CSET

Barged in on a photoshoot end of last year, some good shots by Kings Lane Studios! _S178364-Edit by Christian Taylor, on Flickr _S178270-Edit by Christian Taylor, on Flickr _S178403 by Christian Taylor, on Flickr

Few littleLF1 by Christian Taylor, on Flickr changes before roadtrip to Leadfoot next weekend LF5 by Christian Taylor, on Flickr LF4 by Christian Taylor, on Flickr LF3 by Christian Taylor, on Flickr LF2 by Christian Taylor, on Flickr Also (finally) installed an AUX port thing behind standard headunit.

Fitted up the restored lip & struts last night, still not sold on the massive canards. I have a set of carbon fiber dive planes on the way which are a little more subtle, going to try them first. Untitled by Christian Taylor, on Flickr Untitled by Christian Taylor, on Flickr Untitled by Christian Taylor, on Flickr Also have a set of remote in-cabin adjusters for the suspension to fit on - this'll make a difference..! Untitled by Christian Taylor, on Flickr Haven't actually driven this car since the start of December, and only done 10kms on the new suspension - hope to get some time in the weekend to go for a proper drive & set it up.

The AGT carbon fiber diffusers have arrived, these are going to look crazy with the s-tech lip Untitled by Christian Taylor, on Flickr Edit: one more shot from side. Different lip, canards & struts will balance it out nicely MTOY4 by Christian Taylor, on Flickr Still waiting for the underbody rear diffuser to be finished, it's cut & put together, but it has taken forever. Almost tempted to just buy one offshore, it'd be way quicker.

New suspension in, bit of a drop but not crazy. Handles amazing, didn't know what I was missing out on..! MTOY3a by Christian Taylor, on Flickr MTOY6 by Christian Taylor, on Flickr MTOY1 by Christian Taylor, on Flickr

sh*t how deep are the scratches mate??

Lip turned out better than expected, not bad from off the spray can..! It's going to look a bit better once I flatten the orange peel & apply paint protection film. Untitled by Christian Taylor, on Flickr Untitled by Christian Taylor, on Flickr Untitled by Christian Taylor, on Flickr I also ordered a set of AGT carbon fiber canards - this'll go on spare bumper with the lip I refurbished for track days etc.

A few little cosmetic projects on the go with MTOY at the moment. I stripped and repainted the wing struts last week in prep for a rally and dialled in another few degrees on the wing. Added some subtle decals underneath to match the front . 5 by Christian Taylor, on Flickr 1 by Christian Taylor, on Flickr 6 by Christian Taylor, on Flickr I've had this Strassentech-style front splitter that I bought from Greg way back in 2012, a mate drove my car shortly after I'd fitted it and hocked a curb. It's been gathering dust in my garage ever since waiting me to get my a-into-g. I repaired it today, currently painting. Check out the split..! Untitled by Christian Taylor, on Flickr Untitled by Christian Taylor, on Flickr Untitled by Christian Taylor, on Flickr Untitled by Christian Taylor, on Flickr Few more layers before clear, then polish, refine & paint protection film application to match my other lip. I've got some struts on order that'll fit in nicely on this front; my goal is to have it swap-able relatively easily (like the boot). Chances are I'll just keep the carbon one-piece lip for when I fess up for another bumper cover in the future.

Hi mate, I ran 35% Infinity OP for a year or so (check pics previous few pages) - that was legal and looked good imo. Can't remember turning the radio on in that time so I'm not able to comment on reception. Phone and GPS seemed to be ok. No lifting on edges that I could see, only reason I added to it was that I want it darker/ less see-through. 95%+ heat rejection will be gained from most films regardless of the opacity by the way, so 'darkness' doesn't necessarily equal more heat rejection. Suntek have a good website which explains this.

Had the windows tinted on Wednesday by Autotintz with a dark layer under the Infinity OP 35% metallic film - hadn't seen this done before so was a bit of a gamble, but result is pretty good. Untitled by Christian Taylor, on Flickr Untitled by Christian Taylor, on Flickr Untitled by Christian Taylor, on Flickr Swapped wheels & bootlid last night in prep for summer - back on with the CSL 19's and carbon ducktail lid. MTOYPark by Christian Taylor, on Flickr MTOYPar2 by Christian Taylor, on Flickr MTOYPark3 by Christian Taylor, on Flickr

Did someone say paint correction? Looks awesome John, great to see this in person a couple of weeks ago!

Probably a mix of the work done and the comparison with daily driving a Kia 4wd slug for a few months.

