The Barbara Chronicles

[Cement 871]

@Vass I'd tend to go back to LVVTA and see what recourse you may have to get some action, they may have some internal standards / targets they can give the certifier a reminder about ? Ultimately it does reflect on them directly so you'd hope they have some motivation to ensure the process is working well.

Alternately you could see if there are others in the same boat by posting on the forum ? https://lvvta.proboards.com/ ... I've posted a number of times and always gotten replies from an actual LVVTA person within a few days 👍

[Vass 831]

2 hours ago, Cement said:

@Vass I'd tend to go back to LVVTA and see what recourse you may have to get some action, they may have some internal standards / targets they can give the certifier a reminder about ? Ultimately it does reflect on them directly so you'd hope they have some motivation to ensure the process is working well.

Alternately you could see if there are others in the same boat by posting on the forum ? https://lvvta.proboards.com/ ... I've posted a number of times and always gotten replies from an actual LVVTA person within a few days 👍

Yeah will give them feedback regardless whether it gets resolved this week or not, would expect much better with the amount of money you're shelling out. It's a tricky one as the next closest certifier is all the way in Timaru so really wouldn't want to go on a full on war path and end up in the guy's bad books if I ever need stuff certified again...

[Vass 831]

Just checked again, and she's live! Will get a WoF booked in. Hallelujah!

[Gaz 1061]

3 hours ago, Vass said:

Yeah will give them feedback regardless whether it gets resolved this week or not, would expect much better with the amount of money you're shelling out. It's a tricky one as the next closest certifier is all the way in Timaru so really wouldn't want to go on a full on war path and end up in the guy's bad books if I ever need stuff certified again...

Plenty of people go to Timaru to avoid the dealing with the Christchurch fellas. There is a new guy starting up in Rolleston I saw on the December newsletter but not sure how long until he is up and running fulltime. 

[Vass 831]

On 2/12/2024 at 2:37 PM, Gaz said:

Plenty of people go to Timaru to avoid the dealing with the Christchurch fellas. There is a new guy starting up in Rolleston I saw on the December newsletter but not sure how long until he is up and running fulltime. 

Yeah I've heard of that. Apparently you have to pretend to be a Timaru local though?

Good news on the Rolleston fella, hope it takes off, the Chch fellas are long overdue a kick up the ass.

[Vass 831]

236,600km

Gave the garage a good reshuffle and cleared out enough space to roll the car in for some wrenching. Was nearly due an oil change so used it as a chance to knock out a few bigger and smaller jobs. Last I changed oil was only in October but already managed to clock up 7k km's so figured it was time.

Had tried doing some data logging a while ago and noticed the long term fuel trims sitting at 8.5%. Not enough to cause any noticeable rough running or trigger engine codes but did seem a tad high. Followed @Harper's lead and got myself a little smoke tester. Was tossing up getting one of the higher end models with pressure gauges and other bells and whistles but in the end figured it's a tool that would only ever get occasional use so went with the cheapest one. Also got the inflatable bladder adapter to go with the kit that plugs into the intake boot. Nifty little setup, the tin can solution felt almost humorous but works well enough.

 

The device produces a decent amount of smoke but didn't reveal any vacuum leaks so the issue must lie elsewhere. Will clear adaptations and continue keeping an eye on data logs.

At some point I was also getting codes claiming the ICV to be stuck open so tried switching that out as well. Picked up a spare one from Pick-A-Part, gave it a good clean with throttle body cleaner spray, compressed air and lubed up the internals with a bit of oil. The unit that came out still seemed to move freely enough but will see if the codes come back.

Drained the oil which didn't look too bad but there was quite a bit of metallic sludge stuck to the magnetic drain plug. Still only 9k km since the engine rebuild but already the 4th oil change so not entirely sure at what point it becomes something to be seriously concerned about. Will do another oil change in 4-5k km's time and reassess.

