Z4 Coupe, Mini Project Thread...?
- Thread starter AlphaEchoAlpha
- Start date
DSGRNMCM said:
Thanks, I suspect the previous owner would have sourced them from BMautosport : https://www.bmautosport.co.uk/showroom/index.php
Also been playing around on photoshop ahead of having the wheels done, might actually go for gunmetal/shadow chrome:
Had the car detailed yesterday although unfortunately the dent man was a no show. Also had the badges off while it was there, will take some photos later today.
ColinBR said:
Yes that's reminded me I had a silver Fabia VRs a few years ago (brilliant car, wish I still had it!) on which I had the wheels done anthracite, you're bob on looked brilliant clean less so dirty. Think I'll play around a bit more on Photoshop and do a few different angles before I make a choice.
I'm pleased with the [lack of] badges, certainly the wings look a lot cleaner now!
Had a few photos taken of the car today by Stevie Borowik, a local car photographer - https://www.instagram.com/stevieborowik/
Hello there,
Previous owner of this very car checking back in after quite some time. Well done on the modifications looks good, but so different from when I had it, which was essentially stock. The owner after me was the main modifier of the vehicle - he had plans from day one for new wheels and suspension.
That seatbelt guide was broken when I bought the car from Driftbridge in Croydon and you are right - it is not a cheap fix, hence it never got done...I couldn't see it from where I was sat in the driver's seat. As for the fogs, again your experiences are similar to mine as they are in the same state as when I bought the car. No amount of driving with the fogs on will get rid of that condensation I can assure you.
I trust you still have the AC/DC compact disc and will be adding to the playlist when you eventually sell it on.
Have fun
Pauly
Previous owner of this very car checking back in after quite some time. Well done on the modifications looks good, but so different from when I had it, which was essentially stock. The owner after me was the main modifier of the vehicle - he had plans from day one for new wheels and suspension.
That seatbelt guide was broken when I bought the car from Driftbridge in Croydon and you are right - it is not a cheap fix, hence it never got done...I couldn't see it from where I was sat in the driver's seat. As for the fogs, again your experiences are similar to mine as they are in the same state as when I bought the car. No amount of driving with the fogs on will get rid of that condensation I can assure you.
I trust you still have the AC/DC compact disc and will be adding to the playlist when you eventually sell it on.
Have fun
Pauly
paulyv said:
Hi Pauly,
Great to hear from you! Thanks, yes I think Adam gets the credit for the modifications on the car, certainly the CSL's and the coilovers. I spotted the broken seat belt holder on both advertisements for the car, I'm a sucker for niggles like that so just bit the bullet. Yep, AC/DC was in the CD player when I got the car and it's still in there now! The CD ritual will be adhered to :lol: Regarding the fogs, I totally butchered the spare set trying to split them so they'll be in a landfill soon, but not before they've given me an easy template for tinting the foglights (which I've still not got around to doing). I'm undecided on what to do moving forward, I'd love to use it as an bargaining point in man maths for an M bumper, we shall see.
For now, more items checked off the list with a trip to see Mike at the Zed Shed yesterday who fitted the new backbox and replaced my water pump, as well as swapping my steering wheel over for one that came off the recently broken Coupe on here. I was planning to have that one re-covered but it was in way better condition than I was expecting, and it seemed silly to not swap them. I might have the one that came off my car recovered in the future, but for now I'm quite pleased, it's made a big difference to how old the interior looks.
Got to say, I was hugely impressed with Mike, took him just an hour and a half to complete the work and at a very reasonable cost, too. Certainly worth the 5.5 hour round trip, and the exhaust sounds brilliant too! Will be using him again in future for any big jobs I think.
No. 5 checking in!
I went with satin anthracite for the 216’s, however when I went to pick them up from being refurbished unfortunately one had a huge inclusion that I picked out (literally!) in their office, which was a bit gutting... So that one is being done again, they're confident that they can match the colour but I'll be checking very closely before accepting!!! Hopefully it’ll be on fresh rubber by mid September. My friend pulled out of buying the CSL’s, so I don’t know whether anyone here would be interested?
Also, one small but important mod:
I've done over 1500 miles in it now, really enjoying it and also really surprised how economical it is on a run, fantastic car. Wish I'd bought one sooner.
