Bertiejaffa's ///M

bertiejaffa · Post by **bertiejaffa** » Tue 12 May, 2015 17:43

Ok so I though it was about time I started my journal page about my //M so people can see what I have done with it. The car is certainly individual in how it looks and has a very unique history:

She's an Estoril Blue BMW Z3M Roadster (S52) and was in the first batch of Z3M's to come over to the UK - she was built in November 1997 and registered on 8th Jan 1998 to BMW GB for use by one of the BMW directors. The car was also used as press car which saw her loaned to Top Gear in January 1998 for an episode which aired on the BBC in March 1998 and saw Tiff Needall road test it against a TVR - the video was available on You Tube for sometime but it has recently been pulled by the BBC for copyright following Jezzagate but I have found another copy of it here:

http://www.dpccars.com/car-videos-13/01 ... himera.htm

I have had her since 2014 when I bought it from a former forum member who had been planning to restore her to factory specifications and had therefore got a garage full of original bits including front and rear bumpers, carpets and other rare parts. As he was relocating to South America he was willing to throw all the parts as well so we agreed a sale and I took her home and the week after made another trip to get all the bits. Having got all the original bits home I have decided that I actually like the way it looks at the moment so the parts have all gone up into the loft for safe keeping incase I ever decide to change it or (less likely) decide to sell...

After taking initial ownership I decided to take it for a nice blast over the pennines and through the peak district to see what all the fuss was about. Coming from a 2.0l the difference was understandably impressive but the lack of use prior to my spirited drive resulted in a trip to the garage for a replacement rocker gasket and 2 new brake hoses.

Apart from a drive to Norfolk to pick up a hardtop and a recently retrimmed steering wheel that were being sold by a forum member I haven't really had time to do any of the mods I have planned for her but she has had a bit of TLC recently and some new paint. It is by no means finished yet but this is how she looked when I picked her up last week after 4 weeks in the garage... Work done:

Full Inspection 2 Service
Full brake calliper, carrier & Spring refurb (shotblasted, primed, painted) - Refurb Kits from BIGGRED
New Clutch
Refurbished gearbox pins (including oils etc)
New Oil Sensor
Front bumper removed, repaired, resprayed and replaced
Rear bumper removed, repaired, resprayed and replaced
Front passenger wing removed, repaired, resprayed and replaced
Rear drivers wing removed, repaired, resprayed and replaced
Passenger door key gouge removed, repaired and resprayed
BMW Aero rear spoiler cut to fit the boot lid badge (ala DAZ3 style), primed, sprayed and fitted
All 4 alloys refurbed and resprayed
Full Body Polish and Valet

deni2s · Post by **deni2s** » Wed 13 May, 2015 07:55

I am not a fan of those bumpers and grilles, but could be worse. Side sills look unusual. But anyway great job!

bertiejaffa · Post by **bertiejaffa** » Wed 13 May, 2015 09:35

deni2s wrote:I am not a fan of those bumpers and grilles, but could be worse. Side sills look unusual. But anyway great job!

Yeah not everyone's cup of tea I know but I like them although the ride height makes them hard work sometimes but I have all the originals in the loft if ever I need / want to put it back to OEM or want to sell them. The sills are aftermarket too and they will be resprayed later in the year when there are some more funds available. The next major thing on the list though is the interior which I am hoping to start in the next month. Got a new carpet to go in, completely redo the ICE and change the dash round so that it is black in the centre and extened blue leather stitched trim everywhere else - again the original dash and bits will go in the loft

Southernboy · Post by **Southernboy** » Wed 13 May, 2015 10:40

IMO it suits the M very well... and it's subtle enough not to be too "American".

bertiejaffa · Post by **bertiejaffa** » Wed 13 May, 2015 10:52

Southernboy wrote:IMO it suits the M very well... and it's subtle enough not to be too "American".

