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Some more progress. Got my hardware back from zinc coating, all Organized again now. Got the rear subframe back in. Along with new rear inner brake lines. got the steering rack fitted up into the front subframe with some spacers I machines. Also swapped on some new e36 outer tie rod ends. just waiting on rear wheel bearings to show up and I can start putting trialing arms back in.

M42/M44 hybrid is in and running, I also converted it to a rear battery setup as well while the engine was out. Looking forward to the first drive to break the new motor in. Phase 2 will be getting some ITBs on it, and installing the Bilstein b14 that have been waiting to go in.

Interior carpets cleaned, made some f**ken disgusting coffee.... the good news is its starting to smell less skanky. Waterblasted all the interior mats and they changed colour. Got the headliner professionally redone, dirt cheap if I pulled it out and reinstalled it - Jimmy (aucklandautoupholstery at gmail.com) out at Ardmore is the absolute boss. Drivers door speaker was blown, 0 ohms, so easy fix there. Starting to go back together at least on the inside. Have all the parts to start doing the real work, short of set of B4 Bilstein's. Sump gasket kit Trans service kit Rocker gasket kit Engine mounts Power steering line mounts Headlight level sensor Oilcooler gaskets New plugs All the filters as they are all nasty. Also ordered an ACS replica spoiler and some ACS1 decals... will get some fresh tyres for the ACS Type IVs, because eurotrash Should be a nice 130 when done. Still have no idea where coolant was pissing out from, decided the best way is to pull the whole front end off (bumpers all skewed anyway) and pull the cooling system apart and put it back together will make for better access to everything else anyway. The radiator and all the lines are new, so best guess is something just isn't together correctly or an O ring is missing or something dumb like that.

And a little interior update. Bought a new gear gaiter, handbrake boot and armrest cover and recoloured my leather to a sexy cinnamon brown. Not sure how well the vinyl door card inserts will wear but I have some spare leather I can recover them with if required.

OK condition, 1 of them is mint. 1 has kerb rash, couple have corrosion under clear coat. Genuine units made by BBS, rare staggered E87 fitment and pretty lightweight (11kg and 11.93kg) 7.5x18 ET49 - Hankook S1 Evos - WOFable (225/40) 8.5x18 ET52 - Near new Michelin PS5s (225/45) If it was me, Id get them cleaned up for a few hundy and switch the tyres around with the some new PS5s on the rear... $1300 ONO

Time for a few little updates: First the wheels/tires - having had some more time driving on them, and in particular on some dry roads I can't believe how much quieter the Potenza Sports are than the RE050As. I know that one of the complaints about the Sport is that it's noiser than the PS4S, but honestly it's still a huge improvement over what I had before, so still feels like a win to me. I'm super super, happy with the 18x9/18x9.5 combo, and the lightweight 18in rims have given me everything I was hoping for in terms of ride + driving feel. I try very hard to make sure that each change I make to the car aligns to my goal of "improving the driving experience", and this change has absolutely nailed that brief. As an aside, at the time that I installed the RACP brace I also replaced the rear cover on the diff with a new one with new bushes. I'm super happy to report that the combination of these two things has completely addressed what remained of the diff slop/M-Clunk/whatever you want to call it. I'm stoked about this as wasn't sure whether the diff was getting a bit worn out, but I'm super happy with how this has resolved, particularly as my brain has reprogrammed my driving style to not work to minimize situations where it happens (same thing happened when I got the tune dialed in for rev matching, it takes a while for your brain to realize the car is going to behave predictably and that you don't have to avoid certain scenarios any more. I've also ordered a Gauge.S for CAN/D-bus logging. Thanks to Bry5on and heinzboehmer I've adapted Bryson's ash tray insert for the Gauge.S to suit an RHD car. I've also ordered the connectors for the Gauge.S board headers, etc. Still to do is to confirm the exact connector used on the steering angle sensor and order a pair to make an extension for the Gauge.S. The plan with the Gauge.S is to put everything I can into a couple of custom CAN messages from the DME so that the Gauge.S can log these at high data rate. I've written a custom program ROM which allows me to specify the memory addresses of the variables I want to push on the CAN bus in the partial/tune binary. The advantage of this approach is it means that reconfiguring the messages is a simple tune flash rather than a change to the program binary. I can't actually test this until I get the Gauge.S setup, but it's otherwise sitting there good to go. Also while disassembling the CAN functions I uncovered that ARBIDs 0x700 and 0x701 (which are disabled in the 0401 tune) can be enabled to send knock manager data. This is going to be super useful for tuning and big thanks to Bryson for confirming the behavior with logging. I've got a bunch of half-finished projects on the go at the moment that I need to finish before I start anything new (which I'm itching to do): - Finish the boot/trunk interior work with the RACP brace in place. (I managed to get myself stuck for a while on the best option for the false floor, but think I've got a reasonable option) - Finish the SMG expansion reservoir bracket (No blocker here, I just have one that works well enough and need the motivation to sit down and do the final design) - Print and install Bryson's Euro M3 bumper to CSL snorkel duct (this one is currently blocked as Dad is having some 3D printer issues with ABS that he is working through) - Finish documenting all of the CAN messages on the main CAN bus for the 0401 binary (I mostly have what I need, but want to produce comprehensive documentation on this for the benefit of the community) Think that's all for now...

