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Read the WELCOME ALL BMWFANATICS post.
2009 Z4 35i Let the DIY and slight cosmetic modding begin.
- Thread starter osiris
- Start date
well done on all the work and patience with your Z.
As someone who got caught in the same situation some years ago, I understand the frustration you have undergone.
I have since learned to be more careful when I buy used. And having said that I still get caught with a few things I miss. Almost every time !
On the bright side, you will have a awesome car. Will have learned a lot and be a lot wiser at the end of the day.
Keep us posted with all the great pics .
As someone who got caught in the same situation some years ago, I understand the frustration you have undergone.
I have since learned to be more careful when I buy used. And having said that I still get caught with a few things I miss. Almost every time !
On the bright side, you will have a awesome car. Will have learned a lot and be a lot wiser at the end of the day.
Keep us posted with all the great pics .
osiris
///Member
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:
![img_3947[1]_5685965218.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bmwfanatics.co.za%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2F1947%2Fimg_3947%5B1%5D_5685965218.jpg&hash=6bbc5325ea71292031411cb9f78fa6c6)
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:
![img_3960[1]_4856481621.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bmwfanatics.co.za%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2F1947%2Fimg_3960%5B1%5D_4856481621.jpg&hash=c79745afb745a5eed5faf31ad48b64f8)
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:
![img_3969[1]_7200493062.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bmwfanatics.co.za%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2F1947%2Fimg_3969%5B1%5D_7200493062.jpg&hash=1eb012ff945ca241d848cb3b14ea6e88)
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.
![img_3974[1]_1777958832.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bmwfanatics.co.za%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2F1947%2Fimg_3974%5B1%5D_1777958832.jpg&hash=df08222e4cc10439ce319e36696e2d84)
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.
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.
michael.joseph
Active member
Inspirational work man.
:clapper:
:clapper:
BeemerFanatic
Events Organiser
This car is coming out lovely,
It was bought from a forum member right? You have deinately saved it and i'm sure you already starting to actually enjoy the car.
It was bought from a forum member right? You have deinately saved it and i'm sure you already starting to actually enjoy the car.
osiris
///Member
BeemerFanatic said:
Yea it was bought from a forum member.
I am almost starting to enjoy the car. Unfortunately it seems like the brand new turbos are failing as they are making a siren noise so its been booked into BMW for next week wednesday and they should be replacing them free of charge if all goes well as they have failed inside of two weeks.
But anyways lets not dwell on the negatives LOL
Thanks for the compliments guys, this car is almost there.....New turbos....AGAIN, paint correction and it's A for away.
VictorMike
///Member
Looking FANTASTIC! Well done bud!
osiris
///Member
Small update:
I got my car back from BMW, New set of turbos fitted again but this time all work was carried out by BMW instead of a doos mechanic named Ricky who works at a workshop named Autoworx.
So in order for my claim to go through bmw wanted me to convert the car back to stock, so thanks for Firi for organizing me his intercooler within an hour or two of me asking him and getting it ready for me to collect at a moments notice.
Also thanks to Chris for organizing me a set of intake pipes as the previous mechanic also stuffed those pipes up. This was also organized for me at a moments notice and was ready for me to collect after work. Thanks guys, these parts made it possible for me to get the car to a state where bmw accepted it for the warranty claim to go through.
BMW told me my mods are not responsible for the turbos popping in less than two weeks but needed it to be stock to put the claim through. Also the car had so many boost leaks that they couldn't tell if the noise was due to a boost leak or a faulty turbo so that was the other reason for having to convert it back to stock.
These are the parts that were all removed from the car:
The car now drives better than the day I got it, it idles so smooth and quietly, The throttle response is so much better.
There are no more funny sounds coming from the car, no funky noisy turbo rattles and other strange gushing wind sounds.
Even the exhaust note is better and the car just all round drives so much better and the way it delivers power is a hell of allot smoother and better, it used to be flat and then smash you into your seat and I am almost certain that it was due to boost leaks.
I am going to have to see if I can sort out the kink in the intercooler outlet and inlet pipe as the car was boost leaking from those two spots, then I want to get the HKS BOV and have a steel engineering place create a new foot for the BOV so that I can weld it to the current stainless steel charge pipe before I go the new charge pipe route which seems to be quite costly.
