ATortolanni's 330xi Progress Thread

So I picked up my 2003 330xi in late August of 2011 with 140k on it. Auto, Steel Blue on black, style 73's and a pretty good looking tint. This thread's to keep track of "The Blue"'s progress. I know the process is going to be slow because I'm paying my way through college with not too much money to work with . I'd love some feedback, tips and suggestions along the way. But here we go...

August:
The day I picked her up, wet and dirty... the guy before me had HID's in halogen housings. No projectors and fogs are still halogen.


Cleaned up a little...

Fast forward to January:

I wanted the shadowline window trim look, so I decided to give vinyl wrapping it a go. I figured if it didn't work out, it would be easily reversible. It may have just been the worlds most expensive roll of electrical tape (shadowlinetape.com), but I think it came out pretty good. It was pretty cheap considering, took a bit of time, but looks pretty nice.


Also some matte black grills from JLeviSW:


The new look:


Next on the agenda are clear corners/sides and R/C/R tails.

super nice work ! A close up pics will be appreciated.

next is to slamm it...see sig lol

Originally Posted by xi_chee

next is to slamm it...see sig lol

i'd love to...eventually haha. i've also been planning to do your projector retrofit. i've had enough of the HID's in halogen housings.

looks great so far..next project should be to paint the silver headlight insert black

Originally Posted by Studdly_Studright

looks great so far..next project should be to paint the silver headlight insert black

I'll be doing that real soon. Do you guys paint the center of the housing in between the two lights? in other words the side of the "bowl" that's silver?

The blue was hit in the back while she was parked earlier this week...not too happy. There was damage to the bumper, quarter panel above and below the taillight, and the trunk lid. It's going into the shop on Monday. A taillight was shattered so I decided to grab Euro R/C/Rs and clear corners/sides with stealth bulbs while I was at it.

While it was in the garage for the past few days I painted (well, plasti-dipped) the headlight trim and that looks great. I'm not too thrilled with my lighting as it is right now (HIDs in halogen housings, regular halogen DRL's/high beams/fog lights)...nothing really matches. My plan is eventually to go projectors/angel eyes but not for a while, and I have no intentions of doing HID fogs, but I wanted something that wouldn't be halogen-y in contrast to the HIDs...so I decided I was gonna give yellow fog bulbs a shot (Nokya 2500k Hyper Yellow, I liked the look but didn't want to use film), as well as some Khoalty 7500k hyperwhite halogen bulbs for my DRL's/high beams. I figured at least the DRLs would be a little closer to the HIDs and there wouldn't be so much contrast.

Crazy week. Many pics following of before and after damage, black headlight trim, euro tails/corners/sides, and new bulbs.

thread should be named 'spot the difference'

Originally Posted by YGOAMG

thread should be named 'spot the difference'

in a little while when I'm driving an incredibly done steel blue 330xi around we can all look back to page 1 and smile at this.

Originally Posted by ATortolanni

in a little while when I'm driving an incredibly done steel blue 330xi around we can all look back to page 1 and smile at this.

Im happy with that..

Quote me aswell!!


90% of these so called 'Build Threads" pretty much stop after some pathetic AE's, gauge rings, LED lights and POS CF badges!

Originally Posted by ATortolanni

I'll be doing that real soon. Do you guys paint the center of the housing in between the two lights? in other words the side of the "bowl" that's silver?

the insert slides out in one piece just paint the whole thing

March 2012:

After being backed into, Reliable Collision in West Warwick RI did an excellent job. Took a few more days than I expected but the results were well worth it.

She's back with R/C/Rs and I'll be doing clear corners and sides this weekend.

Before:


After:

looks good, GL with the progress, sorry for the hater above, we aren't all like that

Originally Posted by simsima325

sorry for the hater above, we aren't all like that

Plasti-dipped my headlight trim black. Also installed clear corners and sides. I have stealth bulbs and amber ones but I actually liked the look of the egg yolk amber. I figured I could always switch em out later.



Mean and clean:


R/C/Rs and sides:


Also installed my hyper-white halogen DRLs/High beams. Although still not 6000k-looking, theyre much closer to my HIDs and when the high beams are on, the contrast isn't so obvious.

Its getting there!

gotta love that xi ride height! welcome and good luck with the rest of your mods. why didnt you go m-tech two for the bumper when it was hit?

Originally Posted by wdeerfield

gotta love that xi ride height! welcome and good luck with the rest of your mods. why didnt you go m-tech two for the bumper when it was hit?

+1 Such a perfect time to upgrade. The stock rear is so uninteresting.

Originally Posted by wdeerfield

gotta love that xi ride height! welcome and good luck with the rest of your mods. why didnt you go m-tech two for the bumper when it was hit?

this

Originally Posted by wdeerfield

gotta love that xi ride height! welcome and good luck with the rest of your mods. why didnt you go m-tech two for the bumper when it was hit?

My OCD made me want to wait so I can go m-tech II all around all at once.

Starting to look like a Fanatic.