I think the si coupe look fantastic in red ! Miss my old onenfbr said:
nfbr's 2007 Ruby Black Z4 Coupé! Blog/Build-Thread
- Thread starter nfbr
- Start date
Stratts said:
Cheers!
The bushes were an early Christmas present of sorts. Really looking forward to getting them on the car!
How come you were surprised by the VAG nonsense? It is after all a VW tuning specialist I work for lol.
Taz said:
It's a special installation lube for the Powerflex Poly Urethane bushes. Makes em' go in a lot easier!
KERMIT1970 said:I think the si coupe look fantastic in red ! Miss my old one
Mind changed! That does look really nice. Not sure I fully agree with the matte black bit on the lower rear valance though.
Paulwirral
Active member
Awesome ! I had an s4 twin turbo quite a few years ago and dealt with Jim , dean and a couple of others on a regular basis , back in the apr days , I'm surprised they didn't sack you on the spot for turning to the dark side 
How are the black series powerflex bushes compared to the others? I have the purple ones the black are more hard core aren't they? If your after another cheap handling upgrade. Swap the front ARB for one off a e46 m3. I found it really stopped body roll. The rear one sadly dose not fit.
Paulwirral said:Awesome ! I had an s4 twin turbo quite a few years ago and dealt with Jim , dean and a couple of others on a regular basis , back in the apr days , I'm surprised they didn't sack you on the spot for turning to the dark side
25 years strong and Jim is still with us! He's always got a hand in the workshop and is always in and about working on "other" projects!
APR UK is now based within our company, so that's all still going strong too!
With me putting in around 55-70 hours a week on a regular basis they are slightly lenient on what car I get, especially since I walk to work anyway
Machine monkey said:
To be fair on the Z4 the bushes are mostly Black (harder) material anyway. It's only the insert on the front wishbone rear bush that gets the purple stuff.
My colleague/neighbor; Mike with the E46 M3 has gone for the Black Series bushes and he's happy with them, although I went with the regular versions just because the car isn't being used much on the track at all.
That may well go on my to do list, however I'm also considering the possibility of an Eibach or H&R anti roll bar kit at some point. Still undecided of which springs to go with. I'll definitely be using Bilstein B8 dampers regardless though!
DPG said:
So... This comment a few days back got me thinking about the daft whip aerial, After several searches around the forum, I found that most people on here seem to be going toward some weird looking stumpy thing off a piece'o'crap french biscuit tin.
Not satisfied with the 'short comings' of the PSA group stumpy aerial thing, (and in all honesty finding it to look a little Chav) - I looked back towards my routes as a VAG specialist and remembered the Polo 6R Aerial
Very similar in style to the stock antennae on the Honda S2000, but with a slightly smaller diameter at the base so there's no overhang.
I borrowed one off my colleague 'Jimmy the Hoover' who has a rather odd white Golf Estate on White 19" X5 Lobster Claws...
Tried it on; and found it looks to be a perfect fit!
Here's a couple of comparison images! (will post up an installed photo once I've received my brand new one
)
These are around £18.00 from the Volkswagen main dealer or TPS - Part number 6R0 035 849, which has superseded to 6R0 035 849D. These have a 5mm thread like the Z4.
If you do buy one, make sure you don't get the 6R0 035 849A as the thread on the A suffix part number is 6mm instead of the BMW type 5mm thread.
Comparison Photos of the Stock and Polo 6R Aerial.
Old:
New:
Still feel as if it's a bit of a downgrade from the previous motor ( Jetta ) as that had no visible aerial at all... To put it bluntly, If that rear quarter ever needs paint - It's going.
More bits to come later today
Old:
New:
Still feel as if it's a bit of a downgrade from the previous motor ( Jetta ) as that had no visible aerial at all... To put it bluntly, If that rear quarter ever needs paint - It's going.
More bits to come later today
mad4slalom
Senior member
too right a quick run on these roads and my carbon goes muddy black :xsimonlpearce said:Ruby black is probably one of the better colours for a coupe
Just a bugger to keep it ruby black this time of year :lol:
mad4slalom said:too right a quick run on these roads and my carbon goes muddy black :xsimonlpearce said:Ruby black is probably one of the better colours for a coupe
Just a bugger to keep it ruby black this time of year :lol:
Tell me about it! I hardly ever drive the car, living so close to work and it still manages to get dirty too frequently...
So... I finally got some more little bits done this evening on the Coupé.
First up, relatively boring and simple, LED numberplate bulbs. Had these kajiggers lying around at home, so thought I'd best crack em' in the original housings.
Came out a treat -
Here's a comparison picture (Although looks crazy thanks to me not wanting my plate on a public forum)
And a photo when I got back home after doing the jobs...
Nice easy job, Thought I'd worked out the knack for not bending the clips back on the housings, but seems the design is pretty much impossible...
First up, relatively boring and simple, LED numberplate bulbs. Had these kajiggers lying around at home, so thought I'd best crack em' in the original housings.
Came out a treat -
Here's a comparison picture (Although looks crazy thanks to me not wanting my plate on a public forum)
And a photo when I got back home after doing the jobs...
Nice easy job, Thought I'd worked out the knack for not bending the clips back on the housings, but seems the design is pretty much impossible...
So, with the workshop available for the night, here comes the first of the jobs that are gonna make a difference to the way the car feels
Having obtained both a set of Powerflex Wishbone bushes and Powerflex Rear Trailing Arm bushes, I set to work with the job of doing the wishbone bushes.
At this point I'll apologise for the picture heavy and potentially boring to some post, but here goes! Hopefully some people may find this a useful or educational reference.
With all the under tray trims removed ready to set to work, down comes the first wishbone console - This is secured by two 16mm Bolts - Dead straight forward to drop.
Then the next one:
At first they didn't seem to want to free up, but a bit of penetrating spray and a large set of jaws to swing the bushes around the hexagonal end of the wishbone soon saw them come loose!
With a little bit of muscle - they came free of the wishbone!
Time to get busy with the press! First I pushes out the centre rubber part of the bush as the only tool I could find was too small to push out the metal collar
Then something randomly fell off the shelf just around the corner from where I was working and miraculously happened to be a 65mm diameter metal press tool!
this made life a whole lot easier.
Here's how the housings look with the bushes removed next to the new bushes!
With the hexagonal ends of the wishbone cleaned up - It was now time to install the purple pivot bush -
These have a correct orientation so pay attension to the instructions if you are going to do this job yourself!
A rough idea of how it all goes together...
And another...
Back over to the press: Using the 65mm tool to insert the new bushes
The new bushes now pressed into their housings
and finally fitted up in situ on the car!
First impression back on the road:
- Well - I'm very impressed.
Previous to these bushes I'd noticed things such as white lines on the road giving a bit of a grabbing sensation on the steering, almost taking the steering wheel from my grasp and pulling me from side to side.
On a decent length road test, this now appears to have stopped! The steering feels so much more accurate, more positive and less slack than before.
There is quite literally no increase in noise, vibrations or harshness at all! In these ways it feels as good as before, if not a slight bit better with the overall feeling of being a little more well connected to the steering.
I can honestly say they are a fantastic purchase and would choose these again without a doubt, over the Meyle HD bushes people seem to be going for.
Virtually anyone in the automotive industry will tell you, that German manufacturers are useless at making bushes and rubber products in general - Hence the reason people have a need to replace the wishbone bushes in the first place, and on that fact - A poly urethane product with a lifetime warranty will always get my vote. - Well done Powerflex for a fantastic product!
Having obtained both a set of Powerflex Wishbone bushes and Powerflex Rear Trailing Arm bushes, I set to work with the job of doing the wishbone bushes.
At this point I'll apologise for the picture heavy and potentially boring to some post, but here goes! Hopefully some people may find this a useful or educational reference.
With all the under tray trims removed ready to set to work, down comes the first wishbone console - This is secured by two 16mm Bolts - Dead straight forward to drop.
Then the next one:
At first they didn't seem to want to free up, but a bit of penetrating spray and a large set of jaws to swing the bushes around the hexagonal end of the wishbone soon saw them come loose!
With a little bit of muscle - they came free of the wishbone!
Time to get busy with the press! First I pushes out the centre rubber part of the bush as the only tool I could find was too small to push out the metal collar
Then something randomly fell off the shelf just around the corner from where I was working and miraculously happened to be a 65mm diameter metal press tool!
this made life a whole lot easier.
Here's how the housings look with the bushes removed next to the new bushes!
With the hexagonal ends of the wishbone cleaned up - It was now time to install the purple pivot bush -
These have a correct orientation so pay attension to the instructions if you are going to do this job yourself!
A rough idea of how it all goes together...
And another...
Back over to the press: Using the 65mm tool to insert the new bushes
The new bushes now pressed into their housings
and finally fitted up in situ on the car!
