2009 Z4 35i Let the DIY and slight cosmetic modding begin.

[///Avi]

It's great that it wasn't a cost to you. Would be nice to see this car at the next meet. Enjoy it:bravo:

 

[Riaad]

Looking good, must look even better in personraise:, are the rings equally lit though?

 

[that_guy_Ettiene]

Looking good buds..you and your late night car washes!

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

 

[General.Massacre]

but now hang on there... didnt you get those turbos already from BMW recently?
and they only gave you a credit of 3k on those? with them effectively being brand new from them? that sounds like a bit of a sour deal if thats the case isnt it? coz all they really going to do is amend the wastegates again, and sell them off again??

 

[osiris]

but now hang on there... didnt you get those turbos already from BMW recently?
and they only gave you a credit of 3k on those? with them effectively being brand new from them? that sounds like a bit of a sour deal if thats the case isnt it? coz all they really going to do is amend the wastegates again, and sell them off again??

Yup I bought these turbos from BMW recently, they were refurbished though, BMW no longer sell brand new N54 turbos anymore.
They took my old turbos and gave me a discount on the turbos they gave me in exchange which would effectively cost 22k if I just bought them outright without doing an exchange. With the turbos you buy from BMW you get a 2 year warranty on them should anything go wrong.

The turbos lasted a whole 2 weeks and then started whining like a siren in the lower RPM range so they swapped them out.

Unfortunately my car had some modifications on it like a FMIC and a charge pipe and down pipes. The down pipes they didn't care about but the rest of the mods they needed me to change in order for them to put the claim through and for them to properly diagnose if the whining siren sound was the turbo itself or a boost leak. The car needs to be stock for the warranty to be effective so I had to pay them to fit the stock inter cooler and stock charge pipes.

In the end it was a stuff up but it could have been allot worse as in they could have just thrown the claim out and id have had to pay that 32k out my pocket.
I was quite happy to pay the 4k knowing my turbos have been replaced but more importantly this time the job was done by BMW. No shortcuts were taken and should something else go wrong with the turbos this time BMW fitted them so the warranty process wont take so long and things will be done quick! Plus the car is stock now too so there can be fokall excuses.

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Looking good, must look even better in personraise:, are the rings equally lit though?

Thanks man.

They look the same brightness until you look at them head on in which case the center ring blinds you and that's just due to the design of the non F/L angel eye rings of the Z4. The center ring is not a perspex round ring like the outer ring that sits on its own getting lit from a source away from the ring. Instead it gets back lit by a light source from within a chrome bowl, its hard to describe lol.

However.....The xenons do a much better job of lighting both rings than the LED bulbs. The led bulbs light up the center ring but the outer ring is very dim.

But make no mistake, they are VERY bright! I can literally drive around at night and see perfectly with just using the angel eyes.

 

[20v ashy]

Another update.

So I found that my inlet pipe to the rear turbo was not on the turbo properly, I pulled it out and this is what I found, My mechanic told me it had a small crack so he plastic welded it but it most definitely didn't help.

Firstly here is what I ended up doing cause the amount of shit your arm gets caught on is amazing and painful lol:

This is what the pipe looked like:

Anyways I managed to get a new pipe yesterday from somone that had a set as they put other inlets on their car. I ordered a new rubber grommet too.

No pics of that unfortunately.

Anyways so this happened today, was like xmas :

so here is why I ordered a new washer fluid bottle:

So this happened due to the top mount turbo that had been put on the car previously. It was heat shielded but it didn't help.

So anyways out with the old and in with the new

Engine bay looking like new finally!!

AAAAAAnd my expansion tank has been relocated thanks to Afzil who also changed my O2 sensor and now my cars Air fuel ratios are perfect FINALLY!

I decided to do a bit of Autosol polishing of pipes that are now visible due to expansion tank relocation.

Here is a before and after, it actually looks allot better in the metal:

Next up was the angel Eye halos. Although the yellow/brown didn't look too bad on this car it was time for a proper upgrade:

Here is what it looked like before we begin:

So after trying many different LED setups and always having the same kak result of the inner ring being lit up and the outer ring hardly getting any light I decided to go another route altogether, something everyone told me was impossible due to the fact that the halo's dim when the lights low beam xenons switch on.

So I decided to try Carly Coder out and stopped my halos from dimming when the main low beam xenons come on so that I could do my mod.

It worked, now the voltage doesn't drop so a xenon can't throw and error or start flickering!

So let us begin:

Here is the purchase that I made:

I needed this to be a stealth install, I don't like seeing messy wires that don't belong under a bonnet, especially not under this bonnet with the amount of blood sweat and tears I have had in trying to get it perfect which has been a hell of allot of work thus far.

So I decided to get the wires in from under the headlight, which would have been easy had it not been for this little surprise lurking in the dark!

This little shit of a screw is underneath the damn headlight so pulling the headlights out is next to impossible, I could probably get a ratchet in there but the space is so small to get your hand in there from behind the headlight that getting that screw back on will be impossible unless I had a camera and a screen with forceps :biglol: so year F#@k that shit!

So the dremel came out to play and I made a small hole in the bottom of the headlight by going through the top, its hard to explain lol here is a pic:

This allowed me to bring stuff in:

Then I could put the bulbs wires back through the hole and underneath the headlight but it was a pita of a job to do this as the spaces are so small.

