Vein's Black 330Ci Sport

[VeinAST]

Another mildly boring update.

Wheels are gone, they fitted but the tyres were wrong and i have a random rear lowering spring (or the fucker's snapped!) which I was unaware of so more expense to sort out!

The garage bill was also a few ton so that's the next big payout to sort.

I'm looking at pushing the wing to be done in May now at the earliest!

Well it was extremely sunny today so I thought I'd crack on with giving it a clean (I'm not a detailer so it's still technically dirty but I'm happy) Gave the inside a bit of a clean too!

Oh I also put the original indicators back on, looks alot better I think!

Only "before" pic I took

After!

Over exposure but a bit of nice interior too!

 

[_Tom]

Looks much better. I prefer the non tinted look too.

 

[R1XPH]

Rear spring is a 5minute job

 

[kendz]

Vein, where did you get the new wheel centre caps from, are they genuine? (post #19). The best price I can get OEM from BMW is £34 for a set of 4, i've been advised to steer clear of the ebay cheapies but there is a big price difference!

 

[Alastair.]

Lights look a million times better standard.

 

[Christopher]

Much better. Shame about the wings... get them sorted asap.

 

[philmots]

Indocators look sooo much better. Never could get my head round people fitting those depo ones. Look crap.

 

[VeinAST]

Vein, where did you get the new wheel centre caps from, are they genuine? (post #19). The best price I can get OEM from BMW is £34 for a set of 4, i've been advised to steer clear of the ebay cheapies but there is a big price difference!

Hi mate, I got genuine ones from eBay! Cost about £29 i think plus postage but they're not on at that price anymore! Try Cotswold BMW and see what they say!

Lights look a million times better standard.

Cheers

Much better. Shame about the wings... get them sorted asap.

Thanks, it's on the agenda! Will have to get the other one stonechipped underneath so nothing happens to it!

Indocators look sooo much better. Never could get my head round people fitting those depo ones. Look crap.

Hmm they're not too bad but I was never 100% with them! Now the car's standard, need to think of something else to subtlely add to it!

 

[kendz]

Hi mate, I got genuine ones from eBay! Cost about £29 i think plus postage but they're not on at that price anymore! Try Cotswold BMW and see what they say!

That settles it then. Thought i'd ask on the off chance you had found a good quality non genuine set. Just had my MV2s back from refurb and the old centre caps are really letting them down, those newer chrome edged ones look great though. Cheers.

 

[VeinAST]

All quiet on the western front...

Not really had anything exciting happen as of late!

On eBay I spotted someone was selling genuine BMW dealer keyrings from the garage my car came from so I decided to purchase them and ditch the ClioSport keyrings!

I also had a great idea and found some non sport black doorcards, I intend to do a bit of "Individual" pokery on them and turn them two tone as I think with everything being 100% grey inside it's not as classy as it could be!

So something like this(yes i know its an E90):

From these manky things:

Not sure what's to come, stay in tune!

 

[VeinAST]

£10 for doorcards
£6 for a TX50 tool bit
£5 for silicone sealant
Free use of a plastic welder and...

I spent the whole morning/afternoon in the sun ripping the door cards out, drilling, plastic welding (inhaling alot of plastic fumes) and then refitting.

Before that though, the car's now on 100,020 miles!!

Realllly poor blurry photo at 50mph (private land of course)

Rear seats out (Found £1.25 here, a plectrum and 3 pens!)

No "during" pics as I was so focused...

Fitted in the car...

Also less interesting was degunking the rear lights...

Next time, front doorcards hopefully!!

 

[Rob]

Nice work! They look great!!!

Was it you that smashed up your wheels btw? I have a bad memory...

If so, does this mean you have three spare BMW fitement wheels I could borrow whilst I get mine refurbed...

 

[VeinAST]

Nice work! They look great!!!

Was it you that smashed up your wheels btw? I have a bad memory...

If so, does this mean you have three spare BMW fitement wheels I could borrow whilst I get mine refurbed...

Aha thanks Rob... yes I have a buckled wheel but the replacement ones I bought had wrong profiled tyres and just as buckled as the ones I took off so still on the original MV1s!

 

[Rob]

If you ever feel like lending a man some wheels, just let me know

Top job on the door cards though, impressive.

 

[Bluebeard]

Those rear cards look fantastic!!

Doing the fronts as well?

 

[VeinAST]

No problem Rob, I'll need a second set before I can do that !

Thanks Daniel, yes it's on the agenda, I'd love some Harman Kardon door handles to add a bit of bling when I put the new ones on though!

 

[TimR26]

Door cards look good mate

 

[Ash87]

top work on the door cards mate

 

[VeinAST]

Thanks guys... so here is the passenger door card done! Took it off around half 9 and have been working on it since, only just finished really!

I did spray the passenger door pull satin black too but it's come out CRAP but it's only experimental, in the near future I'm probably going to get a red M3 interior and shove it all in!

Anyway, I skipped breakfast and lunch to get this done and I've got a headache from the fumes so I'm going to leave you with some pics of the final product!

I will do the driver's door card after I get the wing done next month!

 

[R1XPH]

You spent £6 on a T50 torx bit!?!?! :slap:

 

[VeinAST]

The more I take off of this car, the more I learn about it!

So... before a nice friendly BBQ yesterday I decided to take the driver's door off in preparation for the "Indvidual" treatment.

Only whilst doing this did I notice that the "airbag flap" had alot of cracks on the back and the airbag itself was blown!

I knew the car had been given a new rear quarter in it's time but didn't know how much damage it had incurred! (Serves me right for buying one with no SH).

Anyway... that's added to the list of things to buy!

For now I shall leave this doorcard off as I intend to get the wing sorted next month so some temporary measures have been put in place so I can still get out of the car!

I didn't have any facemasks so a quick tea towel did the job nicely although it didn't stop me in getting a burn from the welder (I yelped like a little girl when it caught me)

Finished product

Been looking at some new smoked (prefacelift) rear lights too to freshen the back end up as I can't be bothered with the ballache of LEDs.

 

[_Tom]

LED's are plug and play arent they if you get the right ones?

 

[Rob]

Loving the gangster attire. Door cards look great, don't worry about the airbag, get it bolted back on.

 

[VeinAST]

LED's are plug and play arent they if you get the right ones?

Well technically they're all plug and play but it's down to the LightControlModule being programmed for the loss of bulbs and different voltage with the LEDs. (or some BS)

A few people on E46Zone have said about "Eagle Eye" ones.

Loving the gangster attire. Door cards look great, don't worry about the airbag, get it bolted back on.

Cheers Rob, I tried to look a bit LA but the checked shirt I had was more SAGA than gangsta! Well.. Think they'll need access to get to the door handle/wing mirror but I'm going to book it in 2nd week of May then I think all I'll want for externally is a carbon fibre defuser!

 

[TimR26]

Nice ghetto welding mask

 

[R1XPH]

You are something else.

 

[seb]

how easy was it taking the rear lights off to clean them up? need to do that on mine. got a dead spider in one!!

 

[VeinAST]

how easy was it taking the rear lights off to clean them up? need to do that on mine. got a dead spider in one!!

The inner lenses just pulled off and i put them back on with clear silicone


Had some trouble today but I'll update this when I'm more in the know on things.

 

[VeinAST]

Ok, so I felt it was time to update the thread.

Unfortunately on the morning of 26/4/12 I was involved in an RTC at a roundabout near me, white box van drove straight across my path and the rear beam sideswiped the N/S of my car which left me quite shocked and upset but thankfully not injured!

Driver didn't stop nor any witnesses, but I did get the reg. Spent the next few hours in the car on the phone to insurance/police/work/parents.

Anyway, the car's gone for repairs today, I should get it back next week all fixed up.

I don't care about opinions, nobody was there except me and I'm not going into detail on a public forum but a few pictures for you all:

Duct-taped to drive to repair shop this morning

On a positive note the driver's side door panel is done (with new airbag in also!).

I can update this when they've done the repairs (also getting the rusty wing sorted at the same time so paint matches)

 

[_Tom]

At least you'll have nice new wings. I've got two to collect today. One of mine had started to go so bought a gen pair and had them painted. That'll be a job for the weekend..haha

 

[Sir_Dave]

Argh what a nightmare!! Bit of an extreme way of getting rid of the rusty wings mind you

Will look mint once done though, which is a positive !!

 

[andywa]

What a ball ache. Glad it's all getting sorted.

 

[lewisredfern001]

really like the door cards. bit gutting but at least its only minor cosmetic damage and you'll have a nice fresh new front end

 

[Jamie86]

Bit of a Sh!tter, where was that? Who's doing the repair?

 

[VeinAST]

Thanks all, yes, will be nice! Bought myself a little ClioSport URL sticker to subtlely place on the car and been looking at some Eibach Pros and LED rear lights too!

 

[_Tom]

Thanks all, yes, will be nice! Bought myself a little ClioSport URL sticker to subtlely place on the car and been looking at some Eibach Pros and LED rear lights too!

I've been looking at LED rears. They massively update them. I was thinking of spings too but on inspection of my shocks it'd make sense to update it all so may go for coilovers (at a sensible height) or fresh shocks with eibachs.

 

[VeinAST]

I've been looking at LED rears. They massively update them. I was thinking of spings too but on inspection of my shocks it'd make sense to update it all so may go for coilovers (at a sensible height) or fresh shocks with eibachs.

Theres a guy selling LED rears on eBay for £119.99 + £8.50 postage which seems ideal to me! Springs are fine on BMWs, my old E30 320 had been lowered and it was the comfiest car I've owned! Looking at a Scorpion backbox in time too

 

[_Tom]

Theres a guy selling LED rears on eBay for £119.99 + £8.50 postage which seems ideal to me! Springs are fine on BMWs, my old E30 320 had been lowered and it was the comfiest car I've owned! Looking at a Scorpion backbox in time too

Link pretty please? Do they come with the pre facelift adapters? Yeah i'd be happy with springs but my shocks are looking a little worse for wear.

 

[VeinAST]

Link pretty please? Do they come with the pre facelift adapters? Yeah i'd be happy with springs but my shocks are looking a little worse for wear.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/220881856475?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649

In my watch list for when I have some monies available. Think these are the "Eagle Eye" ones they go on about with the prefacelift adaptors

 

[VeinAST]

Got the car back today! Uber happy. Slight issue of the NS wing needs lifting slightly to align it but apart from that it's looking great! Hoorah for bad iPhone pics...

The once rusty wing...

Oh... thanks to Brian for the quick postage on my URl sticker too...

Just got a year's MOT it failed first time for incorrect headlamp aim and corroded rear brake lines but all sorted now Insurance is due in 2 weeks and with a pending claim it's given my NCB a knocking for the time being! Hopefully will buy some black mats though from eBay to tide me over and then definitely some LED rears.