[Coupes33]

You should have had both of your cars in the show Shane.

[DR-JEKL]

Originally Posted by Coupes33

You should have had both of your cars in the show Shane.

Yeah probably Ken, most car shows you've gotta be in early and have to wait until the afternoon to leave. But I did notice you could rock up late and leave as you please.

The MB club do a good relaxed show and it's in a great location and its free for spectators.

[A'PEXi]

Need some seat updates Any chance of getting some rough pricing on how much it has cost for the leather/trimming thus far for the race seats?

[DR-JEKL]

Originally Posted by A'PEXi

Need some seat updates Any chance of getting some rough pricing on how much it has cost for the leather/trimming thus far for the race seats?

I don't have them back yet, but I need to do a few things prior hopefully by next weekend I can attempt to install them.

I think it was about $3.5K for trimming (alcantara and leather stitching of headrest and of course assembly stitching)

[niksss]

Originally Posted by DR-JEKL

With the new trim mounted it almost looks as good as factory

Where and how did you screw the bolts on the trim? Did you screw them directly to the trim ? The trim has no matchig points ?




EDIT: Never mind I saw that you glued wood pieces and attached it to them. Great idea ! I have another question. What is the wrap on your center console trim ? It looks amazing ! Can you post a close up pic ?

[DR-JEKL]

Originally Posted by niksss

Where and how did you screw the bolts on the trim? Did you screw them directly to the trim ? The trim has no matchig points ?




EDIT: Never mind I saw that you glued wood pieces and attached it to them. Great idea ! I have another question. What is the wrap on your center console trim ? It looks amazing ! Can you post a close up pic ?

The vinyl wrap I used was 3M brushed black metallic

https://www.3m.com.au/3M/en_AU/compa...4793298&rt=rud

Since then I recently had it trimmed in nappa leather like the M3.

Hope it helped you out mate

[niksss]

Originally Posted by DR-JEKL

The vinyl wrap I used was 3M brushed black metallic

https://www.3m.com.au/3M/en_AU/compa...4793298&rt=rud

Since then I recently had it trimmed in nappa leather like the M3.

Hope it helped you out mate

Thanks a lot mate ! Your car look awesome, I love it.

[DR-JEKL]

As per usual like all mods I’ve had done the trimmer is taking forever to do my Velo race seats! What was supposed to be two weeks has turned into more like 2 months…

They’re supposed to be ready this week now…

So in preparation since I’d sold my fox red M3 seats F&R I was debating to do a rear seat delete or buy a black rear seat. A DIY rear seat delete would turn out pretty shabby, especially since I’d spend up big on the race seats, so a professionally trimmed rear seat delete in alcantara would be $1500+ IMO. Also Ive had my rear seats laid flat before and I’d noticed a fair amount of exhaust boom in the cabin. On long trips this could be annoying, so I decided to bite the bullet and buy a rear M3 seat in black nappa.

The frustrating thing with this is that most wreckers don’t want to sell the rear only, they want to sell complete interior (F&R seats and door trims) and one wrecker wanted $1200 for his rear seat… I’d found one on ebay usa a while ago for cheap but it was sold and come across another for ~ $500 AUD landed.

Considering the E92 is a compact car, most rear seats don’t get used that much, so typically the soft nappa leather which can crush and wear quite poorly if not maintained is in good condition as they’re not used. This seat was filthy dirty and had a few impressions left in the seat, which can be improved and almost entirely removed with lots of patience and a hairdryer/heat.

I’ve always been keen to try leatherique, so decided for this project I’d use it to restore these seats. Typically for most leather cleaning systems you use the leather cleaner first, then you condition the leather with a conditioner which gives it some moisture and that nice soft feel.

With the leatherique the system is reversed you apply the rejuvenator oil first. What the rejuvenator does is draw out all the contaminants from the leather via capillary action to the surface. They also recommend that you place the car outside in the sun with the windows closed in a high humidity environment for a few days (they recommend 25+ Deg C) as this opens the pores of the leather right up so that it can both soak up the rejuvenator oil, and also draw out the contaminants.

Since these weren’t installed in my car I had them in my garage for 4 days and fortunately we had a series of 30+ Deg C days.

