Wife has advised me to PUT DOWN THE HAMMER AND WALK AWAY FROM THE CAR!
Probably best. A couple of photos
Notice the chrome around the grille - do I repeat for the brake vents?
Yeah I know about the 'plate. More importantly, do I stick some 20mm spacers on the rear?
Baz - That is my concern - I dont want to over chrome it
It is difficult to fit the front plate there. Originally I had it a little lower than you mean but it sort of shows the problem. I had to put it on a hinge so it didn't break when it hit things
Where does the front number plate go?
The plate shown in 12"x3" which is about as small as is legal
This will be a normal size sticker number plate
Plenty of air left for the radiator
I was getting some flex in the front of my bonnet and after a quick check with Chris I decided to re-enforce it a bit.
The bit at the very front needed stiffening but I also wanted to bond the main part of the bonnet onto the BMW bonnet frame to reduce the chance for it to flex.
First run and wire wheel on the angle grinder over the underside of the bonnet to key it up properly and then cut the coremat panels to shape
Carefully pour out the resin and mix 1% of 'fixer' which really doesn't look enough. It is the mix Chris recommended to make sure the curing isn't too hot and damages the paint on the other side.
Get the various pieces of cross mat that you have cut into squares and splosh them in resin.
Here are pictures of me sploshing
First piece completed. Leave the garage for a while and breath deeply
Some time later...
Okay - it probably wasn't necessary to use this much mat and glass but I had it about and was enjoying myself.
It may not look pretty and I may have created the heaviest bonnet ever but I think I should have cured the flex. Now I just wait and hope it goes off nicely and nothing horrible is happening to the painted side.
After discovering the disappointing state of one wheel, fortunately before fitting, I did a little bit of tarting up before Stoneleigh
Disappointing level of patina
Before
After
Pack the 'touring' tool box and have loads of room left for clothes and booze
Some spanners and screwdrivers for when you know what to do
Some hammers and an axe for when you don't
Some gaffer tape and zip ties to get you back on the road
What could possibly go wrong?
Need to enlarge the holes for the side repeaters to put the new chrome and white ones in place.
I am hoping that getting some of these will work, I think they are what RedAndy was describing at Stoneleigh
http://www.google.co.uk/shopping/product/6917847432140992453?hl=en
Side repeaters fitted fine but managed to pull one of the wires loose.
That's okay, just whip off the little front wing and stick a new connector on.
The bonnet will not open! All that opening and closing over the weekend seems to have bent the lever that pops the bonnet so that it no longer pushes the catch fully open.
My bonnet is now locked closed :-(
I will spend the next maintenance period scrunched under the car with a big screw driver trying to get it open
tempting, very fookin tempting
Just off to browse more BMW forums. I can't 'knock out one of the kidney grilles and reach through' with my bonnet :-(
Don't worry, I will be!
Still not open but at least all the dirt and crap that has fallen out while poking and prodding should lighten the front of the car up and counteract the effect of the re-enforcing weight
Still can't get the bonnet open but found another thread that I will leave here in case anyone else gets this problem :
http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php?t=441868
The more I google the worse this looks!
People are talking about $800 work at a garage or cutting out things and the main point of access appears to be through the kidney grills at the front which I don't have. If I work out a solution I will photo and write it up.
Your best bet would be to pop out your corner signal light and pull on the black cable - Another option not open to me!
I have found quite a few different examples of how to free the bonnet. I will be writing another How To guide as soon as work gets out of the way.
This video is useful to see where the bits are :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_73XgTOYjY
The outside of the car is good now - except for that fact that the rear needs fixing after being remodeled by an inattentive Kia driver - so I thought I would revisit the interior.
Chris told me at Stoneleigh that the passenger airbag wasn't fitted to the UK spec cars so I had a little look
He was right, all that was there was a hole. I thought that would be about right for a glove box if I fitted a liner and a hinge. If I did that I wouldn't need the standard nasty plastic one. A few people had commented on the comedy clock so I was already thinking about revising that bit.
Anyway, one thing led to another and this happened
I will now be thinking about how to create a new interior to hide the wiring and modern switch gear but maintain the functionality such as electric hood, heated seats and air conditioning...
Started trying to understand the electrics a bit which meant kneeling on the carpet in the passenger foot well. There was a damp feeling down below, good with a woman but less si with a car so I took the carpets out. This gave a better view of the wiring
Lots of wiring
Lots and lots of wiring
Removes some sticky cloth tape
and taped back the wiring I didn't need
Then started on a frame for the centre tunnel
Happy so for. More tomorrow.
Well I seem to have managed to delete all but four of the pictures showing the progress to date. Never mind, here are the four
The frame with a couple of holes near the middle to fix something to
Here are a couple more holes at the rear to fix something to
Here is something fixed to the frame. This will be acovered to look nicer
