sonic_attack

Yeah the battery is fairly new and doesn't have a problem cranking or anything. The problem is intermittent and has only done it twice with 8 weeks or so between events, and is accompanied by a brief "slipping" noise, almost like a fanbelt squeal but not as high pitched, otherwise the trans functions perfectly, shifts fine and feels solid. The error is gone when the key is switched off and the car restarted. I'd figured if there was something seriously wrong here I'd know it and hear it. I'm thinking some minor mechanical fault and a service would likely be helpful. I had intended to swap fluids out and throw a new filter into it anyway. I'm counting on it being good because I want to sell it lol!

Thought I should document what I'm doing to this, seeing like any other car-toy it's a vortex of monetary evaporation. I'm not that great at keeping track or following a plan either so it'll be new for me. It started as a plain jane NZ new automatic 540i, reasonably tidy - It does have some aesthetic blemishes as you'd expect from a 20+ year old car. I got it at 201K KM, it's now on 209K KM and in that 8000KM I've swapped all 4 rotors and pads, stitched a new waterpump into it after it let go on me, and swapped out the type 2 Schnitzer wheels for some staggered type 3 Schnitzer 2-piece wheels I picked up. The minor blemishes can stay for now. It's a car to use and I use it all the time. Inner city parking is never going to be kind anyway. That's the main reason I've left the towbar on. Now I've owned it and driven it a while, read about the limitations and beneficial upgrades I'm reasonably confident in recognizing a stopping point that'd likely do me fine. I love the shape and size of the car so plan on holding onto it for a long time so I've compiled a shopping list of upgrades that'll work it's way in over time and in some sort of order. Suspension upgrade - Adjustable Koni's and Vogtland Springs. Sourced and purchased, fitting can wait till Summer. Primarily a nice low drop, but a reasonable upgrade over stock. It's not a track car but sometimes I like to drive. There's other bit's and pieces that'll be required, I've had a look under the car and the front seems to be full of newish poly bushes - The back suffers from wheel hop on hard launch and looks to all be OEM rubber, some perished. Diff upgrade - Large case LSD sourced and purchased with 3.46 gearing. Additionally I sourced/purchased e39 M5 3.25 R&P from ebay which I reckon will be roughly right and sit around the sweet spot for an everyday driver. I'll rebuild the diff before sticking it in though, I don't see the point in slapping what's likely practically an open diff in after seeing a couple hundred thousand KM. I'll fit with new subframe/bushes when I find a cheap wreck for an in/out swap. Brake upgrade - Some combination of e34 M5 / e31 / aftermarket. Nothing insane, I just need to slow down and stop. Trans upgrade - 6 speed manual. The benefit here is well documented I don't need to second guess this one. I've had a couple of "trans program" errors on the dash display which I'll assume is telling me to swap the auto out for manual anyway. Interior - Something a lot different to the plain 'ol silver leather. I like it but it's bland in the executive 1990's cheese sort of way. The wood trim might be dated. I've another interior ready to accept so dye, this can wait till summer though. Engine upgrades - This part is a bit of a mindf**k. So I'll leave it till last. The 250 odd cubes of M60B40 is reasonable as it is, I'll see what I have after the diff and manual trans goes in. The main problem being the cost of even simple upgrades here cost a fortune. Headers $2000+, Cams $2000+, Head work astronomical+. The most bang for the buck is the supercharger kits at $5K+ for 100+ HP. Likely I'll do something stupid and throw money at it but there's no drastic urgency. A meticulous plan with specific goals might be in order to get a reasonable return on investment, possibly used parts could keep costs down to survivable.

Where'd you get a brass one? I didn't have a lot of choice in hindsight. It's my daily car and I had to find a waterpump on a saturday morning and fit it. I was just lucky in doing that because nothing is open saturday mornings for replacements, not for an M60B40 anyway..

