Harper

You could try your luck just swapping the head gasket out. Just because the cars overheated and the head gasket has failed, doesn't necessarily mean the engine needs to be replaced.

245/40 if you have the 8.5" rear

I think quite a lot of people think they can do a manual conversion and realise they have bitten off more than they can chew when they get to the finishing details. Coding, wiring etc. Just picked up a 130i in the same situation that I'm going through the process of finishing the coding, and tidying it up. I wonder if that's what happened with this car.

OCDetailing, @CSET

That M3 is pretty sad too. ~100K km, 2005, factory manual. Nice spec too. Very nice car. Definitely going to be some interest in it even if it's just for parts.

I would bet on the opposite. Clusters fail, the displays get dead pixels, the stalks on them are delicate and break, the needles fade and start to look like trash etc. SMG clusters are usually cheaper and more available, probably just had one swapped in. The vin decoders are usually accurate for E46 M3 unlike the non-m with regards to what trans because SMG doesn't show up as manual or automatic, it shows up as option "S793 Sequential Gearbox M Drivelogic" and they don't usually get specific options wrong. This is almost certainly a factory manual unless the vins wrong.

The usual vin decoders suggest it is a factory manual, not optioned with S793. Just looks like the cluster has been swapped out for an SMG one at some point.

Sorry mate my bad keep missing the messages. Replied now.

Yeah or course, which is why I priced mine lower despite being better condition Its an indication. I've had 4 people reach out to me in the 24 hrs I've had them listed so I think the price is close-ish, probably just a little high. Open to offers of course, otherwise I'll just hang on to them 😁

Possibly, I could be wrong. At $200 I'd just keep it though It only came in msport cars, common in sedans but not many msport coupes with this trim, let alone many msport coupes being parted these days at all, the trims are unique to the coupe. Another price example, a very beat convertible set (different rear armrests) for 500nzd. https://www.ebay.com/itm/285117312824?chn=ps&mkevt=1&mkcid=28 Another coupe set in average condition on a forum recently for 775nzd https://nam3forum.com/forums/forum/classifieds/members-parts-for-sale-wtb/e46/149544-e46-coupe-zhp-interior-black-cube-aluminum-trim-set

Dammit I have them on trademe for 650. https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/car-parts-accessories/bmw/interior/listing/3975478981?bof=Jl2KuC1d Felt fair looking at other values and NZ being a smaller market for this kind of stuff and any less than that and it would have really hurt to let them go since part of me still wants them in my car.

I've had these for a little while and have gone back and forth a hundred times on whether I want to put them in my car or not. Starting to think I should just sell them since I think I prefer the look of the standard M3 titan colour trim. My understanding is they are pretty rare in coupe configuration, and these ones are in really good condition. There are pretty much no scratches on the aluminium parts and the undersides have some wear but are decent. This is a complete set, front and rear door handles, dash trim, and gear surround. I also have the elbow pads and the matte black blanking plate. I don't really know what they are worth. There is a set on ebay in similar condition to these but not including the lower sections or elbow pads for $930 NZD https://www.ebay.com/itm/275604628227?hash=item402b50e303:g:0RsAAOSwQAFjtUgr&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAA4ILR5Zugc8zSFN326gNF4Bim6NAfMx3hjWfP3GHNdNIKq68CYJBwHmALVMw6zn2ViNRKoClGgIOvowMaFh1bFAK4C0Q5iwDeR%2B%2B8%2B7Pck2gCoj0xYKaEYs%2F7C8srPHBcerR2R84BG5jPruWux5I8MxGOzfR1bf5pM3uxt%2FnT7EZuMklY2D7Nss8Jd0UvLcr0ouIAVT1MFatuBEaFnelBODSzckeGf%2FKZnRaQLflObusK1nvMkD%2Bx31q1bSIFiLnJ9gMtbTP1mNUApyz9uhzIA3lohVcKqbIoRjQTezepe%2B22|tkp%3ABk9SR7Cbt7G_YQ Unlikely to be worth that much here but if anyone's interested make me an offer. If they aren't worth much I'll just hang onto them.