Video

The biggest mission I decided to tackle this time around was replacing the oil non-return valve that sits in the oil filter housing. First saw it done in one of M539's videos and with the vendor seemingly not shipping to New Zealand, I took the chance to pick up a couple of those valves whilst over in Europe last year. Finally gathered enough motivation to install it after stumbling upon a thread on E46 Fanatics of it supposedly fixing the guy's startup engine tick and low oil pressure issue.

Was mentally prepared for oil to start splashing out all over the place when removing the housing but the mess ended up being almost underwhelming.

The valve is press fit into the housing and its extraction needed some tedious prying out with a screwdriver. I used an old plastic trim removal tool as a sacrificial layer to protect the surrounding edges. Worked pretty well and managed to get the old valve out with little to no damage.

The old valve didn't look too bad, the groove was barely worn into the side but the plug did seem to move quite freely in there. Poured a bit of oil over top and it drained right through. Tested the new one with brake cleaner and none leaked past.
One weird thing with the new valve was that it just dropped into the opening without the need to hammer it in. Still snug enough in there that it didn't move around but loose enough that you could lift back out with just your fingers. Measured the diameter of the two with a digital vernier - the old valve was 25.07mm whilst the new one 25.01mm. Not a huge difference but still. Not like it has any space to fall out and I guess it'll properly mate itself to the surrounding housing after a few heat cycles.

Jumping forward a bit, unfortunately it wasn't the culprit of my niggling startup rattle and the issue still persists. I'm beginning to think it not to be engine-related entirely but something to do with the gearbox/flywheel. Very hard to tell by the sound alone, near on impossible to capture it on video/audio and the list of potential suspects is ever decreasing. Regardless, still glad I replaced the valve.

To finish up under the hood, I did a compression test just to check the general health of the engine. First time doing it since the engine rebuild so was a bit nervous but the results were pretty satisfying with all cylinders sitting at 200-208 PSI. Couldn't be happier with that.

Finally, after hitting my head a few too many times on the boot door that wouldn't raise itself all the way up anymore, I got around to replacing the crusty old boot struts that were starting to become audibly annoying as well.

Otherwise, she's sitting fairly pretty.

The next bigger undertaking will be to finally wire up the reversing camera (thanks to @adro for the motivation), along with the boot elephant trunk repair and fixing all the broken tabs on the boot trims.

Edited March 14 by Vass

[Eagle 1662]

7 hours ago, Vass said:

Had tried doing some data logging a while ago and noticed the long term fuel trims sitting at 8.5%

Brake booster is another possibility. I heard mine but you could try to smoke test it if you remove the one way valve or make a test hose.

[Harper 549]

9 hours ago, Vass said:

Still only 9k km since the engine rebuild but already the 4th oil change so not entirely sure at what point it becomes something to be seriously concerned about. Will do another oil change in 4-5k km's time and reassess.

It took about that many oil changes on my S54 before there was no material in the oil after the rebuild. Just as I was starting to get worried that there was still glimmering stuff in the oil, the next oil change was clear. 

Edited March 14 by Harper

[Karter16 405]

On 12/27/2022 at 10:13 PM, Vass said:

Was going to put the heatshield back on to make it a bit less conspicuous but that was just too mangled up to be of any use.

 

Haven't looked into what the cert/WoF verdict might be on it but can easily throw on the original spare coupling if they deem it an issue.

 

Have you had any WOF issues doing this? I need to replace my stock one and this would be a more cost-effective way of doing it.

[Vass 831]

28 minutes ago, Karter16 said:

Have you had any WOF issues doing this? I need to replace my stock one and this would be a more cost-effective way of doing it.

I haven't had issues personally but I think it might be subjective to a particular WoF inspector.

It got picked up when I went for cert recently so now it's fully certified for it, but I also passed a WoF before that without issues right after the engine swap a year ago. I've also read some reports of some people even failing cert with them in so... Not sure what to make of it.

I guess you could just paint it silver before installing to keep it stealth, or install with the original heat shield thingy over it, should be fine. 

[Harper 549]

Have one in my M3 and compact, painted them black since I don't like the pink. Never had issues passing wof.

