What have you done to your car today?

LewisB · Post by **LewisB** » Sun Feb 19, 2017 11:11 pm

Basic wash and thorough clean of the leather. The seats were in desperate need after plenty of wear.

brightonbimmer · Post by **brightonbimmer** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 12:10 am

Magicarcher wrote:Fitted a mouse scarer

Do these things work ? I have an AC powered unit plugged in in my garage which seems to be useless. I have caught mice in snap-traps directly under it a few inches away. I have decided to give it a go anyway, so have just ordered a unit similar to yours on e-bay for USD 12.88 shipped to my door in Canada. I presume I can wire it to the terminals on the firewall.
David

Magicarcher · Post by **Magicarcher** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 10:27 pm

Do these things work ?

It is hard to be sure, but mice have trashed the engine bay of my sons Gen 3 F56 mini chewing all soft rubber in sight, they have eaten the rubber boots on the HT leads on my daughters Gen 1 R50 mini + they started storing sycamore leaves and hazelnuts under the plastic fuel rail cover and they have made a nest on the chassis rails of my Gen 2 R56 mini.

I have fitted these on my mini and my daughters mini they appear to have stopped

but it could be co-incidence

So when I picked up the Z4 I have always wanted, I didn't want to take chances. Fitting was nice and easy on Z4, so much more room underbonnet than a mini.

They are a nightmare problem. They have been known to chew vehicle wiring (they seam to like rubber and plastic!) or worse still they nest in the air filter box chewing the paper air filter to make bedding then getting sucked into the air intake.

Magicarcher · Post by **Magicarcher** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 10:36 pm

I presume I can wire it to the terminals on the firewall.

Wiring is quite simple, get yourself a couple of 8mm ring terminals and some plastic sheathing to protect the wires. I wired the positive to the jump start terminal on the bulkhead and the negative to the earth to the bonnet. Make sure it is fused! The device I bought comes with a fuse, make sure the fuse is as close to the positive terminal as you can get so there is no chance of unfused wires shorting in an accident (I made it about 40mm to the ring terminal). The quiescent/parasitic/dark current draw on this model is very small, from memory a couple of milliamps so battery drain has not been an issue on my cars.

kis · Post by **kis** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 10:44 pm

Magicarcher wrote:
Do these things work ?
It is hard to be sure, but mice have trashed the engine bay of my sons Gen 3 F56 mini chewing all soft rubber in sight, they have eaten the rubber boots on the HT leads on my daughters Gen 1 R50 mini + they started storing sycamore leaves and hazelnuts under the plastic fuel rail cover and they have made a nest on the chassis rails of my Gen 2 R56 mini.

I have fitted these on my mini and my daughters mini they appear to have stopped but it could be co-incidence

So when I picked up the Z4 I have always wanted, I didn't want to take chances. Fitting was nice and easy on Z4, so much more room underbonnet than a mini.

They are a nightmare problem. They have been known to chew vehicle wiring (they seam to like rubber and plastic!) or worse still they nest in the air filter box chewing the paper air filter to make bedding then getting sucked into the air intake.

More prominent if left standing? I've not heard of it happening to us (me and my fam) or any friends before??

co-pey · Post by **co-pey** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 10:52 pm

Gave the coo-pey a much needed bath. Even removed the wheels and scrubbed out the wheel wells.

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Z43.0Si · Post by **Z43.0Si** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 10:55 pm

Loving the Coupe in white

Marlon · Post by **Marlon** » Tue Feb 21, 2017 12:03 am

I do like a clean engine bay

- just don't check my wheel wells

co-pey · Post by **co-pey** » Tue Feb 21, 2017 12:06 pm

Z43.0Si wrote:Loving the Coupe in white

Thanks!

co-pey · Post by **co-pey** » Tue Feb 21, 2017 12:10 pm

Marlon wrote:I do like a clean engine bay - just don't check my wheel wells

My wells were driving me nuts. I don't mind that they get dirty, but when the rest of the car is getting the works, the wells were just screaming "US TOO!"

I scrubbed the hell out of them and let them dry. Then I put a coat of matte finish tire shine, let it dry, wiped off the excess, and then repeated again. Should last a bit longer. The backs were much worse than the front, since the fronts were replaced a few months ago due to that stupid sheet of plywood.

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Marlon · Post by **Marlon** » Tue Feb 21, 2017 12:14 pm

Wow - that's clean

mine are lucky if they get an occasional sponge

My engine bay however . . .

co-pey · Post by **co-pey** » Tue Feb 21, 2017 12:15 pm

Smartbear wrote:Today I've mainly been fitting a smart top module to my e89, couple of trim panels off in the boot & messing around with connector plugs and wrestling with the loom

Rob

Just looked that up. Neat little device.

co-pey · Post by **co-pey** » Tue Feb 21, 2017 12:18 pm

Marlon wrote:Wow - that's clean mine are lucky if they get an occasional sponge

My engine bay however . . .

Damn!! That red looks on fire!

Hey, got a question about something since I can see it on your picture: Just to the left (rear) of your passenger side strut tower is a small bracket, also red. It has two threaded bolts sticking out. It appears to be a shelf. I have one as well, and I assume most E85/86 do. Have any idea what it's for? My guess is fire suppression of some sort.

Marlon · Post by **Marlon** » Tue Feb 21, 2017 12:27 pm

co-pey wrote:
Marlon wrote:Wow - that's clean mine are lucky if they get an occasional sponge

My engine bay however . . .

Damn!! That red looks on fire!

Hey, got a question about something since I can see it on your picture: Just to the left (rear) of your passenger side strut tower is a small bracket, also red. It has two threaded bolts sticking out. It appears to be a shelf. I have one as well, and I assume most E85/86 do. Have any idea what it's for? My guess is fire suppression of some sort.

I asked the same question on the forum a while back - its for the ///M version, cant remember what it holds though

Smartbear · Post by **Smartbear** » Tue Feb 21, 2017 12:53 pm

Marlon wrote:
co-pey wrote:
Marlon wrote:Wow - that's clean mine are lucky if they get an occasional sponge

My engine bay however . . .

Damn!! That red looks on fire!

Hey, got a question about something since I can see it on your picture: Just to the left (rear) of your passenger side strut tower is a small bracket, also red. It has two threaded bolts sticking out. It appears to be a shelf. I have one as well, and I assume most E85/86 do. Have any idea what it's for? My guess is fire suppression of some sort.
I asked the same question on the forum a while back - its for the ///M version, cant remember what it holds though

It's a stress bearing support structure to help carry the weight of all those M badges

Rob

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