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Not really much going on of late apart from concentrating on the headers ... letting the kids and workmates play with the printed parts is a great way to stress test everything Have refined things a little and am now stock piling like a North Korean dictator. I have enough to now to go and make a start in the car itself ... exciting times.

So the blue pool vacuum hose turned out to be more useful as a play thing for the kids than to model up my new headers, just not flexible enough when you actually get it in place etc. All this time I had been trying to model the headers nicely at low cost but it seems those desires are mutually exclusive !! What I really wanted to use originally was the modelling kits from Ice Engine Works (https://www.icengineworks.com/) but they are just so dang expensive for a one off 😕 Take a look at their site if you have no idea what I'm babbling about and its instantly visible what an awesome approach and system this is where you want to know exactly how your headers will be built, the length and clearances etc. I figured I could design and 3D print my own version along the same concept and which match the locally available mandrel bend radius's (the US based ice kit centre line radius bends are not available here). With the price of 3D printers now it will be way cheaper, hopefully a good result and can also then use it for prototyping other items and making odd widgets as needed Onto some pics of where things are at ... made a bunch of prototypes and (semi) perfected some settings that give a nice result. This is how they will clip together, will be various length straight sections along with bend segments (doing 30 degree and 80mm CLR at the mo). The final prototype which seems to work pretty well and looks fairly good to boot !! Printer is hard at work while I sleep making 7 more bends ... hoping it does not look like a spaghetti blob monster when I wake up

Registering my interest to see how you get on as I need to get my heat shields done also. I can get away with soda blast also but that CO2 sure looks completely magical on the YouTube !!!

Some really fun work lately with basic assembly of some major pieces to get things looking like a car again. Installed the flywheel and clutch, funnily enough these were one of the first things purchased almost a year ago now !! Pulled the front struts apart to give everything a good clean and install new bump stops / dust boots. Unfortunately the left side is completely rooted but will get the car mobile for the time being, will not go through certification and WOF however so will likely have to do something suspension wise later on. Lower control arms with new Powerflex bushes installed, 330 knuckles and guard liners cleaned / painted along with the wheel wells. Just a fun shot of the under body with new oil pan installed. The next and probably most involved part of the build has slowly begun ... making the headers !! Designed up the flanges and had them laser cut however will probably change approach here and go with completely individual tubes / mini flanges to allow them to be 'threaded' into position into the car and fixed into a slip joint collector ... or something Got some pool vacuum hose I will be using to mock things up roughly, will probably get a bunch of profiles laser cut at the proposed mandrel bend radius to support the pool hose in place then fill with some sort of expanding rigid foam. Looking pretty cool now, side skirts back on ... FINALLY installed the front EBC rotors !!! Could not help myself mocking up the interior a little bit and I'm loving the low key look it should have !!

Looks awesome, so shiny !! I'm also kinda curious about the anal cosmetics but I think I'm going to leave that one 🤣

Hmmm i tried to search this up to see if it was possible but could not find anybody outlining it. When i looked it seemed the aluminium brace needed bolt holes in the body i don't have ... looked like it had two bolts on the body next to the LCA bush ? Will try and find some more detailed pics online.

I'm fitting my E46 triangle front subframe brace back on and wondering where the 'circlip washers' are located (link below to see the washer I'm talking about). On realoem it looks like they go between the car body and the brace, and I can see witness marks on the body that supports this theory ... however it just seems a bit odd ? Makes more sense if they are designed to grip onto both parts and keep the brace stationary perhaps ? Can't find any reference to installing the brace in the Bently service manual I have either 😕 Would be great to have a proper procedure to follow as I assume the car should be leveled out and sitting perfectly square if the brace is unable to move once installed. Anyhoo ... just looking for some guidance from somebody who has experience with these things. https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw-retaining-ring-e46-31106757145

