Michael.

This is definitely a car I'd love to see once it's finished and certed. Glad you're in Auckland too. A few years back I pondered doing a 3.5 2GR V6 swap into a E46 touring so I can understand why you've gone down this path. Thats the one. Needs a helping hand even with the bigger engine swap haha

I wonder if there will be an inquiry to determine if this was by the book or not, seems too hazardous parking vans like that for hours on end, if there was no van it's likely the person that crashed would still be alive today. Looking at legislation there is a $150 fine for non emergency stopping on NZs motoways. I guess police use for stopping their vehicles on the motorway is exempt, anyone have info on that?

How does the EPS compare to a hydraulic system in the same car?

That's some awesome work David. I remember seeing someone do a similar 3D print of tube sections with the right CLRs and specs required, thought it was a great idea. When I did my V8 E36 swap starting 10 years ago I drew up the engine bay and engine block/heads by hand to insert into a CAD program so I could work out the exhaust manifolds down to less than 1mm, they were just basic 4-2-1 types and segmented the drawings into pipe sections that could be easily cut to spec and welded, in the end it worked out to be a very accurate process and the result was spot on. A couple of pics from the archives I am currently using a similar system to make up a single turbo V8 system on another car which has been working out well so far. The 3D printing method seems like it would allow you to make complex designs with full real world accuracy mocked up on the engine. I've not played around with 3D printers yet but considering it for other projects. How long do you think it took to 3D print all the parts to make both manifolds, must have been 100s of hours total?

I remember doing this on my parents 330i too, pesky things haha

Ohh lead free bearings. That explains a lot

That's looking sharp!

What are they?

I think if all the S65 and S85 engines had proper mechanical sympathy from day one the situation would be different. That would mean: > Low rpm driving until oil is at full operating temperature. > correct oil change intervals, ideally shorter than oem recommendations > correct oil grade / quality The situation would certainly be different 10+ years on. Many people that owned these cars beat on them when the oil was cold and/or had been overdue for a change, accelerating wear. It's easy to blame the engine but these aren't regular motors they are high compression NA motors making strong power at high rpm so if anything need to be respected more than more conventional lower rpm engines.

This guy does some cool videos, in this one he fixed some of the retardation of the IX original design, what he came up with was definitely nicer, considering what he had to work with.

I have found the issue with header wrap is it gets the manifold super hot changing the metals corrosion resistance, it's also a problem if a weld cracks, makes it quite hard to find the leak. Ceramic powder coating and some appropriate head shields are often more practical.

Welcome! A fine car. Hopefully you got the pre September 1998 model which didn't have vanos and few other over complications that can prove to be a bit of a head ache as these cars age. Nothing that can't be fixed but it's nice having a more simple spec when it comes to an older car. Any pictures of yours?

These up spec late term E36 Sedans are really cool, such a contrast to the hideous base models in rough condition that are often floating around.

Got to really push hard with big projects like this, but at least you're getting some parts in order

E46 is still prettier. 1M has some nice angles, but the front has nothing on the clean styling / headlights of a E46 M3

I was under the impression new batteries needed ultra pure new material to work to the design specifications Introducing recycled material is said to reduce the purity and reduce the potential performance of the battery making the batter have less range, less life. Have things changed?

Having taken apart most of my M60 at the moment, I love what a simple design most of it is, yet nicely made and put together. Everything is so serviceable and relatively easy to work with. I value those kinds of things over efficiency or peak performance.

Lithium, cobalt, nickle, all the materials are going up in value if you look at the market price trends of these materials. I suspect that will be reflected in the prices of parts that use those materials in years to come.

I'm going to buy one for sure.

Something happened when I started with the front shocks..... a toothbrush came out to clean them, then came the realisation I need to clean everything with a tooth brush and replace just about everything of a perishable nature. I'm probably going overboard, but I think it's a nice change to do a really fastidious project. The only BMW I wanted was an E34 540i so it all makes sense to go for it and do it to the best I can.

E46 M3s have never looked so good, especially when compared to the wave of recent M3 M4 models.

That's the thing with mine, seldom used so it's in nice condition but most of the parts are originals, so needs a good going over. Which I am fine with as I like to be the first one to deal with things. So there is an appeal there if someone wants a project.

Wow beautiful E34 touring in green, looks the part. So shinny too. Yeah they are nice, I've pondered them for my E34, but it's so hard to make the choice, still not 100% on that look. I'm always quite fussy when it comes to wheels. I'm still leaning to 16s with fat tyres, maybe 17s.

Very nice, looks like a car with great potential. Have you got more pictures? I just bought a 1994 540i with 86,000km, NZ new Went via auction, hard to say exact market value but it was exactly what I was after so ended up paying 7k for it. It's a niche market for sure. I'm spending that same amount again on restoring all the mechanical aspects, just about doing everything, down to cleaning individual nuts and bolts with a tooth brush Auto value 540i models are less than manual ones, so that is something to consider too.

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