Shantybeater's S54 - BMWCar Mag+Xenon\Cruise Retrofit

[shantybeater]

Well my photobucket account has finally reset so my photos can be seen Time to setup my progress thread on here. Copied from:

http://www.zroadster.net/forum/viewtopi ... 68&start=0

September 19th 2010

Ok well as some of you know I recently sold my S50 to my brother because an identical S54 came up at a good price.

Old S50 thread: http://www.zroadster.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=20225

I drove the car back on Friday and woke up this morning with the idea of giving it a 'little' clean. So 8 hours later the outside is done!!

What I did:

Engine bay & door shuts:

The bay was filthy (my S50 put it to shame!!). I started with the underside of the bonnet using swiss vax brushes and AG Engine machine cleaner to agitate the dirt. I kept rinsing at intervals and made sure none of the exterior paint was exposed to the cleaner. I repeated the same process with the door shuts, they came up lovely! :

- I then coated the enginer bay in AG Vinyl care and using a sponge to coat evenly
- I also coated the paintwork in the engine bay/door shuts with AG wax then buffed off
- I replaced the worn foils to protect the paintwork

The outside

- Jetwashed then went round washing with AG Shampoo followed by a further rinse
- Dried with Dodo juice towel
- Rubbed on a layer of AG Super Resin polish (inc the wheels to remove marks) and buffed off
- Followed with a coat of AG High Definition Wax, then buffed off

- Rubbed HD wax into wheel arch paint and buffed off
- Rubbed on Tyre Shine
- I used autosol to bring the exhaust tips back to their former glory (they are WIP though and require more elbow grease)

The spec:
- Jan 02
- 45k on the clock
- HK Stereo system
- Strong Strut

Problems i've noticed already:
- Dented door sill needs looking at
- Rear wheel has large kerb mark which is very deep, so might be on the lookout for a single rim
- All wheel refurb is needed
- Headlight washer missing

The Car now looks great! I'll be doing a full work over on the interior once the audio & ACS hoops are fitted. Comments welcome!!

 

[shantybeater]

Re: Shantybeater's Titanium Silver S54

September 26th 2010

Ok since the girlfriend was away for the weekend I decided i'd crack on with the stereo install & clean the interior.

- I removed the CD changer from the boot and placed my JL 300/4 amp in its space.
- I then installed my Focal 130KP K2 components in the doors/footwells and put the crossovers behind the headunit
- I also refitted my rare AC Schnitzer hoops from the S50 (they REALLY didnt want to go in!)
- Then out came the HK sub and after dynamatting the space I put in my custom enclosure with a JL 6w3v3 (Thanks to Glen aka 'Dooby')

- Finally I replaced the Headunit with my Pioneer DEH-6700MP

The sound is fantastic, the focals have good clarity and the impressive little 6" Sub compliments with a nice little boom. My god it moves as well!!!

Then came the clean. It was nice to see some beading after last weeks wax

- I started with a hoover, then went round with a damp cloth to remove the layer of dust/dirt.
- I then polished the rear window with some SRP

- Next I coated all the leather with AG leather care
- Then all the plastics with AG Vinyl Shine
- All the rubber was coated with Gummipfledge
- After that the windows/exterior lights/gauges/mirrors got a polish with some AG Glass polish
- Finally I polished up the hoops

 

[shantybeater]

Re: Shantybeater's Titanium Silver S54

October 29th 2010

Well the bearing shell replacement was carried out at my trusty BMW specialist. £675 lighter but worthwhile for future proofing. All genuine parts & Castrol Edge 10w60

Here are close ups of some of the bearing shells, they look in good condition but for peace of mind I suggest it for any S54 owner:

The sump was completely cleaned out whilst it was off ready for fresh oil & oil filter. Even after a run the oil still came out like golden syrup on the dipstick I'll be running the car in for 1200 miles or so just to be on the safe side

 

[shantybeater]

Re: Shantybeater's Titanium Silver S54

January 4th 2011

Quick update, i decided to address the usual rear window issue where the fabric roof seperates from the rubber surround. Using some loctite clear sealant I injected it underneath the cloth but ontop of the plastic window where the rubber sits (where it is not visible and the previous adhesive is).

After injecting around 10cm worth I carefully pushed the fabric underneath the rubber with a credit card. I worked my way round the top and corners until all of the fabric was tucked back in place. I then pushed down on the fabric about a centermeter away from the rubber to flatten the material back down and tuck the material further in place.

The worse part (on a corner) had come away and wouldnt sit in place on its own so I left the card tucked under the rubber at the center of the corner forcing the material in place, after 20 mins or so the sealant had dried enough to hold the material in place.

Before :

After:

I'd highly recommend anyone else with the same problem to take a stab at it, it takes 15 mins and smartens up the look massively!!

If you do:
- Make sure the area is bone dry especially inbetween the window and the roof
- Don't go crazy with the sealant, you need enough to hold but once tucked in if you use too much it can spill out, a bit too much will end up on the credit card or the rubber which you can wipe clean but i imagine if you go crazy it could get on the fabric so be careful!

 

[shantybeater]

Re: Shantybeater's Titanium Silver S54

March 13th 2011

Well my bro came down for the weekend and we ended up going for a little drive to hemstridge and back.

The new wheels are chippy's BBS LM's ordered straight from BBS for the Z3M in the only TUV approved sizes for our car 8.5" fronts 10" rears. The extra inch diameter has made quite a difference to the ride height so the car desperately needs to be lowered for the wheels to sit right. You can see the height difference in the pic below:

I'll be making my mark on the wheels with a full refurb with the centers in shadow chrome (i'll get withdrawl symptoms otherwise!) and reverse mounting the rear centers to acquire more dish and a lower offset (they currently have 10mm spacers). BBS themselves reverse mount some of the 19" LM's so its entirely safe etc..

