The air hammer usually comes out after all negotiations have failed... bolt heads and threads are irrelevant at that point, it just becomes pure vengeance.

PB Blaster is always good to have around, even in Arizona where most cars are rust-free. Occasionally I’ll work on a snowbird’s car from the midwest and that’s when the Blaster gets put to work, along with the map gas torch. If that doesn’t work, then it’s air hammer time. Nothing survives the air hammer!

Unfortunately BMW’s air-cooled DME’s don’t seem to survive very well, particularly on the N55 engines where the DME is completely underneath the intake manifold. Maybe it’s just an Arizona thing, but almost every person that I know with an N55 has had to have the DME replaced, whether under warranty or out of pocket…

Same. The car I was referring to is my 1992 BMW 525i/5— It’s nice and comfortable for daily driving, road-tripping, and going to the grocery store, but on a canyon road it really comes alive. I have it on Bilsteins with lowering springs and massive Racing Dynamics M5 sway bars along with some 200 treadwear tires in a…

I agree, it’s lovely. The other day I left work two hours early (perks of being self-employed) and went on a drive to my favorite local mountain road and just had a great time. I had my phone on silent so I wasn’t bothered by friends or customers, and I just drove. The sound of a naturally-aspirated straight six…

I bought a manual BMW because enthusiasts on forums told me manual was the best way to go. It was a 2003 540i/6 M-Sport, and I bought it without knowing how to drive a stick. Thankfully I had a knowledgable friend to test drive it for me to confirm it was good, but when it came time to pick it up a few days later, I…

Seems kinda silly to recreate the HVAC buttons on the screen... why not have real buttons then? I’m going to file this under “pointless, gimmicky gadgets.”

I’d give most of it away, because all of the cars and things I could ever want could be had for less than $2 million. Nice house with a big shop in the backyard, and a bunch of old BMW’s. I would just buy and restore old BMW’s and then sell them at a loss to other passionate enthusiasts to keep the love going. I…

Hey, the Vega has some use. The fuel pumps for the 1976 Vega are a direct drop-in replacement for the in-tank fuel pumps on BMW E23's and E28's where the originals are hard to find and heinously expensive.

Having worked at a graphic design studio, I can confirm that most of the people there don’t give a rat’s ass about cars.

Mine would be flying into Madison, WI to buy a 1997 BMW M3 sedan... in early January. It was about 20ºF outside (the guy selling me the car said that was “pretty good” for a winter day) with a couple feet of snow. The car in question had almost bald eBay summer tires on it, and no traction control. Also, the car had…

With California and Massachusetts, won’t people just be able to go to a neighboring state and buy a gas car anyways? Seems like this rule will only stop the people who don’t buy cars out of state (which I do most of the time anyways).

“The Interior Work Surface, available on bucket-seat-equipped trucks, includes an electrically folding transmission shift lever. With that out of the way, the center armrest flips forward to create a flat table, ideal for food, a laptop, a clipboard or whatever.”

I’d do it, but I’m a glutton for punishment. If it’s just a top-end fire, I would be fine with reusing the original engine, after dropping it out, removing all the damaged components, and re-sealing everything, along with a new clutch and IMS.

Fair enough. I’ve only ever wrenched on cars while living in Arizona (I’m originally from NY but I didn’t do any car stuff until I moved to AZ) so all I’ve seen are cars from here and the rest of the southwest. For what it’s worth, cars from Texas and California seem to have similar issues, even though the climates…

I agree! In the meantime I’ve been busy saving all the E34's at my shop here in Phoenix.

That could just be a side effect of the E9x’s being newer than E46's... I’m already seeing all their plastics and gaskets fail in Arizona. As far as the built-in dilemmas go, you’ve got the electric water pumps that fail with no warning, all the usual cooling system plastics rotting apart (especially the coolant line…

My BMW 1992 525i/5 is the highest mileage car I’ve owned, at 271k miles. I’ve owned plenty of other BMW’s into the 200's, but nowhere near 271k. The crazy thing is that it still has its original paint, original engine, and original clutch. The engine still has great compression after all these years, likely because…

E46's are generally pretty reliable, and once you take care of all the common stuff (window regulators, cooling system, vacuum leaks, CCV, DISA, diff bushings, CSB/flex disc, motor mounts, trans mounts, cracking fuel sender housings, O2 sensors) they’re fairly bulletproof. I know that list sounds long, but that’s all…

Normally I hate white cars, but with old (pre-1992) BMW’s, getting a white car is a bit of a lifehack to having good paint, because prior to late 1992, almost all white BMW’s had factory single stage paint. For whatever reason, those single stage white cars have held up better than any of the clear coat cars... my…