[Socket]

Originally Posted by shannon1

Awesome.

Thanks Shannon

[Mister_Radge]

Sweet as, Socket.
I'm looking at your engine bay and scratching my head wondering why everything looks SO different to my 335i's bone-stock engine bay!
I'm sure as I learn more about the car I'll come to understand why it's all changed up. Today's lesson was on how to remove moisture from one of the front headlights after getting a bit too excited with the pressure washer. After removing the wheel and wheel trim I realised there was a cap on the top of the headlight housing, accessible from the engine bay
Shame about the corrupted videos, have you thought about a Go-Pro for this sort of thing?

[Socket]

Originally Posted by Mister_Radge

Sweet as, Socket.
I'm looking at your engine bay and scratching my head wondering why everything looks SO different to my 335i's bone-stock engine bay!
I'm sure as I learn more about the car I'll come to understand why it's all changed up. Today's lesson was on how to remove moisture from one of the front headlights after getting a bit too excited with the pressure washer. After removing the wheel and wheel trim I realised there was a cap on the top of the headlight housing, accessible from the engine bay
Shame about the corrupted videos, have you thought about a Go-Pro for this sort of thing?

Ah yep a GoPro would have been perfect. Glad you found the headlight cap, make sure the rubber seal is pushed back into place again before putting it back on, that way you will get a nice seal

[Mister_Radge]

Thanks again Socket for dropping in today to share some advice and helpful tips.
What a treat it was to get to see your 335i in the flesh, and the sound system was great, felt like I was in a completely silent cinema while the world kept going around us.
I'm sure for every person that puts a comment on this thread there are 50 others that have a read and benefit from all your hard work writing up DIY's and posting photos.

[Socket]

Originally Posted by Mister_Radge

Thanks again Socket for dropping in today to share some advice and helpful tips.
What a treat it was to get to see your 335i in the flesh, and the sound system was great, felt like I was in a completely silent cinema while the world kept going around us.
I'm sure for every person that puts a comment on this thread there are 50 others that have a read and benefit from all your hard work writing up DIY's and posting photos.

Was great to meet you too Raj. So rare to see a completely stock, manual 335i and in space grey too Such a beautiful car and mechanically in great condition which makes it even rarer. Looking forward to helping out when you get the mod bug and start on your build and thanks for your kind words, very much appreciated

[Socket]

Ever wondered what is inside your CCC, CIC or NBT headunit?
Wonder no more

I took to my spare NBT head unit with my trusty T8 torque screw driver to take a peek inside

While the CCC,CIC and NBT head units are different, they are largely based on the same design, so if you need to replace a faulty CD player or upgrade to a bigger hard drive these pic might help you out

[Socket]

[WCAR]

Finally got around to checking out your build, looks beautiful. I assume you run normal colours on your lights when driving?
Also where'd your source that front bumper? I want something like that for mine but maybe without fog light delete. Do you know if there's any rear bumpers available that go lower?

[Socket]

Originally Posted by WCAR

Finally got around to checking out your build, looks beautiful. I assume you run normal colours on your lights when driving?
Also where'd your source that front bumper? I want something like that for mine but maybe without fog light delete. Do you know if there's any rear bumpers available that go lower?

Thanks WC much appreciated
Not aware of any lower rear bumpers sorry
I got my M3 rep front bumper from eurodivision in Melbourne
Not sure if they still sell them
If not you could try Mars, who also stocked them in the past
Hope this helps

[Socket]

[Socket]

Have had a couple dings in the paintwork that have been bugging me for a while now. Finally got them fixed by Ben from Revive Panel Solutions. Ben is a mobile panel beater and was able to fix up my rear bumper and the patch job on my front fender for a fraction of the cost of taking it into a shop. Did a great job too. Unfortunately I cant get the car into the garage so the only option he had was to do the job on the street which is not ideal but worked out fine, using super fast drying paint.

Pic below

Pic 1 - Damage on rear bumper
Pic 2 - Patch job on front fender
Pics 3 to 7 - Guys from Revive Panel Solutions doing their stuff
Pics 8 & 9 - Rear bumper done
Pic 10 - Front fender done

[shannon1]

Wow that is freaking awesome job for at home and outdoors.

[Socket]

Originally Posted by shannon1

Wow that is freaking awesome job for at home and outdoors.

Yep I was a bit concerned about dirt and contaminates, but the paint they use dries in like 90 seconds or something crazy. Is never going to be as good as a full respray in a paint booth, but looks pretty good for a repair job.

[Aus335iguy]

Car looks back to brand new Socks !


If anyone knows of a similarly talented and priced tradesman in Sydney ....

[Socket]

Originally Posted by Aus335iguy

Car looks back to brand new Socks !


If anyone knows of a similarly talented and priced tradesman in Sydney ....

Thanks Aus... just need to do something about all that condensation in the drivers side headlight now

[Coupes33]

Looks like a quality job Socks. It used to be a challenge getting the correct matching colour on the bumpers because of the plastic but yours look great.

[BimmerLif3]

clean

[Socket]

Originally Posted by Coupes33

Looks like a quality job Socks. It used to be a challenge getting the correct matching colour on the bumpers because of the plastic but yours look great.

Thanks Coupes

[Socket]

Removing condensate from headlights

So in my last post I mentioned that my headlights were full of condensate and needed some attention. With the mornings getting colder, the problem was only getting worse and it was only a matter of time before it shorts out the headlight ballast etc. So time to take off the front bumper and get the headlights out

With the headlights out, it was easy to see where the water was getting in. The was a 3 - 4 mm gaps between the lens and housing. On both the passenger and drivers side headlight. The clips were all in place and fitted properly but just looked like the sealant had shrunk (or not enough had been used when the lights were assembled ) Regardless they needed to be dried out and resealed with new butyl.

So into off with the covers and into the oven (100C for 10 mins), then a new bead of sealant and a quick pressure test (aka blasting with the garden hose) .

No leaks, so all good to reinstall..... problem fixed and good for at least another 50,000 km

Pics below

Pic 1 - Condensate in headlight
Pic 2 - Bumper and headlights removed
Pic 3 - That's a fair bit of water in there
Pics 4 & 5 - Pretty sure this is where the water is getting in
Pic 6 - Water in the headlight ballast
Pics 7 & 8 - All sealed up with new sealant
Pic 9 - Pressure tested and all good to reinstall
Pic 10 - Job done

[Coupes33]

Great job Socks.

[Socket]

Originally Posted by Coupes33

Great job Socks.

cheers Coupes... always something to do

[jzx_andy]

Good work Socks.

How do you rate the AD08R's?