Cement

Well I am yet to sort out my gauge bezel rings BUT I have gone and splurged on some MCA Pro Sport coilovers 😍 !! I've never had some really nice suspension so this will be firmly in the luxury camp for me and can't wait. Also have a M3 style front bumper to pickup to replace the rather used M-Tech 2 which is on there. Might be a good excuse to paint the stone chipped bonnet and guards etc also 🤔

The struggle is real, I think they update their stock levels once a month 😆

Sorry to hijack the thread, where are the details for this cruise / meet up ?

I've got all of the OEM audio pulled out of mine, you're welcome to the stacker if it's useful to you. Worked fine 👍

The annoying part was there was no obvious damage, the needles just didn't move at all or were sporadic ... I believe the internal gears get damaged or bent ? The speedo zero position was a bit of a trick, if you look at the new gauge face you can see it's actually not quite the same as the original where 0 is the same offset as the other increments. Hence the needle pointing to nothing at rest. The speed signal is coming from the ABS module (I'm just doing RPM and temp via Arduino, plus things like over temp and check light) but I do believe you can adjust it via some coding if needed ? I did indeed remove the rings not thinking / knowing I could just swap the entire bezel 😂 Oh how I wish I'd simply done this hah

Got the new gauge face today, well packaged and overall I'm really impressed with the quality !! I got the face fitted today but not after some drama, which I could have probably avoided if I'd read a bit more before starting. Minor issue: I'd got some chrome bezels from a 330 cluster some time back and was waiting for this job to install them. Didn't realise they were only held in with some mastic it seems so need to source some to fit them permanently. No biggie. Major issue: Managed to break 3 out of the 5 stepper motors when removing / installing the needles 😭 After much researching it seemed this was a common issue and I just needed to be more careful with the removal / install. Conveniently I have 2 spare clusters (one from the bezels and one for my CAN development) to rob parts from !! I tested the one which was still complete and all motors worked well ... considered using that whole cluster and doing the EEPROM plus coding thing, but that seemed like another layer of drama I'd prefer to avoid, and I still needed to remove / install the needles. What I ended up doing was removing all 5 stepper motors from the good cluster and swapping them into my otherwise good board. Turned out to be incredibly easy and everything is working perfectly again !!! Top tip was to use compressed air to blast out the liquid solder instead of using a wick or sucker. General & pics: As I'm driving the tacho via my Arduino it was relatively simple to re-calibrate this to suit the new RPM range. I also fixed up the left hand stalk which has never clicked 👍

Not sure what flavour green this is but just spotted at BMW North Shore.

Congrats, a milestone for sure !! I'm just going through my second cert (1st update) now and WoF set to expire the day after my booking this coming week at BMW 😕 At this point I just tell my cert guy I'll see him next time 😅

It's my personal mission to get out of the blocks hard and fast on green lights and simultaneously get on the horn for those dirt bag light runners 👮‍♂️👍

Yea can't wait for it to arrive, could have done some more fancy things with it but suspect a classic OEM look will be better long term than something wizzy simply 'because you can' etc. Will be a good little test piece to see who can spot the difference

Same experience with my certification 🤣 Factory wheels, factory hubs, factory bolts etc ... I got some from the below and shortened on the front only where they were just nicking the (assumed) brake shroud. Racer Products ([email protected]). The bolts are from Grayston Engineering in the UK. Used on rally cars etc. They are zinc coated / silver which may be a deal breaker for some. Not listed on the site but here you are all the same: https://racerproducts.co.nz/collections/wheel-studs-and-nuts

Thanks to @Karter16 I've got the new gauge face sorted from Venoxy Definitely easier than reinventing the wheel for sure. I was going to use another crowd 'Black Cat Custom' but they don't ship international and are more expensive. Should be a pretty low key and OEM looking result !!

Assume it's beyond a basic DIY approach ? If it's replacing a standard through-pin component that should be pretty straight forward with a YouTube vid or two ?

They were pretty snug to go in, next time they are off I'll try and remember to pop them off ... not sure it'll look any good tho personally Front suspension / steering bits: No pics to support, but added some Whiteline adjustable front sway bar end links, new front LCA's and inner / outer tie rod ends recently since none of that was done during the build and there was a bit of a knock that could be felt when hitting bumps. Mostly cleared it up 🤷‍♂️ The adjustable end links were mostly to cater for 'not quite OEM' angles between strut and bar which was giving the OEM links a hard time. Some other bits: Got a 2011 370Z ECU from the USA to swap in. The folks at UpRev (my OEM ECU software) have limited / less support for the JDM ECU's and I was striking issues with a couple things ... Map selections. The ECU has support for 5 different maps but they were struggling to debug my old JDM ECU as to why it was not changing maps. Now with a 2011 USDM model they should be able to get the map selection working, fingers crossed. My ECU was from an auto so did not recognise the clutch switch (which i have yet to install) so I can use the launch control, full throttle shift and other 'ARC' features that need a clutch switch Got some 'Advanced Wheel Locks' lock nuts ahead of some kind of press in stud conversion happening at some point Got some Performance MRP weld on aluminium flanges for MAF sensors so I can make some new intake tubes at some point

May be a he / him car at the moment but definitely well on his way to a they / them with the engine swap 🤣 Enjoying the updates and I'm a +1 for it looking good 👍

Dang that's a shame it's not getting a rebuild on your terms but maybe a great opportunity all the same ... looking forward to the motor build thread already

@Vass that wagon looks hot !! Thanks for the link, look like some really good options there and they ship international !

I've never actually put the main tray back on but it seems to be staying relatively tidy at the moment. Trying to source the new front bumper at the moment so might get it on there after that materialises 👍

Sorry just seen I never replied, am on the shore yep Keen to come along to any local events and the Meguiar's Coffee & Cars etc so folks can have a poke around 👍 Got the new wheels last week and they look pretty good, just needs to drop slightly (10 in the back 15 in the front) and it'll be looking much better overall.

A followup with the new wheels on Really need to go and have glamour shoot some place !!

Definitely not keen on anything with the snap in bump strip wotsit. @Vass assume the rear is wagon specific eh ? Might be a tricky one to get a hold of.

Looking to get new front and rear bumpers (front is a bit trashed and rear is the shitty value line item) but can't seem to turn up much locally and overseas shipping is pricey ... pic attached 🤣 Looking for M3 style front (for non-M coupe) and mtech 2 or similar rear with diffuser insert. Where do people tend to look for such things ??

Finally got the new rims for the E46 from the land of the rising sun Also got the car up in the air and gave things a bit of an inspection and clean 👌

Quite a good shot of the engine bay to see just how on the piss the motor really is !!

Car looks great doing what you've planned for it to do 🏅Must be a bucket load of fun, and nerves !! A trip to Meremere this Friday ? 😅 I'm going to take the car to see how it goes compares to my historical cars (maybe 18 years ago ?!) ... weather is not looking great so hopefully it's worth going.