Installation done, no wires anywhere to be seen:

Now I was worried that heat may be an issue, so I plugged my car on charge and ran this setup for over an hour with halogen halo bulb on the one side and xenon on the other side and felt temps around the area and watched carefully to see if any melting was happening or burning and it turns out that the halogen side was a bit hotter than the xenon side by touch, I would like to get a laser heat temp gun to make sure im not going mad, but as far as I have read, a xenon bulb is very hot at its core, but radiates less heat as you move further away from it where as a halogen is like a little heater.

anyways here is the result of a xenon powered angel eye:

That is Sugan standing on the left, the owner of Violet electronics who helped me get an 8000k H8 xenon bulb for me today:

They are so bright I am able to drive without my headlights on and just using my angel eyes :rollsmile:

The camera struggles to take pics of it and kinda makes the one look a little green.

You have to see them in person to appreciate the true beauty of them, its nothing like the LED kits that you put in here, its on a whole new level, best visual mod I have done so far.
I might build little fans into the bottom of the headlights just as a preventative measure to make sure they don't run too hot on a really hot day, this will be done when I pull the front bumper off to put the Mspot bumper on.

I am going to drive around like this and monitor them and check for any signs of over heating but so far so good, and it looks super cool when you unlock the car with the remote as I also used Carly Coder to make my headlights switch on as well and not just the angel eyes.

I also made my mirrors fold up with the remote now when locking the car and made it so that I can open and close the roof while driving but as long as I am doing no more than 30kph, this has changed my life lol.

Anyways she is almost there.

Hi bru, great modding there, i also have purchased the carly adapter and the app, your car is looking awesome, i have ordered the tommy kaira rear wing...hopefully it will be here by october month end!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[ShaunB]

Now I was worried that heat may be an issue, so I plugged my car on charge and ran this setup for over an hour with halogen halo bulb on the one side and xenon on the other side and felt temps around the area and watched carefully to see if any melting was happening or burning and it turns out that the halogen side was a bit hotter than the xenon side by touch, I would like to get a laser heat temp gun to make sure im not going mad, but as far as I have read, a xenon bulb is very hot at its core, but radiates less heat as you move further away from it where as a halogen is like a little heater.

And I thought I was full of shit :roflol:

Car is coming along nicely bud, well done.

 

[osiris]

small updates. Some cosmetic stuff.

Second round of painting the tires with a better quality paint to see if it lasts this time.

So I have been running the xenon bulbs in my halo's for a while now and no burning has taken place, everything seems to be working fine.

I would like to get my headlights polished at some point to try and get them as perfect as possible, Will then VPS them or something to protect them from any future stone chips.

I also then did some polishing of the hubs while I had the rims off to paint the lettering and cleaned up a bit behind the wheel.
Before:

After:

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And I thought I was full of shit :roflol:

Car is coming along nicely bud, well done.

Haha, I think we may be on par with the full of shit status of our cars haha, Things need to be perfect dammit! :smilebounce:

 

[PLV]

:bravo::bravo:

Looks amazing Nick!

 

[that_guy_Ettiene]

Look good man, but you've missed a spot when you cleaned your hubs. (Give some love to those inner arches)

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[osiris]

Look good man, but you've missed a spot when you cleaned your hubs. (Give some love to those inner arches)

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Thanks man.

Haha I want to get a high pressure washer to do that properly, as its not easy to wash it down by hand as its a carpet type material. so I just did a quick wipe down for now till I can borrow my dads high pressure washer and do this properly.

 

[Ddoooooon]

Car looks awesome :thumbs:

 

[osiris]

Car looks awesome :thumbs:

Thank you :smilebounce:

 

[Riaad]

Thanks man.

They look the same brightness until you look at them head on in which case the center ring blinds you and that's just due to the design of the non F/L angel eye rings of the Z4. The center ring is not a perspex round ring like the outer ring that sits on its own getting lit from a source away from the ring. Instead it gets back lit by a light source from within a chrome bowl, its hard to describe lol.

However.....The xenons do a much better job of lighting both rings than the LED bulbs. The led bulbs light up the center ring but the outer ring is very dim.

But make no mistake, they are VERY bright! I can literally drive around at night and see perfectly with just using the angel eyes.

Didnt even think something like this was an option...went and put 160w leds...centres are over bright (definitely not as bright as yours) and the outer is average...difference is noticeable with just the rings on, however, they look good with the xenons and fogs...definitely better that the yellow halos...

Would like them evenly distributed though :hammerhead:

 

[BeemerFanatic]

Car is looking really nice Osiris. Well done. I'm sure it take alot of time an effort

What paint are you using for the tyres?

 

[Fruks]

lekka bud...

 

[osiris]

Car is looking really nice Osiris. Well done. I'm sure it take alot of time an effort

What paint are you using for the tyres?

Thank you.

Its a paint marker pen I got from Herbert Evans in rosebank mall. I will tell you the exact brand a little later.
This is the second time I have done this cause the last paint marker I used peeled off after one drive so I am yet to see how this fairs.

I think a Rubber paint will work better, I am going to have to swing past herbert evans again and see if they have rubber paint.

 

[osiris]

Hey guys so a small visual update, changed the tips and painted the calipers this weekend.

So this is the reason for me wanting to change the tips, was really bugging me.

so here are the new tips, received from CF Accessories, was really nice dealing with these guys.
I am not 100% sure of these tips as to weather they suit my car or not, However they are growing on me.

Then yesterday I decided to fit my new rear pads as my car won't stop complaining about them even though there is still a shit load of meat left of them. I do not like how these newer BMW's want you to change pads long before they are properly worn.
I decided to spray the calipers red while I was at it, this took me hours as I prepared the surfaces properly to be sprayed, also took the rear calipers apart so as to not spray the pads themselves or the retainer clips etc as I prefer it when the colours are broken up a bit.

 

[momo1]

tips looks good :thumbs:

 

[Clint@MMS AUTO]

progress hasn't slowed down here.... Tailpieces and Calipers look great!!! The car is really taking shape!! :bravo: