Cement

Here is my setup which hangs out in the laundry. Just good to highlight the space you need which can be more than expected of you have an enclosure for heat... It's not exactly discrete. I have an Inkbird pid temperature controller to control the 700w element which is in the cage. It's made of 'twinwall' polycarbonate sheet. Once up to temp with the build plate at 110 degrees the heater is actually not needed to maintain about 45 degrees in the box.

I've got the Ender 3 V2 and found it pretty good over the last few years for my project ... certainly an invaluable tool for the modern DIY tinkerer !! If only I had a 3D scanner to go with 🤤 Some key considerations would be: What filaments are you intending on printing with ? I've made upgrades to be able to print ASA for functional parts (engine bar, car interior etc) Is speed necessity or nice to have ? For me its a nice to have, I'm not doing commercial work so it just balances off against my patience Dual or single extrusion ? Depends what you want to print, having a soluble support material say might be an advantage Will you need a heated enclosure ? Basically mandatory for me to print ASA successfully, can make easily but its a cost none the less Will you want external control / monitoring ? I got a Raspberry Pi running Octoprint with a webcam, highly recommend !! What sorts of things will you be printing ? With a $2k budget I'd seriously look at trying to get a printer and 3D scanner Even with the small build volume I have its not been as big a deal as i would have thought. Fairly easy to join multiple prints into a larger for the purposes of mockup. The above may be contingent on the software you have available to mess with the models etc

Looks awesome, I always get so jealous of the non-triangle air bag wheels !! I'm stuck in the single stage airbag dark ages hah. Keep an eye on my interior revamp thread, going to paint my trims once the roof is sorted and I've got some sort of at home spray booth contraptionised 👍

Not familiar with the E30 dampers ... assume its not possible to get onto the smaller with a 6 point socket and the larger with a spanner ? Some penetrant and an over night soak ? Hope the spring is compressed also thats always a good idea 👍

I have successfully removed the lid form the tin can Like anything new, the second side was a lot faster based on changing up the approach: Prepped all spot welds at once Started from the front and worked backward prying gently with a nail puller Using the heavier skin thats attached to the roof itself (adds strength around sunroof), pry up and over rolling towards the middle of the car Used a hardwood wedge to split a few problematic welds and lift the skin enough to grab with the vice grips. These are super useful, doing it again I'd probably make a half dozen longer ones (maybe 200mm) to use since they don't scratch and add a lot of splitting power. Waiting on my Aliexpress belts to use with the finger sander to clean everything up nicely. Can't wait to get the drop cloth out and ensure there are no filings anywhere near the car !! Picture of the tools used included for reference.

Today I did this ... just have not been able to find where the dang sunroof was leaking, pretty sure I've located it now though !! Should have it siliconed up and back on the road in no time 👍 ...

Thanks @Karter16 ... I've not really stopped to reflect on what the hell I'm doing, but with tin snips in hand just now it dawned on me 😂 What a weird thing to be doing haha. Happy to show the 'warts n all' process here, very much a case of it getting wore before it gets better through this phase !! Decided to remove the main part of the roof leaving only the strips at the edges so its more obvious when I've gone deep enough to release each spot weld. The alternative is going deeper than necessary on them so the entire piece can be lifted off in one great movement. Looks a hell of a lot worse but I reckon its the more gentle approach.

I'd say I'm fairly committed now 😁 Removed the sunroof cassette (let me know if you need one !!) and got prepped for making a mess ... don't forget to tape off around the window trims to prevent future rust nuggets getting lodged in there !! Next up it was time to start separating the many many spot welds around the perimeter. I started off using my little spot weld cutter (sprung pin in the middle, like a mini hole saw) but this proved pretty average ... pin rounded off and cuter tries to walk all over the place. In the end the ideal method for the front and rear seams was to: Use die grinder to cut a small track around the edge of the spot Generally thin out the material around the weld Split the skin using a chisel, it basically just shears at the spot weld If not fully separated use the chisel ... like a chisel It goes through the thinned sheet metal easily For the sides I might opt for a better drill, have seen some which look like a brad point wood drill which I might use. Must wait until Tuesday to get a hold of one though

Great call spacing out the stock rims to the desired offset !! Info from willtheyfit.com says i will need 18.4mm in front and 29.7mm at the rear to get a good simulation ... will have a rummage around for some washers / wood / old cans etc over the weekend

Got the glass removed today so I can start drilling out the spot welds this weekend to get the lid off.