First impression back on the road:
- Well - I'm very impressed.
Previous to these bushes I'd noticed things such as white lines on the road giving a bit of a grabbing sensation on the steering, almost taking the steering wheel from my grasp and pulling me from side to side.
On a decent length road test, this now appears to have stopped! The steering feels so much more accurate, more positive and less slack than before.
There is quite literally no increase in noise, vibrations or harshness at all! In these ways it feels as good as before, if not a slight bit better with the overall feeling of being a little more well connected to the steering.
I can honestly say they are a fantastic purchase and would choose these again without a doubt, over the Meyle HD bushes people seem to be going for.
Virtually anyone in the automotive industry will tell you, that German manufacturers are useless at making bushes and rubber products in general - Hence the reason people have a need to replace the wishbone bushes in the first place, and on that fact - A poly urethane product with a lifetime warranty will always get my vote. - Well done Powerflex for a fantastic product!
Last night's job... Painting the Grille Bars!
Unsure on what way to go with the grilles, there was one thing I was certain on! I didn't want the awful silver bars that BMW had decided on using on the 3.0Si models.
Rather than splash out £50+ on a pair of all black kidney grilles, I decided to go with the temporary measure of painting the grille bars black.
I opted for the semi-permanent finish of Plasti-dip, Or rather a German Alternative called Hyperlex.
The job begun, removing the grilles from the car (which I'm sure we all know how to do) and stripping the chrome frame from the body/bars
First coat going on, Nice and thin...
Second coat a little thicker, after 30 minutes, then in total Six coats of the stuff 30 minutes apart.
Starting to dry a little now.
And finally re-assembled with the chrome trim cleaned and polished up.
Really happy with the result, but I'm going to give it a full 72 hours before re-installing the grille onto the car, just to ensure the paint dries properly.
As a product review on the Hyperlex Product, I'm not really all that impressed. The nozzle on the can was bunged up and splattering after what feels like less than a half of the can has been used (This will be left to soak in thinners so that I can hopefully use up the rest of the can on something) - and as what could potentially be a safety concern, after being shaken half to death six times the bottom of the can had gone from a nice curved convex to something which made me believe it ready to explode...
Unsure on what way to go with the grilles, there was one thing I was certain on! I didn't want the awful silver bars that BMW had decided on using on the 3.0Si models.
Rather than splash out £50+ on a pair of all black kidney grilles, I decided to go with the temporary measure of painting the grille bars black.
I opted for the semi-permanent finish of Plasti-dip, Or rather a German Alternative called Hyperlex.
The job begun, removing the grilles from the car (which I'm sure we all know how to do) and stripping the chrome frame from the body/bars
First coat going on, Nice and thin...
Second coat a little thicker, after 30 minutes, then in total Six coats of the stuff 30 minutes apart.
Starting to dry a little now.
And finally re-assembled with the chrome trim cleaned and polished up.
Really happy with the result, but I'm going to give it a full 72 hours before re-installing the grille onto the car, just to ensure the paint dries properly.
As a product review on the Hyperlex Product, I'm not really all that impressed. The nozzle on the can was bunged up and splattering after what feels like less than a half of the can has been used (This will be left to soak in thinners so that I can hopefully use up the rest of the can on something) - and as what could potentially be a safety concern, after being shaken half to death six times the bottom of the can had gone from a nice curved convex to something which made me believe it ready to explode...
Oooooh that can looks dodgy, quite a few years ago I had a can of under seal suddenly burst whilst on the bench for no apparent reason..
The black spatters are still on the compressor and grinder to remind me of it!
I had my chrome outer pieces wrapped in 4D carbon... They look a treat without being blingy.
The black spatters are still on the compressor and grinder to remind me of it!
I had my chrome outer pieces wrapped in 4D carbon... They look a treat without being blingy.
Popped the grilles back in today - Not going anywhere til' tomorrow afternoon in the car, so should be fine!
Really happy with how it looks now. So much better than the stock silver bars without being too non-standard looking.
LED Interior bulbs to come later today
Whilst on the subject of Interior, I realised I've never actually put a photo up of the Interior! So here's one...
Really happy with how it looks now. So much better than the stock silver bars without being too non-standard looking.
LED Interior bulbs to come later today
Whilst on the subject of Interior, I realised I've never actually put a photo up of the Interior! So here's one...
So, As I was saying, I swapped out all my interior bulbs for white LED ones the other day. I took some pictures during the install but haven't managed to get photos of the car all lit up at night yet.
