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Some unedited photos. (From a phone lol) The colour! (And mint interior trim)

Of course it has a bearing- but it's only because people are weird and think 160K is a high km car

Averaged a little under 8000 km/year until Feb 2008, in the past 7 years it added 1100km to the odometer. Wonder why - deceased estate maybe? I'm calling this one as a likely hand grenade! Bit of a shame, but the odometer really has no bearing on the value of a used car these days (outside of genuine collectors items of course)

Its an e30, you dont have a choice .. it makes it its business to turn it into one.

Yip go facelift first, an S62 in an NZ E38 would be epic! Dave at this rate you'll hit that 7 x 7s in no time

Took a clay bar to the E30. The paint has come up okay for a 30 year old car. Still could be a lot better though! Tested my new favourite paint - SEM trim black - on the wing mirrors. Made a huge difference! Pity I dropped one and cracked the mirror glass. Doh!! So if anyone has a spare PFL passenger side mirror glass (as pictured) let me know!! Trying not to make this one a 'project'!

Just reinforced the bottom and put some steel brackets in for you Troy. The V8 should slip straight in, don't now where we put the external water pump tho.

Well I did it. Purchased another car in a hope to replace the Carbon Black M3 which sadly was put to rest earlier this year. I had a huge list, and it seemed that no M3 on the market could potentially tick off the boxes, so I've held on since June hoping one would. But nothing eventuated. So as you do when you're in the market, every new listing of an E46 M3 was sure to be sent to my inbox as it was listed - in the hope something would pop up. And something sort of did around September, but it was 'poverty' pack in my eyes so I didn't think twice. Something made me go back, maybe the wild random dreams about this particular coloured car kept popping into my mind, I'm not sure. But I decided to do a little stalk, run it's built sheet, and would you believe it was DAMN TOPAZ THE WHOLE TIME! Maybe it was the light, the angle, the reflections that made me move past it the first time, but a buildsheet never lies. And so I went on a mission to find out all I could about this little blue topaz M3 situated some few hours away from Auckland. Full Service History. Every little nook and cranny completed, was documented. Nz New. SMG, and in Topaz (Schnitzer colour, personal fav). Went on to dig some more, and found the first two owners of the car, personally knowing one of them. For 11 years it was between two people who only did open road, long distance driving and cared for it better than you might your own child! The first owner took it up to a nice 136kms, and the second to 165km. The lovely guy I purchased it off had driven a mere 3,000kms in the time he had it over 18 months. This car, is just a dime. The paint condition so good it's hard to believe. No dings, dents, scuffs or marks. A few minor stone chips which is to be expected. The interior, not a single lift of the trim, no cracking, wrinkling or anything to fault! This car is hands down in 10x better condition than the old one, the KM's just don't add up to the condition. The next morning (Wed) it was in at Jeff Gray for a PPI (thanks to Greg Hook!) and Fresh WOF. Breezed through it's PPI with not a single thing wrong, every single box ticked. How damn lucky. It was sold. And I picked it up today. Such love. It's perfect. It's better than I could of asked for in regards to condition. I was scared about getting a 'high' milaged M3, but this car just puts my 120km M3 to shame. It's just fantastic. So there you have it folks, I bought another E46 M3 New Post for 'To-do' and 'Done' below.

You'd be better off upgrading the engine to an S62 or use one of those GM lumps to be really cool!

fixed.

Few photos with some fellow M3 owners. E36, E46, E92.

I love the drive around the east coast. I,Ve done it many times, on bikes , cars and motor homes. But you can,t beat the South Island for good roads. I'm down in Nelson at the moment. Done Picton, Blenheim, Mapua and Motueka. Off to Collingwood this morning, through Abel Tasman Park and Golden Bay. Fly home tomorrow

ha ha. Keep trying Jooles.

Very nice - good find. Going away and having a new M3 sitting waiting at home would spoil my holiday if it were me!

Cleaned, polished, waxed and thrashed the tits off it with Amber, Tristan and Jayden in their M3's - Extremely fun day.

Wow, home from work so I've seen the pics now. Your right about mint. Beautiful car Amber.

that doesnt look like topaz blue at all! almost estoril blue like but either way looks nice!

Nice,well done Amber

Thanks Darryl. I think you'll find that the car in that thread is the one in the pic I used...lol Actually talking to the guy who did this car and another S62 swap and the concensus seems to be it's going to be difficult unless I swap out the body harness with one from a facelift. As much as I hate to say it I may just have to drive the old girl into the ground and get another one to do all my mods on. She has some body issues going on under the paint from a PO. Adding everything up its NOT adding up. I'll be better off starting with a good sound facelift base car that wont need bodywork before paint. Hmmmm, thats a bit sad really.

it always amazes me how weak the normal E46 coupe looks when next to the staunch M3. Love the color, and look forward to seeing it progress in your ownership. Congrats!

So got it home. Washed and Waxed. Being stored up until I come back on the 13th. List of things to do: - CSL Tune - Tints (Booked Tuesday) - Exhaust System (Agency?) - Subframe (currently mint) - Inspection II Service - New Front Rotors & Pads - Caliper Colour Change - Change Rear Tyres (GT Radial aren't my pick) - Touch up Lower Bumper - Widescreen Headunit (might pinch from Schnitzer) - Swap in Heated Seats/Bolster option - New Wheels - Lowering Springs And more to come. Just finished shopping and purchased - CSL Front Spitters - Carbon - CSL V Style Rear Diffuser Full Carbon - Front Grille Full Carbon - Fog Light Surround Full Carbon All hopefully arrive before I get back!

gosh those non-msport E39s are just.... dull, to look at.

Yikes! Andrew sorry to have offended you. So to update Andrew was correct, there is a o-ring there, it has flattened and turned into basically plastic, i will be honest this is my first euro, in the past i have only worked on Nissans and Toyota with traditional filters. I think calling me mentally challenged is bullshit. I have been a member of a bunch of car clubs and have never had this kind of reaction when trying to put up a notice to help other members avoid similar situations. If you read my other post you will notice that i would not name them until talking to them first. I have met a lot of mechanics through various car scenes and whist you seem to be passionate about what you do i have met a lot who do their fair share of lazy / dodgy work (ie zip ties on drive shaft kind of crap) they give a bad name to the profession that i am sure you know all to well. I was wrong the workshop may have done the job properly, still not sure as there is still no top o-ring. When i took the housing out i did syringe up the oil from the housing and there was no remains of the 2nd o-ring, either it broke apart or was not installed, i cannot say either way. Andrew, have yo ever seen the bottom o-ring disappear? Anyway, dumped the oil last night, replaced the filter and o-rings again, fresh plugs, cleaned off all the oil that was in the belly pan and on the side of the block. Also installed a BMS OCC at the same time, really great piece of kit! New pads and rear disks will go on tonight. Also might try to tackle the new intercooler i have sitting around waiting to go on