Bumper scratches removed. Before:
After £100:
After £100:
My First Zed Thread (2003 E85 3.0)
- Thread starter Timmyboybunter
- Start date
Nice result with the front bumper!
I just picked up a facelift rear bumper, which I’ll eventually paint and fit along with a M front bumper
Missed out on some facelift lights off eBay and synthedup sold his too. Gutted since I’ll be in the UK in 2 weeks and was hoping to pick some up while I’m there.... I guess I’ll have to get some from Yahoo Japan Auctions instead - one of the best sources for spare parts in Asia (where I got my roof covers)
Interesting comment about some cars now being worth more in parts than as a whole car. I’d love some aero skirts, and starting to think crazy thoughts about buying a Z just to get the skirts
I just picked up a facelift rear bumper, which I’ll eventually paint and fit along with a M front bumper
Missed out on some facelift lights off eBay and synthedup sold his too. Gutted since I’ll be in the UK in 2 weeks and was hoping to pick some up while I’m there.... I guess I’ll have to get some from Yahoo Japan Auctions instead - one of the best sources for spare parts in Asia (where I got my roof covers)
Interesting comment about some cars now being worth more in parts than as a whole car. I’d love some aero skirts, and starting to think crazy thoughts about buying a Z just to get the skirts
Timmyboybunter said:No plans to upgrade the brakes. I'm only toying with getting the calipers done because they just look strange at the moment, all red with black spots - just a non-strange looking set of clean dark coloured calipers will be fine. I'm trying to keep some kind of reasonable limit on spending, for a very good reason: I'm really enjoying this car (and the whole 'convertible' 2 seater thing, this is my first) and I'm not overly keen on the E89 models, so almost certainly I'll want to upgrade at some point - which only leaves a 3.0SI or an 'M' roadster realistically, at which point it's all start again
I'm just happy to be rid of all that nasty orange!
I embraced the orange when I did my brake upgrade....
Porsche Boxster S brembos with Z4M discs, and 3.0 setup on the rear - also orange
Timmyboybunter said:
As promised, I got a quote for scanning and printing the cover...
At current exchange rate that’s about £148 to scan and £37 - £49 for each print
At this cost I think it doesn’t really make sense, but if it were a crowd-fund type project it could become more viable
Thoughts?
paulc_bkk said:
Yes he sold them to me, sorry! I do have another pair of Facelift lights but they're probably more suitable as donors really as the lenses and clear hockey sticks are all fine, but the inside looks to have been painted at some point and I wouldn't rule out them having been opened up before. I concluded they would take too much of my time to sort out - though hacking them open does give the option of completely removing all trace of orange and of course a halo light upgrade.
paulc_bkk said:
I like those - look great. I'm toying with a dark bronze colour.
Interesting on the 3D printing. I was anticipating a cost slightly lower than that based on a small amount of research and some ballpark quotes - I think you'd struggle to crowd fund though, probably best to assume you can sell each finished unit for a 'reasonable' amount which is less than the money they're changing hands for currently, but enough profit to repay your outlay. Good comment from Kis above - if you have the scan file in hand then you have different options to send that file to different suppliers or task someone non-commercial to do it.
Fitted a red LED fog light bulb to my euro light conversion, following advice here. Bulb looks good (i.e legal ) but caused a warning light on the dash - solved by disabling 'hot' and 'cold' monitoring using NCS expert/dummy.
) but caused a warning light on the dash - solved by disabling 'hot' and 'cold' monitoring using NCS expert/dummy.Fitted a 'Horizon LED' interior upgrade kit, which cost £24 including delivery, after a discount code on their website.
Not a lot of money, but a few things have annoyed me about it. Here's what you get, quoting from the website:
E85 & E86 Models (x10 Bulbs)
x1 Front Courtesy Light
x2 Front Map Lights
x1 Glove Box Light
x1 Boot/Trunk Light
x1 Centre Console Light
x2 Front Footwell Lights
x2 Festoon Number/License Plate Lights
I started with the 3 interior courtesy lights. The original bulbs are small enough to be replaced by simply removing the surround from the roof, but the smallest of the LED bulbs (which I assume were correct - no instructions provided) wouldn't then fit through the gap without taking the whole enclosure apart into individual pieces; not hard, just a pain.
