2001 740i Sport Part Duex-this time is personal

[Staszek]

I painted mine flat black

What did you use to paint it? I have SEM trim paint right now but haven't painted them yet.

[purplecty]

I don't recall as it was a while ago but any flat black should work. I used duplicolor perfect match flat black for my lower steering wheel plastic.

[Staszek]

I don't recall as it was a while ago but any flat black should work. I used duplicolor perfect match flat black for my lower steering wheel plastic.

Thanks! How did you prep it?

[purplecty]

Thanks! How did you prep it?

Nothing fancy. May have not even cleaned them but you can probably just wipe down with alcohol let dry and spray them. I do remember it being hot and letting them dry in the sun. When you install them they probably won't ever be touched again. At least mine haven't

[Staszek]

Not too much new lately, just waiting on the shop to finish the headliner and leather. I may pop by this week and see if I can get a picture or two.

I finally got around to cleaning the old sport steering wheel to put up for sale. Its amazing how much dirt comes off it. I let it soak in conditioner for 2 days then cleaned it off. Feels really good, not 100% back to matte brand new but pretty close. If I spend more time on it I bet I could get it even better.

For reference here is what it looked like before (brand new one I bought was on the right)
[/url]
Not perfect but a ton better


The second thing I did was restore the clears on the rear taillights. This part makes me a bit mad, I did this on my last car and it came out great, but I forgot how good it really was. I am mad because if I had remembered I would not have paid the money for brand new OEM tails and just did this process again. Oh well, the next owner will enjoy these.

I used this product, I highly recommend it. It even comes with a new UV coating to protect it.


For reference, this was what my tail lights looked like.


And refinished, you only do the clear, I taped off the red to not mess it up. Its a process though that takes about 30 min or so, it would be longer if you had a full headlight, there is a decent amount of wet sanding with 400, 1000, and 2000 grit sandpaper, then some chemical applications.

[Cactuar]

Looks a lot better, nice work. I wonder why you didn't polish the red as well? There is some haze on the red part still, it would have cleaned up nicely.

[Staszek]

Looks a lot better, nice work. I wonder why you didn't polish the red as well? There is some haze on the red part still, it would have cleaned up nicely.

I guess you could do that as well, it was meant for clear lights, I assume it would work with the red, but since the red looked pretty good I didn't want to chance messing it up.

[a777fan]

Wow. That does look great. If my lenses hadn’t started to separate, this would have been a good option!

[Btkeenan]

Not too much new lately, just waiting on the shop to finish the headliner and leather. I may pop by this week and see if I can get a picture or two.

I finally got around to cleaning the old sport steering wheel to put up for sale. Its amazing how much dirt comes off it. I let it soak in conditioner for 2 days then cleaned it off. Feels really good, not 100% back to matte brand new but pretty close. If I spend more time on it I bet I could get it even better.

For reference here is what it looked like before (brand new one I bought was on the right)
[/url]
Not perfect but a ton better


The second thing I did was restore the clears on the rear taillights. This part makes me a bit mad, I did this on my last car and it came out great, but I forgot how good it really was. I am mad because if I had remembered I would not have paid the money for brand new OEM tails and just did this process again. Oh well, the next owner will enjoy these.

I used this product, I highly recommend it. It even comes with a new UV coating to protect it.


For reference, this was what my tail lights looked like.


And refinished, you only do the clear, I taped off the red to not mess it up. Its a process though that takes about 30 min or so, it would be longer if you had a full headlight, there is a decent amount of wet sanding with 400, 1000, and 2000 grit sandpaper, then some chemical applications.

What products did you use for the steering wheel?

Those taillights turned out great. The ~20 bucks for the kit definitely beats spending 400+ for new taillights. I may have to do that now that I’m comparing mine to yours

[Staszek]

What products did you use for the steering wheel?

Those taillights turned out great. The ~20 bucks for the kit definitely beats spending 400+ for new taillights. I may have to do that now that I’m comparing mine to yours

I used Leatherique, its what I have been using on all my cars for years when I do the seats. They literally have the worst website ever lol I think they haven't changed it since websites started, but you can buy it in a lot of places.
http://www.leatherique.com/

[Btkeenan]

I used Leatherique, its what I have been using on all my cars for years when I do the seats. They literally have the worst website ever lol I think they haven't changed it since websites started, but you can buy it in a lot of places.
http://www.leatherique.com/

Nice I’ve heard of them and have seen good results from them. I like the colourlock products personally.

