Eagle

Yeah that is low, mine are 220. Sounds like 002's would better in that case.

Ive done 14,000km on my 050A's since new and thats including 3 track days and plenty of hard street cornering running 2 degrees camber front and rear with toe-out in rear. While I haven't measured the tread depth it looks to be at least 3\4mm left. A haven't tried the RE002 but these have been the best street tyres ive used for what they cost me, the 050A's have higher load index than RE002 which one of the reasons i went with them. Im running 235\45\17 with 97 index and sidewalls very solid.

$32 a litre last time i bought some from dealers a couple of years back

Easy to do. If you google e38 SLS or self leveling suspension delete there's plenty of write ups, you will need new shocks & springs obviously, mounts and a few other little bits from a std strut

A 540i manual touring would be even more rare...

Buy cheap sell cheap I think its priced well considering the market for a V12

E34 are electrics are pretty basic compared to newer 5 series etc and in my experience are very reliable. The heater resistor seems to be the most common thing that needs to be replaced as the average owner is usually doesn't when it fails. Interiors are good quality, only problems that can happen are the usual headlining sagging & sometimes the door card trim coming unglued

So you really paid a few thousand for a head gasket job and some other bits? While i dont know the details it sounds like you got taken to the cleaners.

Get your parts overseas from pelican parts etc, cheap as and still readily available. Self leveling is easy enough to delete, ive ended up putting new shocks all round on most E34 ive owned as most have been worn or just on rubbish Lance's E34 looks nice thou

Ordered this a couple of mths ago and only just received it but now i do not require it. Im selling at what it cost me to get it into NZ. Good upgrade, maybe someone on here will benefit from it http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.as...970&ed=true

Good thing about about E34\E32's is you can plug and play many options, all the wiring\plugs are there for cruise control so you just need to find a stalk, actuator\throttle cable and computer and plug it all in. Lots of benefits in owning an E34 over a E39.

Guessing it was fine before you installed the new thermostat?

I assumed he was talking about stock vs stock, modified its anyone's game.

Both have their advantages but if you are wanting the faster track car then E36

As said it should remain at 12 o'clock position once its upto operating temp, where is it sitting and\or decreasing to? Only time ive seen the temp gauge move on the BMW's ive owned is a couple of needle widths hotter but thats driving on the track in summer time.

RE001 were a decent tyre and im sure RE002 are good but id also consider them to be at the lower end when it comes to the Potenza tyre range, we seem to miss out on alot of the other options here in NZ.

Just start with an alignment as the info it gives you can tell you a lot and its probably most likely thing. If it doesn't solve it then you can eliminate it being that and look at other things mentioned

Fixed

If you are getting tyres swapped then no reason why you shouldn't get an alignment at the same time, i have no idea who is good in Chch but i usually specify my alignment settings anyway. The 318ti has no rear adjustment from factory iirc so you can only really adjust front toe. I specify 1-1.5mm Toe in(+) on each side usually as ive seen alot of places adjusting toe in to excessive amounts.

$1000 seems reasonable from what i can see but thats a 155kw motor and they aren't id call rare.

Is it lowered? Making sure the wheel alignment is within spec would be the first thing id do

Damn i just threw a complete auto box out recently

^Pretty much but i would drive it anyway as well

Probably just BMW being conservative\covering their ass, Germans are more pedantic than Japs after all. Most sources ive seen for the M20 state 60,000 miles or 4\5 years, i personally think 80,000 is a good medium baring age or if its being used in extreme conditions. The M40 is a lump of sh*t to start with so probably better to drive it till it fails, celebrate, and then put in a M44 like you said.

No doubt its due but 26,000 is pretty ridiculous - 80,000-100,000km is the average and most belts ive seen can easily go past those figures. Do you know it hasn't been done? No idea on the labor costs sorry