Fel-pro 35360 Engine Water Pump Gasket on 2040-parts.com

BMW Alpina D3 BiTurbo – a great diesel

The BMW Alpina D3 BiTurbo - a brilliant, quick and economical everyday drive Alpina has turned out some stunning versions of the BMW range over the years (and some not so stunning – their 8 Series springs to mind) and they fill a gap that is either not profitable in small volume for BMW or, in some cases, a hole that BMW hasn’t plugged. And this one is a good hole to fill with the BMW Alpina D3 Bi-Turbo, a 3 Series diesel with the heart of a hot hatch. Alpina has taken the engine out of the 1 Series 123d and given it a boost to 240bhp, in the process dropping the 0-60 time to a very creditable 6.9 seconds But it’s not the sprint that count,  but the way this peppy diesel unit delivers it.

Who's Where: Larry Erickson named Chair of Transportation Design at CCS

The College of Creative Studies (CCS) has named Larry Erickson as the Paul and Helen Farago Chair of Transportation. As chair, Erickson will lead the College's Transportation Design department, a role previously occupied by Bryon Fitzpatrick who retired in the summer of 2007. Mark West has led the department for the last academic year as the interim Chair of Transportation Design.

One Lap of the Web: Stop! It's Sledgehammer time!

-- There's a Bitter SC on eBay this week, and unlike most examples that we see on the list that is Craig's and the Electronic Bays, this is actually in decent shape. Some of you might remember these when they were new, and they remain the best way and perhaps the only way to get into an Opel Senator on this side of the Atlantic. (If you're into that sort of thing.) -- OK, we get it -- Mongolia has only about 2,000 miles of paved roads, but that's no excuse for chafing through a bottleneck in this manner.