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Gave the 337 a sponge bath with my little helper today ... 18 months since last wash and it really showed !! Looks so good again

I bet Fiat could do it...

Suppose I'd better close this chapter before embarking on a new thread. Long story short, after going on Christmas break, I spent the next 4 days doing 12-hour shifts meticulously cleaning and reassembling everything that I'd taken apart. All the brand new parts went on without issues and, no "spare" bolts left at the end of it all. She fired up first go with the only minor issue being the brand new coolant sensor turning out to be faulty. All that was left was this pile of ancient bits replaced with new ones: With new VANOS seals, spark plugs and cleaned throttle body, valve and MAF sensor it definitely felt more responsive and nimble, as well as becoming less thirsty by about a liter per 100km. Gave her a good thorough clean inside-out to top it all off. Straight after it took us on a grand tour around the South Island, all the way down to Milford Sounds, Invercargill and Dunedin before shooting all the way up to Abel Tasman along the West Coast, doing a few Great Walks along the way. All in all clocked up close to 4,500km along some of the best bits of road I've ever driven, falling in love with the car and the scenery all over again, wee Bambi behaving immaculately throughout, with the only trouble caused by a tired old battery that was promptly replaced. Sadly, after about a year-and-a-half of ownership and much deliberation, I decided it was time to part ways. I wanted to take the car up to a higher standard, which would involve investing increasingly unreasonable amounts of money into things like suspension and break upgrades, as well as possibly a full or partial respray. In the end I figured if I was going to go down that route, I might as well do it with a car that I was going to be able to justify keeping longer term, and unfortunately, I didn't see that car being a coupe. I was still very keen to stick with the E46 platform, so when a black 325i E46 Touring came up for sale, I went ahead and jumped on it. That car is a whole new can of worms deserving a whole thread of its own (which I promise to be more consistent with). Coming soon... As for Bambi, after a longer than hoped for sales process, probably drawn out by my "knowing what I've got", she found a new home with a couple from Wellington back in October, a day short of my 2 years of ownership. Never easy letting go of something you'd put so much effort into, but at the same happy knowing I left her in better shape than I'd gotten her for the new owners to enjoy. Hoping she's well taken care of in her new home. Give her a wave if you see her roaming around up there. Onto new ventures and adventures.

I purchased a reasonably nicely spec'd X5 jap import a few months back, LCI xDrive35i with pano sunroof, side cameras for top-down reversing view, sports suspension, leather seats, fandangled rims which tbh I don't really like. Queue a few other upgrades and improvements: Region fixes Radio - VO Coding Maps - ongoing, fairly tricky Have changed all region settings Have put a cloned drive image on - an ECE (europe) image I got off the web Remove TV from CIC, NCSexpert to disable this one Remove legal disclaimer from iDrive, NCSexpert option to remove this too Added tow bar Got the mechanical parts from NZ Got an OEM spec wiring kit from US, had to change a few wires around to go from US spec trailers to NZ, and add it to the spec via VO coding Replace HDD with a larger SSD for increased music storage - complete it's picky about the PATA to m.2 adapter apparently, second try got it - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017VQT5YW/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1 Ableconn IIDE-MSAT mSATA SSD to 2.5-Inch IDE, note, you must select the IDE and Msata to IDE options Added spare key, got a bloke to do it as it required special gear to read data of the CAS3 system Should have disabled all other keys before he did this as from what I've read this would have given the new key comfort access feature, which it doesn't have now as it is in slot 8 Future Put in high beam assist, likely needs a new mirror unit which has that feature, plus coding it in - wiring should be there since I have the auto-darkening mirrors Put in adaptive cruise, likely needs a new cruise stalk and radar unit - other parts should be there as it has active cruise (cruise with braking) Generally just chipping away at one or two of these at a time, might be a length process which may end up being too hard but it's an interesting task to try my hand at anyway! Happy to provide guidance at a fairly mid-high level to help others do similar. I've tried to keep some documentation and files of how I've done things...