First up was the boot light... Yep, that's right... Since I went for a Coupé, I actually get a good amount of luggage space
To remove this, quite literally press the carpet under the lens in and grip from the bottom of the lens, lifting it up and out like so...
Once removed you will be greeted with this. I'd advise bending the contact in a little bit for better grip on your new LED bulb.
I've also inserted a photo of the bulb I used for this one... In the Coupé it is a 40-44mm Festoon type bulb or '264', where the Roadster has a Wedge type or '501' bulb.
Once re-fitted - A much whiter brighter light *Camera picks up the colour funny...*
Next, I set about replacing the main interior roof light's bulbs. You can release this by inserting a small flatblade screwdriver (if careful) or a non-marring pry tool just behind the unit itself
Once removed this is what you will see: The bulbs are standard '501' wedge type bulbs and sit in little contact housings that twist in.
Bit like this... The original bulbs pull out quite easily.
The new ones push in, then twist the contact housings back into the main lamp unit.
Next up, the glovebox! Relatively straight forward, There's a slot in the right hand side of the lamp unit that you can slot a very fine flat screwdriver into,
then using your nails (if you have any) just pull the unit down from that side and out... The bulb swaps over by sliding out, new one in. This again is a '501' wedge.
The footwell lights come out in the same way, but have a heat shield on the rear of the lens unit. These pry off quite easily.
Back in position, nice clear white light.
Last one is the unit in the cubby hole between the seats, this is the same unit as the footwell lamps, but is much more awkward to remove.
So, to summarise - I used
1x '264' 40-44mm Festoon Bulb
7x '501' Wedge Bulbs
Will be back with a photo of the interior all nicely illuminated when the weather is better again
First up was the boot light... Yep, that's right... Since I went for a Coupé, I actually get a good amount of luggage space
To remove this, quite literally press the carpet under the lens in and grip from the bottom of the lens, lifting it up and out like so...
Once removed you will be greeted with this. I'd advise bending the contact in a little bit for better grip on your new LED bulb.
I've also inserted a photo of the bulb I used for this one... In the Coupé it is a 40-44mm Festoon type bulb or '264', where the Roadster has a Wedge type or '501' bulb.
Once re-fitted - A much whiter brighter light
*Camera picks up the colour funny...*Next, I set about replacing the main interior roof light's bulbs. You can release this by inserting a small flatblade screwdriver (if careful) or a non-marring pry tool just behind the unit itself
Once removed this is what you will see: The bulbs are standard '501' wedge type bulbs and sit in little contact housings that twist in.
Bit like this... The original bulbs pull out quite easily.
The new ones push in, then twist the contact housings back into the main lamp unit.
Next up, the glovebox! Relatively straight forward, There's a slot in the right hand side of the lamp unit that you can slot a very fine flat screwdriver into,
then using your nails (if you have any) just pull the unit down from that side and out... The bulb swaps over by sliding out, new one in. This again is a '501' wedge.
The footwell lights come out in the same way, but have a heat shield on the rear of the lens unit. These pry off quite easily.
Back in position, nice clear white light.
Last one is the unit in the cubby hole between the seats, this is the same unit as the footwell lamps, but is much more awkward to remove.
So, to summarise - I used
1x '264' 40-44mm Festoon Bulb
7x '501' Wedge Bulbs
Will be back with a photo of the interior all nicely illuminated when the weather is better again
Thanks Dale!
As an avid DIY modder, I've always enjoyed reading peoples build threads and often found myself learning stuff from them, so thought why not document my progress and hopefully as I learn stuff along the way and document them, it may help others in the future too!
It's a shame it's all been little cheap mods so far, but once I've paid off a wee bit of debt I have in full (No more than 2 months hopefully) I'll be able to start doing a few slightly more expensive time consuming modifications.
As an avid DIY modder, I've always enjoyed reading peoples build threads and often found myself learning stuff from them, so thought why not document my progress and hopefully as I learn stuff along the way and document them, it may help others in the future too!
It's a shame it's all been little cheap mods so far, but once I've paid off a wee bit of debt I have in full (No more than 2 months hopefully) I'll be able to start doing a few slightly more expensive time consuming modifications.
Air filter time!
- I had originally ordered a BMC replacement panel filter for the Coupé on the grounds of them being very popular on the M3 forums.
After being given a 7-week lead time, I decided to look elsewhere and cancelled the order for the BMC. The first brand that came to mind were K&N..
