Thanks :)

Thanks for the advice, I saw the challenge you had with the gaps and hoping that if I do the same I can use your thread for inspiration. Good idea about the van material for lining. I'll look at that as I was wondering what to do.

Thanks Jeff - I think you are right on that front. I pretty much talked myself into doing the interior first today when I was replying to an email from Nubodi about the dash (despite deciding to do it last early this morning). I'm changing my mind about things like the wind changes direction....

Here is my boot floor, if you have looked at my thread you will see it was chopped up and modified to give a flat floor. The quality of my "sticking n gluen" is trully appalling and it looks like the surface of the moon. I knocked of the worse bits with an angle grinder and the van lining has hidden the rest. Would work perfectly for the roof lining.http://i803.photobucket.com/albums/y...pet%20boot.jpg

Vey easy to fit, took 15 minutes. Used a trim spray glue on the panel and the back of the lining, it has quite a bit of stretch for the corners.
I'm intending to paint the inside edge of the boot lit and use the lining material on the rough centre section.

In fact the way my paint preparation is going I might cover the whole car in it!

Black is a great colour but shows every blemish. It will take twice the work to get the same finish, It also always looks dirty.
Silver/gunmetal is probably one of the most forgiving colours and you only have to wash them once a year.

Worth asking Chris if he can supply your kit in any colour other than white. It is so hard to see the surface, I wouldn't do another kit in white, choose grey, back or blue, anything but white!

Strip down started yesterday. Basically a case of looking for any exposed fastenings and undoing them. Bonnet and boot were off first and then finally rest of the body panels today.

[IMG]https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2859/3...a4224dd3_c.jpgIMAG0598 by couerdelion2013, on Flickr[/IMG]

Cleaned the roof ready to sell so havent taken that off today, just dropped for this photo. Made a start on the interior and got the door panels removed

[IMG]https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4172/3...041ec80c_c.jpgIMAG0603 by couerdelion2013, on Flickr[/IMG]

Was surprised at the amount of dirt inside the sills. Generally the car is in pretty good nick. A little bit of corrosion near the jacking points but that knocked off and a wire brush and some anti rust treatment should see it ok. Will clean and give a good paint on the exposed parts before I start fitting anything.

Point taken. Think I'll go back to the original idea of gun metal grey. That might change again though :)


The kit comes in a grey colour now according to Chris - I had asked about other colours but was happy with that.

Make sure you hang onto
Bonnet hinges
bonnet striker pins
boot lock assembly
Plastic door aperture trims
Boot seal

Good idea to leave the bulbs attached so you know whats what.

Thanks - I would probably have sold them and then only realised when the kit turned up.

What are the plastic door aperture trims? The bits next that the window comes through?

The door step plate and the plastic trim that runs up the back of the door opening. Hides the join of the new panels and looks much more "factory"

Managed to get a spare hour last night so cracked on with a few more bits and pieces.

Steering wheel off and chairs removed.

[IMG]https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4185/3...88a963ba_z.jpgIMAG0604 by couerdelion2013, on Flickr[/IMG]

Struggled working out how the second wire disconnected (the one the seems to disappear into the chair), realised eventually it was attached to the seatbelt buckle.

New number plates turned up too

https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2851/3...6f149a6f_z.jpgIMAG0596 by couerdelion2013, on Flickr

The hardest part of this whole thing seems to be deciding on the 'style' points. What colour car? chairs? carpet? dashboard? door panels?....

Still not 100% decided.

You will never be able to fit a new carpet that looks as good as the original so I would strongly suggest you keep it. A good shampoo and hoover is a good idea at this point.
I'm on the fence on the interior upgrades, I drove my car over to my painter (finally) and had the door cards removed, there is no way I could live with a car that didn't have arm rests on the doors. I even made up a "Henley's" centre arm rest for my MK2 Jag as I found it so uncomfortable to drive without the centre armrest, it was a period accessory at the time.
I do however like the retro dash and dials but would it work with the more modern interior?
I have bought a pair of MGB seats that I intend to fix to the existing seat bases. I will probably fit them with the worn and many covers to see how I get on with them, if they are uncomfortable I will just remove them and refit the originals.
And finally, sacrilege I know, but I would really like to fit a hidden pop up sat nav system in the centre of the retro dash, just behind where the fresh air vents would have been. I use mine all the time as I always have the safety camera feature turned on, as I do like to drive safely!
I have found that it is the cameras that you go past on a regular basis are the buggers that normally catch you out.

Tynoprime was doing a great job on his interior upgrades on his MX5 kit. He has been a bit quiet but hopefully now the weather is improving he might start up again.

I think you are right. There's always an option to spray dye the carpet if I'm really unhappy with it but at the moment cream interior is a go!

Ive ordered the dashboard from Nubodi so am heading down that route now. I wonder how hard it would be to make an arm rest for the door? More for me to think about. Centre console is a must though I agree.

I'm undecided - still. I've looked at the MGB ones and the new MGF ones but think I'm going for the same ones Hilltop used (BB2's). I'm used to an upright enough position as all my cars are 2 seaters and once I adjust for legs I've no room to recline.

