Vass

Wouldn't think so. I think I might have outright mentioned my donor engine, as well as some of the running gear, coming from a crashed & dereg'd car when going through cert on my 325i to 330i swap, never got any further questions on that point.

That looks awesome. Do you mind sharing what it cost to get all of that done, even if just a ballpark figure? I've never gone down the powdercoating route assuming it'd cost an arm and a leg, would be good to know whether it's something I could swing in the future.

Yeah I did a quick search after seeing that comment and that one came up... bonkers. Pointless getting a bare engine anyway, unless swapping out a dead engine in an M3, you'd really need a full donor car to do a proper conversion. Good luck getting your hands on one nowadays... best bet is probably importing a crash damaged one from overseas still, the US & UK prices still seem somewhat attainable. As much fun as a Compact M3 would be, if by some miracle I ever get my hands on one, it'd be destined to turn ol' Barbara into an M3 Touring

Got a quick look at it before the listing got nuked but yeah, it was asking $110k... Didn't look at the km's but from what I can remember it looked tidy, had all sorts of mods like Dinan front and rear strut braces, aFe intakes etc, the description claimed it's probably the best example in Australasia and that the market value of rare/aftermarket parts was $50k alone... I'm no expert but seems optimistic to think it's a $60k car to begin with, and that the $50k of mods add another $50k to its value.

I wish... Even dreaming of one is too expensive nowadays

Yeah she's a quirky little one, I'm growing to like the shape more and more. I just put my Swift Sport up for sale so this will be taking over daily duties once that's gone. The Swift with its high compression 1.6L engine is arguably the better daily of the two, being cheaper to maintain, super light and hilariously rev happy but just can't resist the feel of an E46, much nicer place to be in. The N42B18 is literally the bottom of the barrel engine out of the whole E46 lineup and one I constantly warn other people to avoid but I guess that's a rake I need to step on myself to learn that lesson. Won't be too gutted when the engine finally decides it's had enough as this thing will likely get M54 swapped at some point anyway, just keen to see how much life I manage to squeeze out of it first. Just put a big parts order in with Spareto to revamp the cooling system, all sorts of seals, gaskets, PCV and whatnot, give it a mini birthday of sorts, and see how it decides to repay me. Have raided Pick-A-Part for some more bits to tidy it up further but will report on all that once I've gotten around to fitting them.

Looks to be worth well beyond asking price in parts still. I've seen people sell 135i calipers alone for like $1.2k.

Prior to all that, I went to town on the interior since it was a truly disgusting place to be. Seemingly had coke repeatedly spilled over all the seats and interior panels, loose tobacco in every possible crevice, naturally chips and French fries all over the place too, with at least $6 in coins thrown in, bringing the purchase price down somewhat. Pulled out the front seats and must have had 4-5 goes at either one with the Bissell until the water getting sucked out stopped being dark brown. Even after that many goes some stains still remained but a massive improvement none the less. The floor mats and carpets also took quite a few goes to get good. The carpet cleaner got the workout of its life, filling up the waste container at least twice with black-brown sewage. Haven't even gotten around to the rear seat yet... The driver's seat had a rip in it which the wife kindly patched up for me with some spare bit of fabric I had from an old rear seat armrest off the touring. Crude but good enough for a daily. I also did the old lint remover trick on the alcantara. I managed to snag an Android headunit from PaP a while ago, identical unit to what I've got in the Touring so went ahead and installed it in place of a generic single din one someone had crudely "wired" in. The spare body wiring loom came in handy once again and I reverted the wiring to factory spec. The Android unit comes with adapter wiring and if I ever decide to revert to a factory headunit it'll just be plug & play. All the centre console trim bits were naturally scratched up so I installed a spare set with an armrest that I had already de-rubberised a while ago. I also managed to get my hands on a fancy genuine HVAC relocation bracket for the touring so I had the old 3D printed HVAC relocation bracket as a spare. Installing that turned out to be a bigger faff than anticipated though. Turns out that the older version HVAC control panel with the physical buttons is much bulkier than the newer one with the buttons and digital display so was far from a straight fit. Took quite a bit of dremel-ing and filing to trim the bracket down enough to fit around the HVAC panel, was left quite thing and flimsy in a few places but does the job in holding the panel securely in place in the end. Followed @Harper's lead and deleted the rear wiper to clean up the look a little bit. Went with an Aliexpress special Bevinsee piece. Worked out cheaper than buying a new wiper too... Also got a Bevinsee clutch stop which I've also got on the touring and is an absolute must for all manuals - nice cheap and tidy kit that takes out the silly long pedal travel these came with from factory. That's where I'm up to for now but far from finished with it. Pretty determined to tidy it up further and keep around as a daily, even more so since finding out it was first registered on my birthday... Funny that.

