Materials to Maintain Your ZHP IIIII Hand Protection IIIII Tools to Maintain Your ZHP
Page 1 of 10 123 ... LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 95
  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2016
    Location
    Seattle
    Posts
    121

    Imola in Seattle. Ridge's build/maintenance thread.

    Hello hello hello, my name is Ridge and I live in Seattle, Washington. On November 3rd, 2016, I purchased an Imola Red on Alcantara 2003 ZHP with a 6 speed manual. I'm loving the car so far and have slowly been making repairs and upgrades.

    Here is a picture of the car; They're not great but you get the idea. Will take better pictures with my DSLR from now on hopefully.



    Here's a picture of the car next to my E39 that I am selling. I love the E39 but I was missing a manual transmission. It was a 530i so I'm used to the M54. Beautiful engine and it's a blast to ring it out in this smaller body size. Also, the E46 is the car that made me fall in love with BMW's when I was a teenager and I got to drive my dad's 328i.





    Here's a picture of my interior too. I have all the basic fabric failing symptoms on the A,B, and C pillars; as well as a torn drivers side bolster. It's no biggie though. Just gives me something to do.



    All in all, I'm excited about the adventure with this car.

    I've already started improving it. I removed these blind spot mirrors that I hated. Thankfully, the previous owner used a nice adhesive that didn't leave any residue behind.





    Getting it emissions tested. Passed! So I have it in my name now. Sweeeeet.



    Also, I took a fabric shaver and a magic eraser to the E-brake boot and the Shift Boot. They look worlds better.







    Before:







    After:








    Another thing I did was I took the shift knob out. It is well used but I wanted to bring some life back into it. So I took the insert out. It was peeling and flaking and gross underneath, so I scraped all the old adhesive and paint off. I repainted it in black. I lost the M Stripes but it's no biggie as I plan on replacing it in the future anyway. Looks better in my opinion. Not perfect, but better.

    Before:





    After removing the emblem insert:





    Emblem cleaned of old paint:



    Here's an idea I played around with, but I decided on black in the end. It hid more imperfections.




    Painting the emblem:



    And the results: Not awesome but definitely better.




    Other than that, I've ordered a bunch of parts already. Mostly just maintenance stuff.

    Here's a list:

    - Castrol Edge 0W-40 LL01 Oil. It's due for an oil change and I want it on my maintenance schedule. I have leftover oil filters from my E39.
    - Also got some interior trim clips for the dashboard trims. They are all broken. Easy peasy.
    - Mann Air Filter
    - Bosch Charcoal Cabin Air Filter
    - A new hood roundel (OEM)
    - Front all weather floormats. Will get rear ones in the future, but I never have passengers in the back so it can wait.
    - New fog light trims. Both were missing. Easy peasy.
    - New Zimmerman front rotors. The ones on here are shot and they have a pulsating. Ew
    - And lastly but not least! A contitech idler pulley and tensioner/belt kit. I love these kits and it makes me feel good getting all this basic maintenance done.

    And I do have some bad news. The starter in the car is worn out. It won't start randomly and my battery is testing fine. Also, different keys don't change the ability to start. And my ignition switch isn't doing anything wonky. So I'm hoping it's the starter. The car wouldn't start today so I got it towed to a local mechanic I like. I didn't want to tackle the starter right now especially after reading the DIY's. I don't have the space at my condo, and if I want to do any procedures, I need to go to Camano Island up north of Seattle to my mom's house as she has the garage. Other than this, I plan on doing everything myself. It was worth my money to not have to deal with this headache.

    And I finally get to use the towing service I have through my insurance. I've been paying for it for awhile so it's honestly not even bad to use it.

    Here's a pic of my beautiful ZHP on the flatbed.





    Future plans include:

    - Restore headlights (new lenses most likely)

    - Patch seat bolster for now (Will get professionaly done soon but it bugs me)

    - Cooling system. I know how these BMW's work so it won't be long. The expansion tank was just replaced and all hoses look good for now.

    - Suspension refresh with new shocks, control arms, etc. These seem so much easier to work on than E39's. In E39's, you have to rip out the whole backseat and rear interior to get at the rear shock mounts. Such BS. So I'm excited it's so much easier to do the rear suspension on this car.

    - Possibly a respray of the front end. Has some minor rock chips and stuff. Not a top priority but will be done in the future most likely.

    - New fog-lights.

    - Refinish Style 135's. I know they're heavy but they just look so good.

    - Akebono Euro Brake Pads. Had them on my E39 and it's nice to not clean the wheels every 10 miles.

    - Differential fluid, transmission fluid, coolant etc. Just get it on my maintenance.

