Michael.

Exactly my point! But yeah, I agree immaculate cars = labor of love but because of that a lot of them end up becoming garage queens.

I wonder if this next generation of engine will be as easily reflashed and lifted in power. I wont be surprised if the software engineers do some clever security coding to prevent general tuning places with the old generation equipment from re-flashing them to make more power. In theory it would be plausible to expect that so it protects their flagship M3/M4 models stock power output etc.

Manual 2.5L > a few dents Should be a good project! I'm sure you can get most parts like replacement seats etc from Brent or Ray.

Theres a fair bit of truth to that. I find getting caught up with cosmetics really takes up way too much focus and creates this odd obsession to keep it mint looking. It just detracts from sorting out the core mechanical parts & ultimately the driving experience. The most fun I've had in cars are ones that are mechanically sorted & lifted in power etc, without too much focus on the exterior. Depends what you want though

They're really designing cars so only trained technicians with unique service tools can work on them. So few of these cars will be able to be repaired in 20-30 years time. This is why I love 80s-90s tech. Fewer bullshite designs

So its called a B58B30? They could have used another letter other than B for the engine series, given the B has always been used before the capacity.

What a creep. False to the core.

Pics I took are from the tops of the points where the subframe bolts screw into the chassis, I removed the first layer of sheet metal to get access to them. To my horror they were completely cracked, and the lower part of the mounts visible from under the car starting to split So obviously the progression of failure is from the top to the bottom, this was a 1993 example 325i with 200kms Ill get some more pics for ya later tonight.

Welcome James. Just be aware your user name might cause some confusion with our fellow member DSCOFF. http://bimmersport.co.nz/user/17742-dscoff/

heh what a classic. Very 70s DNA BMW. GLWS.

Yeah weld in for sure. I'd be expecting to find cracks on the upper portion of the mounting points for the subframes in all moderate to high km E36s. You can't see these parts unless you get a hole saw and cut the top skin from inside the car. Removing the seats and boot carpet is required. The only tricky part is to find the exact spots of where to drill with the hole saw. I achieved this by drilling through from under the car with the subframe / stud bolts already removed. I needed a special 250mm+ drill bit for the length. Heres mine after I had a mate weld up the cracks / splits found on all these points, only one was intact, 3 had split from the sheet metal completely.

That would be tragic if they did. People should be learning earlier IMO, gives them a better chance to actually LEARN to drive.

I think given the nature of the suspension having to come off you're better to also remove the rear subframe to do the reinforcement plates. It's a really bad issue you don't want to try avoid. I thought my E36 was okay until I investigated and it was really bad. The rear trailing arm mounting pockets are a new area to keep you eye on too, they like to get cracks around the welds. A few companies do these weld in plates. I did mine due to a two cracks starting on either side.

Time for a higher non motorsport bumper?

Awesome. I'd like to see a local LS swap actually get done properly. How did you go about the engine mounts? As for the diffs, if its got the medium case setup, its probably just good enough for the stock power of the LS with road use, I suspect it wouldn't last with track work though. I know of guys in the states with 500nm+ setups in turbo E36s with 188mm diffs were doing ok, but for your setup I'd do what James suggested and replace the rear end with an M3 subframe for the 210mm large diff.

LED street lamps

It's also worth doing the rear trailing arm bush mounting points, common for the welded mounts to get cracks in them, as well as the commonly known to fail, upper and lower subframe mounting points. The longer those are left the worse they get. At least with the shock mounts you can see clearly if they have deteriorated or not.

Yeah I sold it to this guy Dyson who then sold it to Jacque who had it listed on the BMW site. I see he no longer has it parked at his workshop in East Tamaki where I work close by, I presume its sold so just asked if he has indeed sold it earlier today, hence the for sale post being bumped. I removed the Aston muffler and put a cheaper 335i muffler on before I sold it.

Good idea putting stock speakers back in. Who makes those units? The old aftermarket two way speakers have never been to my liking, can't beat a proper component setup.

Exciting. Will you hook it up to an Automatic?

Repco had 25% off last week. They all must loose money to pull customers in with these tricks.

Real issues IMO are on other industry levels. Why don't these f-ers talk about how cargo ships use cheaper heavy crude oil in international waters with nasty emissions like sulfur only to switch to 'nicer' grade oils in ports etc. They have levels of sulfur 2000x that of car regulations. Think of how much these ships emit, 1000s of car emissions worth per X distance. Their fuel consumption is just astronomical, 1,660 gal/hour for example (Emma Maersk)

For fuel gauge errors, Ethanol blended fuels typically cause such issues where the gauge is suited to read the level of regular petrol blends. Depends on the gauge type though, are E39s using floats or rods for the level?

Well done Alex. Bring it to the next Sunday coffee meet at Kyu's on the 4th