First decent drive over the weekend, drove to Napier and back! Everything went well. Did some mild maintenance once we got there. Replaced battery (it's been a bit rubbish for a while), cleaned wheel speed sensors after they threw faults & fixed reversing sensors. Took a boot full of junk down, which ended up coming in quite handy. Untitled by Christian Taylor, on Flickr] Untitled by Christian Taylor, on Flickr Untitled by Christian Taylor, on Flickr Engine is running very nicely, tonnes of torque in the low & mid range and the fuel efficiency is heaps better. 650kms from a tank...! Best I had in the past is mid-500's. Chuffed. Edit: shot of it back together shortly afterwards. It's dirty, but it's not that bad given it drove to Napier and I didn't wash it down there..! If that doesn't convince you on ceramic coatings, I don't know what will haha Untitled by Christian Taylor, on Flickr

Yep, must have been bad for a while

It's definitely quieter, no rattle on cold start (Kayne refreshed Vanos too) and generally runs a lot smoother. It does seem to pull a bit harder, tho that might be due to dailying a Kia for the past few months (anything would seem fast in comparison..!)

Been pretty quiet on this build for a while, ran a bearing back in June so it's been up with Kayne Barrie for a rebuild. Couple of shots while the master was at his work: 20884884_1507597005930171_650205220_n by Christian Taylor, on Flickr 20904324_1507597182596820_1871693703_o by Christian Taylor, on Flickr 21684668_1535529916470213_553786645_o by Christian Taylor, on Flickr 21845349_1535529956470209_768997783_o by Christian Taylor, on Flickr New crank, gaskets, bearings etc. Untitled by Christian Taylor, on Flickr Untitled by Christian Taylor, on Flickr Kayne replaced the clutch and got the guys at Autospeed Engineering in Pukekohe to recondition the head: 20891530_1507597055930166_44621757_n by Christian Taylor, on Flickr Back now, and looking pretty good sitting in decent company..! IMG_3720 by Christian Taylor, on Flickr

New project underway! I'm having a diffuser setup for the underbody designed, starting at the rear. I pulled the bumper this morning - it was pretty dusty under there. I suppose 100km of gravel on the last rally had it's downsides...! I hope to have a mock up designed over the next couple of weeks, then manufacture & fitting before we start on the front. Good fun! Untitled by Christian Taylor, on Flickr Untitled by Christian Taylor, on Flickr

Had a good little home project tonight, retro-fit an M Performance shifter & boot to my e46. The brackets from the M2 are quite different to the e46, so it took some fiddling but I got there in the end. Here's a pic & a vid (I have a BMW Performance short shift kit installed now too). Untitled by Christian Taylor, on Flickr

Choice, those suit it Ray! Looks tops.

Iono, it's all dark magic to me.

Welp seemed I was wrong! There was apparently a flat spot from 2 - 3,500rpm, and it had thrown a code having the cats removed (despite no CEL yet). NZPT have addressed both of these things and had a play with some other bits and bobs that I won't even try and understand. I've yet to drive the car past moving it back & forth, but according them it's a fair bit better at low rpm. They're quietly confident they've gained a little power & torque from it too, but it won't be a huge amount. Looking forward to when I can get a chance to drive it!

I'd planned to just disable the o2 sensors before & after the cats mate - not sure whether there's much to be gained from this motor tbh. That said, as it's booked in anyway and there is no codes, we'll see what happens..!

I have it booked with NZ Performance Tuning on Wednesday, but it actually hasn't thrown a code yet. Watching with interest what happens over next couple of days.

I ceramic coated the roof tonight as it's been a month or so since it was painted, this should allow enough time for the paint to 'gas off'. Looks glorious, it's more reflective than the glass sunroof haha. Also Scott at East Tamaki Auto did a bit of work over the past week or so; removed the cats from Section 1 and welded in stainless straight pipes, fixed my sticky handbrake and fitted the BMW M Performance short shift kit I've had in my garage for the past 3 years haha. Shift is much shorter, and the shifter sits about 1/2 an inch lower which is nice for my low Recaro seats. And it sounds spectacular. Will take a vid over the next few days. Quite loud & raspy, but no drone and the overrun is glorious. It's straight piped through to the Supersprint 'Race' muffler (which seems to do bugger all muffling anyway).

The boys at GT dropped my car back this arvo. I'd asked them to leave it flat sanded so I can correct it myself; so this isn't a true representation of their delivery to a client! The mystery begins, what could be revealed under the sanding!!!! Ben mentioned there were a couple of surprises he'd left me! Untitled by Christian Taylor, on Flickr Untitled by Christian Taylor, on Flickr Untitled by Christian Taylor, on Flickr Into it! Untitled by Christian Taylor, on Flickr I asked Ben at GT to sign the roof somewhere under the clear coat - check this out! What an awesome sig, even includes the year he did the work. Mint. Untitled by Christian Taylor, on Flickr by Christian Taylor, on Flickr A few sets into heavy compounding, starting to take shape. Check out the before/after! Looks like they've worked off a base of black, excellent! This means the roof will look black indoors or out of direct sunlight by Christian Taylor, on Flickr Untitled by Christian Taylor, on Flickr A few more sets of heavy cutting removed the deep sanding marks. Time for a machine polish & refine. Untitled by Christian Taylor, on Flickr Checking with a swirl light, and there's the second surprise - holy sh*t look at that colour I simply cannot wait to get this into the sun, this is going to look spectacular Untitled by Christian Taylor, on Flickr Untitled by Christian Taylor, on Flickr