Changed the title of this thread to be more reflective of what goes on in the shed...
Been a bit busy with life etc, attended the Holden Nationals with a mates car I've been helping restore, then a brief visit to Australia, followed up by a BMW Car Club South Island road trip in the M5 which was just fantastic, cruising down and up the country with @hunter and 20 or so other owners.
The 740 msport has been the focus otherwise. Bought a large chunk of a 735i msport part out with the same interior, and set about swapping out seats, parcel shelf, under dash trim etc etc to significantly lift the interior (sold the now second full msport interior seats / doorcards for a massive $1.50 on the open market...), replacement steering wheel I had in stock, wiring loom tidy. Also decided to replace the 4 shocks with genuine BMW msport like for like. It was the larger jar of vaseline... Also have done some suspension arms, ball joints, engine mounts, sway bar links and bushes, tie rods, brakes tidy up. A wider insert for the boot to accommodate the "BMW711" plates which have just gone on. The radio was playing up so I scored another C23 Oceania module which a member in our e39 M5 group was offloading. All sorted now and a bluetooth module is on the way to replace the CD changer. Ripped out all the old Nav gear as well.
A bit of paint work went on before it got too cold, mirrors, top of passengers door. Next summer there will be more to come...
But up next is the rear main seal oil leak fix, which means transmission out. There will be a bit of other "while you are in there" preventive stuff like driveshaft bits and cleaning. Not to forget a few engine gaskets and fluid changes. A power steer hose was leaking so a home fix was enacted saving a few hundred dollars for a new pipe/hose.
Still lots to do but coming along nicely....