My 7th Z Thread

[Barty]

Red and black is such a classic and timeless combination; you can't go wrong. Cockpit looks absolutely lovely. Leather appears to be a little shiny perhaps, but no doubt that's on the detailing list

Some nice and subtle changes planned, looking forward to seeing the M3 brace. It's definitely something worth doing for the looks alone, a bit of engine bay-decoration never hurt anyone.

[True-Blue]

Yes, leather in very good condition just picked up some oils over the years. Some of it is still nicely mat, and I’ll be giving my best efforts to get it all cleaned back to a lovely mat finish

[True-Blue]

Well, I’ve been really busy since I picked this car up a week ago,

Jobs for this weekend are;

to assess the suspension, I need to take the car out on some roads I know well and decide whether to keep the current set up and try and tweak it a bit, or move to B12 or B4’s and Eibach Springs. I had the B12 kit on another E85 and it is a good compromise between handling and ride quality IMHO.

I know many on here swear by B4’s and Eibach Pro’s so that another option.

I’m going to give the car a proper once over to see if there’s anything I’ve missed, but I think it’s a good un’

I’m going to have a look at cleaning the engine bay and the interior, neither are bad at all, both could be better

Oh, and the search continues for 107’s or 224’s….. but I might be leaning slightly towards genuine 18’’ 405m’s in a square set up

[True-Blue]

I’ve made a start…… stage 1 of seat cleaning complete, didn’t have a lot of time but wanted to feel I’d done something this weekend

They need more work on the cleaning front, not happy with them yet (was just a quick job) before conditioning with a non-glossy conditioner, and I’ve not touched the door cards yet.

Winding back the clock on 15 years of dirt, grime and no doubt leather polish

Before, everything looked at bit shiny like this;

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After;

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[Barty]

Lovely result, looks good! Nice matte finish and a massive transformation from their shiny state

[True-Blue]

Lovely result, looks good! Nice matte finish and a massive transformation from their shiny state

Cheers

They’ve come up reasonably well for 45 minutes with a ‘magic’ sponge and some water. Going to do them properly with a dilute APC, a gentle detailing brush and mopping up the grime with clean microfibre cloths when I have a little more time

[True-Blue]

Spent a bit more time on the leather,

Decided to give Dr Leather cleaner and Gtechniq L1 leather protector a go. Pretty happy with the results;

With the Gtechniq applied but not dry, added a bit of unwanted sheen
;

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And after about half an hour, starting to Matt down a bit;

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[bigwinn]

Great looking car there matey!

[True-Blue]

Great looking car there matey!

Thank you, yes I really like this one

[True-Blue]

I’ve been doing a little Z4 shopping and bagged a set of 107’s, the car has spacers on with the 108’s already so I know they’ll fit perfectly.

Got them booked in for a referb on the 10th/11th November… think I’m going light shadow Chrome or Sparkle Silver, decisions, decisions

[Mr Tidy]

Great news, I've always liked the 107s and the 108s are such a PITA for corrosion and lacquer lifting!

I really fancied Shadow Chrome when I got my 224s refurbed, but went for Glitter Silver in the end as they could match it if, or more realistically when, I kerbed one.

Looking forward to seeing what you do go for in the end.

[True-Blue]

Yeah, the 108’s on mine are very good (one has a slight touched in kerb mark) no corrosion at all after a proper referb by a previous owner and been garaged since.

I’ll be selling the 108’s once the 107’s are on

107 is such a classic wheel for the E85

[True-Blue]

I’ve been a bit busy lately, what with the one thing and another…

Anyway, BC racing coilovers removed and sold to a fellow forum member for use on a track biased E86, I think they’ll be very good for that and much more at home there than on a B road roadster.

Suspension refreshed front and rear with all new parts, Standard Sachs shocks, Lemforder top mounts, Eibach Springs, spring plates, new nuts, bolts and spring seat rubbers etc from BMW Cheltenham.

I’ve just been out in it and it’s transformed, I’m sure it would be slower around a track but it’s much more pleasing to pilot around the local B roads

In addition, it seems NVH is significantly reduced making the Scorpion cat back much more enjoyable. I was in two minds about keeping it, but having rubber in the front and rear top mounts again had weirdly changed the exhaust noise in the cabin… in a good way

Also have some alternative forged BMW 18’s on the way, so looking forward to getting those on and shedding 3kg per corner compared to the 108’s

[Mr Tidy]

It's good to hear that your suspension mods have improved things all round, even the exhaust note!

Looking forward to seeing a photo of your news wheels.

[dhobbs]

Good that the suspension refresh has gone well.
Shame that you're enjoying the exhaust as I'm sure they'll be a long queue to take it off your hands