gjm

My interview went well, but much experience tells me that means little or nothing. On my side, the hiring manager did say that there was nothing that gave him any cause for concern, and had he thought I wasn't in the running, I would have been out much sooner. (I was there for 2 hours.) So... Now we wait. Some more. In the meantime, here's a pic of a nice-looking E46 coupe in New Plynouth.

Hit a hiccup on the road to everything sorted: Can't get the clock on the dash/radio to display time. It resolutely sits there showing --:-- with the : part flashing. No OBC so no controls on the end of a stalk to play with means the only way I know of to sort this is to turn the ignition key to position 1 or 2, and gently twist the right hand knob/stalk in the instrument binnacle. However, I suspect this only works when the clock is actually displaying a time (which ours isn't). A little frustrating.

Found a replacement for the sedan left-side front kidney grille someone had fitted to the coupe with a bit of twist tie. Unfortunately I've also learnt that the kidney grilles comprise two pieces per side (and I replaced the front part): (1) the front, often chrome but sometimes black piece, which clips to (2) the plastic rear moulding, which clips to the bonnet. Sadly, most of the rear mouldings seem to have their clips broken. Both sides on our coupe do - one side is held in with mastic (or similar), so I'll be into finding a replacement pair of plastic rear parts. From the parts catalogue, it look as though the two parts, while they can be separated, are sold under a single part number: Anyway, also found a black plastic insert for the passenger door armrest. Not necessary, but looks better now. Another hole sorted. We're getting there.

Seems all it takes. That's what the book of words suggested, and 4L (maybe a teensy drop more) took it from drained to max on the dipstick. Close... Banged 12V at 12A across it a couple of times. Charged at 6A to start with, reducing until showing charged. Left it for 12 hours, put it on a 0.5-1A charge until showed charged again. It's working so far, and appears to be holding charge (which frankly I'm surprised at.) That said, INPA suggests it's holding 11.7V, which is about 1V down on where it should ideally be. One or two in-car systems aren't keen and suggest 'low voltage' issues. It'll do for now, until I can sort something better.

Found a replacement for the sedan left-side grille someone had fitted to the coupe with a bit of twist tie. Unfortunately I've also learnt that the kidney grilles comprise two pieces per side (and I replaced the front part): (1) the front, often chrome but sometimes black piece, which clips to (2) the plastic rear moulding, which clips to the bonnet. Sadly, most of the rear mouldings seem to have their clips broken. Both sides on the coupe do - one side is held in with mastic (or similar), so I'll be into finding a replacement pair of plastic rear parts.

Go Cory !

Booked in to the Quest. Got 10% off an already discounted price... Quite important that bit! Somewhere clean and convenient is far more important than fancy trim, decor and so on. No SH43 shenanigans this time around! This is a mission with purpose - fun'n'games on 43 can be had another time.

Put it all back together. You'd never know I'd been in there! Handle still doesn't work, but as it has a WoF, I'm not immediately concerned about that. Booked n to get airbags sorted next week. Changed oil and filter. Used some flushing agent, and filled with 4L of Mr Penrite's best 5W40. Sweet as a nut. Beautiful. Did some funky battery recovery stuff too, on the flat battery I had in the garage. It's taken a few days, but it seems to have worked - battery is holding charge and repeatedly starts the car without issue. Car is actually starting 1st turn of the engine now, too, which is lovely. Still needs a thorough, everything, groom/detail/valet.

Yes! Who cares what I use it for? Because - toys. That's what concerns me. At the moment, everything works. Line up is great, seal is great, even the coupe 'window drop' function works and by the correct amount.

Sooooo close. I can get the cable in place, the nipple in place, and even into the hole, but... It always goes in 90 degrees from the way it should. The nipple sits in the hole, but with the curved (and not flat) faces facing up and down. The sleeve is a wire wound item, making it as much a spring as a sleeve. I'm confident that it can be done without stripping the glass and regulator, but also have to wonder if taking everything apart would be quicker. It'd certainly make fitting the cable so much easier, but would I run into more problems with getting everything back together and lined up again?

