Harper

The sunglass tray is about 85NZD plus shipping. It's the bottom section that runs at a higher price. Anywhere between 160 - 290NZD. Going off prices from schmiedmann as they seem to be the cheapest for RHD specific parts.

I'm sure it would sell pretty quick if listed on trademe

I refinished my centre console rather than replacing because they are a little pricey. Depends on if you have an armrest or not as well, different part#. The sunglass tray and switch centre piece are also pretty expensive. I had forever put it off because I couldn't imagine it would be worth the $300 or so it costs. It took pulling mine out and seeing it had been destroyed anyway to convince me I had to buy new ones. However, after buying them I have to say it was well worth. Freshens up the interior a lot if yours are worn considering they are front and centre. Be careful ordering for the switch centre though, there are a few different part#'s depending on how your car was specced. Nav/smoker package/cd changer etc. Very similar to what I'm doing. The angel eyes are a little too hotboy 2000's look for me they will be coming out. Window trims are a common failing point on these. Most of them I've seen have just been cooked and start to crack and turn to dust. I have all the parts for mine to replace them, but the job itself is a huge ballache so I'm just waiting for a dull weekend to tackle it.

Mmm new parts.. New center console switch compartment and sunglass tray, new door sills (clips on mine were 90% broken), new headlight lenses, and a bunch of other service bits and clips. Unfortunately the seat brackets were further delayed. Now pushed back to early October. The finish on the center console stuff is so soft that if you breathe on it, it will scratch. But admittedly, it does look great when it's brand new. My old piece for reference, you can see where someone has previously hacked it in half and had siliconed the sunglass tray on.. Yikes Really looking forward to level 3. Will finally be able to pick up the remainder of the interior and get it off to go get retrimmed. Getting tired of the throwaway leather front seats that are in it. By the time that's done I hope to have the seat brackets and everything can go in. The interior will be more or less 'completed' and I'll have a swap out set of OEM Mtexture front seats to clingwrap and leave in storage... Car got a much needed wash today as well.

E46. Carry over the flared arches, front end conversion. S54 with carbon airbox. Screw an M3 touring, that's what I want.

I'm still waiting for someone to build an M3 compact.

https://www.repco.co.nz/en/oils-fluids/engine-oils-fluids/engine-oil/castrol-edge-synthetic-10w-60-engine-oil-5l-3412396/p/A1304624 This and only this pretty much. Occasionally goes on sale every now and then so I just grab a few bottles each time.

I had a silver 4 door 325i msport with the same alcantara interior seen in this red one. That thing was the tits for a daily rag about, I miss it. Wish they did an M3 version of that interior.

I want one.

Thanks Tom, good to know. With what seats? and how upright did you have them set in the BK mounts? I can imagine the look you'd get from the certifier as the seat very slowly creeps forward on the power sliders would be quite comical. Can't imagine that would pass given the requirement is intended to make exit easy for rear passengers in case of emergency. A little bit unrelated, but do you know if the sedan sliders have a further travel than the coupe sliders? I've seen it suggested that they do (for more rear passenger leg space?) but haven't seen it shown anywhere. I did ask this over the phone this morning and the person I spoke to did not mention this. I asked if I could modify the existing release mechanism to have another lever at the back which was accessible and he said yes. Like you say, could be up to the interpretation of the certifier (much like the seat belt obstruction clause). Again, in all likelihood it's probably all a bit beside the point because the cert likely wouldn't pass due to the seat belt routing anyway. Maybe if I'd got cobra nogaros instead there would be a chance 🙄

Ha yep, such is the price for not checking all the rules before jumping in. Though I'm not sure knowing in advance would have stopped me anyway 😁

Called LVVTA and they were more helpful than I expected. It does not matter whether the seat slides or tilts. As long as the seat can move forward far enough to allow for 300mm space. As Dave said earlier, there does need to be a lever that is accessable to the rear passenger. This would be easy to make. However, what will more likely cause my setup to need the rear seat 'removed' is the seatbelt routing. Because the seat belt will be running diagonally across the aisle, and that is not allowed if it unreasonably hinders access. The guy I spoke to on the phone said it will basically come down to the certifier whether it's too much of a pain to get in and out or not.

