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So satisfying to see you got absolutely maximum value out of that clutch 😂

Crap day but went to the beach anyway

What in the holy heck happened to that clutch disc?!

There's a good place i know of on the shore, but you probably want somewhere closer?

Yeah i agree that E46 certainly ain't boring and is far more well rounded for sure, but the semi trailing arm is just more lively, the car weights 200-300kg less, better weighted steering, mechanical throttle etc. The stock E30 and E36 racks just feel rubbish compared to purple tag when you drive them back to back. Its just how they are id say rather than wear so long as there is no play in it.

The near offer might only be 4 figures 🤮

It is but honestly i find my 318ti auto is still more enjoyable to drive with the same purple tag rack, classic case of newer=better but less enjoyable. Something im sure you can understand when you 'downgraded' from your E46 to the E30. 4 cylinders having lighter front just adds to E30\Ti experience. I dont think its much slower if at all in the tighter corners despite being mostly stock.

Picked up a single Recaro SP-JC seat on fb for fairly cheap to replace the SR3. The SR3 is clearly superior for sprinted driving, but with the solid subframe mounts the body roll is much reduced so something a bit more livable makes sense more of the time. Its certainly a nicer and well featured seat compared to the average Recaro whilst still being light. The bolstering\support isn't very aggressive, slightly improved over stock sport seats i reckon with added shoulder support but slightly flatter base bolstering, basically a SR7-F. Feels so much nicer to sit in though, definitely got VW\Audi style Recaro vibe to it. Fits in the E46 better with good clearance for bolsters and airbag tensioner. Unfortunately like the SR3 it still sits about 1 inch to low for me, but its a small issue. Features include - electric recline, cooling and heating function on the remote and a manually inflatable lumber bladder with thigh support on bottom. Manually folds forward too which is a must for me in a coupe and you dont have to hold it forward like the SR3. Also matches the passenger seat better than i expected despite the Recaro branding and red stitiching

When the MD gives you a wind up about not completing your security training, forgetting about the laptop that IT threw in the bin because he clicked that ransomware email link. FFS. Bean counters just love em.

