Euro Z3 - Build Thread...

[yalden]

Performance/Engine Cosmetics - Part 5b
ACStremely Clean - 19/04/2009



Well I spent a little bit of time fitting the trims properly today.

I'd say it was a 'fairly' straight forward job, but being that their made for either an E36 M3 Evo or genuine ACS backbox it wasn't entirely straight forward! Firstly, the grub screws supplied weren't long enough to make contact with my smaller exhaust pipes; this was overcome by using M6 20mm bolts (ideally I'd have used 15mm, but I couldn't find these anywhere local). In addition to this I had to apply a small insert between my existing pipe and the ACS trim to act as a spacer so that it would clamp tight without sitting at an odd angle.

Here are the results, this time on a clean car...

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[yalden]

Performance/Engine Cosmetics - Part 5a
ACStremely Exhausted - 14/04/2009



It was only 3 months ago that I replaced the tired looking OEM chrome exhaust trims for the identically shaped gloss black versions. Although I'm fond of the look, they don't stand out, they're pretty 'normal' and they don't give me an excuse to break out my various metal polishes.

Whilst doing the rounds on eBay I made a good spot; newly listed AC Schnitzer exhaust trims, albeit that they are intended for an E36 M3 (part number 1812 36 10) and replicate the look of the original ACS CLS E36.

I'm confident they'll fit fine, so I clicked the 'buy it now' and got them delivered to my door cheaper than the aforementioned OEM replacements cost me.

They arrived today and I was even more pleased to see that the previous owner had kept the original ACS box and accompanying leaflets etc.

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Never the less, the trims were stained and grubby. 1 hour of tedious labour, a small portion of Brasso, Autosol and Meguiars NXT metal polish later and hey-presto... good as new.

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Before:- ................. After:-


Before & After:- .... Before & After:-


Both Finished:-


AC Schnitzer Laser Etched Detailing:-


I have always loved this style of ACS exhaust (ever since seeing an E36 CLS) and regardless of how they look on my car I had to buy them... if only to clean up and pass on. Never the less, I went out in the rain today to remove the existing trims and slide these into place for a few quick and dirty shots; at first I thought 'oh no' but the more I look at them, the more I'm warming to them!

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They're back off and in the box now, I'll have a better play on the weekend 8-)

[yalden]

Exterior - Part 15
Aero Go Again - 28/03/2009



To kick start the weekend I was lucky enough to receive my BMW Aerodynamics package sideskirts this morning, all the way from Germany!

All that's left to order now is the Aerodynamics rear bumper and hamann front splitter! I may get the car in the bodyshop sooner though and get all the bits sat around sprayed and fitted; after all, I can fit the bumper/splitter myself at any given time.

I compared the skirts to the original items, it seems they are the same depth, however whereas half the depth of the original items is curved beneath the car and out of site, these flare outwards. They're probably going to add 1-2" of visual depth to the side of the car, and should help to make it stand out that little more!

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[yalden]

Miscellaneous
Full Valet - 15/03/2009



I treated the car to a full valet in celebration of the coming Spring season; it'd have been wrong not to take a few shots as proof that England does have nice weather... sometimes.

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[yalden]

Audio - Part 2c
Custom Sub Build, Reworked - 28/02/2009



I woke up a little disappointed this morning, all week I've been eagerly awaiting the arrival of my amplifer... so far no show, and worse still, no contact from the seller!

Needless to say, there's still plenty of work to be done, so here goes!

Firstly, the sub didn't fit into the enclosure, even though I had rubbed the enclosure down a good 1-2mm prior to having it trimmed, something more had to give! I managed to curve the outer edge of the subwoofer plate inwards, allowing it just enough room to fit into the enclosure; ideal!

My attention then turned to the subwoofer cone itself, the silver finish really wasn't going to suit my interior, over and above buying a new subwoofer I wasn't sure what to do! I contemplated painting the cone and did a little bit of research, I found mixed reviews; a lot of people saying the extra weight would throw the speaker out of balance VS a lot of people saying they've done it and haven't experienced any troubles. If the only doubters are those that haven't done it, I'm happy to give it a shot! A quick trim to Focus and I was armed with some Plasticoat Black Enamel, a few light coats soon did the trick (albeit for one speck of dirt that I daren't remove in fear of making a mess of things, instead I've named him Simon, after my helpful friend).

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The masking tape really didn't take to the foam/rubber part of the subwoofer, time to break out the electrical tape ops:

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After spraying the subwoofer and removing the masking, we then fixed the sub into the enclosure. To finish up I used a fine brush to touch up the silver bolt heads in black enamel.