No, I think its a must too - once the new dashboard is in theres a big gap underneath that most have filled with a piece of folded alloy. I don't think it's too big a job (famous last words) to put some kind of frame behind that to hold a single or ideally a double din unit. Cover over the top held in place with velcro...

Love the details in his build, so much so that last night I put a bid in on a sewing machine and am now planning on doing a similar looking centre console and doorcards!

Good afternoon Couerdelion i don`t agree with Jaguartvr with regard to not re-carpeting the Z3 , probably because i did it on mine! I bought a roll of Good quality Dark Blue carpet specifically for auto use from a company in Wigan , made up templates (this was after removing all the BMW plastic interior parts) the first template was made using wallpaper then onto cardboard and finally underlay , it was the underlay templates that i had a specialist in replacement car carpets use which after cutting out he bound the edges , if you have seen some of the interior pictures from my build you will see i installed a rear parcel shelf (using ply) and then covered this with the same bound carpet . A big bonus is the interior looks less standard but also there is less of the unpleasant noise but the exhaust note is still there , thanks Geoff .

Now I'm even more unsure. Your blue carpet looks great. To be honest though I think I've already convinced myself to go with black dash and chairs, and then Cream/Beige Carpet and Door panels.

Saw a video on how to make your own door panels on the Practical Classics "Skills Shack" - got 3 months membership for £1. So once I buy a sewing machine I'll give that a go.

Todays job was to see how well my chinese steering wheel boss fitted. Not very well is the answer. Will need a good belt from the rubber mallet I reckon, but didnt want to try tonight as once on I might not get it back off.

[IMG]https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4157/3...dda48719_c.jpgIMAG0607 by couerdelion2013, on Flickr[/IMG]

As well as building the car I'm also trying to fit in training for a triathlon in October. It's sometimes quite difficult balancing the training with finding time for the car.

This morning I was up early as a mate came by to borrow my van, I was then out to the other side of the city to pick up a 1934 Singer electric sewing machine which is a magnificent piece of engineering. Once that was done I was home, changed into my Lycra and a 2 hour cycle. I then grabbed a sandwich in the garage on my way up to the unit, had 3 hours on the car and then came home changed and headed to the gym...

Todays work was removing the centre console, dials and some of the dash.

Couldn't get the stereo out for love nor money. Ended up smashing it. Only as I removed it did i realise it had been secured from the rear... Argghhh

This is where I finished up...
https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4163/3...45ab3fae_c.jpgIMAG0610 by couerdelion2013, on Flickr

Need to spend some time tidying up tomorrow!

Thinking more about the interior and colours again today. Was in my SLK which has a black and cream interior and think it confirms that I'll stick with something similar for the 250 swb as it works well (I think so).

https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4161/3...0cd580fc_c.jpgIMAG0609 by couerdelion2013, on Flickr


Car has been parked up in the dry unit for over a week now but noticed the carpet under where I've removed the seat is soaking (both sides). Will likeley need to remove to dry off properly. Worrying that i dont know where its leaking though.

It will have been gathering in the foot wells for months or even years. Bottom line is the roofs leak on these cars. Lift the carpet out and try and dry it out, hang it up outside in the sun for a few days.

Good morning Couerdelion , my car was exactly the same the carpets were soaked both sides , the sooner the better they are removed to reduce the chance of damage to the electrical connectors that are under there , Geoff .

Got the rest of the dash out and the rear plastics behind where the seats go. First removed the rear most carpet. It weighed a ton as it was saturated with water. Put that outside to start on the drying and went back in to remove the front one. That too was soaked and started to rip on me. I've got what I can out and I'll be shopping for new carpet now.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4165/3...896db259_c.jpgIMAG0613 by couerdelion2013, on Flickr

Thats my last bit of work on the car for a week, off to Italy now to enjoy the sun.

Not done much since I got back.

Got the rest of the carpet removed and the floor is now dried out.
[IMG]https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4219/3...5b9224a6_c.jpgIMAG0706 by couerdelion2013, on Flickr[/IMG]

Then took the seats out of my mates Z3 to check the condition of his carpet. Wasn't brilliant - passenger side was slightly damp but drivers side dry. Whilst we had the seats out we replaced the bushings (recommended if you're keeping the originals). OEM are rubber but had just disintegrated. You will know they need replacing if your seat moves slightly backwards and forward when you rock.

The nylon replacements went on easy enough.
This is how to replace - http://www.instructables.com/id/BMW-...-Frame-Mechan/

The seats were refitted with a spacer under the front parts of the rails to raise the front of the seat up and make it more comfortable for longer trips. They were from the US, Thayer Motorsports. https://thayermotorsports.com/produc...nt=35904036359

Not really done much in the last few weeks. Waiting for the dash from Nubodi and the SWB kit to arrive to get me motivated again.

I did make a decision on seats though and they've arrived. Placed them in the car to see how I think they'll fit.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4277/3...4a30458f_z.jpgIMAG0722 by couerdelion2013, on Flickr

I think I'm going to put the original carpet back in and then look for a thin carpet to go on top of that. I'm a bit worried about filling all the voids if I go with a new carpet that doesnt have the thick foam on the back.

Great choice on the seats. They look to be 914 or 911 style?