Hazzy 61 Report post Posted December 29, 2023 3 hours ago, balancerider said: @Vass the euro plinth from the original car will fit? @Hazzy i reckon it would look even better with the clear (‘euro’ ) corner lights from the parts car Unfortunately the parts car is a facelift model so won't be able to steal any lights from it. Also the corner light is flooded on one side so not so keen on that. I don't think the euro plinth from my current car would fit on the M-Sport properly having had a look at it next to the M-Sport ones I've got. Having seen what Vass did with his seems like the cleanest way to go since I don't want to give the thieves at Kiwiplates $300 for a euro plate. In other news steering system has been repossessed from the parts car, semi tempted to put this into mine whilst I'm up here since I haven't got anywhere to work on the car in Queenstown at the moment. This topic is definitely turning more into project than showroom haha. Photo of it not on jackstands lol. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vass 831 Report post Posted December 29, 2023 Not to push you into further scope creep, but I'd be tempted to do a full facelift conversion 😏 Shouldn't be too involved, just straight swapping parts unless the headlights are different type (halogen vs xenon). Can get a good quality brand new corner light + fender indicator set from Spareto for roughly $50... 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Eagle 1662 Report post Posted December 29, 2023 Purple tag is a must, may have to adapt your turn in as its so precise when the rest of your steering\suspension up to scratch. I am curious what the LF20 feels like with the purple tag rack. My E46 is a bit light in the steering. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hazzy 61 Report post Posted December 30, 2023 (edited) 5 hours ago, Vass said: Not to push you into further scope creep, but I'd be tempted to do a full facelift conversion 😏 Shouldn't be too involved, just straight swapping parts unless the headlights are different type (halogen vs xenon). Can get a good quality brand new corner light + fender indicator set from Spareto for roughly $50... I did consider that as an option but the condition of the bonnet and fenders is worse than mine so just gunna keep it as is. Plus I don't mind the pre facelift look kind of gotten used to it. I think I prefer to the prefacelift lights but prefer to the post facelift hood if that makes sense. My ideal choice would to be to swap the front end of a coupe to give it the M3 look, maybe chuck an S54 in it at the same time... 5 hours ago, Eagle said: Purple tag is a must, may have to adapt your turn in as its so precise when the rest of your steering\suspension up to scratch. I am curious what the LF20 feels like with the purple tag rack. My E46 is a bit light in the steering. Yeah have heard that the LF30's are a bit lighter. Unfortunately I think my LF20 has one foot in the grave so won't be able to test the difference unfortunately. My current rack has the yellow tag rack I think not sure how that compares to purple. Some threads seem to reckon yellow > purple then others purple > yellow so who knows. I could swap just the pump over first then see how that compares, then potentially do the purple later. Not sure if my rack is in the best condition either though and it looks like the purple tag in the parts car was swapped over at some point. One thing to note is that I have the CMP solid coupling in at the moment which helped quite a lot with my steering looseness, although it can be a bit harsh on longer drives I've found, (e.g Queenstown to Auckland...). That could also be because my power steering pump being a bit dodgy though. Parts car has finally been removed from the garage, just need to take that shadowline trim off, front passenger door and some other bits then I can try get rid of it. Also robbed it of the rear touring M-Sport springs so it's got some blocks of wood in there instead. EDIT Trimmed the numberplate as @Vass suggested, definitely looks way cleaner. Currently the numberplate is attached with a bunch of VHB tape but I will replace that some screws when I get back to Queenstown since there's a bunch of screws at work. Edited December 30, 2023 by Hazzy 3 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hazzy 61 Report post Posted January 3 (edited) Touring part out continues, @Vass were any of these the parts you were after? A slight side project of replacing the shocks in my mum's passat caused a bit of a delay but hopefully should get everything done before I head south again. Learnt about the existence of XZN/True square spline fasteners at 10:30pm, thanks VAG... Got to use my $50 spring compressor again, only reason I even offered to do it. Also got the bench grinder out to make a homemade strut spreader which reduced the amount swearing needed to get the things back in again. Anyway, cars looking a lot better with the M-Sport bits. Unfortunately the black shadowline trim from partscar is in a pretty bad condition so I will just stick with the chrome for now until I get a chance to repaint it or whatever. I'm thinking that I will still put the glossy window trim on that matches the power folding mirrors though since thats all in pretty good shape. I've also replaced the passenger side door which had a nasty dent in it, that also happened to fix the god awful noise that door was making whenever I opened it. I've also swapped the power steering pump from the LF-20 to the LF-30, hopefully that fixes the loud noises it's been making. I will possibly swap the rack over to the purple tag at a later date once I've got a new PS reservoir. 𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒆𝒛𝒆 I can definitely see a slight difference in the shade of silver between the partscar bits and the OG car but in person it's pretty hard to tell and realistically it'll probably only be me who notices (and everyone on this forum). At least it's less noticeable than the gnarly dent. Edited January 3 by Hazzy 3 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hazzy 61 Report post Posted January 4 (edited) New power steering pump is in as of last night. Has made a massive difference, the perpetual groaning it was making has vanished and the whole thing feels a lot better. Makes the car far more civilised. I also replaced the ignition coils for some reason. No idea if it made a difference or not probably a waste of money but meh. PrEveNtaTivE mAiNteNanCe. Pretty obvious where the new door is. It honestly is a lot less noticeable in person than photos for some reason. Still, better than the creaky door with the dent. Can always get it repainted if I really wanted. Hopefully someone drives into this door at some point so I can get another respray lol. Still have those glossy window trim things to go on but I can finish that off later if need be. Not the most mint E46 wagon out there but still looking pretty good I reckon. Edited January 4 by Hazzy 5 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hazzy 61 Report post Posted January 6 Got 50% of the glossy trim on, great for showing people what a difference it makes lol. Getting the trim off the parts car was actually pretty easy, even that last panel that is known to be a pain. On my car however that part that Sreten in his E46 series struggled with had me struggling as well. I Got it off but the trim piece was a mangled mess at the end of it, I'm glad the glossy ones came off easily. I'll do the rest when I am back in Queenstown. Pretty big improvement though even people who haven't noticed any of the other things I did seem to think the glossy looks a lot better. Anyway got it all packed up and drove to Wellington yesterday, then ferry back to the south today. Wagon utility coming into it's own here. 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
adro 1083 Report post Posted January 6 Car is looking very sweet! Great work. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hazzy 61 Report post Posted January 22 (edited) Made it back to Queenstown without any real issues a couple weeks back. Car is working mint after the steering pump replacement feels a lot better than it did previously. I didn't really notice a difference in steering weight between the LF-20 and LF-30 surprisingly. Fuel economy was a bit average due to my bike being on the roof but is what it is. Made full use of the touring by cramming a bunch into it. G21 Wagon in the carpark, nice colour. Edited January 22 by Hazzy 5 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Eagle 1662 Report post Posted January 23 Rear sure looks sacked out in some of those shots. Weight in rear? Terrain? or both? 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hazzy 61 Report post Posted January 25 On 1/24/2024 at 11:57 AM, Eagle said: Rear sure looks sacked out in some of those shots. Weight in rear? Terrain? or both? Definitely because of weight in the rear, had my tools right in the back so I could get to them which wouldn't be helping, then a bunch of other stuff weighing it down. Usually it's ride height is a bit more sensible than that. I did grab a set of touring specific M-Sport springs from the parts car so might put them in at some point to see if they're any different to the convertible ones I am currently using. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
