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Thread: 2002 S54 BMW M Coupe Build Thread

  1. #151
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    Quote Originally Posted by scenturion View Post
    Are these spacers needed for the getrag 6 speed or just the ZF 6 speed that was in the euro M3?



    On the 6 speed swap on my old S52 car, this linkage was on the driver's side, not on the passenger side like you have it here.

    I believe a different shift lever is also recommended to account for the changed alignment, but I would have to dig and find the post.

    I'm not entirely sure about the spacers. That was the first I'd ever heard of the need for them. If I end up going through my CSB quicker than usual ill look into getting them for this trans.
    With the selector rod, Thats an interesting point and now that you mention it I'm thinking maybe it would just be flipped upside down to avoid having to modify it. Either way, the solution I came up with totally worked. I have not had any issues since.
    Sapphire Black / Black S54 M Coupe

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  2. #152
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    Interior Tidying

    I feel as any M Coupe owner, there's are always interior pieces breaking, cracking, creaking or just plain missing. Over the past few weeks I've tackled a few interior imperfections that have been on my list of things to do. I dream of one day a perfect interior with all new components so I don't have to worry about replacing this garbage over and over again, but thats a pipe dream.
    First up was a leaking door seal I came across during a bad storm. I noticed my carpet was a tiny bit damp so I lifted the carpet and dried out the foam underneath and searched for something out of place. Took me pretty quick to find it, but the outer door seal had been torn and was the source of the leak.



    Surprisingly, this seal was around $65.00 which is very out of character for an m coupe specific part. I ordered one and had to fit it up to my door. turns out I guess these were reproduction so they are way too long. One end definitely needed a haircut, but after trial end error I got it right.



    While the seat was out of the car anyway, I wanted to give a well known leather product a try. Its called Leatherique leather restoration and apparently if you let it sit for a couple days, It lifts all of the sweat and oils out of the leather and makes it super soft again. Obviously I took advantage and vacuumed my carpet.



    Best results show if you let the product sit in the sun.





    I couldn't really capture how much of a difference it made in a photo but I'm definitely pleased with the results. Now these already surprisingly good condition seats look and feel even better. I plan to just maintain them with Griots garage leather cleaner moving forward. I do recommend the leatherique stuff for an initial attempt at improving your leather.

    Last order of business was my loading cover in the trunk. I use this car a lot and naturally the loading cover gets scuffed up from things lightly hitting into it (like the sub cover I need to do next). Since this piece is NLA I wanted to give it a try restoring it like I did with my mudflaps with that trim paint I had left over. Disassembly of this piece was way more complicated than I thought but the end result was definitely worth it! Looks great now and all the scuffs are barely visible



    That does it for this round of interior clean up, until next time something breaks
    Sapphire Black / Black S54 M Coupe

    https://www.instagram.com/nickmdominguez/


  3. #153
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    Headlight Build Pt. 2

    Finally, some progress on what has become one of the most anticipated parts of my build at this point: my "Facelift" M coupe Headlights. From day one, there has been delay after delay getting any progress done on these until finally myself, and the headlight builder decided it was best that I finish the project myself. While I do not have the skill of the builder, I have the connection to throw something together, now that the most difficult parts were complete.
    First I wanted to share the last thing the builder completed, the finalized translucent shrouds.



    Getting the finish right was probably the toughest part of getting these done, but after over 4 prints, we have done it.

    Yesterday these arrived at my house and I was very eager to finally mock up the real life example of the idea I had in my head for the past two years. Due to a delay on printing the finalized shrouds, I took the prototype shroud, painted it and mounted all the pieces to the best of my ability.



    These are bad....ass....
    Kinda blown away with the quality and accuracy of what was accomplished just based off an idea in my head. Couldn't stop here. I gave the lenses a light polish and laid it all together to get the best visual possible.



    Wow. The part that has me the most surprised is fitment. All of the retrofitted headlights I have seen ever done, have fitment issues. Things never seem to line up properly, things tend to stick out too far and even with the prototype shroud, the fitment is pretty bang on without any modifying of the housing. The angel eye even snaps into the end of the shroud and is static without any glue. I am so excited for the finalized shroud which is going to fit even better and cover up even more of the housing. Last thing I Had to do, was throw it in the car despite everything being lose, not wired up or even mounted LOL.



