I can understand your lust for the E86. I really love having my E85 M, but if I could get an E86 M I would do it without a second thought. The C pillar and sloping rear just makes them look so much nicer than the roadster. I even considered getting a blue E86 3.0 that was for sale on here, as it was my favourite shape in my favourite colour, but the lure of the S54 was too strong for me to have settled for anything else. Enjoying this thread and look forward to future updates.
Montego Blue E86 is Long Gone - Z4MC 2025 Summer Prep
- Thread starter lucasxdiniz
- Start date
lucasxdiniz
Member
Mr Tidy said:
That's weird. When I check, I get 30. I think I chose all the right options as my Vin is there, one of the last ones too.
lucasxdiniz
Member
Lambpie said:
Neither can I, to be honest.
The current one is as good as it's going to get as far as 'fixing' goes. I glued the cracks together, filled and dyed the filler. It looks better than how it was, and my elbow can now rest comfortably on the door card, but still looks crap. I have two options:
1. Buy a new door card and swap the leather inserts using this method: https://zroadster.org/threads/bmw-z4-removing-leather-panels-from-door-cards.18516/
2. Find someone who does automotive trim upholstery and get some elbow/arm rest pads done in black leather and glue it there. I don't think this would look better than just the black plastic, but it would be more comfortable and save me a lot of time as option 1 seems to be rather time consulting and it really isn't the sort of thing I like doing.
I'll probably decide this weekend on what to do. But probably buy a new door card, as the companies I found that could make me some leather pads did not take me seriously as it's probably too small of a job for them. Specially JW Auto Trim in Banbury who was very arrogant about it and treated me rather rudely.
lucasxdiniz
Member
Some very simple/quick jobs to improve the looks of my E86:
Swapped the grey grill with the black grills from my E85, new genuine front BMW badge, and I removed the fog to wash them inside with a toothbrush, then dried them in the oven at 100˚ for 15min and drilled 3 holes in each fog (from experience with my E85 this will make sure they stay clear even in rainy weather).
Washed the exhaust tip with steel wool, and fixed the exhaust hanger:
Swapped the grey grill with the black grills from my E85, new genuine front BMW badge, and I removed the fog to wash them inside with a toothbrush, then dried them in the oven at 100˚ for 15min and drilled 3 holes in each fog (from experience with my E85 this will make sure they stay clear even in rainy weather).
Washed the exhaust tip with steel wool, and fixed the exhaust hanger:
Great work on the seats, night and day difference! (Lovely colour combo btw). What product do you use for continued conditioning of the leather? I used to use Gliptone Liquid Leather, wasn't sure what's best on the type of leather used in the E85.
I note your Joie baby child seat. Attached via Isofix or via seatbelt?
I note your Joie baby child seat. Attached via Isofix or via seatbelt?
lucasxdiniz
Member
g3org3y said:
The seat was the previous owner's. I don't think this car will see child seats under my ownership, but the passenger seat does have ISOfix, I think.
I use this leather 'preserver' to protect the seats after cleaning them: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01FWCAXU2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
It's a brilliant product, much better than Meguiars stuff I used before.
lucasxdiniz
Member
This week I also cleaned the engine bay prior to working on it.
The previous owner took no care when pouring oil into the engine and spilled oil everywhere! Took me some 6 hours to clean everything, now I can observe the rocker cover to see if there's any leaks from it (I suspect there's a leak from the valvetronic motor gasket).
I also managed to DIY the Bank 2 Sensor 2 Lambda sensor (hardest one to get to), whilst down there I also did the CDV delete. The engine is much smoother now that it's no longer in emergency mode, no more misfires, and no engine lights! Shifting is also much, much improved! Rev matching is so much easier now, and I can get it right 100% of the time, whereas before it was more like 40%.
The previous owner took no care when pouring oil into the engine and spilled oil everywhere! Took me some 6 hours to clean everything, now I can observe the rocker cover to see if there's any leaks from it (I suspect there's a leak from the valvetronic motor gasket).
I also managed to DIY the Bank 2 Sensor 2 Lambda sensor (hardest one to get to), whilst down there I also did the CDV delete. The engine is much smoother now that it's no longer in emergency mode, no more misfires, and no engine lights! Shifting is also much, much improved! Rev matching is so much easier now, and I can get it right 100% of the time, whereas before it was more like 40%.
lucasxdiniz
Member
Mr Tidy said:
I didn't even realise there were two kinds until you pointed it out. Tried Googling the difference between the two, but haven't found an answer. I'm assuming they're exactly the same colour (as the colour I ordered for the restoration was for 'INDIVIDAL WLKNAPPA CHAMPAGNE'), but mine is an inferior leather. Teilleder seems to translate as 'part leather' from german, so it's probably some sort of synthetic leather, or just no extended leather. And those 4 other cars have the nicer extended leather interior. :?
lucasxdiniz said:
You got further than me with the translation! Part Leather makes sense, as I have seen photos of seats with half-leather, but full Oregon leather was standard on 3.0Sis in the UK.
