Eagle

Probably best to order parts the parts your yourself the are required from overseas. You can get the same parts as the dealer would use at much cheaper prices. Any reputable workshop would do the job easy. Interior trim on sides of the boot needs to be removed the access the rear shock mounts. No idea how long that takes on E61 but it should be straight forward job. Brake hose replacement is simple. Replacing just rear shock tends to show up the likely worn front struts resulting in sub optimal handling.

Maybe of interest to someone. Still sealed. Free excl postage

In my experience that's due to more 550's around compared to other V8's

Beeseal. Very good product with many uses.

Yeah that's classic VTNZ. Usually when they say "Check manufactures specs" it means the play very minor and not a safety issue anytime soon. They are all about liability\ass covering and don't care about costing people money. Easy for them to put the onus on someone else to figure it out.

Yeah like all barges they are really a passenger car rather than a drivers one.

Yeah like many cars the market here is small. Im sure the enthusiast grade will slowly increase in value but its a bit hard to know as most are kept and rarely sold.

Sold my last one for $3500 in ~2008 with 17X,000 on it, so they haven't gone up much. Not cool\popular enough and V8 is better in most ways. The main issue for me with older these older less common cars are hard to find and\or expensive parts .

Low effort pictures but importing a car, paying for a manual conversion and good lsd to be installed puts you well ahead of the average BMW owner as far as quality goes

Never heard of them but prices and shipping costs seems decent.

Looks good to me. Spring perches\drop hats tend to used to lower not raise but maybe E46 ones would raise, im not sure. Are you running the thinnest spring pads in rear? Think they are 5mm

Interior is nice but the rest seem like the kinda of mods plenty of E90's would have.

Wasn't quite satisfied with the handling so made a few tweaks - TRW msport front struts to match the rear. Z4M front control arm bushings bump up the caster. Re-alignment to check and add more negative camber.

Not specifically utes but tailgaters in general - Turn a tight corner at the or near the speed limit without braking and continue. They will always drop their balls, disappear well back and get mad they their pos couldn't do that same. Then its usually speeding just to get back to tailgating you. Always gets a laugh out of me.

Depends on the vehicle condition, service history and how much money you want spent. I always change every fluid and filter at the bare minimum if not evidence of it being done. Engine wise i check - plugs, belts and pulleys, cooling system, pcv and intake boots\hoses then clean icv, tb etc and smoke test.

Haha i did the same thing driving a E34 540i back from Christchurch. It wasn't that fun either with many k's of 30kph limited unsealed roads, traffic lights and 12am in the morning.

Dropping the subframe isn't that much work, same basic process on most BMW's. If you installing poly bushings you likely could heat up and knock or use a puller to remove the old ones out and press the new ones in by hand. Bushing can be done with or without dropping the frame.

There are a few generations so not sure which one that applies to. Yeah i dont like them either but i wouldn't buy any Japanese fwd myself. Problem is 3.5k doesn't buy you much and most the older 90's stuff is pretty old and worn out at that price.

+1 Japanese - Mazda Axela, Tidia, Jazz etc are far better choices. Balling on a budget never ends well for the average person.

Price of everything has gone up considerably in these last couple of years. Fuel just taking the spot light currently. Reduced vehicle usage is a good thing but i do feel for poorer people who can't wear the added cost.

Yeah id imagine the real high k ones are used and less likely to be for sale, rather barely used, held\sold for profit. Seen a few E36 M3's with S50 engines in NZ with over 300,000km, not much else.

I think you'd be struggling to find super high k M cars (for good reasons). Id bet most of these E39 M5's need many 1000's spent on them regardless of price\condition to get them back good mechanical state. They are still an older used BMW after all but with added M-tax.

A members car. Its been for sale for awhile, im guessing due to location?. Good buying compared to some given all the work done and tidy condition

Hard to see where the hose goes as its covered, but it looks to have been bypassed probably due to heater core leak

Fair enough. Id just want to see what the sensor is reading especially when it hits limp. E39 540i addiction is hard one to break for some haha