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Soooooooooo..... been quite busy pumping money and time into the car lately - went on a bit of a blitz as I've decided to keep it after humming and ha-ing over selling to get into an overpriced E30 - that day will have to wait. Had my driveshaft hoops for certification installed - cert plate will be here soon although rear hoop is hitting exhaust over bumps and will be sorted shortly (spent a Saturday chasing the noise thinking it was to do with my swaybar install) Upgraded my Msport sway bars (23.5mm & 18mm) to an M3 front bar and Msport vert rear (26mm and 20mm now) with new bushings. These have tightened the handling up really nicely (especially the rear) and complement my moderate coilover spring rates perfectly. Adjustable end links are on the way. Had a small dent fixed, my boot resprayed and rear gaurds blended and my M3 mirrors colour matched (boot and mirror colour was off before) Installed a no-name (Ruff?) Short shifter from Speedfactor - great unit, it uses the factory style shifter cup, but has a steel pivot ball, adjustable throw length and adjustable height - can be notchy at low speed when cold but feels awesome 98% of the time - If I had known how easy and satisfying this job was I would have done it as soon as I got the car. Gave my front seats a respray with leather matte clear coat - after a year since my refinishing project they still looked great, but drivers seat was getting a bit shiny - this was a 2 hour cakewalk compared to the colour change nightmare and they look absolutely sensational again. I used a more durable clear this time around so expecting the matte to last a bit better. Things I hope to do next week - Alcantara (well, Ebay suede) shift and handbrake boots and a full groom including polish and sealant - need to get rid of a few tiny swirls and the little buffer trails panel beaters love to leave everywhere. Seat before and after below.

Happy New Year All, Just a few minor bits of progress over the last month or so, mainly to do with fitting previously acquired parts to the car. Fitted up have been the pre-facelift new grilles and foglights, and to complete the transition back to PFL, I've painted my bordmonitor surround silver and fitted that back in the car. The refurbished wheels and new tyres have also gone on - all in time for the recent show at Hampton Downs with the BMW Club NZ. The last bit of major works still ahead is the painting of the bumpers and the boot lid, which I hope to have a crack at this weekend. I've alerted the Trans shop to two minor issues with the refurbished trans -as per the last post above. So it will go in sometime for "remedial works"...

There are a truly tiny number of E30s worth the $12k+(++) prices being asked. Current asking prices are trading on hype. Yes - prices are moving up, but not as much as the asking prices suggest.

Hit a big bump? Or a rock being flicked up.

Random, heat?

Any particular overpriced E30 you were after? Good call on keeping her!

@M3AN I did actually time myself on that Sunday as I cleaned it before going to the BMW Festival at Hampton downs. Just under 5mins for all 4 wheels, to be fair, they had been cleaned a week or two earlier and I was racing haha

Pramod in Wellington does key reprogramming, I forgot what his bimmersport handle is but he has a website now https://www.nztuningbay.com/

Anyone have an E46 M3 or CSL font bumper cover for sale ?

I've put this up as an auction on Trademe. Can't keep her forever... https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/listing/2957432415?bof=cJFiMvuu Starting price is 10k And just between me and you lot, I've set the reserve to 14k.

Bit of an update, bought a bunch of detailing supplies after Xmas to give the car a good going over and clean. I've wanted to give the car a good detail since buying it but fixing up the mechanical side was the first priority. Now that has all been done, or I have the parts in the garage, it was time to work on getting it shiny. I've kept it relatively clean since buying but really wanted to clay bar and cut/polish to sort out the multitude of fine scratches and get the headlamps clear. I had previously attacked the headlamps with a turtlewax headlight kit, to remove glue from the previous owners "eyebrow" install. This somewhat helped but they definitely could be better. Last week I started with mag monster on the wheels and then G3 detailers cleaning spray, rinsed off and then washed the car again. Once it was really clean I started with the claying and did most of the car before leaving it for the next day. I came back to it and found I'd managed to scratch up a few areas worse than before 😥 but mostly it felt much smoother and used a tar and bug remover to get everything else off the car. I pulled out the polish to attack the scratched up sections but hand polish wasn't enough to remove the new scratches nor some older scratches. It did take out a lot of fine scratches but not the finish I was optimistically hoping for. I'd also exposed a fair few stone chips and at this point decided to seek professional help 🤣 Booked it in with Final Touch to get a two stage machine polish, headlight polished and their stone chip paint touch up. Went in today and it came out brilliant, exactly what I was after. Car looks absolutely phenomenal even though it was very clean already before going there lol. The dent on the back corner is still there! If anyone knows a dent guy let me know. The front end is a massive improvement with the headlights being crystal clear, de-aging the car. No stone chips on the bonnet looks much better too! It had been bugging me that the car didn't look as well cared for as it was, but now it really reflects how much work/parts have been put into it over the last year. Super happy with how it all turned out, it was what I was initially after(taking it to a detailer) before deciding to have a go myself. With this I did a lot of the groundwork and was able to get the stone chips taken care of too. So a better finish than just getting a standard detail. At least I have all the gear to keep it nice and shiny now Engine mounts and sump gasket hopefully going in within the next month, dependent on time and space on the lift. Will be 100% mechanically buttoned up then 🤪

Arent all BMW drivers weird hahaha

Another ticking all the boxes: 318 / Sedan / Auto / Only a little bit of Rust / Cambelt done (17 years ago) Good buying at sub $15k https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/listing/2955793008?bof=xBSkn149

Sell your Bitcoin and buy E30s https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/listing/2946929933?bof=mR1FVzUq