Big day today in general !! Got the drive shaft back and it looks really great ... was worth them noting 'fussy paint job' on the job card As per everything these days it was super expensive but at least they did a really great job. Went for the big boy 1350 slip yoke (because why not) which makes the OEM middle joint look positively puny. Also has a new CV on the end as the old one was poked apparently. Not directly swap project related but I installed my AliExpress air and oil separator for the compressor which is pretty sweet. Also washed the car with my apprentice, SO satisfying as it had 18 months of garage dust all over it (plus a dead cockroach). The E46 is such a classic good looking car

For 90's hatch they aren't that slow up to legal speeds imo (even with the power robbing auto). Most are in average at best mechanical condition and not close to their potential performance wise. Looks the same as mine but without style 43's and jap plate holder.

Picked up a spare car. Not bad for a grand with new wof and reg. Slow as anything, but gets the job done.

Very jealous of that roadtrip! Love driving in the South Island but only ever done it in rental Toyotas

I'll be back before New Year's Eve and then hanging around so sure, hit me up then and they're all yours.

I have no doubts about that hahaha Thanks buddy appreciate it

Glass don't rust!

Moon roof

@m325i Ahhh yes - per your username! Will be semi-daily-ing - i.e. driving 2-3 times in week then otherwise for fun whenever I want - I work from home 70% of time now-days and rarely sit in traffic. Could go clear markers - cheap to see how it looks anyway. 370mm Mtech wheels seem to be in the $800 plus range, yeah, although once you add a boss kit not much difference to a Momo or Nardi. Without airbags, I'm thinking an Mtech 2 wheel looks like a nicer place to smash my face into than a exposed metal wheel haha

Wow - an e38 750! It must be one of very last ones. Congrats on the BMW 'V' trifecta - V8, V10, V12!

Update... E60 M5 Going great - thoroughly enjoyed it on the last two club runs (Wairarapa and Feilding). Need to sort the paint bits and pieces F30 335i Daily driver going well - still get a bit of rattle despite the engine cover being re-fastened by two mechanics 🤔 E53 X5 4.4i intermittent ABS trifecta continued - so had it in at Driscolls for troubleshooting - faulty brake light switch replaced, steering angle sensor checked and recalibrated - but it ended up being a faulty pressure sensor in the brand-new ABS pump from the final MBI claim!!! Good to have it sorted but there goes more $$... 🙄 Plenty of labour and a $600 pressure sensor. Noticed a clicking on right lock when in the car park at work - in at Driscolls again and turned out to be CV joint... RF boot was torn etc. Looking at my notes in here - this was a 'fix soon' item from 2019... 🤦‍♂️ Driver's seat leather needs a clean and tidy up again... Xmas holidays job I'd say. Wife's Mazda Atenza - sold via TradeMe and replaced with a 2012 Audi Q3 Quattro S-line 2.0TFSI. She loves it and it is a nice vehicle, but ... not so happy with it today! Check engine light, EPC (Engine Power Control) warning light on and engine running rough. It's getting towed tomorrow morning for dealer and MBI to resolve 😕 And in other news I have acquired a 2001 E38 750i SWB individual - which Jon is working on at his leisure... Special? Yes. Sensible? Unlikely...

E30 Blower fan and replaced the heater core and matrix that blow up last summer. Was a bit of a job but well worth it to have my blower back and heater system ... oh and a running car with no coolant leaking into the cabin was a bonus too.

Wait. Did the owner kill himself? Over this? Suicide is a serious mental health problem but a trigger is not a cause, and this video is most certainly not a cause. It's the only video of theirs I've seen but their narrative seemed fair even if there was a boatload of scripted disingenuity, changing tense throughout the video was amateur. Regardless, they deserved their money back, seller shouldn't have made that difficult.

New plates arrived! Also factory exhaust is back on the car.

New trunk garnish fit! Just waiting on the new plates to show up.

0VOLTS

Yep, and the sound of birds (other than pigeons).

Well it's time to dump stones on the road again. And guess what. I lost another windscreen. It's becoming a joke. Zero effort and money being put into repairs.