After they had been left for 4 days, you then apply the prestine clean which removes the oily gunk from the surface leaving behind a beautiful like new matt finish and a really nice soft supple surface.

This system is quite expensive and requires a lot of work (I was sweating my arse off in the heat whilst removing the oil) but its by far the best results I’ve achieved on leather.

FWIW you can buy these products locally online from carcareproducts.

So now the rear seats are ready for install, hopefully the trimmer can deliver on his word and have them ready by the end of this week!

[DR-JEKL]

So its been 2+ months since I’d had the front bar and bonnet resprayed to remove all the stone chips. I’d waited this long as the paint needs to fully gas out and cure before paint protection film (PPF) can be applied.

I’d intended to have PPF applied on the car when I had the car resprayed 2 years ago, but whilst I was waiting for the paint to cure a drive day had popped up. I’d had my car in paintshop for 3 months, so was keen AF to go for a drive. I ended up going and got a big arse stone chip on my bonnet…



Talking to the PPF guy he said I could repair it but it will most likely stick out, Id be best to ultimately respray the bonnet (had a few other defects also) so my plan was not to worry about PPF I’d get it done after a few more years. The paint got hammered in Tassie had a dozen + chips, so I decided to get the bar and bonnet resprayed and then wait it out and have the PPF applied.

PPF brands these days is 3M Suntek and XPEL. I’d gotten a few prices and some of the big name Co’s in Sydney were very expensive, and since they work on high $ cars they need to charge this to cover their liabilities when working on exotica’s on a frequent basis.

Fortunately a local co to me who’s been in business for 30+ years uses suntek and were much cheaper. Suntek and 3M from my research are the ‘best’ and suntek offer a 10 year warranty with their ultra film. So I’ve decided to go with the suntek ultra (the cheaper suntek film had 5 years)
The PPF these days have improved exponentially in the last 5 years, no more yellowing with age, and are self healing. So if they get swirls or fine scratches you can apply a hairdryer to the section and the defect self heals (or in Australia having the car outside in the sun will provide the same result) then of course the PPF not only provides protection from stone chips, it can also save the paint from damage in an car park abrasion scenario (say you were to accidentally brush up against another car or a Armco etc) in this scenario the PPF is ruined but once the PPf is removed it can potentially save your paint.

So yesterday I spent most of the day prepping the paint for PPF to ensure it was 100% perfect with no buffer marks. The painter had done a great job really I could only spot a few minor defects so simply just used a scholl S30+ finishing compound on a lake country CCS blue pad (fine cut for removing fine defects) then finished off with carpro essence plus on a lake country black pad (both no cut essentially just for added gloss)

So once the PPF is applied It’ll be great to have that piece of mind that my front end wont get stone chips when going for a blap!

[Socket]

Great work on those seats Shane
You are the master when it comes to leather restoration and cleaning ... amazing

[Aus335iguy]

How much would you charge me to do my seats?

[DR-JEKL]

Originally Posted by Socket

Great work on those seats Shane
You are the master when it comes to leather restoration and cleaning ... amazing

It's an easy DIY mate, highly reccomend doing them to your M3 seats if you can leave them in the sun for a few days (some guys say on their daily's they slip plastic bag over drivers seat if they need to drive the car)

Originally Posted by Aus335iguy

How much would you charge me to do my seats?

Lol umm no idea TBH! seriously though its an easy DIY, buy 250ml of rejuvinator and prestine cleaner and watch a few youtube videos and you'll be able to DIY

Some guys lather that oil on, but IMO you're just wasting it using too much. I'd prefer to use a small amount then do them again in another 6 months kinda thing and stretch out the contents rather then use heaps all at once. I had great results so I honestly don't feel you need to use excessive amounts.

[DR-JEKL]

Well I said goodbye to my fox red M3 seats recently, the new owner is very happy with them and whilst I gave them one last clean and leather conditioning treatment, I was amazed at how soft & supple the leather is after 11 years. (I’ll sure miss the heated seats in the winter time!!)

My trimmer finally had finished my seats recently, and I had the harness hole covers painted silver which I got back and I’m pretty happy with the finished product.

Being 100% custom the seats and trimming aren’t as faultless as a factory recaro unfortunately, but compromises need to be made when you’re a big unit like myself haha



















As I mentioned previously, I wanted to go to race seats to gain a lot more headroom. To do so using normal mounts with a slider you will only gain 10-20mm, I wanted ideally 50-100mm!

Resting the seats on the planted floor mounts I'd purchased, it seems with this setup I'd gained about 30-50mm of headroom, using the VAC floor plates I'd gained approx. 75mm headroom which is great but another 10mm would be bloody awesome! So the plan is to modify the sidemounts so they bolts straight to the floor for maximum headroom.





Having the seat so low was bloody awesome, so much more room for my legs now and pedal position felt great. But the other tricky thing is not only do I need them low I need them sitting quite far back, and normally the slider overhangs the mounts when you slide them fully back..

It seems to be one step forward two back with the fixed back seat project.. IT’s been almost 6 months and I still don’t have them in lol

Since I’d sold my M3 interior I needed to decide what to do with rear seats. My first thoughts were to do a rear seat delete and get my trimmer to do a alcantara trimmed delete like the E92 M3 GTS. This would have been about $2k ish but I’d decided to just buy a nappa leather black M3 rear seat. I’d cleaned this right up but after fitment realised I was missing the ‘C’ upholstered piece that goes over the rear centre console… They were eye watering expensive to buy new, most of them on ebay were Dakota leather (has a large grain to the leather so wouldn’t match the smooth nappa) and the only m3 one I could find was the bamboo ivory leather…

I decided to buy it and use my leather dye to dye it black. After receiving it rubbed it back with 1200 to prep it for the dye and wouldn’t you know it the dye had dried up in the tin.. (I mustn’t have put the lid back on it properly last time I used it) So I ordered another lot which will be a few weeks from the UK..





I’d also decided to buy some nice F8X ///M style custom seatbelts. Ever since release of the F8X CP ///M’s I’ve really liked these belts, a nice subtle classy touch to the cabin. I had a set custom made in the USA, and since rear trims have to come out figured I’d be best to do this before the race seats go in (have to remove the seats to get the trims off)

After much head scratching I realised the trimmer in the USA had made an error… They had the stripes on the inside of the belt instead of the outside… (I was trying to fit the drivers side belt on the passenger side which had the stripe on the outside but there are tabs on the belt assembly to ensure you install drivers on drivers etc) So I was pretty gutted about that I’ll need to wait another 2-3 weeks for the belts to be replaced.. (thankfully the seller was a standup guy it admitted to his mistake and he replaced them no problems)







So once I have the leather dye and the new belts in I’ll be finally ready to install my seats!

So mounting these seats is going to be tricky. To get them so low there will be no runner (so mounted in a fixed position) and the side mounts bolted to the seats in their lowest position. Having the side mounts so low is tricky when it comes to mounting as this essentially then leaves no room for getting tools or your hands in under the seats to mount them either..

So I'll drop them off to my mechanic, who's bread and butter and his passion is for prepping and setting up race cars.

Fingers crossed he can get them mounted up low AF for me and fabricate the mounts for me.

[DR-JEKL]

Since I’d recently installed the M3 rear bench seat one thing that annoyed me was that due to the age of my car the inevitable soft touch plastic surrounding the centre console had gone sticky and gooey and looked like crap (no-one has ever sat in the rear of my car lol and it was mint when I bought it)

I decided to try and recondition it as it was $250 or so for a new one, so I stripped the soft touch plastic off by spraying with brake cleaner and using a blunt edge scraper to remove the bulk of it, then with more brake cleaner and a rag to remove the last of it. Using SCA plastic primer and Septone satin acrylic black paint it turned out much nicer. It’s not quite a perfect matte oem type look, but nevertheless it looks a lot better!







I hadn’t installed my 6 pot monobloc Brembos with F8X ///M rears and rotors as when they arrived I wasn’t 100% happy with the decals.

The blue calipers are powder coated blue, then he lays the decals down and spray clear over them and bakes them. The decals had changed hue slightly I’d wanted a bright red..



The supplier slonik mentioned to get a deep red, the best way would be to engrave the logo into the caliper and powdercoat the Brembo logo red. I was surprised he could do this, as this is essentially what I’d wanted since day 1, as I love the look of the Brembo GTR calipers!

He done a demo run for me and this convinced me to sell my current calipers and get slonik to remanufacture another set for me.

The best part about this will mean, that the logo shouldn’t change colour too much once they’re heat cycled through use and should look fresh for years to come.







Going back a few years in my build the aim was to get the following big ticket items completed:

1. Turbo & clutch upgrade
2. Downsize to forged lightweight 18” rims & AD08R tyres
3. Race seats
4. BBK F&R

These have all taken a tad longer than I had anticipated (I initially purchased near new M2 F&R brakes 12 months ago) turbo/clutch install took 6 months due to a lot of custom fabrication required for the custom turbo outlets, inlets and chargepipe, the race seats have been a 6 month project so far..

Rather than selling up back in 2017 and buying a newer car I was already too far in on my 335i and TBH I’m happy with the 335i I don’t really aspire to a RS3, A45, Golf R, M2 or to get in debt for a new M3 C63 etc..

So hopefully in the next month I’ll have all of the aforementioned items completed, as for the next 12 months I’ll be dedicating all my time and $ for this new build which is a tad more expensive than the 335i build

[Socket]

Investing in something that will increase in value..... marvellous

[DR-JEKL]

Originally Posted by Socket

Investing in something that will increase in value..... marvellous

If I'd had bought a R34 GTR like i was going to rather then a 335i that would have been an appreciating asset also

[Coupes33]

The seats look excellent Shane. The main thing is they are comfortable and suit your driving position.

[donR]

If you're house build is anything like your E92 build then really looking forward to seeing that!

[Coupes33]

Hi Shane. How are your front seats going? Also, what are the specs on the Ohlin coilovers and springs.

[DR-JEKL]

Originally Posted by Coupes33

Hi Shane. How are your front seats going? Also, what are the specs on the Ohlin coilovers and springs.

Hi Ken

I dont have the seats in was waiting for replacement belts, when i got those in my mechanic was book solid preparing his own car and a few customer cars for aus timeattack held at wakefield.

Since he got back he's also been book solid, he had a cancellation and messaged me over the weekend to say he'll slot me in over the next week or so.

With the BBK slonik said 3-4 weeks its almost been 7 weeks for that, he does nice work but yeah he's slow..

What specs are you seeking on the ohlins? My ohlins are to suit a M3 as I run full M3 driveline (Sans engine trans of course) so have M3 hubs brakes shocks.

The ohlins for M3 have stiffer springs compared to the non ///M ohlins which bolt in for the 335i, (Which are more suitable for aggressive driving whereas the 335i ohlins springs are on the softer side...)

[Coupes33]

Originally Posted by DR-JEKL

Hi Ken

I dont have the seats in was waiting for replacement belts, when i got those in my mechanic was book solid preparing his own car and a few customer cars for aus timeattack held at wakefield.

Since he got back he's also been book solid, he had a cancellation and messaged me over the weekend to say he'll slot me in over the next week or so.

With the BBK slonik said 3-4 weeks its almost been 7 weeks for that, he does nice work but yeah he's slow..

What specs are you seeking on the ohlins? My ohlins are to suit a M3 as I run full M3 driveline (Sans engine trans of course) so have M3 hubs brakes shocks.

The ohlins for M3 have stiffer springs compared to the non ///M ohlins which bolt in for the 335i, (Which are more suitable for aggressive driving whereas the 335i ohlins springs are on the softer side...)

Thanks Shane. Currently, I am playing around with the adjustment on the Koni yellows to see if I can find an adjustment that suits me before I decide to fork out $3,000+ for Ohlin coilovers.

[DR-JEKL]

I havent updated my build on a long time, been busy with house renos and building a new house!

My mechanic finally got a timeslot for me to get my race seats installed in Dec. Took a month or so and he completed them on Jan 1st(happy NY to me!)

I also had some more camber dialled in up front (-3.0) and a stage 3 LPFP installed to start tuning for E40.