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Ooooh that's nice. Lachssilber is maybe the best E30 colour and I like how stealthy it is, no flared arches...

Just a little outside my budget damnit 😂

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.

Miss that car, man it made some great noises. Looked better on the original wheels though imo.

20-24k Gone to PNorth WTB new project have cash 😂

Well the next issue popped up, alternator packed a sad on a weekend drive few weeks back. Luckily only close to our off-ramp and I could get it home and then down to our mechanic. New alternator, being water cooled PITA so left it up to the mechanic for this one also. Under $2k all up, pretty happy and we got a good deal on a genuine pump for $1200 in that. Well that’s all the big ticket items now, hopefully ……… At least it’s back and running sweet now

Yes, produced in much lower numbers, under 4,000 units total, than the M3, with over 17,000, as they were only sold in Portugal and Italy as the seller says due to the tax laws for new cars in those countries. These were a real secret for a while, due to their limited numbers, but gradually became more wider known and as the E30 M3s went into inflation mode these became more popular and the prices have correspondingly gone into orbit. Were made in 2-door and 4-door and personally I would say the 2 door would be the one to own, with the M-Tech 2 kit. Whilst it is 300cc smaller than the M3 engine the S14B20 is only a couple of bhp down due to higher compression ratio, but is a bit further down on torque, but then you have to rev an S14 to get the best out of it anyway (well that's my excuse...) The person who originally imported this car into NZ is a good friend of mine, and a few of my spare and surplus parts have been fitted onto this car, not that it was in need of much! Really is a stunning example in the flesh, and the next owner was also a BMW nut who has kept it in tip top condition. Pricing is well up there, as it should be for this car, hopefully someone who recognises what this is will snap it up (outside my current budget unfortunately or I would be all over it). That rocker cover does need a clean up an re-paint with a new oill filler cap though, as that is such a stand out point in the engine bay with the "M Power" lettering. Would cost a few $$$s but well worth it I would suggest.

@Harper this is the definition of OEM+. Seats look great, hard to go past for a weekend car.

Finally have some time to make a thread for my M3. I won't backdate the stuff I've already done on here because there is too much and not all of it is very well documented (list is below though), but I might as well make a thread to put all the dumb stuff I waste away my weekends doing. Bought the M3 in July 2019, never intended to get as carried away with it as I did but that's what happens I suppose. I was always a huge fan of the M-Texture interior prior to owning my M3 but I was not very involved in the M3 market, and assumed that there were none or very few in NZ. I purchased my car not knowing it was actually a factory F2AT car that had been retrimmed to black leather, and when I found out I became a little obsessive over returning it to that spec. That has been the most consuming project of this car, with the engine rebuild being a close second. Main list of things that have been done to the car is below: Engine: Fully rebuilt by Kayne Barrie to OE Spec New OE piston rings/hone/main bearings/rod bearings/injectors/rebuilt head/all gaskets replaced/bunch of other ancillary stuff done at the same time Vanos rebuilt with complete Beisan kit - seals/anti-rattle kit/oil pump disc/timing chain tensioner Rogue Engineering updated high pressure vanos line CSL style carbon airbox - running off OE CSL engine management with Kassel MAP Sensor Suspension/Steering/Trans: Ohlins road & track coilovers Ground Control street camber plates Eibach rear control arms Purple tag steering rack CMP solid steering coupler Fresh OE clutch/flywheel/bushings/etc Body/Chassis: Status Gruppe CSL bootlid - Really good fitment, as close to OE as I've seen Status Gruppe CSL diffuser - The opposite of good fitment. Rubbish. Waiting for a karbonius/Mile End diffuser to become available Complete CMP topside subframe kit with front mount extension and underside plates. OEM facelift tail light conversion IR>RF conversion - Much better range remote key Wheels: Style 260M square set (18x9.5 ET23) Michelin PS4S 255/40/18 square TMS 75mm stud kit Interior: Factory spec M-texture interior Recaro Pole Position ABE's debadged and trimmed in M-texture Brey Krause brackets on factory E46 manual sliders Alcantara shifter+boot/e-brake+boot MirrorJohn redesigned mirror glass (Doesn't crack and leak)

Had the opportunity to purchase this, 1986, two previous owners. It is very original and complete and I am very pleased with it.