I'm sort of in the market for one of these. If it wasn't Jerez Black id be really thinking about it.

In a coupe you will almost certainly have to get it certed without the rear seat. The problems you run into is that the gap between the bucket seat and the B pillar has to be more than 300mm which it almost never is. My pole position ABE's on factory sedan sliders with Brey Krause brackets are barely 300mm if you are generous with the measurement. I don't know of a single aftermarket slider that has anywhere close to the same amount of travel as the factory sliders. The other issue is that even if you meet all those requirements if there is a seatbelt pass through as there is on pole positions, then the seatbelt obstructs the entrance to the back seat and would likely be deemed unreasonably difficult to get in and out. In addition to that you need to have a way to release the seats from the back seats which would need to be made custom, most sliders/brackets don't have that functionality. I think it might be possible to get it certed with the right seat (perhaps cobra nogaros since they don't have a seatbelt passthrough) on the right brackets such that there is a sufficient gap but when I talked to NZTA they pretty much told me it would come down the discretion of the certifier even then as to whether it was unreasonably difficult to get in or out of the backseat in an emergency. I was prepared to run the bucket seats with no cert in my E46 but my car actually had a pre-existing cert for bucket seats that were legal but doesn't specify so it still passes WOFs.

One of the sexiest OEM wheels imo, I love mine

I've been thinking of doing both solid subframe mounts and monoball rtabs as well next time I drop the subframe, glad to know they are worth while. I'll go with CMP for both since I'm lowered and have camber plates. Love the colour of this, wish there were estoril m3s in nz.

Did it myself, loads of guides if you search for it. Takes a few minutes in NCSexpert and free, no cert required. Just need a laptop, K+DCAN cable and INPA/NCSexpert

Christmas came early Already have a CSL airbox on my car but its the old V1 Geoff Steel box, so decided to bite the bullet and get the karbonius. The newer Geoff Steel box is okay and fine functionally but I wanted the best which seems to be karb by a long shot, snorkel piece is still on the way, won't arrive until next year. Cannot believe the quality of this thing. Everyone says they are perfect but photos don't do them justice, they are insane. Can't find a single imperfection in the weave or clear coat. Feels like it doesn't even belong on my old M3, looks like it belongs on a Ferrari with the quality of the carbon. Not a cheap exercise though... Ouch. Car got a much needed wash today too, still cleans up okay. Plans for the car next year as of now are: Brake upgrade - leaning towards 996 brakes all round, mostly cause I will enjoy the project of rebuilding them/painting them etc Diff rebuild - Racing diffs has an interesting option which replaces the clutches and has a preload bevel washer to make the diff behave more like a mechanical diff and I've never rebuilt a diff so I think it would be fun. Solid subframe bushings - I'd do this as the same time while the rear subframe is down. CMP auto engineering out of Aus have nicely made solid bushings that correct the roll center from the car being lower, at the same time would do a bit of a rear end bushing refresh, replace all ball joints and rubber. Considering getting a set of CMP's monoball RTA bushes as well. MK60 ABS conversion - This is pretty unlikely to happen since it's a big job and perhaps beyond my skillset with the amount of wiring involved but it's something I'd like to eventually tackle.

Bypass has to be certed in NZ I believe. The occupancy sensor light can just be coded out, no bypass needed. That's what I have on my M3 since my bucket seats don't have an occupancy sensor.

Anyone know a shop that will let me hire out their dyno. Planning to have my M3 remote tuned by one of the well regarded E46 M3 tuners but need a dyno to use. Called around a couple of the shops like torque performance but they are not keen on letting me use the dyno unless they are the ones tuning it which is fair enough but I'd rather have someone with specific experience with the S54 doing it. Any reccomendations?

