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Doing plenty of things lately in the background: Design work and validation of some aspects via 3D printed prototype parts Looking at the technicalities of brake bias and where my combination will sit Got a book which is well regarded "High Performance Brake Systems" Messed about a little with some online calculators and a Google sheet based one Trying to work out if the bimmers have a tandem, stepped or tandem stepped master cylinder and if that really has any bearing on the line pressure / bias etc etc ... bit of a mine field, need to read more of the book !! Same goes with proportioning valve and my E46 in particular which is ASC only. Looking at disc mounting options, might try and do a fully floating system instead of a rigidly bolted hat Trying to knock some cost out of having to get custom parts machined Anybody want the same kit for their non-M ? This is what 7 hours of printing looks like !! Had to do it with enough resolution that the printed threads are functional. I have more clearance than my measurements said I would which is good news !! Also made this wacky little part to validate my laser level based measurements of the mounting holes relative to the hub. I was about 1mm out, this is the mk2 design. I'd still like something more accurate and have my thinking cap on 🤔

Here you go. Now have a F40 M135i as a stablemate.

Sold my 1972 Jensen Interceptor in virtually mint condition for 6k (in the UK). Rusty non-running, unregistered example now trading at $25k. Bought and sold a number of E30s (in NZ, less than 10 years ago) for well under $1k. Rusty shells go for more now. Not exclusively an E30 thing. 70s, 80s and 90s cars are very popular. Nostalgia is a strong market factor. Price is one thing. Value is another.

Not sure if there are any software developers around here... But figured I'd drop some interesting reads on Rust being used in vehicle ECUs (the programming language not the the rust we all dread). Was reading a blog post on a Rust based project and ended up on a blog post from thought works about Rust being used in automotive software. Safety critical code has been dominated by C/C++ for ages. It's refreshing to see Rust is something that could make it's way into automotive software (if you're fan of Rust already then you know why). I don't use Rust in my work but I've dabbled with it over the years for hobby embedded projects. When I have more free time I'm keen to contribute to Deno (which is Rust under the hood)... The name alone should mean it's the right language for cars 😜 Some more interesting reads if there are any other nerds out there: - Volvo software architect interview - Reddit thread - Uni students ECU diagnostics tool from a few years back (haven't looked at the code yet but sounds interesting)

I still hold onto the only reason E30's, S13's, R32's etc were good was because they were cheap. Sorry to those that missed those 20 odd years.

On a level back from this I have been having copilot write me code for automotive gauges using Arduino. Works quite well. Just have to get some decent LCD's that are the size I want. Kinda cool for the 200sx as the LCD's look quite retro. I have just been using some from work to test on. I watched a video recently of someone building a LCD dashboard from scratch to replace his Mitsi Starion digital dash. Looking at how simple the MAPECU is in my E34. More modern code should be able to handle that junk easily.

Audison AP8.9bit is now in the car and working well. My one piece of major advice is: Never ever ever update Audison DSP firmware unless there is no other option !!! When first installed, I updated the firmware thinking that would give me the latest and greatest hardware and also remove all previous user setting. The firmware failed and it's taken me most of the last 2 weeks to get it back running. I talked to Audison (Italy), and the Aussie Audison rep - neither could fix the issue. Researched google - lots of Audison firmware update horror stories; thought I had bricked it. Not idea why, but when I used a different laptop I was able to update the firmware and get it running. Set up: Channels 1& 2 - tweeters 35rms x2 Channels 3&4 - midrange 35rms x2 Channels 5&6 and 7&8 bridged - midbass 130rms x2 Channel 9 - pre out to sub. Haven't started tuning it yet, just got it running. Sounds decent already. Interesting it analysed the base headunit's front output and decided it didn't need de-equalisation.

And you could probably sell that god awful heckblende for $1500 to recoup some more costs too!

Auckland to Havelock north and back in a day. My ass appreciated the Recaros, was actually not bad for 11 hours sitting on it. Saw a white E87 with ACS ducktail and black wheels in Taupo, wouldve been a cool pic

I remember this car ( the white one) when it had arrived in NZ. There was a short-lived rumour that it was a special factory order for a wealthy Japanese customer who wanted a M88/3 powering an auto E24. As Brett alluded to these cars were modified to suit Japanese customers whilst in Japan. Interesting how Japanese purchased left hand drive European imports to add ‘authenticity.’ Always wondered how the M88/3 would go when paired to an auto box. The Sth Africans released their 745i with the M88/3 but they modified the camshaft profile.

in japan they sold a few like these where all ordered as lhd 635csiA then rertro fitted with m88 as the japan drivers wanted the M6 but with auto trans heres pics from years ago in japan one that i got offered

I really don’t think there is a better immediate metric for ‘how well has this car been looked after?’ branded tyres =/= perfect maintenance but linglong ditchfinders = ‘don’t touch with bargepole’

LHD, no cert (vin decoder says M30), new Headway tyres and $80k. No thanks.