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Finally.... some common sense enters the discussion Battery manufacturers have had far too much influence on the direction of motor vehicle development for far too long. Cheers...

Some photos of how the car looks now

Quick shout out to FCPEuro, they arent always the cheapest (sometimes they are) but their service is nearly unbeatable. Back in December I ordered a new Mahle radiator for the 130i, for the impending engine swap (when I eventually get the time to do it!). I opened up the radiator box last month, found it had been bent in shipping. 6 months after I bought it and the damage had been done. Emailed FCPEuro and explained what had happened, they said sweet as sh*t happens - send it back and will sort it. I said, it's not going to be cheap to send a radiator from New Zealand to the US.. their response was sweet as we got the shipping costs. So I ordered a new Mahle radiator and they had stock issues, so got sent a brand new genuine BMW one. Legends. (Also finally got hold of a SMF Valeo clutch kit)

I hope it’s the same car. One E39 with that hideous boot spoiler is already one too many.

BMW is advancing the series production of hydrogen cars. Oliver Zipse, CEO announced to handelsblatt: Hydrogen as an energy carrier will play an important role in many regions of the world. To this end, the BMW Group is launching “the everyday testing of near-series vehicles with a hydrogen fuel cell drive on European roads,” according to a statement from the company. The first small series of BMW hydrogen cars is to be presented before the end of 2022. Series production: BMW plans hydrogen as an important powertrain pillar “The upper end of our X family, which enjoys great popularity with our customers, is particularly suitable here,” says Zipse. Overall, the energy crisis is driving hydrogen propulsion enormously. “I can well imagine that we will also see the fuel cell in series production in the new class in the future,” explains CEO Zipse. BMW has been working on fuel cell technology together with Toyota since 2013. Just recently, a Chinese automaker announced the first mass production of hydrogen cars. In Germany, researchers at the Aerospace Center announced a hydrogen car at a low price. Klaus Fröhlich, Board Member for Development at BMW AG, explained: "We are convinced that different alternative drive systems will coexist in the future, as there is no single solution that covers all the mobility requirements of customers worldwide." “The hydrogen fuel cell drive can become a fourth pillar in our drive portfolio in the long term.” With road testing of BMW hydrogen cars proven successful, the direction is set, but before series production starts, there are hurdles to overcome. Axel Rücker, Program Manager Hydrogen Fuel Cell at the BMW Group, explains: "We have a chicken-and-egg problem with hydrogen propulsion." “As long as the network of hydrogen filling stations is so thin, the low demand from customers will not enable profitable series production of fuel cell cars. And as long as there are hardly any hydrogen cars on the roads, operators will be reluctant to expand their refuelling network.”

Will certainly need large cash injection to sort. This guy's definition of 'Real tidy' probably doesn't meet many peoples standards.

Wouldn't have thought this colour would work but I really like this. https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/other/listing/3700994966 Seems that nice Orange one has sold as well - such cool little cars, would love one one day but doubt they would be anywhere as usable as an E30.

But does the phone still work...

Diff is stuck in customs as expected, filled out the paperwork for the code that you need this morning so hoping to have it in a week or so. Got my wheels back from vapour blasting , decided to leave the raw vapour blasted aluminium for now, will probably have them gone over again in a year or so when they start to show corrosion and then either get them painted or clear coated. The current finish is quite unique, not a shiny silver almost grey, quite like it. Tires put on, fitment is pretty good, rear should be fine with no rub I hope but front are a little bit close, and camber is already at its maximum on the bc golds. Unfortunately the hole in the top of the strut tower isn't big enough so the bolts that are used to adjust the camber plates hit the edge of the cutout meaning I cannot make full use of the factory camber adjustment. Am yet to give it a proper test drive to see how much it rubs, and it definitely needs an alignment. Will adjust my ride height and take it in for an alignment next week. Unfortunately being back to uni means no more money and little time to work on the car. excuse they messy garage, house is half way through being renovated.

To celebrate the car being back under cover again (sorry, still no garage for her) after almost two months in the Auckland winter rain, I washed it for the first time in 5 weeks. Feels good, just need my long delayed interior back in and will be ready to be seen in public again!! Still a bit of landscaping to be done but nice to have a better space for her.