We have heard the people, and we have listened ... behold !!! The next eagerly anticipated update Worked up a prototype MDF dry sump mount after shooting some beams again to work out the relative hole positions. While waiting for some laser cutting (header flanges and dry sump oil scraper) I got in and cleaned the front wheel wells and got a coat of black 2k paint on them. Also cleaned and coated the guard liners with trim black. Got the Sikky Manufacturing slim steering linkage in place which should make life easier when it comes time to make the headers. Got the laser cut oil scraper installed and checked for interference before making up the viton o-ring seal, much easier than I thought it would be ... the o-ring cord stayed put without any vasoline or other goo. I lost the use of my borrowed torque wrench so had to cast the mind back to my physics classes and improvise with a fish scale and 3/8" power bar I think its more accurate to be fair !! After my careful calibration check of the scales of course. Received the Holden Astra electric power steering pump finally so will give it a clean at some point soon and put it aside for a few months. Milestone event !!! Oil pan installed for good with my ghetto torque wrench to boot. Now to shorten the ATI drive mandrel for the dry sump pulley, managed to chop off all of the 3/8" threaded hole also so I could convert to M10. The drop saw got the job done pretty well ... in hind sight i should have done it differently to make things a little less sketchy process wise. Good result with the mandrel chopped down to the right length and tapped. That brings us up to current with the pump fitted using the mk1 pump mount ... could probably be used for first start but I'll make up something better shortly. Great that the belt length works out, total stroke of luck !! Might still look to install a tensioner. Also got some cooling system gaskets so have reinstalled the rear water outlet casting and will be blanking off a few bits shortly, nothing too sexy to report there. Hopefully tomorrow will get the flywheel, clutch and trans on so we're ready to go back into the car for hopefully the final time !! Just waiting on the heater box right angle fittings.

Does anyone know if these style fittings will connect reliably to the E46 (and probably other) heater box inlet / outlet ? I need to get a right angle ASAP after the heater core to clear my engine and these fit the bill nicely ... if they work !! https://www.summitracing.com/parts/rnb-800-277 I'm not even sure what to call them ... obviously some flavour of quick release fitting which I've seen in use on the radiator from memory.

No posts for a little while as have just been chipping away in the background and making plans for things needed to mount the engine for the (hopefully) final time ... heater lines, wire routing, sealing the cabin blower air intake etc. I did pull the engine again and have fitted the shifter relocation kit finally so I can make car noises and change gears At the same time I shortened the dust cap so the Spicer 1350 slip yoke can fit without fouling. Onto the VERY exciting developments this week ... received the dry sump housing and rebuild kit needed to change mounting from right to left. On the same day the Sikky Manufacturing slim steering linkage arrived. Dry sump is fully stripped and now ready to reassemble with the new housing. By far the most exciting thing to happen was the arrival of the dry sump oil pan which I designed and had made via https://hubs.com ... looks FANTASTIC, so stoked. Lets hope it fits up alright Will need to finalise the design of the oil scraper plate before it can be mounted up permanently.

Got the required imperial hardware needed to get the dry sump pump apart today ... all looks to be in good order. The new housing to switch to a left side mount is almost on the way from the states along with a new seal / bearing kit. Pretty impressed with the engineering and techniques used to make the pump !! Created the required clearance for the shifter relocation ... just needs a couple small tweaks and some epoxy primer which can wait until the engine is removed. That shaft will need to be cut down some what

Mounted up the Serial Nine CD999 shifter relocation kit and its going to work out pretty good ... just need to en-biggen the hole slightly for the main boss to stick through. This kit has an adapter for the shifter shaft so you can position it fore or aft of the pin shown in the image.

Fuel pump wiring now complete, pretty happy with how it turned out. Went for a 22A solid state relay for reliability and 12 gauge wire for the hot side to mate up with the 20A fuse. Finally got to the cavity wax application in the areas that were opened up and ground / welded etc. Got the rear interior pretty much all back in and its looking great ... can't quite finish as I want to leave the rear bumper off for now while more work happens some time down the track (exhaust mainly). Had an Amazon voucher from work so turned that into a nice set of crimping tools (Deutsch and others for when attention turns to the wiring department) and Torx Plus bits so I can assemble the ATI super damper finally (yea, Torx Plus is a thing ... who knew !!). Also got my centre console triple gauge mount all the way from Lithuania !!