Then did the boot light - easy to do, bigger OEM bulb so used the bigger LED bulb in the kit (of which there were 2 provided).
On to the number plate lights - these had the same oem bigger bulbs as the boot, but as I only had one bigger LED left I used 2 small LED lights.
No light in my glovebox, despite searching around with a torch
Didn't bother changing the center console light (where the CD changer is) as I never use it and didn't even realise a light was in there.
This then left me with one small and one big LED bulb, which I used in the footwell lights - bigger bulb on the drivers side.
After all that, I'm left with 2 long LED bulbs with a metal contact at each end similar to an inline fuse, haven't a clue where they might fit.
Now I read their website again, I think the 2 supplied 'large' LED bulbs were meant for the footwell lighting but this size will clearly fit other housings too - so coupled with the random 2 left over bulbs the kit as a whole is a bit confused. Better off, and possibly cheaper, just to buy a handful of both type and experiment with what fits where for greatest light output.
Very light weather at the moment so the car isn't really being used at night, but the interior is far brighter than before (and the boot) when unlocking and getting in as a test - so I'd recommend swapping as a general idea but not necessarily this kit.
Not a lot of money, but a few things have annoyed me about it. Here's what you get, quoting from the website:
E85 & E86 Models (x10 Bulbs)
x1 Front Courtesy Light
x2 Front Map Lights
x1 Glove Box Light
x1 Boot/Trunk Light
x1 Centre Console Light
x2 Front Footwell Lights
x2 Festoon Number/License Plate Lights
I started with the 3 interior courtesy lights. The original bulbs are small enough to be replaced by simply removing the surround from the roof, but the smallest of the LED bulbs (which I assume were correct - no instructions provided) wouldn't then fit through the gap without taking the whole enclosure apart into individual pieces; not hard, just a pain.
Then did the boot light - easy to do, bigger OEM bulb so used the bigger LED bulb in the kit (of which there were 2 provided).
On to the number plate lights - these had the same oem bigger bulbs as the boot, but as I only had one bigger LED left I used 2 small LED lights.
No light in my glovebox, despite searching around with a torch
Didn't bother changing the center console light (where the CD changer is) as I never use it and didn't even realise a light was in there.
This then left me with one small and one big LED bulb, which I used in the footwell lights - bigger bulb on the drivers side.
After all that, I'm left with 2 long LED bulbs with a metal contact at each end similar to an inline fuse, haven't a clue where they might fit.
Now I read their website again, I think the 2 supplied 'large' LED bulbs were meant for the footwell lighting but this size will clearly fit other housings too - so coupled with the random 2 left over bulbs the kit as a whole is a bit confused. Better off, and possibly cheaper, just to buy a handful of both type and experiment with what fits where for greatest light output.
Very light weather at the moment so the car isn't really being used at night, but the interior is far brighter than before (and the boot) when unlocking and getting in as a test - so I'd recommend swapping as a general idea but not necessarily this kit.
I'll just leave this here and have a little cry 
Well being a 3.0 it’s probably a good time to do a 330 brake upgrade. Otherwise if you’re in a pinch you can take my O/S front caliper. Removed it from mine because my N/S was binding badly. The irony lol!
Headlight just needs adjusting, should be the most simple.
Wheels... happens more because of runflats! Just get a new set with tyres from eBay or something? Upgrade to 224’s?
Good luck with it!
Headlight just needs adjusting, should be the most simple.
Wheels... happens more because of runflats! Just get a new set with tyres from eBay or something? Upgrade to 224’s?
Good luck with it!
Thanks for the caliper offer, appreciate it 
It's all not too bad actually. My garage is very helpful, their wheel place is going to check the rears over and if fixable, £58 plus vat each. Agreed, if they can't be repaired I'll look out for a set with non run flats on. Plenty around but I do love the elipsoids!
Headlight not a problem as you say - this was the only one I was expecting as the alignment was way off after fitting the facelift headlights.
The car has been juddering when breaking for a while now, got worse recently to the point where it's been spoiling the drive. I got hold of a freshly refurbished full set of calipers/carriers for a decent price at the weekend, so the timing is actually useful - hopefully the new set will sort the braking issues out, and I've bought new discs and pads all round (the fronts are warped) as Euro Car Parts had a 50% flash sale today.
