Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

New member

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • New member

    Hi all

    My name is Andy and I own a 2002 S54 which is currently being discussed in a thread started by my mate who has shown an interest in buying it.

    The car was owned for many years by my Dad who died suddenly in 2015 and I then inherited it in 2016.

    I’ve always been into cars and loved the M Coupe as soon as it came out, my Dad had never had an interest in cars and didn’t take much notice each time I showed him magazine reviews of it at the time. If I’d had the money I’d of bought one but instead I bought a brand new Impreza.

    A couple of years later my Dad came back from a shooting trip in Germany and said he’d seen a car that he really liked. He had a brochure for the M Coupe! I said that’s the car I really like and had been going on about for Years. He said I hadn’t and he’d never seen one before going to Germany lol!. This was funny as I know it was me that planted the seed!. So in 2004 we set about finding one and in 2005 he bought a 2002 S54 with quite a few AC Schnitzer parts. It had 19 inch type 3 2 piece wheels, shocks and springs, flippers, rear spoiler, fog lights, pedals and mats.

    It was on around 35k at the time and had recently had a new engine under warranty from BMW, the original had bearing failure. My dad phoned the dealer that did it who confirmed it had a new Crate engine.

    My Dad mot’d it each year and only did a couple of hundred miles in it going to his clay pigeon shoots before putting it away for the winter.

    It never failed an mot and the only advisories it ever had were for slightly corroded discs and for having the tyre pressure monitoring lamp lit which had come on a couple of years after buying it. My Dad did try and get a BMW Main dealer to fix the system but they were unable to. I’d previously followed the manual to try and reset as the tyre pressures were correct but nothing happened.

    After I inherited it I was giving it a check over in the garage prior to mot’ing it when I noticed the fog lights didn’t work when I pressed the additional button in the centre console next to the air con switch. We’d presumed this switch was for the fog lights.
    I’d spotted the additional relay in the engine bay so followed the trigger wire inside to behind the dash and was I bit confused when it ran past the centre console to the driver side and to the reset button for the tyre pressure monitoring system. When I pressed the reset button the fog lights turned on! For some reason the BMW dealer had wired the fogs to the tyre pressure system reset button.
    Then I thought I wonder if the extra button on the centre console which we’d thought was for the fogs was actually now for the tyre system so I pressed it and sure enough the tyre pressure lamp reset, so my Dad had been driving around for 8 years with the lamp on thinking the system was at fault when it was just this other button that needed pressing. It was a shame he died before I discovered it! Anybody know why it was done like this?

    I used it for a year in 2017 but then bought a new house which takes a lot of upkeep and I also work loads of overtime ( well I did before covid ) and have lots of other cars and bikes, so like a lot of M Coupes it’s taken a bit of a back seat but I was going to use it again this year and I’d got it out for a wash when my friend came round and showed an interest. I currently don’t know what to do as I wasn’t planning on selling!

    I’ll reply to the other thread and maybe you guys can help me decide!

    Andy

  • #2
    Welcome to the forum

    Comment


    • #3
      Welcome, I've not tried fitting a gun into the back yet, but I quite fancy using it as a proper shooting brake at some point. That's a nice touch!

      Comment


      • #4
        Hi Andy welcome to the Forum. What a position to be in having to decide whether to keep or sell your Z3MC. Unfortunately only you can ultimately decide, however it seems to me that because of the fact your late father owned the car for so long it’s part of the family heritage, so I think deep down you don’t want to sell. It does sound as though the car is in need of some TLC whatever you decide to do. The car sounds to be a cracker, which anyone on here would love to own.
        This is just my observations from afar, best of luck whatever you decide to do.
        Pete C

        2000 Z3M Coupe - Cosmos Black Metallic/Black interior. 805 of 821 RHD built

        Previous BMWs

        2003 E46 M3 6 speed manual - Carbon Black/Black interior.
        2000 Z3M Coupe - Cosmos Black Metallic/Black interior. 692 of 821 RHD built
        1986 M635
        1985 E28 M5
        1983 E28 528i Alpina

        Comment


        • #5
          welcome Andy. That is a fascinating bit of history about your car. Get out and about in it during the remaining months of summer and then you should find out whether its a keeper or not.
          Strongstrut CL front brace-Yellowstuff pads/Castrol SRF race brake fluid-Rogue top mounts/Rear support bushes-H&R ARBs-Whiteline droplinks-Bilstein Sport shockers-H&R Springs-Black Halo Angel Eye headlight units-Sachs lightweight flywheel/matching clutch-Supersprint exhaust/race catalysers-BBS RSGTs with Falkens-K&N High Flow Air Filter-Recaro Pole Position seats - Exdos mod - ACS flippers

          Comment


          • #6
            I fitted a AC Schnitzer fog light kit a few years ago and the wiring came with a replacement two position fog light switch which for my car (S50) was fine as it doesn't have the tyre warning system, I would guess ACS never updated the wiring between S50/S54. Have you a picture of the additional switch they fitted to the dash?

            Comment


            • #7
              Hi Dave

              The extra switch looks like it's the same as the air con switch but with the snow flake sanded off.
              From what you said it sounds like the foglamp kit came with a switch which only fits where the tyre pressure button is on the S54 so they put it there and used an new air con switch fitted next to the actual air con switch for the tyre system
              Mystery solved I think!

              I'll take a pic too!

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by Andy M Coupe View Post
                Hi Dave

                The extra switch looks like it's the same as the air con switch but with the snow flake sanded off.
                From what you said it sounds like the foglamp kit came with a switch which only fits where the tyre pressure button is on the S54 so they put it there and used an new air con switch fitted next to the actual air con switch for the tyre system
                Mystery solved I think!

                I'll take a pic too!

                The S50 has a single switch but the trim shows front and rear icons,




                The ACS kit came with a new double switch and light switch assembly as you need this to run front and rear fogs

                Comment


                • #9
                  Welcome to the forum Andy, got to love a dad's selective memory... I think I have that myself now

                  We're obviously all huge fans of the MC, so are totally biased, but let's ignore that, ha. That's a lovely connection between the car, you and your dad, but as Pete says there's only you who'll know what the right thing to do for you is.

                  My dad left me his '72 round wheel arch MG Midget when he died a few years ago. A car that he spent MANY an hour rebuilding from a heap 20+ years ago and enjoyed for many years after. I ran it for a summer alongside the MC and absolutely love driving both. However I haven't the space to keep them both at home, or the money to put in to the Midget at the moment to bring it back up to the standard he'd have been proud of, so it's just stashed away for the time being until I bring myself to sell the MC one of these days. It might be quite a wait. I hope the British metal lasts the course
                  Not actually in the least bit fat

                  2000 S50 Titanium Silver / Black
                  ACS Suspension, Exhaust & Type III Wheels
                  Simota carbon air intake | Strong Strut Front Brace

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Did attached pic work!

                    It did but not very big, shame as prefere to attach to post as hate it when hosted ones go missing!

                    Hi Tony

                    You seem to be in similar position to me with an emotional attachment to a car previously owned by your Dad that you also like. It does make it more difficult to be rational!
                    Attached Files
                    Last edited by Andy M Coupe; 31-07-2020, 01:18 PM. Reason: added bit more

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Small pic of extra centre console button, need to get pic hosting account lol!
                      Attached Files

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Andy M Coupe View Post
                        Small pic of extra centre console button, need to get pic hosting account lol!

                        Looks better than something non genuine, flickr I find is good for hosting pictures.

                        Comment

                        Working...
                        X