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I decided not to fully secure the unit until I've tried and tested it once I receive my amplifier, however I can't wait to get this thing working!

Finally, a comparison against the original lid.

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[yalden]

Exterior - Part 14
All Reddy Now- 28/02/2009



While in the spirit of masking, cutting and sticking it seemed daft not to carry out a small task on the taillights also!

They aren't a bad design from the factory, but I felt the clear indicator clutters the unit unnecessarily.

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A quick bit of masking, marking, sticking, cutting and peeling later, job done!

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[yalden]

Exterior - Part 12b
I can see the light - 28/02/2009



Whilst the headlights were out for the above mentioned reasons, it seems a perfect opportunity to make a tidy job of the HID installation.

I began by attaching the bulbs in the correct manner; the supplied loom came with an additional set of cables so if you were running them through a plastic casing you could use the one loom for your regular full beam aswell - in this instance they're not needed so I zip tied them up neatly.

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I then mounted the ballast units into the bumper carrier bar. Conveniently there were two well sized holes already available, needless to say, the ballast cage bolted straight into place.

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Stupidly, before fitting I didn't think to check that the car loom was long enough to extend beneath the headlight and connect to the ballast, needless to say - it wasn't :head:

After throwing my ratchet at a local stray, I had a brain wave! Remove the spare cable from the HID loom and use it as an extension of the existing car loom! Perfect! 8-)

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And just as the day began to turn into night, we were finished and ready for a quick photo!

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[yalden]

Exterior - Part 13
Tint my Ride - 28/02/2009



I decided today that it was time to bite the bullet; break out the Lamin-X headlight tint and get stuck in!

In order to separate the headlights I read that you needed to put your headlight in the oven for 10 minutes to soften the sealant. I didn't fancy putting a dirty car part in the same place that would be cooking tomorrows roast dinner so I decided to use a Black & Decker heat gun instead; this did a BRILLIANT job and had the each of the headlights apart in no more than 10 minutes.

Being extremely careful I unclipped the lenses and set them out on the workbench (kitchen table).

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I began by taking the high beam lens and carefully applying the Lamin-X film, unfortunately I soon realised that the chrome edging to the lens is merely a cheap chrome effect paint, which subsequently peels off with even the smallest amount of contact with any even remotely adhesive materials. Thankfully I made this mistake on the smallest 'chrome ring' area and in this instance managed to touch it up 'ok' with a mercury silver artistic pen.

Learning from my mistakes, I then started to mask the chrome rings with paper which was fastened at the rear with masking tape! The outcome will be a perfect compliment to my previous french fog conversion!

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I then decided to tackle the more irregularly shaped indicator lens, this actually turned to be pretty tricky due to it's curves however a great deal of patience and scalpel related precision provided me with an absolutely perfect finish!

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Once finished, the comparison from start to finish was pretty distinct.

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I then refitted the lens' and reheated the sealant before rebuilding the headlight unit.

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I'm over the moon with the quality of the Lamin-X film, and I'm glad I managed to make a good job of it (all bar the small peeling of chrome during my first attempt).

The 'french high beam' may not be to everyones taste, but the lightly smoked indicator still looks OEM and blends into the car so much better than the original ghastly white lens always did!

Unfortunately it's starting to get dark so better photos will have to wait till tomorrow!

[yalden]

Exterior - Part 12a
I can see the light - 23/02/2009



Not quite as exciting as the above, but my second parcel today was a set of 6000K HID bulbs, I'll probably fit these at the weekend so expect fitted photos later!

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[yalden]

Audio - Part 2b
Custom Sub Build, Reworked - 23/02/2009



It's been a pretty good day all round, I aced an exam with 98% and came home to be rewarded with a couple of packages from Mr Postman. The first was the return of my sub enclosure, back from the realms of Bespoke Leathering, Birmingham. I'm chuffed to bits with the look of the unit, it's exactly what I'd asked for! Prior to posting it I was conscious that the thickness of the leather would compromise the fitment of the sub, seeing as it was extremely tight in the first place. Due to this I ensured to rub a mm or so off the inner edge prior to having it trimmed, unforunately I should've probably gone 2mm as it's not slotting in freely; I'm confident I can make it fit, but it'll be a squeeze and I'm going to have to be extra careful not to scratch the leather!

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[yalden]

Audio - Part 4
Amplifier - 22/02/2009



Following on from the above, knowing the car is all wired up ready for installation of the sub/amp/components I decided to look online and find out some more information about particular set ups.