For Patrick Koller, boss of the new entity resulting from the merger between Faurecia and Hella, hydrogen is the real solution for the future to massively decarbonize mobility. It not only solves use case and economic model issues, but above all, it restores industrial sovereignty that could be taken by China in the case of battery-powered electric cars. Patrick Koller ensures that Sybio, his joint venture with Michelin, will be able to provide very competitive solutions from 2030. For Koller, Symbio - a company specializing in fuel cells, founded in 2010 by Fabio Ferrari, in which Michelin entered the capital in 2014 before transforming it into a joint venture with Faurecia in 2019 - is "a jewel, a diamond to conserve ". He says the hydrogen car will compensate for the shortcomings of the battery-powered electric car. According to him, they very different solutions. The first is an issue of sovereignty related to metal supplies. "We are going to move from a dependence on oil to an even stronger dependence on the rare earth elements currently needed for electrification, " he replied to journalists during the presentation of Forvia's half-year results. “90% of metal refining is done in China, ” he added. "While we only need platinum that can be recycled from catalytic converters" to make fuel cells. France has extensive experience with the hydrogen technology value chain. From an automotive perspective, the sector produces tanks (an essential and very expensive element to withstand the pressure), depressurization valves and the fuel cell. Symbio has also just opened a factory near Lyon which should make it possible to increase the production of fuel cells on a large scale in order to lower their unit price. The French hydrogen industry also includes hydrogen producers such as Air Liquide, but also EDF and Engie, which are investing massively in green hydrogen production capacity. Finally, a start-up, Hopium, even aims to produce very high-end hydrogen cars, to complete a quasi-sovereign value chain. For Patrick Koller, there is another major issue with the hydrogen car. According to him, this technology effectively solves the infrastructure problem posed by electric vehicles. Motorway areas will have to be massively equipped with fast charging stations, up to 80 per service station, but the cost of this infrastructure will not be borne by any economic model. "The investments required on the main axes are colossal to meet the needs of a few days a year," he says. Speaking of the economic model, the Koller estimates that he will be able to offer a complete hydrogen traction chain for a 100 kWh car for between 7,000 and 8,000 euros in 2030. “I don't think that battery technology will reach this price." Patrick Koller cites an increasing number of contracts and that his order book for the hydrogen activity has now reached 500 million euros. The contract with Stellantis (Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Citroën, Dodge, DS, Fiat, Fiat Professional, Jeep, Lancia, Maserati, Mopar, Opel, Peugeot, Ram and Vauxhall) is an excellent opportunity, particularly in light commercial vehicles in Europe, but above all in American pick-ups, the most profitable segment of the market. The market potential is colossal, and present a solution to decarbonize the automotive industry. Koller strongly believes in carbon-free mobility (but not in 2035 contrary to the obligation adopted by the European Union), and that hydrogen will be the real solution. He qualifies, however, by insisting on the fact that the battery car has real arguments in many cases of use, in particular exclusively urban mobility. But he goes further than questions of mobility and judges that hydrogen will provide an answer to industrial decarbonization, and will make it possible to store energy. For now, however, the automotive market lacks models. Only Toyota, Honda and Hyundai have marketed cars (with BMW on their way), while waiting for the French Hopium. But for Patrick Koller, the first models will eventually arrive... He believes even Tesla will eventually get there.

No idea how I missed the auto! Eww

Time to throw some more update pictures up ... firstly, pimped out the 3D printing capabilities so I can do some more functional parts in ASA filament. The heating element is a 700w unit so can essentially heat the enclosure to any temperature required. It takes a descent while to get going but when it does the temperature rockets up !! So much so it overshoots the thermostats set point by over 8 degrees which is not ideal. I've ordered a PID controller off Amazon to keep it super steady but as it turns out the chamber is so well insulated now that it sits at about 46 degrees just from the heat coming off the build plate set to 110 ... at least it'll be there if I need it The Peterson oil tank finally arrived !! Its super tight in the engine bay, and I had to offset the radiator (mockup at this stage) all the way over to the left hand frame rail ... but it fits, which is good news. I had not counted on the clamp to be so large and sitting right near the OEM power steering pump which I originally did not intend on using. Now that the 3D printer is in a heated chamber again I made a two piece 'grommet' to seal up the hole where the trans cabling comes through. Next up is making a much larger flange for the shifter linkage to hold the OEM rubber boot (since i had to enbiggen the cutout). And now for the real fun stuff where we finally get to add some visual appeal to the engine bay !! Completed working out all of the remaining plumbing for the oil and power steering systems. Worked out where the dry sump breather can will go (you can see it on the middle of the engine front) as well as the power steering reservoir, coolant expansion tank and washer fluid tank also (all Chase Bays). The red pool noodles are the beginnings of making the two intakes which will head down into the corners of the bumper. Will do some sort of snazzy carbon fibre bendy tube action ... current thinking is to use either copper tube through the middle and hand bend to shape, or maybe PVC conduit plus steam. Then parcel tape, release agent, carbon and Bob's ya uncle etc 😅

Check you intake boots for splits. My e46 used to do this when I had a split in my intake boot I couldn’t see. also check intake cam sensors

Agree - the manual tax is hitting hard here...

23k nzd???!

You're talking like it isnt already. Toyota is on its second generation of Mirai which seems to be received quite positively, with the only real complaint being the lack of filling stations. Hyundai also has the Nexo, which has the same issue. Really looking forward to big names finally pushing Hydrogen a bit harder. Hopefully this is the start of what we need to finally topple the battery monopoly.

IIRC we've just had that discussion, in this thread I think. Have a look back over the last 5 or so pages, post back if you don't find the relevant info.

Agreed. I have long supported hydrogen and related technology. There ARE issues but they are rapidly being overcome - the nature of the storage vessel on the vehicle has been one, but there is now technology for 'soft' cells which will obviously support variety of placement in vehicular configurations. Electric vehicles had the same issue. That the industry has rushed headlong into charging stations is a concern for the widespread rollout of hydrogen vehicles, but European plans for using current petrol and diesel stations for this is moving ahead at significant pace. Transfer of hydrogen from creation source to distribution point is being resolved through use of existing gas lines, and on-site production. It can happen. I feel it must happen.

BMW E30 M3 Left hand Drive drivers seat. Quite happy for something that needs to be reupholstered and recovered.

350km range and it's almost a full tank.... man they must fang it all day long 😂