Road legal baby! Didn't want to splurge on new tyres not knowing if it'd pass otherwise so just borrowed the wheels off the touring since it was up on jack stands anyway. Drove it in for the inspection and was shocked when it only needed a few minor bits to pass. Both rear rego bulbs were blown. Easy fix. The passenger seatbelt was slow to retract, which turned out to be a weird one. It didn't look like it had ever been touched or that the panels had been off but the belt was somehow twisted. How or why that happened I've no clue. Had to twist the belt at the top pivot point, the belt buckle and at the base rail. Since I was messing with it, I also gave the belt a good clean and removed & wire wheeled the metal cross bar since it was all crusty and was catching on the belt. The wiper one was also an odd one. The driver side one was leaving a spot untouched right in the middle of the wiper. Threw on a fresh set of wipers which I thought would fix it but it barely improved the situation. I then noticed that the middle of the wiper was barely touching the glass. Figured the spring in the wiper arm itself had stretched out. I had a spare one laying around that felt a bit firmer so just replaced the whole wiper arm, which also only barely improved its function. Ended up giving the glass a good clean, a quick polish and some SiO2 coating which didn't eliminate the issue completely but got it to a point where it passed anyway. Might have to revert to the oldschool truss-shaped wipers instead of the fancy aero blade ones. Super odd. Took it in for reinspection and voila, she's all WoF'd & reg'd. The brakes was the main bit I was worried about since the rotors looked a bit pitted but they don't have a lip, the pads have plenty of meat left and it stops fine (or as fine as it would with its tiny 316ti brakes) so the inspector was happy that the pitting would clear up just with a bit of use. Happy days. An almighty service is on the cards before I put it into regular service. The main issue as it stands seems to be the thermostat being stuck open since it's taking forever to get up to operating temperature so will hold off driving it too much until that's done. Might as well do a full fluid flush at the same time and replace some common to fail seals and gaskets, and probably the PCV. Tossing up whether to preventatively do the valve stem seals too before returning the timing tool kit that I've borrowed. Gave its wheels a good scrub too. The front tyres have a wee bit of life left in them but the rears are completely bald so will have to get a new pair of those at the very least. Will try to keep the scope creep in check and avoid the cheap daily from snowballing into another moneypit.

Damn not until you mentioned it. If I ever get around to getting my touring resprayed I'm thinking of doing the same front and rear. Full stealth.

I think I found the diff

Wonder where that ended up. Would assume @Kees would have noticed it if it had been laying anywhere near the M5 itself. What a bloody waste.

This old gem has been discussed somewhere on these shores previously but worth bringing up again as the same old unchanged ad keeps getting relisted with the same outlandish asking price for several years now. A dereg, supposedly M3 shell with next to nothing left intact and random non-M body panels thrown on - at a bargain price of $7.3k... https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/car-parts-accessories/bmw/other/listing/5405301354 What the actual hell is this guy playing at? Is there anything there that's worth even a fraction of that? I personally can't see it. Only conceivable use I could see there being is to cut out the boot floor and rear arches for a touring M3 conversion or something, but even then the RH arch has very obvious damage to it... The sheer, unfiltered delusion to then put this wibble in the description too:

Happy to recommend Classic Cover, got my E46 insured for $15k with them with a $250 excess and $600 premium (including roadside assist). At the same time AA were only offering up to $6.7k cover at nearly double the premium with a $500 excess. For further comparison, got the car evaluated with NZVV (Christchurch-based so probably not much help in that regard), initial valuation cost $200 and every subsequent one is $100.

I wouldn't tighten it more than that, those threads are really easy to strip out. Wouldn't mess around repairing the valve cover either, just straight replace. Should be cheap enough from Pick-A-Part or similar.

Haven't touched an N46 in an E90 but am tinkering on an N42 in an E46 which is pretty much the same engine. That rear right one is a bit fiddly to get to but still easy enough, not might be a bit more room to play around with on an E46 for whatever reason, I'm not sure. I found a regular 1/4 ratchet and deep wall 10mm worked just fine, up to the point it was loose enough to thread out by hand. At least on an E46, the protruding stud is for a small bracket on the vacuum line going to the brake booster to keep that in place, then another 8mm nut that goes over top.

The plastic valve cover itself could be cracked, seems to be quite a common occurrence. Worth checking it over thoroughly every time it's off, cracks can be hard to spot being black plastic and caked in gunk.

Hope you're not dead set on a BMW. I'd be real hesitant recommending any small BMW petrol engines that aren't 20+ years old, which probably is a no go in this case. Most modern 4-cylinders are riddled with problems, which is manageable if you don't mind some DIY, but not something I'd go for if your main goal is trouble free motoring. And the ones that aren't will be well beyond that budget. Honestly, I'd probably look at something small and Japanese, a Honda Fit, Suzuki Swift or similar. Should be plenty to choose from in that price range.