Pretty set on an E90, I way prefer the shape and look of the sedan to the coupe. Probably wouldn't even consider a coupe since the E46 kind of already fills that niche. I'm also in no rush to buy but if the right car came up I would snag it.

Probably would count those out, not cause they aren't nice colours, I actually love silver and like the look of Silverstone. But mainly since I already have my silver E46 M3 which is staying, would be nice to have something more colorful as well. Probably a little too soon for me to buy just yet anyway otherwise I'd be seriously considering the interlagos one on trademe atm, just trying to get an idea of how many are floating around.

Quietly hunting for an E90 M3 at the moment, curious how many there are that aren't silver, white or black. Additional side note, are there any in NZ with speed cloth interior? I don't think I've ever seen one. There's a few for sale at the moment that interest me, notably the Melbourne red which I'm pretty sure is the only red 4dr in nz (although I'm not a huge red car guy either) and the interlagos one. I'd consider either DCT or manual but probably prefer DCT.

There was almost never a scenario where this warranty made sense for us in NZ. Shipping whatever you wanted the warranty on back to the states was usually more expensive than the item itself in almost every scenario.

Mostly boring stuff recently. But might as well add it to the log. Previously the car had a UUC evo3 short shifter. I hated it 90% of the time because the shift effort was way too high and made the gearbox feel like a pig to drive especially when cold. But admittedly it was super nice when driving the car closer to the limit since a lot of the resistance between gears disappears and you get a nice tactile short throw. Ultimately I opted to return to a fully OEM setup. I thought about going with the AS SSK with a OEM throw and just use their redesigned linkage but that would have cost something like $700 once shipped and everything and OEM was less than half that via Schmiedmann. At the same time replaced every bushing and wear part in the linkage. What a huge upgrade. The throw feels like a perfect length, shift effort is perfect. Everyone who complains that these shifters are sloppy are wrong, the bushings are probably just knackered. The gear change is super tactile and I have zero complaints, other than the fact that the install is a nightmare and took me something ridiculous like 5-6 hours. Other job I finally crossed off the list was getting a second key. Since getting the car I have only had a single manual key. First tried through BMW but apparently they no longer stock remote keys for the E46 so I went via ebay and got a shell incl transponder and chip for $20. Once it got here I quickly realised that it wouldn't work since my car is a jap import with the dreaded IR key. I remember the IR on my old E46 sedan was horrible so I wasn't going to have that on this car and decided I would convert it to RF. Picked up a 433mhz FZV antenna from a scrap car for 10 dollars with the connector needed and bought some additional wire to run to the GM5/fuse box. Old Unit: New unit: Ran the new wire through to the GM5 and fusebox and tapped into the relevant lines. Wiring isn't really my thing but I tried to make it as tidy as possible and run it with all the existing loom. Photo below was just how I had it set up while I was testing to make sure I had the right wires, I did tidy it up after. I did get stuck here for a couple hours when I couldn't get the key to pair but realised after banging my head against the wall that I had put one of the fuses in the wrong place so none of the central locking system was working at all. As soon as I put that fuse back it paired up no problem and the key was remotely locking/unlocking. Had the key cut locally and had Tom code it to the EWS. All in, I realised the car was IR on Saturday and by Monday I had a fully functional key so it is a pretty easy conversion and well worth it. Not to mention the key itself was $20 from ebay, AFZ antenna $10, wiring $10, and key cutting was $40. Grand total of $80 when the original quote from BMW that I got a year ago was $5XX or so. That last thing I've been doing recently is swapping the cheap mtexture door cards onto a clean set of vinyls. The originals were in rough condition with rips and scuffs all over them. They were probably repairable but I don't have a vinyl person I trust to do them properly and coupe doorcards are still relatively available. Found a good condition set from Brent at BM World which I'm using as donors. First OEM insert removed: And here it is in place on the new donor vinyl section: Super time consuming drilling out the plastic welds and fixing the panel in place but easy enough and I'm happy with the results. These are in good enough condition that I'll probably end up using them instead of the ones in my car.