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I purchased this car in the end. Needs an exterior respray, anywhere where it has seen sun the red paint is stuffed. The engine had a bad misfire which the owner said was a fueling issue, thankfully it was just a coil. Has a few other cosmetic issues, but all fixable. Drivers seat has a tear in a bolster, and the dash has cracks for Africa. Good bones though and drives nicely. Definitely keeping me entertained in the garage! Currently stripped for painting.

Hey team! just wanna say hi! some pics of my ride, pretty standard car except for rear muffler, Susp, rims & tyres haven’t seen much of E21 around! I’m a mechanic down here so if anyone needs help, flick me a message or Insta > Julian.Lombardo Cheers 🤙🏽

What Cement has said above is 100% relevent. I've got a Prusa MK3S+, which is nowhere near the size you require, though. They do an XL now (with a long wait list!), but I think it's probably $4K with shipping! The main reason I went with a Prusa though, is that they just work. Mines only a baby: since October 2021 it's done 47 days of print time and 3.1kms of filament, but it's had no issues or adjustments. I have done a print that was approsching 30 hours once too. I just give it a wipe occasionally and vacuum out the enclosure (I built a "lack table" type of enclosure for it). It's also capable of printing just about any filament out of the box, but it can be upgraded too. I've only tried nylon once, and it was a pain in the arse, but it was a complex bracket, so I don't know how good my printer really is at it. I'd be more inclined to buy a better quality printer with a smaller print bed and print in multiple parts. "It's not how big it is, it's what you do with it" 🤣 It appears some people give up on 3D printing when the printer doesn't meet their expectations or is too difficult. Some of the big printers are really expensive and I wonder if the lower end big units are worth it? I've not spcifically looked into big dimension units though. The actual printing part is the EASY part - 3D modelling is much harder to master, and I struggle with a lot of things - I should really do a course, or at least do more than just the first episode of the Youtube tutorials 🤣 Also - filament dryer: get one. SOOOO many proglems or quality issues are solved by drying filament. I got the round Sunlu Dryer on a Briscoes-like special. They seem to run a special deal every second day. You can use an oven or dehumidifier, but the Sunlu work well, holds a 1kg spool and is automatic. I pop it open now and then to change the humid air and spin the roll a bit. Damp filament makes crap prints.

The workshop manual says to remove the slave cylinder and completely depress the piston for bleeding. There's a special BMW tool to keep it depressed but it should be easy enough to do a makeshift version

Somehow or other I don't see chatGPT coming up with this kind of solution to a problem. So still room for a bit of human ingenuity

Have got all the spot welds ground down (used little finger sander, not pictured above) and removed the remains of the sealer. Spoken to the certifier and he is happy for me to apply the K1 adhesive (as corrosion inhibitor) on the exposed metal areas ... was going to weld in the roof bow then do this and have him over to inspect but alas the bow has been delayed so I'm keen to get the metal covered asap. Spot welds all look pretty happy 🤣

Here is my setup which hangs out in the laundry. Just good to highlight the space you need which can be more than expected of you have an enclosure for heat... It's not exactly discrete. I have an Inkbird pid temperature controller to control the 700w element which is in the cage. It's made of 'twinwall' polycarbonate sheet. Once up to temp with the build plate at 110 degrees the heater is actually not needed to maintain about 45 degrees in the box.

^2nded on the dampness causing issues for prints. having processed PLA for my thesis, i found to my peril how hygroscopic these polymers were.

Oil coolers all done and can't spot any leaks as of yet, but has only barely gotten to temp once so far. Replace the fender and front bumper got painted and installed. Very happy with how it all worked out. just need to stick the number plate back on and give it a good clean now

I've got the Ender 3 V2 and found it pretty good over the last few years for my project ... certainly an invaluable tool for the modern DIY tinkerer !! If only I had a 3D scanner to go with 🤤 Some key considerations would be: What filaments are you intending on printing with ? I've made upgrades to be able to print ASA for functional parts (engine bar, car interior etc) Is speed necessity or nice to have ? For me its a nice to have, I'm not doing commercial work so it just balances off against my patience Dual or single extrusion ? Depends what you want to print, having a soluble support material say might be an advantage Will you need a heated enclosure ? Basically mandatory for me to print ASA successfully, can make easily but its a cost none the less Will you want external control / monitoring ? I got a Raspberry Pi running Octoprint with a webcam, highly recommend !! What sorts of things will you be printing ? With a $2k budget I'd seriously look at trying to get a printer and 3D scanner Even with the small build volume I have its not been as big a deal as i would have thought. Fairly easy to join multiple prints into a larger for the purposes of mockup. The above may be contingent on the software you have available to mess with the models etc

Looks awesome, I always get so jealous of the non-triangle air bag wheels !! I'm stuck in the single stage airbag dark ages hah. Keep an eye on my interior revamp thread, going to paint my trims once the roof is sorted and I've got some sort of at home spray booth contraptionised 👍

This has probably been mentioned a hundred times, but - people who market their car as M Sport package because they had three of the kidney grill fins painted red/blue/white and bought an M steering wheel.