Ekona

Linky to PH ad with more pics on October 2004 car (’54 registration) 124,000 miles Manual gearbox 3M Gloss Burnt Orange wrap over Metallic Silver Roof, wing mirrors, side strakes and window trim wrapped in gloss black Custom quad-tipped exhaust BC Racing BR adjustable suspension H&R adjustable ARBs K&N open cone filter with custom aluminium heat shield Japan Racing JR18 wheels in Hyper Black, 18x8.5J front and 18x9.5J rear Maxton Design front lip Carbon fibre FRP adjustable rear wing Black kidney grills M Sport gearknob Retrimmed steering wheel in nappa leather with perforated 12 o’clock marker Recaro Pole Position driver seat on VAC Motorsport adaptors with Recaro side mounts MOT due Jan 5th 2019 (yup, nineteen) Here for sale is my 2004 BMW 645Ci, purchased by myself in January 2015. She is an incredibly rare manual coupe, and over the last couple of years I have carried out a fair amount of work to not only bring her up to the high standard that she deserves to be in, but also to significantly improve the way she drives. Any research into the E63 6-series will confirm that the biggest issue with the V8 is the valve stem seals. Essentially these fail and cause the car to burn a serious amount of oil, as well as smoke excessively. This work is not cheap by any standards, and if a car has not had these replaced then you’ll need to budget at least £2K at an independent to have them replaced. I had this work carried out in 2015 by AutoEnhance (documentation included) so that it was something I never had to worry about, and neither will the next owner. The PCV valves have also been replaced, another popular cause of excess smoking. I also had the coolant transfer pipe inspected, as this can be another expensive failure, and this was showing no signs of any degradation at all. The car is not using any coolant to this day. Also in 2015 shortly after purchase I had a new clutch and flywheel fitted, along with new discs and pads all round. A full fluids and filters change was also carried out at the same time. The current iDrive service intervals are showing the following: Brake fluid 02/2019 Oil 4.4k Plugs 17k Front pads 17k Rear pads 26k Microfilter 29k In terms of intake and exhaust, the latter has had two new custom rear boxes installed in early 2015 to release some extra noise. In no way intrusive or excessive, but certainly noticeable over the stock system both at idle and throughout the rev range. The restrictive OEM airbox has been removed and replaced by an open cone K&N filter. This was carried out by myself after discussions with K&N USA as to the appropriate size of air filter required, and I’ve also fitted a one-piece aluminium heatshield to protect from heat soak but still allow air to flow around the filter rather than just stall. Any car of this age will have seen better days when it comes to the suspension, so I took the opportunity to replace all four corners with the BC Racing BR coilovers. These were installed by AutoEnhance in October 2015, along with a new set of H&R anti roll bars front and rear. All of these are adjustable, and in January 2017 I had a full chassis tune carried out by Center Gravity in Atherstone. This included a full corner weighting, ride height, rake and damping setup, so the car handles as well as it possibly can and certainly better than it did in full OEM guise. The car is currently on Japan Racing JR18 wheels, 18x8.5 on the front and 18x9.5 on the rear. These are wrapped in Michelin Pilot Super Sport tyres, with 245/45 on the front and 275/40 on the rear as per BMW specs for 18 inch wheels. There is approx 3-4mm remaining on the tyres. In June 2016 I had the entire car wrapped in 3M Gloss Burnt Orange by Valet Magic in Camberley. I specifically chose the 3M wrap not just for the wonderfully deep colour and the obvious quality of the material, but also to ensure that should I ever need to replace any then it would be easy to get hold of. The wrap included the external door shuts as you can see in the photos, and I also had the wing mirrors plus the chrome trim on the side strakes and windows wrapped in gloss black. The roof had previously been wrapped in gloss black by AutoEnhance at the same time the suspension was replaced. None of the wrap is showing any signs of bubbling, fading or lifting at all: It’s one of the best wraps I’ve ever seen on any car. The Maxton Design front lip was also fitted in June 2016, and gives the front end a more aggressive look but without being so low that it catches on anything. This was very much taken into account on the chassis setup Center Gravity carried out, so that this is still a usable car on all roads. The rear wing was fitted in May 2016, and is supported underneath the fibreglass bootlid by steel supports to prevent damage or movement. This was mounted onto a spare bootlid I had resprayed in the original silver colour, and then wrapped. Original bootlid available if you would like to swap them over. The Recaro seat was fitted in November 2016, and is mounted on genuine Recaro hardware including sliders to ensure full range of movement. It’s a wonderfully comfortable yet very supportive seat, and is very similar in design to the seat produced by Recaro for the M/CSL cars of the era. The gearknob has been replaced by a genuine M Sport one which reduces the height of the shift, allowing for a much more positive gear change. The steering wheel was retrimmed by Hide N Seat in nappa leather, and bulked out slightly for comfort as the stock wheel on these cars is too firm in my opinion. In terms of other maintenance carried out in my ownership, I’ve had the following replaced: Front headlight HID bulbs (now slightly brighter than stock at 6000K) Headlight ballast OSF Brake hard pipe as indicated on MOT Wheel bearing OSF Lower ball joint NSR Tie rod OSF Coolant reservoir (these are known to leak after 100k miles) Oil pressure sensor Air con compressor pipe seals Clutch delay valve removed (gives a much more positive clutch feel) All belts replaced in 2017 So nothing particularly major at all, and I had Center Gravity carry out a full inspection of the underneath of the car in terms of suspension components this year and they could find nothing else that needed doing any time soon either. Certainly the car still drives as well as it ever has. It goes without saying that she certainly doesn’t go unnoticed, but I’ve always prioritised performance and especially maintenance over anything cosmetic and I think that any careful and reasonable owner would do the same. I do still have the original wheels (Style 118), the original driver seat (in excellent condition), airbox and the original unmarked bootlid which the new owner is welcome to and will be included with the car if the asking price is met. I would happily put her up against a car with half the miles on in terms of overall condition, and certainly with the valve stem seal work completed she will go on for many years yet. This is a wonderful car and just shows how good the chassis underneath actually is, as with the few modifications that have been carried out this is now a very involving driver’s car. Any inspection is welcome, but test drives only with proof of full UK licence and fully comp insurance please. Any questions or queries welcomed.