    - Dynavin possibly. We'll see.

    - New taillights. I think the previous owner slightly tinted the turn signals. Not something that bugs me super bad but I might just replace them anyway.

    - Paint detail. SOOOOOO many swirlmarks.

    - New interior pieces. Cupholders, console, etc. They have the typical BMW soft touch scratches.

    - Re-wrap A,B, and C, pillars in suede or faux-suede.

    - Possibly change from the black cube trim to something lighter. The interior is very dark in my opinion, especially with the tint. Might want to do a brushed aluminum or something. Not super important right now, but nonetheless, it might happen.



    Anyway, thanks for reading guys. I can't wait to participate in this forum. Everybody seems cool in the posts I've seen so far. And this car is such a little beast, I love it.
    2003 Imola on Alcantara
    Slowly Upgrading

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Nov 2014
    Location
    Portland, OR
    Posts
    10,244
    Welcome! That's a good looking ZHP. It sounds like you have most of your bases covered and have a plan of action for the various aspects of the car you want to bring up to snuff/improve. Seems you're pretty handy so you'll have fun cleaning the car up and making it yours. I have a couple of questions/comments:
    • I might have missed it, but how many miles on the car?
    • I loved my father's E39 540i, but I definitely prefer the handling of my ZHP. You can tell the difference in weight and it feels more agile and nimble as a result. You've probably noticed the same.
    • If you didn't like the blind spot mirror shape but do like the functionality, a few members bought glass through eBay that has the outer 1/4 that is curved for better blind spot observation. Relatively cheap option
    • What suspension refresh are you thinking of doing? One option I am a large fan of are Koni Yellows on stock springs with Z4M FCABs/RTABs. My 50k mile refresh thread is here: http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/showt...miles-10-years
    • For the new taillights would you replace them with the same units, or get red/clear/red euro sets?

    Anyways, welcome again, and especially for a fellow West Coaster!

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Nov 2016
    Location
    Seattle
    Posts
    121
    Quote Originally Posted by BMWCurves View Post
    Welcome! That's a good looking ZHP. It sounds like you have most of your bases covered and have a plan of action for the various aspects of the car you want to bring up to snuff/improve. Seems you're pretty handy so you'll have fun cleaning the car up and making it yours. I have a couple of questions/comments:
    • I might have missed it, but how many miles on the car?
    • I loved my father's E39 540i, but I definitely prefer the handling of my ZHP. You can tell the difference in weight and it feels more agile and nimble as a result. You've probably noticed the same.
    • If you didn't like the blind spot mirror shape but do like the functionality, a few members bought glass through eBay that has the outer 1/4 that is curved for better blind spot observation. Relatively cheap option
    • What suspension refresh are you thinking of doing? One option I am a large fan of are Koni Yellows on stock springs with Z4M FCABs/RTABs. My 50k mile refresh thread is here: http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/showt...miles-10-years
    • For the new taillights would you replace them with the same units, or get red/clear/red euro sets?

    Anyways, welcome again, and especially for a fellow West Coaster!
    Currently 124k on the car for mileage. I was thinking OEM for the suspension refresh bushings, control arms etc. I'm open for aftermarket shock options though. I will keep the stock springs on this car. On my E39 I had coilovers and then lowering springs/shocks and they weren't as good as the OEM springs in my opinion.

    I'll check out the Koni Yellows though! Also, I was just thinking of going with amber taillights. I like the look on Imola.

    West coast best coast!
    2003 Imola on Alcantara
    Slowly Upgrading

  4. #4
    Welcome!


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


    2006 Coupe | Black Sapphire Metallic | Natural Brown | Gruppe M Intake | Corsa TSE3 | Michelin PSS on Apex ARC-8 | Koni Yellows |

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    Austin TX
    Posts
    7,606
    Welcome, man ! Your car is similar to mine. I have a 2005 ZHP IR sedan, 6MT, black leather, with 142k miles. The best cosmetic upgrades I have done are:

    Interior: silver cube trim.
    Exterior: Khoalty lenses.

    GL on this project.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jun 2011
    Location
    VA/DC
    Posts
    14,445
    Welcome and thanks for sharing. Nice werk. And great color combo!


