Montego Blue E86 is Long Gone - Z4MC Diff Rebuild

[lucasxdiniz]

That's weird. When I check, I get 30. I think I chose all the right options as my Vin is there, one of the last ones too.

Ah, that makes sense now. You have the "INDIVIDUAL TEILLEDER CHAMPAGNE" - I was looking at the "INDIVIDAUL WLKNAPPA CHAMPAGNE"!

I didn't even realise there were two kinds until you pointed it out. Tried Googling the difference between the two, but haven't found an answer. I'm assuming they're exactly the same colour (as the colour I ordered for the restoration was for 'INDIVIDAL WLKNAPPA CHAMPAGNE'), but mine is an inferior leather. Teilleder seems to translate as 'part leather' from german, so it's probably some sort of synthetic leather, or just no extended leather. And those 4 other cars have the nicer extended leather interior.

[Mr Tidy]

I didn't even realise there were two kinds until you pointed it out. Tried Googling the difference between the two, but haven't found an answer. I'm assuming they're exactly the same colour (as the colour I ordered for the restoration was for 'INDIVIDAL WLKNAPPA CHAMPAGNE'), but mine is an inferior leather. Teilleder seems to translate as 'part leather' from german, so it's probably some sort of synthetic leather, or just no extended leather. And those 4 other cars have the nicer extended leather interior.

You got further than me with the translation! Part Leather makes sense, as I have seen photos of seats with half-leather, but full Oregon leather was standard on 3.0Sis in the UK.

If you put the last 7 characters of your VIN into one of these sites you can get the full OEM spec which will tell you for sure what you have:- https://www.bing.com/search?q=bmw+vin+d ... US&PC=DCTS

[lucasxdiniz]

I've finally took the centre storage out of the car to see if I could fix the door hinge and to find the CDC wires so I could connect my GROM-BT3 to the E86.

The GROM is neatly stuck to the side now with double-sided tape, and in the future I can access and remove it from the driver's side cubbyhole.



It seems I can't fix the centre storage door hinge as the screwed-in bracket (see red arrow) is missing, and one of the pins in the door has snapped off.



It was good to check this as now I'm sure I can't just buy any available centre storage trim and swap bits & pieces to mine - I have handsfree bluetooth and all centre storage doors for sale on eBay are the simpler one with a pen and notepad holder, and whatever I have is plastic welded to the front of the door.

[lucasxdiniz]

Today my new front number plate arrived, one of those suction mounted ones that you can remove & re-install whenever you want. I'll see how it holds up to daily driving. If it doesn't do well, then I'll do a magnetic number plate mod.



I also gave the car a quick polish last night with AutoGlym's Super Resin Polish. It didn't do much to get rid of fine swirls, but it did remove some scratches and the colour is definitely more 'alive' now and I haven't even sealed it yet with Extra Gloss Protection.

[Thrustyjust]

Awesome change. Found the car as advertised and the transformation is amazing. Made me cringe seeing the condition is was sadly in. Will meet up at some point as not far from you and will gate crash the Montego's with a Sapphire
Did you replace the front bumper or repair it ?

[lucasxdiniz]

Awesome change. Found the car as advertised and the transformation is amazing. Made me cringe seeing the condition is was sadly in. Will meet up at some point as not far from you and will gate crash the Montego's with a Sapphire
Did you replace the front bumper or repair it ?

I'm always happy to chat with other Z4 owners

The front bumper was repaired with plastic weld, number plate holes were filled and the bumper got a respray. The body shop did a pretty good job, I can't tell the bumper was ever repaired looking at the damaged area.

[Mr Tidy]

The front bumper was repaired with plastic weld, number plate holes were filled and the bumper got a respray. The body shop did a pretty good job, I can't tell the bumper was ever repaired looking at the damaged area.

Very nice - that's a much cleaner look at the front.

I hope you can make it to the Black Swan on Sunday morning.

[lucasxdiniz]

The front bumper was repaired with plastic weld, number plate holes were filled and the bumper got a respray. The body shop did a pretty good job, I can't tell the bumper was ever repaired looking at the damaged area.

Very nice - that's a much cleaner look at the front.

I hope you can make it to the Black Swan on Sunday morning.

I will be there! Did lots of work on the car this week, even pulled an all-nighter yesterday to finish the brakes (new pads, discs and painting everything properly) & headlight refurb (including projector out for cleaning). I'll post some befores and after tomorrow when I take some photos.

[lucasxdiniz]

I replaced my brakes with Drilled Only M-Tec Discs & Green Stuff pads. Breaks are still bedding in/scrapping the coating off, so performance is not as good as I think it will get, but I've had this exact set-up in my MX5 and it was great in comparison to the stock setup - pretty much eliminating brake fade in spirited B-roads blasts. Might not work as well in a much faster, and heavier car, but time will tell.

Before & afters:

[lucasxdiniz]

Finally replaced the interior dash trim. Many thanks to synthedup for contacting me and promptly sending me the part that needed to be changed ASAP for the interior to look nice.

[james28]

looking amazing fella wouldn't expect anything less your vert was stunning too.
Enjoy and looking forward to seeing in the metal.

[Thrustyjust]

Looks amazing. The only thing , from experience on drilled discs is the propagation of cracks from the sharp edge of the hole to the disc surface . I used to use a countersink bit and put a 45 deg radius on the holes, to prevent a 'hot spot' in that area and the start of a crack. Takes 5 mins with the disc on the bench. Sadly they are now on the cor which makes it a little awkward to say the least for the rear holes.

[lucasxdiniz]

Looks amazing. The only thing , from experience on drilled discs is the propagation of cracks from the sharp edge of the hole to the disc surface . I used to use a countersink bit and put a 45 deg radius on the holes, to prevent a 'hot spot' in that area and the start of a crack. Takes 5 mins with the disc on the bench. Sadly they are now on the cor which makes it a little awkward to say the least for the rear holes.

Thank you! They already have a 45° chamfer, which I'm guessing is what you meant

[Thrustyjust]

Looks amazing. The only thing , from experience on drilled discs is the propagation of cracks from the sharp edge of the hole to the disc surface . I used to use a countersink bit and put a 45 deg radius on the holes, to prevent a 'hot spot' in that area and the start of a crack. Takes 5 mins with the disc on the bench. Sadly they are now on the cor which makes it a little awkward to say the least for the rear holes.

Thank you! They already have a 45° chamfer, which I'm guessing is what you meant

Thats great to know it was done Sorry I wont see the car today as got family things this morning , but catch up soon

[lucasxdiniz]

Finally got around to doing one of my favourite interior 'mods', routing charging cables inside the centre console/dash so the ash tray lid can remain closed and no cable is visible when my phone is on charge or the passenger's. Another advantage of doing this is that the 12v dual-USB adaptor I used supports QC3.0, so it charges my phone in no time at all.

Adaptor with two right angle USB-C cables that I leave permanently in the 12v adaptor (which also has inbuilt voltmeter):


Driver's side - Cable out just reaching where my charging port would be:


Driver's side - Tucked away:


Passenger's side - Cable out just enough so phone can be left in the storage net, but cable can be pulled further out towards passenger:


Passenger's side - Tucked away:


Same 'mod' in my E85: