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So just got these pictures sent to me by Austin @ Stirling Street Machines and Fabrication who's making the custom manifolds for me. Cant wait! so due to the tight space on the drivers side, Austin has suggested that the best way to attack this problem is to have 2 exhaust pipes going thru on either side of the steering shaft. Which wont be welded but instead made to slip fit with retaining springs for ease of removal. Enjoy.

was nice light on the way home tonight

The next focus is on exterior lighting. As mentioned the car was optioned for xenons but what i got was halogens, and only one low beam light worked. The bulb holders were stuffed and missing tabs so would wiggle around while driving, only the o-rings were keeping them from falling out. I bought some xenon headlights that needed a bit of a refurb, namely adjusters and the lenses need a wet sanding/polishing session. Below are a few pics i took for reference if anyone is planning on replacing the adjusters in facelift e39 xenon headlights without removing the lenses. It’s really not too difficult, but patience is definitely needed. Feel free to PM me for more details on this repair ?

Its been years since I've been on this forum but I hate to think what my old cars are now worth in this market. This is more an exercise on the money spent and the cars now lost to me! M325 318is manual e36 touring ac schnitzer body kit All NZ new. Gone but not forgotten!

Obtained some leather door cards from pickapart. Had to get a bit feral on the wreck as the doors were all deadlocked. No key for it and even hooking a battery up to unlock the doors didn't work so i had to resort to using a holesaw and a large crowbar. I got the idea after watching a YouTube clip of someone opening a deadlocked door using a crow bar by peeling off the outer doorskin to reveal the locking mechanism. The doors opened minutes later. Picked up an msport steering wheel and started replacing the woodgrain trims.

Wow, you must get very sweaty hands. I use them, and they’re a bit slippery when I get them off. But never to the extent they’re dripping on my face when I’m under a car with hands raised. 80’s style terry toweling sweat bands just wouldn’t be practical, eh. ?

I've had literally 0 issues in almost 3 years of ownership other than the weeping sump which was fixed with a full trans service. It was a good idea to do anyway. Most reliable car I've owned which I really didn't expect when purchasing, coming from a long history of owning performance Japs especially. I considered the f20 too but just prefer the shape of the e82 more. In the end the DCT was the deciding factor for me after a test drive.

Nothing interesting to report from my recent late night garage stints, I'm now very bored with wet sanding primed FRP panels and scraping underseal out of the wheel arches. Likely to bust out the angle grinder and welder to relieve the boredom in the next day or two. Humourous story though, managed to slice the end of my finger open on a spiky spot weld whilst scraping the underseal, once I stopped it bleeding I then put some cure-rust on a couple spots in the arch - which really f#$king stings in a cut finger (ask me how I know this..) and then proceeded to double down on this with methylated spirits when cleaning it off. Remind me again how old cars are "fun" and "enjoyable", I seem to be missing that bit..

Loving the self tapping screw and bent split pin holding whatever it is in place. Always a great sign that a craftsman has been at work.

The reason I went for an N55 model was because I just couldn't be arsed dealing with rattling wastegates, carboned up intake valves and a fuel pump/injectors crapping themselves if they haven't been changed. I have an evo6 as my track day toy so that is my high power fix. This is my daily so the engine mods i've done have more than enough power for my needs, I really don't want to turn this into my evo as that is now just a pain in the arse to drive around on the street as it's stiff, loud, uncomfortable. Great when you are in the mood but not for my daily. So the argument of an N54 taking more power doesn't really mean much to me. I love this engine, nice smooth lazy power, sounds great. The previous owner took nice care of it and i'm doing the same, i've taken care of the water pump/thermostat and oil filter housing gaskets so far, so once i've done the leaking DCT sump it'll hopefully be just regular maintenance items. My days of wanting a highly modified daily are over, too old now even at 36 haha.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Hacked out all the rot with a dremel, coils now fit... Hopefully it lasts another round! Patient survived surgery, no oil leaks from the new gaskets... Valvetronic limits reset, and discovered it has 91 octane in the tank after reseting the DME adaptations and trying to accelerate.. Can literally feel the DME recoiling in horror as it pulls timing to stop detonation.. Also dumped 8 litres of crude out of the sump, may explain the oil leaks...

Hi Guys Looking for an E9 in NZ. Any condition considered Cheers

Had a pretty successful few days on the project. Got the rest of the cubic/tech graphite finisher strips installed in the interior. Fitted rear leather seats but need a lhs or rhs leather headrest. To complete the interior o’haul i just need some front black leather sport seats. The door entrance covers are all crumbling and really let the car down looks wise. Near impossible to find good used ones so I basically chipped off all the crumbly rubber remains then cut the cerated edges the rubber sticks to off with some scissors followed by a quick scuff with sandpaper. I’m happy with the result. Cheap and cheerful ? Had a look in to why the aircon wasn’t working. Fault code for E-fan showed up on the scanner, couldn’t activate it so pulled the F bumper of to see this. Wiring loom to the E-Fan/Aux fan had been squashed in behind the bumper shock absorber. The hot and ground cables are constantly reading 12v.. learned that when cutting the loom to attach a replacement. Suprisingly no fuses were blown in the making.

my vice grips weren't big enough! honestly, this was the only option lying around that would work. Actually, during the transmission swap, because someone stole my ropes and straps that i usually use, I had to use a phone cable to counter balance the back end of the transmission to line up the transmission spline. Never say die! Winning!

Lol, a pair of vice grips or some big pliers work too, but hey, 10.5 points for effort

Today is the first day of my 4th week. And I'm working from home - spreading cold germs around the office is frowned upon! It's been quite tough... My boss - the GM of the council, so 2ic - has some strong preconceptions around what needs to happen and the outside agencies that will be used. She could be right, but I'm not being given time to investigate and check. It's all go, go, go. Fortunately some suppliers are being a touch lax about their delivery schedules which gives me a bit of breathing space, and she's on leave for a couple of weeks. I'm keen to make progress, but not having her looking for updates every five minutes is a relief. I'm new, she's ensuring I 'fit' the role I was recruited for - it'll all be fine. In parallel, I've since been offered 3 roles - a BoP Strategic transformation role, IS Program Director in Palmy, and another in Wanganui! Where were these people when I was looking for so long???!!!

Decided to switch to 18's (thanks Ron) and ditch the Works - too showy for me, prefer the track look. Adjusted my camber to fit the fronts properly. 18x9.5 et22 Sportline CS.16 square setup, 8mm spacer rear.

New shoes for the new suspension setup.

Its actually a staple, the rest of the cover must have been stapled to it at somepoint... also note next to the self tapper, the old self tapper which must have been rounded out.. and then had the head cut off