Yep it will be close if it doesn't clear. Photo below is of someone with a similar setup (same sliders, but Cobra Nogaros which have similar dimensions to my recaros). By eye, and rough measurements using the door sill as a reference I would say that is 30cm but time will tell... Like I say, worst case, I won't lose sleep over having illegal backseats. For reference as well, here is a clip of the CSL tilt function. Would be disappointing if the latter is allowed and the above isn't.

@M3AN Below C in that document it states: "NOTE: A seat that tilts forward as referred to in 2.3(9)(c) needs to provide adequate space to allow reasonable access for the type of vehicle. If access is for more than one row of seating or the seats are intended for regular use, then the space provided needs to meet 2.3(9)(b) and be 300 mm wide over the majority of the height" So B still applies. As for adding another lever, again I'm not sure how it would differ from the CSL tilt (especially if as you say it unlocks the slide mechanism). In terms of lever position LVVTA says it must both: "(a) be positioned on the side of the seat nearest the adjacent door; and (b) be within easy reach, and be able to be easily operated by any person relying on the control to assist in exiting the vehicle." It can be on the side but saying the BK handle is 'within easy reach' is definitely pushing it.

@M3ANThis could be the case. Although it would be a bit strange. The factory CSL seats are not 300mm from the B-pillar until you use the tilt lever. If the same could be achieved by sliding the seat forward it would seem strange for that to not be effectively the same. In other words, I can't see why the rationale for the tilt on the CSL to be allowed but not a slide, when ultimately the purpose is to let someone in or out of the rear seat. The way the seat moves to achieve that seems irrelevant. Not to mention there is probably never a scenario where a bucket seat would be >300mm from the aisle in it's furthest back position, making the qualification pointless. You do have a good point about the lever being accessible from the back. It's possible the BK handles are not, but this could be fairly easily modified to have an additional lever coming out the back underneath the seat. Worst case I will get it certed for the rear seat removed, and have some illegal back seats 😁

Wrecked and written off. Bought by Ray and had the interior swapped into what would be your LSB M3. I almost bought the interior when it was for sale but I was too slow

@M3_Power I did check this prior to buying the seats. I could be wrong and it might be outdated but on the LVVTA info sheet it says: "A low volume vehicle that has a permanent or fixed roof structure and more than one row of seats, must incorporate a ready means of entry and exit, by the most direct path practicable, for all rear seat passengers by having either: (a) one or more doors adjacent to each row of seating; or (b) an aisle space of a width of not less than 300 mm from each row of seating to one or more doors; or (c) one or more seats within each row of seating, other than the rear-most seating row, that folds or tilts forward sufficiently to enable ease of entry and exit." https://www.lvvta.org.nz/documents/standards/LVVTA_STD_Seats_&_Seat_Anchorages.pdf [page 19, 2.3(9)] Meaning as long as the seats adhere to one of those qualifications it should be legal. With the breykrause brackets it should meet (b) with the seat all the way forward on the factory sliders and the seat sufficiently upright.

It's true that the PS4S's run a little wide, but I don't think the difference would be so significant that you should downsize from the OE tyre size. Most of the increased width is right at where the tyre meets the rim (Michelin call it a rim protector or something). It would probably be fine.

@M3ANIt doesn't wear nicely for sure. Unfortunately I'm a sucker for alcantara...