[Karter16 405]

thanks both for that 🙂

[Eagle 1662]

+1 for black. Did the same thing to my monoball rtabs because i hate the pink too, looks factory.

[Vass 831]

Managed to knock out the tedious task of repairing the boot harness over the past few weeks. Wasn't as straight-forward a process as I'd have liked but got there in the end. Also installed the reversing camera that had been sitting on the shelf for a good few years. Went with one that slots in instead of one of the number plate lights. Despite it being advertised specifically for an E46, turned out it didn't quite fit. Namely, it back cover was too large to fit into the housing and would hit the inside wall before reaching the seating surface. Had to take out the dremel and hack off quite a good chunk out of it until it clipped in, so much so that it left a few gaping holes in the thing that I sealed up with hot glue. Turned out quite ghetto, but as long as it works, it ain't stupid.

The grommet for the boot wiring had been badly torn ever since I got the car so was long overdue being addressed. The plastic trims around the tailgate were also all busted up and were held in place with some disgusting goo that took quite a bit of effort to clean up.

I already knew the black wire to be broken but also discovered the brown ground wire to be on its way out after cutting up the boot/grommet.

The black wire was going up to the module under the hatch spoiler/brake light panel which turned out to be radio antenna amplifier. A few wires going in and out from either side so not exactly sure what that particular wire was supposedly powering. Never noticed issues with getting radio signal but good to have it repaired regardless.

There was a lot of splicing involved. In total, there was 24 wires - 21 going to the main hatch and 3 to the glass window, all routed through the 3-legged "elephant trunk" harness. I went with this kit from Schmiedmann that included replacement wires, crimp connections and of course new boots/grommets. Weirdly, half of the crimp connectors were good quality ones with incorporated glued heatshrink sleeves and half were the shitty rigid plastic casing ones with no heatshrink. I wasn't a big fan of the latter so went out and bought some more to match the former, in sizes that I could find anyway.

The kit looked like the perfect solution for the issue but unfortunately packed a major flaw, one that I only discovered having already hooked up the 3 wires going to the glass window. For some stupid reason the replacement grommet that goes to the body of the car was way too big to fit into the opening. The difference wasn't minor either but was a good 15-20mm longer than the original grommet. I tried ever which way to cram it in there but it just would not budge, the thing was just way too oversized.

The process of reporting the issue to Schmiedmann turned out to be comically difficult. Must have gone back and forth with their representative a good 10+ times. Sent them the photos and the description of the issue, to which they said I must not have done it right, that the grommet is very flexible and should fit without issue, then demanded precise measurements of the grommets and the opening, photos of both grommets next to the opening, then claimed my car must not be standard as they've sold heaps of these and I'm the first one to complain so it's my fault somehow... All a bit silly as the photos really speak for themselves. The original grommet was already a tight fit into the opening and with the replacement one being proportionally longer by a good quarter there was just no way it would fit, without issue no less. The openings for the wires were the same size but the Schmiedmann grommet had about a cm of extra material either side of it compared to the original. Why they didn't just make it to match the genuine grommet I have no idea.

In the end managed to claw out a partial 50% refund. Was going to use it on a new genuine grommet (part #61136900190) but unfortunately the lead times on those are 3-4 weeks and keeping the car out of action for that long wasn't an appealing option so I tried to make this one work by chopping it up. I cut away at the extra material either side of the opening and cut a new sealing groove with a razor, giving my fingers a good few cuts and bleeding all over the place in the process. Unfortunately, didn't take any photos of the end result as I didn't fancy taking it back out again after the first successful test-fitting, it didn't look pretty though. Luckily looks to have sealed up fine in the end. I'm a bit concerned about the angle the rubber folds at which makes me doubtful of its longevity, so I'm still putting an order in for a genuine grommet to have on hand as a backup.

The most time consuming part was of course reconnecting the wires. Took my time numbering and labelling every wire to make sure nothing got crossed up. 48 crimps in total as well as soldering in the reversing camera connections and the new number plate light. Got quite repetitive in the end.

