"DO NOT FORK"
At the salvage yards they had these huge front end loaders with 20ft long forks and would just scoop up cars from underneath and would drive away with them at a fast rate. Did not want such treatment for my baby.
Last edited by GotZHP; 08-25-2016 at 05:48 PM.
First round of parts ordered today. Dropped ~$2,500 at Irvine BMW. While the car is open I am replacing the oil pan gasket, all of the remaining cooling system parts, and all of the plastic trim pieces in and around the wheel well and front bumper. These parts include the air ducts that lead air to the brakes which makes it worth it in my opinion. I also got a new ambient air sensor on the way since mine is damaged.
I've decided to leave the AC system alone. I believe it is in good working order. The plan is to replace radiator and coolant hoses, add fluid. Replace oil pan gasket, add fluid. Start motor and test AC system. It was ice cold before so if that has changed I know there is an issue.
Going to order headlights and the VIS Racing Carbon Fiber hood this weekend! Still trying to figure out the headlights. One of mine works fine, so maybe rebuild it with new projectors and lens and only buy one new headlight? Up in the air. I know I want angel eyes, so that is a part of the decision.
Been awfully quiet around here
Ill have more pictures to make it more entertaining. I will also be recording the entire rebuild process with a GoPro, so that will be fun and informative for all!
If I were you, I would avoid the carbon fiber hood.
I had a VIS hood on my previous car and it was a big let down. The fitment was not great, you could not use the factory gas shocks since they are too strong for the carbon hood and eventually the gel coat started to fade on the hood. I didn't realize that the hoods don't have clear coat on top of the gel coat from the factory.
Look for a used factory hood or get a new one from the dealer.
And maybe some bmw performance Grills.
His - 2004 Imola Red / Alcantara 330i | 6MT | ZHP |
Her's - 2005 Black Sapphire Metallic / Black Leather 330i | 6MT | ZHP |
WOLFN8TR has a hood by the same company. Pretty sure the hood comes with a 3 year warranty on everything. M3 gas shocks would be used as they are designed for a lighter weight hood. One of my gas shocks and hinges is bent anyways, so a replacement was in order. The stock hood is $450, plus paint & clear coat.
As for grills, I want black ones with the M color stripes on one. Undecided on Matte or Gloss though
To bad you don't have a coupe as I have a Silver Grey M3 Hood laying in the spare bedroom!
I used the M3 OE gas hood shocks with no issues. The VIS hood fits pretty decent if you take the time to adjust it. The OE hood fits perfect and the VIS does not.
BAV Stage 1 - BlueBus - UltraGauge - V1 - Orion V4's - ARC-8's - Brembo 996
TTFS Engine/SMG Tune/CSL 255 - SGT Headers/Sect 1/SCZA - Evolve Eventuri
VIS XTS CF Hood - CF Lip/Console/Diffuser - OE CSL Trunk - BWS 500S 9k/11k
I think im sold on the carbon fiber hood. Adjusting it should be easy since the entire front end is off. I will just put everything back on together so hood, bumper, and headlights fit cleanly and evenly. If the hood goes a year or two before yellowing, great, will just paint it then. Form what I've read, VIS has a pretty solid product, and with hte hood being on sale for $650, cant complain about the price, since VIS retails them from their site at over $900.
Working on resizing all of the photos I took, which was a lot.... Here are a few of the car sitting at the salvage yard. I knew the second I saw her, I was keeping my car.
The only bit of body work that will need to be done is for the hood hing on the passenger side of the car. The second mounting point of where the hing attaches to the car, ripped itself out of the sheet metal. I am hoping this can be hammered back into place and then spot welded. I don't see an issue this this method, just need to be careful not to introduce too much heat in the area as an exposed finished surface is not far away.