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Just spotted this rather nice looking machine

Came across a post discussing E46 ride height - turns out the OE Lemforder\Sachs mounts are actually different design to the originals and are taller. When replacing mine i had noted it but assumed it was all due to wear. Now knowing why my front end was sitting a bit higher (factoring in the reinforcement plates) i ordered a set of Eibach Pro-kit springs - black, slightly lower and firmer than OE sport springs. Also got a pair of Z4 strut mounts(not installed) which are shorter and give an additional ~10mm drop over OE ones if i need be. Its pretty subtle compared to before but exactly what i was after - ~10mm drop in front & ~7 mm rear. Don't expect any additional settling in drop but will see.

I wouldn’t bet on it, it will take more than the sun coming out to change the current car market, and economy in general. Plus all the hipsters are buying Teslas to “save” the planet.

Very under-rated cars imho. If you are doing a lot of kms, especially open road with a decent load of gear onboard then that is where a diesel comes into its own in terms of economy.

They are the silver font ones, a bit hard to tell from the photos

Have a go in a Superb 4x4 Sportline. Slightly more boring to drive than an Octavia vRS, but the boot is absolutely cavernous - 160L bigger than an F31, and it also uses the same motor as the Golf-R. The Mazda 6 wag is a good call as well - my friends with multiple kids all seemed to have migrated to them as load luggers.

Octavia Vrs TDI looks more and more appealing.

Ordering new genuine parts for your 35 year old classic car and not only are they still available, but also in stock and they arrive on your desk next day.

Door trims arrived today. Been looking into more details for front door components. Looks like enough room to mount crossovers within door card which is promising. Also looking at active speaker options. Looks like F series only run one set of speaker connections to door, but it looks like there is a spare socket available on the front doors to put in two quad lock sockets and pins in. So if I run another set of speaker wires from boot location to doors I would have the option of running active front speakers. Ironically the quad lock connectors / sockets will only run .75 mm cable which at 4 meters gets a bit marginal at 60 watt RMS at 4 ohms. I’m debating this in my mind as there is also an area in the door connector that a speaker wire could run through. Front door speakers would will either be 3 or 4 ohm 100mm components rated at at least 60 rms. Compared with e46/ e39 / 38 BMWs which are wired for active 3 way speaker cables and have a decent mid bass speaker wire gauge the F80 wiring is quite underwhelming.

dont worry, summer is coming, all the hipsters will have thier wallets open again shortly.

So with the base audio the car has a total of 6 speakers . Each door has one 100 mm driver so four in total. These run full range so do treble as well. No dedicated tweeters in this system ☹️ Under seat woofers on base audio have a smaller 6.5 inch woofer. Amp wise the NTB head unit connects to a box called Active Sound Design. This has a 4 channel amplifier and also has a synthetic car engine sound that is mixed with the audio. The sound curve is Bose esk so it has boosted treble and bass. Sound lacks clarity, highs are missing and bass is centred around kick drum. However, either the door position it does image quite well. The NTB Ida head unit seems quite versatile. It can be coded for various audio setups with a combination of both analogue two wire 4 channel output to most25 fibre optic based multi channel audio as used in the HK logic 7 systems. The key for me will be finding a coded version that produces a flat unequalised output but still does things like audio steering the sound for parking sensors and the other systems in the bmw that have an audio input. Audio input wish I’ll be using usb audio inputs so 256 gig thumb drive with 8000 ish lossless tracks and phone via snap in adapter which is also usb audio. It has other sources such as dvd / cd and enhanced Bluetooth. Although enhanced Bluetooth really means it’s just the basic audio streaming protocol and none of the later aptx or apple atmos / lossless enabled standards.

After checking the fuel system (lines are quite hard), and the usual fluids check. Racecar fired first turn of the key and sat their idling like I run it every day. Hasn't run since Dec 2015. M30's will still roam the Earth long after humans have died off.

Digging this old girl out. Has not run since 2015. After living overseas, multiple delays acquiring a property and building a shed, I finally have somewhere to work on it. Goodbye container. Will get an entire new look I think. Though unlikely to race in the BMW series again. More for hill climbs and club events at Manfield.

hit a pothole in the Frenchie, the momentum and my weight caused the drivers seat angle ratchet mechanism to fail, i think the teeth have sheared short, as well as rusty springs. have had to use a prop and a cooler to keep the seat propped up. damn is it uncomfortable. le sigh