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Interior planning update: My Mtech 2 370mm wheel is in NZ now so hope to get my hands on it shortly. Found my Fabric (Anthracite Uberkaro by Relicate) https://relicate.com/collections/uberkaro-plaid-fabric-for-bmw-e30-and-m3/products/uberkaro-fabric-for-bmw-m3-and-e30-anthracite?variant=32486462881872 I didn’t realise but I already have this same fabric in my car as Stitchboots used it for my shifter and handbrake boot - it’s nice and dark - I’m not a fan of the silver Uberkaro. Biggest decision now is wether to go Uberkaro on the door panels as well - due to the one piece E30 door car design it won’t be able to replicate the factory look with the fake stitch (will look like below photo but in Uberkaro) but I think it will tie in nicely compared to having light grey plain fabric (my existing door card). Possibly could have horizontal stitched ‘pleats’ on the door card to break up the wall of fabric and replicate the sport seats vertical pleats / emulate the leather door card horizontal pleats too. Just waiting on my 2nd estimate and hope to get done in July.

Changed the wheels finally, took quite a while and a fair bit of $$$, Worth it though, looks way better. * Stage 1 remap * xHP gearbox flash (Stage 2) * Upgrade Focal Speakers and AMP

CAUTION: Next pic contains nudity!!

My old man recently passed away. He has owned this E55 since near new. Previous owner was a friend of his. I decided I would buy it from the estate pending a go over. He always loved this car and we have spent many hours towing around both my previous E30 series car and the current dormant E34 race car over the years. I enjoyed driving it so I thought I would keep it in service. Probably not the smartest move with the price of petrol about to drive the cost of living to near Switzerland levels. So off on my Mercedes journey I go.

Ideal fitment for e30 m3s and e24 e28 etc 16x8 et20 and 16x9 et24 Good starting point if you wanted to upsize to 17 or 18s $2500 or can refurbish for extra

My favorite hose. If that one has gone the next to go is the plastic fitting on the front of the motor. Get the upgraded alloy fitting with hose attached.

Will post pics when they are arrive, I'm dubious for the price, but who knows... sometimes ya luck out https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003627350571.html

The clamp is onto a plastic quick disconnect.

Got a little Karcher K3 pressure washer for a few wee jobs around the house (well that was the official justification) and thought it would come in handy for washing the car, using snow foam and hopefully cleaning wheels without a brush. So after I cleaned the steps and fence, I gave the E30 its first snow foam wash. After being quite excited about it seemed like much ado about nothing - foam was thick and fantastic (Autoglym Polar Blast) but just seemed like such a pain in the arse with 3 'cords' instead of 1 when you have to touch wash it afterwards anyway. I guess it would be good for people who let their cars get dirty but mine is generally pretty clean. Also felt like it removed a little of my sealant. Will reserve it for when I've got more time / car is filthy, otherwise a quick rinse and 2 bucket wash is king.

She’s sleeping rough for the next 4-5 weeks, just in time for the rainy season 😬

Got my WOF. Continuing to work on the interior parts so it is mostly mint when I get seats and door cards reupholstered. Today I refinished my parcel tray in charcoal, added rear headrests (butchered some other seats for parts) and changed my huge ugly 6x9s that needed 20mm spacers for some sleek 5x7s that look much more OEM and cover the awkwardly sized premium speaker holes. Huge difference - looks so much more premium - but very tricky to photograph due to rear window reflections - here is how much sun fade has occurred over 35 years. Will do my carpets in the same dark grey soon.

Don't stress, the valleys won't be silent. The blades on an electric mower still make a bloody racket, enough to justify hearing protection. I still love my ryobe one+ mower though.