This would be a concern to me. The cost of getting that sorted now regardless of what it actually is would outweigh the drama of a toasted head or a breakdown down the track. A preventative waterpump swap isn't a bad or unnecessary bit of maintenance. I've read that the plastic impeller can fracture and be held and function by the angle of the fracture itself. I did mine recently on a different BMW engine, that scenario is practically what happened to mine though mine let go in a short space of time. The replacement I installed had a cast metal impeller, Seems a bit more trustworthy. Regardless of where the coolant leak is, you shouldn't have one.

Washed it. Took a look at Koni shocks and Vogtland springs I have sitting here and decided I can't be bothered crawling around in the dirt fitting them just yet, the gap up the front annoys me even though compared to some it's quite tidy, looking forward to stitching all that together though.

Very nice, saw it when I was driving through the hood the other day.

They are a sweet car, I found someones Schnitzer variant off a link. I want one.

Blackwood & Paykels is a good co to keep an eye on too. Good brands and often have clearance and big discounts on hand tools.

Sweet, I might have been inclined to play around with the THULE logo though seeing you copied it. Like "TOOLE" or "FOOLE" in the same typeface. Some guy walked up to me and asked directions in the street the other day and he was wearing a North Face tee. Upon closer inspection when he was standing in front of me the logo read HEY f**k FACE made me lol.

Those king tony tools aren't bad actually. I've a 1/2 inch ratchet I've had for probably 25 years. I've abused the living sh1t out of it and it functions fine. By abuse I mean I've used it as a power bar and a hammer on occasion. That's probably not saying much, but I've used crap ratchets that I've sunk a bit of weight into to shift a nut and the teeth have let go inside it and I've ended up punching my knuckles into a rusty chassis or engine block.. I'm not too fond of my 1/2 inch Teng ratchet, it works but it's not that smooth, it has a rubberised 'outer' that I can tell will get pretty tatty with use and time. The selector for left/right on it is just a puny little switch. Unlike a nice solid clunky button of the OG Aussie made Sidchrome. I have one snapon screwdriver, strangely I bought it solely to swap binding screws on my snowboards :-/ I've had that 20 years too and it's had a hard life, functions like brand new and I'm confident I'll abuse it until I die without it failing.

I bought old sidchrome and teng tools for socket sets 1/2 and 3/8. The quality there is decent. A new teng screwdriver collection. My spanners are an assortment of crap right through to sidchrome. I spent money on quality t-bar alen keys loose alen keys and torx bits, both the keys and 3/8 sockets. A decent toolbox is an overlooked item. Any day on trademe theres a great quality used toolbox full of quality tools for bargain prices. If you shelled out $600 - $800 depending on contents for a used set inc 9 drawer toolbox youd be laughing.

Just out of interest, is there any aspect of slotting a 112X5 or 114X5 pattern out to 120X5 that would compromise the safety or funtionality of a wheel? I could I guess run adapters to solve fitment, im just curious about slotting. Is it an option? And what are the requirements to be met to make slotting an option?

I'd go with a bright blue in the darker shade. Like a reflex blue. 3m has the same shade in 50 series vinyl. Its cheap to in that particular vinyl, it will last long enough as well. You already have a neutral base so the natural contrast would be dark, like a charcoal colour, thats a bit boring though. Blue, possibly a deep red/blue purple shade like a reddish violet. You could wank up the transition with a bright flouro, pink, blue etc. Once you broke it up with sponsor logos thatd be a sweet livery.

Id have to disagree with your assment of incompetent bmw mechanics around the place. From what ive read in this forum alone the quality of bmw knowledge is mind boggling, if the folk posting here are a representation of the bmw community in NZ we're pretty safe in getting guided in the right direction. As a professional outfit specialising in bmw I reckon Auckland is a pretty small place to hide and try bluff your way through. Theres botany motor works in south auckland, bm workshop in central auckland, and bell bm in silverdale. I havent used any of them but their reputation far preceeds them. Thats auckland pretty much covered. Then you have folk like andy who can stuff a V12 into a little hole and have it running and maintain it and likely hes seen everything. Brent at bmworld whos done similar and knows probably exactly where every bolt and part came from by looking at a grainy cellphone pic. And probably 20+ others with practically infinate knowledge. e38.org is best bet for everything e38. Ive read the hell out of that site and I dont even own one of those cars. Ive read about edc delete in step by step detail, part codes and the functionality of the result in detailed review from google search. Its all out there and freely available. Clipping the ticket is part and parcel of doing business and providing a service. I do it, thats how people survive. You're not forced to buy and likely you're fine to provide your own parts and pay labour alone. You read like you carry this giant chip around on your shoulder like a full grown siamese twin robbing your blood and ingested nutrition. Thats just how I read it though. The very first reply outlined what you needed to know and the subsequent answers practically pointed you to exactly what you needed to know and you seemingly choose to blow them off because they didn't suit you. I come here seeking the knowledge these folk have too, Im aware I should be polite and courteous of them taking the time to respond and gift their knowledge and advice because I know if im not, itll be remembered and they wont bother in future.. but thats just how I see it.