Bowler · Post by **Bowler** » Wed 13 May, 2015 18:49

Like it, possibly not to the purists taste but certainly looks good to me

johnz3 · Post by **johnz3** » Wed 13 May, 2015 19:05

Like it

bertiejaffa · Post by **bertiejaffa** » Wed 13 May, 2015 19:43

Thanks both - always nice to get the thumbs up

Bi11 · Post by **Bi11** » Wed 13 May, 2015 20:43

Badman gee · Post by **Badman gee** » Wed 13 May, 2015 20:54

Looks great. Nice to see an M well looked after.

bertiejaffa · Post by **bertiejaffa** » Thu 14 May, 2015 00:56

Thanks again... fellas, I do try to look after it as best as I can, it only does 5K a year at the most and has full inspection maintenance ..

I acknowledge the purists view and i have a loft full of the parts that would return it to standard specification, and I'll admit that if it wasn't "tailored" when i bought it I probably wouldn't have made the changes myself; but it was, and I love it! And despite any cosmetic changes, the mechanical bits have an A1 history so I know its perfect when I take it out or if it ever moves on (not planned) then it is perfect for the next owner

Southernboy · Post by **Southernboy** » Thu 14 May, 2015 06:38

There are 2 kinds of buyer....
1. I only want a good car which is 100% OEM etcetc..
2. I want a good car with " individual style"........ This might include good after market body kit, wheels etc etc...

If BMW had offered "optional" bumpers, skirts etc etc at the time the Z3 was launched, I imagine one would see a greater variety of "OEM" examples on the road today. The fact that they were not available does not preclude the option from being desirable. Even mechanically, one might consider the option of the replacement of the water pump to a 100% metal "after market" part an improvement on the OEM spec.

Phil · Post by **Phil** » Thu 14 May, 2015 10:11

Southernboy wrote:There are 2 kinds of buyer....
1. I only want a good car which is 100% OEM etcetc..
2. I want a good car with " individual style"........ This might include good after market body kit, wheels etc etc...

If BMW had offered "optional" bumpers, skirts etc etc at the time the Z3 was launched, I imagine one would see a greater variety of "OEM" examples on the road today. The fact that they were not available does not preclude the option from being desirable. Even mechanically, one might consider the option of the replacement of the water pump to a 100% metal "after market" part an improvement on the OEM spec.

There were some skirts, spoilers and other 'aerodynamic' items originally listed in the accessories brochure. Plus the same brochure refers to Alpina and Schnitzer for additional items all available through the dealership.

Del · Post by **Del** » Thu 14 May, 2015 10:57

If Alpina had done a Z3, your modifications echo what I imagine Alpina might have done

g8jka · Post by **g8jka** » Thu 14 May, 2015 15:53

I quite like it and admire the work you have done and are doing to it to get it back to an exceptional standard, by spending money on it to have the paintwork refreshed and the mechanical work done properly. Its not your usual car you see owned by some boy racer that puts on a kit of this type, only for them to end up fitted incorrectly with tatty paint work and cracks and splits in all the bumpers despite them still thinking they look the dogs danglies

It is something different which will upset the purists, yet it is getting the money and work put into it that it deserves so it is a real credit to yourself.

Southernboy · Post by **Southernboy** » Thu 14 May, 2015 15:56

If it was a boy racer he'd have a rear spoiler so high up it would provide more lift than down force......

bertiejaffa · Post by **bertiejaffa** » Thu 14 May, 2015 17:28

g8jka wrote:I quite like it and admire the work you have done and are doing to it to get it back to an exceptional standard, by spending money on it to have the paintwork refreshed and the mechanical work done properly. Its not your usual car you see owned by some boy racer that puts on a kit of this type, only for them to end up fitted incorrectly with tatty paint work and cracks and splits in all the bumpers despite them still thinking they look the dogs danglies

It is something different which will upset the purists, yet it is getting the money and work put into it that it deserves so it is a real credit to yourself.

Cheers buddy, glad you like it. Yeah it has been an expensive month but its all worth it and as I have no intention of selling then it is worth the outlay I think

deni2s · Post by **deni2s** » Tue 26 May, 2015 18:07

I just found out where does this body kit comes from

I was reading a book about z cars and there was mentioned only one company who made bolt on kits and I never heard of it before, so I googled and there was your body kit

bertiejaffa · Post by **bertiejaffa** » Fri 29 Apr, 2016 00:26

Update April 2016:

Ok, so 12 months on from the paint and new clutch I have installed cruise control and I am finally getting round to starting to make the car "mine". There are a number of changes I want to do, most of which are internal for now, so after spending the last couple of years slowly collecting bits and ideas it was time to start.

