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Time for another belated update. The exhaust was completed, I'm very happy with how it came together and sounds - not too loud, but still audible: I've driven the car approximately 450km over the last week and it has performed flawlessly. There's still a few more CAN translation items to sort out for full functionality, and it needs new tyres and the A/C regassed; once those are sorted it's onto the certification process. Here's a few pictures of the car out and about:

Made it to HD, did 3x15 sessions and drove it home. 20 next year and with 224k kms. Good car, think i’ll keep it for a while. A little de-brief while it’s fresh on mind.… Likes: - Easy to drive, didn’t miss-shift and heel n toe is a breeze. - Heaps of grip and adjustability - Torque delivery. Coming from a cammed sr20ve that made noting until 5-9k rpm this was brilliant on corner exit. - When both rear tyres hooked getting on it early on corner exit Next time I’ll see how a set of b4s’s, m3 fr ctrl arms and better bushes for the gbox and rear subframe go and setup an in-car camera to catch a few laps. Small clip of some peg-legging on the up and over. 9e14946f-a840-4c96-a120-a37c88056b88.mov

Source of the coolant f**ken everywhere found, O ring cut in two when they reinstalled the transmission cooler to the new radiator... (midas, they do WINZ work...) Oil leak source is pretty obvious : everything. A lot of degreasing and waterblasting to expose the engine underneath the cm of oil crud. Power steering leak, still elusive, but will probably find it when subframe comes out. Next job hack through the crud on the rocker cover, pull the manifold, then rocker cover gaskets etc.

Good luck to you mate, the negotiations on the exact same car post Covid in 2011 was at $40k, as you very well know. Can’t see any work you’ve done to add value; but you do you. Several E39 M5’s at this level or better in NZ so that’s a misnomer as well.

Not strictly a 130 but a pretty well sorted E87 135i+ https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/135i/listing/5400153803

Prior to all that, I went to town on the interior since it was a truly disgusting place to be. Seemingly had coke repeatedly spilled over all the seats and interior panels, loose tobacco in every possible crevice, naturally chips and French fries all over the place too, with at least $6 in coins thrown in, bringing the purchase price down somewhat. Pulled out the front seats and must have had 4-5 goes at either one with the Bissell until the water getting sucked out stopped being dark brown. Even after that many goes some stains still remained but a massive improvement none the less. The floor mats and carpets also took quite a few goes to get good. The carpet cleaner got the workout of its life, filling up the waste container at least twice with black-brown sewage. Haven't even gotten around to the rear seat yet... The driver's seat had a rip in it which the wife kindly patched up for me with some spare bit of fabric I had from an old rear seat armrest off the touring. Crude but good enough for a daily. I also did the old lint remover trick on the alcantara. I managed to snag an Android headunit from PaP a while ago, identical unit to what I've got in the Touring so went ahead and installed it in place of a generic single din one someone had crudely "wired" in. The spare body wiring loom came in handy once again and I reverted the wiring to factory spec. The Android unit comes with adapter wiring and if I ever decide to revert to a factory headunit it'll just be plug & play. All the centre console trim bits were naturally scratched up so I installed a spare set with an armrest that I had already de-rubberised a while ago. I also managed to get my hands on a fancy genuine HVAC relocation bracket for the touring so I had the old 3D printed HVAC relocation bracket as a spare. Installing that turned out to be a bigger faff than anticipated though. Turns out that the older version HVAC control panel with the physical buttons is much bulkier than the newer one with the buttons and digital display so was far from a straight fit. Took quite a bit of dremel-ing and filing to trim the bracket down enough to fit around the HVAC panel, was left quite thing and flimsy in a few places but does the job in holding the panel securely in place in the end. Followed @Harper's lead and deleted the rear wiper to clean up the look a little bit. Went with an Aliexpress special Bevinsee piece. Worked out cheaper than buying a new wiper too... Also got a Bevinsee clutch stop which I've also got on the touring and is an absolute must for all manuals - nice cheap and tidy kit that takes out the silly long pedal travel these came with from factory. That's where I'm up to for now but far from finished with it. Pretty determined to tidy it up further and keep around as a daily, even more so since finding out it was first registered on my birthday... Funny that.

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.

As per photo + bracket for the reservoir.

