Tinkered on the sled a bit further. Got the torn CV boot replaced, the axle came out and went back in painlessly enough so that's the only obvious WoF concern taken care of.
Also had a mate do his magic polishing up the headlights that were starting to go all foggy and yellow. Got the lights out to make the job a bit easier, which turned out to be way more involved that I'd anticipated - the headlight housing protrudes downwards and gets caught behind the bumper and you can't lift them up because of the radiator support so the bumper cover needs to come forward quite a bit to have enough room to wiggle the lights out. E46/E39's are a breeze in comparison.
Just waiting on an order of chrome bulbs to swap out those yucky ambers.
Same day the EGR delete kit arrived so quickly threw that in the next morning as well. Looks a quality kit from Bimmertune, took roughly 3 weeks to arrive which isn't too bad over the festive period and especially with shipping being free. The parts fit well at both ends and should permanently eliminate sludge buildup as a worry.
Weight reduction.
Taking the new sled to Nelson tomorrow, will see how it fares on its inaugural proper road trip and will dig into fluid services once I'm back.