sonic_attack

Not a hire item. If you're in need of a new set of spanners I got a teng 12pc set from mytools.co.nz for $45 delivered.

That's a pretty significant saving. Lifetime guarantee etc.

I like them too. Feel good in your hand like old school sidchrome.

How about door cards and dash?

I did get your number in Pm thanks. Just been hectic busy last couple weeks.

That's 9K+ easy. It's way too much car for any less. The 420 conversion will keep it there.

e34 540i

Noticed the temp has been on the low side for a few weeks. A little out of the "blue" when the heater fans are on full blast. When I switch the heater off it'll climb back to mid-table, but not quite middle where it's practically where it's always run since I've owned it.

I suspect thermostat. Would anyone else?

Guy didn't even hit 90K and the owner is saying "they thrashed it".

lol.

Oil/filter change.

Still no loose oil pump bolts swimming around in the sump. Last time I actually pulled the pan off, this time I just gave the pan a few tracks with the rubber mallete after draining oil. Allegedly the sound of bolts banging around in the pan is unmistakable using this technique.

Wish I'd read that prior to the first oil change and decided to occupy a morning undoing and retightening the 400 bolts in that pan while laying in a pile of leaves...

*penrite*... Damn auto-correct

Used Penrith everyday 10w40 fully synthetic for last two oil changes (roughly 10,000K intervals) seems to stay quite clean. Not a fully opaque black at least anyway, quite impressed with that.

Good price too. Just wait for supercheap sales. I'm sure I paid $11 a litre for a couple 5 litre packs.

USA aren't allowed them. For road cars at least.

Quite interesting to read today an M60b40 block (sans crank, pistons etc) weighs a measly 25KG. Heads 30kg each. Whole running engine 203kg.

An alloy 12 can't be a massive load more than that.

Could either of those cars do 260?

A lot of money to pay for an almost. While not the same, I'm sure someone here recently was looking to value their e39 540i/6. Quite a smart looking car and a reasonable price.

Been on/off sale for a few years. Pics make it look untidy for a 40,000KM car. Maybe the owner has just been enjoying it?

"Cuckloaders"? Is that when your wife humiliates you in group play?

Crikey. If you haven't read this things blog you owe it to yourself to have a 5 minute stroll through the rantings/manifesto of a true lunatic.

If not for morbid entertainment, it's a good indicator for recognising you've gone too far and need to seek help from a professional.

Admin should let this guy stay for those reasons alone really. Lol.

Phone number?

There's a bit of good luck there. Someone backs off a 4ft retaining wall and appears to have suffered no damage? Not even a dinged sill.

That wouldn't happen to me.

Yup, paid $520US for koni sport adjustables on all 4 corners and US$170 shipping in 2 packages. The full set of new Vogtlands was NZ$230 landed.

At a US$0.82 or so exchange rate.

No one in NZ is going to come near that. George Stocks was roughly $400 for Vogtlands alone.

I still live up the road from you don't I?

Who doesn't have a 17mm socket kicking around Lol! That's one of life's basic utensils, like a fork or can opener.

Search "hotcarparts" on ebay.de for Vogtlands . Koni adjustables from Mueller Motorwerks. M60b40 and 5-speed from Brent..

Lol @ $500.

$5k should get you something sweet. At least maintained to a reasonable standard, tidy interior with minor flaws, maybe a pocket of headlining coming unstuck. Tidy body with regular stone-chipping up front, otherwise pretty straight and square.

I actually picked mine up for $2.5K and it's a $5k car. A year later and it needs work though. Definitely needs some new bushings up front and back. Clearcoat has failed impressively on the boot lid and bonnet is going too, headlining needs work.

I Park it on the street though and use it daily. I imagine I'll sink $2K a year into it replacing/maintaining stuff.

$500 will get me some e31 control arms and maybe some powerflex subframe bushings if I'm lucky and shop around.

That trademe 540 is a good buy assuming general tidy condition.

It's already chipped. Assuming RP swap to maybe 3.15 seeing someone has installed lsd already. That's probably as quick as a 540 gets without sinking more than the entire cars cost again into a 6 speed swap.

What you asking Brent? Just for comparison.

* damn auto-correct.

From my reading, it's the Canadian M540i/6's that got the best treatment. Full Nurburgring M5 everything with an M60b40. Only 30 made of the last gen.

Be interesting to know if NZ got any new ones back in the day. There can't be many. I recall reading Aussie had 70 e34 M540i variants.

Probably the only let-down of these cars today is the active suspension. Stupidly expensive to repair. Someone on the Facebook page was asking about options for his 3.8 M5 a week or so ago. There must be $5K-$6K minimum in sorting all 4 corners today. Ouch!

e34 M5 is a fairly well regarded car, there must be something to them. A 540i/6 won't be far off performance wise, probably evenly matched. Apart from the engine all the rest is practically identical bar some minor brake tweaks. Probably nothing in the prestige stakes between an M5 and M540i/6 either.

Good luck finding an M540i/6 though. The regular 540 isn't far off, just needs the 6 speed and sway bar / brake upgrades to M540i spec. Any of these e34's will benefit from shock/spring refresh to get a better result than what was offered in the mid 90's

Shadowline trim doesn't mean anything other than shadowline trim as far as I'm aware. It was just an option available to punters.

e34 is a big heavy solid car. I'm not sure it would ever track like a smaller lighter vehicle. At 22 years old though mine is enough for me, they really are a nice car to drive whether dawdling along or thrashing through country roads.