Some new listings. I've seen the E34 and E39 discussed on this forum at some point. Don't have FB so couldn't view the E34 at the time. Beautiful example (same with the E39). E34 540i (30k) - https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/540i/listing/5441606181 E39 M5 (110k) - https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/m5/listing/5441842420

Yeah I did a quick search after seeing that comment and that one came up... bonkers. Pointless getting a bare engine anyway, unless swapping out a dead engine in an M3, you'd really need a full donor car to do a proper conversion. Good luck getting your hands on one nowadays... best bet is probably importing a crash damaged one from overseas still, the US & UK prices still seem somewhat attainable. As much fun as a Compact M3 would be, if by some miracle I ever get my hands on one, it'd be destined to turn ol' Barbara into an M3 Touring

Got a quick look at it before the listing got nuked but yeah, it was asking $110k... Didn't look at the km's but from what I can remember it looked tidy, had all sorts of mods like Dinan front and rear strut braces, aFe intakes etc, the description claimed it's probably the best example in Australasia and that the market value of rare/aftermarket parts was $50k alone... I'm no expert but seems optimistic to think it's a $60k car to begin with, and that the $50k of mods add another $50k to its value.

There was a random taillight bolt in the well quietly rusting away. It suggests that the leak has been happening for a while. I took the bolt out but it left that rusty looking area. I could scratch if off a bit so it could be surface rust but I bought some rust converter just in case..

I drained the rear rail after reading this post: E91 rear seat wet / water in battery compartment / water ingress search (picture below is from the post) There was quite a bit of water in there. I tried to take the battery tray out, but something is stuck - maybe some clipping mechanisms? I didn't want to damage anything, so I left it there. I've drilled drain holes to the plugs in the wells and retorqued the taillight after noticing some water marks underneath it. However, despite having sunny days, I noticed some droplets of water in the driver side well today. It was in the corner next to the wheel arch. Maybe it's seeping from the seams? not sure. The passenger side rear seat carpet is still damp - again, not sure if it's just from previous leak or not. Looks like we've got some heavy rains forecasted so I'll keep an eye on it to see if it leaks again.

I wish... Even dreaming of one is too expensive nowadays

M54 swap? 🤔 S54 me thinks! 🤩

Yeah she's a quirky little one, I'm growing to like the shape more and more. I just put my Swift Sport up for sale so this will be taking over daily duties once that's gone. The Swift with its high compression 1.6L engine is arguably the better daily of the two, being cheaper to maintain, super light and hilariously rev happy but just can't resist the feel of an E46, much nicer place to be in. The N42B18 is literally the bottom of the barrel engine out of the whole E46 lineup and one I constantly warn other people to avoid but I guess that's a rake I need to step on myself to learn that lesson. Won't be too gutted when the engine finally decides it's had enough as this thing will likely get M54 swapped at some point anyway, just keen to see how much life I manage to squeeze out of it first. Just put a big parts order in with Spareto to revamp the cooling system, all sorts of seals, gaskets, PCV and whatnot, give it a mini birthday of sorts, and see how it decides to repay me. Have raided Pick-A-Part for some more bits to tidy it up further but will report on all that once I've gotten around to fitting them.

That eshaust looks sick, who did the work?

And if you ever have the front bumper off, drill some drainage holes in the bottom of the plastic boxes that house the ballasts, astonishing the BMW can't waterproof (or drain adequately) sensitive parts of a car that are, well, exposed to water (whether that be directly or via routing). I'm sure it's not a problem unique to BMW but, come on.

Did you also drain the rear rail? Had the same issue a couple years ago and my rear rails were full of water and leaking up through the seatbelt bolts, there's a plug on the underside of the rail that's not too bad to access with the battery tray out. As others have mentioned, retorquing the taillight and adding drain holes to the plugs in the wells helps (fixed my problem at least, only place water gets in now is my badly leaking cowl (anyone got any pointers for that...))

I know the guy that built it Tauranga, will be done well.

Working link might help? https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/m3/listing/5393121968

Love that this is getting a tidy up - the Compact E46 is a cool shape and running properly (a big ask for n42…) it should be pretty economical with a manual box. Nothing more therapeutic than a good interior clean. If it behaves itself mechanically it shouldn’t be too expensive to get a more factory solution for that driver seat bolster.

Looking sharp Aiden, the seats and steering wheel look sharp! Appreciate the attention to detail, keep it up

Weird the original link doesn’t work but it’s still on there..? If only it wasn’t a cabrio, I’m seriously hankering after an E46 M3. I already have the wind in hair itch scratched. Any vehicle will start to corrode from the day it is born, even the electro-phorretic coating for BIW doesn’t get into every cavity, especially around spot welds. The bright zinc passivate finish on the fixing hardware under the vehicle doesn’t last too well in some UK conditions, but those are easy to replace if you are so inclined. Being a cab, with less than daily usage miles, this could well be in better than average condition if it’s been used mostly for sunny summer days, as they put salt on the roads in UK in winter. That’s why Land Rovers have a nice covering of oil on the underside. Looking at how generally clean the engine bay is, just wondering if the oxodisation around the oil filter, etc has come from the result of a “steam clean” with harsh additives to meet a MAF certificate requirement?