In the end tidied up quite nicely.

All the lights, boot latches and of course the reverse camera all fully functional without any hiccups, which was a great relief. I'm mindful of this solution introducing new potential failure points but the connection points should be far enough away from any moving parts that or pinch points that I'm fairly confident it won't be an issue. The shifty grommet is the main point of concern for me so will be something I keep my eye on.

[Vass 831]

As a finishing touch, I finally got all the boot trims repaired and reinstalled. The plastic tabs holding the trim bits in place are notorious for breaking upon removal, no matter how careful you approach the task. Mine were of course already busted and creatively held in place with double-sided tape and sticky goo courtesy of the previous owner/s.

Fortuitously, a while ago I'd come across a clever solution by one ///Mark_D on the E46 Fanatics forum who came up with a set of replacement steel tabs that can be glued in place of the broken plastic ones. Naturally, I snapped up a bunch and finally put them to good use.

Between the bits that came on the car, a set that @Hazzy dropped off on his way through town and a few various bits I'd collected off a few parts cars, I put together a tidy looking set and got onto fitting replacement tabs. I first marked out the exact footprint of the new tabs, cut off and filed down the remnants of the old ones, used a dremel to roughen up the mating surface for better adhesion and then glued the tabs in place using some high strength clear epoxy. Every trim bit needed at least one new tab with the total number coming out to 17.

With most of the boot taken apart, I took up the chance to give everything a good clean treat the plastics with some Aerospace 303. Also swapped out a few remaining cracked and busted bits that I finally managed to find good replacements for. All the interior trims are now looking as good as they ever will, pretty happy with the state of it on a 20+ year old car.

All the goo cleaned off and trim bits installed. Awesome seeing everything nicely buttoned up for the first time in 3+ years.

Reverse camera fully functional. No adjustment possible but good enough angle to avoid backing into stuff. The headunit Android system still takes about 20 seconds to boot up but I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the reverse camera functions straight away after startup without any wait time. Good stuff.

The towball is also in full view when installed. One of the main missions I've been putting off is getting that all wired in. Will need to get my hands on a towing module (part #61356955253) that the E46 shares the the E53 X5 & E83 X3. If anyone has any leads on one, please do shout out.

One funny thing I discovered when making my latest parts order is that the "aero" windshield wipers are RHD & LHD-specific. LHD Bosch ones are pretty cheap from Schmiedmann but of course nobody carries RHD ones. No surprise that my car came with LHD ones with the fin facing the wrong way... Not that it makes a massive, if any, noticeable difference but just another thing that triggered my OCD. They were due a replacement anyway so ordered a set of correct ones from Wipertech - seems to be all the rage lately. Love that new wiper feel.

[Eagle 1662]

Ah yes Schmiedmann customer 'service', they are great until you have an issue.

[Vass 831]

Have barely driven the car of late, instead choosing to stumble down all manner of wormholes.

First was an easy one. The typical cluster clock adjustment arms finally gave out so one of these 3D printed replacements got ordered in and installed. Quick and easy fix, 10/10 product.

Then made a start on a task I've been putting off for the longest time - addressing the aesthetics, namely the shoddy state of the paintwork. Having zero prior experience in any sort of cutting & polishing it wasn't a task I'd been too confident in taking on, on a black car no less, but having pretty much resigned to eventually needing a full respray anyway I figured I might as well try my hand at it. Worst comes to worst it would just bring the timeline forward. Armed with some hands-on knowledge through a detailing clinic with United Car Care and a hodgepodge assortment of products I kicked off the journey.

I started off on the hood as it looked in the most desperate need for a tidy up. Having done several passes with a heavy cut compound on a wool pad and seemingly not making any progress I went with the nuclear option and jumped head first into wet sanding. Not sure if I was doing it right, and it did look pretty scary at times, but somehow I seem to have gotten away with it.

