LookinFoolish Progress Thread

[LookinFoolish]

Hi all,

Thought i'd create a new thread where i can post updates along with pictures for those of you out there who (like me) enjoy looking at what people are doing to their Z3.

After i bought mine, i realized that with relatively little money being spent, i could get the car looking like new. So far i've probably spent less than £50 at the time of posting and already it's beginning to look a lot fresher.

First things first, i swapped out the air circulator unit, as mine was sadly cracked. Still working, but cracked.

Air Circulator Switch



And with thanks to help on this forum, after:



Door Surround

Door Surround was missing on drivers side, looked a bit of a mess without it. Here's before:



Here's after:




M Sport 5 Shift Emblem


Emblem on Gearstick was also changed to this, just looked a heck of alot fresher than the old 14 yr old one.

[LookinFoolish]

Updated pics on 1st post. Here is some things i'm in the middle of / got on my to-do list.


Operation Cleanup!!!

It's hard to really photograph just how much muck was lying in those seats. So i embarked on a mission to clean them using Gliptone as recommended in one of the threads. One seat is near complete, whilst the other is still being worked on.

I've circled a little part of the seat i've been getting 'clean' so you can see the dirt around it. Hopefully you can see how much effort is going into this:



In the future

Ripped Leather Bolster

Once cleaning is complete, i've got to look at the usual Z3 problem which is the ripped leather bolster. Mine is on the drivers side and this photo actually makes it look alot better than it really is:

In reality, it does look a bit worse.




That's all for now folks. I'll be getting some more pics within the next couple of months as i continue restoring the car to former glory.

Others

Stone chips, cleaning the engine bay, cleaning around the boot area are all part of my long-term plans.

I'm taking it slowly as i'm off to university shortly, so when i get back over christmas i'll continue.

[rgf]

I'm taking it slowly as i'm off to university shortly, so when i get back over christmas i'll continue.

See you in about two weeks then!

Keep chipping away. Every little improvement will help.

[si-forks]

keep going still doing mine after 2 years if your going to uni you will have loads of time to do it my daughter is at home more than she is at uni

[LookinFoolish]

haha, i know where any christmas money is going.

anyone know how much it'd cost roughly for a leather guy to fix the seat?? under £100 im hoping....?

[TitanTim]

haha, i know where any christmas money is going.

anyone know how much it'd cost roughly for a leather guy to fix the seat?? under £100 im hoping....?

I think someone on here had their seat bolster repaired for around 80 quid and it was perfect.

Regarding cleaning them it can help heating up the leather using a hair dryer whilst using a soapy solution and nail brush, the heat will help open the pores of the leather.

Tim.

[LookinFoolish]

thanks Tim ill try that over the weekend. i think the car will look like new once ive finished with those seats

[LookinFoolish]

Progress has resumed! And soon enough will be in full swing, so in the next few months, expect lots of nice photos!

Ok. Car is now insured. Soon enough it'll be taxed & MOT'd. In relation to my thread about a stubby aerial, instead of buying the OEM for £20,
i opted for a Honda 2000 stubby aerial as it was a 1/4 of the price. viewtopic.php?f=11&t=34261

Aerial:





Work to do:

1) Passenger electric seat needs fixing so it moves back and forth, up and down (i guess it's a connection problem)
2) Leather bolster needs repairing on the driver side
3) OEM mudflaps need to be fitted on all sides
4) general cleanup inside + outside the car, engine bay included.

Once done, i'll have pics and when my roadtrip ends, i'll have images of that too (i'll put them in a new thread!)

[shantybeater]

Good effort, its the little touches/fixes which make for a much nicer experience! Keep it up!

[MrGreenbowl]

dude i used my old s2000 antenna on my z too

[LookinFoolish]

Within 2 weeks, my Z will be on the road. So here is another pic of my bespoke interior. I'm teasing myself posting these pics, but this is after i cleaned it:

[Southernboy]

The best leather cleaner I have come across is Autoglym......anyone else tried it??

[LookinFoolish]

The best leather cleaner I have come across is Autoglym......anyone else tried it??

Not used it, but i used the Gliptone i was recommended in this thread:
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=32280

Due to the bolster needing a repair on my Z, i've cleaned the seats best i can but i will clean them deeper once i get a leather guy to fix my seat. It's my mission to get this car looking as new. It looks new anyway, but with these repairs it will be mint !

[Southernboy]

We don't get that product out here, so I can't say anything about it. The Autoglym has a very fine grit in it, which at first I thought might not be a great idea, but after reading the instructions, which say...apply without heavy rubbing, and leave for a few minutes, and wipe off....it sounded like my kind of "hard labour"...I have "light beige" leather, and I must say, it was as new, and not shiny...like new leather looks. I finished off with Meguires rich leather cream and very satisfied.

[LookinFoolish]

Quite a bit has happened, where do i begin. Firstly, i was looking underneath the passenger seat to see if there was a loose connection and there was, so i expected my broken seat to work - no such luck. What i did find however is that the central locking works from the key now, not sure if it's battery related or the cable?? i guess the battery. This also kicked the keyfob into action which works again.

Then i purchased door cards from a member of the site and installed them, and bought a beige tonneau cover that has never been used even once!! So i put it on my Z, the first its ever been on

before:



after:




new tonneau and door cards:




sadly my tyre (brand new ) had cracked due to not pumping it up, this meant a new wheel had to be purchased and attached to my old alloy.






FINALLY, all i need to do is:

1) replace seats on Friday
2) change gear gaitor/handbrake gaitor to match interior.
3) fit mudflaps

Then the project is finished!

[LookinFoolish]

Fitted gaitors and got a nice suntan whilst i was out doing it!

Looks alot fresher now:




Tried to get a shot of both gaitors:



So now all that's left is replacing the seats and then the mudflaps. Unfortunately, i won't be doing the matching seats until next Friday now. But as of next Friday, my Z is finally on the road!

[LookinFoolish]

One new seat installed:

during:




after:




(thanks to mrwhippy for guiding with the seat install)

[LookinFoolish]

Well guys, my Z3 project is coming to a close. Almost finished now. Today i got my 'Bond' star alloys on, as i was suggested to in this thread! Firstly i cleaned & waxed them:



and now they're on:

[LookinFoolish]

Project finished.

new seat is in. Had to take it to a Bmw specialist to get the old seat out because the rails had rusted so badly, that they were impossible to unscrew with the tools we had and apparently if the screw snapped, it's not possible to get out because it's in a box section... but he did magic and fitted my mudflaps too:

[LookinFoolish]

Sorry I haven't been active. Been busy with life in general. Just got around to installing OEM roll hoops + a beige compartment. Here's some pics for you all to drool at

Before:


Unscrewing bits + pieces:



Box removed:



Virtually completed, just some minor adjustments left to do:




Hope you like!

[gedo]

Snap ! Looks like you had better weather than me
I've seen posts stating 7 hours for the job but based on yours & my time looks like 3hrs is a better estimate.