Bit of an update: My new dash trim arrived today. The paint I used on the handles is pretty much perfect. I don't think you could easily tell my homemade spray painted handles from brand new OEM ones judging by the finish on the new pieces. Honestly much better than I could have hoped for. Got a bit carried away and ended up ordering a brand new centre console switch centre (part that is removed in the third pic). I did pull it out with the intention of refinishing it the same way I did the underside of the door handles. It was in much worse shape though. Really scratched up and sticky. However once getting it out it was clear that a previous owner had hacked it up and it was held together with silicone anyway, probably for an aftermarket head unit or something. $300 later and a brand new one is coming. Ouch. Should make everything feel a bit fresher though. Once the seats are in, all that's really left on the interior is an alcantara wheel and new A and C pillars (sagging), then I'll have a breather for a while. The following all happened prior to the above and is much less interesting but I thought I might as well do a photo dump and that way it's documented. Best thing about lockdown so far has been ticking off all the sh*t jobs I didn't want to touch, nothing very exciting (hopefully that is to come in the next few weeks). Biggest one being painting the CMP subframe reinforcement bar. Was terrified of getting overspray somewhere that mattered or it looking rubbish so my boot was left stripped out for weeks. Finally got to it last week. Basically spent a whole day just turning the interior into a spray booth, paranoid about overspray. I had already previously stripped the spare wheel well down to bare metal as a previous owner at some point, not the person I bought the car from, had fiberglassed a subwoofer in and there was a bunch of leftover fiberglass stuck to the boot floor. Fool. Primer then paint went on. Just used the titanium silver body colour. Goal was never really to make it perfect. Just improve it. The CMP stuff is never going to look super OEM so as long as it looks decent then I can live with it. It is in the boot after all. The paint came up really good. Finish was nice enough given I couldn't clean or sand the surface perfectly. Next was the miserable job of cutting the carpets to size. Climbed in and out of the boot countless times and going back and removing slightly more. Came up with an okay enough fit I think. The board that goes underneath the carpets was a bit trickier because it had to be cut with a jigsaw and fit around the tube sections on the main beam. I managed to get it close enough but not perfect. My jigsaw skills are a 5/10 at best. If I was really smart I would have left the centre section slightly longer and it would have tucked under the beam nicely. I'll know for next time... Didn't like the exposed silver between the bars either so I made some templates out of cardboard and cut some sections to fit from a donor boot floor carpet I had. Everything went back in with brand new clips. Once the carpet was in with my new OEM trunk mat it looks about as close to factory as I'm going to get. Only sign of it is a hump in the floor, and when you pull back the carpets it's not too ugly. Stoked.

@leichtbauThat is definitely a compromise with the fixed back seats. I will be running brey krause brackets (when they eventually arrive!!) on factory manual sliders so they can slide all the way forward and have much better travel than most aftermarket sliders. This means the backseats are 'accessible' but pretty much emergency only. Getting into the back will be made more difficult by the seatbelt routing with the PP's as well. The rear seats will remain in my car, even if only for looks. Once all the mtexture bits are in I think the rear seats look really good, hopefully those are the first thing to be done post lockdown. There are other options like the Cobra Nogaro which doesn't have a cutout for the seatbelt and a lower cut thigh bolster (much like the CSL seats). The nogaros are arguably a better street seat but tbh I just prefer the shape of the recaros and I think they look a bit more OEM. The CSL does have a tilt mechanism, but from what I have heard it doesn't make all that much of a difference. IIRC, the CSL seats are a modified pole position but in reality they are a totally different design with only the very basic shape carried over. The ultimate seat for me would be a CSL seat trimmed up how I want it but considering Tom's set is for sale for $25k it's probably a no go... In the end I opted for the recaros even given the compromises. I have never found the reclinable seats like the recaro sportsters very comfortable or supportive and the cost difference is pretty huge. I also essentially never take more than one passenger in the m3. And I chose them over the nogaros because they look better and a bit more OEM. My understanding is the stock recaro PP was what was used in the strassenversion GTR M3's, or at least that's what I'll tell myself every time I have to squeeze past them into the backseat.

@AutoglymI likely won't have any leftover. It is fairly available but pricey. If you want the reproduction fabric by ASC (which is as far as I can tell indistinguishable from the OE fabric), made with the same alcantara perforated the same way, same cloth base layer etc (https://www.ascfabrics.com/product-page/mtexture). However, the OE stuff is still available from some places at a slightly higher price (part # is 51922698028, sold by the meter I believe.) although it is all old stock so not quite as fresh as brand new stuff. With that being said, I would be cautious only replacing the bases for instance. You would probably want to do the whole seat, if not both front seats. The reason being that the alcantara goes quite gray over time from UV and the colour difference in the new stuff would be obvious. From memory yours was in pretty good shape so it might be a decent match, worth getting a sample though. It came out of the car seen in this video at about 120,000k when it was binned :

The designated grocery getter. Need to add some OEM facelift tail lights to the 'to do' list.

This kind of stuff is best bought from somewhere like FCPEuro.

Oh for sure. The PO was similarly obsessive over this car, and his enthusiasm for it was half the reason I chose it over others for sale at the time. All comes down to taste mostly. I used the car as I bought it for over a year and loved it, our tastes align 99%. PO was also a photographer by trade, hence the nice photos.