The sequence was as follows:

1. Wash & clay bar.
2. 2000-grit sandpaper on the heavier scratches & imperfections.
3. Several passes with a Koch Chemie H9.01 heavy cut compound on wool pads with a 150mm DA & 75mm polisher for tighter spots.
4. Fill in rock chips, remaining deep scratches and bird dropping etchings with touch-up paint.
5. Menzerna 3 in 1 polish on medium foam pads.
6. Clean down with a quick detailer.
7. Protect with Fireball Pirouette.

Still left with plenty of imperfections with some deep scratches going nowhere and touch-up paint making the inherited damage from the etched in bird sh*t only ever so slightly less apparent. Never going to win any awards but still heaps better than the swirly, scratched up mess that it was before. Will make turning up to club meets that wee bit less embarrassing anyway so have to be happy with the effort.

[Vass 831]

I then took a detour and decided to try and hunt down the annoying rattle coming somewhere from the passenger door region that had been eating away at me for months. Having taken the door card off I was greeted with this.

Guess that's a quicker way of replacing a window regulator. I've of course had the door cards off before but somehow it hadn't registered. It would have been prior to the engine swap so the priorities would have been elsewhere. I then reached into the door and discovered a handful of glass shards. 

Would never have noticed it otherwise but the window was of some random brand and not stamped with a BMW logo like the rest of them. Only then I discovered that it was also the only side window to not have window tints. To top it off it also had a row of little gashes on the inside in one place from something rubbing against it. Not enough to notice on its own, but enough to annoy me having discovered it. I'm planning on redoing the window tints all round before next summer so figured I might as well have a set of original windows and not lock in some random, slightly damaged one. So, being the lunatic that I am, I set off to Pick-A-Part for a replacement original window and vapour barrier.

Having carefully peeled away the vapour barrier and taken out the glass, I discovered that the car I'd been scavenging was pre-wired for heated seats. Score! The seats themselves were already taken, which made access to the wiring that much easier. Naturally I turned a quick half-hour trip for a new window glass into a 5-hour mission of extracting the heated seat wiring all in one piece...

Got to satisfy my curiosity in knowing exactly how it was done from factory and have the full kit ready for when I eventually get around to ripping my interior apart again.

What started off as trying to chase down a rattle had well and truly snowballed out of control. With the window out, I figured why stop there - I might as well remove the door handle and give the whole door a good cut and polish as well. It definitely needed it.

From there on, the window regulator also came out, as did the whole door lock mechanism and everything else along with it until all that remained was the wiring.

"But hey, since you've got it all apart, why not install some sound deadening", said my stupid brain.

The door panel got the same treatment as the hood, minus the wet sanding. Came out pretty sweet.

The door cavity got a proper cleanout with a vacuum and blown out with compressed air. The door lock mechanism, door handle and window regulator got cleaned and lubed up with some white lithium grease. All internals reassembled, I sealed it by taking a heat gun to the butyl tape attached to the new vapour barrier and sticking it on nice and snug. All the door and window rubbers also got some Gummi Pfledge treatment whilst I was at it.

Not that there was anything noticeably wrong with it prior but the door handle and window regulator now seem to operate slightly smoother, and the door sounds that wee bit less tinny when slamming it shut. Took it for a quick test drive around the block and...

...the damn rattle is still there.

Looks like it might have been the seat belt trim inside the B-pilar all along.

Cars are pain.

[Karter16 405]

7 hours ago, Vass said:

...the damn rattle is still there.

The clips that hold the bowden cable all in place and intact? The coupe arrangement is slightly different but for me it was the bowden cable having more lateral play than it should that was a big contributor to rattles. 

[Vass 831]

1 minute ago, Karter16 said:

The clips that hold the bowden cable all in place and intact? The coupe arrangement is slightly different but for me it was the bowden cable having more lateral play than it should that was a big contributor to rattles. 

