M roadster - Progress Thread

Titan · Post by **Titan** » Tue 19 Jan, 2010 22:08

shantybeater wrote:I'm also after one of the small round ones attached to the underside of the bonnet. Go look under your bonnet Jon!!

By "foil" I presumed it was metal but are we talking about the (non!)self-adhesive plastic thingummyjig whatsits that curl and shrivel and refuse to stay in place?

Dolfan · Post by **Dolfan** » Tue 19 Jan, 2010 23:25

Titan wrote:
shantybeater wrote:I'm also after one of the small round ones attached to the underside of the bonnet. Go look under your bonnet Jon!!
By "foil" I presumed it was metal but are we talking about the (non!)self-adhesive plastic thingummyjig whatsits that curl and shrivel and refuse to stay in place?

Correct..

Jonttt · Post by **Jonttt** » Tue 19 Jan, 2010 23:26

Yep

The clear plastic stick on thing that you can see when you raise the bonnet roughly in the position of the side gills when the bonnet is down.

On most Z3's I've seen with the bonnet up this has peeled and mis coloured to some extent.

I never thought to ask dealer for a replacement as my current Z3 does not really need one yet but worth getting in case they stop making them ?

shantybeater · Post by **shantybeater** » Thu 21 Jan, 2010 18:25

Althulas I'll take a few pics, couldn't see them in the diagram

Jon not sure it's really worth buying some just incase considering you could quite easily make them with some rubbery sticky stuff

Althulas · Post by **Althulas** » Thu 21 Jan, 2010 23:47

I had a look under my bonnet and just found one of those clear plastic discs just about hanging on doing bugger all. They are to stop the bump stops rubbing your paint of which I'll need to give a light sand and dusting with some paint. Anyway the part number I posted was confirmed at my local to be these discs but like Shanty said you could use rubber or just cut your own from some thick clear stickie plastic or pay the dealer about 60P each.

Jonttt · Post by **Jonttt** » Fri 22 Jan, 2010 13:13

I think for the 60p each I'll raid the piggy bank

shantybeater · Post by **shantybeater** » Fri 22 Jan, 2010 13:27

Right I picked up

1x dash bulb
1x brake light seal
2 rubber seals for the aerial
and 10 circular foils (minimum order)

Jon I asked about when they stop supporting parts and apparenly they are still supplying bits for 30year+ cars, he said for instance a regular customer comes in with an old 635i and parts are delivered usually a week later!

Titan · Post by **Titan** » Fri 22 Jan, 2010 13:39

shantybeater wrote: and 10 circular foils (minimum order)

So you can sell the other 8 at 60p each then

shantybeater · Post by **shantybeater** » Fri 22 Jan, 2010 16:34

Haha I'll probably just bring the rest along to a show and let people have them, I'll never use 10!

shantybeater · Post by **shantybeater** » Mon 01 Mar, 2010 15:27

A few more updates:

- Bought some wing protectors
- Got my local garage to fit the blown dash bulb

- Was having some problems with damp in the boot, I've replaced the old aerial rubbers (inside and out - looks so much better!!!), 3rd brake light seal and used some rubber sealant on the rear window as a temporary fix). The damp seems to have gone
- Recently my roof motor packed up, turned out it was the brake light switch (so i've been driving around with no brake lights for 2 weeks+!!!) easy fix though so all sorted

- Managed to source some under hood paint so i'll be going round and touching up all the chipped areas and stick on the new bonnet foils.
- My backboxes have paint peeling off them so i've stripped/re-primed them, waiting for a few coats of heat resistant paint (and some dry weather!!)

I'm also trying to source a new light switch as the thread on mine is broken so if anyone sees one for sale let me know

Dolfan · Post by **Dolfan** » Tue 02 Mar, 2010 11:49

Hi shantybeater, where did you source your under hood paint? I tried my local dealer....no luck!

Thanks.

shantybeater · Post by **shantybeater** » Tue 02 Mar, 2010 12:14

I contacted the bodyshop BMW sent my car to for the diff mount upgrade as they filled and sprayed the spot welds in my boot, they then referred me to another company which makes up the paint for them.

In my case this was rainbow paints in ferndown, the dealer should be able to refer you to their bodyshop like me so you can find somewhere local

Dolfan · Post by **Dolfan** » Tue 02 Mar, 2010 22:59

shantybeater wrote:I contacted the bodyshop BMW sent my car to for the diff mount upgrade as they filled and sprayed the spot welds in my boot, they then referred me to another company which makes up the paint for them.

In my case this was rainbow paints in ferndown, the dealer should be able to refer you to their bodyshop like me so you can find somewhere local

Thanks for the info, I will see if my local bodyshop can colour match the paint for me.

shantybeater · Post by **shantybeater** » Wed 03 Mar, 2010 15:47

No worries

Well might be getting something rare & a bit special...what could it be

Jonttt · Post by **Jonttt** » Wed 03 Mar, 2010 18:11

mmmmm I presume we are talking car related here

Lets see, rare and special mmmmm

Carbon Fibre Hamman Hardtop ?

shantybeater · Post by **shantybeater** » Wed 03 Mar, 2010 20:54

wow i want that!!! tell me thats for sale somewhere??? makes my actual find look rubbish!!

edit: just found it over on bimmerforums, serious money though!

Jonttt · Post by **Jonttt** » Wed 03 Mar, 2010 21:56

Lol thought that would make you wet yourself.

Now what you getting ?

Titan · Post by **Titan** » Wed 03 Mar, 2010 22:15

Jonttt wrote:Lol thought that would make you wet yourself.

Now what you getting ?

1. Towels
2. Overdraft application

That is a seriously nice piece of carbon fibre
Shame it wouldn't look as good on red as it would on silver ............

shantybeater · Post by **shantybeater** » Wed 03 Mar, 2010 22:49

Always wanted a hamann hardtop so you hit the sweet spot! The CF one looks sold otherwise you'd be right Titan I would be extending my overdraft haha

As for my new item, seriously it's going to look lame in comparison but all will be revealed tomorrow night if the sale goes through

shantybeater · Post by **shantybeater** » Fri 05 Mar, 2010 13:36

Well deal went through, journey was loonnng and cost me £60 in petrol, couldn't see the condition at the time but I'm doing some polishing as we speak

will take some pics this afternoon.

A hint for you: ACS

Jonttt · Post by **Jonttt** » Fri 05 Mar, 2010 16:14

gotta be Roll Hoops or wheels ?

I would normally say wheels if you traveled as hoops could be posted but.... the hoops would be expensive and you can't fit the wheels in your Z and I know you want a set so I say hoops ?

shantybeater · Post by **shantybeater** » Fri 05 Mar, 2010 17:54

Yup you got me

well done! :

Here they are against the old ebay versions:

And my kerbed rim, no more...

Also replaced my light dimmer switch

and the new stone protectors:

Jonttt · Post by **Jonttt** » Fri 05 Mar, 2010 18:26

Wow those tyres have some grip

They are ace aren't they and so rare nowadays, well done, 12 month searching comes to an end

How did you find them ?

shantybeater · Post by **shantybeater** » Fri 05 Mar, 2010 19:14

yup 12 months of solid searching!! Its quite a long story actually!!

I saw a sale thread on z3mcoupe for a cat c m coupe, his mate replied to the thread saying it was still for sale and that he fixes up cars for a living, he said he also had a roadster with acs hoops which he's hoping to do up.

I then PM'd the friend who said he'd pass on the message. After that I dropped a message to the seller on PH with no reply, the advert turned up again on z3mcoupe a month or so later but this time selling on ebay so i looked at the sellers other items, spied the roadster selling whole and began harrassing him via ebay & text.

He really didnt want to break the car or sell the hoops and this was clear by his lack of response, eventually after some persistance he replied willing to do a deal

So 6 hours of solid driving i picked them up in the pitch black, not sure of their condition...Turned out the roadster had been sitting there since 2000 when someone knocked the front end

After some polish they have come up mint

Jonttt · Post by **Jonttt** » Fri 05 Mar, 2010 19:19

Nice one, well worth it

TitanTim · Post by **TitanTim** » Fri 05 Mar, 2010 19:59

Well done Shanty

well worth the long drive, hoops look

Tim.

Dolfan · Post by **Dolfan** » Sun 07 Mar, 2010 12:52

A Great find there! they look

yalden · Post by **yalden** » Mon 08 Mar, 2010 20:12

You really do live up to your private plate...

...I'm jealous!

Anyhow, they look fantastic... your car really is coming together now... you just need some 3-pc splits

shantybeater · Post by **shantybeater** » Mon 08 Mar, 2010 21:27

Thanks for the comments

And Yalden that's next on my list!

let me know if you spot anything good for M fitment and I'll keep an eye out for some hoops

yalden · Post by **yalden** » Tue 09 Mar, 2010 10:05

I came close to buying another set of Hartge Design E 3-pc splits the other day, I have an uncontrollable soft spot for them after building a custom set for my last car.

The seller was only asking £650; I had Jeremy at Justmatz to trace my original dish and use his German contact to produce custom widened dishes, iirc they were about £150 each... so for £1200 you could have a set of absolutely quality rims, better yet, you wouldn't need to splash out the full amount now, you could buy the wheels now and do the dishes when funds allow!

I watched the wheels end twice on eBay without any bids, so you could try and make him a reasonable offer below his starting bid?