Currently you can see that the carpet is a funny colour and the rest of the interior is looking a bit tired - the heater bulbs don't work and the centre console around the switches is broken. There are some horrendous footwell lights that I can't even begin to start to describe; the rear part of the console has some tatty scuffs and nicks in the leather, the door cards are loose and rattle and the dash, door cards, arm rests, seats and rear console are all a different shades of either Estoril Blue or Leguna Seca that don't really match...

Another issue I have always had with the car is the sound system, I don't mind the modification that has been made to the door cards to hold more speakers, but the additional speakers are all sub woofers which makes the sound incredibly low with hardly any mid range sound available. Also an aftermarket amp has been fitted to the boot which is designed to help boost the volume when the top is down - however, whilst not really ugly or in the way, it is pointless as it continuously overheats and switches off all the music whenever you turn the volume up which is exactly the reason it is there!!

Finally, when the new ICE was fitted they chopped and changed all the wiring behind the console and routed new wires under the carpet so with the car stripped I will be able to tidy this up. .

You can also see that the existing head unit is cracked and its operation is temperamental at best.. You can also see the broken facia

Removing the mats shows the reason for the funny colours - at some point a previous owner became that obsessed with the M stripes that they cut some office carpet of different colours and glued it to the original carpet...

.....with the drivers seat out you can see it has been glued to the front half of the carpet (Obviously this is why the previous owner had already sourced a full replacement).

Unfortunately there was no hidden treasure or coins under the seats but worryingly there was this kitchen knife

The office carpet can be pulled off but the glue has completely ruined any chance of saving the original carpet:

So there is only one thing to do....

Which then quickly leads to this...

Ok, so with everything out it is now time to start putting everything back in... here is the front carpet ready to go in..

The clock has been restarted and is currently being monitored to ensure it keeps time - however with the dial removed it was time to do a little bit of detailing with an idea shamelessly stolen from Southernboy....

....and with the tops off the dials it is now time to fit my new bezels which I bought 18 months ago - they raise the glass further and give a deeper more retro, 60's style look to the dials in my opinion... Here they are compared to the spare set of dials I have so you can see the difference in depth.

....so another change I am making is again a shameless steal from another forum member - black brushed aluminum wrap... This gives an indication of how the centre facia will look...

The clock will go in after I am sure it is working again - in the meantime I now need to wrap the bottom part of the facia but before I can do that I need to resolve the broken part and fit a new lighter bezel that I have ordered from ebay... From this....

To this... I used a glue gun to reseat the broken part and filled the gap with leather filler. I then ran a long length of glue across the back with a piece of thin plastic which should ensure it doesn't break again in the future... The replacement bezel has also turned up and is waiting to go in after this part has been wrapped....

Deano1712 · Post by **Deano1712** » Fri 29 Apr, 2016 05:16

Good job. Now i understand why you stripped the interior down. The previous owner needs a prize for the striped carpet! It should look great when done. Look forward to having a look at it.

Southernboy · Post by **Southernboy** » Fri 29 Apr, 2016 06:01

Good stuff Buddy - nice to see the attention to detail you're putting in. Always worth going to the "n" th degree - you know you've checked and tidied up everything for another 15 years...

BladeRunner919 · Post by **BladeRunner919** » Fri 29 Apr, 2016 08:16

Wow, that carpet is something else!!

Southernboy · Post by **Southernboy** » Fri 29 Apr, 2016 08:23

TBH - it would have been a better and more subtle "M" carpet if they had used a correctly shaped black carpet and had the M colours stitched in as three stripes across one of the corners vs the amateur way the "home made" item is.

Del · Post by **Del** » Fri 29 Apr, 2016 08:28

Good work, a Z3M deserves to be respectfully restored

bertiejaffa · Post by **bertiejaffa** » Fri 29 Apr, 2016 08:33

Thanks all,

Deano1712 wrote:Good job. Now i understand why you stripped the interior down. The previous owner needs a prize for the striped carpet! It should look great when done. Look forward to having a look at it.

BladeRunner919 wrote:Wow, that carpet is something else!!

