Don't let your dream car die!

[theosinc930]

What a gift for your 18th, and properly sorry to see it being rear ended Especially after all those trip.

Brilliant rebuild and thread to show though, look forward to the updates. You're going to need to collect some more stickers for the boot lid :driving:

I was thinking of gently removing the stickers from the bent boot lid by heating the adhesive with a hair dryer and then sticking them onto the replacement lid. Think that will work?

 

[-Tom-]

What a gift for your 18th, and properly sorry to see it being rear ended Especially after all those trip.

Brilliant rebuild and thread to show though, look forward to the updates. You're going to need to collect some more stickers for the boot lid :driving:

I was thinking of gently removing the stickers from the bent boot lid by heating the adhesive with a hair dryer and then sticking them onto the replacement lid. Think that will work?

It's exactly what I would try! Surely some will survive the transplant

 

[raymond.harper]

With any badge, I use dental floss or fishing line to cut through the adhesive with a sawing action and gently pull it toward you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVTlwcIXKn4

 

[theosinc930]

With any badge, I use dental floss to cut through the adhesive with a sawing action then gently pull it toward you.

Do you think that works with stickers too?

 

[theosinc930]

Repair update, part 2.

Just got these pictures from the workshop. They're slowly welding the rear end back together, while keeping the factory spot weld points.

 

[raymond.harper]

With any badge, I use dental floss to cut through the adhesive with a sawing action then gently pull it toward you.

Do you think that works with stickers too?

Gentle heat and a razor blade for the stickers. You will need lots of patience!

 

[theosinc930]

Repair update:
The welding is finished, the underside has been coated in rust protection and so have the rear wings. The guys are now starting the interior swap.

My car has the following sound system:
S662 Radio BMW Business CD

The parts car has something better:
S662 Radio BMW Business CD
S676 HiFi Speaker System
S692 Preparation, BMW 6-CD Changer I-Bus
S644 Preparation F Mobile Phone W Bluetooth

Does anyone know if I can swap the Hifi Sound System onto my car? Thanks!

 

[tomscott]

Great thread

 

[Bmwz4ruby]

This is great to see. It will become more common making one good out of two going forward I’m sure. Currently Z4’s are plentiful but in the future that won’t be the case.

 

[Mr Tidy]

Good to see your car is getting there.

As far as I know it should be possible to install the S676 HiFi system into your car. As it has 10 speakers and an amplifier in the battery compartment you'll need that and the 4 extra speakers in your car, but as yours is a 2003 model the wiring should all be there. Although I'd make sure before you part with the donor!

This might be worth a read. https://z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2076672&hilit=676#p2076672

By the time you have that and the interior installed you almost got the rest of it for free.

 

[pvr]

Just curious, is the insurance company covering a fair bit of it?

 

[IRD]

Congratulations. What a fantastic effort and such dedication. As others have said. Looking forward to Part 2.

 

[theosinc930]

Wohooo! The paint is on!

 

[futureZ4buyer]

So sad to read this... Wanted to drive my car today but you scared me haha.

Seems that repair is going great! Good luck and hopefully you will enjoy you car again soon!

PS If you ever get tired of those seats, I will personally collect them from my neighbouring country :driving:

 

[theosinc930]

Just curious, is the insurance company covering a fair bit of it?

Yeah I got 3000€ from the insurance company.
In the end this whole project will probably cost around 4000€, but it's okay. I will upgrade the car with those sport seats and will also have three quarters of that parts car left.

 

[peeblezZ4]

Brilliant story/thread.

 

[theosinc930]

The body panels have been temporarily mounted in order to adjust the panel gaps. Starting to look like a Z4 again!
Also got some neat parts from eBay: silver 3.0i grilles and wood trim! It's going to look amazing against the beige sport seats, can't wait. I was thinking about wrapping the wood in clear film to protect it. Has anyone done that?

 

[Mr Tidy]

It's good to see your car is getting there.

I can't help with your question about wrapping the wood trim, although the wood trim in my 2005 330i still looks fine. It's the beige parts like door pulls and armrests that have suffered from a build up of ingrained dirt.

 

[theosinc930]

The ugly gray carpet is out and some more primer is on.

 

[theosinc930]

Small repair update.

I wanted to use the beige carpet from the donor car, but we discovered that the RHD carpet is completely different. So we painted my old gray carpet black with textile paint.


Once we took apart the beige interior, it was clear that the beige plastics were past their prime. So we decided to repaint them. Plastic primer, custom mixed beige paint and matte clear coat.



I sent my rare wood trim from Germany back home to the workshop using DHL. I packed them very carefully with the woman from the DHL shop, and yet they still arrived like this. I was super sad and disappointed. Keep in mind that there's a thick aluminium sheet under the wood veneer, so those DHL morons must have treated the package really badly if they bent the aluminium like that. There's clearly no more saving these.

Currently waiting for a reply from their customer complaint department.


We also started to install the beige interior and it's looking good.

The beige leather dye for the sport seats from the donor car should arrive soon. I can't wait to see them restored to their former glory.