so in the spirit of @daveyhoogy and his Great British Headlight bake off and sharing his DIY escapade I thought I'd do some sharing and hopefully make myself feel better or at least amuse my fellow zedders...
So I've hardly been driving the car instead doing some jobs which included fitting these seats from @Brian H to go with the raid steering wheel.
But not before stripping them and fitting heated seat pads to them. Which work fine on the passenger side but only one pad works on the drivers - first frustration! The pads itself is fine as I can get each one to work but not both at once so something up with the car side wiring..beyond me at this point..grr.
On the up side the seats are much lower than standard and less padding really connects you to the car, feels bloody great, like a go kart!
The fitting of the seats and adjusting etc took some time but are almost there, just testing out seat spacers to raise the front edge a bit to get the perfect position. But given I've hardly driven it makes it hard to do...
So far it's DIY that's gone quite well really, if a bit back breaking whipping seats in and out...the heater seat pad is the only thing gone wrong so far...
Roll on Friday when I decide to test fit wheel spacers to my 17inch M style wheels...now I had a stud conversion to make this sort of thing easier but the 'rusty nuts' syndrome frustrated so I whipped them out and used the extended bolts that came with the spacers...no big deal right?
Well....I decide that the 12mm spacer on the front pokes too much so off it comes...I bolt up the wheel even torquing it correctly with my torque wrench..not bad for a DIYer.. drop the car and roll off the drive....
Horrible metal crunching sound...Ahhh I must have left the little metal wheel chock in front of the other wheel, no problem just reverse a bit so I can free it...more noise..
S**t what have I driven over I'm wondering, jump out and see lots of rusty fragments behind the wheel...ahhh I see the disc backing plate has finally rusted off I see...but hang on why has it just fallen off now???
So jack up car (after having put the £&@**+ trolley jack all the way back in it's hiding space in the far most corner of the garage tucked under shelving and boxes etc etc...)
Whip wheel off and look behind disc- see mangled up backing plate. Pull out bits of broken bits of plate and wonder what ********* happened here?
Sulk around being proper ******* off that I can't go for a drive on this fantastic evening and then I see it. The root cause of this DIY disaster- wheel bolts 12mm longer than they should be...yep I forgot to use the standard short bolts when putting the wheel back with no spacer...t**t is the word I believe...
So I pry out as much of the bent plate and think well the wheel turns freely, hey this isn't too bad just get the garage to put a new backing plate on at some point...then I remember that the whole hub made st come off for that job..getting costly now...
Anyhow, how about a top down drive to cheer me up I say as the wheel is turning freely now and no noises. Get off the drive successfully this time but hey hang on- why is the ABS and ASC light on???
Of course I've only gone and killed the ABS sensor that lives back there I guess...this is getting costlier...big t**t!
So roll on Saturday, not be deterred I decide as the forecast says no rain(sort of) for the weekend, I'll whip that hood frame off and refresh the butyl seal...
These are the only pics I took as for the rest of the weekend I was covered in sticky black goo...
Cleaning that up properly was fun...NOT. Especially as I had a bright idea a while back to try and stop the leak with silicone...who the f*** invented that stuff, I never knew its such a pain to remove as well!
Anyhow got all the surfaces spotless (and found the panel degreaser that body shops use dissolves butyl easily!) I cracked on with resealing it using some lovely butyl tape on a roll as suggested by @Lee - nice stuff to work with. I decided to be very thorough and run two rows along the entire body/plastic gutter.
Great.
But hey that left me about 30cm short when doing the metal hood frame/hoop to plastic gutter bit...aaaarreegh...!
Never mind I rushed down to screwfix, thankfully open on a Sunday and got the butyl window glaze sealant as kindly suggested by @Jjim
Now I'm c**p with this sort of stuff but I thought I managed to get a good even layer of it on so went to put bit all back together. Went well I thought until I realised I'd chipped some of the paint work ...aaargh...anyhow it's going back for a few touch up outstanding from the respray so I can get it sorted then I console myself...
So anyhow, Sunday is is over, car is back together but not had a drive at all...happy to see rain forecast for a change to test my new seals...
Get up this lovely rainy Monday morning ahead of a packed day, just enough time to pop my head in the Z and savour the moisture free interior...
NOT.. it's ********* leaking still, not as bad but still leaking!!!!
Just enough time to put some towels in to soak it up before going off to the office to sulk...
I decided late this evening after a long Monday to just stop doing jobs and just go for a drive. At least it's driving superb and the new seats, steering wheel and wheels really transform the ride, put a smile on my face.
Still ****** off about the extra work and cost I've created but I think I might just get over it eventually...think I know what I did wrong on the roof seal too so should hopefully be able to sort it when I regain the will to live and clean up butyl again...