For now I am going to drive the car for a little while in stock form and then get it carbon cleaned and the new radiator fitted as soon as possible.
A pic I took a few weeks back while at the car wash.
More updates and pics to follow soon. For now I am just enjoying her.
I got my car back from BMW, New set of turbos fitted again but this time all work was carried out by BMW instead of a doos mechanic named Ricky who works at a workshop named Autoworx.
So in order for my claim to go through bmw wanted me to convert the car back to stock, so thanks for Firi for organizing me his intercooler within an hour or two of me asking him and getting it ready for me to collect at a moments notice.
Also thanks to Chris for organizing me a set of intake pipes as the previous mechanic also stuffed those pipes up. This was also organized for me at a moments notice and was ready for me to collect after work. Thanks guys, these parts made it possible for me to get the car to a state where bmw accepted it for the warranty claim to go through.
BMW told me my mods are not responsible for the turbos popping in less than two weeks but needed it to be stock to put the claim through. Also the car had so many boost leaks that they couldn't tell if the noise was due to a boost leak or a faulty turbo so that was the other reason for having to convert it back to stock.
These are the parts that were all removed from the car:
The car now drives better than the day I got it, it idles so smooth and quietly, The throttle response is so much better.
There are no more funny sounds coming from the car, no funky noisy turbo rattles and other strange gushing wind sounds.
Even the exhaust note is better and the car just all round drives so much better and the way it delivers power is a hell of allot smoother and better, it used to be flat and then smash you into your seat and I am almost certain that it was due to boost leaks.
I am going to have to see if I can sort out the kink in the intercooler outlet and inlet pipe as the car was boost leaking from those two spots, then I want to get the HKS BOV and have a steel engineering place create a new foot for the BOV so that I can weld it to the current stainless steel charge pipe before I go the new charge pipe route which seems to be quite costly.
For now I am going to drive the car for a little while in stock form and then get it carbon cleaned and the new radiator fitted as soon as possible.
A pic I took a few weeks back while at the car wash.
More updates and pics to follow soon. For now I am just enjoying her.
General.Massacre
///Member
Thats great news bud. out of interest, what Dealer did it go in, and when? i was at JSN last week, and im sure it was your car i saw on the lift, but couldnt be 100% sure.
The angel eyes look wild! :thumbs:
osiris
///Member
General.Massacre said:
Thanks man.
Yup it was JSN and it was definitely my car you saw on the lift.
Unfortunately they did leave me with a bit of a dirty engine bay that I had to go home and clean and a engine cover screw was missing and a cover for the bonnet shock thing is missing but other than that I am very happy as the turbos were replaced and oil feed lines to the turbos and from the turbos replaced too.
All in all it cost the dealership 32k.
By the way the siren noise coming from the turbos was caused by a slightly loose turbine wheel, so maybe something to do with balancing at the factory when they refurbish the turbos?
johndoe said:
Thanks man :smilebounce:
General.Massacre
///Member
osiris said:
Awesome news, so the whole thing didn't cost you a cent?
Thats great.
On my car, (its going in to JSN tomorrow for new software on the DCT Box and Engine), i get a whining/wind blowing noise when driving, its loud enough to hear, mainly at low speed, but sometimes i dont even notice. then of courde the Turbo rattle is getting hectic.
So may ask them about doing the turbos on Exchange, but then the labour is going to Kill me still. and i dont have 32k lying around at the moment
osiris
///Member
Yea it was at low speed that the whine was happening, mainly from 1300rpm to 2500rpm and then it would go away. sounded terrible, My 330d did that exact same noise and then a few days later the turbine wheel collided with the housing and that was the end of that.
If they take your current turbos and replace them your looking at around R13700 for the new turbos, then the labour was told to me over the phone when I first enquired when I got the car a few months back to be around R5600.
Its all the other bits that cost like the oil feed lines.
I will post a pic of the costs and parts involved in a min.
If they take your current turbos and replace them your looking at around R13700 for the new turbos, then the labour was told to me over the phone when I first enquired when I got the car a few months back to be around R5600.
Its all the other bits that cost like the oil feed lines.
I will post a pic of the costs and parts involved in a min.
