Its been a busy summer again and since my last update back in January I have added lots of smaller additions to the zed.
A while back when I installed the led strip lighting I also connected up my angel eyes / sidelights to the interior lighting. This means that when the interior light comes on, so do the angel eyes. This was mainly so that when the car is unlocked via the key button, the ignition light illuminates and so do the angel eyes and when the car is locked the interior light dims and so do the angel eyes. Fitting a relay into the system means that the angel eyes only come on / go off when the interior light illuminates / dims not vice versa when the angel eyes are switched on. Looks quite cool and is good especially at night when its dark
And a night one
A few changes were made to the interior, I got my new centre console in and went for a change from the aluminium centre section fitted previously by covering the standard black trim in carbon fibre and also did the steering wheel tabs to match.
The handbrake and gearstick gaitors were fitted and so was the new headunit, an Oxygen O car with bluetooth and fully integrated iPhone features. This is a great piece of kit which simply uses your iPhone for full control and plays all your music, videos and sat nav through the speakers and has full hands-free bluetooth calling. It rotates also so that the iPhone can be used in portrait or landscape mode. The mic for the calling was neatly routed up into the A pillar trim.
Also installed were the seatbelt guides on both seats as they never had any as the seats came from a coupe, only a year after getting them it was a job I was putting off but in the end it was pretty simple and so much better no not having to reach behind the seat for the seatbelt.
For the exterior I changed the front brake carriers (and one sticking caliper) for some larger ones off a 3.0 Z4 meaning I could fit the bigger 300mm discs and painted the calipers again along with the discs to keep them looking fresh. The brakes seemed a lot better and it was a pretty cheap and simple upgrade. Also some 5mm spacers were fitted to the rear wheels to push them out slightly further.
A new tinted wind deflector was made and fitted with some stainless steel cable ties so they camouflage against the chrome, some new pressed metal plates put on and I also tinted the reverse lights so they are red all along.
Finally some new mudflaps were fitted to the front arches and I also sprayed the mesh part of the side gills in matte black which made them look a lot better.
All of this was done prior to zedfest and the zed didn't look to bad in the sunshine
So that's about it for this year, the hardtop went on yesterday and I have almost finished refurbishing my new winter wheels, then over winter I will be fitting an ///M console to the interior which will also be wrapped in carbon fibre. I will post up a few pics over the next week when I have the winter wheels finished and on the car
looking great mate . i like the gills mod very much looks the part (ill be copying that )
what have you done with your other wind deflectors you made ( can I have one from you . fancy a really nice illuminated black M leather gear-nob for one ) drop me a pm if your interested in a trade
huntert wrote:All looks fab, but can you tell me what you think of the Oxygen head unit...iv read mixed reports...................
I think it's great, you have full control of the normal iPhone playlist and no scrolling through a small screen to find a song like on a normal head unit. The videos play fine (not whilst driving though ) and Tom Tom or other sat navs are great. No need for another sat nav and it mutes the music when a direction comes on. The bluetooth works well and calls are nice and clear, does get a bit windy with the roof down but you will get that with any hands free. Only problem I have found is the radio app for it is a bit rubbish but I use Tunein Radio instead and if you ever forgot your phone you would have no music! It also charges whenever it plugged in with the ignition turned on.
Your stuck with the iPhone 5 though as I believe the connections are different so it won't fit
Finally I have finished refurbishing my new winter wheels and they are on the car along with the hardtop all ready for winter. Rear wheels have 15mm spacers and fronts have 5mm so they fill the arches a lot better
From this, covered in kurb marks and poorly sprayed in a horrible gold colour
To this, with kurb marks removed, a new coat of paint and fitted with my old carbon fibre badges
Brian H wrote:Great job on the wheels, did you do them yourself? I have a couple of sets of these, love the OEM look but a real PITA to clean.
Yeah I did them myself! They are a pain to clean just like my summer ones but they look so good so I don't mind too much. I was tempted to do them in an anthracite / gunmetal colour like yours but went for silver in the end.
Total cost was around £60 for all 4 wheels I did all the work myself though which took a few weeks as they are a pain to sand back with all the spokes but they look so good now.
Firstly they were all keyed with wet and dry paper and the kurb marks filled in with chemical metal and smoothed over
Next up came some etch primer
Then they were primed both on the front and rear
Next up the front and rears were coated in a couple of layers of nice new silver paint after a quick sand down
Finally they were sprayed with 2 coats of laquer to give them a nice shine and some protection (seen better in first picture)
A coat of colinite 476 wax was added about a week after the paint and fully hardened and the badges added then they were put on the car
Great job, I do like the Style 78s on the Zed, unfortunately mine were flaking on the inside so an excuse to replace them with the Schnitzers but still miss them. I didn't find them too bad to clean, but prefer more open spokes so its easier to clean the inner rim
I don’t normally get too excited about wheels (an age thing) but I must say that your winter wheels look really well refurbished and very good on the car. They have that simple quality, classic sports car look. If they were mine I’d keep them on 365 days per year.