Well if you still reading this thank you, this has been therapeutic. Think I'm going to lay off the DIY for while (famous last words!)
So I've hardly been driving the car instead doing some jobs which included fitting these seats from @Brian H to go with the raid steering wheel.
But not before stripping them and fitting heated seat pads to them. Which work fine on the passenger side but only one pad works on the drivers - first frustration! The pads itself is fine as I can get each one to work but not both at once so something up with the car side wiring..beyond me at this point..grr.
On the up side the seats are much lower than standard and less padding really connects you to the car, feels bloody great, like a go kart!
The fitting of the seats and adjusting etc took some time but are almost there, just testing out seat spacers to raise the front edge a bit to get the perfect position. But given I've hardly driven it makes it hard to do...
So far it's DIY that's gone quite well really, if a bit back breaking whipping seats in and out...the heater seat pad is the only thing gone wrong so far...
Roll on Friday when I decide to test fit wheel spacers to my 17inch M style wheels...now I had a stud conversion to make this sort of thing easier but the 'rusty nuts' syndrome frustrated so I whipped them out and used the extended bolts that came with the spacers...no big deal right?
Well....I decide that the 12mm spacer on the front pokes too much so off it comes...I bolt up the wheel even torquing it correctly with my torque wrench..not bad for a DIYer.. drop the car and roll off the drive....
Horrible metal crunching sound...Ahhh I must have left the little metal wheel chock in front of the other wheel, no problem just reverse a bit so I can free it...more noise..
S**t what have I driven over I'm wondering, jump out and see lots of rusty fragments behind the wheel...ahhh I see the disc backing plate has finally rusted off I see...but hang on why has it just fallen off now???
So jack up car (after having put the £&@**+ trolley jack all the way back in it's hiding space in the far most corner of the garage tucked under shelving and boxes etc etc...)
Whip wheel off and look behind disc- see mangled up backing plate. Pull out bits of broken bits of plate and wonder what ********* happened here?
Sulk around being proper ******* off that I can't go for a drive on this fantastic evening and then I see it. The root cause of this DIY disaster- wheel bolts 12mm longer than they should be...yep I forgot to use the standard short bolts when putting the wheel back with no spacer...t**t is the word I believe...
So I pry out as much of the bent plate and think well the wheel turns freely, hey this isn't too bad just get the garage to put a new backing plate on at some point...then I remember that the whole hub made st come off for that job..getting costly now...
Anyhow, how about a top down drive to cheer me up I say as the wheel is turning freely now and no noises. Get off the drive successfully this time but hey hang on- why is the ABS and ASC light on???
Of course I've only gone and killed the ABS sensor that lives back there I guess...this is getting costlier...big t**t!
So roll on Saturday, not be deterred I decide as the forecast says no rain(sort of) for the weekend, I'll whip that hood frame off and refresh the butyl seal...
These are the only pics I took as for the rest of the weekend I was covered in sticky black goo...
Cleaning that up properly was fun...NOT. Especially as I had a bright idea a while back to try and stop the leak with silicone...who the f*** invented that stuff, I never knew its such a pain to remove as well!
Anyhow got all the surfaces spotless (and found the panel degreaser that body shops use dissolves butyl easily!) I cracked on with resealing it using some lovely butyl tape on a roll as suggested by @Lee - nice stuff to work with. I decided to be very thorough and run two rows along the entire body/plastic gutter.
Great.
But hey that left me about 30cm short when doing the metal hood frame/hoop to plastic gutter bit...aaaarreegh...!
Never mind I rushed down to screwfix, thankfully open on a Sunday and got the butyl window glaze sealant as kindly suggested by @Jjim
Now I'm c**p with this sort of stuff but I thought I managed to get a good even layer of it on so went to put bit all back together. Went well I thought until I realised I'd chipped some of the paint work ...aaargh...anyhow it's going back for a few touch up outstanding from the respray so I can get it sorted then I console myself...
So anyhow, Sunday is is over, car is back together but not had a drive at all...happy to see rain forecast for a change to test my new seals...
Get up this lovely rainy Monday morning ahead of a packed day, just enough time to pop my head in the Z and savour the moisture free interior...
NOT.. it's ********* leaking still, not as bad but still leaking!!!!
Just enough time to put some towels in to soak it up before going off to the office to sulk...
I decided late this evening after a long Monday to just stop doing jobs and just go for a drive. At least it's driving superb and the new seats, steering wheel and wheels really transform the ride, put a smile on my face.
Still ****** off about the extra work and cost I've created but I think I might just get over it eventually...think I know what I did wrong on the roof seal too so should hopefully be able to sort it when I regain the will to live and clean up butyl again...
Well if you still reading this thank you, this has been therapeutic. Think I'm going to lay off the DIY for while (famous last words!)
Had to get the car towed to a garage for the repair. 
