Nimraynn Posted February 16, 2013 Report Share Posted February 16, 2013 I've owned my 323Ci for three weeks now and very happy with it. Already done a few small mods to it with plenty planned. I just can't leave cars alone Gave it a good clean up today and went to take some photos Mods I've done so far: Carbon fibre effect bonnet badge (The original one was chipped and flaked and looked terrible!) Smoked side repeaters Centre armrest (£16 from eBay ) White SMD sidelight, numberplate and interior lights I've also cleaned up the rear lights as the seals had perished, so thanks to a guide on here, they're looking nice again. Mods planned: Wheels of some sort. Very, very, very tempted by Trickster's CSL reps. The ones I've got are alright, but I'm not overly keen on them. M-Sport bumpers Projector headlamps with angel eyes & 6000k HIDs Black or carbon kidneys Black or carbon window weather strips Stereo upgrade of some sort. Upgraded exhaust. Nothing too loud, just something that sounds a bit nicer than the stock one. I'll more than likely be heading to AmD Tuning for this. Eibach Prokit springs, maybe. Private plate That's it for now, but if anyone knows me from other forums (Astra Owners Network, mainly), you'll know that is hugely subject to change I'll be keeping this thread updated as things change Thanks for looking, Mike RickyZ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay. Posted February 16, 2013 Report Share Posted February 16, 2013 Nice progress mike & great shots too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubberduckzilla Posted February 16, 2013 Report Share Posted February 16, 2013 Looking good mate!! Needs some wheels tho definitely!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickyZ Posted February 16, 2013 Report Share Posted February 16, 2013 I would def get my wheels Also consider Eibach Sportlines, looks very good in the pics though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozz 318ci Posted February 16, 2013 Report Share Posted February 16, 2013 Great snaps! Looks very clean! Standard wheels suit it very well IMO! Fantastic pictures though definitely! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iluminusbutterfly Posted February 16, 2013 Report Share Posted February 16, 2013 Very nice, looks like mine when I got it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aly Posted February 17, 2013 Report Share Posted February 17, 2013 Great pics Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob_ Posted February 17, 2013 Report Share Posted February 17, 2013 Wicked pictures, keep them comin! Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
320D sparky Posted February 17, 2013 Report Share Posted February 17, 2013 As above, loving the pics! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schumacher Posted February 17, 2013 Report Share Posted February 17, 2013 Great car and pics. Keep the style 44s, they suit it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimraynn Posted February 17, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 17, 2013 Cheers guys. I guess the wheels are a bit of a marmite thing then.. I didn't like them when I first saw them. They've grown in me a little, and I'll admit they do suit it... They just haven't grown on me enough to want to keep them. Too much face for my liking... I will probably keep the 17's as winter wheels to be honest, but for the most part, I'll be changing them RickyZ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenkus28 Posted February 17, 2013 Report Share Posted February 17, 2013 (edited) Nice looking car mate.I would say keep the wheels or if changing get MV2s. Also get a Multifunctional steering wheel makes the interior a bit more modern Using the best phablet ever Edited February 18, 2013 by Kenkus28 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimraynn Posted March 6, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2013 (edited) So a few small bits I've done... Firstly, thanks to Jay-, I bought this sliding grey cubby: I really dislike chrome, so I set about getting rid of the chrome grilles by painting them gloss black: Unfortunately though it appears I broke all but one of the clips on the drivers side grille, so it likes to pop out about half an inch as and when it pleases and won't stay put... so I've bit the bullet and just bought a set of new black ones on eBay. Waiting for them to be delivered. I didn't do this originally as I wanted gloss black and couldn't find any gloss ones without paying silly money, but they've come out a sort of satin look in the end and I quite like it, so gone for them... Also bought a set of CCFL angel eyes: But typically knowing my luck, one of the rings didn't work: Got a replacement sent through and received it yesterday so got them all fitted Sorted out the boot light with a set of SMDs on both sides: Bought a spoiler off eBay as well. Just a boot lip style one, but I don't trust myself to paint it as its a bit of a flexible material it's made of, so needs to be bent to fit the lines of the boot lid, which I don't trust myself to do... so will get a bodyshop to paint it up and fit it when I can: I am also the stig: I think that's it for now Edited March 6, 2013 by Nimraynn keep-3 and The_Judge_ 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay. Posted March 6, 2013 Report Share Posted March 6, 2013 Glad the cubby went to a good home! Its been collecting dust since i wrote my 330 off Your making good progress with this mate, i want CCFL angels next Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimraynn Posted March 6, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2013 I plan to use the sliding section to make a sort of hidden iPhone dock type thing that hooks up to the stereo, as and when I get an aftermarket stereo fitted. Thought I might as well get it sorted while there is one available than wait until I come to do it I haven't got round to cleaning it up yet, but I'll wait until the weekend for that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg320d Posted March 6, 2013 Report Share Posted March 6, 2013 That looks really nice mate. Where was the rear light cleaning guide? Yours look really good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimraynn Posted March 6, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2013 Guide was here, but I see you've found it: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg320d Posted March 6, 2013 Report Share Posted March 6, 2013 Yeah nice one mate thank you. If you don't like chrome, check out my progress thread as I'm trying to gloss everything ha ha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Proffitt Posted March 7, 2013 Report Share Posted March 7, 2013 Great progress Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mit Posted March 7, 2013 Report Share Posted March 7, 2013 Looks like your car has a broken suspension spring, might be the angle of the road though. Really nice pics apart from that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimraynn Posted March 7, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 7, 2013 Looks like your car has a broken