Euro Z3 - Build Thread...

[yalden]

Performance/ Engine Cosmetics - Part 3
UUC Clutch Stop - 20/09/2008



To improve the drive of the Z3 I thought I'd begin at the lower end of the spectrum, fitting a UUC clutch stop I have reduced the amount of pedal travel; in my opinion this is such a worthwhile modification with regard to bang for buck.

[yalden]

Interior Makeover - Part 8
OEM 'R US - 20/09/2008



After getting sick and tired of my aftermarket floor mats getting caught up under my pedals and forever sliding around I bit the bullet and got hold of a genuine set. The aftermarket ones suited the interior well with the two tone edging, but the OEM ones make use of the all important carpet clips and for that reason were a must have!

[yalden]

Exterior Makeover - Part 6
No More Gills - 03/10/2008



I have always been a fan of the Z3M's replacement for the regular Z3 side gills, firstly I prefer the retro design and secondly I prefer the loss of the oversized BMW badge!

While having them sprayed in BMW's finest 303 Cosmos Black I ensured to have the recess for the //M badge smoothed out as I'm not trying to build a replica.

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[yalden]

Exterior Makeover - Part 7a
Painted Plastic > Plain Plastic- 03/10/2008



I **** plain black plastic, especially when polishing my car... thankfully the Z3 doesn't have much on show, even better yet the main bit is easily removed, rubbed down, primed and sprayed. A turd attempt at a photo, but it's getting dark and I'm sure you get the idea...

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[yalden]

Exterior Makeover - Part 8
The man with the Golden bolts - 14/10/2008



The first parts of the wheel build arrived from Germany today... 8-)

[yalden]

Exterior Makeover - Part 9a
Mirror Mirror on the drawer- 15/10/2008



I should really have saved this update until the weekend/next week as they'd be sprayed and fitted by then, but what the heck... yet another parcel arrived today, so here's another update from the Yaldenator...Genuine Z3M wing mirrors with heated glass.

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They are so much nicer than the standard BOX-TV style ones, I can't wait to get them fitted!

[yalden]

Exterior Makeover - Part 10a
BMW Aerodynamics - 27/10/2008



Before getting the mirrors painted I decided it'd be worthwhile acquiring a few more exterior additions first and sending them all into the bodyshop at the same time.

There are only 4 remaining exterior body parts I'd like on the car; after selling a few parts following a garage clear out, I decided to invest some paypal funds towards one of the 4 parts.

I phoned BMW, armed with the necessary part number, only to find out that the item has been discontinued! A quick search on Google and I'd located an American enthusiast that'd posted on a board about a 'new and unused' BMW aero spoiler that he'd bought for his '98 Z3. I contacted him to explain that the spoiler he'd bought would only fit facelift Z3's and as a result he sent it back to the original seller. I then contacted the original seller and after many messages managed to convince him to agree to ship internationally! Hurrah! So on order is the below:-

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Part #5



I have a feeling that the ETK image was an initial design which was superceeded in practise when the spoiler came into manufacture; you can see below that the actual spoiler has a raised 3rd brake light mould, presumably to maintain good visibility of the brake light when in operation.



Fitted examples:-

[yalden]

Maintenance
Inspection 1 Service - 07/11/2008



With the car being due an Inspection 1 service; I phoned around the local dealerships and found that Oceans Plymouth was over £100 cheaper than Westerly Exeter, better yet, it was cheaper than Oakdens of Plymouth (a local Porsche and BMW specialist). Despite being cheaper than it's local competitors, I still felt that £250 for an Inspection 1 seemed a touch heavy. I looked closer to work and found a specialist firm based in Fenny Bridges, Devon (12 miles from Exeter) called The Paddock, the cost of the service came to £155; better yet the customer service was brilliant, they allowed me to drop my car off the late in the evening prior to the day of the service and they communicated with me the following day to update me with each process. No additional work was carried out without my authorisation.

I'd highly recommend the team, their details can be seen on their WEBSITE

[yalden]

Exterior Makeover - Part 7b
US-Spec Licence Surround - 16/10/2008



I’m forever looking for inspiration and ideas when it comes to cars; a while ago I was browsing a US based forum and noticed that their cars have a rear registration plate surround to suit the regular US sized licence plate. I thought it would’ve been a nice touch to run one of these surrounds with a UK road legal plate; this is possible due to my personalised registration only containing 5 digits.

As usual, I managed to strike gold when a forum member made a post to say that he actually had the US spec rear plate surround with a square motorbike plate fitted, he wasn’t sure if he liked the square plate on the rear so I made him an offer; in true enthusiast style he refused and offered to hand it over free of charge!

I began by trimming the surround so that its base didn’t extend down to accommodate the deeper US plates, leaving approximately 110mm of depth (regular UK size).

I then dropped it into the body shop for painting at the same time as I handed over my Z3M wing vents last month.

Earlier this month I ordered a road legal registration plate; plain with no border. I masked the plate and carefully used a jigsaw to trim its edges off, reducing the length down to 335mm for a snug fit within the new surround, a final run over with some wet and dry saw a nice smooth edge with rounded corners.

Today I got around to fitting the surround with new plate, a small touch… but I feel it adds a little character and individuality while also remaining road legal.

Click to enlarge

[yalden]

Audio - Part 1
Becker Quality Sound - 17/10/2008



Although I was always contempt with the OEM BMW Business RDS stereo and 6-Disc CD Changer, it was somewhat flawed by its lack of line-out channels and incompatibility with MP3 CD's. In addition to this it looked somewhat dated.

