Ultramega's 35i mod & maintenance log

[ultramega]

You also answered my question about how big your garage is…

It's double, but one half is not car compatible. Had I had the foresight to know I would end up doing the woofers, I do have room such that I could have put it in differently and gotten both doors open fully. But moving it wasn't an option with it in bits.

The fitment does look awful..but I understand your pain..

Honestly, I 'm amazed by how secure they are. I cranked them up pretty loud to test that, and there was not a single hint of vibration or resonance when touching the perimeter of them. We'll see if that changes at all when I get them sound-setup correctly.

[ultramega]

Final resting place:

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Couldn't put it where the factory amp would have been as the cable for the remote wasn't long enough! It's more convenient to access where it is now though, and means attaching USB for playing about won't be an issue.

Regarding the remote, despite the cable reaching fine now, I have a problem with it latching. It's a locking mini-din connector, but it won't lock. I'll have to find some way to stop it popping out, but until then I just won't be using it. Bit of a pain, but not as much of a pain as removing and replacing the cable.

The car is all back together now. I'm not going to bother playing about with setting up the DSP until I get the door speakers swapped. I'll get started on that during the week.

[ultramega]

It's been a busy couple of months for me with hardly any time for the zed. Priority has been (and still is) to make progress with my van - it currently seems never ending.

But things have happened to the zed. I got the door speakers swapped out - what a difference having tweeters makes! I also recoded the car to make it think it had hifi rather than base audio. This made an instant, dramatically noticeable improvement to the sound quality. Still haven't done any tweaking to the DSP though.
I then tried to be smart and run the speakers through a burn-in process. This involved having a cable burn-in CD playing on repeat (made by Atlas, the cable manufacturer, consisting of ear-pain-inducing sweeping tones). Despite having the car connected to a trickle charger, this resulted in a completely flat battery the next morning. Thankfully the boot was already open, as it's difficult to open ANY doors with a flat battery.

This fixed things

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The next issue was my daughter asking "Daddy, is your car not a BMW now?"

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Several days later a shiny genuine replacement turned up. Had A LOT of bother getting one of the grills out to access, but managed without breaking any tabs.

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Car has also spent a lot of time sat in my garage feeling lonely. To make it feel better I made a start on polishing out some scratches it has gained over the years.

Before

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After

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Not very easy to photograph, but this is the roof panel. I'm going to make a second pass and hopefully eliminate the scratches entirely.

When I had the car in getting the rear brakes replaced it was noticed that there was a bit of weeping coming from the rear driveshaft seal. That has been cured now as the seals have been replaced.

Part of the reason behind the car sitting in my garage so much is that it's not dog compatible. Obviously I knew this before buying, but... hmm, I've no excuse. I didn't think it would be an issue, but currently it is. Before buying I was flipping back and forth between a Z4 and a M140, and right now it seems like the M140 might have been the better choice. Well, the more sensible choice, but maybe not the better choice! I mentioned this to the wife and she have me a despairing sigh - the Z4 is the 4th car I have had in the last 2 years...

[ultramega]

Well, this beauty has finally gone to its new owner. I'm pleased to say he is very happy with it.
I'm going to do without my "own" car for a while. Thanks to everyone on here for their help over the months.
Don't be surprised if I'm back on here next year with an E86!

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[Mr Tidy]

That's a shame - for you anyway!

But Z4s do seem to be addictive so maybe next year you'll have another.

[mcbutler]

It's been a busy couple of months for me with hardly any time for the zed. Priority has been (and still is) to make progress with my van - it currently seems never ending.

But things have happened to the zed. I got the door speakers swapped out - what a difference having tweeters makes! I also recoded the car to make it think it had hifi rather than base audio. This made an instant, dramatically noticeable improvement to the sound quality. Still haven't done any tweaking to the DSP though.
I then tried to be smart and run the speakers through a burn-in process. This involved having a cable burn-in CD playing on repeat (made by Atlas, the cable manufacturer, consisting of ear-pain-inducing sweeping tones). Despite having the car connected to a trickle charger, this resulted in a completely flat battery the next morning. Thankfully the boot was already open, as it's difficult to open ANY doors with a flat battery.
IMG_1765.jpg

The next issue was my daughter asking "Daddy, is your car not a BMW now?"
IMG_1864.jpg

Several days later a shiny genuine replacement turned up. Had A LOT of bother getting one of the grills out to access, but managed without breaking any tabs.
B709A66D-5D20-4AFE-939A-58EC1CB20FD5.jpg

Car has also spent a lot of time sat in my garage feeling lonely. To make it feel better I made a start on polishing out some scratches it has gained over the years.
IMG_1905.jpg

IMG_1908.jpg
Not very easy to photograph, but this is the roof panel. I'm going to make a second pass and hopefully eliminate the scratches entirely.

When I had the car in getting the rear brakes replaced it was noticed that there was a bit of weeping coming from the rear driveshaft seal. That has been cured now as the seals have been replaced.

Part of the reason behind the car sitting in my garage so much is that it's not dog compatible. Obviously I knew this before buying, but... hmm, I've no excuse. I didn't think it would be an issue, but currently it is. Before buying I was flipping back and forth between a Z4 and a M140, and right now it seems like the M140 might have been the better choice. Well, the more sensible choice, but maybe not the better choice! I mentioned this to the wife and she have me a despairing sigh - the Z4 is the 4th car I have had in the last 2 years...

Its a good idea to get the paint thickness measured before you start heavy polishing, clay bar etc