Michael.

Open some of the audio modules up, take pics, I'd be keen to see what they look like inside.

Instantly cheaper than the usual being a sinful non facelift E91

I often have my sun visors down on both sides so I never actually notice it's there

Good stuff, should be a lot of fun!

SC430? Ew haha, you mean SC400. That is the best place for them, I put all my rego lables up there. Having them at the bottom is really bad, they obscure visibility in the corner, its easy to loose rego tickets down the dash board if they fall out, and cleaning the adhesive sticker stuff when replacing the holder can be difficult due to the tight space between the bottom of the window and dash board. Its where they put them in other countries too. Imagine if WOF stickers were shoved down at the bottom of the window, crazy!

Boring haha. Buying an M3 is not a project

Very nice. Just dump the engine, gearbox, and rear axle. A V8 or Turbo Six would go well in that with an M3 rear end.

You mean back breakers?

Hmmm, it's been a while since I shared anything about my Japanese toy on this German car forum. So here goes This morning I got a warrant for the UZZ32. It had been months since taking it out for a good drive so decided to head out east to some fantastic windy B roads. The car went so well with the new wheel and tyre setup, so much grip. The way the 32 handles on the tight bends second to none, totally effortless and builds confidence on top of confidence! Before my 32 ownership I used to ask an Aussie owner of 7 of these cars what 32s were like as a driving experience, while his comments gave me an idea of what to expect, actually driving one is the only way to really appreciate such suspension technology. I've never driven a car that can do what it can around the bends, it might be a heavy hector but the way it's composed makes it feel like a sub 1500kg machine with race prepared suspension. How it turns into the bends with such crispness really is the business, probably one of my favorite characteristics of the cars handling dynamics. A few days earlier I drove the folks Motorsport BMW 330i E46 on the same roads, a very nice car and plenty of fun to drive but it does require a lot more effort to put through the same bends and tends to want to loose traction easier than the UZZ32, tyres not the issue too as it was running high quality rubber like the Soarer is. Also notably, the BMWs ride was a lot more jarring and tiring than the UZZ32s when cursing at 100kp/h. Anyhow when I reached my destination I took a few pictures of my machine, only with my mobile but they came out alright. Enjoy!

Yeah Fantastic cars, but they are only worth keeping intact if pampered their entire life, down to the leather being conditioned. Just contending with a sloppy steering box and linkages is enough of a headache, the list goes on a whole mile. Good source of a V12 if thats your bag.

One of those as a project gives me the shudders. Probably not had that much care in the last decade. With a lot of these cars they are only as good as the finer details are. To enjoy something like that, you'd almost need to strip it down and rebuild half the car! Particularly suspension, brake wise.

Yeah much improved with that front lip extension. They should have all been like that front factory Pretty good economy too. Its nice when big engined cars deliver such.

What about stock Lemforder stuff ?

Curiously Mishimoto / Redline / Fenix are all made at the same factory in China. Some of the Fenix stuff is of a cheaper factory which are the ones to avoid, but if they come in a plastic bag sealed with Fenix repeated all over it, that is of the Mishimoto factory. As far as full alloys go you can't really do any better for the cost with those models. PWR is probably the next alternative but they are a more expensive Aussie made unit. V8 Supercars run their radiators etc.

Yeah its a game that takes patience but good deals do pop up, have to act quickly though. Keep in mind 320i models as an option or even 318i, you can always change the engine at a later date. These cars are like lego really.

semi decent. I like that. Semi might mean lots of rust or a little bit of rust. I think the general consensus would be to find a rust free car (they exists) and tidy it up from there. The worst ones I've seen are the ones that look 'good' but upon closer inspection are pretty rusty and have had dodgy work done covered with paint etc.

Must be a fair bit quieter since dialing in the valve adjustments?

I would have gone with the thinner stuff, even thinner again and used a semi syn, 5w-40 or 10w-40 would be ideal. While some wear might be present on the lifters / shims, I think that doesn't warrant going to a thicker viscosity of oil. If anything 20+ years of oil deposits built up have narrowed bearing journals and other places oil flows in the head etc, put thicker oil into the mix, in theory you might just end up with higher pressures and lower oil flow, especially on start up where the majority of wear takes place.

Nothing worse than neglected chrome! Good work.

Silver are nice. Keeps the car looking fresh and clean Black is a dated trend IMO, if anything looks like you have lots of brake dust.

They'd be fun destruction derby things.

The plastic alloys they do are alright though. Simply bought from big OE companies and reboxed. But they are just a cheap company at the end of the day, with so so customer service. I'm hardly surprised you didn't have a good experience. Avoid their auto trans cooler kits, they supplied them with 10mm ID water hose and had some customers cars blow hoses pissing out ATF everywhere. Just hilarious.

I'm onto my 14th car in 9 years. 7 of which have been Soarers 3 BMWs

Fenix and Redline ones are made at the same factory in China You get what you pay for. I was offered a free one for my car, didn't want it though.

What knob at BMW thought this was okay.. seriously.