ColinBR said:
Fair point, I think I'll see how it sits on the new wheels before I decide whether to sell the CSL's regardless.
So I'm now more than 2000 miles into ownership, and given that's more in a month a half than it has done over the course of a year under the last owner I expected to get a few little niggles, of which the first cropped up over the last few days... Noticed a metallic griding sound intermittently, narrowed it down to the radiator fan (thankfully nothing more serious) so that'll be done in the coming days. Makes a hellufa racket!
Also, the clunk from the rear has gone with the replacement backbox so I suspect that must've been a worn exhaust hangar, so that was a nice little surprise and means I no longer need to faff around chasing that.
I've also bought a strut brace (because I've always wanted to unleash my inner chav) but I'll wait until I have the OEM pair and front bumper cross member all painted together so I have a matched set. Probably being a bit OCD but hey, why not. Here's a quick shot of my engine bay looking very clean post detail (now not quite as tidy) and said strut brace just laid in. Not keen on the red, but might go with a battleship grey...
ColinBR said:
Well I now have a complete set of 2 OEM braces and the one that sits behind the kidneys to be painted along with the red one, will hopefully get them done in the next couple of weeks. Thinking I'll probably go with a battleship grey, looks standard enough but just subtley different.
Also a quick update on the car - still on the CSLs. They've really grown on me, especially now I've raised the coilovers a bit (will probably push it up just a smidge further next time I've got the wheels off). I'll still put it on the 216's but only once I need new tyres, so that'll probably be around Christmas. Probably get the CSL's refurbed while they are off the car.
I had a slight problem with the radiator fan, I was getting an awful, awful screech occasionally. A bit of thinking led me to the fan - it was only when stationary/in traffic, and it was also noticeable when you turned the car off and it spooled down. Once the plastic trim was removed it was really obvious - the fan was difficult to turn by hand! Anyway, £85 later a used one arrived in double quick time from Mike at the Zed Shed (great service!) so that was dropped in. For those interested, the sound can be heard at the start of this video: https://photos.app.goo.gl/u4RqzZFp4hnXAp1W8
Also fitted one of these Bluetooth adaptors in place of my non existent CD changer, really impressed for £30. Word of warning, don't switch your bluetooth off on your phone mid call, you'll confuse the hell out of it. Had to disconnect my battery to reset the thing! Wish I'd fitted it at the same time as changing my rear top mounts!
Anyway, quick photo from this evening:
Did you get what you wanted at Waitrose this afternoon?
Uncanny to walk around the corner and see what was my car, especially given I am in no way local living about 100 miles away and simply happened to be in the area. I didn't hang around as it's rather cold today, I wasn't dressed for the weather, and I really wanted the bagels I had just bought.
Car looks great.
Uncanny to walk around the corner and see what was my car, especially given I am in no way local living about 100 miles away and simply happened to be in the area. I didn't hang around as it's rather cold today, I wasn't dressed for the weather, and I really wanted the bagels I had just bought.
Car looks great.
paulyv said:
Ha, I did thank you! Can't have missed you by much, I was very much in and out (in my favourite space, no less!). What a coincidence! Shame I've just got home and washed it, looks even better now - it was wearing a couple of weeks of muck
If you're still in the area, drop me a line if you want a quick re-union, I'm in tonight. If not, hope you have a good weekend!
Alright Harry, the old car eh! I bought it off Pauly and the car was brilliant...couple things to sort but there always is on a used car...I’d be bored otherwise. The smoothness and noise of that engine was one of the high points.
I see the stance and wheel/wheel size always have people talking but it looks best sat low and wide with some slightly stretched rubber on 19’s but that’s how I like them to look...It’s all personal preference
To be honest I would of bought it back if I had known it was for sale even though the reason I sold it was due to having a little one, never did let me down
Anyway I pick my Mk5 R32 up tonight so will crack on with that, getting some 19’s and coilovers is a must
Will keep following this thread for sure
I see the stance and wheel/wheel size always have people talking but it looks best sat low and wide with some slightly stretched rubber on 19’s but that’s how I like them to look...It’s all personal preference
To be honest I would of bought it back if I had known it was for sale even though the reason I sold it was due to having a little one, never did let me down
Anyway I pick my Mk5 R32 up tonight so will crack on with that, getting some 19’s and coilovers is a must
Will keep following this thread for sure
A5 VRX said:Alright Harry, the old car eh! I bought it off Pauly and the car was brilliant...couple things to sort but there always is on a used car...I’d be bored otherwise. The smoothness and noise of that engine was one of the high points.
