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Z Weekend Projects

5K views 9 replies 4 participants last post by  morfinx 
#1 ·
1. Air Cleaner raised BMW (letters) Mod- I had some extra "Diamond Plate" look vinyl left from over my last project. I had this same vinyl installed in my Acura engine compartment for 4.5 year with no issues. I used 1 peice of the the Diamond Plate Vinyl to outline the raised BMW letters. I used a hair dryer to lightly heat the vinyl and a soft squeege to work the vinly around the raised letters, then cut around the letters with a very sharp X-acto knift. I then added the sDrive 35i badging to the air cleaner, using 3M Autobody, double sided tape for the install. Easy mod. to dress up the cover and engine compartment.

2. Z- De- Badged: I de-dadged all side mounted sDrive logos and rear Z4 logo. I used a hair dryer to lightly heat up the logo and soften the tape and used a soft squeege to get behind each individual emblem. The emblems came right off with most of the tape. I used the hair dryer to soften up the left over tape and then used Goo-B- Gone to remove the residue. Glazed, Sealed and Waxed after. Love the CLEAN look.

3. All Interior lighting converted to 6000K LED lamp source:
3 Domes lamps, 2 Foot well lamps, 2 Door Puddle lamps, 1 trunk
After research, I chose the Philips Automotive Lighting X-treme Vision LED Interior Auto Bulbs. These offer High light output with 120 lumens (light output) per lamp, 6000K, 1 watt per lamp, all plug and play, no error messages, no fixture housing modifications. Best Price- I found these at the following web site for a 2 pack at 19.99.
http://www.farmandfleet.com/product...ng-x-tremevision-led-interior-auto-bulbs.html
EBay and Amazon have these at $29.99 to as high as $59.99.

Foot well Fixtures- tools- eyeglass screw driver- the complete fixture housing has enough wire to allow the housing to come out completely from the frame for easy access to the socket for a lamp removal and LED install.

Puddle Lamps- The housing can only be slightly pulled/pryed out with the end of the fixture being angled out of the frame located closest to the door openng. You have no access to the socket. For this the fixture, the plastic lens can be easily pryed off with the same small eyeglass screw driver. Gently Pry under the len from exposed end sticking out of the door and this release 1 of the 2 small clips. See my pictures for clip location. This gives you access to the lamp without having to remove the socket out of the fixture housing.

3 Domes lamps- The complete dome housing can be pulled down. Using a small plastic, soft tool to get under the exposed housing lip. This will allow enough room to pull down the complete housing appx 1 inch out of the frame without falling out. Then up inside on the passenger side there are 2 plastic spring clips that must be pushed in, inorder to release the complete fixture housing and allow access to the back side of the fixture and the 3 sockets holding the lamps. This is very easy once you realize the procedure.

In all cases test the LED lamps before re-installing. If the lamps do not operate, reverse the socket.

4. Front License Plate Removal- Mass requires a front license plate. The car already had the 4 holes drilled. I hated the look especially as the plate covers part of my newly painted Gloss Black Grill inserts. I ran my Acura plateless for 4.5 year with no issues. I just keep it in the trunk. To fill the holes, I used double ended, double threaded furniture screws. One end has a courser thread for the bumper and the other end has a finer thread for the Stainless Steel ( or Chrome) Acorn nut with small SS flat washer. The washer flattened out the buldge in the plastic caused by the plate. Again clean.

If anyone wants pictures of the above for removing the fixture housings, etc., I can send them upon request. All the above are easy DIY projects.

More to come.
 

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#3 ·
Nice....

Have you considered swapping out your headlights?
 
#5 ·
LED Angel eyes are in absolutely the plans.
 
#6 · (Edited)
Hi Some great work, I debadged mine completely, it gives a much cleaner look, plus as the car ages you don't get the build up of crap around the badges that looks so unsightly.
I understand what you have done with the license plate, but the finish whilst tidy does look a little odd imo, But understanding had you considered using plastic lugs that you see all over the car and paint them the same colour as your car (they are almost a flush fit) as I am sure they will really blend in better !!!! plus if pushed to put the plate back on you just pop them out!!!
 
#7 ·
Thanx. Just saw your remarks and the thread on the painted plugs. Absolutely the way to go. I already purchased the plugs and will be painting them this weekend for install.
 
#9 ·
Your thread and great DIY gave me the reason to make the same mod vs my idea. Thanx again. I will post my update when complete
 
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