suspension spring, might be the angle of the road though. Which pic or side of the car are we looking at? I think I know which one you mean and I think that's just the way the photos been taken... but you've got me worried now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mit Posted March 7, 2013 Report Share Posted March 7, 2013 This one: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimraynn Posted March 7, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 7, 2013 (edited) Hmm, not the one I was thinking of... Looking closely at it, I can't see a lot wrong but are we thinking drivers side? I'll see if I can get under it at the weekend to take a look. Looks slightly off but I'm not sure? Edited March 7, 2013 by Nimraynn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimraynn Posted April 12, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 12, 2013 Right, bit of an update on this... Had an absolute nightmare doing this but I'm very nearly there now! Bought a set of coilovers, second hand but only been on the car for 6 months supposedly. Seem in good nick, everything looks all OK. So over the easter weekend, I drove up to a mates house in North London who offered to give me a hand, along wtih a few other people who were going to be up there as well. So we got cracking on the fronts, one of the guys in the arch: Got them out, swapped the top mounts off the standard setup onto the coilovers and bolted it all back up. First issue, I left the coils all the way down to see how low it really was, and also to just make sure everything was sound before we started adjusting them. Lowered it on the jack and got our first issue: Car is now too low to actually get the jack out We had to get the BMW jack out the boot, raise the back a bit to lift the front enough to slip the jack out. Once we'd done that, we realised something was rubbing. Jacked it all back up again and when we took the wheel off, we noticed that the adjuster was rubbing on the back of the alloy as there was a very thin layer of metal shaved from the back of the alloy. Nothing major, but clearly this was where the issue was... As a temporary measure, we decided to jack the adjusters all the way up so it brought it back to roughly standard ride height so that it was drivable until I could get some spacers. We did this, but now the rubbing noises had stopped but it still didn't feel right. When jacked up it spun fine, but when down on the floor, we put it on full lock and we could see the adjuster was still rubbing but this time on the tyre. Just a matter of time before that caught properly and ripped the tyre. So we abandoned it in the corner of my mates cul-de-sac for a few days while I ordered some spacers. Set of 15mm Hubcentric spacers ordered from JJC Race & Rally on recommendation from a member here. Requested express delivery and they were on my door step at 10am the very next morning: Popped back up to my mates place on the train armed with the spacers. Got them fitted: Pokes out quite nicely now (I know the cambers off, not sorted tracking yet as it's not completely finished and not being driven). More importantly though, it now clears the adjusters quite nicely. You can very easily slip your fingers between the tyre and the adjuster. Or at least I can, I don't have sausage fingers though Took it for a spin though and it was knocking like an absolute b*****d. Mainly from the passenger side. After a quick check over, we couldn't work it out but didn't have any expert eyes with us and it was too late to get it to a garage to check it over. After a lot of umming and arring, I took the risk of a very slow drive home through Central London and down the A2 into Kent. Really didn't want to, but didn't have many options. It was either dump it on my mates driveway with no decent way of getting home and not be able to get back to it for at least a week... or drive it home... Got it home, seemed alright, was just over potholes and the odd bump that it knocked, but in general it felt alright... Spoke to a few mates who suggested the top mounts might not be as tight as they could be... so I went to check this, realised I didn't have the tools for the central nut as I left those at my mates place, but thought I'd just quickly check the three outer nuts before I popped out to get some tools. Annoyingly, I did two of them, all seemed OK. Third one, tiny nip moved it and then the whole bolt just snapped. No major pressure or anything, but it just snapped off in my hand So off to BMW, new top mounts ordered. Got a pair as two new is better than one new and one old. Not bad for £66 from the main dealer I guess. Full "repair kit" so comes with all the nuts and washers. So after much fun actually jacking the car up on my ever so slightly sloped driveway, we stuck it on the road, still had trouble with the trolley jack but managed to get it up on the BMW jack, supported by an axle stand at the front... Took the struts out, swapped the top mounts over, and all back together again and now the fronts are 99% sorted. It drives nicely again now, no knocking, etc. It is just ever so slightly drunk (can't quite see it properly in the pictures). The drivers side is marginally lower than the passenger side, despite us being pretty confident that the adjusters matched on both sides... but I've left it on the driveway agan for today and tomorrow, I'll get it back up and do some tweaking to get it level. I need to jack it up a tad as well as the mudguard scrapes on some speed humps, so want to give it a tiny bit better clearance... but otherwise, well happy. Here are some pics. Last one is next to my mate's lowered Astra H, just to show how low this really is. He used to tease us about our cars looking like 4x4's in comparison to his. Now the tables have turned So after all that trouble, we're now half way through the job. We haven't even started the rears, other than fitting the spacers on the rear. Hopefully the rears aren't going to cause us as much hassle. We're going to tackle this tomorrow, then hopefully we'll still have time to get the tracking sorted at a garage and we should be all good I'm beginning to wish I never started though The_Judge_ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimraynn Posted April 13, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 13, 2013 Got the coilovers sorted today, finally. Finished up about 7pm so still needs tracking done, but we're all sorted. May just need some slight adjustment though as I was persuaded to put the rears all the way down, but when I did this, the rear bottomed out on a speed hump, so we raised it up a bit. May need raising a tad more at the back. Front seems alright, but the rubber mud guards under the bumper do catch on occasion. I'll see how it goes when I go to work as we have some mahoosive speed humps round there. Not looking forward to that... Pics though: Need to get the arches rolled I reckon to prevent it rubbing at all, but also as I want to get a set of staggered 18's on it which more than likely ain't gonna fit very well without rolled arches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
