New World Datsuns...

Uh oh. I bought another BMW. The deal here is, The X5 was simply too nice for me. I was only going to lower its value. So I got rid of it, and made $2500 off of it. So then I went and bought another BMW for....$1000...





Its an 07 X3. And this thing rips. Same motor as the X5, but 800lb lighter. AWD of course. And geared pretty low, at least 1-3 are. Has zero issue passing on the freeway. And it feels super nimble, 130k miles. Black on Beige. But it still has lots of cool features, like auto dimming side mirrors, and heated steering wheel.

Its mostly been sitting. Both rear doors leaked. Sunroof drains clogged. 5 lights on the dash. Registration expired. Turns out washer fluid was out, there was a coolant leak, and well the battery just wanted to get used.

Reset engine codes, fixed the coolant leak. Then I drove it for a week. I could not get the readiness checks for emissions testing to pass, stuck in limbo. As well as the traction control was complaining a lot. So finally, I pulled out my laptop and booted up the BMW software I have, and reset the different computers in the car. The next day I drove it to work and tada! No lights, car was ready for emissions, and the traction control was happy. I think the low battery voltage from sitting had caused some tests to fail and couldnt recover. I imagine disconnecting the battery may have fixed it too.

Anyways, I probably vacuumed about a gallon of water out of the floor boards. The vapor barriers in the rear doors were pretty much 100% not glued down any more. More butyl rubber, and I was able to glue them back down. Front passenger needed a little help too. I also managed to blow out the sunroof drains.

Bought new OEM rubber floor mats. Replaced the Door speakers. And installed a Android head unit again, along with a backup camera. The Android unit came with Wireless Android Auto... something only 2021 new cars have... so thats dope.


Random picture of a new door speaker. Super easy install, used 2 of the original studs, and then just added a washer to clamp down with the 3rd stud. And the results are fantastic. This thing sounds great!


Anyways, next on the chopping block are, new brakes (oh boy do these ones squeal), have the pads havent ordered the rotors; new shocks, ordered, estimated to be a month out; and valve cover gasket replacement, I have the parts, just waiting for mother nature...

This might explain a little to the lag in working on the Datsun...

Nice snag! Not too many people just happen to have BMW software laying around. Was the water in there long enough to get musty or just a short time?

Car smells fine. Also water came out clear. My guess is that it dried out during the summer, and then got soaked this fall. But rain fall has been a bit weird.

Got lucky there. Congrats on the new toy.

$1,000... Killer find for the money. Congrats !

Yep, congrats on that. You couldn’t but a clapped out 2001 corolla for $1000 around here.


Mmm, Alpine. Not sure about now but they used to be fantastic sounding.

Yea, the Alpine speakers sound really good. And the car has the factory under floor subs... but they were not enough.

SUBWOOFER TIME!

So I bought the same sub as I have in the wagon. Alpine mono amp.

First time ever using fiberglass. Needed it to save on space, Im actually impressed I managed to get a sub to fit back here.



Amp wired in. I removed the factory DVD navigation unit. So lucky BMW uses amps, so I manged to tap into the full range audio going to the amp.



Finished the top and 2 sides with MDF, then some black speaker carpet. looks pretty nice, and of course, completely hidden from view.

I did some other work on the car too. New brakes, and struts/shocks. As well as some fluid change.

Both diffs and transfer case got flushed with some nice Motul stuff.

Brakes, I used Centric GCX fully coated rotors, high carbon, not really sure what that does, but the grey coating looks nice. and Pads I went with EBC Red Stuff. Brakes feel incredibly linear and even in this car. I really just wanted to see how EBC pads compared to the StopTechs I have in the wagon.

And struts/shocks, Koni Active. Because I just like them. And no, I did not mean to color match my pads and shocks. Also, the red is a bit much on this car.