Since my last post I've spend a lot of time with children in hospital and busy with a major go-live at work. I have however managed to drive the car a number of times and enjoy the CSL seats. They make such a difference to the driving experience, you feel so much more connected to the road, held in place, and also means a noticeably quieter interior as they don't move or squeak at all.
I've also been working on furthering the refresh of the interior.
To this end I dropped by M3_Power's the other day and picked up this:

It's a slippery slope.... The quality of the console is amazing, and I was surprised how lightweight it is (which I shouldn't have been given its carbon fibre). Replacing the standard console with this one gives me multiple benefits. Firstly of course it's awesome, secondly it will be nice to not have my elbow bumping into it, thirdly it gives me the opportunity to properly pull the standard one apart and rebuild it without the squeaks (I purchased a number of replacement parts for it some time ago, so will be able to get to work on it once I've swapped it out).
I have an order coming for the other bits and pieces I need for the console-swap (mounting bracket, handbrake boot, etc.), so actually swapping it in will probably be a Christmas holidays job.
The other thing I picked up from M3_Power was this:

The MSport interior (G7AT) uses the same Laser cloth centres as the CSL seats, and the bolsters are Alcantara. The Alcantara is very close in colour to the Amaretta that comes on the CSL seats, it's a couple of shades different, but close enough that you can't tell unless you put them side by side. This is great for me as it means I can put my black leather rear seat into storage along with the fronts to keep them in good condition and can have rears in the car that pretty much match the CSL fronts. I need to give these seats a clean, but also before they go in the car I have a few other things to do.
Under the rear seat is a butyl-like sound deadening insulation. As we know this goes brittle over time. I removed mine intending to replace it, but when I looked up the part number to replace it I encountered something interesting.
The part number on what I removed is 51488204055 and is indeed the butyl-style item. Checking on realoem, etc. however this part is not listed as ever having been spec'd to the M3, only to the standard 3 series! As we know realoem isn't infallible, so likely what has happened is that it was used from the factory and then superseded at a later time, and realoem isn't showing the history. I intend to dig into it in more detail when I get a chance. The item that realoem lists (51488252759) is a newer woolly type item as used on newer BMWs. It's very lovely and it looks like this:

Although it's not the original item, it should be better in every respect, will last better, weighs less than half as much, etc. So I decided to go ahead and order it. It's on it's way and again will hopefully be here in time for the Christmas break.
The other thing I need to do with the rear seat out is remove the access covers for the fuel pumps, strip them and repaint them, as they are rusting along one edge where moisture has presumably come down through the seat. At the same time I'll strip and repaint the ISOFix anchors as well. Once all that's done then I'll put the new to me rear seat in.
In the same order I've ordered a bunch of other bits and pieces, notably including Titan Shadow dash trim to replace my silver set.
I've also ordered some BM-3109 fabric to have a go at redoing the A/B/C pillars. I object to the current price of new ones, and also many people have had trouble recently with the fabric not matching on new items from BMW, so I'll go the DIY route first. If it's not successful (e.g. if I'm not skilled enough at upholstery) then I'll stump up the cash.
Oh and I finally ordered a replacement ISOFix cover which was actually the very first part I put on my "parts to purchase" spreadsheet back in 2015!
Anyway - lots of bits and pieces on the go, hopefully everything arrives in time for the Christmas break, when I will hopefully have some time here and there to apply some of the increasing pile of parts to the car 🙂
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