    Okay, kinda freaking out right now.
    I was questioning if I was even going to like these in the beginning but I'm 100% obsessed.
    So here's what needs to be done, which should be done hopefully within the next couple weeks.

    1.) Need to figure out a shroud for the high beam lenses. I am keeping the glass lenses from the pre-facelift z3 headlight. however I do want it to match the low beam shroud giving that sunk in look. I need to have this made on the computer and have It printed in whichever finish I choose. that leads me to the next thing

    2.) decide on a finish for the shrouds I want to do. The options are all black, like shown in the photos with the prototype shroud. Have all translucent finished shrouds like the final copies are completed in, or I can do a mix of both. I could do the outside of the shroud in black and the inside clear so when the angel eye illuminates, the shroud would effectively create a barrel of light, which would look crazy. option 3 is most likely what I'm going to go with.

    3.) wire the whole thing up. Turns out the angel eyes are wired the same way my current headlights are done so that will be easy to do. The high beams will be taken off my current set aswell, leaving me with the projector to do.

    4.) simply decide if I should do amber corners or clear corners.

    With all these decisions I'm gonna need to mock it up before I make anything final.
    Super excited to get these done as I'm more excited than ever. Thanks for viewing.
    Last edited by moupe54; 11-29-2021 at 10:54 AM.
    Sapphire Black / Black S54 M Coupe

    https://www.instagram.com/nickmdominguez/


  4. #154
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    2021 Recap

    As we wrap up this year, I wanted to reflect on how far this car has come. It has went from mildly modified, m coupe that looked pretty cool to the car I have been dreaming about, an absolute beast and blast to drive. The Carbon Airbox, 3.73 LSD, 6 Speed Transmission, and the Randy Forbes kit are some of the best mods an m coupe owner can do and to knock them all out in a year blows me away with the final outcome. Just wanted to wish everyone a happy new year and share some of my favorite photos Taken throughout this car's monumental year.
    Cheers to next year, hopefully the year I finish this car











    Sapphire Black / Black S54 M Coupe

    https://www.instagram.com/nickmdominguez/


  5. #155
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    Great looking coupe! Does the M Tech 2 steering wheel have a functional airbag?

  6. #156
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    So dope
    “If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.”
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  7. #157
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    That's an amazing car!!

  8. #158
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    Quote Originally Posted by MPowerZ32 View Post
    Great looking coupe! Does the M Tech 2 steering wheel have a functional airbag?
    Thank you! no unfortunately it does not have a functioning air bag.

    Quote Originally Posted by GG///M3 View Post
    So dope
    Thanks man, appreciate it

    Quote Originally Posted by ragged325 View Post
    That's an amazing car!!
    She turned out alright! thanks for the kind words
    Sapphire Black / Black S54 M Coupe

    https://www.instagram.com/nickmdominguez/


  9. #159
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    The Paint Can

    I like to keep the negative things that happen to this car generally quiet, because they aren't usually very important and it gets handled quickly. Some things you cant ignore, like what happened to my coupe a month ago.
    My father was driving my car for his first time, just a joy ride, to show him what I've been working on. We went to a dunkin' in my local town and pulling out of the drive through, was a full paint can laying in the street. We start dragging it and could tell by the smell as we dragged it, until we stopped. We get the car home...and my dad notices the whole passenger side of my car has turned white..