The ones for the window regulator you mean? I believe so. There's one clip and one zip tie holding them to the door panel and have padded sheeting in other places, on the sedan/wagon anyway. There's also a weird plastic piece that runs vertically up the panel that wedges the lock mechanism cable against the door that had a bit of wiggle room. Secured it in place with some duct tape at both attachment points but no luck. It's really weird as there's no rattles at all when you try shaking the door, the slight vibration rattle is only there when driving. 

[Vass 831]

Continued on with the 'gentrification' by dropping in a new brake booster & master cylinder. Not that it necessarily needed it worth replacing after 20+ years of service since it was the last untouched component that could have been responsible for a suspected slight vacuum leak. Went with an OE ATE booster with a Febi master cylinder. Would have loved an ATE unit for the latter as well but unfortunately it was backordered, as were all other variants apart from the Febi one on Spareto and I wasn't keen on a 28 day wait. Febi obviously used a different casting method than the original but didn't look too bad quality wise. I guess time will tell as to its longevity.

Transferred over the sensors, hoses and reservoir. I flushed the brake fluid when doing the engine swap and it still looked fresh up top, until I removed the strainer tube that revealed a puddle of black sludge sitting at the bottom of the reservoir. Glad to have all that washed out.

With the booster disconnected I used the opportunity to easily take out the pedal box and change out the plastic pedal bushes. I hadn't thought of getting new ones at the time of the swap but did get a fresh set in the meantime, was just waiting for a chance to drop them in. I hadn't noticed any issues during normal operation but did notice the clutch pedal having some excessive side-to-side play when removing it, something that the new bushes tightened right up.

The bleeding procedure was made infinitely easier by the cheapo pressure bleeder kit I picked up recently. Best $100 ever spent! Made the whole process an absolute breeze even as a one-man-band. Got the major bubbles out on all 4 corners, then ran the ABS bleeding procedure through INPA by routing my dedicated scanning laptop under the car using a bunch of USB cable extensions and bleeding the brakes through thoroughly once more. Then did the clutch and job's a good 'un.

Whilst under there, I also drained the ATF from the gearbox and replaced it with some Redline MTL that @Sammo had generously given away. Absolute legend, owe you one mate. Threw on a new set of drain plugs along with it.

Having driven it a few times since, naturally the MTL alone didn't make a night and day difference but feels like it added that little bit more weight to the shifts, making it feel a tad more solid and robust. I'm sure it also offers a bit more protection than the ATF so definitely glad to have the proper stuff in there now. Might be placebo but it also seems to have made it less prone to lurching when taking off in 1st gear.

A bunch of effort for some slight 1% gains, all to get it closer to the point where I can just take the car out and enjoy driving it without fretting over something or another needing worked on. Finally getting there.

[Eagle 1662]

Worthwhile improvements.

[Vass 831]

Took care of some under the hood aesthetics to finish things off. The sagging fabric insulation was becoming an eye sore having shrunk to the point where the sides began to sag as the tabs wouldn't clip in anymore. Not sure if it serves much of a functional purpose, a lot of people seem to remove them altogether. Didn't want to leave it completely exposed as it looked a bit untidy so grabbed a foam one that the 4-cylinder cars came with. Also noticed the hood latches rusted up beyond the point that I could clean up so swapped those out for a couple of tidy ones as well. The release hook/handle had also been annoying me as every time you opened the hood it would press up against the grille and push it out so realigned it properly.

I tacked on a pair of cheapo Maxgear xenon bulbs onto my latest order and now threw those in. The old bulbs were mismatched so just wanted something matching and at that price was worth a shot. Made quite a massive difference, straight away being noticeably brighter and of an even tone. Mint.

[Vass 831]

Put in an order on a bunch of backordered genuine bits through Schmiedmann a while back. After a month-and-a-bit wait the package arrived.

Mostly aesthetic stuff as well as some random maintenance items and titbits that never seem to be held in stock anywhere. Most exciting bits were the boot storage tray hook and nice new chrome tips for the ugly tailpipes.

Also got a new DME relay (as per @Olaf's suggestion), a windshield washer strainer tube/rubber seal that had started leaking somehow, boot floor cargo straps, caps for front and rear washer reservoirs etc. etc.