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

Looks like great buying, late mode Msport E39s are such a handsome sedan. wouldn’t be too concerned about 240km on an M54 either, especially on open roads.

That link (if you get it to work) won’t show you how many 4.6is were built for NZ, it will only show how many 4.6is are still registered in NZ and the owners have their information details set to public.

Yup, that’s him. He bought it off the guy who imported it, and owned it up until fairly recently. I believe this is the only one in NZ, as another one has never shown up in the rego information and I have never seen or heard of one - if there is another it’s a very well kept secret. My race car is entered as a 320iS but I’ve only got the drivetrain, not the whole thing unfortunately.

I remember meeting an old fella named Charlie who was driving one of these at the e30 Megameet a number of years ago. I am not sure if this is the same car but I do recall how beautiful it was. It was definitely a 320is though

very rare, rarer than m3 if I recall correctly

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

Photo credit listed at top, from Insta.

🙏

Depends what you mean by okay haha. Needs to have the rear seat removed to get a cert because rear seat access is probably too difficult to pass. Although imo it's not that bad. A previous owner had an aftermarket stereo in it and it was ugly. I pulled it out but the loom had been hacked up. It's fixable and I have a clean oem headunit but I don't often listen to anything when I'm driving so for now there's a factory delete panel.

You missed a spot.

Dreaming.

Bit of an update: My new dash trim arrived today. The paint I used on the handles is pretty much perfect. I don't think you could easily tell my homemade spray painted handles from brand new OEM ones judging by the finish on the new pieces. Honestly much better than I could have hoped for. Got a bit carried away and ended up ordering a brand new centre console switch centre (part that is removed in the third pic). I did pull it out with the intention of refinishing it the same way I did the underside of the door handles. It was in much worse shape though. Really scratched up and sticky. However once getting it out it was clear that a previous owner had hacked it up and it was held together with silicone anyway, probably for an aftermarket head unit or something. $300 later and a brand new one is coming. Ouch. Should make everything feel a bit fresher though. Once the seats are in, all that's really left on the interior is an alcantara wheel and new A and C pillars (sagging), then I'll have a breather for a while. The following all happened prior to the above and is much less interesting but I thought I might as well do a photo dump and that way it's documented. Best thing about lockdown so far has been ticking off all the sh*t jobs I didn't want to touch, nothing very exciting (hopefully that is to come in the next few weeks). Biggest one being painting the CMP subframe reinforcement bar. Was terrified of getting overspray somewhere that mattered or it looking rubbish so my boot was left stripped out for weeks. Finally got to it last week. Basically spent a whole day just turning the interior into a spray booth, paranoid about overspray. I had already previously stripped the spare wheel well down to bare metal as a previous owner at some point, not the person I bought the car from, had fiberglassed a subwoofer in and there was a bunch of leftover fiberglass stuck to the boot floor. Fool. Primer then paint went on. Just used the titanium silver body colour. Goal was never really to make it perfect. Just improve it. The CMP stuff is never going to look super OEM so as long as it looks decent then I can live with it. It is in the boot after all. The paint came up really good. Finish was nice enough given I couldn't clean or sand the surface perfectly. Next was the miserable job of cutting the carpets to size. Climbed in and out of the boot countless times and going back and removing slightly more. Came up with an okay enough fit I think. The board that goes underneath the carpets was a bit trickier because it had to be cut with a jigsaw and fit around the tube sections on the main beam. I managed to get it close enough but not perfect. My jigsaw skills are a 5/10 at best. If I was really smart I would have left the centre section slightly longer and it would have tucked under the beam nicely. I'll know for next time... Didn't like the exposed silver between the bars either so I made some templates out of cardboard and cut some sections to fit from a donor boot floor carpet I had. Everything went back in with brand new clips. Once the carpet was in with my new OEM trunk mat it looks about as close to factory as I'm going to get. Only sign of it is a hump in the floor, and when you pull back the carpets it's not too ugly. Stoked.

Basecoat / clearcoat. Whoever does it needs to get all that primer off because there's no knowing what it is. It needs a plastic /rubber adhesion promoter, a good single pack primer then base colour then clear. Primer, colour & clear all need a 'flex additive' in them to stop cracking when the rubber is de-formed.