Cement

Score !! Save cert money and blast it on Woodstocks, go back in 12 months 🤣 Assume the failed WoF is to weed out the cars which are just not worth the certifiers time to go over when there may be basic / fundamental things that need addressing first.

Head unit is installed, trim is back on, front speakers are wired up and cable is run for the rears which I will hopefully look at tomorrow. Glad i got the centre mount for the head unit, looks good for what it is and the modern functionality will be awesome.

Still in a bit of a holding pattern ... should be doing the clear on Thursday fingers crossed then maybe installing it on the weekend if i bake it shut in the bathroom for a half day with two heaters going 😂

Comes with the X5 ? 🤷‍♂️

Same same 👍

Finally some progress that gets things installed back in the car !! Clear coated all of the trim pieces last week and they look pretty good. Completed the front speaker wiring (in the doors at least) so could finally put the new leather door cards in. The colour came out pretty similar to the grey of the dash funnily enough, could have been a little lighter to give more contrast but I think it should look pretty clean when all done. Will get the head unit wiring taken care of next so I can complete the front cross over installs. Got the climate control module removed (surprisingly nothing broke, had to pull it SO hard !) so I can install the new centre mounted head unit frame.

Thanks @Karter16 !! Certainly looks fairly valueline

Certifier came out on Thursday and was happy so am free to bond the roof on now. Popped some epoxy primer over the bare welded areas today, and where I had ground a spot for the welders earth. As far as the roof itself, I wet sanded (400 grit) the clear coat to remove the orange peel and reduce the fish eyes. Applied additional clear to the fish eyes which i will sand back flat tomorrow ready for some more coats of clear. If we can't get it good enough straight off the gun then I will be sanding and buffing before final trim and bonding to the car.

That's rather fast !! Ever plan on taking it to the drags ?

Welcome 👋 I see you have a Mazda MPV ... my daily is the Honday Odyssey. Maybe we need a people mover sub group 🤣

Got the roof bow welded in which is a milestone task ... got very specific with the prep on the car body since this will be buried and generally speaking the weld through primer blows. Prepared the exposed side of the bow for welding ... will epoxy coat all of the welds and surrounding area. All done pending 1st inspection, then will do the epoxy and I'm free to mount the roof itself (after sanding the clear coat flat and applying a few more coats, then ... probably sanding it again and polishing)

I'm going to miss those those fuel tank posts 😂

Anybody know what flavour bumper this is on my car ? The car overall looks ok but this rear cover with the reflectors and black rib job looks a bit on the fugly side ... it's also got a bad bit of repair on the left corner. Would like to replace with a nicer m-tech 2 style and maybe after market diffuser for MAX GRIP etc

Parts from BMW arrived a little early ... not much to say really here but will leave the pics in case anyone wants to replicate. Most of the videos don't show how the bow was welded into place etc and the detail of where it actually meets the B pillar. It's all about the roof bow and getting the first cert inspection out of the way at the moment. Will make some mock ups of the plug welds I need to do, to get the settings dialled in ... that first one will be hella nerve racking !!!

Got some base coat onto the trim pieces ... has been a bit of a faff as the 3M glazing putty dissolved the primer so had to apply it a lot thicker than I would have liked. The primer also never really dried hard so presented some issues when sanding the putty. Will get some 2k clear on them at least and see how they go ... might be getting redone in the future if they turn ugly. Had them all tucked in the bathroom today with two heaters running to dry out the primer as fully as it was ever going to be. Managed to get to about 35 degrees in there. Also got the rest of the back ordered parts from BMW so once clear of the trim pieces and roof project i'll be able to progress the head unit install also with the centred mounting piece. No idea what the colour is, just lucky dipped it from the swatches at the car paint shop 😜

So after a bunch more arm chair investigation I'm going to lock in the M8R's in 18x9.5 ET38 rear and 18x8.5 ET38 fronts. Should be here in 10-20 weeks 😬

Got to confirm its for the right model car at last 😃 Hopefully the window moldings come up onto the roof slightly to hide the most noticeable pieces of deep resin, else might run a small strip of black vinyl perhaps ... will see when we get there but safe to say its going to look pretty sweet !! I can see why people might go with a plain 1x1 weave as the twill is fairly intense ... then again so is all the sh*t in the garage at the moment !! All back together with some light window tinting and it should look mean.

