Retro-Fitting Headlight washers

Im in the first stages of retro-fitting the oem headlight washers to the Z, While many would think why the hell would you do this, well I just want to basically; the car is pre-wired for them so it will not be to bad to do.. The parts will be here early next week and I will list the full parts list here along with a how to with pictures.
So far I can tell that this will beable to be done without removing the front bumper cover, the inner impact bumper is already pre cut to accept the nozzles and the inside of the bumper cover is already templated* from the factory to show you where to drill. with the inner front fender wells removed this will allow access to the area that will need to be drilled.
1. Using a 90 degree drill I will drill from the inside of the cover 2 to 3 pilot holes and per bmws, instructions I will use a fine tooth file to do the detail work
2. the painted area of the bumper that will be drilled through will be taped off and supported so the drill will drill through the painted area instead of trying to push the paint once the bit goes through the cover material, hopefuly this will work
The car is desinged to squirt the headlight washers after every 5 squirts of the windshield, hence if you are just doing a quick windshield wash it will not sqirt the headlight washers.
Looks as if total parts cost will be about 225.00 this includes all the hardware for up front and a new washer tank with a place for the headlight squirter pump.
here are a few pics to give some idea of how its set up
I will post to this thread with updates as the work is done

you're going to cut the bumper yourself? just playin, careful bro.

Originally Posted by mng

you're going to cut the bumper yourself? just playin, careful bro.

Yeah my father asked the same thing But I figured I have had the car since 2001 and have not really gone into much on my own, at complete worst extreme Ill have to pull the bumper and replace it, but I think It will go ok, gawd I hope
I also weighed the risk of pulling the bumper to do this and with the amount of room I have with it on, its either going to go like cake or not so if it does then that is alot of work I did not have to do, plus the risk of scratches if I pulled it
Has anyone every drilled into a bumper like this that was painted? any tips?

Originally Posted by 01silber

Yeah my father asked the same thing But I figured I have had the car since 2001 and have not really gone into much on my own, at complete worst extreme Ill have to pull the bumper and replace it, but I think It will go ok, gawd I hope
I also weighed the risk of pulling the bumper to do this and with the amount of room I have with it on, its either going to go like cake or not so if it does then that is alot of work I did not have to do, plus the risk of scratches if I pulled it
Has anyone every drilled into a bumper like this that was painted? any tips?

Just off the top of my head, I would tape the section and area around that you're going to drill to keep the adjacent paint from cracking or spider-webbing.

sweet I've been waiting for this mod forever!!!!!

please post a how to!!

Pictures of inner bumper, notoice the oval cut out in the alum. there is a template cast into the plastic bumber

its still a go, just waiting on the main parts to get here from guess where, yeah germany

Funny how everyone wants what they can;t get. I have this "feature" on my Audi and I would love to disable it. Nothing worse than having a nice clean car sprayed in high-pressure windshield washer fluid on the highway. Whenever its used the entire front of the car is streaked by the spray fluid.

Originally Posted by IslandS52

Funny how everyone wants what they can;t get. I have this "feature" on my Audi and I would love to disable it. Nothing worse than having a nice clean car sprayed in high-pressure windshield washer fluid on the highway. Whenever its used the entire front of the car is streaked by the spray fluid.

Yup - the same on my roadster - I hate the damn things

Then I suggest installing a kill switch.

Originally Posted by angel03

Then I suggest installing a kill switch.

Agree! Headlight washers should be controlled separately. How many of you actually wash your windshield 5 times in a row? Not sure how they came up with this logic.

At any rate, my headlights never benefitted from this option.

there are, three outlet OEM washer pumps avail.

Originally Posted by bob lindquist

there are, three outlet OEM washer pumps avail.

in reference to me?

also the way I read the manual the headlights have to be on and it only squirts on the 5th time you hit the washers

Originally Posted by 01silber

in reference to me?

also the way I read the manual the headlights have to be on and it only squirts on the 5th time you hit the washers

Why would you want to do this?
You never drive your car.
You never drive in winter weather.
You never hit the washers.
Your car is never dirty.
Why would you squirt washer fluid on it?

Originally Posted by Ron Stygar

Why would you want to do this?
You never drive your car.
You never drive in winter weather.
You never hit the washers.
Your car is never dirty.
Why would you squirt washer fluid on it?

well
Im driving it more now
I might be up CT way in the winter never know
I hit them sometimes, either caught in bad weather or because i cant read the cruise stalk
I cant argue on that one
the car was set up for them and needed to do something to it

I say go for it. But turn them around so you can spray people in the crosswalk. I want to try to install one in a plastic cap on the rear wiper hole and have it spray backwards.

I'm with Ron (as you already know), and now Brent. You're going to install somehing that looks ugly and whose only purpose it to throw washer fluid on headlight lenses (actually on 40mil Xpel!) and a hood that never get dirty.

You know how hard I'm gonna laugh when the Xpel on your headlights starts coming off because it's having an alcohol solution sprayed on it to drip along the edges...

Originally Posted by Mpire

I say go for it. But turn them around so you can spray people in the crosswalk.

used to do this in a friends Volvo 760... damn that was fun, ahahha

got the parts in today, I asked for 10 feet of hose I got 10 meters so if anyone does this mod by chance I have plenty for sale it cost me 6.50 per meter if you need it half price
the two nozzles that I was really waiting on came but one was broken and the other was cosmeticaly not acceptable to me, I took them so I can get this started and had them order replacements
also the new resivior will be going back since all that was needed was a 3/4 hole drilled into the factory tank (see pic)

Originally Posted by 01silber

got the parts in today, I asked for 10 feet of hose I got 10 meters so if anyone does this mod by chance I have plenty for sale it cost me 6.50 per meter if you need it half price

The small hose that I purchase for the nozzle kits is the same 1 each = 1 meter.
Don't make this mistake when ordering seat cloth which is this way too.

Did you try to order the kit?

Originally Posted by Ron Stygar

Did you try to order the kit?

Yes, it turned into a mess with the dealer telling me they could not get it after it had been on order for 3 days, so then I ordered each piece which was called a week later and told that the nozzles were back ordered , I told them there were plenty in germany and so they said ohhh ok we will order from there so it does not take 3 more weeks.. got it today and had damaged parts which really pissed me off but what can you do...
Im doubting anyone is going to do this mod so I might see if they will take back the left over hose and will also try to get credit for the tank; hopefuly they will; I do them favors all the time.....
getting ready to drill the bumper tonight I will post how that goes, gawd I hope well

I wonder if I could mount some nozzles behind the gills so they spray that way. I wouldnt want to drill holes in my bumper, but it would still be fun to be able to squirt people.

contour could match a bit better but its pretty good

that took you an HOUR?

I am SO not worthy....

Originally Posted by obmd1

that took you an HOUR?

I am SO not worthy....

thats just the driver side. took about 30 minutes just filing slowly but surely.
Im on a coffee and smoke break now , then the passenger side gets done