Back from the painted wide grille mod and bumper repair and paint touch ups, the car was sent to have its long-overdue windscreen replaced. If you drive an old car with an old windscreen, you’d know how pathetic pitted, scratched up, dirty old windscreens can be. I always had the urge to replace but there were always another priority. Now that i’ve fulfilled most of the checklist, it’s time. Continue reading
Here are more recent updates on the E34. Yes, it’s still unpainted. I took the effort to lay on a coat of flat black on the bonnet. Not the best effort, but good enough for a temporary look 
Loving the wide grille now since it adds to the wide and low front.
Can’t wait to get it all black and glossy again
Just a wild photochop work. The MINI is almost half way there with the Signal Green paintjob. It now needs more GT3 RS-esque features. Though Duell AG already have ready-made versions that resembles the look, unfortunately it’s for the R56 versions. The earlier R53 versions don’t posses the same look.
It’s still a photoshop work. So no promises. But it is the look that i desire most for the MINI.
Here are some updates on the MINI. The pre-facelift xenon headlights have made way for the newer projector versions. As expected, the MINI now looks 5 years younger. The projectors also provide significantly better , farther, beams plus the cut-off that only projectors can provide.
As you can clearly see, the E34 is going through an ugly phase. For the better. Which is a pretty shocking fact, since the 10 years i have had the car, it had always been the narrow grill. So about time a new look. Plus the wide grille ages the car pretty well, celebrating its 10th years of service. Plus the recent heart transplant and interior renovation deserves a more mature body.
What’s to be done: The AC Schnitzer badge will go, and the car will be sent for paint soon. Also, the bumpers needs to go. For many years the bumper had been damaged and repaired that it just isn’t practical repairing anymore. A single nudge will send cracks of previously damaged area. As for design, it’s either the same Schnitzer replicas or a custom job. Just not fixed on ideas yet.
Remember my favourite E34 from Japan? It’s got Schnitzer everything and a particular front splitter-thing attached to the S5 bumper. I didn’t know the origins of it so i assumed it was a generic one. A friend of mine told me it was in fact from AC Schnitzer and he’s recently made replicas of them. The picture above shows the prototype fitted. If you ever had mixed feelings of the existing S5 bumper not making enough an impact, this lip spoiler should provide that needed ground effect.
If you are considering going for that razor-sharp look, then the good thing is it wouldn’t create much of a height clearance issue IF you are not already running that barely-skimming-the-ramp low. The existing short overhang of the S5 bumper makes it the all-time ramp friendly yet stance provoking choice especially if you’re going really low.