Eagle

Yeah i bought a 535i with 530,000km on it from an old guy, everything was very tidy because he spent alot fixing. When driving it home the front shocks which were so far gone it was hard to stay on the road at 100kph, ive never floated like that before. Maybe he thought that was normal or liked it, who knows.

Way too high for a road car unless you like bigger fuel bills, more gear changes\wear and noise.

But they still hold together quite well. Not worth it in this case ( 3L just doesn't cut it ) but still much cheaper to sort the most BMW's.

They don't keep increasing the service intervals periods for nothing, combined that with all the emissions gear, variable engine systems etc it sounds like an early grave to me

There shouldn't be any play in the joints themselves. The flex disc and center bearing can seem ok but can be worse upon removal, they all work together. Personally id just get a good 2nd hand shaft and replace everything whilst you are there, its cheap(~$200 or less) and surely you don't want to have to pull the driveshaft out again. RealOEM should help you out with what fits what. BM World or HELLBM are the goto's in Auckland i believe. My E39 is auto, it's just a daily hack i spent too much fixing. They decent cars but the plastic quality really lets them down. I still prefer the older models.

There is always going to be some backlash in the diff etc hence why i asked. Since you plan on taking the driveshaft out anyway im sure you find the culprit. Yeah its frustrating when you don't have anyone to help when needed. Currently in a similar situation with my E39 driveshaft, it has constant vibration which can be felt from about 70kph while driving, real bad a 120kph cruise but hardly feel it at very high speed. When i took the shaft out the rear CV joint was stuffed, center bearing had play and was noisy, the flex disc was cracked and very soft. The car had done 250,000km and the parts were all originals. The u-joints were still fine but i just replaced the driveshaft with a good 2nd hand one and put a new center bearing, flex disc and guide bushings it.

I agree but that only really applies to 90+ models imo. The M50 was the starting point. I know Germans like their recycled plastics but its usually BMW (and probably VAG too) that are notorious for failures. Not sure when BMW started using recycled content it but i'm sure like most things the quality of it has decreased over time, whilst the amount used has increased.

Are you grabbing one side of the joint and trying to turn the other against it? I maybe wrong but it looks like you just turning the shaft with one hand in the video You can also support the rear subframe on axle stands and have someone run it at varying speeds. You can use the the hand brake to help too.

80's era engines are the best BMW has to offer reliability wise, simple and well built. Clearly he has no nfi or chose to ignore any engine before the 90's.

and all the suspension

As soon as i saw it i thought of the typical Nissan Teana

Friend bought a BMW with a front brake caliper and a wheel loose. The caliper it was causing the ASC light on come on sometimes which lead me to the discovery. Later 3\5 wheel bolts came off on the motorway and the others weren't far off. Human error is one thing but the dishonestly and lack of remorse in this case is unforgivable.

I honestly didn't know the S62 used M62 manifolds. Chalk another one for those 90's BMW accountants.

E34's use ADS interface. Something like this would be more than required but its well priced http://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-Mini-INPA-EDIABAS-DIS-GT1-v44-and-v57-SSS-Progman-Super-Easy-Installation-/301352241817?epid=630750747&hash=item4629fe4a99:g:xfkAAOSwr81UO8rY Personally you should be able to sort it without any scanner being an E34 (which is pretty basic) If you are sure there are no leaks Id start by pulling sensors one by one - maf. engine coolant temp and tps. See if you get any changes.

The B4's are cheaper than Sachs and come in 2 options - std or sport suspension. You usually state which option you want based on the car (sport obviously in your case) . They are really an OEM replacement with possibly a small improvement, lots of people running them. The B6's are aimed to be an upgrade over OEM usually used with firmer\lower springs than OEM. As Alan stated if you buying new springs M1,M2 suspension etc is irrelevant as you can choose the springs to match the shock. All 6 cylinder E39 springs and shocks mount up the same\interchangeable. Those springs you listed look like the equivalent of OEM sport ones so you can't go wrong with the Sachs or B4 sports shocks.

Forgot to add you could always get Bilstein B4 (OEM replacement) or B6 upgrade. Used B4's on a couple of BMW and have them on my Merc, no complaints.

What springs are you going to use ? M sport II suspension may or may not have a slightly firmer setup but wouldn't worry mix and matching in this case.

Doubt you will able to achieve 250hp with "basic" modifications. You'd need to stroke your engine with m52\m54 parts + tuning at the least to get to that. A manual conversion (if it's an auto) and a ecu remap or chip (EAT, JC) would be the best power increases for the $. Possible exhaust headers and camshaft options available but no idea on the availability and cost of those.

And the rest

Its like the Japanese brother of my E39. Mine being OrientBlau with motorsport kit & steering wheel, tan leather and a few option differences. Price seems a tad high to me considering its a dirty jap import with nothing truly special about it. Yeah seem to be heaps of cheap 530i Motorsports for sale lately, but id bet they would be mechanically worn out in one way or another ( like all cheap E39's)

I think he was meaning pure evil to work on

I use Youshop for Pelican Parts orders as their shipping is more expensive than it should be due to them using excessively large boxes. Save usually 30-50% on postage. FCP seems better but not by that much. I will look into MYUS.com

Indeed, i dont feel wanting more power wise. If the engine was in lighter body and even manual it would destroy many much newer performance cars.

Performance engine or not i love my V12 purely because its the only N\A V12 that does well in most categories (excluding exotics for obvious reasons) Huge potential for power increases as AMG\Zonda showed us, you just gotta have the skills and\or money.

E34 535i and save the coin for fuel I look at it in terms of computing power. The 90's is where computers started to develop rapidly, compare 90's home PC with a modern one. Cars followed with manufacturers like BMW implementing the latest gizmos and gimmicks and the technology allowed. Imo late 90's tech (E39 & E46 era) had a good balance when it came to performance vs complexity. Problem is the focus is becoming more and more about how many electronic "features" can be put in a car and marketed while reducing quality where it matters (or used to), longevity? longsmetivty