Eagle

Fair enough, we all have our personally preferences. I tend use new stops much of the time but these are on much older. higher mileage cars. Some times getting new stops for the rear will put me over the GST limit so i wont bother as long as they are in reasonable condition. The amount of cars with no bump stops is quite surprising even with new shocks and from my experience many garages don't tend to replace them for whatever reason.

Yep they are not a bad car for their day but have many potential flaws. EAS is great when its working but doesn't seem to last very long before something fails. The HVAC system is pretty troublesome also. Don't have high regards for the rover engines and even though the M51 isnt a bad engine for its time its just a bit under powered in P38 coupled with the turbo lag Only reason i my father never sold his is they generally seemed to be worthless these days (had from new $80,000 in 1998). I can see a good diesel example possibly fetching a reasonable price but im sure the market for them is relativity small.

Yeah the benefits of air suspension are given. My comment was aimed at the butchery of which appears to have distorted the system. Nothing worse than people attempting half ass fixes.

Seen quite a few without certs so it down to the WOF inspector i guess

Haha wtf. Why wouldn't you just convert to coil springs. Only major problems my fathers had was air suspension (gone now) and heater core o-rings leaking (2nd time). BMW engine and transmission are the best parts and still solid at 230,000km

Given the many variables here i personally i wouldn't recommend those kits at all, mainly NZ is not a harsh environment for cars to ever had need of a kit like that. There's is just too much unneeded hardware in it which hit you in the wallet twice - purchase price and added shipping costs (which are going to be high enough as it is) Get Sachs struts\shocks (they are alu) and Lemforder mounts Check condition of your bump stops, dust sleeves and shims and order if worn (most of the time rear will be ok even at high k's, fronts bump stop and sleeves are usually perished or missing depending on k's, shims are usually fine - front bottoms will be the ones that are worn if anything) Everything else on that list simply doesn't wear or can be reused without issue

Yeah id just replace the shocks\springs\mounts for now and not bother about anything else unless its obviously worn (Jon should of picked up that was bad when did the inspection). Once you start doing full suspension overhauls on these its get expensive esp if you cant do the work yourself. Mine would of been 1k-1.5k worth of parts using OEM and Meyle stuff and me doing all the labour. You can google E39 front and rear suspension refresh to get an idea. If you can't locate any Msport springs then id probably just revert get 2nd hand std ones from a wreckers etc. The bigger ARB do compliment the msport shocks\spring setup making it more neutral handling setup but they are not essential and why bother for a daily driver. Never measured my ride height but it appear roughly the same on each axle. Not uncommon for BMW's to sit higher or lower on one side. Having you measured your ride heights on flat surface with the hand brake off?

Cheaper to buy a motorsport version and get the whole package with all the rest of the bits if you really want to start upgrading things Not a simple task to fit front sway bars on E39, not to mention actually finding a set, then you need new bushings, links. Springs are the same really, if you can't motorsport ones and you want to keep ride quality you may as well just get a replace your rear springs, get new shocks all round with mounts etc and replace any worn control arms etc. After that get some decent rubber on and handling wise it will feel like a new car. Id also recommend doing the Vanos seals if they haven't been done already. Money very well spent for the performance increase

Most likely OEM non sport Sachs would be what you currently have given you don't have sport suspension optioned. My car is exactly the same spec as your expect colour and added motorsport kit No issues with Meyle's on standard springs, they ride and handle fine for an OEM replacement but anything is better than worn struts\shocks. They maybe valved a little firmed than OEM standard shocks but ive never felt new Sachs on an E39 so can't say for sure. Also running a set of PS4's make a big difference is handling. Given Sachs aren't generally much more expensive it would be best to go for them instead of Meyle and get new OEM strut\shock mounts and maybe bump stops if needed.

OEM Sport suspension springs and shocks would be the go if you want reasonable ride quality with a a little drop and better handling. Otherwise just get some Bilstein B4 Touring's or OEM Sachs if you going to use standard OEM springs. Mine is pretty much the same spec as yours and is my daily driver, done 280,000. Ive replaced all the shocks(Meyle - very good deal on them at the time), control arms and bushings and it handles much better. Number of things can cause changes to the ride height but you say Auto38 has inspected it and determined it was the spring?

No, you did that one all on your own

Tidy E36 318is with the M44 would have to be the cheapest 4 cylinder to run and maintain Easy to sink $ into M54's to fix all the issues they have with degrading plastics and rubber but they are a nice engine once sorted. Been daily driving mine for bit over 2 years racking up 70,000km, 100km each day on the open road. Average about 10L\100km but that's with shorter 3.46 diff and 120+. Nanna mode is about 8L\100km Mazdas are ok if you can get over the cheap interiors

Yep the M43 would have to be one of most reliable motors BMW ever made, but its also one the slowest engines they ever made. Too bad the accountants forbad the use of the M44

+1 E34\E32 had a better system but given its a far higher quality car as far as electronics go it's not to surprising. My E38 740il had the full DSP audio package which is pretty unimpressive compared to the older premium hifi package.

Personally id goto the wreckers and get them. Maybe get new nuts if you are fussy.

Nothing at all worth saving. Far better off to buy a later model one with the B34 and covert to 5 speed manual if wanted.

Makes sense given that the production numbers are likely to be quite high, they are a cheap car and most don't have huge mileage on them yet. I would expect them to be on the road until they have a significant failure or the owners get tired of sinking money into them, then many will start to get sold\scrapped\parted out. I expect them to be a 2-3k car in a few years.

With plates like you never know if its trolling or serious unless you meet the owner. I drove guys XR6 turbo with the plate NOTJAP for a week and felt embarrassed every time i used it. He had nothing against Japanese cars though.

All good. Couldn't find any vac line but you will need approx ~100mm

+1 take it back. They may have moved the wheel positions on the axles ie putting back wheels on front etc. If one of the rear wheels ain't quite perfect could cause a vibration when moved to the front. Getting a wheel alignment is always a good idea also with new tyres if you havent had one for awhile.

As Glenn said you'd have to drill it and insert something. Id cut a slot all the way through then put piece of flat steel in the slot and turn it but much depends on what gear you have and how hard the cap was wound on

Used their eccentric ones on my old E30 without issue. No idea about posi's.

Every time i hear the word Valvetronic all i can think of is all the tribulations it brings. Surely you have a warranty though given modern BMW love to sh*t to bed?

Should of stated it has to be manual. If it is then send away.

Had my hopes up as been looking for a good E34 for awhile now. Appears to be classic example of purchase price + money in = current value