CSET

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

I bought mine from BMW but definitely check with Brent first (see post below yours). If you order through BMW make sure to mention trim colour you're after & confirm it's the RHD part! It also needs a mounting bracket (see Google for part #'s).

Yep bottom-mount, they had them in stock at their shop bottom of Parnell Rise. Prob worth calling ahead! I'm the same height as you, and they are perfect for me. They sit quite a bit lower than factory, however I'm not sure how much of that is the different height of seat padding in my Recaros.

Farewell 5d carbon roof wrap, you were awesome. Untitled by Christian Taylor, on Flickr Much paint correction later Untitled by Christian Taylor, on Flickr 33201121684_ed1441e067_o by Christian Taylor, on Flickr I was still not happy, check out the deep scratches around the light reflection. These are actually my fault, I had a magnetic aerial on there for one of the early Gumboot Rallies. There's only about 80 microns of paint left on this panel so I didn't have much to work with. So I took it to the guys at GT Refinishers for a respray of the panel. What they do is entirely up to them, Grant suggested a base of black with a layer of silver xirallac which sounds pretty interesting to me. Let's see what comes back!

Wow awesome! Either one will be epic, I look forward to your next build thread. What do you think will make you decide between an M2 & a RS3?

Cheers mate, better-sized tyres & 10mm spacers help a lot I think. Fronts were too wide before and rears sat in too far, looked weird.

IMG_8145 by Christian Taylor, on Flickr

Cheers mate, most of the views are probably me .

Couple of outside shots from today. I'm loving the fitment, smaller diameter wheels but slightly more aggressive offset, suits the car imo. 18s6 by Christian Taylor, on Flickr 18s7 by Christian Taylor, on Flickr 18s8 by Christian Taylor, on Flickr 18s9 by Christian Taylor, on Flickr 18s10 by Christian Taylor, on Flickr 18s11 by Christian Taylor, on Flickr

Good questions. MOHS+ is more durable, lasts longer and looks better than C.Quartz. You can even tell by comparing the photos of my car with C.Quartz a few pages back & with MOHS+. This car is both easy to clean and stays clean longer (ceramics help repel dirt, dust and contamination). For us we get direct support, are certified as applicators (and as distributors, meaning we can sell ceramic coatings as well as apply them), and are part of a wide & established professional network. Give me a bell if you'd like some more info - 021 832 609 | christian@ocdetailing.co.nz

Looks amazing Logan such an awesome car

I put my e92 wheels on with new semi slicks today. Shoutout to Nan at The Bling Company for the tyres, and the lads at Autostance for fitting them to the wheels & balancing for me. 18s1 by Christian Taylor, on Flickr 18s4 by Christian Taylor, on Flickr 18s2 by Christian Taylor, on Flickr 18s3 by Christian Taylor, on Flickr