Coffee: The Sunbeam Barista Max EM5300 is legit. I bought one after trying it at my brothers. My inlaws then bought one, my sister in law bought one, her parents bought one, etc. It comes with built in adjustable grinder so you can tune to the batch of beans. Couple it with decent fresh beans and you get coffee that beats 9/10 coffee places. I don't remember the last time I purchased a coffee that tastes better than what this machine can make. There's also some very important, basic, rules to get a decent cup. Fresh beans. Old beans will make flat black coffee with little flavour. Fresh will get you golden and delicious. Right grind. Too coarse and you get weaker, sour coffee. Shop around to find a good bean that suits you. I currently go to Raglan roast as it's local. Allpress ART blend is a good one to try. $488, can be had a tiny bit cheaper if Harvey Norman or someone puts it on super special. https://www.heathcotes.co.nz/products/em5300s-sunbeam-barista-max-espresso-machine-em5300

So I have a little bit of a rant. A few days ago I joined a VW NZ Facebook group, as I've been wanting to take my manual W8 to a meet, so figured a VW meet would be a good place to start. Anyway, once accepted into the group I posted a couple photos of the car, and got a few replies in the comments. A member of the group then PM'd me asking if I would be interested in selling the car as he would love to have it in his personal collection. A quick browse of his Facebook showed he had an Audi S5 and a Porsche 911 997.1.5 Turbo, so it seemed reasonable he was seeking out such a rare and unique car, plus it showed he most likely had some deeper pockets. I replied saying I didn't really want to sell but everything is for sale, for the right price! I then quickly typed up a little summary of the car including all the work thats been done in the last 10,000km, sent a couple photos of the car and then asked what he thought it was worth to him. Since there's only approximately 4 W8 6 Speed Manuals left in NZ (with the rest having been parted and one being exported overseas) it is an extremely hard car to value. Its worth exactly what someone wants to pay for it, there is literally no market. I believe my one is the only silver one, and I think is the most original, even having its original head unit, sales receipt, and plate combination, making it ideal for a diehard VW collector. Plus in the last 10,000km its had clutch, clutch master cylinder, engine mounts, rocker cover gaskets, fuel pump and filter, wheel bearing, thrust arm bushings, cv boots, brake hoses, and to top it off, currently has 4 Potenza RE003s on it. With the prices of things like MK4 R32s climbing in value, to the right person, I think my car could be worth a decent amount of money seeing as its rare as hens teeth, has R32 performance, and imo makes one of the coolest exhaust noises of any VW. (I also understand some people would rather have a testicular torsion than a W8 lol) Basically, its a very niche car. I sent him a screenshot of the only other manual W8 I've ever seen for sale, which was up on Facebook for $15K with 70+ listing saves (indicating it must a popular listing) and had half the ks of my one, but was lowered, with commodore style hideous wheels etc and looked to have been messed around with. Whether mine being largely original is worth more or less is a shoulder shrugging exercise, but I sent it through nevertheless mainly to show him that I didn't really want W8 Auto money (2.5-5K) for my manual car. He replied saying he doesn't like to make offers on cars he hasn't seen, to which I replied that he is more than welcome to come round and have a look at the car. He then rather rudely told me I was wasting his time as he wanted me to give him a ballpark figure for "MY specific one!!". Not sure what he was expecting but since he had come to me with a big spiel about how he wanted it in his personal collection, the fact I don't really want to sell the car unless its for a decent amount, his poor attitude, and that naturally you first price high so you don't accidentally undersell what you have, and have some leverage for negotiation, I logically gave him a ball park of $15K, which is exactly what the last one was for sale for (not particularly unreasonable I thought). And then he sees my message, no reply.... Absolute waste of my time, if he actually wanted a manual W8 you would think he might be a bit more inclined to negotiate. It could be years before another one comes up for sale. Or, go put an 01E from an S4 in an auto one, and spend more money than buying a factory manual. My guess is he just wanted to try score a big engine + a manual for cheap, and maybe even try flip it or something. The cheapest WOF/Reg 4.0L or bigger manual car on Trademe is that thrashed cherry red E39 540 which has been up for months for 10K, followed by a manual B6 S4 for 13.5K. But anyway, rant over.