nfbr's 2007 Ruby Black Z4 Coupé! Blog/Build-Thread

[nfbr]

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...

[Z4M-2006]

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.

[nfbr]

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...

[nfbr]

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

[Dale_B]

Massive soft spot for champagne leather, goes well with the dark exterior.

Nice update, enjoy build/diarys threads like this.

[nfbr]

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.

[nfbr]

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!

[Z4M-2006]

Very nice...

On the lightswap under the glovebox,i bought on of them "LOGO" lights.. Its a full replacement for the light...


When the door opens,the ///M logo beams onto passenger car mat,in colour too.....lol..

Cheesy but i like it..

[Ed Doe]

Good work! I'd been a little tempted to replace some of the bulbs with LED's, but am not sure if I prefer the warmer light of the normal bulbs...

Do report back on the K&N filter once you've had a chance to road test it for a bit; I'd be very interested in feedback!

[nfbr]

Very nice...
On the lightswap under the glovebox,i bought on of them "LOGO" lights.. Its a full replacement for the light...
When the door opens,the ///M logo beams onto passenger car mat,in colour too.....lol..
Cheesy but i like it..

Yeah, slightly cheesy, but at least you actually have an ///M...

Saw a local 318i with 'M Sport' badges all over it today. It made me feel slightly sad? disappointed? confused? hurt? lol.
Then I remembered that despite mine not being an 'M' it still has 'M' logos on the wheels and the steering wheel. D'oh!

Good work! I'd been a little tempted to replace some of the bulbs with LED's, but am not sure if I prefer the warmer light of the normal bulbs...
Do report back on the K&N filter once you've had a chance to road test it for a bit; I'd be very interested in feedback!

Actually, I know what you mean! The standard incandescent filament bulbs do give very much a 'candle warmth' feel to the light. Even though they don't look as modern / bright - they do seem to give a mood to the interior.

[z4pilot]

When you change the interior bulbs to LEDs, do you lose the soft fade effect when they switch off?

[nfbr]

The LED's I've used are both Canbus and Dimming compatible, so not with these, but I've seen some of the cheaper ones 'Flash' where the normal incandescent bulbs would 'Dim' during them powering down.

[shortfuse 2]

looking good keep the good work up

[nfbr]

Thanks

I may have accidentally just ordered up some Eibach Springs and Eibach Wheel spacers - front and rear.
Working for a tuner does not help my bank balance...

[nfbr]

So again, It's my weekend off and my fantastic Director has allowed me to utilise the workshop again *Could not be more grateful!!!*
For the first of three jobs today, I've swapped out the original filament bulb sidelights for some nice white LED ones!

Firstly. Here's a pic of the standard 'candles' powered up...


Up on the ramp, with the wheels off and the arch liner access panel removed.


Removing the headlamp rear cover is a bit of a bitch! The aperture it sits within is blocked top and bottom by the adjuster blocks and at one side by the slam panel/rad frame.


A little fiddly to grab a hold of but the sidelight holders are just below the high beam bulb and simply pull out (sorry for the poor photo)


The finished job looks much more modern and clean! Less of the aged candle look.


Whilst I was doing this job, I also installed HID conversion kit from the guys at HIDs Direct, but I won't go too much into this as they appear to be frowned upon by the seniors on here.
Original Halogen bulbs with their dreadful yellow glow


I went for the H7 55w Slim Smart Canbus system with the 5000k Colour Temp bulbs. Beautiful crisp white light.


Really happy with the finished job! The colour temperature is just perfect and brings the car right up to date.
Looking forward to getting out on the un-lit roads tonight to see how much difference I can see!


Next job due as soon as I've finished editing/uploading the photos!