.

They don't do much for me.

Such as? I can't think of any Jap car thats interesting enough to use a German engine.

Make an Alpina B8 4.0 replica E36

This would dramatically devalue the car in my opinion.

That is an exceptionally fine example.

That sounds like great fun

Bahh, I've been feeling guilty for too long now, so I've started a weekly push up routine tonight. ^ You should do the same!

Fantastic. Shall go well!

Why should she die?