Here is my GMG project page.....
Purchased Aug 2013 - 2006 (55 Plate) Gun Metal Grey with 78k on the clocks. Not a GT but not the base package. (When I gave the dealers the VIN they said “its not base model, it is option 2â€)
My Zed was In a bit of a state when I purchased it, it had been stood for a year with the drivers seat air bag deployed. It was parked at the back of a garage ½ mile away. As it was under a fur tree for so long it was covered in green slime.
The mechanics tried to resolve the intermittent SRS light by cutting out the yellow plugs, at some point the drivers air bag was triggered (probably the mechanic testing with a multimeter). The garage had made no effort to sell it for over a year, it just sat there un-moved.
I was driving out looking at various Zeds and didn’t know this one was right near my house! Whilst the above seems pretty bad, I could see the potential in the car. It came with a spare set of seats and I found the yellow cut out airbag plugs in the back. It had Vredestein Ultrac Sessanta tyres with about 6-7mm, virtually brand new disks and pads all round. The wheels had all been completely stripped and refurbished. I seemed to have all the GT kit excluding the Rays. It was a 2006 model and built 2 weeks before the tax increase. FSH with dealers and I also had the address of the previous owner so I could chat with him about any problems it may have.
I didn’t get much of a deal as you would expect having no MOT etc, but being really close to me and without insurance, Tax and MOT I could easily get it home and work on it as a project. So instead of trying to drive around and get a slightly better deal I just bit the bullet and bought it. He wouldn’t budge much on the price as he claimed it owed him 9k last year. I got it for £6600 with a free MOT when it was ready.
After a weekend of cleaning and hard work, I refitted the airbag yellow plugs properly and changed the airbag in the drivers seat. It was ready for the MOT and passed with no advisors.
At last I got it on the road!
Current Modifications included:
Quick shift unit fitted – No details on this apart from that it included more than just a shortened gear shift and was imported from the USA
Front and Rear Parking sensors (Rear is mounted at the top of the boot so can be seen in mirror when reversing) Front was located on top of the dial.
Parrot CK3100 Hands Free Kit (Not working)
iPod dock in the cubby hole.
Chrome edging was placed over grill fronts
The first things I wanted to do was to try and modernise the look a little.
The normal key I replaced with a Flip Key from ebay.
The wiper blades looked a little dated so I bought some “Aero†wipers from ebay.
When I swapped over the blades I noticed that the wiper arm bases were heavily oxidised/corroded – I removed these rubbed them down and sprayed them in Matt black.
Next I looked at the lighting.
I replaced the side lights with LEDs, and replaced the side repeaters with orange LEDs from ebay
Next I replaced the Interior bulbs with LEDs. Much brighter and whiter.
Rear number plate lights replaced with LEDs
The back of the car didn’t look symmetrical with that red fog light. After finding the oven trick on here I removed the rear fog light lens and replaced with a red LED. Vast improvement.
All four orange indicator lamps we replaced with silver/chrome bulbs
The wheels looked too far inset. While im currently sticking with these wheels I had to get spacers. Managed to get a set of month old spacers from XXX. Eibach 20/25mm Spacers fitted.
The silver covers on the grill had to go. I removed these and sprayed the front lower bumper and the grill in PlastiDip.
While I was sorting out the bumper, I removed the drooping lower lip. I sanded down the scratches and sprayed again with PlastiDip. Then reattached it correctly.
Next I needed to have some kind of phone kit. I had a look at the Parrot CK3100 kit which wasn’t working, completely dead. After a hour of lying upside down following wires and removing the radio / centre area found it was actually located behind passenger lower dash area. Found that the whole panel came out. I kept blowing fuses and the main brain unit smelt of burnt PCD so that came out and I took the stereo back to standard wiring. While I was there I removed the iPod Cradle Kit as I don’t have an iPod.
11) I moved the front parking sensor from the top of the dash to inside the cubby unit for now as it looked dreadful on top with the wire leading to the windscreen.
12) I managed to buy an OEM cradle and Bluetooth adaptor from XXX. Fitted that and working perfectly.
13) Next I looked at the Bose Hack. Instead of having a wire floating around I instead used a “Blackberry Bluetooth adapter and left this all tucked under the stereo.
NOTE: There appears to be a massive amount of interference with the Bluetooth adaptor. Not the case in my old car. Maybe it is an earth problem. I will look another time.
14) Removed the original Plate surround and got the front ready for my private plate to be moved over when the DVLA send everything through! Got a 3/4 size plate ready from fancyplates.co.uk
Possibly Next:
Rays, Carbon roof,
