My first straight 6

[steve69]

Good Afternoon gents!

A shout out firstly to EnuffZed! Thanks Martin, very happy with the bargain. Couldn't be happier! I got a hell of a lot of car for a very reasonable price. After 5 hours of public transport pratting around london to cambridge and onwards I felt more than ready to jump back into the drivers seat.

We went for a test drive around a few of those tight single lane country roads, not exactly my forté I'm more of an 'M road' man, I think i spend more of my life on the M4 and 5 than I do in my own home! But thats beside the point lol, but it was a good laugh I had a tonne of fun!

Christ alive when Martin asked me to hit the sports button, well 'Jekyll and hyde' doesn't quite cut it, the auto dropped a gear you could hear the straight 6 start to roar and you just within the space of half of a second can feel all the power that M54 can muster at your finger tips. It really took me back. Honestly I'd never driven an auto before, but it's actually a hell of fun! Something about not being in control of the gears made me feel a little less in control but in a nice way? I was at the mercy of the car itself, which I personally find really excting! I used to threat about the higher rev counts scared i'd blow the headgasket, now the car does it all for me!

Once we got back he did some coding for me for the sake of comfort, means the roof coming down on the button press I haven't lost, and the pre-facelift is sharing pretty much all the features of the post-facelift now. He also helped me add in an aux cable something I'd done on my old 2.0, feeding a bluetooth adapter behind the dash so it's all neat and natural looking. Top lad!

Anywho I think I must have left Norfolk around 5ish, cruised down the A11, roof down and the radio off listening to the nutural roar you hear out of the 2.5i , which trust me compared to my old 2.0, not even in the same category of fun. Also wind deflector, makes a tonne of difference hadn't had one before, I highly recommend one to anyone who doesn't have it. Rattles a tad though so Ill remove that when the roofs up I think. I hit the A505, whipped past Royston and Baldock and joined the A1. Stopped off at Stevenage to see some family. Showed off the new wheels to every cat and their dog and didn't head off back to Bristol til' about midnight.

M25 and M4 up to reading, tonnes of single lane 40mph thanks to roadworks, sniggered at a bloke fly past me and get snapped by the speed cameras leaving london, silly bugger!

Then once I'd past reading it was around 1.15, the M4 was dead and all the speed traps had passed so I thought lets see what she can do. My 2.0 topped out at 115 before she REALLY started struggling, not the straight 6. I got up to 120 with what felt like enough to have kept going another 20 with ease, at that point i backed off as you can n'alf hear the wind noise at that speed in a roadster and on english roads I wasn't comfortable pushing it further, maybe a euro trip to the autobahn later this year I think. So I backed off, cruised up to the m32 at a steady 80.

I'm a happy chap!

The to do list:
1. I'm sourcing a post-facelift rear bumper and swap the lights out for the post-facelift LED's, Im looking for good condition, but titan silver isn't essential if anyone has one knocking about.
2. Swapping the amber headlights for a set of Spyder Auto's halogen projectors with the angel eyes, I've seen these installed and they look so sexy, very modern also. SKU: 5029089 but if anyone has a set knocking about I'll have those too!
3. She's getting wrapped professionally, I haven't settled on the colour but a dark matte gray is winning thusfar.
4. Michellin PS4's all around
5. Either 108's or MV1's.. i'm super stuck on which alloys to go for actually. I was sure on 108's but now i'm not 100 sure. I would go for the 326 M Sport wheels but they're like 2k!
6. Ponder sourcing a hard top and wrapping it for winter.
7. Get a 2nd key cut and coded, one of those fancy blade style keys.
8. Grease up the steering rack gear

Not in that order!
Will keep an eye out for the next meet. Would be good to get in touch with some of the other forum members around and talk shop

Cheers lads, have a good week all! & Thanks again Martin / Norfolk Zed Rescue!

[enuff_zed]

Glad you're happy Steve. Certainly had a very long day and it's good to know the old girl can still shift when asked to.
It was great to meet someone so enthusiastic and I'm pretty sure its gone to a good home.

Just because some pedant will say it: the roof goes down on the key on all of them usually. But yours now goes up on it too.
Does seem pretty pointless when you have to stand beside it pressing the button though. If you get a Gaptech module fitted you can do a quick press and relax.

Keep in touch and I look forward to seeing your improvements.

[1536Z4]

Welcome to the forum and good to see someone giving it the beans so soon after buying . It must have filled you with confidence .

[Wayo11]

Great update Steve - so glad you found a car you love from the amazing Norfolk Z Rescue hub! Looking forward to picking up my 2.5si from him next week, assuming MOT goes well today... Spa F1 here I come!

[j3nks79]

Sounds like you had a great time picking her up.
I hope she gives you many miles of smiles.

[Umfaan]

Hope you have Miles of Smiles

[Mr Tidy]

Congratulations on picking up your first straight 6 Steve.

It sounds like you loved the drive home, and it'll be a good un coming from Martin!

[enuff_zed]

Congratulations on picking up your first straight 6 Steve.

It sounds like you loved the drive home, and it'll be a good un coming from Martin!

Safe to say I’ve had a good couple of days

[Usel]

Safe to say I’ve had a good couple of days

I can imagine this is you now but on your drive way

[buzyg]

Welcome to the board Steve. Enjoy that silky six.

[Pondrew]

All good stuff....just a word of warning....

Check those toes and fingers for signs of 'webbing'. It can happen even after a week or so from going to Naarfolk. You did well to get in and out without someone claiming you were their 'uncle dad' TBH.

[steve69]

Morning gents!

No signs of webbing as of yet, I'm living in Somerset at the moment though so I'm not sure if I could tell the difference

With Project Spa flying through its MOT I think Norfolk Z rescues selling more Z4's than the BMW dealerships!

Just booked in to get a new blade style key cut at the master locksmith in London, then Sunday I'll be greasing the steering column as its got a bit of a dry sound, and getting a bit of silicon spray on the uj's on the shaft. She's due an mot in August so I'm going to book that maybe up at the zed shed as he's going to switch the rear lights and bumper for me to the post-facelift variant. You purists might think bad of me but I'm going to play a bit with really making that look timeless!

I'll create a thread for her modernisation I reckon, post updates as I go. By the time I'm done I'd have spent the value of the car twice over I'm sure but she's going to see 200k miles if it kills me.

[enuff_zed]

maybe up at the zed shed as he's going to switch the rear lights and bumper for me to the post-facelift variant.

Don't be surprised he if complains about every aspect of the roof motor relocation. Efficient as he may be with his work, he loathes any form of competition. To the extent of getting me banned from a fb page he's on.
The fact that the pipes and loom are neatly cable-tied and routed to lay without any kinks will play havoc with his 'chaos theory' approach.

[steve69]

maybe up at the zed shed as he's going to switch the rear lights and bumper for me to the post-facelift variant.

Don't be surprised he if complains about every aspect of the roof motor relocation. Efficient as he may be with his work, he loathes any form of competition. To the extent of getting me banned from a fb page he's on.
The fact that the pipes and loom are neatly cable-tied and routed to lay without any kinks will play havoc with his 'chaos theory' approach.

You know he did my last roof motor, actually at the time I wanted a DLV exhaust mod as well as quite a few bits of other work doing, but I was short on time & needed to have the car back after 2 days. I told him the motor wasn't a priority as there's a bristol based gent who could do it for me (another forum member) and he didn't seem best pleased about the idea, 'i wouldn't get a lifetime warranty' etc etc.

I must say he did some great work for me with welding my exhaust manifold back together, switched my drive belt, replaced all my rubber break pipes with copper I was super pleased.! Really impressive work.... But in the interest of openness and getting the best service (it's about whats best of the car, not concepts such as loyalty in my opinion) would there be a reason to find somewhere else to do the work do you think?

When it comes to keeping wiring tidy well it's something I care about in the interest of longevity, I know with switching the rear lights as a mod specifically theres some more... 'hacky' ways of going about it also, pinching the extra volts from the licence plate lights etc.

Ideally also, somewhere thats not 3 hours north of Bristol would be AMAZING!. Anyone know of any garages up this way that know Z4's inside and out and are trusted?

Cheers

[Pondrew]

There's the other 'Zedshed' in Newport, run by a couple of members on here and Zroadster.org.
Nothing to do with that Mike chap up North.
I think Colb runs it. It's not a 'garage', just a few enthusiasts who help with work on people's Zs