What'd you do to your BMW today?

[euroriffic 612]

Fitted some new seatbelts 

[M3AN 4016]

@euroriffic: iInteresting, I thought the fronts (or was it the rears?) were NLA, are they genuine?

Considered them for mine some years back but decided against (partially because of cost). I like the M colour weave in recent M cars but am advised that it's illegal to re-wind seatbelts and I'd need to buy complete units (which of course won't fit an older car).

[euroriffic 612]

1 hour ago, M3AN said:

@euroriffic: iInteresting, I thought the fronts (or was it the rears?) were NLA, are they genuine?

Considered them for mine some years back but decided against (partially because of cost). I like the M colour weave in recent M cars but am advised that it's illegal to re-wind seatbelts and I'd need to buy complete units (which of course won't fit an older car).

Are genuine, from schmiedmann. Sounds like the front left in nla. Ecs had it listed as nla, but schmeidmann  had a 4 day wait on them.  So after some sneaky planning to get out of paying duty, and two lots of shipping, were all sent at the same time anyway, which I was worried about, but didn’t get caught with $420 in duty. But were still a cool $2100 landed, so yea, not cheap. 

 

Edited August 20, 2021 by euroriffic

[Mad_Max 233]

2 hours ago, M3AN said:

I like the M colour weave in recent M cars but am advised that it's illegal to re-wind seatbelts and I'd need to buy complete units (which of course won't fit an older car).

Illegal if it's done at the wrong place, if you get me the new units and send your ones down, I know a guy that can sort it for you at a pretty good rate.

[KwS 2429]

As long as it doesnt have a pretensioner. If it does, it cant be re-webbed. There is a guy in Wellington that is one of few authorised to do it (non-pretensioned).

[M3AN 4016]

I suspect all seatbelts since the mid-90's in cars with airbags will have pre-tensioners right? My M3 does for sure. That pretty much rules out rebuilding anything modern.

Edited August 20, 2021 by M3AN

[Eagle 1669]

Pretensioner units re-webbed no issue via the authorized repairer (I send at least one down a month to Autosafe in Chch) 

[E30 325i Rag-Top 2963]

I think I reached  a turning point on the race car project today… started bolting things BACK TOGETHER!!

”5-lug E36 Ti rear end is a straight bolt in” says the internet, my arse say I. After much swapping of CV joints and axles I finally seem to have a pair of 5 stud trailing arms that fit with my medium case diff, phew!

[euroriffic 612]

4 hours ago, E30 325i Rag-Top said:

I think I reached  a turning point on the race car project today… started bolting things BACK TOGETHER!!

”5-lug E36 Ti rear end is a straight bolt in” says the internet, my arse say I. After much swapping of CV joints and axles I finally seem to have a pair of 5 stud trailing arms that fit with my medium case diff, phew!

Well it is…. If you retain the ti small case diff and axles. I was also  caught out whilst adding a medium case into a compact and had to flog some e30 rear axles off @Southerner. Atleast you would of had some already! 

[E30 325i Rag-Top 2963]

Good to know it’s not just me! Was a bit of a stuff around but not too much more work, just very messy with all the grease.

Also fired up the ‘vert yesterday for first time in ages, battery was a bit flat but she started first time after a bit of a charge.

[Atari 10]

Pre lockdown, BC coilovers fitted ...

 

[nath 134]

Moved Red car outside to put dinghy in it's place while I finish off the underside. First time the car has seen rain in a long time.
 

Fitted 4 new door handle gaskets to red car; I'm really not sure there is anything else to replace/tidy up on her!

[E30 325i Rag-Top 2963]

Spent hours looking in one of my parts cupboards for some pre-FL bumper mounts I was sure were in there.

Found one, only to realise it’s not suitable for what I wanted to use it.

Then, just as I finished checking the last box, the cupboard fought back and threw a whole shelf load of glass bits over me! Lost one rear quarter window but luckily the rest survived.

Repaired the shelf, put the glass back and swept up the broken bits. What a waste of time, luckily there is plenty of that available at the moment.

[Kees 597]

Fixed the twisted seat in my e34. Reclining adjustment on the right hand side was stuck causing the seat to twist. Was a bit of a mission though. 

[gjm 3258]

Decided we'll sell the Baur. 😭

Practicality is making this decision. Prices have risen dramatically, and we're trying to do a couple of expensive things, one of which is build a roof to live under.

Sad times.

[balancerider 770]

@Kees channeling Sreten from M539 Restorations! He's been doing the same to his E32

[Twistee 461]

Changed out the plastic gear on the thigh support motor with a 100% genuine Aliexpress all metal $4 unit. I have thigh adjustment again. 

Edited September 8, 2021 by Twistee
can't spell.....

[Kees 597]

Today I did a machine polish of my E34 540i. Car has done over 370,000km so I was pleasantly surprised at how nicely the original paint managed to come out. All up took about 5 hours including a pre-wash and then application of a ceramic wax after the polishing had been completed.

