Montego Blue E86 is Long Gone - Z4MC 2025 Summer Prep

[lucasxdiniz]

Some things that I did on the week leading up to ZedFest.

Removed the projectors again and cleaned inside the headlights, they're noticeably cleaner now. I'll be collaborating with a UK company to improve the fitment of Morimoto projectos on E85/E86s and offer a kit with a forum discount (not gaining anything from this other than lights I can really upon, OEM xenons are useless and I won't be entitled to the discount, I don't want to be biased).

The headlights look really shiny now, before they looked a bit dull even though I had refurb'ed them. Some weird imperfections that I did not managed to remove when refurbishing the headlights were actually dust gathered together inside the headlights. I recommend doing this to yours. I'm still unhappy with OEM xenons though, even after spending £80 on the best bulbs you can buy from Osram

 

[lucasxdiniz]

Finally changed my Valvetronic motor gasket - a job I was putting off as I knew once I removed it, I would spend ages cleaning all the oil residue under it. Once it was out it was quite obvious it had been the culprit of the oil leak on my engine (it was hard to tell when I bought the car due to the filthy engine).

New gasket in:

This job nicely tied in with changing the spark plugs and inspection of the coil packs (previous owner changed them recently, so they were in perfect condition barely showing any sign of being used). Plugs looked rough, which I expected as the engine ran in emergency mode for a good few thousand miles due to a faulty lambda sensor (which I changed in my 2nd week of ownership).

If you buy a car from London, change its filters ASAP!

 

[lucasxdiniz]

I'm not a fan of the whippy, but similarly I don't like the stubby very much - that said, I would rather have a stubby if I forced to choose between the two. Since I took all the boot trim apart to get to the top mount nuts, I removed the aerial base to try and remove the seized whippy.

Lots of penetrating fluid and brute force (thoughtfully applied to not break the aerial stud inside the base) later, I managed to remove the whippy.

Then I order a stubby and a 'small whippy' to see which I liked best. I ended up preferring the small whippy, doesn't look daft as the OEM aerial while not looking like I want to be part of the cool kids (no idea how to put it). I would like to hear your thoughts opcorn:

I might still give a stubby another try, but for now, I'm happy with what's there. Radio reception still excellent, just like before - and just like before I will not listen to ads, I mean radio.

 

[Mr Tidy]

Hmm - that shorter whippy looks pretty good.

And it will make for a different point of view in the regular stubby v whippy "debates". :lol:

 

[johndglynn]

Thanks! You live near some good roads for an E86. A422 from Brackley to Banbury, then A423 to Southam, then get on 'Welsh Rd' to Royal Leamington Spa. They're fast, twisty roads and very empty in the morning.

I live about 10 mins from Southam: I just put Silverstone as most people know where that is and it’s my closest circuit. I drive or ride the welsh road from Southam to Leam at least once a week. My daughter had her first roll there a few weeks ago: good to get that out of the way...

Tons of great roads around here and my coupe has been on most of them now

 

[lucasxdiniz]

Hmm - that shorter whippy looks pretty good.

And it will make for a different point of view in the regular stubby v whippy "debates". :lol:

I don't know, I think they're fanatics haha

Here's a link for the shorter whippy (£9 on Amazon Prime):

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B075P2TS4Q/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Mr Tidy]

Here's a link for the shorter whippy (£9 on Amazon Prime):

Thanks for the link.

I've just placed my order, so should be joining the semi-whippy club soon. :lol:

 

[Silverstar]

I've just come across this thread and I must say what a beautiful car, gorgeous colour and a brilliant job to transform it to what we see now. Reminds me of my car when I purchased it few months ago, like yours mechanically well looked after but cosmetically it was a disaster, nothing too serious but just needed some TLC and certainly not as in bad a state as yours but now slowly slowly the rough diamond is turning into a gem!

 

[Maddo6659]

Great forum, I have a request for more detail on the VANOS gasket. I'm trying to change my rocker gasket and the wiring harness is just in the way! Any tips on how to get the working space clear? I'm just an average Joe reference mechanics but am happy to chip away and learn more about the xar etc. Loving the montenehro blue. ",

 

[Lambpie]

Haven’t read this thread for a while. I think I need to get my das pro out and find some spare time - your paintwork looks excellent!

 

[lucasxdiniz]

I've just come across this thread and I must say what a beautiful car, gorgeous colour and a brilliant job to transform it to what we see now. Reminds me of my car when I purchased it few months ago, like yours mechanically well looked after but cosmetically it was a disaster, nothing too serious but just needed some TLC and certainly not as in bad a state as yours but now slowly slowly the rough diamond is turning into a gem!

Thank you! I hope to see your before and after photos someday

Haven’t read this thread for a while. I think I need to get my das pro out and find some spare time - your paintwork looks excellent!