I see the stance and wheel/wheel size always have people talking but it looks best sat low and wide with some slightly stretched rubber on 19’s but that’s how I like them to look...It’s all personal preference
To be honest I would of bought it back if I had known it was for sale even though the reason I sold it was due to having a little one, never did let me down
Anyway I pick my Mk5 R32 up tonight so will crack on with that, getting some 19’s and coilovers is a must
Will keep following this thread for sure
The engine is still brilliant! I'll be honest the CSL's really did grow on me especially after I wound the coilovers up just a bit - I think it was showing a bit more arch gap that got me - but I'd already bought and had the 216's refurbished so figured I might as well fit them! The CSL's are back in the garage now... Hope the R32 is good fun, always admired them - they sound fantastic.
As for this thread title...
So the last minute cancellation of an NC500 trip due to my friends dog having an operation lead to a questionable decision to Polybush some of the car. I ended up going for the SuperPro kit KIT5167K which consists of;
1 x SPF2146K REAR LOWER TRAILING ARM FRONT
1 x SPF2419K REAR SWAYBAR LINK BUSH KIT
1 x SPF2421K BMW R LOWER CONTROL ARM INNER
1 x SPF2422K BMW REAR UPPER CONTROL KIT
1 x SPF2556K FR/ LWR CTRL ARM R BUSH STD
1 x SPF2569-26K BMW FR SWAYBAR MOUNT BUSHING
1 x SPF2570-21.5K BMW REAR SWAYBAR MOUNT BUSHING
However I swapped in the adjustable camber version of the rear upper inner bush and also have some new front droplinks on the way (still).
Well this turned into a complete mission, thankfully my really rather generous friend stuck with it and pretty much carried me. Upon disassembly we discovered the flexi-solid-flexi run on the rear brake lines was a bit corroded on both sides, and the drivers side wheel bearing was shot (which was odd, as I'd not heard it!). So with the entire rear end in its component form, we did what any sensible idiot would do. Shot blast and paint it all! So the trailing arms, mount brackets, lower arms, hubs (rear face only), caliper hangers, brake line mounts and headlight level sensor bracket all got a seeing to. Quite a bit of effort especially with the masking and then tapping out/sanding back afterwards but worth it, I think. Made a huge difference to the appearance of the rear end of the car - I was thinking last week shame the trailing arm looks so rusty!
Really pleased with the result, got to replace a few of the cable clips (32p each, ouch!) yet but it's basically done now.
Quite a lot of work to remove the upper/lower arms, at least on the passenger side.
We struggled splitting the bushes out of the RARB drop links and managed to break both of the originals, 13 years and nearly 100k miles had welded those rubber bushes in the aluminium and so we had to order new ones only to immediately take the oxy torch to them!
Unfortunately the RARB D bushes were supplied the incorrect size, and looking at it part way through re-assembly the adjustable camber bush is possibly the least useful thing I've ever purchased. I have no idea how on earth you'd manage to adjust it without removing the wheel, unbolting the shock and removing the spring... Even then it would be tricky. Should have just bought an adjustable lower arm and been done with it.
Photo of the rear mostly back together with the freshly painted trailing arm and new section of brake line.
I also finally got around to ordering replacement headlight level sensors as my front one was snapped and the rear completely seized to it's bracket, so new ones all round. Sadly it had escaped my notice that probably the reason both had failed is that both of the link arms had seized in their ball joints! Yet to order those, I cannot wait for the expense!
Fitted the 216’s with a nice new set of Eagle Asymmetric 5’s which all balanced very nicely. Yet to see the car in daylight but looking forward to it tomorrow, hopefully. Wound the shocks up a bit more too, certainly noticeable with a slightly less harsh ride.
There was also time found to bolt up all of the freshly painted strut braces - again - waiting for daylight to have a proper look!
