M3AN

And there's the McLaren... https://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/mclaren/auction-1671325353.htm Ouch.

Wut? ?

Tend to agree, presentation and service history is excellent although there are a few things I'd change. 3.5k is still a lot of money though for a 23 year old 1.8 auto.

Wow. Did you tell them you were a cash customer and didn't need an invoice? Either way, It's difficult to know if an electric impact of any description would be enough or that you could hold the shock shaft still enough to get your specific nut off. A shop would probably try once or twice then go straight to heat. As for using non-impact sockets - not advisable but still possible for something like this. I don't have impact sockets in most sizes and good quality normal sockets work fine, I just wouldn't beat on them time and time again.

Fap. Fap, fap, fap.

I just heard about them today from a different source, Speed European. Good to know, cheers.

Hired a Rug Doctor today to attack the seats I picked up from Zebra recently for the 328. As clean as the seats looked before I started this was an exercise in disgusting, it was gross how rank the resulting liquid was. Much better now. Next I'll tackle the leather but that's in pretty good condition. I'll be swapping the back and base cushions from passenger to driver side and I have a third seat base (from the passenger side of another car) to cannibalise to create a new base for the passenger side.

Now don't tell me you're miserable Michael!

Can we all do skids with it to break them in? #RaDzSkDz

That it's a $15k option is largely irrelevant, you don't replace the calipers when servicing the brakes for a start. And I suspect you can get a much better deal on pads and rotors than from BMW. Price aside, my point is that approaching $150k km's you need to budget for a bunch of overhaul items. If $3k won't be enough then adjust accordingly based on the estimates you get beforehand.

Yes, I ment km's - I was thinking "mileage". And yeah, $3k per corner if it has the stupid-for-the-road carbon brakes!

Hasn't there been a bottom end problem with every S engine designed since about 1999? Either way, 55k would be a sharp price. Anything less than 150k is low miles in my mind, it doesn't matter how quickly it got there to me. But at around 150k miles km's you need to understand that all brake components and bushes probably need servicing/replacement and there's a few thousand dollars (say $3k) in that so factor that into your negotiations. Make sure you know for a fact if there's still a factory warranty on it and how long it has to go.

Not sure if the links are the same length - if so then yes you could use e46 links. But, unless you already have the e46 links lying around, you might as well get e36 M3 links. e36 links are 231mm from centre of one ball joint to the centre of the other.

Passed the cardboard test, not a drop so I'm signing this job off as successfully complete! ?

Spring compressors look fine, maybe the left one could be tighter but I suspect you've tried that. Am also happy to try and help out if required.

You're going to be able to drive it like you stole it for another 150k soon!

Locally Euro-Italian has been good to me. Overseas I use FCPEuro and Schmiedmann, both are very reliable although I'm starting to prefer FCP.

So, touch wood it looks like any oil drips were from what I spilled rather than what the sump spilled. Had a good look around underneath today when it was both hot and cold, nothing of note. Cleaned it up as best I could and will leave it to sit over a bit of cardboard tonight to confirm. It's been an interesting exercise this sump, not something I'd recommend for fun but it does give you a good appreciation of how the front end all hangs together. Probably need another alignment now as it's a little bit left down which drives me crazy. Thanks to @sweetm3 and @BimmerShaun for the tools and parts and to everybody else for your suggestions and support!

How many compressors are you using? Should be two. And yeah, you really need them on coils closer to the ends of the springs... can't you throw up a picture of where you're at?

I'm interested in your project... tell me more. I've got a whole new interior that need to be retrimmed. I got a couple of Recaros done but I don't think I'll use those.

Oh, and I like to treat the old girl well. A new oil filter (obviously) and the prescribed amount of Penrite HPR5 5w40 was used to fill her up but before that I threw 8 litres of this through the system to flush it out until it ran golden (edit: no filter, sump plug hand tight, tip in 4l and start/idle the car for 15 seconds, drain 3l, add the remaining 4l, run car for 60 seconds, drain it all). $20 for 4 litres from Repco at 50% off and I can't complain... and it's called "Ultraclean" so it must be good at cleaning...

I'm afraid not but all the front seats are interchangeable, only the rears and door cards differ. A set of front seats from a wrecker are ~$80, If I were looking for a sedan interior I'd want to check out that M3 sedan Brent has... not sure what's still available but matching nappa leather seats and door cards would be a good score. M3 (nappa) leather is so much better quality than non-M3 leather it's really quite amazing. Sedan stuff is also normally way less expensive than coupe stuff (a set of 4 good condition coupe cards is $400+ whereas sedan cards, still from an M3, should be around $200). Sedan front seats from an M3? $250, Vaders from a coupe? $600+. I do have a big roll of brand new M Rain upholstery for anybody kicking off a project.... and some incomplete Recaro SR3's for an E30/6...

I now have 4 interiors for 2 cars... I'm meant to be getting rid of stuff! ?

Okay, so @Palazzo's post above confused me... I'm not sure if it means that Zebra Onehunga has more broken windows than other parts places? But I went back today to pick up another passenger seat cushion to put into the driver's side (less wear) and low and behold that second car was full of broken glass! Coincidence or have you been there recently Scott? Anyway, the 328 is running again now after the fine weather on the weekend allowed me to complete the job. Lining up a subframe and steering rack by yourself on your back isn't the easiest of jobs I can assure you! It's running fine and holding oil pressure so that's good but I think there's a leak so I'll have to hoist it up again and have a look. Hopefully it's something simple like the sump plug just not being tight enough. Somewhat more dramatically, about 15 mins into my test drive and the throttle stuck open! Brakes aren't good enough to fight that and I had to shut the car down. Sorry to all those around me that had to deal with me dealing with that! Pulled over somewhere safe and checked the obvious things, throttle cable working fine... hmm. Walked home (lucky my test drive was circuits of my neighbourhood), put the tools in the M3 and headed back out. Took the intake pipes off and found a rubber gasket stuck in the throttle butterfly holding it open. It's a gasket that I did take out when I took it apart to do the sump and I put back in the same place assuming that it belongs where I took it from... problem is that the gasket doesn't belong there at all. Somebody had obviously worked on it in the past, put it all back together, had that gasket left over and just bunged it where it fit. It's actually a valve cover oil filler gasket... ? So gasket now removed from butterfly and car running fine again.

No problem at all... Yep!