Road legal baby! Didn't want to splurge on new tyres not knowing if it'd pass otherwise so just borrowed the wheels off the touring since it was up on jack stands anyway. Drove it in for the inspection and was shocked when it only needed a few minor bits to pass. Both rear rego bulbs were blown. Easy fix. The passenger seatbelt was slow to retract, which turned out to be a weird one. It didn't look like it had ever been touched or that the panels had been off but the belt was somehow twisted. How or why that happened I've no clue. Had to twist the belt at the top pivot point, the belt buckle and at the base rail. Since I was messing with it, I also gave the belt a good clean and removed & wire wheeled the metal cross bar since it was all crusty and was catching on the belt. The wiper one was also an odd one. The driver side one was leaving a spot untouched right in the middle of the wiper. Threw on a fresh set of wipers which I thought would fix it but it barely improved the situation. I then noticed that the middle of the wiper was barely touching the glass. Figured the spring in the wiper arm itself had stretched out. I had a spare one laying around that felt a bit firmer so just replaced the whole wiper arm, which also only barely improved its function. Ended up giving the glass a good clean, a quick polish and some SiO2 coating which didn't eliminate the issue completely but got it to a point where it passed anyway. Might have to revert to the oldschool truss-shaped wipers instead of the fancy aero blade ones. Super odd. Took it in for reinspection and voila, she's all WoF'd & reg'd. The brakes was the main bit I was worried about since the rotors looked a bit pitted but they don't have a lip, the pads have plenty of meat left and it stops fine (or as fine as it would with its tiny 316ti brakes) so the inspector was happy that the pitting would clear up just with a bit of use. Happy days. An almighty service is on the cards before I put it into regular service. The main issue as it stands seems to be the thermostat being stuck open since it's taking forever to get up to operating temperature so will hold off driving it too much until that's done. Might as well do a full fluid flush at the same time and replace some common to fail seals and gaskets, and probably the PCV. Tossing up whether to preventatively do the valve stem seals too before returning the timing tool kit that I've borrowed. Gave its wheels a good scrub too. The front tyres have a wee bit of life left in them but the rears are completely bald so will have to get a new pair of those at the very least. Will try to keep the scope creep in check and avoid the cheap daily from snowballing into another moneypit.

Not hugely accurate, tape measure and all, but the smallest diameter is ~400mm, it steps down a little towards the spokes. Will be 400+ further in.

keen on the silver centre console trim if it's still available. Will pick up and trade you a 6 pack! Ps your inbox is full

Mines done 220kms, fab wee car, handles well, and like you said cheap on gas, GLWS!

RHD Prowler - how cool! LS and manual swap it!

Is that the 750 that lived on Seacliffe Ave, Belmont 20 years ago? To think that it was only a 15 year old car then, but the styling was already regarded as classic in much the same way as today.

Couple of updates: 1: The wheels arrived today 🎉 Mandatory photo, although we all already know what ARC8's look like 🙃 2: The male MAF sensor connectors arrived. I don't actually have need of these for myself, but I finally came across them and thought I'd order some to confirm they're a match and if so share the details with everyone as saves having to pay Turner money for their relocation harnesses. These things appear to be the exact same item Turner are using and they come with the pins and seals. I ordered 5 of these for the princely sum of $9.58USD total including shipping. per-unit price is $1.24USD. You can purchase your own (you can order singles) here: https://www.hdconnectorstore.com/productdetail/32496.html

Blew a head gasket (cyls 1-4) so spent the past six months sorting that and coming up with a better expansion tank solution (from a Merc A180). Did chain guides and OSV at the same time and now it runs perfectly and not a drop of fluid leaking anywhere (probably for the first time since either the donor or the wagon left the factory!!). Gave it a wash to celebrate.