Eagle

To be fair they are a sh*t design coupled with sh*t plastic. Guessing they wanted to save money on bolts and tapping threads.

Typical NZ new non msport facelift spec (like mine) which has some good options. Good colour combo too. K's is lower than the average one but service history as more important. May of been used in traffic most of its life, lots of short trips etc and its still an 18 year old car regardless. Id be asking for any service history Around those k's are when the cooling system start to fail - mainly water pump, thermostat, expansion tanks. Transmission has hopefully been serviced otherwise its well overdue. Suspension should be acceptable at those k's but no guarantees, you'd probably feel to the difference in handling you replaced shocks etc. Other little things like belt pulleys and tensioner are usually showing wear and various small leaks from old hoses and o-rings are usual present to a degree. Vanos seals are probably worn which isnt a major but doing them typically improves <3k rpm torque esp with the shorter diff ratio Im sure the Wellington guys will know who to recommend.

Where are they available?

Ive got Evo2's on my Merc but can't compare them to RE003's on a BMW. They did offer similar performance on tyre tests and do the job fine. Never used S01's but from experience Michellin PS4's are significantly better than the RE003's performance wise.

It's hard to find good performance tyres for that size. Last time I checked the Hankook s1 Evo 2 was the only thing available locally that I would of used

Yeah mines the same bar and all wired up. The module was sitting in the wheel when i bought it, no idea where its suppose to mount exactly but its chilling in the battery bay now.

They sort of seem to becoming a BMW 90's Nissan Skyline equivalent

Don't think id ever buy another silver car but it looks nice. Another HellBM job like most manuals ive seen.

E39 manual's seem to be a rare breed esp the 6 cylinders, you see V8 ones come up more often.

Same reason i got rid of my style 5's, too much work on clean on a daily driver. I compromised and went with RS 740's instead, were much easier to refinish as well. RT's should look great though if they come up like Kyu's photo.

If someone gave me 200k etc to spend on cars id be filling the garage with older stuff before i even considered buying something brand new. Most modern cars just don't offer the things that i admired in the older models. Improvements come with a cost and you simply can't make a car like you could back in the day. Yep as much as i love power the speed limit is so low here that big power is wasted in average use. My S600 does a flat 6 to 100 and while its average performance by todays standards due to the weight ive never felt wished for more speed. Im glad ive never owned anything too powerful otherwise i would probably have no license.

Welcome. I would advise getting mechanical warranty for your car, as the engine in it is known to be problematic one.

No idea how they came to that price evaluation especially given its been modified plus 3.6l

Yeah at least with the early E34's and E30's you could use an offset ring. These later model cars with these deep mounts makes it impossible. Either way ive never used the above socket but can see how it would make the job a lot easier for some

If the wheel isnt straight go back and tell them to fix it. Whoever did it failed the job.

Not sure how cheap\easy it is to rebuild or obtain another gearbox and\or engine but personally if i found a cheap V8 touring id be turning this into parts car and building up a M60\M62. I respect the M70 but its has too many disadvantages compared to the V8. Either way i admire the dedication (this from someone who owned double digits worth of E34's and a few M70\M73's).

Parents one done 140,000, bought it at 26,000 Excluding general maintenance items ive only had to replace due to failure were the CPS, thermostat, oil filter housing gasket, expansion tank and 2xDISA valves, one for failed pin and one for failed diaphram (easily the worst thing about them as they ~$500 these days). Water pump, PCV, belts, tensioners, pulleys and rear coolant flange have been done as preventative not along ago.

I remember seeing the E38 one "True beauty remains over the years..." Least you got that one right Chris

Had a '92 Corolla lift back for my first car but even though it was reliable and cheap to run it you never had any confidence its safety. I remember being scared driving it at 100kph in heavy rain and traffic on the Auckland motorway you were wrecked it if a hazard came up which required braking or turning quickly.

The price is fair but i don't think white centers are a popular choice for BMW's, probably just not much interest.

Guessing they have a deep hole? Rubber hose etc around the shaft and clamp it with vice grips or tube socket clamped with vice grips and allen key thru the middle of the socket (does require one a long one quality one)

E36 manual with m44 4 cyl engine aren't too bad power wise 6 cylinders in e46 arent that nice to work on. M43 4 cyl in e46 is one of the easiest engines I've ever worked on

Should be able to get someone decent in that range but the best bet would be to test drive as many different makes and model with different engines to see what you actually want (sounds like you going to do this?). I like BMW's but would never recommend buying ones just because its a BMW as there are plenty of good options around for A>B cars. If you decide you want a BMW and have narrowed down what ones you are considering then we can help you much easier.

In that age range there are heaps of new and used parts available locally and overseas.1990-2000 coves 3 different chassis, each with their own positives and negatives and wide range of engines choices. Its hard to really give any specific details without knowing this. Generaly speaking they do cost more to run and maintain the an average jap car but do have their advantages. Finding a good example and getting pre purchase check done by someone who knows the cars is the key point especially with a BMW BMW gripes ive heard from people usually stem from buying neglected\worn out cars, not knowing where to buy new and used parts from, comparing genuine dealer part prices to made china japanese parts or just buying problematic models. What are you primarly using the car for? What is your budget? Are you planning on paying someone to work on the car or doing work yourself?

I always swap to poly bushings in the thrust arms if im keeping the car, but given that you have the warranty its probably not worth it in this case.