If you put the last 7 characters of your VIN into one of these sites you can get the full OEM spec which will tell you for sure what you have:- https://www.bing.com/search?q=bmw+vin+decoder&form=EDGTCT&qs=HS&cvid=0123fde6f3bb46adb6ca11b58fbda712&refig=4da1e6536e084212d1eb8e7074dd5930&cc=GB&setlang=en-US&PC=DCTS
lucasxdiniz
Member
I've finally took the centre storage out of the car to see if I could fix the door hinge and to find the CDC wires so I could connect my GROM-BT3 to the E86.
The GROM is neatly stuck to the side now with double-sided tape, and in the future I can access and remove it from the driver's side cubbyhole.
It seems I can't fix the centre storage door hinge as the screwed-in bracket (see red arrow) is missing, and one of the pins in the door has snapped off.
It was good to check this as now I'm sure I can't just buy any available centre storage trim and swap bits & pieces to mine - I have handsfree bluetooth and all centre storage doors for sale on eBay are the simpler one with a pen and notepad holder, and whatever I have is plastic welded to the front of the door.
The GROM is neatly stuck to the side now with double-sided tape, and in the future I can access and remove it from the driver's side cubbyhole.
It seems I can't fix the centre storage door hinge as the screwed-in bracket (see red arrow) is missing, and one of the pins in the door has snapped off.
It was good to check this as now I'm sure I can't just buy any available centre storage trim and swap bits & pieces to mine - I have handsfree bluetooth and all centre storage doors for sale on eBay are the simpler one with a pen and notepad holder, and whatever I have is plastic welded to the front of the door.
lucasxdiniz
Member
Today my new front number plate arrived, one of those suction mounted ones that you can remove & re-install whenever you want. I'll see how it holds up to daily driving. If it doesn't do well, then I'll do a magnetic number plate mod.
I also gave the car a quick polish last night with AutoGlym's Super Resin Polish. It didn't do much to get rid of fine swirls, but it did remove some scratches and the colour is definitely more 'alive' now and I haven't even sealed it yet with Extra Gloss Protection.
I also gave the car a quick polish last night with AutoGlym's Super Resin Polish. It didn't do much to get rid of fine swirls, but it did remove some scratches and the colour is definitely more 'alive' now and I haven't even sealed it yet with Extra Gloss Protection.
Thrustyjust
New member
Awesome change. Found the car as advertised and the transformation is amazing. Made me cringe seeing the condition is was sadly in. Will meet up at some point as not far from you and will gate crash the Montego's with a Sapphire 
Did you replace the front bumper or repair it ?
Did you replace the front bumper or repair it ?
lucasxdiniz
Member
Thrustyjust said:Awesome change. Found the car as advertised and the transformation is amazing. Made me cringe seeing the condition is was sadly in. Will meet up at some point as not far from you and will gate crash the Montego's with a Sapphire
Did you replace the front bumper or repair it ?
I'm always happy to chat with other Z4 owners
The front bumper was repaired with plastic weld, number plate holes were filled and the bumper got a respray. The body shop did a pretty good job, I can't tell the bumper was ever repaired looking at the damaged area.
lucasxdiniz
Member
Mr Tidy said:lucasxdiniz said:
Very nice - that's a much cleaner look at the front.
I hope you can make it to the Black Swan on Sunday morning.
I will be there! Did lots of work on the car this week, even pulled an all-nighter yesterday to finish the brakes (new pads, discs and painting everything properly) & headlight refurb (including projector out for cleaning). I'll post some befores and after tomorrow when I take some photos.
lucasxdiniz
Member
I replaced my brakes with Drilled Only M-Tec Discs & Green Stuff pads. Breaks are still bedding in/scrapping the coating off, so performance is not as good as I think it will get, but I've had this exact set-up in my MX5 and it was great in comparison to the stock setup - pretty much eliminating brake fade in spirited B-roads blasts. Might not work as well in a much faster, and heavier car, but time will tell.
Before & afters:
Before & afters:
lucasxdiniz
Member
Finally replaced the interior dash trim. Many thanks to synthedup for contacting me and promptly sending me the part that needed to be changed ASAP for the interior to look nice.
