Leaderboard

Today was a good day... Seat brackets showed up unexpectedly despite it looking pretty grim yesterday. No tracking updates and they were meant to hold them aside for me when they found them so I could pick them up. Except I noticed a box at my door at about 12 and sure enough... Everything needs a good clean and a wipe down after installing them but I was too excited and was running out of daylight. Thinking I might build out a small plate to cover the ugly parts of the exposed slider on the side, could help make it look a bit nicer. Have the rear seats and remaining trim pieces all ready to go in tomorrow followed by a good vacuum and clean. Driving impressions are unbelievable. By far the biggest improvement so far. The stock seats are horrendous. I found them uncomfortable and not supportive at all. The recaros couldn't be further on the opposite side of the spectrum. Way more comfortable, like I'm bolted to the car. Rear seat is still accessible but definitely not quite as easy as a folding seat.

so, have been using the car a bit. Up to Manfeild, where it met its sister, an E28 in the same Artic Blue Colour

https://www.trademe.co.nz/3314358324 Unusual mixture!

And just last Friday a trip to Castle Point with a group of enthusiasts, was a great day with sunshine and some fabulous roads. But sadly, the car has started using water - lots of water, and there is a film of oil in there too. I did not mean this car to become a project, but looks like that is the way it is heading. I thought the stories of M30 engines running to 500km were urban myth, and this just proves it. This engine has only done 486,000km! Even if it is just a head gasket, starting anything on this engine would likely result in a full rebuild being required. Probably not an economic proposition. Still have my de Joux to finish so that will have to take priority at the moment.

You missed a spot.

Eeek, it could be. He is my neighbour. Didn't realise he gave me that good a deal.

Yea that was my first thought also, i have an external gauge that i could tap into the signal for and use the Arduino to drive the gauge 🤔Would like to have maybe crank case vacuum also to monitor the dry sump setup but hopefully won't need that through it being an open breathing design. @Michael. It certainly was for me using stainless. Primarily the donuts went from over $200 NZD each to $68 AUD and all of the other bends were cheaper also. Freight was just under $200 AUD and I luckily managed to dodge GST etc when it came in. The other big plus was they did a wider range of bends so I didn't have to get custom work done locally (more expensive) ... I needed some 15deg bends for the collectors and these were a standard stocked item.

Wow dogleg and all! Interesting car, in great condition. I had heard about these…

Photo credit listed at top, from Insta.

🙏

you know hes a good dude when he doesnt even point out that its mates rates!

they look fantastic and right at home with the m rain fabric. is it okay to have non folding seats in a coupe? also whats the deal with no stereo? haha

So classy sir. Well done.

Is there an up-to-date version of this? Would like to know production numbers myself

Bloody awesome! Bet you're wrapped with the outcome.

The Estoril one that was up for $40k in July last year went for $37k in less than 24 hours, he probably would have got 40 if he could be bothered waiting. That one was in good all-round condition and that's about where I think the price sits today for one that ticks all the boxes... nothing recent ticks as many boxes as that one and the prices need to be reduced to reflect that if they actually want to shift them.

I've taken my wheels to Advanced Chrome Platers in Hamilton. George acid dips the wheels. Cost is about $50 per wheel.

Sold

Hi all, I have my E46 330i Touring up for sale. Brought from Turners Tauranga in September 2017, have completed 30,000km over the last four years. NZ new - 3 previous private owners M54B30 with ZF auto with steptronic - 179,990km Oriental blue with full grey leather electric memory sport seats and wood trim Style 96 - 17 x 8 with Firestone Firehawk Sport 01 (225/45/17) Almost completely original spec including rear parking sensors, multi function steering wheel and arm rest. I have driven a few M54B30's coupled with the automatic and this runs the best out of all of them. In my ownership the following things have been done: Valve cover gasket Water pump and thermostat Cooling hoses and expansion tank Intake boots Front control arm bushes Both front door window regulators Front seat panels repaired and re-dye Rear tail gate, rear passenger door and front guard replaced with matching color panels (previous owner had badly dented them) New Din65 battery (October 2021) Full set of new tyres (January 2021) Replacement front windscreen moulding Cupholders retrofitted Replacement front number plate trim panel Things that let it down: The body work is a little rough, to be truly mint it needs a full respray, no clear coat lifting, just dents and scratches Rear tailgate switch is a little sensitive Air conditioning does not work - has been diagnosed, requires a new condenser (quoted 1k to repair) The passenger front window regulator is still slightly clicking (even after being replaced) Looking for 5,500 ono, based in Upper Hutt, Wellington. Thanks, Nathan

Bruce Herbert, I think...... Usually some pretty nice cars in Rose City. Top dollar, though. He wants first dibs on my BMW Touring......

X

x

Mmm new parts.. New center console switch compartment and sunglass tray, new door sills (clips on mine were 90% broken), new headlight lenses, and a bunch of other service bits and clips. Unfortunately the seat brackets were further delayed. Now pushed back to early October. The finish on the center console stuff is so soft that if you breathe on it, it will scratch. But admittedly, it does look great when it's brand new. My old piece for reference, you can see where someone has previously hacked it in half and had siliconed the sunglass tray on.. Yikes Really looking forward to level 3. Will finally be able to pick up the remainder of the interior and get it off to go get retrimmed. Getting tired of the throwaway leather front seats that are in it. By the time that's done I hope to have the seat brackets and everything can go in. The interior will be more or less 'completed' and I'll have a swap out set of OEM Mtexture front seats to clingwrap and leave in storage... Car got a much needed wash today as well.

Production cars with fixed backed seats and OE parts swapped into the same production chassis of another model variant come under different rules - the LVVT rules don’t apply to it. A good illustration of this is the Porsche GT3 which come with coilovers and adjustable antiroll bars from the factory and do not require certification even though they are actually made by H&R Bilstein not Porsche. So for eg if you put e46 m3 csl seats into any e46 chassis the front fixed buckets don’t need to be certified. The CSL seats tilts and slides with the side lever and provides an access width of 35 at the top and 31cm at the narrowest area. I had the BK mounts on factory sliders on the driver seat in my Yellow M3 and those don’t give quite enough forward clearance at all points on the forward most setting - so with those sliders it should technically fail. Ironically the electric sliders actually have a wider forward range so apparently with those it should give more than the required 300mm width for clearance - questionable however if those will pass as they cannot give immediate forward clearance for rear seat passengers to get out in case they need to. The mechanism for release doesn’t have to be strictly at the side of the seat it just needs to be easily accessible for the rear seat passenger without hinderance or overreach. You’ll need to be aware however aftermarket welding to any part of the seat mechanism is not allowed for aftermarket seats. So it is questionable if you can modify the mounts for release mechanisms that way - I believe each certifier have a different interpretation of this rule. I’ll go and put the BK slider in my yellow car later and do a measure but from memory it was around 280mm clearance at some areas and deemed it insufficient.

Does it get any Better

1150hp and 1100kg... could be a bit of a handful in the wet Ran 3rd in class and 9th overall at PIkes Peak this year.

Most items are normally for sale at the right price

Out in the wild

@bmwclassic 😍

And another, if you’re not a follower of BMW Classic on Instagram than I totally recommend it.

Another great shot from BMW Classic.

Makes 215hp @ 13,900pm out of a 1000cc NA IL4 engine. Be nice if they could make a 1500cc IL6 version that would drop into a stripped out E30 shell Cheers...

A potential challenger 🤔

Has a more beautiful BMW been made?

Nothing wrong with that. Your more of a man admitting you are able to have other options when choosing a vehicle that suites your needs rather that just badge buying. Your wallet will like it ?