Expired eBay link

Visit the E36 journal linked in my signature for an idea of how they can be made to look... and then consider how much wider you could make the dishes... awesome

shantybeater · Post by **shantybeater** » Tue 09 Mar, 2010 11:28

Yeah they are are lush, I've spied a few sets of these before but always in 17" and I'm really keen on getting 18's to even things out and keep the car relatively sensible. Otherwise I'll do what I always do, practicality will go out the window and I'll slam it 2mm from the floor, looks good but not fun!

With 18's I reckon I can keep the ride height fairly decent and still pull off nice tight arches. You know your ACS's, do any sets come with a low enough offset on the back for the M or can I alter the wheel to make it closer?? Massive dish is important to me

yalden · Post by **yalden** » Tue 09 Mar, 2010 17:59

shantybeater wrote: You know your ACS's, do any sets come with a low enough offset on the back for the M or can I alter the wheel to make it closer?? Massive dish is important to me

Sure, you can buy different inners and outer lips, to get the right offset you'll end up needing big dishes so you'd kill two birds with one stone. Even if the lowest offset wasn't cock on, you could fit some 6-10mm spacers to give it that edge.

An alternative is to buy wheels that are originally designed as E34/39...etc fitment, they come with a naturally lower offset than the regular Z3 fitment. So once you've applied some wider dishes and what not, the resultant offset will be just right/or even lower than the ET10? of a Z3M.

You should drop a PM to Claus at Felgen Garage, he sorted me out... he'll sell you everything you need!

shantybeater · Post by **shantybeater** » Tue 09 Mar, 2010 18:03

Thanks for the help mate, i'll be a very happy bunny if i can get your style ACS's in 18's with plenty of girth....my search will well and truly be over then!

shantybeater · Post by **shantybeater** » Wed 10 Mar, 2010 19:45

Yalden - Well after speaking to claus & also bumping into your wheel build thread on wheel-whores I'm set on ACS's, gotta say though the prices seem about double compared to what you paid but I guess the exchange rate was better back then!!

He offered me a perfect set but out of my budget so my plan is to get a shabby set off eBay with high ET's, hang onto the slim dishes for the front then go down a similar route to you on the rear and go 3 piece to get a low et(from what I understand this is possible) with plenty of girth, if I can nearly match ET9 I'll probably look to go 11.5-12.5 - whatever I think I can get away with. I've always fancied building some splits as well so now is a good time to start!

How are you managing to run 11.5's on a standard Z? Have you done alot of arch work?

Jonttt · Post by **Jonttt** » Wed 10 Mar, 2010 20:55

Good luck with this, I would love to see a deep dish set of Schnitzers on an ///M to really show off the low offset, I figure that would be the nuts

shantybeater · Post by **shantybeater** » Wed 10 Mar, 2010 21:25

Cheers Jon, the search begins! managed to find a set on Wheel-whores but i'm not too keen on sending around a grand to someone in Latvia!!

yalden · Post by **yalden** » Thu 11 Mar, 2010 08:38

shantybeater wrote:Yalden - Well after speaking to claus & also bumping into your wheel build thread on wheel-whores I'm set on ACS's, gotta say though the prices seem about double compared to what you paid but I guess the exchange rate was better back then!!

He offered me a perfect set but out of my budget so my plan is to get a shabby set off eBay with high ET's, hang onto the slim dishes for the front then go down a similar route to you on the rear and go 3 piece to get a low et(from what I understand this is possible) with plenty of girth, if I can nearly match ET9 I'll probably look to go 11.5-12.5 - whatever I think I can get away with. I've always fancied building some splits as well so now is a good time to start!

How are you managing to run 11.5's on a standard Z? Have you done alot of arch work?

When I first purchased my wheels I contacted Claus to discuss the various options and relative prices. I was a little upset to find that 18" ACS Type 1 splits are only 2-piece and in order to widen significantly I'd have to purchase inner barrels and outer lips - thus converting them to 3-piece. This pretty much doubled the cost of upgrading my previous Hartge's, which left a sour taste in my mouth.

Needless to say, I sat on the prospect for about 12 months, in which time the original quote had risen by 50%... hindsight is a wonderful thing, I really should've purchased the parts back along before I got stung!

I even got anal enough to generate a spreadsheet which showed the rise/fall of the exchange rate between the £ and € so that I could try and save as much as possible - this was pretty much wasted as the rates used by my bank didn't correlate with the global market.

There is a UK contact who can source all the parts you'd need, he's located around the London area I believe and trades heavily through eBay. His eBay username is zac-noor. He has a website, but I can't seem to remember the address...!

His prices were virtually identical to those from Claus, which I thought was retarded given that it was the exchange rate which bumped up Claus's prices in the first instance. If Claus's prices have since gone up further due to the exchange rate, I'd advise seeing what Zac would now charge...