    ---
    "ZHP is a garbage option anyway- just some cosmetic upgrades with a different cam and diff to claw back some of the performance lost fitting those hideous and heavy wheels. Any 330 with a 3.46 diff will smoke a ZHP every time. The whole Mafia thing reeks of childish behavior." - anonymous E46 fanatic

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Southern California
    Posts
    18,064
    +1

    Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk
    Randeaux/Rando/John/jr - '06 Cic ZHP; Southern California
    "ZHP or not, I still like you"


    ZHP Performance Package, Cold Weather Package, Leather, Jet Black/Black/BlackCube, NAV, Anthracite Black "my individual" interior trim
    ESS Stage 1 Twin Screw Supercharger, Sprint Booster, BMW Perf Intake, Magnaflow Exhaust, Dinan TB & STEP S/W, UCC Sway Bars, Apex EC-7 18x8.5 ET38
    Suspension: AST 44100 dampers, Bimmerworld front adjustable end links, Swift springs (8K front, 10K rear), Vorshlag camber plates
    Dynavin D99+, Hardwire V1 (w/V1 Connection), BSW Stage 1 Speakers, Kicker Amp/Subwoofer
    BMW Performance Strut Brace, Orion V2 Angel Eyes, No-holes License Plate, SMG Paddle Shift Mod, Besian VANOS, Gold DISA, Fan Delete, M3 Side Mirrors
    Note: Actual car no longer resembles signature picture

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Nov 2016
    Location
    Seattle
    Posts
    121

    11/14/16

    Thanks for the love guys!

    Update time. Got some work done on the car this weekend. I installed my air filter, cabin air filter, hood emblem, interior trim clips, front brake rotors, and all weather floor mats!

    I also changed the oil with the Castrol 0W-40. Car seems to like it.

    I picked up an Alpine OEM headunit off of craigslist and a BMW aux cord as well. The previous owner must have swapped the headunit out for an older style one at some point. Anyway, all good now. I put the aux port in the sunglass pocket. Out of the way and it can hide the aux cord when I want it. Win win.

    On to some pictures of the process.

    Old air filter vs new.





    Old rotor vs new. I tried to capture the lip on the old rotors. Pronounced to say the least.







    And a picture of my favorite tool. A wheel hanger that also doubles as a rotor hanger! Sweet.





    New foglight trims:



    Before/After:





    My all weather mats, gotta love em':



    Interior trim clips:



    Old emblem vs new emblem:



    My "new" headunit:



    The one in my car currently:




    And last but not least, my aux install:










    Lastly, just waiting to install these tomorrow:





    Thanks for checking in guys. Hope you enjoyed.
    2003 Imola on Alcantara
    Slowly Upgrading

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Liberty Township, OH
    Posts
    37,935
    Great intro thread. Welcome Ridge.

    Sent by the Pixel XL
    Call Me Dane l 2/2004 330i ZHP l 18x8 ET45 BBS CK's wrapped with Michelin Pilot Sport AS3+ @ 245-40-18 l KW V1 Coilovers in front l KW V1 springs w/ Bilstein B8 dampeners in rear l BMW Performance Rotors l UUC StrutBarbarian l Racing Dynamics Rear Strut Bar l Jim Conforti Shark Injector l Light Birch Interior Trim l Bimmian Celly Mount l M3 Trunk Mat l l e90 Performance E-Brake & Shift Knob l M3 Tri-Stitched Boots l AL Headlight Retrofit with ZKW Lenses l CobyWheel Wrap w/M3 Stitching l LCM sw 4.5 triple blink and rear fogs l Maple Interior Trim

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Location
    Alexandria, VA
    Posts
    2,805
    Quote Originally Posted by danewilson77 View Post
    Great intro thread. Welcome Ridge.

    Sent by the Pixel XL
    +1

    Great work so far man. Keep it up. Can't go wrong with Imola/black. I personally love the dark abyss of the black leather, black headliner and black cube trim. No distractions, no sun glare off of anything, etc.

    Current:
    1988 BMW 325is
    1996 Toyota Land Cruiser FZJ80 x3 Locked - Restoration/Project Thread on ih8mud.com
    Sold:
    "Scarlett" the 2005 BMW 330i ZHP 6MT - Project/Maintenance Thread
    2011 BMW M3 E92 6MT - Info/Maintenance Thread

Page 1 of 10 123 ... LastLast

Similar Threads

  1. Replies: 1005
    Last Post: 11-09-2022, 10:21 AM
  2. Replies: 550
    Last Post: 05-02-2019, 12:11 PM
  3. Replies: 769
    Last Post: 07-28-2017, 08:55 AM
  4. 94jedi's ZHP build/mod/maintenance thread....
    By 94jedi in forum Projects
    Replies: 29
    Last Post: 04-27-2015, 03:11 AM
  5. al.330imola Build/Maintenance Thread
    By al.330imola in forum Projects
    Replies: 12
    Last Post: 06-05-2014, 03:26 PM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •