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Thats bizarre, must be fluke of the wiring length. Better option would be just coding it for NZ

Well another weekend day, another nap time, another short window to get some stuff done on the car. The plan for the day was replacing the steering wheel with the new OE item that I purchased last year, but while I waited after disconnecting the battery to be sure to be sure that the airbags were clear to work with I decided that today was finally replacing the gas struts on the boot so that the car no longer sounds like a dying goat when you open the boot lid. The old one The new one - not genuine because I couldn't justify $50 more each to get the "E46 M3" stamp on the genuine one, given these are probably going to start groaning again after a couple of years anyway. Then it was on to swapping out the wheel. Pressing in on the clock springs to release the airbag is the trickiest part of the exercise, but even that was pretty straightforward as I had the new wheel to refer to which meant I was able to see exactly what it was I was trying to press on, and how much force was needed to depress the spring. I had the old one out in fairly short order. And the new one was even easier to install. Pushing the airbag back into place at the end is extremely satisfying. Am planning on getting the dash and gear surround trim in Titan Shadow at some point so that it all matches/looks original.

Finally got onto cleaning up the manual diff. Disassembled the thing, gave it a good clean with a bunch of wire brushes, hit it with rust converter/primer and a few coats of paint, then resealed and put back together. Made for some pleasing before and afters. Then went on a hunt for the culprit of the clunk but still couldn't pinpoint it with any certainty. Jacked the car up and had a mate operate the clutch. Clunks like a bastard every time the clutch is engaged to go into gear. Video Found a few videos on YouTube as well with exactly the same issue, combed through all the comments but doesn't seem like anyone's found a definitive answer either. Some are blaming the dual mass flywheel, some say it's driveline slop and their mechanics are claiming it's perfectly normal. I somehow doubt it. Regardless, got onto swapping out the diff. Tried reproduce the clunking with the driveshaft disconnected but all seemed fine with no load on the gearbox. Had another try once the shaft was connected to the diff and still all good. But then with the axles hooked up to the diff the noise came straight back. The search continues. Bit disheartened, bolted everything back up to go test out the manual diff and was pleasantly surprised to discover that the clunk had became much harder to reproduce. Definitely still there if you're looking for it but nowhere near as prominent under normal driving circumstances. Going from a 3.38 diff to a 2.93 fixed the gear ratios right up, 1st gear actually became usable and overall the car was now more pleasant to operate. Properly enjoyed driving it for the first time since the swap... ... just in time to park her up for the next 3 months as I'm off to Europe to catch up with family after 4 long years. Will pick up where I left off in September ✌️

So I've got a few things going on that are related, and thought I would start a new thread to capture them. Changing out the saggy cloth door cards to leather items Changing the grey interior pillars and roof liner etc to grey / black Making the rear parcel tray black again Installing a new Alpine single DIN head unit in BMW centre mounted bracket Installing new Kicker KS series speakers all around (just front and rear in stock locations) Painting the wood trims to something more fancy Maybe getting some fancy pants pedals from Pedal Haus Installing gauge cluster bezels to add a little pizazz Might make a new rev gauge backing so I get to the engines actual redline Carbon roof which replaces the steel with sunroof model (this one has its own thread) So that all being said here are some things done so far. Just getting the speakers mounted up, made some 3D printed adapters from ASA (a bit like ABS).

Thanks for that.

https://bimmersport.co.nz/topic/48623-e46-m3/?do=findComment&comment=677049 Nearly 3 years now... and the effect is so much better when you view it with Firefox... 😂

Thanks. (But fake)

Last photo on page 5

Just a clean for the sunny weather.

>SOLD< We can do E87 repowers with: N54/Auto N54/ DCT N55/DCT N55 8 speed All in stock.

They're also really not very expensive just to buy new from memory. That's what I did. and then painted the door handles with GM8573, it's almost a perfect match for the OEM colour. Picture below of my painted door trims next to a brand new dash piece from BMW.

I was getting increasing on center vagueness when driving and slop when rocking steering wheel with engine off. Moving the shaft at the firewall produced excessive movement Removed the column and traced the play to plastic bushing in the lower steering column behind the steering angle sensor. Checked out a couple local E46's and @Vass send me a video of his, both had much less movement than mine. Got a replacement low k one from E46 M3 Nick Weitz is wrecking. Steering is significantly improved, now precise and a nice weight to it now. Feels like my E36 with the same setup. No before video but here is the new one. Still some movement but i think that is mainly due to poor\cost cutting design, not very well supported down low + plastic bushings. No parts listed to rebuild so probably one of those issues will start to occur more frequently as E46's age. IIRC @Sammo had a similar issue with his E46, presumably obvious noises would occur once the wear is great enough. 20230610_160645.mp4

Scour Facebook marketplace for a good deal. So many people buy all the gear but have no idea and sell up. Been watching Mike from Stanceworks on YouTube build his K series powered Ferrari time attack car. He does some printing with this stuff. Pretty cool. https://store.bambulab.com/products/petg-cf

Gents thanks for the response, there are some really good points here to consider. @Allanw i completely forgot about a dryer, regarding modelling I work with 3D data for a living so that I have covered.

@Sammo you've been spotted on Facebook.

If you made a spare set of those speaker adapters, I'd happily throw some money at you.