Boot spoiler comes from eBay, a place in Taiwan and fully painted correctly for your car. The colour match is spot on, I have ordered 3 of these now and everyone has been perfect. Best thing is I think they are now down to £21 fully painted and posted!
For the calipers I just used normal brake caliper paint. Can be found at most big motor factors or on the net
Boot spoiler comes from eBay, a place in Taiwan and fully painted correctly for your car. The colour match is spot on, I have ordered 3 of these now and everyone has been perfect. Best thing is I think they are now down to £21 fully painted and posted!
Yep that's the one. Don't be wary, the seller is fantastic. Everyone I have ever seen is a perfect colour match and no one has had any problems as far as I know. Also you get sent a tracking number when dispatched which gives a delivery date and shows exactly where it is and they normally arrive in around 10 days
New ///M console is now in, just waiting for a heater bulb and then put it all back together and connect up the outside temperature sensor at the weekend hopefully. Pics to follow soon
Got a few pics now of the ///M console fitted to the car, along with a new illuminated gear knob and cupholder complete with armrest. I covered this console in an aluminium effect carbon fibre and also did the steering wheel tabs again. As the ///M console has 5 switch holes I had a spare slot so I moved the HRW switch from the rear into the console and now all 5 are filled up. Everything works I just need to connect the oil temp sensor into the sump but I'm waiting for a new sump adaptor as the last one snapped
Poor night time pic
I have some liquid leather scuffmaster to give the leather and boomerangs a wipe over as there is a couple of minor scuffs here and there and the seats will also be getting the same treatment soon
The new alarm is now in, complete with remote start so the car can be started in the mornings to get it nice and toasty, helping to clear the windows as well if it frosty. Its wired in to the HRW also so this triggers with the remote start but works as normal with the switch any other time. If the alarms goes off the pager fob will beep and flash giving info on what sensor has been triggered or what the problem is. The windows also go up on locking if they have been left down which is quite cool
Fitted the induction kit today as well. I left the standard cold air feed in, but will probably add a new one coming up from the grill in the bumper as there looks to be enough room to get a 3 inch one from there upto the filter. I also made a template so that I can make an aluminium heatshield to go around it with a cut out for the cold air feed. Won't do anything for BHP but sounds a bit better when the loud pedal is pressed
Looks like the next job will be to clean that engine bay
It looks like a great job on the console did you manage to get the gaitor support to fit?
Your alarm sounds like a nifty piece of kit. My daily drivers alarm has the opposite feature press the key fob too long when locking it and all the windows go down WHY! A couple of times I've found the interior wet and it's not a soft top what make is your alarm?
('_')Z3 wrote:It looks like a great job on the console did you manage to get the gaitor support to fit?
Your alarm sounds like a nifty piece of kit. My daily drivers alarm has the opposite feature press the key fob too long when locking it and all the windows go down WHY! A couple of times I've found the interior wet and it's not a soft top what make is your alarm?
Yes I didn't bother taking any off with the dremel as when I put it in it fits fine just probably not as low as yours maybe. I had to fit it with the chrome trim in place because if I fitted the gaitor support first the chrome trim kept popping out but it works perfect now
Carvox is the make of the alarm, I would say it has all the features of a clifford but without the price tag (that's providing you are able to fit yourself, but they are pretty complicated!). I've had similar systems on my previous 2 cars and they are great, especially this time of year if you have a frosty morning and need to clear the windows. The window closure means you can never forget to close them which is good as I have a tendency to forget things, like the sidelights I left on all night last week, but at least it triggered the alarm about 4am so I know the siren works now
I can understand the windows going down on unlock, but not lock
Southernboy wrote:How do you like the feel of the armrest when driving? Makes a huge difference to general comfort ?
Armrest is great, I used to rest my arm on the handbrake but this is much more comfortable have yet to try it on a very long journey though. I would never be without one now
Your z looks brilliant and got some realy nice touches, can you tell me where you got the carbon fiber covering and the chrome surround around the gear stick gaiter ????? Those look realy good
billi wrote:Your z looks brilliant and got some realy nice touches, can you tell me where you got the carbon fiber covering and the chrome surround around the gear stick gaiter ????? Those look realy good
Thanks
Carbon fibre is from eBay, there is loads of different colours and matt or shiny finishes and comes as a film that needs to be stuck down. The chrome surround is standard on the ///M console, I don't think you can get them any more for a standard console.
Thanks for the reply , thats a shame about the gear surround looks great . What did you use to stick the carbon fiber down with if you dont mind me asking ?? Having a look on ebay now
billi wrote:Thanks for the reply , thats a shame about the gear surround looks great . What did you use to stick the carbon fiber down with if you dont mind me asking ?? Having a look on ebay now
The rear of the carbon fibre has adhesive on it so its just like a big sticker
Using a heat gun makes it stick better and more pliable so it can be stretched around the edges and make it easier to get into the harder places.
