[SPQR ROMAN SPQR]

Hello Fanatics. I want to thank everyones opinions in my earlier thread in the beginning of the summer about what to mod on my 325ci. I am about 80 percent done with this summers mods and hopefully can finish tonight (crossing my fingers)

It started earlier this week with packages arriving at my house!!! :woot:

Mods:

BMW Performance Intake (thanks to JLEVISW) who still had it a reasonable price

Full set of Coupe Interior Trim for CF wrap goodbye wood trim

ZHP shift knob and new black shift boot (courtesy of Tischer BMW)

And to match the new black shift boot I also got a black E brake boot as well.

Big thanks to fellow Fanatics andrewboi and Tagoo They were great to work with and would definately buy from them again

Now I had to tackle ripping apart my car and putting it all back together.....

 

[Broach><330]

Nice, love the trim. You should post pics when you've got it all in!

 

[delmarco]

I miss the cute in-cabin mods...it seems every time I touch my car these days it is the dirty maintenance under the hood and car stuff.

 

[SPQR ROMAN SPQR]

The Intake went In rather well. Took about an hour to do And in hindsight I noticed that the bottom end of the intake on the stock one is exactly Identical to the one on the performance. You can save yourself A LOT of time by simply removing ONLY the top half of the performance Intake box and attaching the hoses and attaching it to the origional stock bottom.

There have been mixed reviews on the intake and after driving around with it on for a bit I have to say Im a skeptic as to whether It actually did anything. The car feels A bit smoother on approach to redline but that is about it. The noise level is slightly deeper then before but no real significant sound gains either (which had me disappointed)


Trim: I used the 3M vinyl from ECS Tuning and got a 4 by 2 foot sheet which is barely enough I would go on the safe side and get the next biggest size. The vinyl was difficult to work with on the arm rests the dash trim was really really easy. YOU need 2 people to do this right and you need a heat gun or hair dryer to really heat up the vinyl and make it easier to work with.


I tore apart the car thanks to searching the numerous DIY threads available already on the forum. I recommend you get extra plastic clips because I needed a few. The rear panels in the coupe were hardest to get off and back on. Folding seats helped ALOT.

 

[SPQR ROMAN SPQR]

With All the dash trim in place and wrapped and spare clips in hand I attempted to begin to piece back together the panels to the car when I ran into an issue on the drivers side door. I had been hearing a rattle coming from the bottom of the panel and the speaker for about 6 months. When I went to remove the panel It turned out the bottom of the door panel was never secured to the door :yikes: and to make matters worse 2 of the clips came off the panel and stayed lodged in the door.

my task now is to work those suckers out before the panels are back in.

Also Tips with the arm rests. The leather pad inserts are a :censor: to get on and off. I pried with hands and a screw driver trying to get them to snap off. Out of the 4 of em 3 came out sucessfully, I snapped one of the 6 clips on the front passenger insert but it should not affect re assembly although I still was not pleased. Also the mirror switch on the driver side pops out through the top NOT the bottom. (Took me 10 to 15 minutes to realize this) :rofl:


Tonight I should have all the panels and arm rests wrapped and re installed So on Saturday the car can get detailed!!! :woot:

More pics and updates to Come!!!

 

[Broach><330]

Very nice! Trim looks badass.

 

[SPQR ROMAN SPQR]

Well I got the driver side clips out and was able to reinstall all the panels !!!! :woot:

Car went back together and it looks good. Test drove it for 20 min and glad to say no rattles either

Pics below! Overall I am very happy I finally got rid of the wood trim however removing the door panels and putting them back together took a lot longer and was more difficult than I first anticipated.

Hope everyone enjoyed and big thanks to the forum for helping me out

What I still want to do but has been pushed back to winter mods:

Shark Injector/software
Exhaust (Prob muffler delete first and then maybe real cat back next summer if I can get the cash together)

 

[starbuck89]

Hi. Great work with your car! It looks great. I just bought a 320ci with wood trim and I would really like to be rid of it.. how much would you say you spent in total? and do you have links to the sites you ordered from so that i can follow in your footsteps?
Keep up the good work!

 

[Solidjake]

Nice dude.

But that's one reason I didn't get the intake. Just not worth it in my opinion.

 

[southpaw]

Yea, but I bet you gained AT LEAST 15 horsepower TO THE WHEELS with that intake, right?

 

[SPQR ROMAN SPQR]

Hi. Great work with your car! It looks great. I just bought a 320ci with wood trim and I would really like to be rid of it.. how much would you say you spent in total? and do you have links to the sites you ordered from so that i can follow in your footsteps?
Keep up the good work!

Hey thanks for the compliments. unfortunately Id say hold off on following exactly in my footsteps. I went out to the car today after having it sit outside in the hot weather and noticed that the 3M Di- Noc vinyl had begun to bubble and peel back on the armrests on the back curve parts :censor:

The trim on the dash and shifter surround were fine but I dont think I am fully satisfied with how the armrests came out unfortunately So I am weighing up different options to fix this. I will either attempt to re wrap the arm rests at a later date or maybe fork over more money to get real CF.

As far as what I did to get to this point I spent around 100 dollars for a set of used wood trim from a member here and i spent another 50ish on the vinyl. After 3 days of work I was finished. I got the 3M Vinyl from ECS Tuning but I would probably recommend using a different type of vinyl or maybe the cloth. I used BMW Shadowline Trim on the exterior for over a year and that has not peeled, bubbled or unstuck In all types of weather.

I cant find anyone selling the CF coupe trim set which is probably still around 600-800 dollars. JLEVISW has the "overlay kit" where Its a real thin layer of CF that goes on top of your existing trim for around 400 dollars. That sticks on/adheres like the vinyl over existing trim but the good news I assume with that route over vinyl is its rigid/solid so if the glue does not hold the overlay parts wont shrink and kink/bubble like the vinyl will.

^My 2 cents If I had to do it again I would probably try the overlay kit above or Wrap again but definitely not with the 3M stuff.

Yea, but I bet you gained AT LEAST 15 horsepower TO THE WHEELS with that intake, right?

Yep and all that CF vinyl saved me hundreds of pounds in weight reduction too :rofl:

 

[southpaw]

I'm considering wrapping my whole interior/exterior in CF fabric. I'm hoping to weigh in the triple digits

 

[rizwan1377]

Nice!!

 

[bartola]

OP, nice work. What type of wood trim did you have. I am doing a refresh of my car, and the driver door handle and other pieces have cracks. Let me know if you are willing to part with your old trim pm me.

 

[Sweetness]

BMW performance intake...buying actual cf trim...wipe your ass with bricks of gold

 

[spencers]

One of my favorite things I've done to my interior was getting a new OEM shift boot like you did. Really made the shift area look new again!

 

[ECSTuning]

Looks very nice, thanks for the mention on the carbon fiber 3M vinyl ^ SPQR ROMAN SPQR.

Well done around the corners.



Joe

 

[TrickTizzle]

Nice dude.

But that's one reason I didn't get the intake. Just not worth it in my opinion.

:lmao:

 

[SPQR ROMAN SPQR]

OP, nice work. What type of wood trim did you have. I am doing a refresh of my car, and the driver door handle and other pieces have cracks. Let me know if you are willing to part with your old trim pm me.

Hey I am not gonna sell my old trim at this time. If I do decide to sell it I will let you know. I am unsure what wood it is, but its the darker wood color.