I initially read up on dual voice coil subs (seeing as this is what I have) and I soon came to realise my amplifier requirements:-

- 2 Channels for front components

- 2 Channels (unbridged) for subwoofer

- Output relative to subwoofer of 4 Ohm with 250Wrms

- Sized to fit within the designated HK hidden bracket in boot

Finding an amp wasn't too difficult, but finding one that met the performance requirements and yet was small enough to fit within the HK Audio bracket, was.

In the end I decided to scrap the last criteria and replace it with 'aesthetically clean'.

After an hour or so of web trawling, I came up trumps with the following amplifier:-

Infinity 475A

4-Channel full-range amplifier with on-board electronic crossover and variable bass boost.

• The Reference 475a's high-output PWM MOSFET power supply ensures optimum power delivery into numerous impedances with low distortion.

• A variable bass boost circuit is provided to optimize the low fequency performance of your system.

• Full range preamp outputs are provided facilitating multiple amplifier hookups without the need for costly Y-adapters or signal splitters.

• The 475a comes outfitted with a variable 12dB per octave electronic crossover allowing you to optimize system tuning based on speaker location and accompanying loudspeaker components

• The RCA low-level inputs on the 475a have allow for connection to both a preamp level signal and direct connection to a high-level factory head unit.

Power Output 75 watts RMS x 4 channel at 4 ohms and ≤ 1% THD + N
180 watts RMS x 2 channel at 4 ohms, 14.4V supply and ≤ 1% THD + N
Signal-to-Noise Ratio 85dBA (reference 1 watt into 4 ohms)
Dynamic Power 117 watts at 2 ohms
Effective Damping Factor 6.315 at 4 ohms
Frequency Response (-3dB) 10Hz to 100kHz (-3dB)
Maximum Input Signal 6V
Maximum Sensitivity 100mV

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I love the styling of the amplifier, especially it's grey shades which will compliment the OEM boot lining. I will see whether I can 'make' it fit into the above mentioned location, failing that I will mount it in place of the original BMW CD Changer, beneath my fire extinguisher.

[yalden]

Audio - Part 3
Spaghetti Junction - 22/02/2009



Knowing that my sub enclosure would soon be returning from the retrimmers I thought it'd be useful to get a head start on the installation!

With the help of a friend I was able to strip the car right down so that the necessary phonos/remote/speaker cables could all be run neatly through the car adjacent the OEM loom. We had to remove the boot lining, the roll bars, the rear storage compartment and roll bar shrouds, the rear seatbelt, the n/s sill and footwell cover, the glove box and the centre console (approx 6hr job - although could be done in half the time now knowing how it all comes apart).

It's only when taking the car apart like this that I realised how well built it is, needless to say, we ended up with 3 screws left over and not a clue where they were meant to go ops:

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And a couple photos to prove it all went back together in the right place:-

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[yalden]

Interior Makeover - Part 10
Custom Armrest- 17/02/2009



During my usual ebay rounds, I managed to spot a product usually sold on Roadster Solutions for approximately £50 + P&P from the US.

I managed to win the auction for a touch under £40 delivered, so all in all I feel I got a good deal.

The item in question is a custom black leather armrest (something I have missed since owning a Z3), I'm extremely impressed with the fitment of the item:-

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I intend to purchase the OEM BMW Coin & Cup holder accessory later this month, I can confirm that this armrest will fit neatly into the rear pocket of this unit and should prove a tidy accessory in the process.

[yalden]

Audio - Part 2a
Custom Sub Build - 15/02/2009



I was lucky enough to snap up the custom sub build from Z3roadster forum member 'Mikemac' earlier this month; following payment I arranged a courier to collect the unit from him and bring it down to sunny Cornwall.

Upon arrival I decided to take some photos of how it looked.

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This is the OEM part it is to replace (rear glove box lid):

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Needless to say, credit is certainly due to Mikes dad who did a sterling job at recreating the lines and fitment of the original rear glove box lid. I'm not particularly educated when it comes to acoustics, or audio products but I'm sure I can soon enough learn; however it seems fair to say that the Elemental Designs 6.5" subwoofer included in the sale certainly seems to fulfil my needs on paper.

I promised Mike I'd look after the unit and in keeping with my word I can confirm that the unit has been received by Bespoke Leathering, Birmingham who are currently looking into trimming the unit in black nappa leather (as it is currently painted black) and the potential of adding some Arizona Sun coloured stitching around the perimeter of the sub recess.

I'll keep this thread up to date on the progress of the build.

[yalden]

Interior Makeover - Part 9b
AccessoriZ3 - 26/12/2008



Well I finally got round to taking some photos of the umbrella fitted, not the best shot in the world but you get the idea. It's located in the passenger footwell, in place of the usual 'cargo-net'; which incidently has been relocated to the drivers side footwell.

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