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Got the new shocks and springs etc in - ST 50mm/40mm springs, AP Sport shocks, Meyle mounts front and rear and new BMW (I trimmed them) bump stops and 10mm spring pads No drama's at all on the install but I am a slow wrencher! Car drives much better than with the Dobi's and tired Koni shocks that were in it - a little firmer but well damped now and overall firmer, but more comfortable. I've not had a chance to spank it on a back road but while this isn't an out and out performance combo, it feels like a good street setup with my 22mm/16mm swaybars. Ride height is now a bit low at the front but should look better when/if I go for 16's. Reversing into my driveway now is an exercise in caution. One of the front perches was missing the lower spring shim, but I can't imagine new front spring shims would make too much difference in height? maybe 3-4mm? The yuppie-mobile in its natural habitat:

Hi there This is my e30 project bought as a rolling shell in 2020 Fitted Nissan engine, EFR turbo,forged fj20made engine loom,link ecu,made exhaust manifold,engine mounts,sump,fitted big fuel pump put brake booster assembly in the cabin,driveshaft hoops , 3 inch exhaust ,mishimoto radiator and inter cooler,lsd with e36 rear hat,widened steelies,panel and paint,and finally ready for the dyno and hunting for interior parts to finish off.Most of the e30s I’ve ever worked on have been race cars so we would bin the interiors so it’s ironic that is now the stuff I need to find Hope to post car on the Dyno if all goes ok. Cheers Mike Getting close……

OK, so Biarritz is all back on the road. Latest round of work included; Finishing timing chains, guides, tensioners, vanos seals. Intake manifold gaskets and all gaskets and O rings associated with getting into the engine... Then spark plugs, fuel filter, transmission mounts, and finally out the back for lower suspension ball joints and integral links. The engine is a bit cruddy internally so a few short interval oil changes coming up after some decent highway driving. Also the repaired and repainted front bumper (with new knockoff East European pork chops) has been fitted and it's quite an improvement on the old nose. M5 style grid. I'm pleased the colour match came up OK. My new spray gun worked great so gives me confidence to try more paint stuff... It's fair to say I'm liking this car - must be the colour...

Update #27 Dad dropped off the PLA test print on Saturday morning (can’t beat that for customer service!) It’s turned out really well. I have one small modification to make (points for anyone who can spot what it is), but aside from that it’s spot on. Dad has ordered a hardened nozzle for his printer (so it can handle the carbon fibre) and some filament so once that’s arrived we’ll be able to do a test print of the end product!

Yeah, it does feel like the market has softened a bit, some of these cars might have flown off the shelf 3 months ago. About the same time mortgage rates started climbing 🤔

^^^^^ Complete with what used to pass as a personalised plate, perfect if your name is Oswald Quidditch.

Hard at work! I can see these things being the source of drivetrain swaps in the future.

I'm still not sure of the root cause of problem with some of these post, this one has no image for me and I see that ^ which is obviously machine generated metadata, it's also not actual text, it's an image. The URL Graham has used is: https://ci6.googleusercontent.com/proxy/S1Jx1GdpPO6FPdJDFyk-ITso76oicgMZeh_qfGt8F6Yv1J7ukxuJDQOSmhcRhL4YiUCCYant2A_7FV5Pg1xMassFczjpVZSlbwryUA8SdXJQBAE0DlcJUpmIAhJKPS5eDcj___m8G8knb2nMEBJAugbdEt6KUXvTodPc_KGk13uQ16mWNuaaTadErGdVuL5C6CEoIXA-vmZs5QZB1CJ2jpQ_DY-e1UwLxSj2A3vzbeEB7xExbxKnTj75NClcMl6KBO579BC3uFF2z23wh9vcqO19kTRtK8Xuv_yPoO0ceZXjnCAOziRpf1Fs64vEzlOJi8_Z2hBFz-nqw9OijiL78KGaZnfgBW7hgQZKtI0fAReKfwzJ=s0-d-e1-ft#https://scontent-akl1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/274191164_997611694521331_7084132615050842337_n.jpg?_nc_cat=110&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=5cd70e&_nc_ohc=NdT9dn8QVL8AX8At7_e&_nc_ht=scontent-akl1-1.xx&oh=00_AT85b-RrPkNZyKMU7ETGv_bmKW3dNVM3aYfN6eSqitHMxg&oe=621616F1 ...which is a Google proxy of a Facebook image and the base URL and hash is actually: https://scontent-akl1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/274191164_997611694521331_7084132615050842337_n.jpg?_nc_cat=110&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=5cd70e&_nc_ohc=NdT9dn8QVL8AX8At7_e&_nc_ht=scontent-akl1-1.xx&oh=00_AT85b-RrPkNZyKMU7ETGv_bmKW3dNVM3aYfN6eSqitHMxg&oe=621616F1 ...which is embedded at the end of the Google link. Still not sure why it shows as an image for some people and that text for others. Perhaps if you're logged into FB the original link shows as an image? I don't have a FB account so can't check.

I've had good luck getting e39 xenon units via ebay uk. They will more than likely need new adjusters and a good wetsand polishing session. I think the last pair i got for my old touring were $280 landed.

nice choice

Yeah i expect it reach 400,000 now without requiring any more significant amounts of cash.