Gave the spare exhaust a quick lazy polish before bolting it up and dropping the car off at the shop. Even on the way there I still hadn't fully decided on the final course of action - whether to cut out the resonator or the secondary cats. Sound wise both would probably have had the same effect but the smelliness of it all was my main concern. Had the guys at the shop start up a couple of decatted cars to get a sense of what life would be like cat-free. Don't know if I got an objective feel for it or if my sense of smell had simply been decimated from sniffing all the brake cleaner fumes over the years but it didn't feel as bad as I had feared so cat delete it was. Somehow turned out to be a bit more work than I thought it would be, they cut out a bigger section than I'd envisaged but the end result looked really nice, the welds were tidy and the sound exactly what I was after. This was a progress photo they'd sent through, I forgot to ask for a full underside photo at the end. I'll be taking the exhaust off shortly to fit new exhaust gaskets, refit the damper at the back of the resonator and finish off the polishing mission so will take a photo of the rear section then. Loving the end result, the purr at startup is awesome, has a nice deeper tone to it throughout with a tinge of the signature BMW rasp. Loud enough to be enjoyable but not loud enough to be obnoxious so shouldn't annoy the neighbours too much. Once warmed up it's still surprisingly quiet at idle but definitely feel a bit more kick when giving it some beans. Took it onto the motorway to see if there's any droning but all good on that front too. The smell isn't nearly as bad as I'd feared as well, probably would only ever be an issue if left idling inside the garage for a while. VIDEO: Cold Start VIDEO: dB Meter Test VIDEO: Before Comparison with the 325i Exhaust Took it out for a quick bash along the hills the other weekend with @Carbon and his Honda mates, as well as a certain infamous M5. The muffler-deleted V8 and well as my newly opened up exhaust reverberating off the surrounding hills was a bloody nice soundtrack. Have now clocked up a couple hundred km's on the new exhaust setup and couldn't be happier, a nice finishing touch. Quickly running out of things to improve on this car. Thanks again to @Gaz for the hookup. Wifey called me a bogan as I pulled up into the driveway so that's the mission well and truly accomplished.

Mangere https://www.pickapart.co.nz/eziparts/Display_Vehicle.asp?PriceListID=0&VehicleID=216197&$Location=112105099107097112097114116099111110122&LocationID=3&VehicleDesc=BMW M5 That's crazy tho, must be a blown engine or something major. Insane that something like this would end up at PaP regardless.

Got back to tinkering on this little nugget this past weekend. Since it was still misfiring, I decided to do a compression test to make sure the issue isn't with any of the valves getting jammed. Shockingly, the result was 225-230 PSI on all cylinders. I was a bit taken aback by such high numbers. I then noticed that I had disconnected the valvetronic motor and the eccentric shaft sensor plugs when removing the coils. Wasn't sure if it'd influence the results I reconnected them and redid the test, this time around getting 175-185 PSI on all cylinders. That ruled out compression being the issue. I then moved onto the smoke tester to check for vacuum leaks. Having removed the airbox and throttle body to insert the smoke tester adapter, I discovered a major f**kup, which turned out to be the cause of the backfiring - a vacuum hose from the EVAP valve was left dangling loose, unconnected from the intake manifold. It took a fair bit of force for it to clip in properly, not sure if I had missed it completely or hadn't seated it properly when reinstalling the intake. The throttle body and airbox obscure it pretty well so would have been easy to overlook but silly mistake on my part none the less. I went ahead and did a smoke test anyway, which didn't reveal anything obvious. I then took off the valve cover and rechecked the timing - all perfectly in time still. Got everything reassembled last night and did a quick test start this morning before running off for work - she now idles buttery smooth. Then took her for a quick test run after work - far from a pleasant driving experience as things stand, but at least she's back up and running! The tyres are barely holding air, the brakes are garbage, the steering is vague, the shifter sloppy and the AC compressor will likely grenade itself as soon as I press the button but felt a nice sense of achievement clocking up some 10km along some backroads for the first time in years. Will need a fair bit of love to be put back on the road but hopefully this means she's not destined for the scrapyard just yet. Happy days. It'll definitely need new tyres, and probably the rotors machined at the very least to pass but will book her in for a WoF to see what all she needs to be made roadworthy before throwing any money at it. Hopefully it's nothing major. I'm growing quite fond of this quirky little thing.

Could be a number of things. Might be a random stab in the dark but one possibility is the ignition switch. Had that on my E46 a couple of years ago, would just intermittently not even crank until I cycled the key 4-5 times, became more frequent as time went on. Cleaned it out and has been fine since. Could also just replace it as they're fairly cheap. Haven't checked but fairly certain it'll be a very similar part on the X5, if not completely identical. Worth cleaning out regardless as they can cause a number of weird electrical issues, access should be pretty easy too, just need to remove the bottom cover from the steering column.

I didn't even know clownshoes came with non-M engines... Why would you even bother

https://www.trademe.co.nz/5368550104 What am I missing here? Yeah, it's a clownshoe, which is rare I suppose BUT it's an M52B28 automatic...? LHD, imported in 2020, never registered in NZ and by the sounds of it whoever buys it will have to take it through compliance themselves... All that for $30k!? Is this insane or am I?

You might as well just get an automatic one and get it modified, can't imagine it being too costly. Main reason you wouldn't do it is that they'll require driveshaft hoops if modifying a driveshaft but since you're increasing power by over 50% you will need then anyway?