@Deano & Bladerunner - yes it had to come out... I have no idea what must have been going through the owners mind at the time. The stereo and amp also had to be changed prior to our road trip next week, otherwise with the continuous cutting out of tunes you would have seen me jumping out the car and beating it John Cleese style...

...although if the weather continues I might be making our road trip in the Sportage... 2 days away from May and there is 2" of snow outside !!

Southernboy wrote:Good stuff Buddy - nice to see the attention to detail you're putting in. Always worth going to the "n" th degree - you know you've checked and tidied up everything for another 15 years...

Thanks Barry - some of the detailing I am doing will probably never been seen apart from on the pictures on here to prove that it was done, however as you say, I will have the knowledge that I have done it as best I can..

bertiejaffa · Post by **bertiejaffa** » Fri 29 Apr, 2016 10:20

Ok so the door cards have now come off as well which gives me the chance to refresh them a bit and sort out all the rattles. It also gives me the chance to check out the speaker wiring and see what is actually in there. These are the door cards as they currently look.. not too bad from a distance...

Removing the door cards has revealed that the waterproof membrane has been removed from both sides so this will need to be addressed when I put it all back together. Removing the cards also allows me to check out the aftermarket speakers and it quickly became obvious why everything was rattling. The box in the top corner is the crossover and it is loose inside the door and the tweeter had fallen out completely and was stuck to the back of the mid range speaker which you can see next to the tweeter. The 2 speakers at the bottom are sub woofers which are inline with another aftermarket sub woofer which has been installed in the foot well. This means I have 6 subwoofers, 2 mid range and 2 tweeters - might explain some the low range sound issues I am facing !!

My plan is to find a solution for fixing the components properly and I will also install some 5" aftermarket 2 way speakers behind the seats to try and even out the sound (I had some fitted to my 2.0l and they worked well).

For the doorcards themselves I have stripped them down and will scuffmaster all the black parts and the speaker grills. I am also going to continue the black alli wrap theme as below..

The leather isn't too bad but I have decided to re-trim them anyway with some new leather to pad them up a bit and refresh them.. here is the new leather going on top of the existing leather...

Its an easy modification and looks very new - if your door cards are tired I recommend it.

As mentioned earlier I also have an issue that none of the interior trim matches, it all seems to be different shades of blue so with the door cards re-trimmed I have taken delivery of some Estoril Blue dye from scuff master and will start matching up all the leather parts and dashboard. However, as my centre facia is now black I need to do something to the rest of the interior so that the facia will be a visible contrast so rather than just re-dye and re-fit I have decided to make the car even more individual than before. Some people will remember the work I did on my old 2.0l zed which included retro fitting an //M dash and extended leather so I have taken my old 2.0l dash and hockey sticks out of the loft and quickly created this...

The good thing about having all these old pieces is that my existing //M dash can go into the loft with my bumpers etc ensuring that I will always be able to put the car back to OEM... in the meantime I have dismantled my old parts, stripped the vinyl off and started to retrofit the extended leather in the same way as I did on my old Z3. First of all I started with the hockey sticks....

The leather I had bought is as close to the original colour as I could find so once I had finished re-trimming with new stitched leather it was time to start the dying process - here are the hockey sticks close to completion along side 2 door card arm rests purchased from Southernboy and one of my newly re-trimmed door cards.

With those parts well underway I started on the dash itself beginning with the speedo dome. I have been very specific with the leather and stitching that I ordered - here it is going on, starting with the stitching to ensure it is aligned properly.

And here it is nearly finished - just needs a little bit of fine tuning with the heat gun and scuff master.

Just like the previous owner I too like the M colours but hopefully my taste is a little more subtle

Next it is onto the 2 side pieces, these are far and away the hardest parts to do and take the longest time. Having done this on my 2.0 zed I was aware of the hardest areas but that didn't make it any easier this time round and there are some parts that I have had to revisit a few times....

This is the passenger side console going on - again, start with the stitching

...and now the drivers side - this piece is even more difficult because of the fog light and headlight height switches....

and little bit further on...

and then the secret tricks.. A heat gun is vital to help stretch and work the leather and you can use leather filler to cover up the deepest creases and cuts which are required to make the leather fit.

