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Less than 9 months old, Euro plate format with black trims, no holes drllled. $475.

#lovethebiggrilles

Hello there I'm new to the 5 series always had 3 series, so I'm looking for a set of style 32s 17" but they are for a e36 so a major problem right there and the centre bore in a e39 is 74.1 and offset is 20 but the e36 centre bore is 72.5 and offset is 25, is there a way that a spacer or something that could correct the difference

That hurts my brain 🤣

Haven't been able to do much to the car recently, but took it out for a drive and took some photos. Subframe bushings, ride height and wheel alignment next up on the to do list, and hopefully a limited slip diff a little bit later on...

Glad to read you had a great time, track days are a lot of fun. Interesting that you also had powersteering problems at taupo. I only had the fluid "boil" that once, left a puddle in the pits. No melting. I'd never had a problem at Hampton Downs, which I would have thought would work the steering harder. Ended up underdriving the steering pump after some internet research. 😁

I think $5000 was thrown around last time I asked about it, I presume that's mostly parts costs. Edit: if that was any other colour I'd be making offers to do the exact same thing lol

Just finished the route past Kaiaua fisheries (no I didn't stop for fish and chips). Drive was somewhat ruined being stuck behind a camper van and horse carrier most of the time. At least the camper van driver was nice enough to let me pass when the opportunity presented itself.

First track day in the M3. Car was 'almost' flawless. Weather Couldn't have been better despite the days either side looking pretty miserable. Still can't believe how much attention this car garners even surrounded by some pretty cool cars. Some CSL airbox noises: 20220604_131453.mp4 20220604_122738.mp4 20220604_092642.mp4 We were just talking about how the car had been faultless before the second to last session and we must have jinxed it. I was getting a bit more comfortable in the later sessions and pedaling the car a bit harder. On the last lap of the second to last session I lost power steering mid corner and did the cool down lap with a plume of smoke coming out from underneath the car. When I came into the pits I could see it was power steering fluid that was on the undertray and assumed the high pressure rack lines had failed since mine were weeping a little bit already and I would call it a day. When I went to top the reservoir up to make the drive home I noticed it actually looked like the fluid had come out from underneath the cap and through the overflow hole. It was pretty clear the fluid had boiled. When I undid the cap to see what the level was at, the dipstick had completely melted off... The power steering did return once the fluid had cooled down but it was clear on the drive home that the pump was toasted. It was whining under any kind of load and has probably had molten plastic pulled through it. I'm not really sure of the sequence of events, whether the pump failed and the bearing over heated which cooked the oil and the cap, or whether the oil boiled and caused the pump to fail. I have never heard of an E46 boiling power steering fluid while using ATF, I wasn't going sideways that much. Either way, looks like I'm gonna need to start buying some replacement parts..

Token bimmer at the Canterbury Rally. Ya little beauty.

I washed the E30 before I meet the new buyer at the airport tomorrow at dark o’clock, then he is driving back to Auckland. I too use the “good coats of polish and two bucket wash method” @Sammo

Long time no progress, did a 1400k round trip after the rear suspension refresh, towing a tandem trailer the whole way so a bit hard to tell but it certainly seems nicer riding, did highlight that the weird surging boost issue is now the biggest problem and needs sorting, so I ordered a vacuum tester and then set about trying to track down leaks in the vacuum system, by pulling out the turbo! I wanted to check that the variable vane gubbins on the turbo wasn't jammed, and it seems to move freely MOST of the time, it catches occasionally so I wanted to get the turbo apart and clean and lubricate it to make sure. I set about isolating and testing sections of the vacuum system and found 2 quite significant leaks in the brake booster plumbing where one use hose clamps were very loose, so I removed those and fitted new clamps which improved things significantly. I can now build the system up to 10 vacuums and it takes quite a while to leak back down to zero, so I'm happy with that. After a couple of frustrating evenings in the garage trying to get the turbo apart without destroying it i have decided to just lubricate the variable geometry mechanism as best I can and put it all back in.....as soon as gaskets arrive from overseas!

Looks like this one was built just after the pneumatic -> electric changeover @elias. If I was doing regular longer runs the diesel would be perfect but I’m not sure economy is much better than petrol in my usage given the long warm up time…the torque is addictive though, and the all weather traction is second to none

Switching to my driver's seat renewal project, to renew my punished 22-year-old driver's seat with as fresh as possible foam. I scored a passenger sport seat back a while ago for the material, and have decided to use the foam and material for the refresh on the driver seat. As well as a new back frame from @hqstu The reason being is the Trimshop believes the outer bolster slackening the current seat has, is due to the seat chassis being bent, rather than just foam deterioration, the shape is defneatly off so doing both makes sense. The bottom is also ruined, with the chassis rail digging into my legs. Rather than muck around trying to find a good condition seat bottom, I've bought a new one from FCP because they are available (for now) and new is best, something the seat back is not readily available as. I will be reusing my material as it was repaired 2 years ago, So, the new seat cushion is a week away, and the back is more or less ready to swap out, so by the end of the month, I should have a decently refreshed driver's throne

Made a bit more progress, been very busy with uni assignments recently, redid a part of the exhaust, my welding isn't particularly good, and this thin walled steel with flux core isn't the nicest thing to weld either, but looks a bit better than before, painted it so it doesn't rust as quickly. Also decided to take matters into my own hands and bought a guard rolling tool, will give the rear guards a go tomorrow and see how flat I can get them, and then maybe bit more negative camber when I go for a wheel alignment after adjusting ride heights and they 245s may just fit. Also acquired a pair of 235/40/18 fallen rt615k+ tires for the front, the 245s maybe be a bit too hard to make work on the front, don't want them to rub in corners. Will take a fair bit of rolling to work...