Jim's Z3 Journey

They look great, you must be pleased. No one can beat them with the job they do for the price. The decals finish them off nicely.
 
Got the decals on and caps painted :D

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Time to get the winter wellies off

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...... the my nice shiny AC Schnitzer ones on

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Those really look the business Jim. I had some Decals made for my VW Touran and Touareg. Took the plainness off them well.

Tony.
 
Think it may be worth the drive from Devon for that price! Need the 17's on my V70R refinishing and the best price I can find locally is £72 a wheel!!
 
Really happy with the quality of the refurb, and love the colour.
Had to get the wheels on tonight as I’m driving down to Swansea at 6am to get the roof done.
Hopefully get some photos on the way there and back. :cool:
 
What colour roof are you going with? Hopefully get my summer wheels back on soon after the refurb, just waiting for some badges and for the weather to pick up a bit. Normally when the clocks go forward the hardtop comes off and the summer wheels go back on, not long to go now.
 
Look great Jim. What’s the profile of the tyres the walls look slim compared to mine. Have a good trip to wales great when it all comes together.
Front 225/35/18
Rear 255/35/18

Avon ZZR Tyres. Put them on last summer. Very happy with them. Loads of grip.

What colour roof are you going with? Hopefully get my summer wheels back on soon after the refurb, just waiting for some badges and for the weather to pick up a bit. Normally when the clocks go forward the hardtop comes off and the summer wheels go back on, not long to go now.
Stayed safe and went for a black roof.

My hardtop came off last weekend as the weather was good and I thought it was going to stay warmer. :(

Had to get the roof sorted as the zip is coming away from the roof side and we’re doing some weekends away in April - Lakes and Taunton. So ran out of time.
 
They look great Jim. Just need to drop the car 30mm now :whistle:
 
They look great Jim. Just need to drop the car 30mm now :whistle:
Every time I look at it I think that.
Problem is that if I look at doing that, I know I’ll be like... right complete new suspension, mounts, bushes, cables and everything else.

So maybe a project for next winter.
 
On the way down to Swansea the Silver Zed hit all the 1s :cool:

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Bit of an update. The blue Z3 failed her MOT several months ago, so decided that she should have some cosmetic surgery at the same time. Finally got her back 2 days ago.

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New sills from Sopers BMW

Nice set of rust free rear wings from @mrscalex :thumbsup:

All painted up. Front quarters painted.

Some new steel brake lines from @Murray Wall :thumbsup:

Fresh MOT and oil service.

Now looking good for the summer with its sister

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Also over the winter I managed to get around to installing the extended leather interior in the Silver Z3:

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The Blue Z3 got treated to an extended leather interior also, as she was a bit toooo much beige for me. Managed to find a black with beige leather interior for a good price :)

Whilst the interior was going to be out I also managed to get all the stereo upgraded parts together in time so that was also sorted out. This included:
  • Pioneer DEH-X8700 DAB radio
  • JL Audio XD1000/5v2 amp with remote bass level control
  • JL Audio 6w3v3 sub & custom sub box
  • Infinity Kappa 50.11cs 2-way components - for the front
  • Hertz ECX130 coaxial - for the rear
  • New speaker wire throughout - Cambridge Audio Symphony 400
  • Rockford Fosgate RFI-20 RCA Cables x 3

Picutres of the old interior - beige on biege, with a 2 tone beige dash :(

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Most of the interior out, just that lovely carpet to remove now

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Carpet out and now the jumble of wires, including the new audio RCA cables, remote line and speaker wires (run down the middle of the car to reduce interference noise/feedback).

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At this point my OCD took over and a real (or 2) of fabric tape later and is was starting to look a bit better

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Of course the label maker had to come out =))

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Charcoal / black carpet in :)

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The wire mess looking a lot better now.

All back together with black entrance covers, lower dash sections, rear trim parts and the sub installed.
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On the centre console I wanted a armrest and sourced a black E46 one for £15. Gave it a recolour (about 7 coats) and I think it looks good.
I find it so much more comfortable to drive in with an armrest.

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Also the steering wheel had a bit of a refurb, as it was was past its best:

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Gave it a good clean and sand down, ready for a new recolour.

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I decided to do the lower section in beige to match the rest of the interior. Photo was when it had had about 2 coats.

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The finished article ready for installation. Overall the black and beige sections had about 7 -8 coats of colour and then 3 coats of matt finishing:

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Installed and ready for use :)

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Very happy with the finish, just need some OEM beige mats to finish it off.

Also very happy with the sound system. Sound quality is amazing, and so much better than the system I did in the Silver Z3 :cool:

All in all a very productive bank holiday weekend :thumbsup:
 
Looks a million dollars Jim. Top job mate. Amazing what introducing new colours does for a car, inside and out.:thumbsup:

Tony.
 
New parts arrived for the Silver Zed ;)

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- New shocks all round - Monroe
- New springs all round - Eibach Pro Springs
- New top mounts all round - Meyle and Bilstein
- New lambda sensor - Delphi
- New thermostat - Circoli
- Replacment hose (that had split), supplied by @spurs fan in a coupe - which I bought a long time ago :whistle:

Hope fully get it all fitted soon and her back on the road before the end of summer.

On the lookout for some Chrome door handles next.
 
New parts arrived for the Silver Zed ;)

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- New shocks all round - Monroe
- New springs all round - Eibach Pro Springs
- New top mounts all round - Meyle and Bilstein
- New lambda sensor - Delphi
- New thermostat - Circoli
- Replacment hose (that had split), supplied by @spurs fan in a coupe - which I bought a long time ago :whistle:

Hope fully get it all fitted soon and her back on the road before the end of summer.

On the lookout for some Chrome door handles next.
Suspension is a fun job so that should give you a nice day of tinkering
 
Bloody hell Jim, How did I miss this thread, you make me look lazy, love some of the stuff you are doing and plenty of it is on my list, especially the sub upgrade, top stuff and great attention to detail, both interiors are totally transformed and look brilliant
 
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