Eagle

After talking to @Vass about headers i went down that RHD E46 M54 header rabbit hole again, discovered there are 2 semi reasonable priced options in the UK - Gravity and Malian exhaust. Gravity wouldnt ship their better designed ones to NZ, at least not via their website, so i decided to try Malian\Kage ones for fun(not). Long short sort they are crap. An O2 sensor bung was clocked wrong so hit the chassis and had to cut down. Their flange positioning and\or design interferes which each bank, even after cutting it. They do clear the steering very well and have new flanges put on to fit, but im not inclined to do that without a hoist or TIG welder. In talks to get partial refund and sell them onto someone else. Early 330CI's upto >Sept '00 had M52 style headers and cats under the car, probably the best option overall but not an easy system to find.

Cant hurt to give the MAF a clean if you havent recently then reset adaptions if you can

For the starter itself (im assuming that price is) its probably about right for genuine new Bosch unit. Re-manufactured genuine units are are about 2\3 of that price overseas by the time you add shipping. Spareto dont seem to be reman'd unit so im assuming those are aftermarket judging by the price, made in China no doubt, but probably ok for the price.

I've been looking into via work contacts after not grabbing one when Costco had them. Probably cost more now Putting castor bearing or wheels on them seem to be a great mobility mod Where did you get your one from? 5000tl?

A bit rich for my tastes sorry. Most ive found seem to be $100 + shipping.

As long as tidy its a mostly the same tidy result. Tape just easy and i use it for a lot of other things. My Jap E36 Ti had the rear plate bracket rivetted into the boot from the inside so tape was the natural choice after cutting it out and filling the holes.

May of come across as a insult but anyone who knows these cars knows it was a tongue in cheek comment. The advise about is correct though. The majority of owners can't afford preemptive maintenance these require to be reliable so they aren't visiting the workshop regularly for repairs. This tends to exacerbate the fact that being already being base model run around with low entry cost, that they aren't maintained as well as higher end models. As for the original question - BM Workshop and Eurocare are the main places ive seen recommend but it can depend on what work you require

Later type with msport wheel. p\n 32341162111

Its the same process as removing car emblems, you use dental floss to cut it behind the tape and solvent, caramel wheel etc to remove the reminder. Changing plates isnt very common once everything is tidy looking.

3M VBH tape

So you only have to do it once to qualify for national?. Sounds like National only about half a dozen times a year or less?

Brave + Duckduckgo has 2 alternating ads as the first 2 results but that its. I dont why anyone uses google for a search engine, its been garbage for a long time.

On brave browser there is none(blocked)

Best thing i ever bought for gearbox bolt removal(and engine mounts) was a 24" 1\2" extension, never touched that rubbish multiple 3\8" setup since. Good idea, never considered that. Ive always used a wobble extension for the tight prick on the RHS.

Spareto.com are far better for aftermarket options(and cheaper). Schmiedmann dont have much selection and their aftermarket brands tend to be the lesser ones.

I think some of that can be attributed to crappy facebook messaging system filtering. Its certainly happened to me in the past when receiving and sending.

Could be. Id scan to see if there are any faults and check all fuses. Things like EWS issues or key problems can cause similar symptoms. Do you hear the fuel pump priming?

Cable rarely needs adjusting in my experience if its set correct to begin. The amount of people tighten the cable up(usually for a WOF) thinking their handbrake performance is adjusted is common.

They usually do in my experience. I havent really had any issues with facebook when dealing with mostly BMW related stuff.

Any decent quality rotor is coated\painted at the factory and usually last years depending the environment. Sounds like you got very cheap Chinese ones which are usually bare metal. Some sort of caliper paint would probably be the best bet.

I borrowed @hqstu X3 3.0 for a short period and OBC was around 12 iirc for my mixed driving, the open road was much better around 10L. 4WD system, auto, heavy\tall and short diff ratio makes them guzzle compared to a say a 330 manual. Doing the work you above can't hurt and is good maintenance anyway and probably see some increase but i dont you are far off if any. Id say check the fuel trims too to make sure you havent got any vacuum leaks etc. I always higher tyre pressure than BMW's specs which helps.

BMW specific software eg ISTA on a laptop is probably the best value for money setup and most capable . If you want an actual scan tool then something universal is the best bet imo, will cover most of your standard needs and do a wide range of other cars also. I picked my Foxwell NT809BT on Aliexpress scanner for less than $500, but you can get even cheaper ones depending on your requirements. Having both is ideal and doesnt really cost much in the scheme of things.

@hqstu would know. I believe you have to beat in the sheet metal a bit to fit the housing, run updated IIIa? light control module and some wiring no doubt

Any reputable oil that meet the specs would be fine. Yeah i usually buy a 20L which is usually far better value. Ive used Fuchs in the past but Penrite is well priced and easily available so i tend to stick with it. You'd definitely want to reset the adaptions as well if you do change the fluid, sounds like it probably needs more than that to remedy it.

Money pit is a pretty subjective term. All old cars are money pits if you start to change old parts to refresh\restore them to a near new driving experience and condition. Doing the bare minimum for servicing and WOF requirements may or may not be depending on the condition of car, how its been used, service history and luck. No real information or photos so hard to say much. Japanese imports of this era arent as good as NZ new equivalent (possibly Jatco transmission(jerky gear change issues), IR remote instead of RF, maybe extra emissions gear, no euro trims, little to no service history etc M52 engines are fairly solid and cheapish to repair but usually lots of aged plastics and rubber that can fail. ZF's transmissions last if they have been serviced at some point. Tired suspension is big cost on these but you can things like random electrical failures like ABS modules which can get expensive to fix. Interiors are usually failing to varying degrees, A\C buttons, dash pixels, headlining, rubber seals, wear of seats etc. For a daily driver i dont see the point unless you want to carry passengers in comfort. Be better off with E46 6 cylinder, much cheaper to run\fix and generally less to go wrong. Even a E39 5 series which still has decent space but lighter and more examples to choose from. If you do end up locking something in then get a pre-purchase check by someone who is familiar with the model before you hand over money.