...after a while its ready to start with the dye..

Southernboy · Post by **Southernboy** » Fri 29 Apr, 2016 10:34

Holy re-trim Batman !! Not just a pretty face.... an auto-trimmer also...

g8jka · Post by **g8jka** » Fri 29 Apr, 2016 10:59

Wow, that's some great work your doing it's going to look amazing when finished. I'm thinking of a colour change on the centre console and quite like the brushed steel look but think I'd go with silver again. Nice work on the gauges as well.

Are you selling the ///M carpet pieces by any chance?

pingu · Post by **pingu** » Fri 29 Apr, 2016 11:17

Leather - mmmmmmm.

I expect the drinks are on you after all the money you will have found under the carpets

.

bertiejaffa · Post by **bertiejaffa** » Fri 29 Apr, 2016 11:49

pingu wrote:Leather - mmmmmmm.

I expect the drinks are on you after all the money you will have found under the carpets .

No money found but the knife might enable me to get some

(*Note to GMP, I am not serious!)

('_')Z3 · Post by **('_')Z3** » Fri 29 Apr, 2016 22:25

I am truly speechless at that carpet

glad to see you are putting the love back. The leather work looks fantastic.

bertiejaffa · Post by **bertiejaffa** » Fri 29 Apr, 2016 23:09

('_')Z3 wrote:I am truly speechless at that carpet glad to see you are putting the love back. The leather work looks fantastic.

Yeah I've never quite understood the "why" behind it. After all, the seats have been customised to have the M stripes (as below) and I think they are very subtly done so where the carpet came from I have no idea.....

DAVE P · Post by **DAVE P** » Sat 30 Apr, 2016 13:02

Enjoying the thread, did you leave the heater in place and just trim round it to fit the replacement carpet - looking to replace mine and don't really want to remove the heater.

I saw what I think may have been this car at a show in 2009 at Tatton Park but it had different wheels and small extensions on the front bumper,

may be a different car but lots of similarities http://www.z3mcoupe.com/forum/album.php?albumid=14

I think I sent you the lighter bezel via ebay!

keep up the good work

bertiejaffa · Post by **bertiejaffa** » Sat 30 Apr, 2016 21:16

DAVE P wrote:Enjoying the thread, did you leave the heater in place and just trim round it to fit the replacement carpet - looking to replace mine and don't really want to remove the heater.

I saw what I think may have been this car at a show in 2009 at Tatton Park but it had different wheels and small extensions on the front bumper,

may be a different car but lots of similarities http://www.z3mcoupe.com/forum/album.php?albumid=14

I think I sent you the lighter bezel via ebay!

keep up the good work

Hi, Thanks, it always nice to know people find it enjoyable.

Yes, I left the heater matrix in and cut round it as removing the matrix seemed a massive job. It did take a while to wrestle my conscience over it though to be honest - I had to balance the fact that nobody will ever see it against my desire for the car to be "perfect" which I will always know it won't be if I cut the carpet if you know what I mean (I guess its easiest summed up by the fact I've treated the metal bar under the dash to hammerite even though its probably never ever going to be seen again!).

Just looked at the pic, it does seem the same kit as mine near enough, and the wheels look very similar, the aerial is identical too however I fitted mine (was the OEM one previously) so maybe/maybe not... If I knew the reg number I could confirm it. I bought it from Corby.... Did the carpet look foul in 2009?

Yes very possible was me that bought it - its fitted now, I will be giving feedback shortly (all positive too), I just forget lol

DAVE P · Post by **DAVE P** » Sun 01 May, 2016 11:14

I don't remember the carpet being like that when I saw the car back in 2009 so it may just be a similar M Roadster but I will try and find the original picture and see if it shows the number plate.
Makes sense about cutting the carpet around the heater I will probably do the same.

bertiejaffa · Post by **bertiejaffa** » Sun 01 May, 2016 12:05

Thanks Dave - would certainly be interesting to see if it is the same car...

Anyway, just to update - Not much progress over the last few days but slowly getting there... FIrstly I have fitted new 2 way speakers to the trim behind the seats. My 2.0l Z had something similar and it really helped with the sound distribution. These will be wired to the rear channel of my new head unit.