Got some primer onto the wood trim pieces ... looks bloody good for a rattle can I have to say !! Will do a second coat on all pieces without cracks. Think it's just the two front doors that are cracked, will fill with some glazing putty then sand ready for a second / final primer coat.

Still waiting for the roof bow (maybe another week) but some progress on the roof itself !! A little pictorial tour below ... The roof as it came out of the mold after rough trimming, 2.5kg 😍 There are a few imperfections (small air pockets on the corner ridges and resin build up where the fabric has not gotten right into the tight corner) but overall its pretty awesome !! Just a nice glamour shot during wet sanding, who doesn't like carbon !! Basic setup for spraying ready to go The setup at NZ Fibreglass in the booth. The item at the back is roof #1 from the mold; mine with the sanded finish ready to clear. 3 Coats of Upol clear coat on ... my first time spraying anything critical, and with a proper gun. Pretty happy with the result but an obvious orange peel going on. Will let it harden fully from here then sand it back flat and give it another two or three coats ... if we can't get it perfect off the gun (highly likely) we'll then safely have enough material to sand flat and buff to beauty.

Happy to help Slowly chipping away on the audio install and have worked out how I'll do the front door speakers wiring so I don't need to touch the door connector etc. It's probably a common way to go tbh but have just worked out which wires go to the OEM mid bass and tweeter (or the other small guy) and will cut them down by the passenger side front seat ... will then pull them back to under the dash some place and wire into the cross over. Both the left and right speaker wires come along by the seat as they used to head to the amp in the boot. For the rear speakers I'll likely just run new cable all the way while I have the trim off etc 👍 Got all excited about putting a door card back on but then realised I have yet to paint my wood trim and thats a blocker for the card 😩 So at least today I got all the wood trim scuffed up ready for some primer / filler ... still no idea what colour I will do the top coat.

Looking great, black intercooler maybe ?

Popped three heaters in the garage for a few hours to raise the temp a bit and applied the K1 adhesive all over the areas where metal had been exposed. Used maybe 1/3 of the tube by the looks of it ... thats only $100 worth of this ridiculous goo 🤣

So have been looking at another option that might be fun, and is cheaper than Apex ... Work's Emotion lineup !! Single piece that is ... don't get too excited Potentially some better offset options here as they are somewhat custom built to spec when ordered, to get some good concave at the rear this does mean going to a 18x9.5 ET38 ... which arguably will fit better at the guard but with reduced clearance to the damper compared to the Apex 18x9 ET30. The biggest issue I have is in the arts 'n crafts department and visualising what would suit best. Google is much happier to spit out pictures of 40 degree camber 12" wide rims or massive 3 piece options on wide bodies than the every mans E46 non-M There are some E46 images out there but nothing with a good street / flush-ish fitment from what I have seen. One was a 4 door sitting so high any wheels would look ass !! Anybody have an eye for rims, mad photoshop skills or good old fashioned random voting to add a steer ? The Work Emotion lineup worth looking at imho is as below ... and a pic of my car follows. Also torn on silver vs bronze vs white ... or something else 😕 <--- Those would be my preference order generally fyi.

I think you'd be fine providing you're not messing with the actual numbers ? Wonder if you could cut the top off without it looking too naff ?

Have got all the spot welds ground down (used little finger sander, not pictured above) and removed the remains of the sealer. Spoken to the certifier and he is happy for me to apply the K1 adhesive (as corrosion inhibitor) on the exposed metal areas ... was going to weld in the roof bow then do this and have him over to inspect but alas the bow has been delayed so I'm keen to get the metal covered asap. Spot welds all look pretty happy 🤣