I did some industry research and found a few things pointing out that the K&N filter's filtration quality was better than that of the BMC filters, but there were a few people scaremongering with rumours about Oil and Air mass meter problems.
- A quick call to K&N cleared this all up, they were incredibly helpful on the matter and had pretty much 'heard it all'. They gave simple yet technical answers to all of the arguments that I'd read and even sent me an image of their consumer protection pledge... This put my mind at ease and added to this, My industry experience shows. I've seen as many VW/Audis at work has Air Mass Meter failures running standard filters as I have running Cotton Gauze, Oiled Foam and Dry Foam filters.
So - After that - I decided to go ahead and get one ordered - Here it is! Part number: K&N 33-2372
So, I'm sure you've all seen it before, but here's a picture of the standard airbox on the 3.0Si model. Covered in water marks all thanks to this wonderful time of year.
First we start by removing the airbox lid... To do this you'll need a decently wide flat blade screwdriver to pop the clips.
Make sure that you let the clips hang 'outwards' as much as possible as they WILL fall out if you let them flop back 'inwards'.
With the lid lifted up, this is what you'll see! The paper filter will now slot out quite easily.
At this point, I became a little disappointed... The production date on my filter showed it being produced just a couple of months before my car was built...
Meaning that even with a FULL BMW Service History, the Original air filter had still not been replaced, even after 7 years and 75,000 miles!
This appears to be a trend getting quite typical with dealer service regimes.
As you can see, the filter came out pretty dirty, so I'm glad the car is being treated to a nice new one.
In goes the new filter! Re-fitting the lid is the reverse of the removal. The only thing I found different was the the K&N has a slightly stiffer/tighter sealing rubber surround, so required a reasonable amount of pressure to the airbox lid to allow the clips to pop back on. The front left being the most difficult as there is very little room to get a good amount of pressure to snap it back on.
In review of the product, Unfortunately I haven't had a chance to take the car out yet as the weather is terrible here and I've got quite a few jobs to be getting done (housework) before going back to work on Monday... The joy of living alone.
Will report back with more of a review once I have a chance to go for a drive!
- I had originally ordered a BMC replacement panel filter for the Coupé on the grounds of them being very popular on the M3 forums.
After being given a 7-week lead time, I decided to look elsewhere and cancelled the order for the BMC. The first brand that came to mind were K&N..
I did some industry research and found a few things pointing out that the K&N filter's filtration quality was better than that of the BMC filters, but there were a few people scaremongering with rumours about Oil and Air mass meter problems.
- A quick call to K&N cleared this all up, they were incredibly helpful on the matter and had pretty much 'heard it all'. They gave simple yet technical answers to all of the arguments that I'd read and even sent me an image of their consumer protection pledge... This put my mind at ease and added to this, My industry experience shows. I've seen as many VW/Audis at work has Air Mass Meter failures running standard filters as I have running Cotton Gauze, Oiled Foam and Dry Foam filters.
So - After that - I decided to go ahead and get one ordered - Here it is! Part number: K&N 33-2372
So, I'm sure you've all seen it before, but here's a picture of the standard airbox on the 3.0Si model. Covered in water marks all thanks to this wonderful time of year.
First we start by removing the airbox lid... To do this you'll need a decently wide flat blade screwdriver to pop the clips.
Make sure that you let the clips hang 'outwards' as much as possible as they WILL fall out if you let them flop back 'inwards'.
With the lid lifted up, this is what you'll see! The paper filter will now slot out quite easily.
At this point, I became a little disappointed... The production date on my filter showed it being produced just a couple of months before my car was built...
Meaning that even with a FULL BMW Service History, the Original air filter had still not been replaced, even after 7 years and 75,000 miles!
This appears to be a trend getting quite typical with dealer service regimes.
As you can see, the filter came out pretty dirty, so I'm glad the car is being treated to a nice new one.
In goes the new filter! Re-fitting the lid is the reverse of the removal. The only thing I found different was the the K&N has a slightly stiffer/tighter sealing rubber surround, so required a reasonable amount of pressure to the airbox lid to allow the clips to pop back on. The front left being the most difficult as there is very little room to get a good amount of pressure to snap it back on.
In review of the product, Unfortunately I haven't had a chance to take the car out yet as the weather is terrible here and I've got quite a few jobs to be getting done (housework) before going back to work on Monday... The joy of living alone.
Will report back with more of a review once I have a chance to go for a drive!