I only tried them on the road, not on track, so you may well be right.

So why don’t we let youngsters have full access to sports bikes then? Why restrict them?

Exactly. How many times do people sit there and do a standing launch, compared with regular driving that involves lots of 30-60 and includes many a corner? I used to love LC in my old car, but I used it probably 10 times in four years. Nailing the brakes into a corner, balancing the throttle on entry, transferring mass across the axles, and enjoying the noise as the revs rose I did much more often. An EV is a perfect choice if you live in a city and want something with minimal running costs. Until they can reduce the mass of the batteries and motors, a sports car it ain’t. And even then you’ll never ever get the noise and the smells... The Tesla lorry is a far more important launch. However, given the state Tesla find themselves in right now, this was a poor time to reveal more vehicles.

I’ve not tried the reinforced ones, but I’ve tried XL and non-XL back to back and I couldn’t discern any tangible and repeatable difference.

Michelins all the way, a billion times better than any regular Pirelli tyre. Although if you’re on 19s, go for the MPS4S rather than the dated MPSS.

I don't trust anyone who enjoys the cold that much

The extension works on Firefox perfectly, if you want to try that.

Glad we could help

If it ain’t that or a Lotus I’m gonna bribe one of the new mods to ban him

But hang on, that makes me northern... Anyone got a flat cap I can borrow?

Huzzah! Now when do we find out what it is?

I can't quite get my head around the fact that when you're standing at the North Pole, anyway you move is south. I mean, I understand the idea, it just still blows my mind

Following on from an article on the BBC about a display dedicated to The North of England currently showing in London, I thought I'd ask the following question and see what others think: Very simply, where does The North start? So there's a blank map for everyone to scribble over. Personally, I've come up with two options, just to be awkward. First off, here's the clear N/S divide: And hey, I even marked out Scotland and Wales too! This got me thinking though, what about the poor Midlanders? I guess if I have to make a choice on those too, then I'm going to give them their own piece of land like so: Now that's pretty definitive, right there. Or am I completely wrong? Back me up here guys! Just a bit of fun, no offense meant to the knuckle-draggers oop north etc

I hate the A14 with a passion. When coming home from the North I'll take the A1->M25 rather than sit on that godforaken road.

Depends on the person. I know 17 year olds who are more than capable of handling a 350, and I know 40 year olds I wouldn't trust with a Fisher Price trike. Genrally speaking though, I'd be in favour of a similar power limit like they have for bikes on cars, so over 21 would be a good base to start from. Everyone is different though, I bought my first sports car at 23 and I had no idea what I was doing with it or how to drive at all at that age. It was mid-engined too, so far harder to drive quickly (and easier to get wrong) than a 350.

Ultimately the issue was massively compounded by the drivers themselves. The early crashers simply weren't looking where they were going as the big cloud of smoke should've brought them down to walking pace (the camera guy managed to see it and stop in time, why didn't the others?), along with parking in daft places. If you park before the accident, you're more likely to become the next accident: You really should always try and drive past it to park up. That said, in this case that would've meant the guy would have had to walk even further back before he could start flagging cars down, so a lose/lose scenario really. The ones that panic and just mash the brake also contribute here. If they'd stayed calm and in control, they could easily have slowed down and driven around the obstruction. It's poor driving all round. And despite all that, it just shows what a seriously dangerous place the Ring is. Also, it's why I'll never do a TF day there unless the car is 100% sacrificial or as insured as I can reasonably make it.

Wherever else she'll let me put it

I'd smash it until it fell off. Front doors, back doors, side gate, the lot.

It's like buses in here today! Also, congrats Brian!

Would've been Mr Wrong Opinion if I'd have gotten my way

Nah, it's just that at least one of those hands has been touching their willies at some point, so I figure I don't want that hand used to operate the forum Or I might just have missed a couple of words out

Who? Oh, those two. Blimey, really scraping the barrel, wasn't like this in my day etc. Congrats guys, couldn't think of two safer hands for the forum to be in

Good for you Hugh, I definitely reckon you’ve earned a rest

Caveat emptor of course applies, but that can’t provide a defence for misrepresentation. So if the guy lies to you about the car, like saying he’s just had the clutch changed for example when he hasn’t, then you have legal recourse. Desperately wanting cash only is perhaps a tad odd but it’s the only way to be sure really, aside from forged notes... But as above, you MUST get a signed, dated and timed receipt, preferably a copy each. If he won’t do that, then I wouldn’t buy the car tbh.