Proyecto Coupe de Lanister

Welcome. Glad to know it helped.

Lower grill respray looks great!

It's about time! Looks great, and I agree about the aux fan. Worlds better.

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Car looks great.

Thanks guys! More exciting news! New OEM end links and Ziza LED kit have arrived. Installed the new trunk bulbs and daym! So much better.

Gonna try to replace the end links this weekend. New swell and a big school paper could push it out another week.

Sent from outer space...

The Ziza LED interior lighting kit is in and looking good. :thumbsup

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Originally Posted by Lanister

It was a nice and warm day yesterday so I pulled the trigger on a couple of tasks. First, I got the front bumper off to spray-paint the mesh grille. Cleaned behind the bumper; there were a few leaves and bugs but not too bad. Love California cars for that. Sprayed the bumper mesh grille and the bracket behind it with flat black as the original black was faded. What a difference.

Second, with the bumper out of the way, I took the opportunity to do the mechanical fan delete mod, which required removal of the old and crappy auxiliary fan located in front of the radiator. Huge thanks for Gary (WOLFN8TR) for his thread development on this mod, as it made it a breeze to do. I was super careful not to break any of the plastic rivets holding the front shroud. WD40 lowered the friction enough for them to not snap upon removal. It was particularly important since I didn't have any spares on me. Mechanical fan came off easy and the cap nut from understeer.com has made for a nice finish. The new electric fan dropped in without a snag. The big grin on my face during the test drive was priceless. :biggrin The difference in engine feel is certainly noticeable and very welcome. :roundel

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:drool My car needs new lenses and a light smoke, I think...

New sig is sweet! Love the yellow fogs, I need to jump ship.

Thanks! The yellow effect was achieved through a yellow 3500k halogen bulb and yellow Lamin-x protector film. I didn't think it would come out so well so I was planning on doing HID in the future but I'm pretty sure I'm sticking with this set up.

So I've been trying to investigate the very mild jerk of the steering wheel when I abruptly hit the brakes. All indicators point in the direction of the FCABs and/or end links. Because the previous owner had replaced the FCAB's about 35k miles ago, I was pretty convinced that my end-links were toast. When I pulled the front wheels today, I was surprised that I couldn't generate any play in the end-links' ball-joints. So I turned my attention to the FCABs and discovered that I could generate mild play in the bushing by simply trying to move the control arm (both sides). So there ya have it. Time for new FCABs.

I've seen a few threads about Z4M FCABs and others about aftermarkets. What would you guys suggest based on your experience?

Also, although my end-links appear to be in good working condition they do have 93k on them. Should I still go ahead and replace them or maybe hold off until they're due? I am not quite sure how long they're supposed to last.