Thanks to everyone for their support. I really appreciate it! If I am offered the role I suspect I'll accept it, and we have plans for where we'll live if that is the eventuality. In which case, there'll be a party come summer...

Apologies. Typo on my part. I meant M/S54.

Damn. Something on the face of it so simple, so easy to rectify... Requiring so much hassle and likely grief to resolve. Maybe I'll get lucky and be able to sort it without having to pull everything else apart, but I'll not hold my breath. ?

My suspicions... And I was so hoping that there might have been some 'knack' or technique to sort this. I suspect the inability to open the door from the outside may become a 'security feature' - I really don't feel like pulling the door apart any more than I already have.

Chris Alexander (who runs Suspension Tech) is a good bloke. He's been in business for more than a few years, and is well-known throughout the racing community. He has a good reputation to lose, not build, so I can't see him offering anything that doesn't work or won't keep working. The Powered kit comes with a 2-year manufacturers warranty. Give him a call and have a chat. He'll fit too, if that is a consideration - he's based in Karaka, so not so far from you.

I'm going to see just how far down the window goes when fully down. I've removed the inner and outer weather strips to gain a tiny bit more space. I really don't want to get into removing the window or regulator if it is at all possible to avoid doing so.

This is not a M3! (Pic from Speedhunters - Paddy McGrath.)

Seriously? I mean, it's possible, but does sound like someone, somewhere at Amazon, may have made a mistake...

I was kidding about the cable colour. The car is a May 2001 build. Not that it matters. Having the mech out of the car would certainly make it easier - I have had it completely released, but there doesn't appear to be space to get it out of the door: either the glass or the regulator is in the way. I've been working with the window fully up, but battery disconnected (for removing the door airbag) - this means I can reach up under the glass to get to the handle mechanism. I'll have a look, but suspect that winding the window down will mean I can no longer get to the mechanism at all.

Riiight... Interview in New Plymouth on Friday arvo. Travel arrangements will be to drive over: driving to Auckland airport and flying would (in total) take about the same length of time, offers no flexibility, and probably costs more (even if I travel alone). Mrs M will accompany me on the trip and we may stay over and have a little tiki tour before heading back. @Breaker - Brent, are you round on Friday evening/Saturday? Any suggestions for somewhere to stay? The company will forward some hotel recommendations, but I expect them to be of the Novotel variety. (Which can be fine. )

My cable is black... does that make a difference...? I have seen the end of the cable in question. The nipple is present, and the square locking piece appears intact. I have no idea about the part shown depressed in the third pic - I'm looking upside down up into the door shell, past the regulator into a gap that might be 2cm wide. I can see the grooved channel in the curved part which is where the cable needs to sit, and by looking from another angle (through a 1.5cm round hole!) I can see the hole the nipple needs to sit in to. As discussed earlier, I suspect that the window would need to be removed to remove the mechanism, and I really don't want to go down that road. If I can get the nipple relocated, and the locking piece back where it should be, I'll somehow get a cable tie around the locking piece so it cannot 'escape' again. That'll mean the nipple cannot become detached in future. Thanks so much for the pics. They really do help as now I at least know what I'm dealing with, rather than having to guess.

I do not need... $14k? Problem solved!

Thanks for the vid! Not seen that one. I've taken a still from the vid and circled the area I have issues with - the cable has become completely detached form the channeled pulley-type piece. I need to somehow persuade the nipple-end of the cable back into position, and replace the clip which has become undone - this clip is to the right of the bellows on the cable, which is to the right of the blue circled area. What often happens is that the clip becomes detached. If this can be replaced, a cable tie can be used to secure it, fixing the problem. I have one more, very fiddly, step to achieve before I can do that.

What's the life expectancy of these engines? This is the second M52 or S52-powered car I have seen for sale today with over 300000km on it.