Olaf

Can bring up to e30 Mega Meet if you're buying it back? ?

Well, that's over. The two top coats of silver, 40 minutes apart, have gone on. Two coats of silver, and thirty minutes later... And 30-odd minutes later, the clear coat went on. I used U-Pol, the body shop said it's the best quality clear you can buy in a can. It's pricey, but who am I to ignore their advice? I'm now praying my workshop gets/stays warm enough with the heater on, to keep the clear from going cloudy. Wearing it's new coat of clear. Tomorrow they'll get into the warmest/sunniest room in the house for a few days. Mount on Friday perhaps?

I gave up on the wheel spinner. Too much faffing around. I had spent time with my recipro-saw cutting my office chair down, got it to a reasonable place, and then figured I could waste another hour on woodwork and such - better off painting! So I shot a coat of primer over them and let them dry, had some lunch. I came out just in time for.... rain! Primer Coat, relocated to workshop to dodge the rain. These looked a bit average to start with... then with prep, primer, and a couple of coats of silver... they look better. So I'm painting them in the alclove outside my workshop, one at a time, and returning them back to the 'bake' - an oil column electric heater in my workshop ?The first coat looks okay. My hands are getting sore!

I went to Union Hardware with a rim. They gave me the sun lamp and a fan deck and warned me that looking at silver chips for too long would mentally blind me! "pick one that's close to what you're seeing". I found one that looked good to me. Code photo below. Silvers are a real bitch to match, that's for sure. Those spray-painters that do colour-matching by eye are Jedis! Details of the paint that was mixed for me. I'm not saying it's a correct paint or anything. It's one I liked the look of. @Cammsport Right then, the etch has dried, I've fixed a couple of nicks, wiped it with Iso, time for me to shoot some primer. And now it's late enough on a sunday, get the grinder out!

Update: Wheels Part One. More prep for e30 Mega Meet. Again, I re-cement my respect and admiration for the spraypainting and panel-beating trades. I'm refurbing my 14" basketweaves, in preparation for putting them on the car. To be fair, it's probably "apprentices" who'd normally be assigned the tasking of scuffing/smoothing/filling/prepping old wheels... particularly something like Basket Weaves. Still, following my blood with the old Scottish (Spike Milligan, actually) Proverb that 'money is flat, and meant to be piled up', I spent the day cleaning, scuffing, filling, smoothing four near-thirty year old rims. I was looking for 'looks good from a few metres back', rather than 'near-perfect'. I managed to clean up most of the light kerbing with my magical random-orbital sander (hello Bosch Blue) and a 120 grit oxide pad. The rest I filled with Isopon Wheel Filler. This sh*t is really good. I bought the kit with sachets and all the stuff you need, reasoning I'm not filling wheels all the time, and who am I kidding - buying everything in a box makes sense. It mixes well, has lots of metal in it, goes off like... (well, choose your own similie and I'll leave your mom out of this!), and sands and shapes well. Spraypainter's Scotch-brite is a wonderful thing. So too is white oxide paper. Yes, my lilly-white office-worker hands have taken a beating. At the end of the afternoon yesterday, I had this to consider: Like the Beatles, only not scousers, not remotely musical... unless you consider they ring like bells. Four wheels cleaned and scuffed. Anything remaining staining in the shadows should come out with the spirits, there's no dust there. I'm glad I didn't forge ahead with primer last night. In the light of day, I went over them with a spirit rag, and (as expected) I found a few minor spots on the spokes that I'd filled, but not smoothed. I sorted those out, finished the wipe-down, and filled my water bath when the jug had boiled. Yes, when painting from aerosols, I find a standing the cans in a hot-water bath ahead of shake-shake-shake, makes a huge difference to paint flow. And your groove thing. And now they're drying, ahead of primer. And I have a wheel-spinner to make, a workshop to heat, and wheels to paint with two coats of silver and a coat of clear. I'd better prep those waffles, too. Etching in the suburbs

Come on boys and girls, I think this has gone about as far as it needs to here. An indeterminate number of people are feeling aggrieved, and are taking legal advice on the matter. Views have been cast here. The seller has presumably pocketed some money and has a couple of his late father's cars off of the family lawn. We're a broad community; the purchaser is probably amongst us as well. Can we move on, or do some of you want to keep picking at the scab?

Don't be sorry man, there's always a welcome in Welly! ?

Geordie, when you're coming through wellington let us know. Coffee Meet, Beer etc - I'll buy you one. If it coincides with Thursday 5 December, come to BMW Club NZ/Bimmersport pub night!

@nick496 this might be you mate

Woohoo! Congrats Cam! e30 Mega Meet here you come!

so what's on the list, then? How is it different to Jane?

Them's fighting words ? Best we organise a back-to-back with your - errr - "530i" then! ? Welcome to Bimmersport @Bener, looks like a beaut example.

In other news, these arrived yesterday... I'm almost ready for the brake refresh. ... though that’s after e30 mega meet.

Congrats! I'm sure it will last longer than 40k, it's been done by the trans masters.

Date: 12 Nov 2019 Distance: 260490kms Simple stuff today. Just over 2.5 weeks to e30 Mega Meet. 1. Intake Boot Replacement This wasn't strictly necessary. I did it anyway, as I had the spare lying around. Gave it a bit of a clean up, contemplated the underbonnet foam, wiped away some grit gathered through driving. Before... Part number on display. Afterward. New boot installed, power steering and brake fluid reservoirs cleaned, respectively. Note to self: need pinch-clamp bolt for the Power Steering Reservoir. In other news: Crank Case Breather Hose is winging it's way from Germany. It was like this: "How's your German coming along, Sis? I need an intake boot crank case breather hose, here's the part number. Go visit your friendly BMW dealer for me?" "Can do. Don't worry about the money, it's your early christmas present. At least it's something you want." Tomorrow: more work!

Who is the Original Equipment manufacturer?

let's hope the novella was more than enough.

At that kind of money I'd be into an M2.

@gjm Mine was (almost) the Haiku version. Yours, more the novella. ?

this has more to do with the seller than "the other guy".

https://www.carjam.co.nz/car/?plate=FQJ381 WBAEF52000CC11082

result! looking at your title, I was going ask where your e39 left it?!

Oh you’re just teasing me now! ?You’ve already got the 16” multi piece wheels lurking, haven’t you?

.... you can sacrifice Nissan Leafs (Leaves?) to liberate their battery packs for solar storage ?

I wonder what the economics are to installing solar atop your garage, to a storage charger setup... plug in and charge off-grid in the evenings.