Used a cordless Dewalt polisher which worked very well, and used Turtle Wax Hybrid Black Polish. Usually for hand polishing I stick to Meguiar's Ultimate Compound, but went with Turtle Wax this time due to the large amount of Polish dust Ultimate Compound produces which is annoying when you are polishing an entire car. I did do a little side by side comparison between the two polishes on the bonnet and the results seemed identical to me. An added benefit of the Turtle Wax product is it has a dark pigment so for a particularly nasty scratch on the passenger rear door of my car, the scratch was darkened and is less noticeable. 

Only down-side to polishing the car is the insane amount of rock chips that have been accrued over the 370,000km are now more obvious lol

I then coated the car in Turtle Wax Hybrid black wax and will hopefully do another coat of it tomorrow (takes about 24 hours to fully cure). 

Included is a before and after to display how well the Turtle Wax Polish did, as well as some photos of the car post polish. 

 

 

[E28E30 335]

7 minutes ago, Kees said:

Today I did a machine polish of my E34 540i. Car has done over 370,000km so I was pleasantly surprised at how nicely the original paint managed to come out. All up took about 5 hours including a pre-wash and then application of a ceramic wax after the polishing had been completed.

Used a cordless Dewalt polisher which worked very well, and used Turtle Wax Hybrid Black Polish. Usually for hand polishing I stick to Meguiar's Ultimate Compound, but went with Turtle Wax this time due to the large amount of Polish dust Ultimate Compound produces which is annoying when you are polishing an entire car. I did do a little side by side comparison between the two polishes on the bonnet and the results seemed identical to me. An added benefit of the Turtle Wax product is it has a dark pigment so for a particularly nasty scratch on the passenger rear door of my car, the scratch was darkened and is less noticeable. 

Only down-side to polishing the car is the insane amount of rock chips that have been accrued over the 370,000km are now more obvious lol

I then coated the car in Turtle Wax Hybrid black wax and will hopefully do another coat of it tomorrow (takes about 24 hours to fully cure). 

Included is a before and after to display how well the Turtle Wax Polish did, as well as some photos of the car post polish. 

 

 

Looks really smart!

[E28E30 335]

On 9/9/2021 at 8:51 PM, Kees said:

Inspired by @Kees I cut and polished and then polished Old Red.  By hand as I reckon I would be THAT guy if I used an orbital tool and screw my 31 year old paint. Showroom condition at 2m, worth the sweat  keeps the Golf happy to have a tidy flatmate

 

Edited September 11, 2021 by E28E30

[Kees 597]

@E28E30 Wow! That looks absolutely superb, your paint looks immaculate for 31 years old, especially being red. Very, very nice job!

Also are they Monza Shadows on the Golf? The GTI looks really good especially with the euro plates. 

[E28E30 335]

12 minutes ago, Kees said:

@E28E30 Wow! That looks absolutely superb, your paint looks immaculate for 31 years old, especially being red. Very, very nice job!

Also are they Monza Shadows on the Golf? The GTI looks really good especially with the euro plates. 

@Kees you’re kind haha.  Red is a b#*ch right? It looks pretty good, up close it has the usual signs of a life lived, but is pretty nice.

The Golf is an early NZ new Mark 5, and I think they are just Monza (charcoal grey inside spokes) and the Monza Shadows had black inside spoke holes and were for the Mark 6 (just Googled it since you asked…) they’re the 18” factory option style and designed to be curbed 😕 .  I like that it is dark blue, bought it 3.25 years ago with 68k on clock, now 113k.  PO had stage 1 chipped it and for a 16 year old car it is torquey, comfortable and quick enough for the daily duties.  The Euro plates were on it.

Am getting Euro plates for the E30 shortly too

 

Edited September 11, 2021 by E28E30
Wheels reference correction

[Kees 597]

@E28E30 Oh nice thats very low km for a Mark 5, I drove my mate's stage 1 Mark 5 GTI a few months ago and it felt very solid and responsive given its age. Euro plates will look good on the E30!  

[E28E30 335]

4 minutes ago, Kees said:

@E28E30 Oh nice thats very low km for a Mark 5, I drove my mate's stage 1 Mark 5 GTI a few months ago and it felt very solid and responsive given its age. Euro plates will look good on the E30!  

They’re great cars  but all have usual issues, eg central locking packs up door by door, AC compressor fails, rattley flywheels, but they also are quick enough, spacious and economical if you want them to be.  Have had about 46 cars, settling for the Golf for now is a happy place 

[325_driver 422]

Finished painting a project i've been working on

Picked this up before lockdown, was just going to do "a little bit of paint"

But then lock down happened, so ended up you know ... sanding it right back everywhere

Then the paint they mixed wasn't entirely the right hue even though it was the correct colour code (even with a fuel flap to match), so ended up basically doing a full respray anyway lol

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