4.8 IS Conversion Questions

[jevansio]

Buggar. Will have to think hard before fitting the eibach springs

[jevansio]

Both bumpers are now getting sprayed, I opted to buy the arches from Latvia (I cant be bothered to wait for an OEM set to come up and those BMW ones mentioned are just the Le Mans ones anways IIRC).

But also bought these tips:




They are I believe the exact dimensions of the BMW with a slash cut, and also have the nice rounded rectangle look as opposed to a lozenge.  £60 the pair

[SMOKEY]

Love your work mate. I reckon the eibach springs will finish the job nicely.


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[jevansio]

Well i took today off to fit the bumpers but the paintshop still isn't finished with them so i went to my mates and got him to weld my fake tips on

i was gonna make them removable but in the end welded them to the fake exhaust section to make them secure

pic of the fake section on the silencer



this was then sprayed and the tip welded onto it



Finally sprayed the inside of the tip black to help protect then weld & make it look more like a used system lol




PS thanks smokey, I'm slowly coming round to thinking the springs might look good, once the kit is on I'll take some side pics to see how it looks

[bamberjim]

Looking good

[SMOKEY]

That's a nice touch, there! Where did you end up getting your tips? And did too have much trouble getting them centred in the exhaust cut outs?


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[jevansio]

Thanks guys.  I got them off ebay, search for lotus exhaust tip.  No trouble centering the fake pipe was a tad smaller diameter so once it was welded on we could still tweak position before the final weld. Hth jay

[SMOKEY]

Link me up brother - couldn't find them. I'm on Oz so our eBay searches are diff.


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[jevansio]

Here you go bud : http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LOTUS-ELAN-EL ... 2a2c12ad04

So I got the bumpers back and got them fitted, boy were the 5 screws underneath hard to get off, had to grind them off! anyways here's a collection of pics:









Really pleased with how its coming along, I sprayed the kidney grills matt black too.  Love the Olivine colour too, looks almost gunmetal with a hint of bronze, dont think i've seen another one with the 4.8 kit on my seacrhes.  I also started to test fit the copy arches, they're gonna take a bit of fettling tbh, gonna keep an eye on ebay incase any real ones come up as even if i fit these copies i will replace them if i can.  On that subject, these copy ones look a lot like the le-mans ones ie they seem to stop where that strip runs along the side of the doors, do the real 4.8 ones which come as a full arch do that?

Also any opinons on whether it needs a 30mm drop?  I think it looks OK, maybe needs 10mm or so?  If I fit the springs is it going to massively increase wear on the rear?

Jay

[Sanj]

Think you've done a cracking job there and in so little time!

It will look really good lowered (not sure who posted the old pic of the US car with the same alloys as yours and lowered). That was what I was gonna go for - alas...

Don't go too crazy on te ride height as it will one, look sh!t, two, play havoc with the tyre wear and three, give you an awful ride. Remember it's a 4x4.

But a bloody good looking one so far.

PS - Was just curious and looked on eBay for 'is' bumpers and can't believe the F15 bumpers are already out there. Suppose some had to have a fender bender so soon...

[jevansio]

Many thanks mate,

Yeah I posted that pic, I've photo shopped a 30mm drop and it looks good )nowhere near as low as the one I posted) so I guess it will give it the nice stance I'm looking for.

[jevansio]

Well I've tried fitting the latvian arches and made my mind up I'm gonna wait for some oem ones to appear on ebay. My ocd can't cope with the fact they aren't a 100% fit. Ill be putting them up for sale for anyone who has the ability to make them fit.

[kkx5]

[quote="kkx5"]
Don't go cheap route... Latvian stuff is ok for vw golf but no for x5.. Get body kit from 4.6 or 4.8,  its same. Front bumper must be from 4.8. I got that one for £170.    i've been searching for geniune parts for a year.  Give yourself time...
[/quote]

Told you...

[briankerrys47]

A[quote="kkx5"]
[quote="kkx5"]
Don't go cheap route... Latvian stuff is ok for vw golf but no for x5.. Get body kit from 4.6 or 4.8,  its same. Front bumper must be from 4.8. I got that one for £170.    i've been searching for geniune parts for a year.  Give yourself time...
[/quote]

Told you...
[/quote]Cough,Cough. O:-) O:-)

[shadrack]

get an offer in

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/28567-BMW-X5- ... 462d006a07