We need sophisticated shopping software

[sansouci]

I've been thinking about tackling the timing chain guide replacement on my E32 this summer. After I figure out what parts I need (and there is always some forgotten, overlooked or might as well aspect to it) then there is the challenge of optimizing the purchase of each for quality, price and shipping. I've found www.bmwpnpc.com to price individual parts. But what if there is software available to the DIY that starts with the job, then itemizes the parts and then(with some rules, e.g., "no URO brand items" or "lemfoerder and mayle are ok" figures out the best combination of vendor, shipping, tax. A multidimensional problem but hey, we've put men on the moon and just discovered gravity waves 100 years after Einstein told us about them.....
Whatayasay?

[wattsmonkey]

I've been thinking along the same lines, having benefited from better minds than my own.

There's complicated and specific stuff, like the timing chain job on the M88, which everyone knows to be a pita, but there's the other stuff: in your face when it's pointed out to you, but all too easy to miss until you're talking to the clever chaps, including but going beyond shopping, such as:

TRW/Lemforder fun
Febi rhd centre tie rods
Needing to upgrade the voltage regulator
Needing to look at the batteries in the SI board before they fail
Obvious stuff like banjo bolts in an M30
Carrying a spare main relay
Cleaning/greasing (especially rear) window regulators before burning the buggers out
Needing to hose the crap out of all of the easily- managed rust traps (rear arches, accessible petrol tank, inner wings, lifting plates)
Considering protection, a lot of love and affection, for front wings (Lokari?)
Need for Gl4 mtf
Need for ATF in power steering and need to check/ replace filter.

Other ideas? What do you need to know - beyond the obvious - if you want to run one of these babies?

[sansouci]

Do the dealers have access to job specific parts lists so that they start with the VIN and identify the job which spits out the needed pns?