    This is likely not anyone's fault. My dad or I couldn't have seen it, and I'm sure it just dropped out of a truck, but unfortunately the worst outcome came from it. This thing messed up everything. My paint, my windows, my wheels/tires, underbody (that I just undercoated) etc...
    I called my insurance company and reported as vandalism, and the car has been at the body shop for the past month. The only real bad news to come out of this, is obviously the report made on the Carfax and I will have to re-ceramic coat the car. turns out, a lot of good is coming out of it. First off, the got the spray paint off after weeks of various methods. My paint looks better than before, and we are replacing all of the under trays that come on the car. The best part of this fiasco is my wheels are finally getting the finish I've always wanted. I bought these second hand, and so I didn't really get to spec them out like I have been used to in the past with my Breytons and hartges. The plan this time around is to do something I wanted to do since they showed up to my house, a brushed finish with clear and caps to match, and a black "livery" logo in the cap. All of this has been covered by insurance since 2 of my wheels were destroyed by the paint, which did not come out of the powder coat.
    Here lies a very sad m coupe



    Luckily my little brother just got apex's for his e46, leaving me his wheels to roll around while the car finishes up getting fixed at the body shop.
    Now to access the wheels. After a good clean revealed a ton of bends, asphalt stuck to the barrels, chipping clear coat by the center cap, Multiple deep scratches in the lips, obviously the paint damage and a HUGE spider crack in the rear wheel. It's safe to say these wheels were overdue for a refresh frankly I didn't plan on doing any time soon.



    Off to the only man I trust with any of my sets of wheels. Dave at Renewed Finishes. he has done all the wheels I've done and he does a fantastic job. Funny enough, he is the original finisher for Livery Wheel, so they are in the right hands.
    See you soon my babies...



    Sure, the situation sucks but all that matters is that the coupe is being taken care of any will be coming out of this better than ever. This is why we pay for insurance I guess!
    Wheels should be done in a week, and who knows when the car will be done. Will update soon!
    Last edited by moupe54; 01-10-2022 at 11:46 PM.
    Sapphire Black / Black S54 M Coupe

    https://www.instagram.com/nickmdominguez/


  10. #160
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    With the good outcome, and the source of the headache.... all that came to mind is Bob Ross "We don't make mistakes, just happy little accidents"

    Bummer it happened, but sounds like its coming out on top, and in the winter months at least. Fresh wheels, fresh parts, fresh paint, no actual damage. Easy to explain on a Carfax, but realistically what does that matter, the car isnt for sale.
    Last edited by robb1887; 01-11-2022 at 07:28 AM.

  11. #161
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    Looks like your car really wants to be Alpine White. It's already halfway there - may as well just respray the other side to match

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  12. #162
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    Quote Originally Posted by robb1887 View Post
    With the good outcome, and the source of the headache.... all that came to mind is Bob Ross "We don't make mistakes, just happy little accidents"

    Bummer it happened, but sounds like its coming out on top, and in the winter months at least. Fresh wheels, fresh parts, fresh paint, no actual damage. Easy to explain on a Carfax, but realistically what does that matter, the car isnt for sale.
    Exactly, I'll have this car forever so I'm not worried at all about how this "affects the car's value". between the amount I've messed with it, how much ive driven it, there was never any hope for a high resale price anyway lol. I'm just happy the car is getting taken care of.

    Quote Originally Posted by BimmerBreaker View Post
    Looks like your car really wants to be Alpine White. It's already halfway there - may as well just respray the other side to match
    There was an ongoing joke that I should match the other side, fast and the furious style lol
    Sapphire Black / Black S54 M Coupe

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  13. #163
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    Z-Exhibit

    Normally I don't post things unrelated to my car's actual progress, but this weekend I saw a couple note worthy m coupes that excited me so much, I had to share my experience. who knows, maybe I'll take some inspiration from one of these cars some day.
    So I picked up a new daily driver, in place of the 7 series in order to fund my m coupe's final mechanical build (The suspension). The replacement is an E39 528i, that was from South Carolina. While driving back up to New York, I wanted to stop at the Zentrum, BMW's exhibit that contains the last m coupe, an extremely low mile, white/white S54 m coupe in showroom condition. This car was fabulous... It truly gave me some inspiration and a goal for how clean I wanted my car to be some day. I know that seems ambitious, but I think I can achieve it.



    By the way, yes this is what I look like.
    While in the Zentrum, I noticed a sign for a Z Themed exhibit a few minutes down the road, at what turned out to be the BMW CCA Foundation. This was a complete coincidence seeing this sign, not even considering what the sign said.
    I basically exploded, freaking out that hero car m coupes were being held on display a few minutes away from me. I rushed down the street to meet what I consider some of the most special M coupes in existence.




