Michael.

I wouldn't be surprised if they are reducing the quality of materials inside some of these 12v car batteries due to such high demand of the materials, this means they can reduce costs and make more, at the cost to the consumer so they don't last as long I remember various instances of OEM batteries lasting 10-15 years in cars before being changed, wasn't uncommon to see a 90s or early 00s BMW with the OEM battery still working. Now you're lucky to get a half to a third of that lifespan. Something has definitely changed.

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Wow huge money lol

I've never found it made sense how people modify something extensively to their taste and then add up all the prices of the parts to come up with a resale value. Crazy. A factory themed, high quality restoration is another matter, but even then you don't get your money back unless it's a hot market like it is for E30s or something.

Interesting findings, surprised to you were able to get in touch with a couple of the previous owners after so many years! Curious it had a gearbox fault, wonder what went wrong.

Looks like a third rate knock off thing. What a joke haha

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Always nice getting a new WOF without drama. My Soarer goes in tomorrow, should be fine but who knows what they will nit pick about next haha

Is that not grounding spark plug damage? Sometimes the boots fail to insulate so the spark jumps to the alloy and damages it. Could be at play?

Good find with that loose bolt. I'm using threat lock on a few of those types of bolts that back out in some instance, including on the oil pump ones.

Mmmm nice and clean! I am basically doing the same thing on my E34 540i.

Perfect for a LS3 swap 😜

Actually kind of sad the company is broken up, but there have been so many economic changes in the last couple of decades it's hardly surprising.

Interesting piece of production history. Didn't know Karmann made so many vehicles.

Perfect solution.

Yeah getting the oil out of the casting seems to be the fun part I've read. Is what it is. No expense spared for my 540i.

Correct, going to have them sandblasted and heated. Then powder coated. No chemical cleaning as that tends to wreck them.

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IMO you can't just buy these sorts of BMW models and expect them to keep going reliably at almost 15 years old, they were iffy new and waaay iffier as they got older. Evidence of what you'd be up for maintenance & repair wise is all over the internet. Not to say you wouldn't enjoy having one but to me there are more cons than pros. There is a big difference in buying a 20-40 year old E24, E28, E30, E32, E34, E36, E39 given the way they were built at the time, a lot of those models keep soldiering on with typical maintenance only. Peak of design simplicity, quality of manufacture and ease of servicing meant they will keep going too. These newer generation models are not the same.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kug2uVRbte4 This guy did a reasonable job photoshopping the car to at least look a bit better, still a dorky thing but considerably better than the actual car. Just shows how misguided the designers at BMW are when an internet Photoshop guy can find so many flaws in their actual design and improve them.

Cleaning up nicely

God that thing is horrific. Does it double as a refrigerator, toaster, and dish washer in one? It looks like a second rate appliance. I enjoy seeing all these daft new BMWs as it makes me appreciate the old ones more and more. They were a product of a special time.

Awesome, nice to see an M5 E60 be save from retardation. They make a lot more sense to me in stock specification. Will look the part with the stock rims back on too... Pilot sport 4S spec tyres are probably the go? Bet you enjoyed the quieter stock exhaust on that drive!

Post an exhaust note when you get it, wanna hear that baby sing!

I know a guy that has a clean 540i M sport, 173km. Has been pondering selling it. Probably looking in the 6.5-7.0k range