Have been absent from the forum for a good year or more - been in the process of moving from UK back to NZ, new job, a lot of adjustment etc so no time for hobbies for a long time. Just been catching up reading posts here over the last week or so and sad to see a few great cars / owners have moved on.
Anyway, finally finding time again to do mods and have kicked off with some interior work.
Fitted the brand new OEM extended leather dash pieces I picked up from ebay a while ago. This required pulling the entire dash/console/glovebox etc off so not a quick job but pleased with the result. My stock vinyl door cards look a bit rubbish now by comparison. My Z3 has factory extended leather throughout and am now really noticing how much better its doors look.
Also, fitted a gauge pod. I'm slightly paranoid and wanted a proper water temp gauge (given the coolant temp gauge in the cluster is heavily buffered and so a bit useless) - also wanted oil pressure, the standard oil temp and also wanted to keep the clock.
The pod was made by a very talented guy (rocknroad) on Bimmerforums - can't recommend him highly enough. He did a run of 3 or 4 of these for me and some US owners but don't know if they have fitted theirs yet.
Pod hood is fibreglass and gauge plate is moulded plastic, all covered in a thin foam and then leather over the top. Fitting required cutting a rectangle out of the top of the dash as the gauges are slightly recessed below the level of the dash. In the flesh I think it looks OEM which was the goal so am pleased with it.
Extra gauges are VDO Vision - with OEM chrome bezels (from spare M gauges) fitted. Took a bit of effort to match the lighting brightness and colour but got there in the end. Kept the standard external temp and made up the numbers by using the voltmeter out of the US-spec S52 MC's and Roadsters.
Used a LeatherZ oil distributor block so the factory low oil pressure warning light/switch still works. And was a good opportunity to change every light bulb in the console and cluster while I had everything apart. Pleased that everything is working OK and enjoying being able to keep a closer eye on things withthe extra info from the gauges
Few other interior mods -leather covered OEM armrest (modified for RHD) and steering wheel tabs (both by rocknroad), LeatherZ handbrake and shift boots, door armrests, passenger mirror switch blank leather cover, and an illuminated ZHP knob also from LeatherZ.
Here's a few hastily taken pictures
And fitted an Eisenmann - thanks Evolve for shipping it all the way here from Luton ...
Anyway, finally finding time again to do mods and have kicked off with some interior work.
Fitted the brand new OEM extended leather dash pieces I picked up from ebay a while ago. This required pulling the entire dash/console/glovebox etc off so not a quick job but pleased with the result. My stock vinyl door cards look a bit rubbish now by comparison. My Z3 has factory extended leather throughout and am now really noticing how much better its doors look.
Also, fitted a gauge pod. I'm slightly paranoid and wanted a proper water temp gauge (given the coolant temp gauge in the cluster is heavily buffered and so a bit useless) - also wanted oil pressure, the standard oil temp and also wanted to keep the clock.
The pod was made by a very talented guy (rocknroad) on Bimmerforums - can't recommend him highly enough. He did a run of 3 or 4 of these for me and some US owners but don't know if they have fitted theirs yet.
Pod hood is fibreglass and gauge plate is moulded plastic, all covered in a thin foam and then leather over the top. Fitting required cutting a rectangle out of the top of the dash as the gauges are slightly recessed below the level of the dash. In the flesh I think it looks OEM which was the goal so am pleased with it.
Extra gauges are VDO Vision - with OEM chrome bezels (from spare M gauges) fitted. Took a bit of effort to match the lighting brightness and colour but got there in the end. Kept the standard external temp and made up the numbers by using the voltmeter out of the US-spec S52 MC's and Roadsters.
Used a LeatherZ oil distributor block so the factory low oil pressure warning light/switch still works. And was a good opportunity to change every light bulb in the console and cluster while I had everything apart. Pleased that everything is working OK and enjoying being able to keep a closer eye on things withthe extra info from the gauges
Few other interior mods -leather covered OEM armrest (modified for RHD) and steering wheel tabs (both by rocknroad), LeatherZ handbrake and shift boots, door armrests, passenger mirror switch blank leather cover, and an illuminated ZHP knob also from LeatherZ.
Here's a few hastily taken pictures
And fitted an Eisenmann - thanks Evolve for shipping it all the way here from Luton ...
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