Michael.

From what I've read 1500-1600kg would be a realistic figure for a basic 6 cyl E39

I think so too. Wouldn't be super quick with the weight gain but would make for a nice drive. Then again compared to 530i it would be considerably quicker.

Amazing value for money... I guess it does reflect the love hate aspect of the early E65s though. There are a few other car models like that where they have dropped to the bottom of the market for being out of the ordinary. Win win if you like them!

I laughed when I saw that. Yet another person with more money than skill.... Should have got a 318d ! Nasty impact on the kerb and coming back down though...... What kinda damage would have that done? Shocks potentially damaged from the rear dropping back down so hard? Bent/dented rims? Bent control arms? Alignment taken out for sure.. ?

It's a good thing in many ways, means the parts will be reborn into another BMW that could do with a S54 M engine under the hood. Heck, would be great for someone wanting to do a S54 E46 Touring "M3"

Goodness me Earon. I guess this means you will be keeping this fine machine! You'll appreciate it more once such stuff is done - especially if you're doing it all to a high standard as noted above. I still think we should look into ways to get more out of the exhaust noise / intake - I think it's what the car needs to give it that new edge.

That is just reckless.

It's already up and running, was at the last Euro Car Club meet

Welcome Dave. Hard to beat an E39 M5, probably THE choice out of all on offer these days. Style, quality and performance to match!

Aftermarket trans controllers are pretty fiddly. You need to custom tune all the shift points from 0-100% throttle in all the gears, as well as set the line & accumulator pressure to the clutch packs & brake bands which took quite a lot of test drives to achieve in my E36 setup. Even then it was somewhat jerky due to the lack of previsions to fine tune the shift sequence like a factory ECU can offer. A very niche market thing too in NZ so find it unlikely any service person would help. Summary = manual gearbox ftw.

Could be an idea to use a common 5 speed gearbox from Japanese model car, a few getrag options around. I'm sure there would be some previsions to CNC up some adapter plates & modify the original automatic bell-housing.

To be fair that tread tile is a bit of an oxymoron. I have yet to see a cheap Mercedes!

Failmaster 40 series

Catman, will come to you, 021 228 2283, pays pretty well from my experience

Wind Mail

Just make sure you use industrial strength string Francois.

Some people don't want the 3L because of the gas use and would take a 1.8-2.2 version just for the image, so from what I've seen those models can fetch a bit more. It's also a very kiwi thing to avoid a car with over 200,000kms because it will need some work done on it.

As far as I know this kite is missing the string, but easily sourced at a hardware store.

That price though.. is it justifiable?

Damn, those tips would have been perfect for my E36 V8 when it had the RS4 mufflers

So true! Then again at least for ever $1 you spend you're going to get that dollar back and some.

Hmmm not quite clean enough. Joke! This machine is always spotless. Are you doing your house to the same standard?

Haha, yeah welding is an acquired art like skill imo, can't just give it a few practice runs and give it a go... especially if its structural. My friend that did all my E36s welding has been doing it for 8 years and it certainly shows

Some one should organise a group weighing day...