Hi all!

My name is Conor, I'm 23 and live in Par, Cornwall. I have been a long time lurker of this forum after selling my Clio 182 a few years ago and looking to upgrade to something with a bit more poke. I was really keen on the S2000s, but after testing driving one without VSC (and not being able to afford one with it!) I felt that I needed a little more experience with rear wheel drive before I had one. So instead, I went for this:-



A 2007 350z, which was the last run with 313 bhp. Absolutely superb car, but the horrendous tax, <20mpg economy and impending long journeys for the Legal Practice Course in Bristol meant that it just didn't make financial sense to keep it. So I sold it in May 2016 and began searching everywhere for a E92 330d/335d to fill a gap left. In the end, I found this one in Bristol:-



Which was a 2008 E92 330d automatic, with a very very high spec. Lovely car, which has just eaten the miles the last 10 months whilst I have been travelling to Bristol every three weeks - couldn't have picked a better car for it... but sadly all that glitters is not gold and the car was very unreliable; had everything from batteries, thermostats and dampers all go wrong - all at great expense!

So I decided last month to cut my losses and put the BMW up for sale. Luckily it went quickly and I was left looking on Auto Trader, eBay and Pistonheads daily (ahem hourly ). A couple days after selling the BMW, I came across a 2004 Formula Red on Auto Trader with 67k miles. I spoke to the owner, who I think was surprised to hear from anyone having put the advert up 30 minutes earlier, and decided to make the trip up to Basingstoke a couple of days later.

There were a couple of minor things wrong with the car; the rear brake discs are heavily pitted, the front tyres are perished, the soft top has a couple of tears and the front end could do with a respray. Nonetheless, the car has been really well looked after and serviced every year. Since the previous owner has had it, he has only done 1000 miles a year and kept in his garage! So I bit the bullet and paid the money over and came away with this (and money in my pocket from the BMW ):-



Really enjoyed the drive home and every weekend since that I have had it, which so far have all been dry and sunny - talk about timing

I want to keep the car as close to OEM as possible, but would very much like to put my 'touch' on it and will probably carry out the following modifications/improvements:-1. Swap the plates over for my personalised one (done);
2. Carry out a deep clean and detail (done and will post some pictures in the next couple of days);
3. Replace the rear and possibly the front brake discs and pads. I may fit some braided lines at the same time;
4. Wheels could do with a refurb;
5. Service and MOT due in June;
6. Fit a new hood;
7. Diff and gearbox oil change and will probably replace all filters;
8. Change the stereo over;
9. Refurb steering wheel;
10. Re-spray front end;
11. Attempt to sound proof the interior (already done one trip up to Bristol, which was just about bearable!).

Thanks for reading and if you have any comments or suggestions, let me know

Conor.

UPDATE
It's been a long time since I have posted in here. I have been very busy, completing the purchase of me and my partner's first house and also revising and sitting my final exams for my first year.

Nevertheless, when I first picked up the car the first thing I needed to do was to give her a good clean. Whilst the previous owner took quite good care of it, it wasn't quite to my standard; I am very fussy when it comes to detailing!

So I started first with the interior. Here are some before pictures (I whipped the seats out for good measure):-



















I got to work with some diluted G101 and a variety of instruments from microfibre cloths to cotton ear buds for precision . Once cleaned, I protected the interior trim with Gyeon G2M Preserve Trim Dressing. The seats were cleaned with Gliptone and then protected with Gyeon Leathercoat (I think it's called that?).

During and after shots below:-













I also sprayed this stuff:-



Over the carpets and fabric as when I bought the car it had a distinct musty smell. At first, I thought this might just be because the car was kept in a garage which was damp but as you will read in my later posts it turns out the car was leaking.

With the inside done, I then moved to the exterior... more on which below.

Conor

EXTERIOR

It was the same story with the outside of the car really. I could tell that the previous owner took good car of the car; there was evidence of previous polish all over the car. However, I am stickler for perfection. After a 300 mile trip back to Cornwall, the car was a little filthy:-







(Some swirly marks in the paint)



A snap of the rag top, which had seen better days :-







So I started by gently rinsing off the soft top with the hose:-



Which despite the tatty-ness still seemed to repel water fairly well. The previous owner did supply me with some Renovo (?) which I am sure will come in handy soon. He also gave me some left over Auto Glym Soft Top Cleaner, which was worked in with soft bristle brush:-



I then rinsed it off again with the house and covered the remainder of the car with some snow foam, which was left to dwell:-



Anyone care to photoshop the brazzers logo on

Brushes were used to agitate the hard to reach areas:-





The car was rinsed off again with the pressure washer and then I used some Carpro Trix (some nasty smelling iron/tar remover). Again, the car was rinsed off afterwards as I didn't want my sponge to smell like rotten eggs!

I then cleaned the car using the usual two bucket method... no pictures taken as there is really nothing much to see! The s2k was then clayed using some Auto Finesse Glide and Bilt Hamber clay; again, no pictures but here is the clay bar after doing one of the front arches:-



Very dirty! Exhaust were also polished with some wire wool and some Autosol:-



Nothing worse than dirty cans

The car was then wiped down with some IPA to remove any previous wax and polish residue. Various areas were masked up ready for machine polishing. It was getting late by this point in the day and so pictures are limited. I also found it very difficult to capture a 50/50 with an iPhone 6 camera but I had a go:-



Overall the paint was very easy to work with, much easier than my BMW but I guess it is much softer so had to be very careful.

The car was then sealed with Auto Glym HD wax. A few afters:-







Overall I am very pleased with the bodywork/paintwork. The front bumper is showing it's age as do the wheels and so I will be looking to having painted next Spring.

Thank you for reading, your comments and suggestions are welcome

Conor.