 

[shantybeater]

Re: Shantybeater's Titanium Silver S54 - BMWCar Mag Shoot

April 25th 20111

Well I've decided to get the AC Schnitzer flippers sorted (genuine parts - nothing but the best ), I've attempted similar jobs with good effect so will attempt it myself. At some point i'm planning to get the stone chipped front bumper re-sprayed so it's more a temporary finish.

So far I sanded down the flippers with 800 grit to give a nice grippy surface, then I sprayed on several light layers of plastic primer.

I'll be ordering some Titanium silver paint from BMW tomorrow when the parts department is open.

 

[shantybeater]

Re: Shantybeater's Titanium Silver S54

April 27th 2011

well after a bit of sanding and 4 coats of titanium silver they are looking pretty good!! Just need to get a few layers of laquer on once they are dry

 

[shantybeater]

Re: Shantybeater's Titanium Silver S54

May 2nd 2011

Well I managed to get the flippers fitted with a bit of help from my bro. It was a massive palaver and i'm not entirely happy with their fit at the moment. On the plus side the color match is pretty good

I'm very happy with their appearance, in photos i've always thought they were a little too aggressive but in person they look great!

 

[shantybeater]

Re: Shantybeater's Titanium Silver S54

May 17th 2011

Well my coilovers turned up today. It was either these (H&R) or KW3V3's but I couldnt justify the adjustable dampening since my car is used for road driving. I've heard only good things about this setup so when I saw them up for sale at a bit of a steal (due to the exchange rate) I had to have them!! they are worth £1200+ new

The front springs/shocks are brand new unused and the rears have less than 1000 miles of travel on them, clearly apparent by their condition.

Will be fitting them asap

 

[shantybeater]

Re: Shantybeater's Titanium Silver S54

May 22nd 2011

Well its been a busy weekend!! Yesterday I took the car down to sussex so we could get a few things done!:

Got her up on axle stands

First off we changed the diff oil with the recommended Castrol 75w 140

We also changed the Gearbox oil with AMSoil MTF. I have seen definate improvements, smoother gearchanges etc..

Then came the coilover installation, fronts first, we did buy new front top mounts but they looked in good condition so we just regreased and reused, also replaced gaskets:

Then the rears, we wire brushed the spring seats and coated in a fresh layer of paint to remove/protect from surface rust

Rear spring difference:

New rear top mounts, the old ones actually looked in very good condition but it was a good excuse to upgrade to E46 M3 Vert/CSL mounts (known as the strongest OEM mounts)

Slowly coming back together:

Finito, a total guess at ride height but i'm very happy with it, if anything I may raise the rear a tiny bit to give slight front rake. I am getting a small amount of scrubbing on the front at full lock on hard/fast cornering, any suggestions to minimize this? I dont want to remove the arch lining because it may increase chances of rust and let dirt into my nice clean engine bay If all else fails I will raise the car a few mm front and back

 

[shantybeater]

Re: Shantybeater's Titanium Silver S54

May 23rd 2011

Quick before and after shot:

Before:

After:

 

[shantybeater]

Re: Shantybeater's Titanium Silver S54

June 11th 20111

I started on the calipers today..

I decided on metallic black because they aren't the prettiest calipers to look at, a nice subtle color just to smarten things up:

Before

After

I went for high temp paint to get a much more professional finish. Either tomorrow or over the coming weeks I will be color coding the M indents on the calipers with high temp paint.

 

[shantybeater]

Re: Shantybeater's Titanium Silver S54

June 18th 2011

With the BMW show looming i've started to clean the car up and finish bits off.

I persuaded the girlfriend to paint the ///M emblems for me whilst I cleaned up the LM's

All the paint used is high temp (up to 800 degrees). Weather permitting we will be doing a second coat tomorrow to get a nice base of each color

A little OCD maybe??:

 

[shantybeater]

Re: Shantybeater's Titanium Silver S54

June 26th 2011

Shameless pic whoring with no real reason, continuing to prep the car for the BMW show, a fresh clean followed by a layer of megs wax. I've also tried some Nano technology wheel sealant in an attempt to repell brake dust, they sure do bead nicely now

 

[shantybeater]

Re: Shantybeater's Titanium Silver S54

June 30th 2011

Not to everyone's taste i'm sure (especially the purists):

Got a few storm bits on order as a birthday treat as well fingers crossed they will turn up before the BMW show

 

[shantybeater]

Re: Shantybeater's Titanium Silver S54

July 3rd 2011

Been keeping an eye out for a set of eisenmanns to come up for quite a while so when a forum member put some up for sale only 45 mins away I couldnt miss the opportunity even with the impending flat purchase!! Thankfully I didnt pay the usual £1400 premium!!

Autosol is our friend Half way there:

done

Will be giving them a second going over before they go on the car.

 

[shantybeater]

Re: Shantybeater's Titanium Silver S54

July 4th 2011

a bit of freshening up:

Old

New

 

[shantybeater]

Re: Shantybeater's Titanium Silver S54

July 5th 2011

Ok so they are fitted!! extremely happy with the look AND sound. I love the shiny stainless back boxes

Up on the ramp:

Before:

After:

I have to say at low revs there is very little difference, no boom at all on the motorway etc but further up the rev range it transforms to a much more exotic noise!

 

[shantybeater]

Re: Shantybeater's Titanium Silver S54

July 6th 2011

Birthday Storm bits have turned up minus the cigarette lighter blank which is being machined as I type this:

Will get them fitted tomorrow

 

[shantybeater]

Re: Shantybeater's Titanium Silver S54

July 7th 2011

Fitted the Storm Motorwerks bits:

Before:

After: