why havent I joined this site before

[S85FTW]

Hi everyone, I am located in Milford Beach, CT and own a 2004 330ci zhp, bought it back in 2008 and have been a bmw owner since 1999. Why had I not signed up for this forum sooner, I do not know. I also have the same name tag on bimmerforums and e46fanatics. Having had this car for several years now, I have started to do more mods to it now, since I had been starting to get bored with it. Below are some pics of my car.

My car when I first bought it:
http://forum.e46fanatics.com/picture.php?albumid=44&pictureid=132

My car as of yesterday:
http://forum.e46fanatics.com/picture.php?albumid=44&pictureid=20786
http://forum.e46fanatics.com/picture.php?albumid=44&pictureid=17661

[Marcus-SanDiego]

Welcome. Those are M3 seats?

[S85FTW]

Yes, so far M3 seats, clear bumper reflectors, headers (no cats), racing dynamics enclosed air intake, racing dynamics rear strut brace, 19" csl reps, cf m3 hood, blue cf bmw roundels, slotted rotors and angel eyes are my mods.

[danewilson77]

OMG! :drool

Welome.

[Ryans323i]

Welcome! Great looking ZHP. M3 seats and M3 hood w/out vents, so. much. drool! :drool Gonna need more info on both btw.

[Hermes]

nice car man. is the CF hood the pre-facelift kind?

(damn facelift - im not looking forward to baking my lights)

[S85FTW]

Thanks guys, the hood is a preface hood, to finally get it to sit somewhat flush I had to dremel roughly 1/4" of the lips of the hood on both the left and right side. I guess the M3 hood sits a lot higher and narrower because of the wider/taller fenders of the M3. Hood pins were absolutely necessary to keep the hood down bc it was starting to twist/warp at highway speeds. Overall took about 3 hours of dremmelling and drilling to get the hood pins and M3 hood to sit flush.

[zj96sc]

Welcome!

[M3TA5IN]

Welcome love the car!

[S85FTW]

(damn facelift - im not looking forward to baking my lights)
You are not kidding, the headlights were a major PITA! Luckily I completed during a blizzard here where I had two days time to get them back into my car. Long story short, the doublesided tape isnt enough to hold on the angel eyes, I used JB Weld to secure them to the headlights.

[GSEN820]

Welcome to the site.

[HokieZHP]

Welcome! Awesome car too

[imola red zhp]

Great look welcome

sent from Dennis' Droid using tapatalk

[kayger12]

Welcome to the Family.

Droid X. Forum Runner. Use it.

[mimalmo]

Welcome

[Audi 0000]

Welcome and enjoy.

[Ryans323i]

Huh, so that's an OE M3 hood? Either way I like the look, so whatever it took, it was worth it.

[jreyes19]

welcome awesome looking car

[johnrando]

Welcome. Glad you found us. There are a few of us from both of those forums too, but this one is by far the best! :)

[static667]

Welcome to the Mafia. More pics are required of your super sick car.

[WOLFN8TR]

Welcome! Nice ride bro...

[Johnmadd]

Huh, so that's an OE M3 hood? Either way I like the look, so whatever it took, it was worth it.

Was it a oem m3 hood?
I hear ya rhy-bread.

[S85FTW]

Thanks for the compliments everyone, I expected more negative responses to my hood as i have been flamed a bit for it in the past,Yes it was a cf hood taken off of an M3 that also happened to be tiag.

[Johnmadd]

We remain quite if nothing good to say, if you don't have something nice to say then don't say nothing type peeps. Your car is unique and you have the right to dress your car anyway you want. Different=Good.

[Hermes]

You are not kidding, the headlights were a major PITA! Luckily I completed during a blizzard here where I had two days time to get them back into my car. Long story short, the doublesided tape isnt enough to hold on the angel eyes, I used JB Weld to secure them to the headlights.

actually i was gonna be going french. need to order some bulbs too. this is not a facelift headlamp but just to show you what it will look like when i'm done
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v698/Zedooooo/31ca6d16.jpg


also, just wondering... I didnt think the m3 came with a CF hood w/o CSL/GTR and I think those have the vents. Didnt it have a lightweight aluminum hood?

[Johnmadd]

Doesn't justin have them? Horney????

[S85FTW]

Nice, I like the euro look on our cars, minus the euro stretched tires, when I said it is an M3 hood, I meant it is a VIS cf hood meant for an M3. I had bought it off someone who had a tiag M3 and had to modify it to fit our facelift coupes.

[Hornung418]

Welcome, Kris! I like the hood, but I would like to see the front end sit more flush with the lights. Any chance you could add some fiberglass and make the transition a little less harsh? That gap is throwin me off. Kinda Boser-esque, but not as aggressive.

:hi Hi, John! I do indeed have Frenched Bowls.

[Hermes]

Nice, I like the euro look on our cars, minus the euro stretched tires, when I said it is an M3 hood, I meant it is a VIS cf hood meant for an M3. I had bought it off someone who had a tiag M3 and had to modify it to fit our facelift coupes.

got it, very cool that you could make it work on your car. personally i kinda like the facelift's slightly different grills. same reason i'm doing the french, just to be a little (not drastically) different than the rest

[Nivo]

Welcome

[GMATT]

Welcome.........Nice car and color!

[johnrando]

Thanks for the compliments everyone, I expected more negative responses to my hood as i have been flamed a bit for it in the past,Yes it was a cf hood taken off of an M3 that also happened to be tiag.

No flames allowed in the Mafia. It's different here.

[S85FTW]

In response, I am not 100% happy with the hood yet, as Hornung pointed out, the gap over the headlights is killing me, Im contemplating shaving the sides down a hair more to get it to sit on the headlights more. On the upside, she just got a new valve cover gasket and new ngk iridium spark plugs today.

[danewilson77]

In response, I am not 100% happy with the hood yet, as Hornung pointed out, the gap over the headlights is killing me, Im contemplating shaving the sides down a hair more to get it to sit on the headlights more. On the upside, she just got a new valve cover gasket and new ngk iridium spark plugs today.

Well done on the maintenance. The hood will get there. It's just not done yet. That's all.

[Hermes]

I noticed that earlier also, just assumed you were still playing with the fit of the hood. At least your gap is not as bad as this one, specifically look at tails, front is not as bad since he still has stock hood but front quarterpanel isn't lined up right



http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/s720x720/300674_10150406797459009_536259008_10116239_969408 164_n.jpg

http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s720x720/291808_10150406796244009_536259008_10116218_654370 534_n.jpg

[S85FTW]

Thanks, I see what you are talking about, my mechanics discovered the valve cover gasket leak at JG Technik in Branford when they were installing my headers, so I ordered the gasket and plugs, little did I know they ordered them as well.

[Hermes]

What exactly are the advantages of the iridium plugs? (I just replaced mine a few K ago with the stock NGKs)


Thanks, I see what you are talking about, my mechanics discovered the valve cover gasket leak at JG Technik in Branford when they were installing my headers, so I ordered the gasket and plugs, little did I know they ordered them as well.

If you haven't done the vanos kit yet you should prob do at the same time

[S85FTW]

To find out the benefits of iridium vs platinum nickel gold silver you can read more here.
http://www.spark-plugs.co.uk/pages/technical/iridium_spark_plugs.htm

As far as the vanos goes, I take my shop to JG Technik in Branford (A BMW Performance shop). They inspected my top end and said everything was still in great condition and the chains were still nice and tight. They also joked "dude, do you know you have zhp cams?!!!" For having 93k miles they are very impressed with the cars condition, even underneath, they were shocked to see that the diff bushing had zero cracks in it whatsoever. I guess not dumping the clutch and having a majority of highway miles really does pay off.

[Hermes]

Just read the link, gonna have to use those from now on. Thanks for the info