Almost not a newbie!

[lucasxdiniz]

Hey everyone!

I thought I would honour one of the forum's 'tradition' -- introduce myself and car -- with my last post as a 'newbie'.

After owning an MX-5 NBFL for exactly a year and modifying everything I could but add forced induction, I thought it was time to move on for something with six cylinders. When I first started looking for my MX-5 I had been offered Z4s, but always kept well away from them as I knew insurance would be very high for me in a high-powered car (1.6 MX5 already was around 1.5k/year). I knew the Z4 would be the superior car, so by ignoring them I could maintain the fantasy that the MX5 was the best car in the world

After £6k in restorations and modifications, I put up the MX-5 for sale for £5k and started looking for a Z4. Obviously I wanted a 3.0l but welcomed any Z4 with a 6-pot; but it turned out insurance companies just refused insuring a 3.0l to a 23yo with only 1 year NCB. So I focused on facelift 2.5i and 2.5si E85s, I ended up finding a 2.5i E85 in Midnight blue with all the optional extras I wanted, with great service history, and most of the bad things already taken car of (e.g. new roof motor moved to the boot, ABS pump, new brake disc and pads, etc) and at a price I couldn't refuse (also significantly cheaper insurance).

The car needed a lot of TLC! Some photos of the day I bought it:

 

[Simmocs330]

Great colour mate, welcome.

 

[lucasxdiniz]

What do people do when they get a new car? Drive it and clean it! First day of ownership involved a 150 miles drive and 12 hours of detailing the car:

I think I covered the car in snow foam at least 3 times pre-wash as I decontaminated the wheels and calipers:



Some before & afters (clay-bared then hand polished):










Some after-shots of the engine bay:


https://i.imgur.com/cNAguGY.jpg[img]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/sj52V9j.jpg

Headlights were machine-polished (RHS headlight had been polished, LHS had not):



After-shots of the interior (there was a huge difference, but the photos don't show it, so not point in before & afters):

 

[lucasxdiniz]

I loved the looks of the E85 Z4, but after washing it for the first time, I truly paid attention to the lines of the body and fell in love with the shape of the car. I honestly can't stop looking at my car

First photos I took after cleaning the car and feeling like it was truly mine:

 

[firebobby]

What a difference you have made to it, looks stunning. Nice to see another wood dash car on the forum, getting quite a few now

 

[buzyg]

Great before and after shots. Enjoy your new P & J.

Noubt wrong with the Mx5 though. Just need another 150 HP. :wink:

 

[Dave 2 dogs]

NOW it’s being loved !!!!
Quality before n after shots
I still miss my e 85 .... it’s very difficult to buy one and NOT fall in love with it . Glad you already have the bug . I’m sure you’re love Will only grow , as it has for lots of us . Now , the question is .... you say most things have been done already..... let’s see how long it is before your first mod pops up I said I wouldn’t touch mine.... that didn’t go to work plan . And after what you said about your other car .... it’s almost a given .... keep us posted, beautiful car with beautiful colour combination

 

[paddy wright]

Beautiful- welcome along!

 

[lucasxdiniz]

After the car had been fully cleaned, little 'changes' here and there started to happen. First in my list was to replace the headlight bulbs with LEDs for a more modern look and better visibility at night. The car also had 13250 miles to go before the next service, but I decided to start from scratch and I did a Inspection 2 myself with filters, oil and spark plugs I chose myself and that I knew were the best for the car (my dad is a mechanic who has a huge garage so I know many garage owners and I find it immensely difficult finding a trustworthy garage after what I've seen and heard).