This was all finished in a last minute flog last night (finished at 01:51) to get the car to it's alignment today. Bartletts were not ‘happy’ with the results, although it was never going to pull into spec, however comparing it to the alignment it had after the coilovers were originally fitted the rear camber is reduced, and they’ve managed to get it all square. I’ll probably run it for a bit and see what they tyre wear looks like and get a feel for how it handles before doing anything further. First impressions are it's far more eager to change directions and I've a lot more feedback through the wheel, so I'm really pleased for now!
TLDR : Most polybushes fitted, arms and other bits painted, new wheel bearings and brake lines, still no headlight leveling! New wheels and tyres fitted, painted strut braces fitted. Early night required.
Brief photo update now I've washed the car. The more I drive it the more impressed I am with the changes in how it drives in the twisties. It's back at the garage on Tuesday though as it's now pulling to the left and the steering wheel is on the wonk for dead ahead :roll: Really pleased with the ride improvement going to 18" too, so much so I'm not inclined to return to the CSLs at all.
Still got a lot to do this month which includes:
Anyway... It's only money :lol:
Strut braces in, really pleased with these. Think I shall buy some black kidney grilles, the Salberk ones look good.
We blasted the caliper hangars so had to paint them, only could find red (or blue, green or yellow - why no black or grey!) at Halfrauds when I stopped in so red they went. Actually not as offensive as I thought it'd be, especially at the front where the the calipers benefit from being fairly recently refurbished before my ownership. In time I will completely overhaul the brakes as the front discs have a bit of warp and the rears have a horrible, rusty hub. Also want to replace the wheel bolts in time.
Still a bit of tweaking on the coilovers I think...
Thanks for reading - I'm really enjoying Z4 ownership and actually getting involved with the car!
Still got a lot to do this month which includes:
- Fix headlight levelling - bought new link arms from BMW for a bargain £48 or something, although I couldn't make them myself any cheaper it still smarts!
MOT due 3rd December.
Planning to change the oil and filter, really early but I've given it some hammer after it's been mostly sat under the old owners and it's not hugely expensive.
Nex Aux belt to go on as the one fitted is a bit worn.
Need to adjust my rear camber bushes to try and take out some of the camber, currently it's at -2.14 would like to see that reduced. Will do this maybe early next year and book it in for a specalist set up.
Anyway... It's only money :lol:
Strut braces in, really pleased with these. Think I shall buy some black kidney grilles, the Salberk ones look good.
We blasted the caliper hangars so had to paint them, only could find red (or blue, green or yellow - why no black or grey!) at Halfrauds when I stopped in so red they went. Actually not as offensive as I thought it'd be, especially at the front where the the calipers benefit from being fairly recently refurbished before my ownership. In time I will completely overhaul the brakes as the front discs have a bit of warp and the rears have a horrible, rusty hub. Also want to replace the wheel bolts in time.
Still a bit of tweaking on the coilovers I think...
Thanks for reading - I'm really enjoying Z4 ownership and actually getting involved with the car!
Well I finally have working headlight level sensors! Complete with new linkages and brackets as the old ones were seized and unsalvageable really. Expensive but it's nice driving at night actually being able to see where I'm going. Not a cheap fix in the end but it needed doing
My new front droplinks arrived yesterday too as one of the original ones has a split boot, but still waiting for the correct size RARB D bushes so got those to fit and the cable guide clips for the rear trailing arm bushes and that should be the car done for a while, hopefully.
My new front droplinks arrived yesterday too as one of the original ones has a split boot, but still waiting for the correct size RARB D bushes so got those to fit and the cable guide clips for the rear trailing arm bushes and that should be the car done for a while, hopefully.
Got the car MOT'd on Thursday (with at least 24 hours to go before it expired!), passed with no advisories mostly due to the fact I also managed to fit the new front droplinks on beforehand. Also did the oil and filter while I was there. The red caliper hangers are growing on me, I must say!
Another shameless strut brace photo
Another shameless strut brace photo
inkey$ said:Great write up
Coupe is looking great and love wheels, colour and overall stance.
Thank you! I'm really pleased with where the car is now
Zedebee said:
Thanks! It's so hard to keep clean, especially this time of year - Only going to the office about once a week but the state of the roads with the local quarries has to been seen to be believed
I've managed just over 5000 miles since getting in July, which is about twice as much as the previous owner used to do a year :lol: Poor thing.
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