Me and my Z4 journey

[awt]

Hi.

Here's an attempt to make a thread about my Z4 and my journey with it.

I've been a BMW owner for almost twenty years, and I've had the Z4 for three years in may. The car isn't the most exciting I'm afraid, but it does the job. Z4 in Norway prices are at least twice, or sometimes triple the prices in the UK, and combine that with very few for sale, you kinda have to take what's offered.

So this is of course a 23i. My main plan was the 30i, but none of the five(!) that's in the country was for sale at the time. I was also under the impression that the 23i was a bit underpowered, but after trying one, I concluded that it actually wasn't that bad.

Collection day. We drove over the mountains in the south of Norway, and of course had the roof down the whole journey.







At home:



Got some help from a few buddies and got the car polished and interior cleaned.







I also removed the Sdrive badges on the fenders.



First mod:

 

[awt]

New OEM floor mats:





New salmon relays. The old ones where completely fine btw.



After the honeymoon days was over, I noticed that the boot lid was a bit quirky. Pretty common fault on the e89s I learned.



Soldered together.



And installed.



Did the same thing on both sides.

Another typical BMW "fault", damaged rubber string on the gas cap.







Not a big deal, but I like having stuff like this sorted.

 

[awt]

Next mod, ZHP gear knob. This is a must on manual BMWs, and a mod I've done all that I've had earlier.



Old one gone.





Boot needs to be secured with a zip tie. There have been some discussions about fitting the ZHP knob on e89s, but it fits just fine.





Next; Invery bluetooth reciever. These works just like Tune2air, and as long as the car is equipped with 6FL USB socket, it will allow bluetooth streaming, and everything can be controlled from the OEM player/steering wheel.







...and an oil change.

 

[awt]

Then it was time to use the car as intended.

Started off by delivering my youngest to the kindergarden.



...and then enjoyed some scenic roads in the western part of Norway.















...which was completed with a wash.

 

[fredej]

The car looks really good! Some nice fixes and upgrades you're doing.
Deep Sea Blue Metallic might be one of the best colors for the E89.
Great photos! The mountain roads look fabulous.

Greetings from Sweden!

 

[Mr Tidy]

You've done some great improvements, and that is a lovely colour combination.

We seem to have the same problem in the UK, in that there are loads of 23i but not many 30i models.

And you have some fantastic scenery in those photos!

 

[Marcoose]

Props for the stubby aerial. The proper aerial.

 

[awt]

The car looks really good! Some nice fixes and upgrades you're doing.
Deep Sea Blue Metallic might be one of the best colors for the E89.
Great photos! The mountain roads look fabulous.

Greetings from Sweden!

You've done some great improvements, and that is a lovely colour combination.

We seem to have the same problem in the UK, in that there are loads of 23i but not many 30i models.

And you have some fantastic scenery in those photos!

Props for the stubby aerial. The proper aerial.

Thanks guys.

 

[awt]

The journey continues.

Another typical e89 problem, worn out buttons. I've been modifying BMWs for years, but stuff like this have never been easier than the last few years. Earlier the only option was to buy complete units from BMW, now there's a lot of small bits and pieces available for the fraction of the price.







Now the Z4 got some rest, while we took our other car to Italy. Would love to take the Z, but it's not practically possible.



Went thru the alps on the way back home. Not sure if I'll recommend that with 2.2 tons on the back. :?





Back home again, and some more road trips. Not that lucky with the weather, but fun roads.

 

[awt]

...and then the first time I encountered roof problems. This happened while taking the roof down, and it stopped after the rear panel was on top of the roof. Had to wait for the pressure to drop before putting back in position. Had a three hour drive home with the windows down and BOING BOING BOING all the way. really fun trip.

Had to connect 12V to a connector under the glove box to open the boot, and managed to source the fault rather quickly. Cut away the bad part, and soldered in a new wire.



Another problem I encountered was a PDC that failed from time to time. Pulled out the PDC unit, and discovered corrosion on the print board.



Signs of water ingress.



Easiest fix is just to replace it. Sourced a used one and everything works fine.



...and then the winter arrived, and the tank was filled up, and car parked for the winter time. It's also unregistered during these months to save some dimes.





With the car parked for a few months, other projects can start. I didn't like the wet PDC module, so I aimed for fixing whatever was causing that.

Started with dismantling the boot interior and modules.



Water under the foam that holds the modules.



Not quite sure where the water was entering, but it could be the rear lights.



...or the boot ventilation



...or some of the rubber around the boot lid.

 

[awt]

I ordered new boot ventilation things and some of the won out rubber. Meanwhile I continued to strip out the boot, and found water under the hydraulic pump as well. Luckily it hadn't reached the pump yet.



The foam for the pump was soaked, and was at least a couple of pounds.



Another winterproject was the leather dash. I knew about this when buying the car, but stupidly thought that it was an easy fix. Oh boy was I wrong.





Anyway, the dash needed to come out, so it was just to start the disassembly.





And voila. Not that hard as you would think, but it took some time.







I tried to heat up the leather and different things, but no luck. Tis wasn't savable.

 

[awt]

The dashboard ended up being a sore thorn, and I struggled to find a solution. I also considered buying a new one without leather from BMW, but it was simply to costly.

Anyway, while debating on that, other projects can continue, and another thing I didn't like was the beige/grey roof lining.



On of the advantages with a convertible, the roof lining is really easy to take out.



After very much back and forth with different vendors all over europe, I decided to go for a guy that does car interior locally to fix the dash. Not cheap, but easy and quick service without the need for shipping something somewhere.



Install process.





Really happy with the result, and a good feeling to get that sorted out.

hen we turn the focus back to the trunk. Dismantled everything and gave it a thorough clean.



Didn't want to disconnect the pump and supported it this way.



Also got this dried out during the last weeks.





Also bought the top part new, as the old one was torned.

 

[B21]

Maybe a good idea to check the age of the battery..the date is stamped on the terminal..

 

[Lynchy]

That’s a great write up with pics Awt

 

[awt]

Maybe a good idea to check the age of the battery..the date is stamped on the terminal..

We're not done yet.

That’s a great write up with pics Awt

Thanks

 

[awt]

Continuing with the water ingress. Gave the tail lights clean and patched some holes. Some tail lights have to middle bolts and some have one. All cars have two holes. :roll:









Also made sure that the rubber grommets is securely in place. I suspect they weren't correctly mounted before.



Also changed these in this process.



And some of the rubber.



All boot interior bits got cleaned and was wiped over with stuff that make them shiny.







And done (except for the carpet).

 

[B21]

One tail light is an earlier with 3 bolts..later ones had two bolts..at least 7 iterations of the design

 

[awt]

Sourced a new (used) steering wheel. Was a pan in the ass to get shipped, but got it eventually.



Gave it a spa treatment.





And installed.



Fixing other small parts.









Dismantled and cleaned the climate controls.





Polished centre console.



I regret that I didn't change the PDC button when I changed the other ones, so got that sorted.

 

[awt]

One tail light is an earlier with 3 bolts..later ones had two bolts..at least 7 iterations of the design

I know. Stupid design.

 

[awt]

Time for a retrofit; airbag deactivation. This was an official retrofit from BMW some years ago. but it's no longer available. Luckily, it's not that advanced. As I have kids, and the only possible place to put them is in the passenger seat I kinda need this.



These are key specific, so I changed position the pins so it would fit my key.







Also changed to the right interior light with the airbag lamp.





Then coding.



And all sorted.