WIBIMMERS

Been trying to get "The Boss" to warm up to a nice touring. But, every time I show her something like this:

https://losangeles.craigslist.org/sfv/cto/6196657479.html

she see's this:

well maybe someday.

looks like a unicorn worthy of a road trip.

Snap said:

You need to hold a seminar: how to convince a significant-other to allow for multiple bmw purchases.

I will sit front row and take notes

First of all buy her one. Make it better then yours, but one she picks out. I got her the E38 with the options she wanted, not what I wanted. So not a slammed, Stanced, blown M5 On airbags, with a gazillion watt stereo.  

It also helps to make a roadtrip out of it, Like a vacation to pick up her car. She didn't even mind driving it 8hrs back. If it didn't work out it was still a fun trip.

Once she is invested in your hobby, she will be much more receptive to future purchases. As long as it's not just about your toys 

Not buying money pits that will depreciate like a rock helps too. I have less in 5 Bimmers then most people spend on the family minivan.

And most of all don't abandon her for your hobby.

End of seminar.

If you guys haven't guessed, David is my teenage son. They say this addiction can be hereditary. I have 2 that can attest to that, and my wife thinks we're all nuts.  We have a  three E34 family among other BMWs.

RobZR

for the ti guys. hakentt's  e36 N55build

https://phoenix.craigslist.org/nph/cto/6142292851.html

where do I remember that wheel from? ohh, here is the original.

The Knight Industries 2000

It sucks that he didn't have insurance,  but at least he stopped so you got his info. Most these days wouldn't.

If I was you I'd go buy some lottery tickets, hoping your luck is still holding out.

From reading your account of the accident. I would have figured the "M" was toast, and you had his bumper in the side from the rear door handle up to the roundel on the hood.  You got lucky.

I had a tangle with box truck about 30 years ago. Hit me in the same corner,  but hard enough to send me spinning like a pinball, bouncing of 2 other cars and finally t-boned by a van. Wound up in a ditch with the van teetering on the edge ready to roll over on top of us any second. My Mustang didn't have a straight panel left and the passenger seat was ~9" wide.   I'm lucky to be alive. 

Looks like most of the damage was simple bolt on stuff, and with a good paint match it will look better then new. 

Good to see everyone was OK,  M is on it's way to healing, and the upgrades continue.

Nick_F said:

Itll be weird saying "I'm going to American family insurance park"

It'll be Miller Park till I die.

I want nothing to do with AMFAM after they screwed me over on an accident 20 years ago.

Rather then die, this thing just multiplies. 

https://racine.craigslist.org/cto/5996941164.html

straight6pwr said:

personally, i've never run 20w in anything.

i also believe that brand names, additives, blah blah blah is marketing b.s. and the difference in quality doesn't justify the extra costs. get the right weight in whatever fits in your budget.

Ditto.

20w- anything is an archaic spec that belongs back in the 50-60's. Only guys using it are into old muscle cars with sloppy clearances, because some of the oils are blended to protect flat tappet push-rod valvetrain.  Or they like to see 100psi. on the gauge on cold starts and think it's a good thing.  

Most older BMW engine clearances are designed to run a 10-13cSt oil viscosity. Or ~30weight oil running @100c. All oils start much thicker when cold.
Running a thicker oil doesn't make sense unless you run the oil hotter the 100c. A 20w50 will be ~20cSt @100c but it will thin to ~12cSt at 120c. engine thinks it got 0w30 in it. It's happy.
The cold end of the scale looks much worse. A 0w30 is 65cSt @40c while the 20w50 is 180cSt at 40c. It takes that much longer for the oil to warm up and flow throughout the engine.
This is not even looking below freezing. In those temps the extra drag can defeat a good battery and starter. You're trying to pump molasses through a coffee straw.
The 0w40 synthetics are a good compromise of performance and protection. With a 75cSt cold and ~13 cSt hot. It's on the thick side of spec.@100c thinning to ~8cSt @120c still giving you some track protection, without relying on the additive package to keep the bearings from seizing for 2-3 times longer on cold start.

everyone says that most of your wear comes from cold starts, so why use an oil that will take twice as long to warm to running temp.  If you need to run your oil that hot add a oil cooler, or as a last resort run a 5W-50 (115cSt cold, 18.5cSt hot). Not as a first step.

Oil analysis

Oil analysis is a great way to know engine health.  Like a blood test for your car. But, it's meaningless by itself.  You need multiple samples to get a true picture of engine health. If you put on a lot of miles and change the oil on a schedule with the same brand/type of oil,  it can save you allot in showing you true extended drain intervals for your environment/ driving style.

In a garage queen that gets an oil change every year and runs 1k mi. it's pointless unless your looking for a piece of mind. by getting a baseline and getting follow up test you can know nothing changed. on a 1million dollar car it's worth something, on a 200k mi daily, not so much.
 

and for some  E34 drooooooolll.         I need to go check the garage.  Yes, it's still there. almost thought mine was stolen.

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1995-bmw-540i-4/

Once you work on a car without the need of a blue tip wrench, you never want to go back. 

You get spoiled. 