    First up, was this absolute monster.
    400 HP, Euro S50B32, CF airbox, big brakes, true coilover suspension, gutted with a cage, 2750 lbs, BBS center locks, aero kit...the list goes on.
    This race car was built along side Burkhard Goschel, the father of the m coupe, In hopes to potentially be BMW's new face of racing. Competing with the E36 chassis, this coupe dominated its one and only race it competed in, running 3rd place in a 24 hour endurance race until unfortunately being involved in a minor collision ending up in 23rd out of 200 cars. This really surprised me. I have always been under the impression the m coupe was a flawed chassis, unable to keep up with the big dogs, but turns out she kicks some serious butt when set up properly!



    This next one, behind a very excited fanboy, was a car I've only seen on the internet a handful of times, being the most insane m coupe I have ever seen, and undoubtably the coolest car I've ever laid eyes on.
    This Motorsport inspired, surprisingly stock M52 powered Z3 Coupe was a PTG prototype looking to compete in racing for BMW. Like the car above, it was a test to see if the m coupe had what it took to be successful in racing. Unfortunately, this car's fate was determined due to its lack of ability to generate downforce on the back of the car due to its sloping roof line. This thing was absolutely insane looking in person, and I'm honored to have been able to be in its presence alone for as long as I had.

    Hope anyone reading enjoyed reading a little piece of m coupe history today, I certainly enjoyed learning about them. Thanks for BMW CCA Foundation for walking me around these cars in detail.
    Last edited by moupe54; 01-16-2022 at 10:35 PM.
    Sapphire Black / Black S54 M Coupe

    https://www.instagram.com/nickmdominguez/


  14. #164
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    That’s an awesome trip! Very awesome cars

  15. #165
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    The BMW CCA Foundation presented the Z car display to coincide with ZFEST 2021 and the 25th Anniversary of the Z3 over the summer of 2021. The coupes were cool, but the display of many notable Z cars including an Alpina Z8, Z1, and the TC Kline Carbon Coupe made for a great exhibit. There’s an opportunity to purchase a book called ‘BMW Z Cars : Roadsters and Coupes’ with a lot of background information about the creative process behind the cars. A very cool read.

    When I was at ZFEST and visited the Zentrum, I took a multitude of photos of the last Alpine White M Coupe; well mainly the wheels as it is so rare to get the opportunity to see a truly pristine set of Chrome Shadow Roadstars.
    Last edited by KBH22102; 01-17-2022 at 05:19 PM.
    Kelvin

  16. #166
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    Quote Originally Posted by KBH22102 View Post
    The BMW CCA Foundation presented the Z car display to coincide with ZFEST 2021 and the 25th Anniversary of the Z3 over the summer of 2021. The coupes were cool, but the display of many notable Z cars including an Alpina Z8, Z1, and the TC Kline Carbon Coupe made for a great exhibit. There’s an opportunity to purchase a book called ‘BMW Z Cars : Roadsters and Coupes’ with a lot of background information about the creative process behind the cars. A very cool read.

    When I was at ZFEST and visited the Zentrum, I took a multitude of photos of the last Alpine White M Coupe; well mainly the wheels as it is so rare to get the opportunity to see a truly pristine set of Chrome Shadow Roadstars.
    Just got the book, didn't start yet.
    E36/8 2000 M Coupe Cosmos Black/Black
    Shark, Conforti CAI, B&B Exhaust, H&R, Bilstein, AKG Subframe/Diff, UUC TME Red/Caps, Swapped Front Hats, Ice>Link.
    ================================================== =======================

  17. #167
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    So did the ceramic coating help or hinder getting the paint off. I can think of no better test.

  18. #168
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    Quote Originally Posted by z3forlife View Post
    So did the ceramic coating help or hinder getting the paint off. I can think of no better test.
    That is a interesting question, I would be curious to know also.

  19. #169
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    Quote Originally Posted by z3forlife View Post
    So did the ceramic coating help or hinder getting the paint off. I can think of no better test.
    Yeah, it should have. However, my guess is only thicker resin type ceramic coatings would really do anything.

  20. #170
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    Quote Originally Posted by nahvkolaj View Post
    That’s an awesome trip! Very awesome cars
    It was definitely one for the books, glad I got to see it before they take the exhibit down.

    Quote Originally Posted by KBH22102 View Post
    The BMW CCA Foundation presented the Z car display to coincide with ZFEST 2021 and the 25th Anniversary of the Z3 over the summer of 2021. The coupes were cool, but the display of many notable Z cars including an Alpina Z8, Z1, and the TC Kline Carbon Coupe made for a great exhibit. There’s an opportunity to purchase a book called ‘BMW Z Cars : Roadsters and Coupes’ with a lot of background information about the creative process behind the cars. A very cool read.

    When I was at ZFEST and visited the Zentrum, I took a multitude of photos of the last Alpine White M Coupe; well mainly the wheels as it is so rare to get the opportunity to see a truly pristine set of Chrome Shadow Roadstars.
    I agree, seeing all the little perfect bits on the white coupe was the coolest part. I snagged some undercarriage photos because it was mind-blowing how perfect it looked. All the bolts still had a shiny finish and the factory paint marks!

    Quote Originally Posted by z3forlife View Post
    So did the ceramic coating help or hinder getting the paint off. I can think of no better test.
    Quote Originally Posted by mchart View Post
    Yeah, it should have. However, my guess is only thicker resin type ceramic coatings would really do anything.
    I doubt the ceramic coating really helped much at all. Ceramic coating isn't a physical layer of product like clear coat, its a chemical layer that diminishes over time, which it's been over a year since my coating. Once they touch it with any compound or sand its gone immediately.
    Turns out, the body shop is having issues with the remaining clear coat on the areas with heavy wet sanding. Some sections of multiple panels are letting go of the clear and now there is chips in the paint. The result, is that they have to paint the side of the car. This is what I hoped they would do in the first place because of my fear for that reason. I knew that if they got the paint off, they would need to sand the hell out of it to get it all out.




    My coupe is disgusting right now...

    Last edited by moupe54; 01-23-2022 at 03:45 PM.
    Sapphire Black / Black S54 M Coupe

    https://www.instagram.com/nickmdominguez/


  21. #171
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    Although I'm sure you wished it would have never happened, sometimes you end up better off in the long run with a new paint job.

  22. #172
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    Quote Originally Posted by moupe54 View Post

    I doubt the ceramic coating really helped much at all. Ceramic coating isn't a physical layer of product like clear coat, its a chemical layer that diminishes over time, which it's been over a year since my coating. Once they touch it with any compound or sand its gone immediately.
    Turns out, the body shop is having issues with the remaining clear coat on the areas with heavy wet sanding. Some sections of multiple panels are letting go of the clear and now there is chips in the paint. The result, is that they have to paint the side of the car. This is what I hoped they would do in the first place because of my fear for that reason. I knew that if they got the paint off, they would need to sand the hell out of it to get it all out.
    It depends on the coating. Most coatings are very thin. There are some however, typically the ones that advertise an 8-10 year rating, that actually go on quite thick. They're chemically pretty close to being like a resin and will go on nearly as thick as a factory clear coat. The ceramic coatings that are thinner generally aren't worth the time/money in my opinion, but folks are free to disagree.
    Last edited by mchart; 01-23-2022 at 07:01 PM.

  23. #173
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    Headlight Built Pt. 3

    Okay, lots to update on with the anticipated headlight project...
    it's been about a month since the last update and I'm constantly working and tinkering on these things. Everything up to this point has been done on both lights, but I'll document progress on one. Where we left off, I got my package from my old headlight builder containing all the parts from the previous 1.5 years of work on these things. I was concerned with this being a bad idea, finishing them myself but thankfully I've been able to make some decent headway on them.
    The final projector shrouds come in and they don't fit at all. the back pieces hit the headlight housing, the angel eyes don't clear the headlight cover, I can't get them mounted at all and I'm pretty discouraged at this point. I basically spent a week shaving down the shrouds that were "completed" and hacked them up until I was able to get them to seat somewhere. Still not happy with the final fitment of these but I managed to make them work. I had to basically abandoned the previous strategy of mounting, and actually mount it to the front of the shrouds. They have been painted black and their final mounting place is shown in the other photos following.



    Now that at least the low beam shroud was settled, It was time to start the reason I asked for these back, because another piece had to be made in CAD, the high beam angel eye shroud. I worked with someone at my school and whipped this up in inventor.



    The design remained the same. Same barrel, with the same width as the low beam shroud and same recess cut out for the angel eye to sit on. My school's computer lab has access to a budget 3D printer which I planned to use for test prints, but turns out, the piece will work just fine, even though it cost $0.56!




    I got it back to my house, painted it black like intended on the final build and mounted the angel eye. It fit PERFECT first try, so no need to go back into CAD. I'll just go forward and print another one of these mirrored for the other side.
    Every time I get something done I like to try to put everything together to see where I'm at.



    This angel eye originally fit even worse than the low beam side, which made me think I was going to have to cut either the ring, the headlight cover or the housing. Once I fitted the new high beam shroud, everything fit a whole lot better, since now I was able to place the ring where I wanted. clearly the fitment is still pretty wonky, but at least I can mount it and actually close up the headlight without hitting anything. My simple solution for this less than ideal fitment was to tape off the outside of the shroud and paint it black so you can't see when all sealed up.






    MUCH better! Now for once everything looks like a cohesive unit for once without any loose ends. One last test, was to see if I could put the headlight cover on to see if I was hitting anything.



    I am super happy with this. The high beam shroud ended up fixing a ton of fitment issues that I didn't even think would. stoked on the finish, stoked on the fitment, and stoked that my render I made 2 years ago is shaping up into a reality. Unfortunately, due to the terrible fitment of the low beam shroud, I am going to have to grind down the headlight cover near the bottom which is really sketchy, and I am not happy about. I am waiting until I have access to a really accurate grinder at my job that can give me the clearance I need to seal up the headlight, so this is where I will leave off for the day.



    They look so beautiful, so rad and exactly like I was hoping. I still have some decisions to make as far as finish.
    I have decided the amber is gonna go. I have a clear corner light on my current set of headlights I'm gonna steal for these. The last real decision I have to make is the color of the inside of the shrouds. In my original design, they are silver, because that's how BMW did it on the lights these are inspired by, but the black looks so good. I am probably going to try silver paint on the opposing side when I get the other shroud printed tomorrow, so I can make that final call. Once thats done we're in the home stretch!
    Thanks for viewing!
    Last edited by moupe54; 01-25-2022 at 06:08 PM.
    Sapphire Black / Black S54 M Coupe

    https://www.instagram.com/nickmdominguez/


  24. #174
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    Headlight Build Pt. 4

    Been really cranking out work on these headlights over the past couple of days, enough to where I can put an update. Hopefully I'll be finished by this week, but who knows what kinda of delays will come up with anything like this.
    First off! wiring. Wiring has been 75% completed at this point. The scariest thing about this project is that I had to drill 2 small holes into the housing to plum the inner angel eye's wired through. With the outer, there is a gaping hole in the back for the projector to go through so I can easily feed it through. Unfortunately, the wires were white, which is extremely noticeable, so I wrapped some black heat shrink around the wires to make it a little more subtle.





    Totally nice to see all the wires hidden away behind the shrouds and lenses.
    next part was pretty nerve racking for me. I purchased these angel eyes 2 years ago, and they've been across the globe, to 3 different states, glued on and off about 20 times, so part of me thought they might not work. Thankfully, I hooked them up to a jumper pack to test the wiring and behold...We have LIGHT



    Wiring was a huge step for me in my head, because I told myself I wouldn't start final assembly until the wiring was done, so here comes the time to do all the final touches and tidying up.
    first step into the final assembly was to clean the heck out of these stock housings. There were plastic shavings, dust, 20 years old dirt and glue all over these things, so me, being the psycho I am, sat in my room, grabbed a couple beers and cleaned them for 2 hours with a toothbrush and Q-tips. Sounds crazy to most people, but look how brand new these look.




