E30 Zone

I've recently bought a 1993 e30 touring M40 318i with 160k miles,when driving the vehicle I've noticed when in any gear it will not rev above 5100rpm and if you try to go over it will bog down as if it was misfiring for approximately 5 seconds,although when out of gear it will Rev all the way to the red line on the rev counter,I wondered if any one has any previous experiences of this or know what the problem could be caused by?

Sounds like your cam has worn mate

Defective ignition components (cap, rotor or plugs ) can do a good impression of a rev. limiter on a M40, but the post above is also a possibility.