Ultramega's 35i mod & maintenance log

[ultramega]

Next installment!

This lot turned up from Allwoods Audio today.

• Match UP 7DSP/AMP
• Bluetooth module
• BMW harness to ISO
• ISO to amp extension
• Power kit
• Custom woofer wiring kit
• Remote control

I had a very good chat with Horst yesterday and was really impressed, especially as he was familiar with the non-standard speaker setup particular to the Z4.

He gave me some good advice and a discount off list price (because I wasn't paying through ebay). That yellow and red pile of spaghetti was made by him, specifically to allow me to separate out the footwell woofers and power them through the amp - wiring enough to go from the amp in the boot back to each footwell. All included in the price, as was the amp power kit with fuses. On top of that, he sent me some of their own custom DSP setup files which should hopefully be a good starting point for me.

Initial plan is to keep the stock speakers - I expect the DSP/AMP alone to be a great improvement. Pretty sure some of them will get swapped out eventually though, but my wallet needs a while to recover. Again, Horst at Allwoods made some good speaker recommendations, including knowing that the Z4 needs slimmer ones.

No idea how I'm going to fit an extra conversion harness (the BMW to ISO) behind the headunit - it was hard enough getting the android screen piggyback in there. Might have to remove the glovebox again and see if I can feed some of them on top of that - there was plenty space up there.

 

[Pondy]

Car came back from the garage. Has a new OSF ball joint which has cured the clunk experienced over bumps. Also has new rear discs & pads, which don't feel any different but look way better.

So you can do all the wiring/tech/cup holder stuff but not change a set of pads and discs?
I think I am getting old.......

 

[AnubisZed]

So you can do all the wiring/tech/cup holder stuff but not change a set of pads and dsics?
I think I am getting old.......

Everyone to their own level, surely?!

 

[Pondy]

Everyone to their own level, surely?!

Play Station generation..............

When 'modding' a car means putting android whatever and Starbucks holders in, it shows I'm old and out of touch.

Next thing will be sending your car to PC world for upgrades....

 

[ultramega]

So you can do all the wiring/tech/cup holder stuff but not change a set of pads and discs?

Oh, absolutely could have done that myself, have on many previous cars. But it was in the garage anyway and they can do it much quicker than me. The time I have to do things is limited, so I pick what will be most fun/rewarding for me, which generally means things I haven’t done before. Always found discs a chore.
If the turbos ends up needing replaced I do fancy that for myself, but we’ll see…

And there’ll be no Starbucks in my car. Their coffee is :thumbsdown:

 

[AnubisZed]

I've spoken to many members from here, zpost and the Facebook groups while doing their cruise control retrofits (approaching 300 now!) and they all have differing levels of what they either want to do or are able to do. Some are mechanical types that will happily take an engine apart but are sh :!: :!: scarred at the thought of the electrics, some will be at home with both sides and some are just happy to drive it. I've had customers from mid 20's to well into their 60's. We are all different, but one thing is always the same, we love our Zeds

Oh and no food or drink is consumed in my car, I'm not risking anything there

 

[ultramega]

Also coming soon:


It seemed silly spending a load of money on DSP/amp but leaving the crappy stock speakers in place. Plan had been to replace the speakers later down the line (I knew it was an inevitability), but the fact the DSP came with wiring made up to power the woofers, why wait?
Well, I am waiting for a while as I haven't had time to do anything. Car has been sat in my garage for the last week and a half on a trickle charger.

 

[B21]

Also coming soon:
IMG_1674.jpg

It seemed silly spending a load of money on DSP/amp but leaving the crappy stock speakers in place. Plan had been to replace the speakers later down the line (I knew it was an inevitability), but the fact the DSP came with wiring made up to power the woofers, why wait?
Well, I am waiting for a while as I haven't had time to do anything. Car has been sat in my garage for the last week and a half on a trickle charger.

Are the logic of inevitability…..

Look forward to the next set of mods

 

[Pondy]

It seemed silly spending a load of money on DSP/amp but leaving the crappy stock speakers in place. Plan had been to replace the speakers later down the line (I knew it was an inevitability), but the fact the DSP came with wiring made up to power the woofers, why wait?
Well, I am waiting for a while as I haven't had time to do anything. Car has been sat in my garage for the last week and a half on a trickle charger.