Some odd jobs taking place lately: Hit the button to get the oil pan manufactured, ETA 4 weeks Completed the wiring under the back seat, just need to mount and wire the fuel pump relay in the boot Cleaned the unfortunate mold off the back seat from being under the house 😕 Installed the new ATI super damper Next up I'll be concentrating on getting all of the fuel wiring done plus spraying cavity wax into all the locations welded so I can start reinstalling the back seats / boot interior fully !!

Ya it came up pretty well !! I used Septone Ali Brite from Super Cheap with water blasting before and after application... its acid based so need to be a little careful what it goes on. https://www.supercheapauto.co.nz/p/septone-septone-ali-brite-aluminium-cleaner-1-litre/1747.html

Completed the tear down and replacement of the required items. Removal of internal oil pump looks to be incredibly easy and essentially just leaving it out !! Lucky. There was a damaged gasket under one of the notorious VQ oil galleries, so definitely a good decision to do this work now !! Also two of the original screws were loose, so again great to fix while its all opened up. Gave the front cover a nice acid clean and water blast so it looks spanky now. Final re-assembly still to come then can validate the last items before having the oil pan manufactured.

I used these chaps to get my gearbox from the US ... found them really good to deal with. https://extremeglobal.co.nz/

Big parts delivery days this week !!! Stoked to get this lot as it unblocks the next few phases of work Highlights are the Serial Nine shifter relocation kit, the beefy slip yoke (can get the drive shaft finished) and ATI damper so I can work on mounting up the dry sump pump. Other items are for fixing a common issue on the VQ (oil gallery gasket failure), completing the fuel pump wiring and doing general service pieces while the front cover is off. Front cover removed from the engine to complete the oil gallery gasket repairs, general service of items (water pump, gaskets, o-rings, thermostat etc). This is also the time to look at the internal oil pump and work out what needs to happen to it for conversion to the dry sump pump. Had some expert input from a friend of mine on the oil pan design and have reworked it significantly to move the three scavenge ports to the right side of the motor below an oil scraper plate. Only one close fitment to validate in the car (pressure port near steering rack) then can do final checks and get it made !!

I used to have a side hustle in boring out throttle bodies many years ago, you need quite a good seal on the butterfly to avoid leaks. I had a little angled jig and would wire cut them at my work. The I changed job and would turn them on an angled jig in the lathe instead.

That could be anyone !? Oh hang on, only one guy that stupid around here 🤣

Cool car, nice interior ... shame about the auto 😕

Cheers, trying to get anything I have to deal with tidied up and refreshed on the way through ... turns out thats basically everything 🤣 Funny you mention the fuel pump as just today I got the new AEM filter installed and worked out where I will run the new fuel lines (Gates Barricade). This included mounting the fuel pressure regulator in the engine bay as I am converting the VQ to run a return system as per the BMW and not returnless like the Nissan. Got some colour matched paint on the inside of the boot where I've patched up the access holes for the top side reinforcing. Slowly moving towards getting the interior back in !!

Doing a 3/4 scale of your V8 with a VQ37 into E46

As the title says I'm looking for recommendations on where custom sway bars can be made to a high standard. I need an E46 front made with some tweaks to suit my swap project (unfortunately !!). Would be great to get a recommendation rather than lucky dipping it. I'm in Auckland so local would be preferred but anywhere for the right skills / quality is also fine.

I did the garage at our previous house, same sort of deal as whats already been discussed ... installed some building paper within each timber cavity, insulated and lined with 12mm ply set the ply thickness off the concrete. Two coats of polyurethane and enjoy. To get the official information on retrofitting insulation you can refer to this standard ... speaking from an occupied / house perspective you're supposed to get a consent for insulating external walls. Unsure of the in's and out's of a non-occupied building. Just go for it: https://tenancy.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/Tenancy/NZS-42462016-Energy-efficiency-Installing-bulk-thermal-insulation-in-residential-buildings.pdf