Thats great thanks I am looking at a black carbon fiber sheet on ebay now so going to give it a go. Will post some pics when I get round to working out how to do it
Its coming up to 3 years since I brought the zed and the roof on it was always a little tatty and had started to wear quite badly in a couple of places below the rear window. I replaced the rear screen last year after it split and I had dyed it a while ago and it was started to fade again, so now was the time to replace it.
I didn't really want black as I wanted a change and after ruling out red as they were too expensive I ending up going for a blue one from soft-tops in Croydon. I have to say his work is fantastic and at £350 fully fitted you cannot go wrong. The guy (Steve) did both my dads and mine by himself in just 5 hours.
The blue roof looks great on the silver and I am so pleased with it, now I think I'm going to drive around with the roof up more than down
Looks really good, The combo work really well together. The price is really good too, I had a quote for a new hood last year from a local guy, £750 + fitting. This was for a Non OEM with a fixed rear screen.
I didn't really want black as I wanted a change and after ruling out red as they were too expensive I ending up going for a blue one from soft-tops in Croydon. I have to say his work is fantastic and at £350 fully fitted you cannot go wrong. The guy (Steve) did both my dads and mine by himself in just 5 hours.
Looks great, why is red dearer? I can understand black being the cheapest, and all the colours being the same price. I'd probably go red to match my interior but they seem to get marked and dirty far quicker
Brian H wrote:Looks really good, The combo work really well together. The price is really good too, I had a quote for a new hood last year from a local guy, £750 + fitting. This was for a Non OEM with a fixed rear screen.
Thanks
Price is great looks as good as OEM, no relief pockets though and the window is stitched in but for £350 I could have 2 of them for the price of what everyone else was quoting. The bottom pics make it look a bit darker than it actually is.
('_')Z3 wrote:Looks great, why is red dearer? I can understand black being the cheapest, and all the colours being the same price. I'd probably go red to match my interior but they seem to get marked and dirty far quicker
He makes his own roofs for all cars out of big rolls of fabric which he buys and he was saying that because blue and black are common across all the cars he does he can offer them at such a good price. He doesn't get asked for red that often so it may mean buying a large roll and only using it once, therefore he would have to charge a lot more, even if he would do it. At least with blue or black he will always use it up. Prior to fitting he will show you the roof and sometimes people don't like the colour so they change their mind, meaning if they order red and they don't like it then he is stuck with it. Also he did say that the red was harder to keep clean that's why people rarely buy them.
This may seem ridiculous, but being uber cautious would you inform your insurance company you had a non oem replacement soft top? Cant imagine it making a difference, but you never know.
Eastsix wrote:This may seem ridiculous, but being uber cautious would you inform your insurance company you had a non oem replacement soft top? Cant imagine it making a difference, but you never know.
The roof may not be OEM, but is OEM equivalent. I wouldn't be surprised if they wanted to bump the price up because of it, but then again how many other OEM equivalent parts do we fit to our cars such as brake discs, pads, sensors and tyres etc and these don't need to be declared. Insurance companies will do anything to get more money or to get out of you not being covered in the event of an accident. Maybe I should ring up and declare my OEM equivalent dust caps
No, the window is sewn in. I doubt you would find anywhere that will produce an after market hood now with a zip in window. Plenty of places will replace a sewn in window on these hoods for a similar price to a zip in one. Takes a little longer as the roof has to be removed for the window to be sewn in, the guy at Soft Tops charges £195 if I remember for a new window.
Re: g8jka - 2.0 Progress Journal - (May 2013)
Posted: Fri 03 May, 2013 14:57
by g8jka
Fitted my new matching brushed steel handbrake and gearknob set. They are very weighty and top quality items just like the storm ones. Changing gear now feels better from what it did with the illuminated gearknob. Suits the interior a lot better I think.
Also got the summer wheels back on a couple of weeks ago
I now have the window closure working off the alarm to close the windows when locking the car. And also remote roof closure on the press of a button on the alarm fob. This is great if you leave the zed parked outside with the roof down and it starts to rain, just push the button and the roof will close. It obviously doesn't do the latches but gives you time to get a jacket on and go and close the roof properly without rushing outside and still finding a puddle of water on the seat. And it looks pretty cool.
I have added lots of smaller additions to the zed.
) 
) and Tom Tom or other sat navs are great. No need for another sat nav and it mutes the music when a direction comes on. The bluetooth works well and calls are nice and clear, does get a bit windy with the roof down but you will get that with any hands free. Only problem I have found is the radio app for it is a bit rubbish but I use Tunein Radio instead and if you ever forgot your phone you would have no music! It also charges whenever it plugged in with the ignition turned on. 
I can understand black being the cheapest, and all the colours being the same price. I'd probably go red to match my interior but they seem to get marked and dirty far quicker 