Have a chat with Peter (B21), he's doing all that stuff ATM and has the spreadsheets to prove.

Edit: the old git beat me to it. :lol:

 

[B21]

It seemed silly spending a load of money on DSP/amp but leaving the crappy stock speakers in place. Plan had been to replace the speakers later down the line (I knew it was an inevitability), but the fact the DSP came with wiring made up to power the woofers, why wait?
Well, I am waiting for a while as I haven't had time to do anything. Car has been sat in my garage for the last week and a half on a trickle charger.

Have a chat with Peter (B21), he's doing all that stuff ATM and has the spreadsheets to prove.

Edit: the old git beat me to it. :lol:

‘Old git’ is very pejorative..have you been speaking to my favourite fan?

FWIW I led this chappy down this slippery slope..he shows great promise

 

[Pondy]

‘Old git’ is very pejorative..have you been speaking to my favourite fan?

FWIW I led this chappy down this slippery slope..he shows great promise

Sorry Pete, no offense intended. The word git where i'm from is a term of endearment (and you are old).
I'm gonna call you 'Obi one' from now on

 

[B21]

‘Old git’ is very pejorative..have you been speaking to my favourite fan?

FWIW I led this chappy down this slippery slope..he shows great promise

Sorry Pete, no offense intended. The word git where i'm from is a term of endearment (and you are old).
I'm gonna call you 'Obi one' from now on

No worries it’s actually one of your least offensive comments

A few years ago they did call me Obe-wan and at the time I thought it was a bit premature..now he looks like a young kid

 

[Pondy]

[/quote]

No worries it’s actually one of your least offensive comments

I have got better recently, though, you have to admit. Epiphany, see.

 

[ultramega]

FWIW I led this chappy down this slippery slope

Indeed you did. Wouldn’t even have considered it had it not been for your detailed thread and encouragement.

Also, there’s pretty much no way on earth I can end up with it sounding any worse than it does right now!

 

[ultramega]

The process of plumbing in the DSP began this weekend. I got a far as dismantling the car, getting everything connected, confirmed working. Spent an awful lot of time after that trying to get all the wiring to fit in behind the head unit. Managed to feed some of it sideways to above the glovebox.



Still haven’t decided where I will properly install the DSP. Either where there would be a factory amp, or in the rear left corner of the boot doing away with the cubby hole.

Found a little speaker in the driver side footwell. I’m sure most on here will know what it’s for, but I don’t. Warning chimes were coming out of the door speakers, so it’s not for that. And yes, it was quite mucky in there.


I also had a brief panic. Had the roof down, but when I plugged in the centre console switch it wouldn’t go back up again. A couple of minor panic SMS to Mr Bondar, and eventually figured out that the aircon/heater controls need to be connected for the centre console switches to work. Who would have thunk?

 

[B21]

It’s the emergency aid SOS speaker

 

[Silverstar]

Be careful with putting the DSP / AMP in the corner cubby hole if ever you have a leak and water gets there your DSP will be toast, which is why I mounted my amp in the place where the factory amp would have been. You can mount the DSP to a wooden board which in turn can be fixed to the factory mounting points on the bulkhead.

 

[ultramega]

Be careful with putting the DSP / AMP in the corner cubby hole if ever you have a leak and water gets there your DSP will be toast, which is why I mounted my amp in the place where the factory amp would have been. You can mount the DSP to a wooden board which in turn can be fixed to the factory mounting points on the bulkhead.

Ah okay, I think that's my decision made for me then. I do like the cubby hole, so it would have been a shame to have lost it anyway.

 

[ultramega]

Doing it properly. Initial plan had been to just get the DSP installed, hooked up, put the car back together.
But as I have the car apart anyway, it makes sense to do everything. So the footwell speakers are getting replaced with these:

And then, when I have put most of the car back together, the doors will get sound deadened and the speakers replaced.
All this means it will be longer before I can use the car again, but will save me time overall.

 

[B21]

Be interested to hear how those babies go