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I wish prices for M parts would also tank hard. 😵

Well I'm here to test the market for you as I'm in the same boat. Kiwi's love to buy cars based on ODO... Educated purchasers know to look deeper. How many are out there, not sure....

A new project.. being an old school E series fan was getting a bit.. old.. so out with the e46s and in with the F32.. of course some tweaks: digital cluster upgrade, NBTevo upgrade. more to come thou.. 🤔 note the Tq value on the idrive screen.. 😃

Up for sale is my 330ci Motorsport. It has had a bunch of work done to make sure it is mechanically reliable for the new owner. It does have it's flaws such as the bonnet needing a repaint along with the front bumper but other than that it is a cheap summer convertible ready for a new owner. I have done the cooling system, new thermostat waterpump, radiator, expansion bottle etc, rocker cover, oil filter housing, idle air control valve, new control arm bushings in the front, new shocks in the front, all within the last 2000ks. It unfortunately doesn't get used a lot. It comes on e90 Staggered motorsport 18 inch wheels in gunmetal. It has facelift LED tail lamps, smoked fog lights and side markers and has a custom subwoofer and amplifier install that is hidden. It also has a bluetooth module fitted that uses the factory cd changer to operate. It drives beautifully and the roof doesn't leak but the inner part of the inside of the roof is a bit tatty ( was like this when I bought it) I will not be selling the personalized plates with it. It will come 11 months registration and a fresh wof and service. Has the following strong points *e46 M Sport steering wheel with controls * Cruise Control * Angel Eyes * Freshly Serviced including transmission service * Air Conditioning Regassed * New Spark plugs * Smoked side markers, front indicators and fog Lights * Xenon headlights * Rain Sensing wipers * 5 Speed Automatic with Tiptronic * ABS * Resonator delete with Golf Tee mod * Cream interior The bad * Roof inner a bit loose and tatty * Paint fade on bonnet and front bumper needs a repaint as it's scratched/ worn paint Viewing in Glenfield by prior arrangement. 021 029 16373 $5000 for Bimmersport members

At that point I think they just end up being worth more to keep. Just ticked over 190km in my M3, if I were to sell it I think the mileage would put most people off despite it likely being mechanically one of the best. Engine fully rebuilt, almost everything in the suspension replaced at least once. I can't imagine selling it any time soon. There is nothing close to as good as an E46 M3 with a carbon airbox in the same price range.

Here you go. Significantly better and fresher than it was at 95km

Some certainly appear better than others but dont see anything for sale that had a real mechanical birthday. To me it always felt like people stop about driving them when they reach 10+ years old and creep up around 100,000km, certainly rare to see anything over 200,000km. I dont know if that's due to perceived value loss, mechanical uncertainty, or both. Any profit would probably vanish if you refreshed it and drove it regularly for 5 years.

If you want to go real cheap and colorful look out for a 306 diesel, they are likley the cheapest car to run available, talking over 1000km per 60L tank, have comfortable (sometimes colorful) seats and are really really fun to drive if there are corners involved. 200km commute sounds punishing.

Cool car, very niche spec. Perfect for ski trips that involve a 1200km of travel and lots of corners. Or, a really long Police chase in winter. Or towing heavy things up the Bombay hills whilst sitting in the slow vehicle lane passing everting and giving them the troll face. Or just a cool looking white coupe. Well done.

Dang that's a shame it's not getting a rebuild on your terms but maybe a great opportunity all the same ... looking forward to the motor build thread already

Re those Akebonos, @Vass settle in for the long run, I only ditched mine in Jan this year, such was their longevity 😂 They flat-out refused to yield! The Hawks are a *little* dustier, nowhere near OE/OEM pads. Enjoy 👍

Yes, was about to say the same as @Eagle- there are a multitude of rear springs for e46 - I think there's different springs for sunroof and slicktop! If those are orange stripes on yours I think they're the same as mine... can't find my photo from when I bought replacements. Re one-size-fits-all Eibachs, I think this is the real downside of their springs. As with BMW having distinctly different springs between options and body styles/drive trains, with H&R in most applications do springs specific to different versions. In e30 land you put Eibachs on a Vert, you get a rear end that's a bit low and a bit soft. You use H&R Sport part numver for e30 Vert, and you get the right rate, the right height/stance, and no rub. Springs for some people seem to be a religion Eibach/Bilstein Koni/H&R. I just checked the Eibach catalogue - 2067.140 is listed for e46 325i Sedan and Touring. And Coupe. And Vert. Oh well, they meet TUV, eh? A brief wander thru the USA H&R catalogue reveals H&R have a sport spring for e46 coupe & sedan with ///MSport (29484) without ///Msport (29485); Cabrio ///MSport (the 29484 again); for Sport Wagon (Touring) they list 29419 (323 and 325i), and there's another spring for 325Xi and 330Xi touring. Some H&R are US-specific, so looking around in the German site may yeild more info, and the magical match for your car - they may not have done e46 330i Touring in USA. When you take the difference in engineering between Eibach and H&R into account, why do folks love Eibach so much with their one-size approach? This isn't about "Red vs Blue" - and you're beyond that with the amount of engineering you've put into your Touring. Perhaps H&Rs - with appropriate catalogue number - may be your solution. On the wheels question, for my analysis some years back, I used willitfit.com I did things like standard 7J with 205/55/16 compared with Style 68 and 245/40R17 to baseline and contrast, won't bore you with that here. Here's the Style 68 vs Style 194 rear comparo.

😆

Had so much fun at the hillclimb I decided to take it to another event, Hooncorp event at the mere mere drift track. Was great fun and ended up 4th/37 on the day, only one second behind a purpose built turbo 1UZ swapped e36 coupe on 265s. Car performed flawlessly once again, albeit oil temps getting up there, not an issue on a short 2 lap sprint, but definitely something to think about for longer events. Stoked to be putting the car to use, halfcage, harness and bucket seats aren't just for decoration.

Then it was onto the final primer. Super stoked how the panels turned out. It will be back out for another leveling sand of the final primer then over the next few weeks is final colour (Polaris-Metallic) then final finishing and re-assembly.

Raced the car at a Hampton downs single car sprint where it performed flawlessly ad managed to take home 9th place. Was a big day for the car, literally melting tires on track. Oil temps were perfect, not getting hot at all, cooling upgrades working well. Then this past weekend, drove down to Ngutunui for the 9km long hillclimb. Raced the fist run, and as I was rolling back down the hill the car stated making some very bad noises. Didnt want to hold up the event but eventually had to pull over and stop because the noise kept getting worse. Inspected the car and couldnt see anything. Tried starting it again, slow crank, turned over and made the most horrible metal clanking noise ive ever heard. Got towed down the hill by the race control ute. The trailered it home, was a long day. Havent had a chance to open it up yet but 99% sure it has a spun rod bearing, and judging by the noises the crank is beyond fcked. So its time for a new engine. Waiting for garage rennovations to be done (about a month or two) then i will start tearing the car/engine down and hopefully source a new one, swap everything over and slap it in. Planning on doing a baffled sump, and fresh rod bearings for the replacement engine. Pretty gutted that it died, but still came 10th on the day with only 1 run, so clearly the car's potential is there to do well.