    On the topic of finalizing pieces, I was playing around with different color configurations for the shrouds that were made. Originally, if you look back to Pt. 1, the original design was to paint them silver, or make them a similar color to the lighting, like BMW does for the lights I modeled these off of. I always liked black, and have left it up until this point, but I would be cheating myself If I never saw what I originally wanted looked like.
    I tried all black, all silver, and a mix of both, having the outside barrel silver and the inner black to mesh with the projector, and thank god I did.
    Here is the final design: the Silver barrel with black inner. This looks the best imho, and most like OEM. Absolutely over the moon.




    The more I do to these lights, the more amazing they look. What I am most happy about was my fear of looking too aftermarket, and too extra. I feel most retrofits go overboard and thats the last thing I wanted. This design is clean, simple and so far assembled really well. I'm extremely pleased with how they are shaping up.
    Thanks for viewing.
    Last edited by moupe54; 02-01-2022 at 12:51 AM.
    Sapphire Black / Black S54 M Coupe

    https://www.instagram.com/nickmdominguez/


  25. #175
    Join Date
    Dec 2019
    Location
    København
    Posts
    805
    My Cars
    1999 e39 520iA
    Quote Originally Posted by moupe54 View Post
    Been really cranking out work on these headlights over the past couple of days, enough to where I can put an update. Hopefully I'll be finished by this week, but who knows what kinda of delays will come up with anything like this.
    First off! wiring. Wiring has been 75% completed at this point. The scariest thing about this project is that I had to drill 2 small holes into the housing to plum the inner angel eye's wired through. With the outer, there is a gaping hole in the back for the projector to go through so I can easily feed it through. Unfortunately, the wires were white, which is extremely noticeable, so I wrapped some black heat shrink around the wires to make it a little more subtle.





    Totally nice to see all the wires hidden away behind the shrouds and lenses.
    next part was pretty nerve racking for me. I purchased these angel eyes 2 years ago, and they've been across the globe, to 3 different states, glued on and off about 20 times, so part of me thought they might not work. Thankfully, I hooked them up to a jumper pack to test the wiring and behold...We have LIGHT



    Wiring was a huge step for me in my head, because I told myself I wouldn't start final assembly until the wiring was done, so here comes the time to do all the final touches and tidying up.
    first step into the final assembly was to clean the heck out of these stock housings. There were plastic shavings, dust, 20 years old dirt and glue all over these things, so me, being the psycho I am, sat in my room, grabbed a couple beers and cleaned them for 2 hours with a toothbrush and Q-tips. Sounds crazy to most people, but look how brand new these look.




    On the topic of finalizing pieces, I was playing around with different color configurations for the shrouds that were made. Originally, if you look back to Pt. 1, the original design was to paint them silver, or make them a similar color to the lighting, like BMW does for the lights I modeled these off of. I always liked black, and have left it up until this point, but I would be cheating myself If I never saw what I originally wanted looked like.
    I tried all black, all silver, and a mix of both, having the outside barrel silver and the inner black to mesh with the projector, and thank god I did.
    Here is the final design: the Silver barrel with black inner. This looks the best imho, and most like OEM. Absolutely over the moon.




    The more I do to these lights, the more amazing they look. What I am most happy about was my fear of looking too aftermarket, and too extra. I feel most retrofits go overboard and thats the last thing I wanted. This design is clean, simple and so far assembled really well. I'm extremely pleased with how they are shaping up.
    Thanks for viewing.
    Get rid of the "jar bottom" deflectors on the high beam. It will improve your look tremendously and you'll have no problems with ongoing traffic or inspection. Here are some pics of my old e39.20150504_003746.jpglow beam
    20150504_003732.jpghigh beam20150624_145631.jpg20150624_145610.jpg

    Sent from my SM-G986B using Tapatalk

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