I'm not a fan of multicoloured flashing headunits or flip out screens. I wanted a replacement that maintained an OEM look and feel, something with elements of class that would look at home set in the dash while also have the capability to deliver top quality sound, with the added option of line-out channels for any future audio upgrades.

After a little bit of research I came to find that the words 'Harman' seem popular amongst many BMW enthusiasts, the Harman group are highly regarded as one of the better manufacturers of OEM headunits, producing unfound clarity through both their Harman Kardon brand, and also their Harman Becker brand - incidentally Harman Kardon are the key supplier of BMW upgraded audio setups through the options list. A little more digging unveiled that Harman Becker supply a similar service to the likes of Ferrari, Mercedes and in the case of the original Becker Traffic Pro, also BMW; superseding models such as the Becker Indianapolis dropped the BMW specific display format, although as can be seen below; a few fanatics took it upon themselves to dismantle older traffic pro models and rebuild the newer Indianapolis models to reproduce the ability to switch between positive/negative display colours (allowing BMW’esque amber on black display).

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I don’t have the knowledge or time to carry out such a conversion so I decided to live with a newer model and accept that it won’t display amber text against a black screen. Newer Becker models are released with a small range of illumination colours; red, yellow and green. The red illumination seems to be the common choice amongst BMW owners; providing a good match to the amber dial lights, it seemed the perfect choice; as for which headunit to go for, I opted for the Becker Mexico Pro MP3 7932; it’s virtually identical in appearance to the Indianapolis models (albeit non-sat nav), however it boasts additional features which have more appeal to me as I’m more than contempt with my Tom Tom.

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Unfortunately I haven't yet been able to fit the headunit as I need to purchase the required connection block to link the headunit to the fitted BMW jack. I'm hoping Becker can supply this, otherwise I'll need to get out my soldering iron and start splicing.

The only downfall is that the line out channels aren't present in the form of RCA connectors; instead I need a Becker adapter that will plug into a custom socket on the rear of the unit and then present me with the standardised line-out sockets... more money to be spent :roll:

[yalden]

Audio - Part 1b
Becker Quality Sound - 18/10/2008



I purchased the necessary harness to link the car audio loom to that of the Becker headunit, the Autoleads product retailed at £10.00 which didn't seem too bad; although cheaper could have been had online, I was desperate to get it fitted!

Excuse the lame photo, it's a bit dark to be getting much clarity free-hand. I am more than happy with the headunit, it suits the Z3 aesthetics perfectly. I just need to work out all its functions and get it set up to my preference.

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[yalden]

Interior Makeover - Part 9
AccessoriZ3 - 25/12/2008



Browsing RealOEM is proving to be a costly past time, albeit very interesting. I found out that BMW could supply a very neat BMW embroided umbrella with leather stitched sheeth as an interior accessory to replace the passenger footwell cargo net.

However great the idea, I couldn't really justify the expense when there are so many other items on my 'must-have' list; it's times like these when it's great to have close friends that understand your needs and are aware of the upcoming festive occasion... officially my first 2008 christmas present... expect fitted photos to be included later :wink:

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[yalden]

Interior Makeover - Part 10
AccessoriZ3 - 19/12/2008



Wanting to add more OEM touches to my car I decided to purchase two genuine BMW parts that seemed exempt towards any Z3 model. They are just part of my bid to recreate a boot setup similar to that I'd achieved in my previous car (Click thumbnail link below)



I first began this OEM+'esque build shortly after taking ownership of the car; acquiring a VW zippable cargo net, Castrol Oil kit, BMW Oil bag and BMW tyre bag. Taking this a little further I have now purchased a BMW Fire Extinguisher with bracket/mount and a BMW First aid kit.

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I decided to mount the fire extinguisher adacent the HK amp position in the boot; for now I've located the first aid kit inside my cargo net! The fire extinguisher is obviously of some age now, the markings are worn and as a result I'm likely to rub it down and paint it in hellrot - as per my previous E36 setup.

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Following on from the above, I thought about other BMW products that the Z3 seemed to lack... one such item is the BMW Glove Box Rechargeable Torch! Extremely useful and a great little gadget, I managed to get hold of one with the bracket and a length of wiring... I'm just contemplating where best to position it, the glove box seems the obvious place but it's wedge like shape doesn't seem to help matters, the search goes on...

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The final addition of this ilk was a random find while removing the glove box rechargeable torch from my local breakers, an amber glove box light - ideal for providing some form of illumination for finding things at night!

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I'm not particularly switched on when it comes to electrical wiring, but I'm assuming that I can run both of the above off of the cigarette lighter feed - seeing as this is ignition fed?

[yalden]

Miscellaneous
ZRoadster Forum Calandar - 09/01/2009



A fellow member of the ZRoadster forum did a sterling job of putting together a forum calandar for 2009, a great way to raise a little cash for the site while also giving everyone a good excuse to clean their cars and take some nice photos, I was lucky enough to have one of my photos appear on the front cover and also on the month of October; albeit a silhouette.

Click to enlarge

[yalden]

Performance/Engine Cosmetics - Part 4
OEM Gloss Black Exhaust Tips - 17/01/2009



The standard chrome exhaust trims were starting to show their age, they had began to perish and crack so it was time for a replacement. I like the shape/size of the OEM trims so the decision was taken to keep with what I had, however after seeing fellow Z3Roadster forum member RonZ's car last year I decided to order the gloss black version.

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