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Today I did something to my car (volume 2)
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Changed the boot lights to led's after working in the dark for about 6 hours the other night in dgts, my cars boot became a workbench so i figure it'd be a good place to start
Also discovered I have footwell lights that don't work, so once i get some leds, I'm changing them too and the rest0 -
I wasn't expecting to make this update for another couple of weeks, but ahead of schedule my new lights, built by Lightwerkz (NJ, USA), arrived this morning. Seeing as I'm off to the UK this weekend, I wanted to get them installed straight away so as to enjoy them on the trip over.
I was never really a big lighting enthusiast (I'm still not) but over the last twelve months I started getting a better appreciation for what good looked like. The above is the pattern and cut-off of my two year old Umnitza head headlights with a Wideview 6000k HID system.
I'm a bit of an anti-chrome person, so was never a big fan of the chrome inserts. Also, the LED angel eye rings are bonded to the old (blue) rings. It works fine, but could be a bit tidier.
Like this. All the chrome was painted gloss black to contrast with the matt black inner-housing. The LED rings are the same as what I was running, but they're installed in a much cleaner manner. The big changes are what you can't see. The stock Depo projectors have been dumped and replaced with Morimoto H1 Mini Bixenon items with clear lenses, all of which have been installed so cleanly, you would never know the headlights were split apart. All the necessary wiring has been taken care of too, ensuring a simple plug and play install (including the bixenon functionality). The dipped xenon bulbs are Morimoto xb35 5000K.
I always though the Phillips H7 head bulbs left a lot to be desired, so I'm trying out these 65w Osram Rallyes. Technically, they're for off-road use only but as I'm only using them for heads, I won't be bothering anyone else with them.
The ballasts for the xenon bulbs are OEM Denso units, which ensure an instant-on setup.
With the bumper off the car to install the lights, I took the opportunity to fit new fog lights which I've had for a couple of months, sat in the garage. I also fitted the rest of the gloss black grills.
We were able to hide the ballasts quite neatly beneath the lights on the chassis leg. There is adhesive backing on the ballasts themselves, but the cable tie is for extra security. This is all covered by the inner plastic arch.
I headed straight to a friend who aligned everything for me, and remarked that they were the clearest beams he had ever seen. Always a good sign
The white rings, even when switched off, still give a cool appearance IMO against the black.
They look even better when switched on.
However, the main reason for this upgrade was to further improve the vehicle's lighting at night. You can already see how much cleaner the cut-off us and how there are no dark spots or shadows in the pattern.
It's pretty difficult to capture just how much of an improvement they make, but it's quite a significant upgrade on the previous setup.
With bixenon functionality, it essentially means each bulb acts as a headlight bulb when required. The outside xenon bulbs have a shutter inside the projector which opens once the high beams are switched on, with the inside halogen bulbs coming on at the same time. Needless to say, it gets very bright rather instantly.
After all the hardship I endured with Umnitza, it's even sweeter now to have an even better setup than when I first set out to upgrade the lights. Next up is getting the funds together to retrofit a headlamp washing system, as I want to keep everything legit. That'll have to wait until I get back from the UK...
A big thanks to Davy Pickard for fitting the lights for me at a moments notice too. Only one of two people who I'll leave near the car's exterior. Even the simplest of jobs are treated with the same level of detail and consideration as the more complicated ones.
Again, thanks for reading 0 -
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Looks like I'll be taking the evening off and trying to get some shims ground down. What a nasty job!
Well that went arseways. Had to abandon my work and diagnose a fluid leak at the rear of the Daily van, sort said leak (caliper), bleed it and test it all in under an hour at 10 last night.
Still haven't got to start on the shims yet. Need to test the tolerances first, from what I've read they're tight as a bulls arse (0.15mm on inlet valves, 0.30mm exhaust) but there's a possibility they're in thousands of an inch :rolleyes:
So I need to open up the rocker cover and check one of the other engines.... Need time for that 0 -
Well did this yesterday but thought i would post it anyway.
Two coats of Primer 3 of paint 3 of clearcoat on grilles/fog surrounds/bottom lip below lower grille and sidebadges, with a new black ford logo (prefer the old blue one and will change in afew weeks and some ST vinyl decals on sidebadges.
All fun and games until 6 this morning when i was putting all the bits back together in the drizzle
Oh well im happy with the result anyway 0 -
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MetzgerMeister wrote: »Nice job SG, I'm a big fan of that kind of thing! Are you going to do the plastic parts on the wing mirrors? If you are, you might want to try some Gtechniq first. I can bring to the meet if ya want.
The plastic on the wing mirrors is already black...
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Supergurrier wrote: »RS vents and RS spoiler next hopefully (refuse to put an RS spoiler on though w/o first sourcing some facelift rear light clusters in a scrapyard or online.)
Oh they would finish it 0 -
MetzgerMeister wrote: »I know but it's not as shiny now as the grilles etc. are. They were kind of dark grey beforehand werent they?
Ah I remember the first hing you said to me about my car...
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Have decided to kill all the chrome on the car; hasn't sat right with me since I bought it. Chrome going over the roofline, front and rear bumper will be body coloured. Chrome window surrounds will be a satin black. Going for a quote tomorrow.
I think it looks much cleaner in Sport guise (same colour):
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MetzgerMeister wrote: »I have the proper OEM E92 M3 lip spoiler on mine, really finishes off the boot very well.
If you like how the E90 one looks then go for it. IT DOES NOT MATTER what other people think!
Oh I know that I'm just being indecisive and can't make up my mind
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Marty McFly wrote: »Oh I know that I'm just being indecisive and can't make up my mind.
Go for it!! It's one of those nice subtle things that you will always like and you'll wonder why you didn't get it sooner!0 -
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BMW 750i final pictures for those who followed...
Original idea did not work out, subs in the rear deck, so I decided to make a custom rack with custom made enclosures for the mid bass drivers.
Wood glue
Trying out the mid bass speaker enclosure
A bit of foam to help reducing vibrations
The amp with 2 fans on each side.
The full rack assembled and ready to go in
Sound deadening to replace the factory one damaged in the process (No choice)
Rack mounted and wiring going in
Taping into the original rear deck speakers wires.
Everything bolted.
Final result. Still plenty of room in the trunk
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