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Got made redundant on Friday - last day is the 30th of this month! Quite glad on the whole, I can finally focus on my own agenda and ventures instead of wasting my time working for a company going nowhere

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.

Fixed that for you..

Gave the E30 a bit of a clean over the long weekend. There's a lot wrong but there's also a lot right and she's scrubbed up pretty well for an old girl, plus it was a beautiful afternoon for a wee drive and some photos.... And I do love my photos!! I've got some shorter springs and a LHS tail light (current is cracked and half full of water) plus a proper gear knob on its way which I'll fit as soon as possible but beyond that I'll just be taking care of any maintenance issues for the time being. Priority is still to get the 8er's rusty sun roof and sagging headlining sorted.

Sounds like it's opening some new opportunities for you Michael, change is tough but if you embrace it, it can led to great things All the best mate

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

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

So this is the new car that will be replacing my trusty e36 coupe. Clubsport E46 in Velvet Blue 2005 Some of you may recognise it, it was previously owned by a member before the guy I bought it from. It was for sale a year ago and I wanted it back then but couldnt, so when I saw it come up recently I knew I had to have it. Will update with plans and more photos once I actually get to drive it more, at the moment just sitting in the garage until I sell the E36. Some sneak pics of it after a quick wash the day I got it

Did roughly 4000km around the south island with the wife at the end of last summer, 2 weeks driving around. Crappy diesel Holden cruise, but at least gas was cheap! Bought my toy, Discovery Pro FPV Quad, along for the ride, and flew it at pretty much every opportunity Lots of fun, seriously amazing countryside. Bit more of it here

Awesome look forward to seeing it in the flesh!

Graham, have you gone mad??? Haha sounds like you are having way too much fun, good on you

You probably already found this but If you google search s85 throttle actuator teardown there are some good threads on it. Theory seemed to be the plastic gears wear causing the electrics to continue to hunt for positioning and eventually burns out the board. People were rotating the black gear round 180 degrees to a less worn section to confirm gear wear as the failure.

+1, dont do it. The darkside is dark for a reason.

Thanks Colin. All being well, I pick up another E30 coupe rolling shell this afternoon (black, no engine, box or... Well, pretty much anything else!) and will then evaluate the two shells and decide which one to use. The white one unsurprisingly does have rust but nothing too serious, but starting with a bare shell would give an opportunity to do a 'proper' job. Perhaps. And... I may be taking delivery of a E21 320 auto before Christmas. More on that another time.

D:

Cheers, was pre Aug 1st so no property owners consent rules needed, I fly UAVs for a crust and do the testing for the cert, so all legit. The camera on the gimbal is just a gopro 3+ black, flight camera is a 800tvl Sony Effio-V

Good grief, how did I miss this thread? Great to see you (finally) found something! Good luck- looks like you may need a little bit Very interested to watch this projects progress.

My vote (not that it means bugger all) would be a refreshed early M62B44 non vanos with a nice low boost (10-12psi) centrifugal charger run on a remapped stock DME. Probably cheaper in the long term than an S62 and easier in the electrical dept. The cost of an overhaul will be cheaper than an S engine package, my main worry would be the ZF auto coping with the increased torque loads. LSx is pretty cool in the 3ers, not so sure about the 5 or 7. Have stumbled across a couple of Chev transplanted E34s and I have to say they never quite seemed right to me.

Have only lifted it once to get the front wheel off, the test will be when one side is already up and the second side is lifted...

Solid. Basics of the parameters is the further away from the car the jack sits, the more torque will be put on the lifting thingo. Similarly, the larger diameter the bar or tube is the more strength it can take (it's ^2 for shear, and ^4 for bend iirc). End of the day though, I don't want to sell anything that has a change of breaking and damaging your cars. Perhaps we need to find someone who has whatever the heaviest model with these lifting points is, and send one to test, plus a couple of really fat chicks to add a bit of test ballast...

Update time - Fitted the new tensioner spring (was also 5mm or more shorter than original) and also did an engine oil flush and new 5W/30 oil just in case it was lifter noise. Still the same noise as previously so have ordered both the single vanos seal and rattle kit from Beisan systems. Question though from someone that has done this on an M52 328i. Do you absolutely need to lock the cams in place for this? Or can you just lock the flywheel to TDC on cylinder 1 and go for it? Could save me a bit of money

Still keen...

Snap on sockets are a waste of money. Save 2/3rd and buy Koken, or Caterpillar sockets which are rebranded Snap On at half the price. I've found that torx and hex sockets, it doesn't matter what brand, they all break. Snap On, Blue Point, Cat and Koken I've broken. Replaced no questions asked. Snap on ratchets 80 tooth are well worth the price, easily the best out there. Once you e used these you'll never go back to Koken, SP etc.

Mmmmmm Amber!!

Keen to make any more? I'll buy one or two...

nice , what are they off ? looks similar upgrade that I did to my e28 which already had a upgrade from 282 by 25mm e28 m535i brakes to 302 by 28mm e34 540i brakes to e31 850ci 324mm by 30mm can still just fit my 16' bbs race wheels over them JUST

That first pic with the e36 and e92 looks awesome.

Left work 2pm Friday Not going back till this Thursday coming. Neat.

Upgraded brakes! Cost effective slight upgrade.

That's awesome, well done. You must be very pleased. Excellent colour

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

Good luck.

Cheers, you did a fine job. Don't need a water pump, we'll just run raw water off the jet unit! Now we just need to cut some holes for the twin side exit exhausts, should piss off some hippies in their camper vans down at the river!

Made some jacking thingos the other day, should help get some lift onto axle stands for the transmission swap. Pulled the drivers side door card, getting around to replacing the insert, also took off the lock and handle as it often required a push on the door with a knee to get it to open. Will see about pulling the lock to bits to make it electrically actuated (with manual override from inside), not sure how much of the original I'll be able to keep/adapt since it's all pinned together; may be a good thing its a long weekend...

Anyone after some intake parts let me know. Running sweet now just needs a new accelerator cable and a pair of steering rack boots......

Just wanted to announce that my beautiful M3 has been SOLD!!! (( It went to a new home, and I hope it will be loved as much and taken care of as well as it has been with me.

That may sort him out, but what should he do about the brakes?

really after the front struts mainly as i think i may have springs still kicking around from when we made up the coil overs