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More progress tonight. Decided I may as well do it once and do it right so got straight back into it after work tonight. Pulled the dash out, as well as the entire AC/heater core unit. Bit of a tedious job with all the wires (not actually that many of them). was stoked to find almost no rust, apart from a small amount on the lip that I showed in photos from the outside earlier, which was the main motivation for pulling it all out in order to be able to access it properly and fix it properly. most rusty part was the wiper motor mount, luckily no rust transferred from the mount bracket to the car itself so I’ve removed it and will be getting acid dipped sand blasted and repainted, before being reinstalled after the whole engine bay has been painted.

Assuming they would even know (which they very likely would not), I doubt they could deny the claim unless it was caused by something directly related to the swap, much the no WOF situation. Most inspectors wouldn't have a clue if its converted or not and the ones who do dont care as long as everything is OE parts. Stupid technicality which 99% of people dont care about. If you plan on doing other modifications that need a cert then it makes more sense to include it.

Hope it gets put back on the road. That looks 100% fixable.

I've no idea what these people are playing at with their deluded price expectations. Just because a car is "low mileage" doesn't negate the fact it's riddled with 20+ year old crusty rubber and plastic that'll need significant investment to overhaul. Let alone it's not even that well spec'd - cloth non-heated seats, no steering wheel controls, no auto lights-wipers, automatic, plus it has spent 20 years of its life in Japan so could be more susceptible to rust. Who in their right mind pays 3 x the market price for this? Still, probably better value than these two grandpa spec specimens: 2001 325i - 7,500km @ $19.5k & 1998 328i - 23,500km @ $13k Do these people know we're in a recession?

Wow they want $17k for an auto! That doesn't seem very sane to me...

On the passenger side remove that globebox bracket, it's usually above that where the harness grommet passes through to the fusebox. The floor pan looks clean so that's good.

Hey Paul, I may have found some more locally to me, I will see if they match with what I’m after, failing that I will be in touch.

Someone needs to snaffle that for the recaros

^ wow! Specimens 😂

Thanks, i did find a BMW TIS system too which specifies a procedure for welding in the exact reinforcement plates! I have passed it on and am waiting on feedback on whether that will be acceptable. I intend to come back and post a resolution when / if i get to one.

All right thanks for the advice! Wasted no time and made a start on looking for rust this evening. Pulled seats, glovebox, under dash trims, carpet, sound reading out. Dash I still in, didn’t have that much time. Firewall looks perfect from the inside. Some minor spots in the floor, mostly around the accelerator pedal mount, there was some water in the sound deading foam so must have a leak somewhere which is mostly likely what caused the rust by the accelerator pedal. Only wet on drivers side and only on the door side, thinking maybe sunroof drain as it’s pretty near by. passenger side: drivers side: not too bad overall from the inside. Will see what it’s like from the outside. Will most likely need to remove the dash to get the blower motor out to fix the rust near there.

Relatively easy mechanical swap, it's just nuts and bolts at the end of the day. RealOEM is a good reference for finding all the manual specific parts that you need or grab a kit like linked above. Pricey but Roland makes sure everything is clean, complete and good working condition. My next swap I'll get the bits from him. Wiring and coding required though, it's all pretty straight forward and well documented but there is a learning curve. If you're not DIY'ing you're better off buying a factory manual.

I actually wonder if the blue one was a Bimmersport members car once. Ton of work by Botany BM Workshop. Still has a BM Workshop plate surround. Since then it was driven by a young girl. Spent hours yesterday getting the makeup off everything.

People who buy a $100k+ (when new) vehicle that's maybe 5 years old, then moan about how something like Carplay doesn't work and how it'll cost "as much as $300" for something.