[Staszek]

Nice I’ve heard of them and have seen good results from them. I like the colourlock products personally.

Never tried colourlock, I will look into it.

[Staszek]

Long time no update.

My S54 E30 was at the shop getting a dyno done before I do any tuning. Faired pretty well, pretty much spot on what a stock E46 M3 was new, not bad for a 70k motor that I partially rebuilt. On the way home was right by the shop doing my headliner and leather so I popped in.


Pretty good progress. Headliner is done, and all the seat covers are made and the old seats are broken down. They are repairing any foam that was compressed and have started to recover them.




Should have the car back before Thanksgiving. Feel like my car fell behind on their list because of other projects, and I haven't pushed them really. But now I know it will go quick because its sitting inside their shop while they work and they don't have a ton of space lol.

[a777fan]

Love it love it love it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Btkeenan]

Niceee. Looks great. I bet you’re eager to have it done

[Staszek]

Niceee. Looks great. I bet you’re eager to have it done

Yes I have a ton of parts just sitting there! I need to get this car back together. I threw my wife's X5 up for sale, for a decent bit higher than the market just to see, it sold in less than 24 hours at list so now I need to get this car back. I put the car seats in the back of the M3 the other day, it works but its not fun lol.

[Btkeenan]

Yes I have a ton of parts just sitting there! I need to get this car back together. I threw my wife's X5 up for sale, for a decent bit higher than the market just to see, it sold in less than 24 hours at list so now I need to get this car back. I put the car seats in the back of the M3 the other day, it works but its not fun lol.

Sweet! I took mine out for a 100ish mile drive down PCH and it’s just such a pleasure to drive. Got the Stealthone unit installed and setup as well so now it’s ready for some autobahn cruising

[Staszek]

Finally got the car back! I will need to take some outdoor pics later because the garage doesn't do it justice. The part that sucked is I had to put together the rear deck and put the rear seats in after I picked it up. I told them not to touch it since its complex with the speaker box etc and they didn't take it apart. So that was a pain. Glad I did the shocks while it was all out so I don't have to tear apart again.

Rear deck


A Pillar


Sunroof controls


Seats




Then on to a few little things.

First the wiper blade arm plastic covers, they were so faded.



Next when I picked up the car I had no speedo, and ABS/Traction control light was on. When I bought the car during the PPI the left rear speed sensor was pretty beat up looking, had no insulation. it still worked though. I bought another speed sensor because I figured I would need to replace it anyway.

Well good thing I did, I replaced that last night and all the warning lights went away and the speedo came back.


I pre-scheduled my tire install for this Friday hoping I had the car back by then. It all worked out well, Tirerack came this morning and installed 5 new AS/4s!


Still a lot of little stuff to finish, but getting closer!

[a777fan]

Yaaaaaaaas.

The seats look killer. Did you get new leather front and rear??

Also the headliner.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Staszek]

Yaaaaaaaas.

The seats look killer. Did you get new leather front and rear??

Also the headliner.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yep front and rear. Smells like a new car between the headliner and leather!

[Btkeenan]

Looking great! Trying to get it wrapped up by the end of the year?

[Staszek]

Looking great! Trying to get it wrapped up by the end of the year?

Yea now I need to install the bluebus and review camera so I can close up the Nav area.

[Btkeenan]

Yea now I need to install the bluebus and review camera so I can close up the Nav area.

Sweet! Let me know how the camera install goes, the parts are still sitting on my bench. Decided to hold off and get the Bluebus and Stealthone working before adding another layer of complexity to the system

[a777fan]

Yep front and rear. Smells like a new car between the headliner and leather!

Thats awesome.

Are the skins still available from BMW?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Staszek]

Thats awesome.

Are the skins still available from BMW?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Not sure if they got them directly from BMW, they had the charts of BMW, Porsche, MB leather. They got the skins by the yard and made the covers to copy the OEM ones.