I've also got some new gaiters to match my re-trimmed dial dome....

and continuing with the detailing of items that nobody will ever see....

One thing I have realised is that BMW's attention to detail isn't as good as it should be. I have always hated the alarm LED on the front panel and so it has always been my intention to extend the wires to the rear demist button and install this up front to complete the switch panel with something proper. As you know BMW changed the style of the switches on the centre console when they released the facelift Z in 1999 and made them more rounded. However, when they released the M in 1998 they used the new style switches from the outset which I think was a great idea as they look better IMHO. BUT for some unknown reason they didn't bother upgrading the rear demist switch which means that it is still the old fashioned square type which will look c**p if I moved it up to the front panel.

I have pulled both switches apart to see if the electronics can be switched but thats a no go - so can anyone tell me is they have ever seen a way to retrofit the new button onto an M? I know the new button needs the unloader relay which is currently used for the heated seats in the M and pre-facelift car.

bertiejaffa · Post by **bertiejaffa** » Mon 02 May, 2016 20:33

Ok so the sun finally decided to come out this afternoon which allowed me to do a few bits and pieces.

First of all I was able to add my new purchases - a couple of S54 style M badges. There has never been one on the front of the car but I think its about time there was...

And then it was time to update the faded one on the back - I had bought the decals off Aceman to refresh the badge, but my new front badge came with a free S54 version for the rear so that was quickly fitted. The new colours and the curved effect looks much better I think

And then with the sun out I was able to fit the rear carpet and put the roll hoops and rear trim back in - here it is with my new rear speakers. (The plastics will be treated to a quick blast of black scuff master once they are in situ. I also gave the seat belts a good coating of silicone spray to lubricate them whilst the trim was off and I could get at the retraction unit before refitting the trim

And finally the front carpet - Thanks to @BrianH for the information on removing the accelerator pedal to make this fit without having to cut it.

Looks much better than the ghastly mess that was installed previously !!

I have also started the install of my new head unit by fitting the DAB windscreen aerial and feeding the wires down in anticipation of the dash going back in and I have fitted some foam behind the footwell speakers to help reduce the loss of sound.

kjb1 · Post by **kjb1** » Mon 02 May, 2016 21:54

love the car, hate those grills, put originals back pleeaassseeee!!

Sent from my iPhone

bertiejaffa · Post by **bertiejaffa** » Mon 02 May, 2016 22:31

kjb1 wrote:love the car, hate those grills, put originals back pleeaassseeee!!

ha ha... Thanks (I think) no she stays as she is for now... I'm considering doing the grill effect on the rear between the pipes

kjb1 · Post by **kjb1** » Mon 02 May, 2016 22:36

bertiejaffa wrote:
kjb1 wrote:love the car, hate those grills, put originals back pleeaassseeee!!
ha ha... Thanks (I think) no she stays as she is for now... I'm considering doing the grill effect on the rear between the pipes

don't do it!! noooo.

And return the original grills, car is a beaut bar those hideous grills.

Del · Post by **Del** » Tue 03 May, 2016 10:40

I'm a bit of a purist and have sleepness nights "stressing" over whether you are going to slowly restore this nice Z3m back towards OE with OE wheels and exhaust tail pipes etc

Good work on the carpet.

bertiejaffa · Post by **bertiejaffa** » Tue 03 May, 2016 11:13

Del wrote:I'm a bit of a purist and have sleepness nights "stressing" over whether you are going to slowly restore this nice Z3m back towards OE with OE wheels and exhaust tail pipes etc Good work on the carpet.

Hi Del - unfortunately your insomnia will have to continue for a while I'm afraid. The good news is that the carpet and the boot will be OEM once I've finished and I have a loft full of all the OEM parts if I ever did want to restore it including front and rear M bumpers, dash, dials, gaitors, door cards. I even have spare wing mirrors and rear view mirror incase mine ever break. The bad news for your sleepless nights is that I like the the body kit so it will be staying on for a while yet.

I must admit I was offered 2 OEM back boxes a while ago for a very good price and there is a part of me that regrets not taking them as I see the quad pipes on other Ms and I've started to wish mine had them. The flip side to that is the sound mine make, everyone I know who is a petrolhead comments on the way my pipes roar and that would be lost with the OEM boxes I think.