I'd been having a niggling issue with the windshield wipers where they would occasionally get "stuck" and refuse to work consistently. On intermittent mode, every second/third sweep they'd try to engage, jump a few cm, then abort the mission straight away and skip a sweep or two, then go back to working normally. In constant-on mode they'd work as they should. I wanted to get a brand new wiper relay along with the DME one but somehow a wiper relay is ~5x the price of a main relay ($30 vs $180...) so abandoned that thought with a quickness. Luckily I had a few spare used ones laying around, threw one of them in and the issue seems to have gone away. Another small annoyance ticked off the list.

With the car in the garage for some other work I decided to tackle the starter replacement in my never-ending quest to hunt down the source of that niggly startup rattle. After much deliberation I went with a Hella brand one that originated from... *shock and horror*

Size wise, the body of the Hella unit is slightly longer than the old Bosch one but fit in all the same. The old Bosch didn't show any noticeable wear but shaking it did produce a rattling noise that the new unit didn't have so I was hopeful it might be the culprit behind my paranoia.

Went the least invasive route of tackling it - from the underside without removing neither the intake nor the gearbox. Not the most fun of jobs but got it done with the help of some wrist gymnastics, long extensions and swivel sockets. Ended up essentially doing the whole mission twice. Having hooked up the electrical leads the first time around and managing to start the bolts after a healthy dose of fiddling, the starter flat out refused to go all the way in with the dowel pin getting stuck half way on. After a bunch of swearing I gave up and ripped it back out and decided to try it on the starter adapter plate I'd made out of an old transmission bell housing when hunting for the oil leak post engine rebuild.

Turns out the opening was just ever so slightly too tight and it would get stuck on the pin half way on. Filed away at it a little bit to open it up and things went much smoother at the second attempt.

I've barely driven the car post install (because reasons) but, incredibly annoyingly, during the few startups it has had since the rattle still seems to be present.

It must either be the gearbox itself or some sort of mental illness at this point.

[Vass 831]

On the first drive post subframe work last year I was going 80 on the motorway near Kaiapoi, going round the bend I suddenly spot a pair of steel cap boots smack in the middle of the road. Only caught sight of them at the very last second due to the car in front and had no time or space for any evasive manoeuvres so ended up running straight over them with a nasty sounding clunk. Didn't think much of it but later on discovered the damage - they'd busted through the plastic arch liner behind the driver side front wheel.

Beyond the gaping hole, the liners didn't look great and were also cracked where they meet the front bumper on either side. Thought about replacing them but hadn't yet gotten to the point where I could justify dropping $164+GST each through the dealership. Then stumbled upon a set of aftermarket ones on Spareto, costing just 18€ + 11€ shipping each so around $100 shipped for both. Seemed a decent deal so tacked it on to my starter+brake booster order and was soon greeted with this ridiculously bulky package coming home one day.

How this cost just $30-odd to ship all the way from Europe I have no idea but I'm not complaining.

Proceeded to strip the old liners off only to discover the catch. The material of the replacement liners didn't feel great but seemed sturdy enough. The problem was the fitment though. The aftermarket one has a weird bulge where the original wraps around the chassis and is also missing one opening for where the reinforcement plate bolts in. Could probably be chopped up a bit and made to work but I couldn't bother with it. Was worth the punt at that price but will eventually get brand new front and rear liners when I've got a spare ~$700 burning a hole in my pocket. For now just duct taped up the new hole and smacked the old liners back on.

With the liners and wings off the car I took the chance to give the area a good clean. Man did it need one...

20 years worth of mud, dirt and rotten leaves. Got a good scoop full from either side. Enough to start a wee veggie patch.

Also took off the side skirts and cleaned up in behind those as well. With the wings and skirts off I gave them a cut and polish and touched up the worst stone chips & scratches to continue on with the detailing mission, also treating a couple of minor surface rust spots in the newly exposed areas.