Rear subframe prepared and ready to go in. Treated the surface rust spots were the weld lines were and painted any gaps in the paint, low effort compared to refinishing the whole thing but should definitely prevent further rust. Installed all the new bits as well, aluminum subframe bushings, super pro diff bushings, ball joints in the trailing arm, M3 spring arms, hard race toe arms, SPL eccentric lockout kit and new knuckle side bolts.

Interior back together, skanky to swanky conversion complete inside. Rear wiper is trashed, the usual issue, $40 on aliexpress for a new one Now the real sh*t starts, looking forward to sorting the headlights out will look way better when polished up. Yup, and the all belts and tensioner... things been leaking for so long everythings just soaked in oil

These are all the rear arms I will be running. I previously converted the M3 upper arms to ball joints on the knuckle side using through the use of CMP engineering shims.

Parts all ordered to fix the leaks and do all the servicing, debating on what to do with the exhaust. Could put it on the other 130, it does sound good and looks kinda cool, but actually want a Laptorr for it as they sound properly legit. Could sell the exhaust and go back to a stock one. Could just leave it on there (will get autosol'd up so it looks shinier). Same thing with wheels, could bang these ones back on, or swap them for the ACS Type IVs, which would look pretty legit silver on silver. Could even grab an ACS replica spoiler and ACS1 decals and make it an "ACS1" (Not that they really existed), 2000's eurotrash tuner it up with the oddball lemon yellow and walnut interior. Anyone interested in buying the exhaust (or BMW Performance 313s (they're genuine staggered set, made by BBS)) Baring in mind the idea is to sell it, not going to make heaps on selling it, but also dont want to lose coin haha. Thoughts?

Hey guys Recently picked up this 130i which I'm sure you will likely recognize. Seriously awesome car and I couldn't be happier with it, major props to Dave for it putting together! Am on the hunt for some cool genuine parts which I will make a post for at some point. Love all things Honda and BMW, I've attached some photos of my other cars. Excited for the future of this mighty 130i 😁

Another 6 months, and thought is might be time to check in with another update! As ever, car just continues to go and go, and nothing to report in that department! another few trips around the country including a trip to Hawkes Bay to the Wheels on Windsor event (parking alongside the GH Automotive fleet), and to auckland and back last week. I much prefer to take this car than my F15 X5 M50d, which im sure will be a surprise to those that havent owned one of these E46s! In my last comment, I mentioned that it had a very minor incident with a guy giving it a wee nudge: At the time, i just left it, because the minor scratch just added to the patina of the car, the body was very very straight for the age and milage, but paint clear coat gave up long ago, and really couldnt be bothered with going any further. I told the guy that at the time too, he was already going to have enough costs! However, I got an email from my insurance company, saying that a claim had been made, did I know anything about it, and what was my version of events. So i told them all about it, and said I was surprised to be getting a call since the other guy had no insurance. What actually happened was I was waiting to turn right, and he came from behind and tried to squeeze between me and the curb, and hit his front right bumper very lightly onto my back left door. I cannot believe how much his car completely fell to pieces in the process, with just a few scratches and not even a dent on my car ha. Apparently, he made up quite the story about how it was all my fault, and that I turned into him! The part he tripped up on tho was that he mentioned something about seeing my brake lights, which of course if I came from behind would be impossible for him to see. Now those that know me know that I am a very reasonable person, but if you try something on with me, I will show you no mercy. So as they agreed I was not at fault, I told them I want my car fixed, and he can pay for that bill too. Remember, he has now been found at fault and with no insurance lol. So, like that, the left quarter panel and rear door were approved for paint, as well as a curb on the M parallel I really couldnt tell you if it was there already or not but hey. Got quotes, but two different body shops both said because the clear coat was stuffed and to ensure a quality repair, they needed repaint the entire left side of the car, which is many thousands of dollars. I figured insurance would back out at this point, but the repar was already under way. Of course, at that point, they may as well just repaint the whole thing, so I paid for on the other side, so I got a full professional respray for half price! The funniest part is now both the young fella and his father gave me the death stare every time I drive past them, so I usually give them a nice friendly smile or wave to thank them for committing insurance fraud and paying half of my respray. Thier brand new merc is still sitting in their driveway pride of place with the front corner stoved in ha.