So I might be able to pull the trigger on some new rims a lot sooner than anticipated yuuuusssssss !! Had always been set on the Apex ARC-8, it's just such a classic wheel on the E46 🤤 But in basically every image you see online they are on M3's so can have the concave profile and wider fitments and of course just look awesome with the pumped guards. The only option with concavity in the ARC-8 (for non-m) is the 18x9 ET30 but I hear mixed opinions on fitment ... I'm ok to roll the guards somewhat and ideally get 255's in the rear, happy to go with a staggered fitment and get the flatter profile in the front if needs be. Pretty sure staggered would have to be done as the ET30 would be problematic in the front, so front ends up likely a 18x8.5 ET38. Is anybody running a 18x9 ET30 who can share some personal experience ? Or better still is in Auckland so I can take a peek perhaps ? Any other options or recommendations to consider ? The Apex at the new pricing is already top of budget ... they were $2495 when I made my wish list some time ago, now I see are $3820 😭

The speakers that were in there were completely stuffed so I'll not have much of a basis for comparison tbh. The baffles on the factory items were essentially a paste, detached from the cones.

Hmm like a stripper eh, that does have a certain appeal 🤔 Happy to make some adapters no worries ... i did need to enlarge one of the holes somewhat so the design needs a bit of a tweak but i can probably do that before making some more. Assume the 4 hole layout i have used for my Kicker's is standard ? else let me know what you need and i can amend so its spot on. Comes with no refunds or guarantees naturally, tell me what you think is fair ?

So I've got a few things going on that are related, and thought I would start a new thread to capture them. Changing out the saggy cloth door cards to leather items Changing the grey interior pillars and roof liner etc to grey / black Making the rear parcel tray black again Installing a new Alpine single DIN head unit in BMW centre mounted bracket Installing new Kicker KS series speakers all around (just front and rear in stock locations) Painting the wood trims to something more fancy Maybe getting some fancy pants pedals from Pedal Haus Installing gauge cluster bezels to add a little pizazz Might make a new rev gauge backing so I get to the engines actual redline Carbon roof which replaces the steel with sunroof model (this one has its own thread) So that all being said here are some things done so far. Just getting the speakers mounted up, made some 3D printed adapters from ASA (a bit like ABS).

They might counter your choice with a choice of their own ... like how you'd like your face rearranged or similar 😖 A friend had her expensive paddle stolen from a club recently, found it on FB market place complete with her name on the label still ... negotiated a low price for it and got it back on the basis its cheaper than the $700 odd for a new one 😕 Sucks badly.

Nice, that's a good price for the trims I'll probably go and spend the same getting sorted with equipment and paint to do mine now haha ... and i'll not know what colour to do them naturally. Thanks for the adhesive link !! Will see if I can source some of the tube goo.

One should feel very curious indeed ... same city ?

Hah that's rad, can you recall the type of mounting tape it was? I'm about to paint my wood trim also, guess you sold the black cube trims@Harper

I have a case of the dreaded saggy felt which has separated from the door entrance rubber on my E46 coupe Only thing that makes me more sad is looking at the price of new ones !! Anybody successfully refitted them and have had them hold up for a few years or more ? I ordered the OEM rubber goo (assume just contact adhesive ?) but its no longer available. Keen to hear of specific successful product / process.

Ahhh i think it might just be a mis-communication. Probably saving for the Virgin Galactic flight I reckon, different space etc

Have not seen it in the flesh yet but its out of the mold and looking good

Coincidentally I'm making some adapters for my E46 at the moment to install new front components via 3D print. Such a great piece of tech for such things !!!

All the fuel !! Feels weird having all those wires inside ya gas tank right hah

Just chucking my 2c into this one ... really want(ed) the modern Blaupunkt https://blaupunkt.com/product/frankfurt-rcm-82-dab/ as I only have the single DIN space. It's just so expensive though I could not justify it ultimately 😕 I did read a thread some place else that described modern headunits as looking like a 'robots dildo' which was a good lol Anyhooo I went with the Alpine mechless UTE-73EBT as the least terrible looking option. Have the centre mount kit on the way from BMW. Another option that is interesting is the JVC which is single DIN and has a screen for reverse camera, which is fairly unique. https://nz.jvc.com/car/audio_receivers/kd_x560bt/ Looking forward to seeing the finished result, jealous getting the car play / android auto compatibility !!

Got the resin infused today !! There were a couple of microscopic leaks identified during the infusion process which were sealed with mastic, crossing fingers there is no air against the mold side.