Metric Mechanics have a bunch of good reading re BMW diffs. It's all in how much torque your diff is receiving and a combination of the R&P gearing inside that'll effect the longevity. Without delving too deep, I imagine there was a genuine reason BMW jumped up the diff sizing in the cars released with larger and more powerful engines... For what it's worth though, the 188mm diff seems a pretty good option for any BMW owner in a regular real world scenario. They're plentiful, every type of R&P gearing available without searching too hard, they're strong and reliable. Makes me wonder why I chased a bunch of stuff around for a large case anyway.

the OP doesn't bother me so much, at least traffic is moving in that scenario. What annoys the sh1t out of me is impatient folk who refuse to merge, and absolutely MUST gain half a car length by slipping up the inside or outside in merging lanes, driving full noise to the very end of merging lanes straight past a long line of cars moving slowly in lane then coming to a complete stop and indicating to merge. Not leaving gaps for side road traffic to come in/out. The worst one though, is the folk that indicate left to pull into a driveway, slow down and take a sharp right and occupy the entire road just so they can take a more frontal entry into the driveway. Fine if there's nothing around you, f@#king annoying when you aren't aware they're going to do that. Most folk indicate left, pull left , slow down and turn in at least leaving room for anyone behind to continue on past.

You need to sus an inside mount for the cam, like up on the back window so there's a bit more going on to watch. First person viewing is a bit ho-hum after a couple minutes. Quite a smart car though, sounds fast. The ol C10? Chev truck though! lol! He's got that going pretty good!

Is the uneven ride height on e34 a common theme? Its not too noticable but is when you're looking for it. The front might be half a finger uneven. Im not concerned, just curious. The back though, fitted 265/35/18's and one side has plenty of room and the other side will need a tweak with a guard roller. There might be around 7-8mm clearance on the good side and 3mm on the side that'll rub when the suspension takes a hit. Again im just curious.

For a single? $120. Supplied with good condition used hub ring. :-)

Nah, not now I'm aware of it. You can't have a "set" when one is oddball. I took a quick gaze over them at the tyre place when I first got it so was aware one had different casting marks, obviously didn't look too hard at the time though. Spares are good though. Someone might want one for the boot. I'll just stash them in the basement. I was looking for one to have the full 5 set several months back so seeing there's only 3 it doesn't seem unreasonable to flick them of as singles if they're wanted like that.

I'd just ring LTSA and follow their directions. Explain the situation, I don't imagine they'd make anything impossible or too difficult. The car was last registered in 2009 so I'd just be telling them you're "disposing of it". Hold onto the plates though. Don't let them go with the vehicle. I'm pretty sure someone will be up for 12 month rego though, or they'll be asking for it at least.

Fitted type 3 two-piece Schnizzles.

Well, I was bitterly disappointed to find my one odd genuine schnitzer is actually a FAKE. Ass.. balls It's not even 8.5" as stamped, a clear .5' short. Any one need one of 3 geniune 18X8.5 schnitzers as a spare? lol..

Just walk into the postshop with your plates and see what happens. Rego expires after a year so I'll assume at max there will be 12 months of rego owed. I don't know that for certain though so there may be a work around. You won't be stung for 5 years rego.

I can't overcome the shape of it regardless of the technology and performance. Looks like an Austin Allegro Estate. ie: Landcrab.