Time for a quick update on a few things. I've been doing a bunch of playing around with the VE tuning process for a couple of reasons: Firstly when I was working through documenting how the CSL MAP Sensor is used in the DME it occurred to me that it was probably a good idea to take the MAP Sensor out of the loop of the RF calculation while performing the VE tuning process, as otherwise it would be compensating for underlying inaccuracies in the VE table and otherwise masking and making things more difficult. Secondly when going through the disassembly in detail I uncovered that the AQ_REL value that is logged from DS2 (in TestO) is not in fact the value that is used for the CSL AlphaN table. Rather a modified form of AQ_REL is used which inflates the AQ_REL value by a varying amount below 2400 RPM. Addressing the first piece is a case of changing a parameter in the partial binary to disable the MAP sensor, and I solved the second piece with a spreadsheet to convert TestO logs before putting them through the rest of the VE tuning process. This has been a great success. In the space of 3 tuning runs I've gone from something that (even after earlier VE tuning without addressing these two things) felt like an AlphaN tune (which it absolutely is with the MAP sensor turned off), to something so good, it feels like the MAP sensor is enabled, even though it isn't. (of course this won't extend to changing atmospheric conditions, etc. but gives you an idea of the improvement). Particularly low RPM rev matching is superb now with the AQ_REL values that are logged being accurately used to adjust the VE table. After just 3 runs everything is consolidating beautifully around a lambda of 1.0. (the couple of cells that show greater change are cells that I didn't manage to hit in previous runs). I've also been doing some investigation into adding an additional CANBUS message for the DME to send to allow for high data rate acquisition of key variables that currently aren't on CAN. This is a project that requires modifying the program ROM and as such will be a decent chunk of work to get done, but there are a few people keen for this and it seems like a fun winter challenge to figure out. I do want to spend some time working through the safety concept mechanisms to ensure that the safeguards in place in the DME would appropriately handle any edge case bugs or timing/performance issues that might be inadvertently introduced by such a change, but both the Master and Slave CPUs independently handle all key safety functionality, so given the changes will be only to the Master program ROM the risk should be manageable. I'm also satisfied now that the CF-Nylon version of the MAP sensor adapter is up to the job. I'll try mailing (rather than couriering) one to bmwfnatic as a test to see if the postal service accept it (it's right on the 10mm thickness limit). If that all goes okay then it will be practical to make these available to others at a reasonable price (no one will want to pay the $$$ for courier shipping from New Zealand). I'm pretty staunchly of the view that I don't want to make money out of this hobby and its community. I'd much rather contribute in ways that we can all openly benefit and learn from. But also I have a bag of these things sitting on my desk that won't get used otherwise and it seems a few people are keen. I'm thinking that I'll work out a price that covers the portion of the printing cost + postage + a few bucks to cover my time to package and send (and share that cost breakdown with everyone for transparency) and that way people who would find it easier to pay to get one of these can. Important to note that the CAD file for this is freely available here so if you have a printer / have a mate who has a printer / want to order your own from somewhere else you should totally go do that instead 🙂

Good progress this weekend; the engine is now running with minimal fault codes, we were able to get it up to operating temperature and verify ancillary systems (alternator, power steering) were operating as expected. We've identified a small coolant leak around the rear turbocharger and have also found the engine has settled on the engine mounts more than expected, which will need to be remedied before continuing with the exhaust fabrication. 20250504_160416.mp4 20250504_162619.mp4

And so it begins in the 'actual' 530iT. The old drivetrain (M54B30, ZF 5 speed manual) and DSC system were removed and the DSC8+ module installed, with the necessary brake line fabrication: An E39 diesel coolant reservoir was installed in the factory location with rivnuts, though unfortunately we didn't get the placement quite right and this will need to be revised. With the use of an E39 'gulf' oil cooler the horns cannot be kept in the factory position. As I'll be using an E90 combined condensor / receiver-dryer unit, the E39 receiver-dryer was removed and the horns were relocated in its place. The brackets used to hold the E60 DSC pump are temporary while a more final bracket is fabricated. Using the E60 DSC pump also removes the need for a precharge pump, so that was removed and a new brake fluid reservoir installed. Onto preparing the new hardware, the gearbox was fitted with new pivot pin, slave cylinder, etc: A new factory clutch and dual-mass flywheel were installed on the engine: The engine and gearbox were then gently offered into the chassis: