g8jka - 2.0 Progress Journal - Time to say Goodbye

[t-tony]

So the zed has been back on the road now since June 1st and I've loved every minute of being back in it after so many months without it. I have done a few more things to it this year and a few at the end of last year.

I got a bit bored of the carbon fibre additions made to the interior and after seeing a couple of members brushed steel versions I decided it was time for a change. Not sure if I like it as much as the carbon fibre though so next time its out I think it could be getting changed.

Centre console

Steering wheel tabs

Door card inserts

Added some ///M pedals which I've had for 18 months (hope the ///M police don't get me)

August last year it had new discs, pads and handbrake shoes all round and 2 new front calipers. All calipers were changed from red to blue paint (forgot to update this!) and new locking bolts plus some smoked chrome bolt covers and new badges to replace the fading ones

I was never happy with the colour changing angel eyes purely because the white setting was always more blue than white, so I fitted a set of E36 SMD LED ones (trimmed to fit like the old ones) which look much better and are extremely bright

As the ///M badge was filled in on the side vents it always looked a bit bare, so I added some decals in the same colour as the calipers

A mod I have wanted for a while, was a stainless steel backbox, mainly for a better noise and a some nice looking tips. Had one fitted to the old system from a place called proflow at the cost of £140. I went for 2, 3" staggered tips to follow the lines of the bumper like the OEM pipes do. Sound wise it is not much louder than the standard system on idle or driving around town, but does rumble a lot more when you put your foot down. It also fits better against the aero bumper and the tips don't look lost anymore

Following Yaldens old mods to the rear with the aero bumper and US spec number plate holder, I managed to source one off another member and trimmed, sprayed and fitted it to allow me to run the short 5 digit plate. And I got my rear view camera put into the aero bumper

And it got a new oil and fuel filter plus fresh oil last Saturday (09/07/16) at 135108 miles, ready for Taffzees Welsh cruise on Sunday

Monday was time to get it looking nice and shiny again

If all goes to plan there will be a major update at the weekend with this little zeds future.

Don't worry about the ///M police, I had no calls over my pedals Your car looks stunning, not too sure about the console, I think I agree with you, darker looks nicer than bright finish.

Tony.

 

[Jack Ratt]

Looks superb

 

[g8jka]

Well its been a great 6 years with this lovely little zed and it has give me some great fun and also memories. It's been a fantastic car over the years and never given me any major problems along the way and I've had so much fun tinkering with it, modding it and keeping it serviced and maintained. Also I have loved attending the shows and meeting other enthusiasts along the way, but unfortunately its time to let it go. I need a few weeks to sort things out and it will be put completely back to standard and then get advertised for sale. I will be very sad to see it go and probably shed a few tears!

Don't panic though, I won't be leaving the zed community any time soon. I haven't really been looking for anything else and thought I would be keeping the 2.0 forever, until yesterday when this happened

Its a 2000 2.8 with 97000 on the clock. 2 owners, although the last one only did 400 miles in it and had to sell it due to ill health. Just been through an MOT with a couple of advisories on the front brake discs and it's had 4 new tyres. It is basic and nowhere near the standard I'm used to but it will hopefully give me years more pleasure tinkering and improving it, plus its silver so my aero bumper / rieger lip and hardtop will go straight on it. I've always wanted a faster one but the 2.0 was the biggest engine I could afford at the time, seeing the price of the 3.0's go up in price recently I thought the 2.8 was a more valuable option. There's plenty of options out there at the moment and most with this spec (not a lot) and mileage are advertised for around 3 - 3.5K, 99% of them are pre-facelift although these are probably more sought after than the facelift. Anyway I picked this one up for the sum of just £1700 and that's even with a hardtop fitting kit, not a bad deal I reckon.

 

[t-tony]

You scored a winner there without doubt. Well done!

Tony.

 

[andyglym]

I think £1700 is a steal. Great job

 

[Antm72]

Looking forward to your new progress thread

 

[Althulas]

Nice find, going to be a busy boy swapping all your bits over

 

[DavidM]

Another project - another interesting outcome?

 

[Carl Latham]

Looks nice chap. Be good to see when the modding starts and the eventual outcome.