With regard to my wheels, they measure 11.5", but this only equates to 10.5J (due to the point of measurement). They'll offer a little bit of poke that's for sure, I might also have to roll my arches but to date I've had no work undertaken! We'll see how it goes once I've fitted tyres (which of course will be stretched, I'm looking to fit 245/35/18's out back).

shantybeater · Post by **shantybeater** » Thu 11 Mar, 2010 10:34

Small world lol, I tried on those 18" RS's with him and saw his impressive garage layered with bbs/acs's, I contacted him about a month ago after a set of 18" type 1's went for a measly £800 on eBay, then 2 days ago I contacted him again and he said he had a set for me but they are still out of my price range

I'll give him a try once I've sourced some

yalden · Post by **yalden** » Thu 11 Mar, 2010 12:46

These look pretty nice and come at a good price with a low offset...

Wheel Sanctuary Link

The only downside is that all the wheels are the same width, so you'd probably have to widen the rear another inch to get the staggered effect!

Or, if you give in the search for 18's and decide to settle for 17's...

BMWOwner Link

shantybeater · Post by **shantybeater** » Thu 11 Mar, 2010 15:13

Cheers for the links not too keen on those if i'm honest and I'm becoming more and more set on the ACS's the only thing that could stop me is a perfect set of LM's I think so could be in for a long wait!

Jonttt · Post by **Jonttt** » Thu 11 Mar, 2010 19:15

You mean like these

eBay LM's

Fronts would need some adjustment though and IMHO 18's are the best size.

shantybeater · Post by **shantybeater** » Thu 11 Mar, 2010 19:32

They are lovely and i'll probably bid just incase they go cheap but i totally agree 18's all the way!!

Cheers for the link

heh the seller is Zack as well

yalden · Post by **yalden** » Tue 16 Mar, 2010 08:37

Any interest Shanty?

shantybeater · Post by **shantybeater** » Tue 16 Mar, 2010 09:33

I've been following them for 4 days!

I'm stuck on whether to go for them or the 19" LMs. If I use the existing barrels on the ACS I would end up with 3.6cm less inner clearance on the back and around 1.2cm on the front??(this is assuming the 9" wheel is still et45 and it's not just a larger lip bringing it safer to my offset)

I reckon that will cause big issues unless I go the spacer route which feels like a waste of good space

yalden · Post by **yalden** » Tue 16 Mar, 2010 13:54

shantybeater wrote:I've been following them for 4 days! I'm stuck on whether to go for them or the 19" LMs. If I use the existing barrels on the ACS I would end up with 3.6cm less inner clearance on the back and around 1.2cm on the front??(this is assuming the 9" wheel is still et45 and it's not just a larger lip bringing it safer to my offset)

I reckon that will cause big issues unless I go the spacer route which feels like a waste of good space

Personally I'd run the ACS rear 9J rims up front (repolished of course) and I'd try to get narrower barrels for the 8.5J's and deep as you like outer lips. At worst you'd need to run 30mm spacers on the rear, but I'm sure you could get more suitable barrels that either cut this down to <10mm or eliminate their requirement altogether.

This guy clearly got something to work...

shantybeater · Post by **shantybeater** » Tue 16 Mar, 2010 17:40

Yeah they do look sooo good, i also found those pics a while back which made me realise it was possible, he also ran these at some point:

Seems like he has very similar taste! I think it all depends what the auction ends for because to buy the lips/barrels for the rear from claus will set me back £300 a wheel plus new bolts on top. If it starts tipping over into well over 1k to get them sorted I might be better off with the LM's.

Grrrr decisions!! they are both such stunning sets of wheels!! why did they both have to come up at the same time!!

yalden · Post by **yalden** » Wed 17 Mar, 2010 07:03

Well the AC's went for under 400 so someone got a bargain, the question is, was it you?

shantybeater · Post by **shantybeater** » Wed 17 Mar, 2010 08:31

No it wasn't me

they went for a good price but I couldn't help thinking of the fully refurbed set with polished dishes that went for £600 and they had a much more suited offset. The weird thing about these ACS's is the built sets don't seem to go for an awful lot more but to buy the barrels/lips seperately costs the earth!!

I'm going to keep my eye out for a more suited set even if i have to pay more ,I'm not in any rush afterall plus I can see what the LM's reach

ZedMatt · Post by **ZedMatt** » Wed 17 Mar, 2010 10:29

Ha ha, I was watching those ACSs too

IMO the 19 LMs look just too big for the Z, 18s all the way for me.

shantybeater · Post by **shantybeater** » Sun 21 Mar, 2010 11:19

Well i've gone against the majority of opinions...picking up the new shoes on friday!

Lets just hope I dont regret my decision!