MRyan Posted April 18, 2016 Report Share Posted April 18, 2016 Hey all, After about 6 months away from BMW ownership with an Alfa, I have seen the light and returned! I'm not sure if any folks remember my Clubsport from before the black SSG, but I found I was missing having a 330i with a manual gearbox in a funky colour. Which brings us to my latest purchase! A 330Ci individual in velvet blue, 84k and 1 owner from new its been a well looked after car with lots of documentation, I even have the original bill of sale from BMW in Milton Keynes, along with some pictures on the guys driveway when he got it home! Plans are to sort the slightly badly resprayed front wings, and possibly (probably) lower it on the future with some attention towards wheels. I'll let pictures do the talking, and its good to be back! On top of the wings I've got a couple of niggles to sort - the CD changer magazine is stuck, and my drivers heated seat powers off immediately after trying to turn it on! lynch86, The Laird, jamesfoley and 3 others 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bennno2005 Posted April 18, 2016 Report Share Posted April 18, 2016 Looks nice - good colour combo! I thought the Alfa was purchased to save money?! What happened there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MRyan Posted April 18, 2016 Author Report Share Posted April 18, 2016 That was exactly the purpose of the Alfa, and while it was good on fuel it cost me far more in repairs then it should have! In the end it would have been cheaper for me to run the SSG daily by a long shot - but at least I can say I've tried Alfa ownership now bloody thing. Onwards and upwards with this, I probably should have bought a diesel powered one but I missed the straight six power delivery and sound - like the Clubsport this one will likely be a keeper for me, the only reason the Clubsport ever left my ownership was due to it being written off by an elderly driver. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bennno2005 Posted April 18, 2016 Report Share Posted April 18, 2016 (edited) 22 minutes ago, MRyan said: That was exactly the purpose of the Alfa, and while it was good on fuel it cost me far more in repairs then it should have! In the end it would have been cheaper for me to run the SSG daily by a long shot - but at least I can say I've tried Alfa ownership now bloody thing. Onwards and upwards with this, I probably should have bought a diesel powered one but I missed the straight six power delivery and sound - like the Clubsport this one will likely be a keeper for me, the only reason the Clubsport ever left my ownership was due to it being written off by an elderly driver. Haha probably wise to get rid of the SSG though as I've heard they are trouble! Got to love a clubby, I'm on my second now! Edited April 18, 2016 by bennno2005 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamesfoley Posted April 18, 2016 Report Share Posted April 18, 2016 Love the colour, makes me want to swap my coupe for a vert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanGamble Posted April 18, 2016 Report Share Posted April 18, 2016 (edited) Nice choice! I couldn't stay away for long either.. Edited April 18, 2016 by DanGamble The_Judge_, The Laird and sdjfaulkes 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MRyan Posted April 18, 2016 Author Report Share Posted April 18, 2016 Thanks chaps, it's great being back! Even if I have smashed through half a tank in two days haha! Dan that's lovely, when did you get that? I was hoping the buyer of the SSG would keep me informed on how it's doing but he hasn't said anything, I can't spot it on here either - it's chugging away out there still according to the DVLA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedDevil Posted April 18, 2016 Report Share Posted April 18, 2016 Great purchase , love that colour and imola red Ruesta 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanGamble Posted April 19, 2016 Report Share Posted April 19, 2016 12 hours ago, MRyan said: Thanks chaps, it's great being back! Even if I have smashed through half a tank in two days haha! Dan that's lovely, when did you get that? I was hoping the buyer of the SSG would keep me informed on how it's doing but he hasn't said anything, I can't spot it on here either - it's chugging away out there still according to the DVLA. Bought it about 2 months ago! Managed to pick up a girlfriend while i had the S2000 and she was struggling to get all of her suitcases when she stays the night in the boot.. What are your plans for the vert? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2clubsp Posted April 19, 2016 Report Share Posted April 19, 2016 Seems a bit mean to make your girlfriend spend a night in the boot. Velvet blue ftmfw! The_Judge_, Ruesta and jamesfoley 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanGamble Posted April 19, 2016 Report Share Posted April 19, 2016 3 minutes ago, 2clubsp said: Seems a bit mean to make your girlfriend spend a night in the boot. Velvet blue ftmfw! Needs must mate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MRyan Posted April 19, 2016 Author Report Share Posted April 19, 2016 1 hour ago, DanGamble said: Bought it about 2 months ago! Managed to pick up a girlfriend while i had the S2000 and she was struggling to get all of her suitcases when she stays the night in the boot.. What are your plans for the vert? Pahaha phrasing! Yeah that's fair enough mate, I love the fact that the E46 is such a good all rounder - its one of the big appeals for me. Has your mate still got the tidy silver coupe? At the moment I'm hideously poor after a string of Alfa repairs on top of the saving efforts but once finances are back in order hopefully next month, I'll be getting the front wings sorted at a local bodyshop - I've also got the heated seat issue to attend to! I think for now I'll be enjoying it over the summer and keeping it standard, but the first change will be some new wheels with some dish I imagine - then it'll be going on a set of HSDs (3rd bloody set I'll have purchased ) shortly before the yearly trip to the ring in September. I'll be doing some fairly thorough maintenance too as usual, I.e. on top of a service i'll attend to the usual neglected bits like the cooling system, transmission fluids, power steering fluid etc - basically try and keep her fresh! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanGamble Posted April 19, 2016 Report Share Posted April 19, 2016 Ha yea he still is running around in his. Was the only thing putting me off about buying the one i got because we work together so when we park next to each other it's a bit.. Looking forward to the evolution of it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MRyan Posted April 27, 2016 Author Report Share Posted April 27, 2016 So a couple of little updates on the car! I gave it a service last weekend, so I now know the oil and consumables are fresh for now - and I'm still loving driving everywhere with the roof down where possible, which hasnt been this week due to it bloody snowing First bit of bad news, I sent it in for a wheel balancing today and they've told me the insides are corroded and in need of a refurb to be balanced - apparently my original balance weights have been falling off which is why its unbalanced in the first place. So i'm waiting for a refurb guy to arrive there for a quote, but its badly timed and may have to go on the credit card which sucks. The other niggle is the thermostat, which is also booked in next week - I'm trying to get the car in top shape for a road trip up to Scafell Pike on the 5th. So no fun modifications yet, just expense - but nothing huge I guess. Next update will have pictures I promise! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MRyan Posted May 1, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 1, 2016 Right so I had some spare hours this afternoon and did some jobs on grape! I bought one of the fruity car cables aux leads but couldnt get it to work, due to my CD changer being jammed which left the headunit reading 'No Cassette' - even though I was unplugging the CD changer to put the aux lead in it just gave me the same message and didnt work lol so I swapped out my CD changer with a healthy one (free from a colleague!) and voila, it loaded a disk - and my aux lead then worked when I plugged that in instead. So thats now plumbed in and I'm a happy chappy! And I've been doing some tarting up of the calipers with some silver high temp paint, and cleaned out the arches with some pressure washing followed by a load of underseal so hopefully my arches and sills will remain clear of rust for a while! And a nice clean car for good measure, taken yesterday before I got crap all over it again pressure washing the arches out! avalaugh and Ruesta 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LJColeman Posted May 1, 2016 Report Share Posted May 1, 2016 Looks very smart mate, I would love to get the side skirts off mine to clean them & behind them, how easy are they to remove? What did you under seal with? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MRyan Posted May 1, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 1, 2016 It's definitely worth doing mate, not just for the OCD joy but to actually catch it before it starts rotting! They're really easy to get off, just remove the mushroom clips underneath them and then they pop off along the top edge - I normally start from the rear. Ruesta 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MRyan Posted May 9, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 9, 2016 So the cars now had a new thermostat to cure the lack of heating up, which happened midway through last week! And over the weekend I had my first road trip in it all the way up to Cumbria to climb Scafell Pike, the roads around the lake district were so much fun! We drove all the twistys around the mountain itself and around the Lakes, and decided to take a long cut through the Wrynose pass on the way back - definitely worth a drive for anyone visiting the lake districts, its a mental road. The sun was out for all of the 3 day trip, so the roof was pretty much down for all 700 miles of driving I'm burnt as hell. Couple of pictures of course... RedDevil, ibrahimx2001, Ballard330 and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADT Posted May 9, 2016 Report Share Posted May 9, 2016 Wow that colour is !!! Tempting, I'm going to do my arches too hopefully in the next couple of weeks. What mount is that for your gopro? how does it hold against speed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mRd Posted May 9, 2016 Report Share Posted May 9, 2016 Hi mate, Welcome back! I was thinking where you gone, and then I saw your old SSG , well the guy was breaking it as you might know.. I love your new purchase! Keep up a good job and I hope to see you soon! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MRyan Posted May 9, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 9, 2016 I'll dig out the mount tomorrow and let you know ADT, it's absolutely solid though! Definitely recommend it after testing it on those windy bumpy roads. Yes mrd! I was looking through your progress thread and the cars looking epic now man - we need to sort a south east meet at some stage. I hadn't heard anything about the old SSG, that's a shame - was it on here? I assume the gearbox was the end of it if that's the case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADT Posted May 10, 2016 Report Share Posted May 10, 2016 Cheers mate look forward to that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MRyan Posted May 10, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 10, 2016 Apparently its a 'PanaVise' mount ADT! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADT Posted May 10, 2016 Report Share Posted May 10, 2016 2 hours ago, MRyan said: Apparently its a 'PanaVise' mount ADT! Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MRyan Posted May 15, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 15, 2016 Clean picture from the other day, just because I like clean car pictures So I'm considering my suspension options, on the last few its been HSD coilovers which have been great for lowering it and track use. I'm not sure whether or not to take the same approach on this one as its cruisy and comfortable at the moment! It is however in need of a bit of lowering because I can't help myself lol I'm thinking some Eibach springs! Has anyone with a convertible had any experience with them? It seems like I can only get the Pro Kit ones which don't lower the car as much (might have that the wrong way round) - I basically want the front down and to get rid of the reverse rake. On 5/9/2016 at 18:40, mRd said: Hi mate, Welcome back! I was thinking where you gone, and then I saw your old SSG , well the guy was breaking it as you might know.. I love your new purchase! Keep up a good job and I hope to see you soon! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Also mRd, any chance you know where the SSG breaking info was? Just for my curiosity! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...