As for the wheels I'm always on the look out for some new alloys but they would have to be deep dish to retain the aggressive look - deep dish 78s or 42s would be good or 108s. I'll be honest I don't actually think the OEM M wheels are that pretty to be fair, especially not the S50 ones - the shadow chrome versions on the later s54 are better but I still think BMW could have done more with the wheel design

Nice to have honest opinions though, I always take them on board

bertiejaffa · Post by **bertiejaffa** » Tue 03 May, 2016 22:21

A little bit more done today..

FIrst of all I have managed to install the wiring for the foot well lights I bought from littlefeller 2 years ago. I had these in my 2.0l Z and they are really effective and a load better than the horrible blue florescent tube that was there before.

The next thing I was able to do is wire in my new head unit and test the rewire of all my speakers and the DAB aerial to ensure they are working, unfortunately to do this I have had to reconnect the battery and turn on the ignition which means I am going to have to find my airbag reset tool

but I thought it would be better to test this out now with everything out rather than finding out that it doesn't work after I have hidden all the wires behind the dash. Thankfully everything seems good and there is sound coming out of all the speakers. I do think that the subwoofers in the footwell are going to have to be changed as the one on the drivers side seems to be popping a bit so I might just disconnect it for now and see how it sounds.

Finally this evening I have been able to reassemble my new dashboard ready to be reinstalled tomorrow. The hardest part is putting the dial dome back together as BMW have designed it in such a way that it should never be separated. The whole thing is held together by pressure in opposing directions and then the plastic is welded/melted together. When I separated the dash I had to Dremmel this bit apart so it was out with my new glue gun (the old one went pop yesterday!) and reglue all the plastics after spending about an hour trying to bend and manipulate the whole thing together.

With this done I could now start putting all the screws back in to hold all the parts together and then to start reassembling the air vents. After almost 20 years the foam around the vents had all but perished and gone (probably blown out into my face over the past couple of years!) so I used some draught excluder seal stuff to recreate the seals back to "as new"

Unfortunately the dash I am now installing is missing one of the small pipes that carries air to the 2 little vents on the top of the dash. Having swapped the dashes on my old Zed I was aware that BMW changed the underside of the dashboards so I couldn't just use the parts of my existing dash so it was into the garage to find a piece of washing machine hose and some gorilla tape....

and then with all the vents now assembled the dash is pretty much ready to be fitted into the car tomorrow..

Southernboy · Post by **Southernboy** » Wed 04 May, 2016 07:08

Looks like you got the correct shade of blue leather and a job well done

bertiejaffa · Post by **bertiejaffa** » Wed 04 May, 2016 09:58

Southernboy wrote:Looks like you got the correct shade of blue leather and a job well done

Thanks Barry - the sun is shining here today so should be pretty much done by the evening - good job as I set off around Britain with Pingu and Deano Friday morning !!

pingu · Post by **pingu** » Wed 04 May, 2016 13:25

bertiejaffa wrote:...unfortunately to do this I have had to reconnect the battery and turn on the ignition which means I am going to have to find my airbag reset tool

Radio is Position 1 on the ign sw
Air Bag is Position 2

You shouldn't need to reset.

I will be taking my airbag reset tool with me, so as long as you don't need the airbag before Inverness, you can reset it there

Post by **Robert T** » Wed 04 May, 2016 15:35

If you are desperate to get it reset, I am not far from you and have INPA and laptop.

Cheers R.

bertiejaffa · Post by **bertiejaffa** » Wed 04 May, 2016 20:55

Thanks both - I turned it all the way

at least I know my light works

I've found my tool so should be able to reset it before I set off but thanks all for the offers

Deano1712 · Post by **Deano1712** » Wed 04 May, 2016 21:27

Are you all set for the adventure now? Car working ok?

bertiejaffa · Post by **bertiejaffa** » Thu 05 May, 2016 10:04

Deano1712 wrote:Are you all set for the adventure now? Car working ok?

Should be - just the seats and door cards to go back in now - looks like I have run out of time to do the doorcards and some of the finishing touches so they will have to wait till I get back.

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