My 1st e34 540ia was from Chicago. It was 10 years old when I got it, I could hear it rust. Working on it was a nightmare of rusty bolts. I didn't know any better and delt with it. Once I got the first 540i/6 from Cali I was spoiled and saw the light.

RobZR

I know it's not an E30, this is what I call the Ultimate Driving Machine.

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2001-bmw-740i-27/

As you all have seen we have been on the lookout for a replacement for our trusty E38 after a decade long love/hate relationship.

The saga of the '10 AW 535i M-sport had begun on a calm 40deg. morning of 24th of Feb. with a 9am hop from Mitchell to Santa Barbara via a tiny layover in Denver.

Outside of the usual Alpha female berating her spouse, and rearranging the overheads to fit her overstuffed "should have checked" carry-on, was an uneventful 5hr flight.  Even the 3mo. old 2 rows in front was happy and quiet the whole flight.

Upon landing at 1:30pm. I was quite disappointed in the famed southern California weather since it was only 52 deg. out. “frigidly cold” as per my Uber driver to which I chuckled and informed her of my origin.

After meeting the PO and inspecting the car. I found everything as expected and a solid one owner example with all the gadget SWMBO requested. After a brief negotiation, we sealed the deal and I was off on the trek to the great white north.

With a detour for a small photo shoot near the beach, I started my way through The LA suburbia by 6pm heading east to the desert. By midnight I hit the Arizona border area with the first of 2 heart attacks. Announcing itself with a loud ding “Oil level Low”. Instantly clearing any cobwebs from driving and fueling an instant panic. I pulled over and instantly looked to verify the sensor reading, to my surprise no dipstick to be found.

Checking the display confirmed the low level and started the hunt for a quart of compatible oil at midnight in the desert. Limped her to a truckstop 5mi down the road and found the oil selection to be less than ideal. One last quart of Mobil1 5w30 called my name from a dusty shelf. I thought “good this will work” until I hit the counter and was greeted with “That will be $14”. What for a quart of oil? I thought. I guess you got to take it like a man you got no choice. Only to find out that my CC company decided that my last 2 gas purchases looked suspicious and locked my account grrrrr. Another thing to do in the morning.

Now topped of and car seemingly happy, I continued down the road. Another 10 min went by before another “Ding” and a yellow triangle with a round whirly thing shows up in the cluster. Instant panic and blood pressure spike!! Is this the infamous Water Pump warning? A glance at the other display relieved my panic with a Freezing Temp Warning.  After another hour hit the Lake Havasu area and found a rest area to crash for night.

With 6hrs of shuteye under my belt I woke Sun. the 25th. to a sunny crisp morning and a nippy 31 deg.  After a supersize cup of Joe and a jelly filled something or other was acquired, I headed east through the southwest scenery.  Beautiful sunny weather all day through Arizona and New Mexico with temps bouncing from 32 to 48 deg.  With a few fuel and purge stops along the way, made it to Albuquerque by the afternoon and OKC by night. Finding a place to crash on the OK turnpike turned into an impossibility, and I pushed on into Missouri by 2am. That’s 5 states in one day.

Monday the 26th was just as the day before sunny and crisp. The trek continued through St Louis and Springfield IL. Arriving in Milwaukee by 8pm.  For a total of 2288 mi in 50hrs with 33 hrs of driving time.  The 535i performed admirably with a 29mpg avg. cruising @ 82mph. and no need to lift a wrench the whole trip.

 A couple of small issues were noted and a list of preventative maintenance was started. Another BMW road trip adventure completed and a E60/N54 service/support adventure just beginning.

Another modern unicorn.

https://semo.craigslist.org/cto/d/hollywood-rare-one-of-300-bmw-535xi/6942605813.html

All practicality goes out the window when it's running open headers

The perfect family truckster.

straight6pwr said:

apparently I can see invisible things, because that interior is burning my eyes.

Quite smurfy.  sign of the times. even E34's got into it.

 invisibility cloak was way down going to a 540i/6 in "Arrest Me Red".

straight6pwr said:

damn you rob.  i would seriously pull the trigger on this and dump the e34 if there wasn't the 'clogged cat' issue he just added. seems fishy? also, what a boring ride home it would be if the car sputters over 4k.

Come on, what an adventure.  I drove my roadster back from Houston with a bad CSB and roasted the alternator in Arkansas.   Think of the BMW stories you can tell your kids.

With a 6spd, <4k you would need to keep it under 120.

Nice work on the channel.  Looks like you found the 1st failure mode(internal) on the N54.  Now slap in some H-beam rods in the next one and find out where is the next failure mode. 

I'd say the N54 is living up to the hype of "the German 2JZ".  800+whp on a stock motor that was 250ish stock.

A real honest Ad on Craigslist.  Who would have thought.

https://indianapolis.craigslist.org/cto/6176307657.html

YoungCR said:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by AEC UW-Platteville (@aec_uwplatt)

Hadn’t checked in on “the euro” in a while, first videos I’ve seen of it running and driving but it’s been back together for a few years now with the M30B35 swap I sold with it. Car sounds great, I’d love to see it in person. 

What a small world!! My son (David_R04) is at Platteville with the the AEC.  And of course, once they saw his E34, got drafted into working on "the euro".

Anytime your in the area get with David. He would be glad show you around.