I need to write up the last few things I've done to the car. Just this Monday I got the last thing I wanted for my car to consider it back to its full glory! So hopefully this weekend I'll write the last post for this thread.

 

[lucasxdiniz]

Great forum, I have a request for more detail on the VANOS gasket. I'm trying to change my rocker gasket and the wiring harness is just in the way! Any tips on how to get the working space clear? I'm just an average Joe reference mechanics but am happy to chip away and learn more about the xar etc. Loving the montenehro blue. ",

I only posted a Valvetronic Motor gasket job, not VANOS gasket, so I didn't need to remove the rocker cover. But it looked simple enough to do the rocker cover, the wiring loom is clipped into the cover and has a few grounds bolted to the rocker cover, so it comes off quite easily.

 

[Wyldie85]

I’ve just enjoyed reading your thread from the beginning. Well done on all your hard work and the effort that’s gone into restoring your Zed to its former glory. It looks really fantastic already and I look forward to see what you do next.

 

[lucasxdiniz]

I have been extremely lazy with posting on the forum as it is quite time consuming to upload photos and arrange everything nicely. I think this might be my last post on the 'bringing the car back to its glory' theme. In fact most of the stuff I've done since I posted was to go beyond its glory and transform it into a OEM+ car.

I have been quite vocal of my dislike for the OEM Bi-xenons, my solution to that has been posted here.

The final results looks like this:
[youtube]zhRc6aNGWyY[/youtube]

I think the exterior and mechanically the car has been up to my standards for a long time, and that can be seen in photos in this thread. But the interior lacked perfection, the steering wheel (and its trim) had a lot of wear marks and some of the trim was not in a state I would be happy with, so needless to say I've spent a few hundred making sure I brought the interior to my standards.

Starting with the centre console, I bought some parts from forum members that were in better condition than mine, and had to order some from BMW at a rather hefty cost:

Old vs new. £30

Then the steering wheel... I spent a weekend refurb'ing the steering wheel trim and the following Monday drove (trimless) to Royal Steering Wheel to get put the newly refurb'ed trim into a newly re-trimmed steering wheel.

Products used:

Sanded with 800, 1200, 1500

3 coatings of Primer

3 coatings of paint and two of lacquer then 12hrs of curing on the heater

Final result (bad photo):

Interior with new centre console trim, refurbed steering wheel and a custom shortened gaiter to match the steering wheel (i.e champagne stitching):

I love my car's interior even more now.

 

[lucasxdiniz]

Of course I have done a few changes to the exhaust. I got it modded by a forum member and then got a res delete and new tips. Can't stop smiling when I'm driving around even if I'm not hooning. The downside is that my mpg has been sub 20 consistently since I did the exhaust mod.

Some random videos of the sound it makes. They're crap, but I think [ref]jhpgram[/ref] is working on a sound comparison video between stock, backbox mod and backbox mod + res delete:

[youtube]LcHaB-4GecE[/youtube]
[youtube]6ZnnHpcQnRM[/youtube]
[youtube]AelWg2FM11o[/youtube]
[youtube]2gXIbBFJ8os[/youtube]
Photo showing the latest 3" tips, £70 installed by J.A.C Exhausts in Notts.

 

[Tommo61]

Great thread! What products did you use on the seats to clean and repair the cracking?

 

[lucasxdiniz]

Great thread! What products did you use on the seats to clean and repair the cracking?

To clean:

AutoGlym's Interior Shampoo
Leather Brush
Drill attachment

Restoration:

I chose a furniture clinic kit with colour matched dye
This leather preserver after cleaning and restoring the leather

 

[Tommo61]

Great thread! What products did you use on the seats to clean and repair the cracking?

To clean:

AutoGlym's Interior Shampoo
Leather Brush
Drill attachment

Restoration:

I chose a furniture clinic kit with colour matched dye
This leather preserver after cleaning and restoring the leather

Thanks, will give it a go!

 

[lucasxdiniz]

Thanks, will give it a go!

Good luck! Post the results.

 

[Stretch_Blanco]

Then the steering wheel... I spent a weekend refurb'ing the steering wheel trim and the following Monday drove (trimless) to Royal Steering Wheel to get put the newly refurb'ed trim into a newly re-trimmed steering wheel.

Final result (bad photo):

Interior with new centre console trim, refurbed steering wheel and a custom shortened gaiter to match the steering wheel (i.e champagne stitching):

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What a fantastic idea! I never even thought of that. My wheel is totally wrecked and I thought I was going to have to buy a whole new wheel! Not anymore, that looks amazing!







Just bought last week and was actually thinking about creating a thread just like you have done here! Great job, what an amazing Z4!