All back together and driving good. Back end is noticeably tighter with the new\improved rubber subframe bushings, possibly with the reinforcements helping with some additional rigidity.

Ended up taking them off and dismantling, cleaning with the contact spray and they work perfectly fine now. So yeah it was a straight forward fix in the end

Like pretty much everywhere else the design of the iX is polarising in the NZ market with most of the attention being on the grille. So today I did a wee but of photoshop work taking the current x5 grille to the iX and also creating one sans any grille at all. I dislike both of those options but figured it would make for good conversation.

Update #26 Well I got notification today that the new steering wheel has shipped - should be here in a couple of months! The other day I decided to re-investigate why the rear bumper/diffuser sits so terribly on my car. I say re-investigate as I did look at it a few years ago when Dad and I were doing all the under-body work on the car, but I'd forgotten since what the issue was. Got under there with a torch to see that the plastic brackets that are glued to the Kevlar support bar had all detached, and only a couple of them were still screwed to the bracket on the bumper itself. I removed one, and did some investigation on the internet (although I suspected I already knew the answer). Because the brackets are glued/plastic welded to the kevlar support the whole thing is one part number and you can't purchase individual replacements. I could hunt down a wrecked one and try pull the bits, but didn't particularly like my chances, and thought it was a good opportunity to try putting Dad's 3D printer to use. The original part is helpfully labeled as PA6 GF30 which means it is a Polyamide 6 plastic with 30% glass fibre. There is a 3D printer filament available which is a Nylon 6 (Nylon is a type of Polyamide, so Nylon 6 is pretty similar to PA6) with 25% Carbon Fibre. The printed end result is supposedly stronger than the same thing made out of aluminium, so it should do the trick for this application. I quickly brushed up on my very rusty CAD skills and knocked this up this evening. It was pretty enjoyable to make. The original having presumably begun life by being drawn in CAD by a BMW engineer it was nicely spec'd in whole millimetres, so was easy to reproduce. The most difficult aspect was just that the bridge and the legs are not quite in the same X-Y plane. I've shipped this off to Dad for him to run a test print in PLA. From that I'll check and make any necessary adjustments, but I'm pretty confident it's spot on. The only thing I haven't drawn at this point is the holes in the legs. I'm undecided at this point whether I rivet or plastic bond to the kevlar support. If I go the plastic bonding route then the holes may prove to be unnecessary. Till next time.

europcar, its not even that expensive. About the only thing I dont like is the steering, same as all "modern" cars, it feels like a video game controller with bad force feedback. Quick as sh*t and nice to drive though, and the ZF 8 speed is stunner.

Just picked up my Stinger GT Rental in Chch, road trip for work to Hanmer tomorrow, then Lewis pass, 2 hours work in Westport, then next day for Hokitika followed by 2 hours work, then back to Chch via Arthurs pass. This thing is actual legit, Kia went from making boring as sh*t whiteware cars to an actual legit thing... even has a real LSD. I might now be a Kia fanboi.

Couriers were coming thick and fast today! Some goodies to keep me busy for a while and get this thing driving more like the Gods intended. ST Suspension springs and shocks - 50mm/40mm drop - likely similar to the Dobi springs its sitting on now Strut and shock mounts / dust caps 10mm springs pads / bump stops Engine and tranny mounts / steering Guibo Meyle HD endlinks Meyle tierods Meyle control arms New lollypops and Revshift 80a CABs and Powerflex Street eccentric CABs (doubled up there - will sell what I don't use) Will do the shocks and springs first to sort the ride and stance then the front suspension / steering related stuff at a later date. DA polisher and a swag of CarPro goodies from Detail Depot arrived as well - I love this phase of the relationship 🤣

Yeah 2nd hand dealer approach is usually pure greed. Minimal effort and maximum reward. I understand they are a business, but buying a car, putting a huge margin on it, then not even bothering to address even minor issues nets them no respect from me.

Update - I ended up just wet sanding by hand with 1200, 1500, 2000 grit and then picked up a Mechpro DA polisher and gave them a quick run over with compound and polish. Came up excellent! Good advice on the DA, that’s the way to go if you have one I reckon - no need for a $80 sandpaper kit. Took back to vtnz, focus is now good but this branch won’t pass as one bulb is a slightly different shade of yellow (replaced one side a couple of warrants ago as wiring insulation rot caused it to blow). Xenon bulbs are bloody expensive and I can’t remember which brand I got so I’m going back to the original vtnz as they mentioned the slight colour difference but weren’t bothered by it.

Remutaka run for lunch in Masterton, the thirsty old-timer cruised over the hill, autobox did well. Stunning day here 🌞

Bimmer unrelated but just driving the old French girl to work with the windows and sunroof cracked open and playing early 80s muzak makes it really feel all right.

I've had a bit of a search online including downloading the motor vehicle register. From what I can decipher this is the only Estoril Blue Clubsport with SMG in NZ. There is one other Clubsport SMG (carbon black I think) (and who knows if it's still SMG as many SMG's have been ruined by converting to three pedals...?), and a maybe an auto and/or manual or two. But yeah, very rare.