The second, NZ New, manual W8 sedan arrived today.... and what a day of ups and downs! Before I begin, let us all remember that the vehicle was written off by the insurer, with the damage being "Engine Damage". This morning I received a text from my transporter saying the car got driven out of the salvage lot on its own by the staff, and then easily pulled itself onto the transporter - strange I thought, given the "Engine Damage" it supposedly had. I also got some photos of the car, looked fairly dirty with muddy arches, and a bit of silt and gravel on the REMUS mufflers (I'm stoked about those). My initial thoughts were that the car was wrongly labelled, and was in fact a flood damaged car. When it arrived, the transporter told me how surprised he was when the gates opened and the car drove out under its own steam, instead of being hauled along by a forklift. He said usually when Manheim say that a car has engine damage, it really does! The car also had no water line on it, and didn't smell of damp. Very, very strange. Why would the car have been written off and deregistered by an insurer if it isn't water damaged, hydrolocked, and seemingly still runs?! I started it, there was a definite misfire, and it instantly started complaining about coolant. Head-gasket was my first thought to explain both of those. I told this theory to my mate who had skipped his engineering class join me for the delivery. He had done a ton of research prior to the delivery on possible issues that could render a W8 with "Engine Damage". He thought head gasket would be unlikely as there is almost no talk of them failing in the forums - and instead thought coolant could just be low, and misfire could be something basic like plugs and coils, or it could be the cam variators and the famous plastic mesh screens that dislodge. So anyway, I top up the reservoir and we take the car for a drive (lucky where I'm keeping the car genuinely has a 1km private road), holds temperature and goes without issue, although its still not the happiest at idle. Decided next best option would be to let it cool down, give it a bit of a clean and then investigate further. Gave the car a bit of a clean - was absolutely filthy and covered in cob webs. Figured out pretty quickly from the gravel rash + FMG insurance card, and live stock purchasing list that the previous owner of 12 years must have owned a farm. This explained the dirt in the wheel wells - so it must not be flood damaged? The car is also leaking oil and transmission fluid pretty well, so we jacked it up to look underneath. One thing I noted was that the front bumper had fresh fasteners in it - also strange. Checked the Air Filter and it was basically disintegrating - maybe the car was just running poorly as a result of old plugs or dodgey coils that were due for replacement? It was really starting to annoy me - why was this an insurance write-off and why was it deregistered? Well tonight I managed to find out what happened: The story may not be 100% correct, but this is how I remember it. A mechanic was driving the car and backed it over a big curb. This squashed the front bumper so the car was booked in to a panel beater to have the bumper put back on and repaired (remember the fasteners I saw...). Well on the way to the panel beater, the car overheated as the radiator pipes had also been squashed and damaged. The car was then taken to another mechanic for assessment where the pipes were repaired, but the car still overheated. Car was diagnosed to have a blown head-gasket and a subsequent insurance claim was made. I will test the head-gasket again myself just to be sure - I'm not sure if it was a "suspect diagnosis" or a formal one, but I am 99.9% sure it is indeed blown based on the miss on idle. It does also turn out that the car may have been the one mentioned on a forum I found, as "Big Jimmy" was from New Zealand, and the timeline matches the modifications done to the car: https://www.passatworld.com/threads/w8-performance-boost.235355/ So yes, I could confirm that apparently $10K was spent in the mid 2000s on the Remus exhaust + some kind of chip tune to bring power closer to 300hp... The fact that it's had the work done tugs on my heart strings to save it... So now the question remains - should it be resurrected or parted out? On a personal note, it really does bug me to part out such a rare car, that could be relatively easily fixed.... BUT, financially it doesn't make much sense, and this is why: So first of all, by the time the car had made it to me, it already owes me $1.6K. Assuming head-gasket is toast - an engine swap will be the cheapest option. This will require an auto W8 as a donor - a half decent one can be had for probably $2.5K. Essentially that is the cost of the engine, not really much value left from an auto W8, could recover a little bit with selling cats + wheels and a few other bits, but its a hassle having another B5 Passat thats in bits lying around... 🤣 Then budget at least $1K in new parts like new engine mounts and various gaskets. Transmission leak would need to be sorted, as well as some oil leaks that the replacement engine no doubt has. OPTIONAL EXTRA: Clutch is ok but quite spongy, logically you would probably do a clutch too at this point while the engine is out... The passenger door also refuses to open, which is just straight annoying to sort as you can't get the door card off without opening the door... So some mutilation of the door card or the door itself would probably need to happen to fix that. Then the car needs to go through compliance, it got WOF in October 2022 and drives decently enough so I don't think it would need a ton of things, but they are so strict that I'm guessing things like brakes will be flagged. And then with it all done you're left with a W8 that cosmetically is not the greatest. Cosmetically: The car is PEPPERED with stone chips, not only on the front but the sides too - having been living in rural areas its clearly been exposed to many gravel & dirt roads. Paint otherwise is nice - no clear coat peel and it does sparkle. The interior is ok but the thigh support is collapsed on the driver's Recaro seat. Wood trim is all cracked and the centre stack bit is peeling off. Leather door cards are doing the typical VAG thing where the leather un-sticks itself from the card and makes an air pocket. The car looks relatively tidy in photos - and I suppose its not horrendous, it's just compared to the silver car it just seems so much more used. I also think I'll pinch the exhaust for my silver car - it's funny, the Remus mufflers look TERRIBLE in photos, but in real life they look great and have grown on me heaps (I am ashamed to admit). So then I am left with the ultimate question: how much would the car be worth when its all done? Given the cosmetics and with a standard exhaust, I think the most I would pay is $7K... and I'm a lunatic. Normal people would probably have interest at $5k? This becomes a problem as at an absolute minimum I see the car costing $6K to resurrect (+ many, many hours), realistically probably $8K+ depending on how many hick-ups occur along the way, and how deep the rabbit hole goes when the engine is out - and ultimately I probably wouldn't keep the car long term anyway. So then on the thought of parting it out - I can take the exhaust, fuel tank module, and save all the unique manual bits like seats, shifter etc for myself just in case, and sell off the box, (its relatively common, definitely no 420G lol), wheels and a few other bits, and still have a bunch of spare bits for my silver car. But it REALLY, REALLY does pain me to part out such a rare and unique car, which is clearly saveable. So anyway, that was a long dump of thoughts, what do you all think? As you can probably tell, my heart says to save it, my head says to part it out....

Got the car back today after a mechanical birthday and have to say - I'm falling in love with it all over again. Foruntately for me, the gearbox was fine and it just needed a new clutch so got a few other things sorted as well and it is completely transformed: New LUK clutch kit and flywheel machined (the old generic heavy duty clutch lining was wrecked) Super stiff (I had assumed it was an E30 thing) accelerator cable cleaned and adjusted - will replace later in the year but 100x better already Valve cover leak and valves that were way out of spec adjusted Idle valve and throttle clean and some minor vacuum leaks sorted Everything cleaned off so any potential other leaks can be easily identified I never realised I was driving around a rough E30 but its another car now - nice light and responsive clutch and accelerator pedals, along with a far quieter idle and stronger, much smoother pull through the gears. Feels like its ready for another 400,000km and can't wait to give it some proper beans this weekend!

Finally dusted off the DA Polisher that’s been sitting in the basement for a year since I bought it to prep car for the Brit and Euro show: Wash Clay Wash and dry Spot Carpro Clearcut (heavy cut) Carpro Ceriglass on windows (remove etching / water spots) Carpro Fixer (medium cut) Carpro Essence (Light cut glaze with sealant and fillers) Carpro Elixer (High gloss Si02 spray sealant) Also refinished headlight lenses and detailed all black trim with Carpro Perl. Really, really happy with how it came out - and the car already looked pretty good - took out almost all the minor scratches that would show up in certain light and just looks great now. Also got a new alarm fitted and the install is much tidier now - he removed a crazy amount of crap from under the kick panel - the remote is half the size of the old one which helps too. Still waiting on workshop to book me in for the gearbox / clutch / who knows.... but car probably hasn’t looked this good in 10-15 years.