Here are some photos of the LED conversion (note: much bluer in the photos than in real life):

Only one side changed:



Even with only one one bulb replaced, it completely out-powered the halogen bulb:



This is much more recent. I decided to convert the fogs to LED as well and use them as DRLs:



This photo shows the 'real-life' colour very well:

 

[lucasxdiniz]

What a difference you have made to it, looks stunning. Nice to see another wood dash car on the forum, getting quite a few now

I must say that was the only thing I disliked about my car when I saw the photos on AutoTrader (thought wood had no place in a sports car then), so I went to see the car already intending to change the wood trim ASAP. But after two days with the car, it grew on me and it will remain like it is now. Makes it more unique too

 

[lucasxdiniz]

I had to improve the shifting in the Z4, it didn't feel very nice compared to my MX-5. So I immediately bought a weighted shifter knob and changed the gearbox oil, whilst I was down there I also changed the diff oil.

I would have liked to buy the Storm-Motorwerks shifter knob for its weight and quality, but I am not a fan of the billet metal look. Only if they offered that very shifter covered in leather and the H-pattern nicely printed on them...

Before & After:




Shifting feel is much improved now and it also looks miles better than that cheap, nasty looking, vibrator shaped shifter knob.

 

[Mr Tidy]

Your car looks fantastic.

As much as I'm not sure about wood in a Z4 (sorry firebobby) it does seem to work well with that colour combination.

And the ZHP gear-knob is so much better than what BMW gave them.

Anyway, you're not a Newbie now.

 

[firebobby]

Your car looks fantastic.

As much as I'm not sure about wood in a Z4 (sorry firebobby) it does seem to work well with that colour combination.

Sorry my arse, Mr T :wink:

 

[Mr Tidy]

Sorry my arse, Mr T

OK then, maybe I'm not.

 

[craig3.2]

Beautiful- welcome along!

Couldn't agree more,Paddy.....
What a difference it see by getting a proper Wash and polish

 

[jamie_z4]

great looking example, i could never get on with the 177bhp, just felt you need to ring its neck all the time so moved to a 3.0si coupe, still, at 23 you must be chuffed! (Also had an mx5 nbfl, so compared to one of them, the power will be plentiful )

 

[lucasxdiniz]

great looking example, i could never get on with the 177bhp, just felt you need to ring its neck all the time so moved to a 3.0si coupe, still, at 23 you must be chuffed! (Also had an mx5 nbfl, so compared to one of them, the power will be plentiful )

Thank you! Well, coming from my 1.6 MX5, this straight six feels amazing and faster. However, the Z4 is so much quieter and more composed that it doesn't feel that much faster than my MX5, but when I look at the speedo and I see how much faster I get to 60 or how easily the car goes past 80 on the motorway, I truly notice the difference.

My next car will hopefully be a 3.0si Coupe, I've fallen in love with the shape of the E86. Since I'm still technically a student, it will take a couple years until I can think of an ///MC.

I've been looking on retro-fitting a 3-stage intake into my 2.5i to convert it into a 2.5si, I know many Yankees have successfully done it, specially with E89s. But, I've yet to find someone who can flash my ECU (in the UK) with the 2.5si parameters to activate that small DISA valve.

 

[jamie_z4]

yeah i have had a 177bhp one remapped before and it saw 195 on the rollers, was a marked improvement!

Keep up the good work though, always enjoy a restoration like yours

 

[lucasxdiniz]

I bought my car intending to change the rear silencer straight away, I even insured my car with this disclosed. But as I waited eagerly for the weekend to go to my local exhaust shop, I read many posts on here that suggested it would be way too drone-y, since I do a lot of motorway miles, I thought better of it. Something had to be done with the exhaust tips, though - it even ruined one of my glamour shots :lol:

Before:


After:


£15 on Amazon, recommended on this forum in 2015 I think

 

[lucasxdiniz]

I love the looks of the 108s wheels. They're gorgeous, but they show a lot of the disc and calipers, so those had to be painted ASAP.

Before & Afters:






I love silver calipers, the 'brand-new OEM' look. But I love the 108s so much that I chose to go with gloss black to not take anything away from the wheels. The photos above do not look great as there was some spillage on to the disc, but that cleared away with some braking and it looks great now. I used black Hammermite paint applied with a brush and after many miles and washes, they still look like the day I painted them.

Next post will have some photos showing the painted calipers with clean discs.