So, more expensive than I was hoping, but no disaster.
Onwards and upwards
It's all not too bad actually. My garage is very helpful, their wheel place is going to check the rears over and if fixable, £58 plus vat each. Agreed, if they can't be repaired I'll look out for a set with non run flats on. Plenty around but I do love the elipsoids!
Headlight not a problem as you say - this was the only one I was expecting as the alignment was way off after fitting the facelift headlights.
The car has been juddering when breaking for a while now, got worse recently to the point where it's been spoiling the drive. I got hold of a freshly refurbished full set of calipers/carriers for a decent price at the weekend, so the timing is actually useful - hopefully the new set will sort the braking issues out, and I've bought new discs and pads all round (the fronts are warped) as Euro Car Parts had a 50% flash sale today.
So, more expensive than I was hoping, but no disaster.
Onwards and upwards
MOT progress update....
The rear wheels were condemned, so that's a work in progress. The re-test window expires tomorrow so I'll have to pay the full fee either way, no desperate hurry for the wheels other than I can't drive the car - but given the current weather that's no disaster
Some slivers of good news. Headlight adjusted, refurbed silver calipers fitted and all working correctly - they look nice too, far more subtle than the red. On the albeit very short journey back from the garage all the old braking issues are resolved (hurray!) and the garage said as soon as some new wheels go on, the MOT should be fine.
Calipers before:
And after:
The rear wheels were condemned, so that's a work in progress. The re-test window expires tomorrow so I'll have to pay the full fee either way, no desperate hurry for the wheels other than I can't drive the car - but given the current weather that's no disaster
Some slivers of good news. Headlight adjusted, refurbed silver calipers fitted and all working correctly - they look nice too, far more subtle than the red. On the albeit very short journey back from the garage all the old braking issues are resolved (hurray!) and the garage said as soon as some new wheels go on, the MOT should be fine.
Calipers before:
And after:
MOT passed today - wow, that was painful.
I bought 3 replacement elipsoids from Ebay, my garage said one was unusable due to being so out of shape (dents all round - shaped like a 50p) and the other 2 were so badly corroded that they wouldn't reliably hold air
So, 2 of the 3 replacements hastily refurbed (which look lovely - just more unplanned expense), 2 rear tyres swapped over from my knackered wheels, back in for the MOT today, finally success. They even took pity on me and gave me a reduced MOT rate
Worst MOT for a number of years, but considering what was covered the overall cost wasn't too painful in the end and leaves the car in very good shape. I'll always remember taking my hateful Honda Accord in for a 'routine' service and MOT a few years ago (long since sold thankfully) - which similarly resulted in new discs and pads all round - and leaving £1300 lighter.
I bought 3 replacement elipsoids from Ebay, my garage said one was unusable due to being so out of shape (dents all round - shaped like a 50p
) and the other 2 were so badly corroded that they wouldn't reliably hold air So, 2 of the 3 replacements hastily refurbed (which look lovely - just more unplanned expense), 2 rear tyres swapped over from my knackered wheels, back in for the MOT today, finally success. They even took pity on me and gave me a reduced MOT rate
Worst MOT for a number of years, but considering what was covered the overall cost wasn't too painful in the end and leaves the car in very good shape. I'll always remember taking my hateful Honda Accord in for a 'routine' service and MOT a few years ago (long since sold thankfully) - which similarly resulted in new discs and pads all round - and leaving £1300 lighter.
North West Surrey
Yes, pleased to have it back after missing so much sun!
Did some reverse modding today.
Picked up some standard kidney grills from Ebay - black fins rather than the chrome blingy ones from a 3.0.
The mesh grills on my car when I bought it:
One standard fitted for comparison:
And both standard grills fitted:
Picked up some standard kidney grills from Ebay - black fins rather than the chrome blingy ones from a 3.0.
The mesh grills on my car when I bought it:
One standard fitted for comparison:
And both standard grills fitted:
Also put the lower grill back to standard as it looked a bit scrappy.
Before:
After:
Before:
After:
They're not really as good as they look - the mesh is not actually attached, it's just held in place when the silver surrounds are clicked into place. The silver bits are the original BMW part with the fins hacked off!
Yours if you want them though - just need the postage covered.
Yours if you want them though - just need the postage covered.
