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Build Moonestone's Sapphire Black F83 M4

Doing a build thread? Highlight it!

moonstone

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Lanarkshire
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Audi R8 V10+ • Taycan GTS
Blackvue DR900X2 channel dashcam fitted.

Liked having a dashcam with a parking mode on my last car and finally got round to fitting one to the M4 (after a run in with some road-rage idiot!).

This model is a 4K camera with cloud capability that sends alerts to your phone in real time if it detects any bumps or motion around your car

I also bought a cheap EE Mifi from Argos to keep in the car. It’s plugged into the USB port of the smart battery via a cable that runs to the void behind the rear seats and attached there with a bit of Velcro. The dashcam uses its hotspot to connect to the cloud (much cheaper than Blackvue’s own LTE accessory and allows passengers to connect to it as an in-car hotspot as well)

2 challenges here are that I have a convertible so how to run the cable for the rear camera and that thanks to the Lithium Ion battery in the M4 the battery management system moans at you if there’s anything drawing current outside of the cars own systems when the engine isn’t running.

Solution to the above was to buy a longer rear camera cable and route it along the convertible roof mechanism into the boot back to the front and also buy and fit the Blackvue smart battery accessory.

For the battery I decided to fit it under a flap that doesn’t seem to do anything - maybe it’s for some kind of option or accessory I don’t have but on investigation it’s just the ICE amp that’s underneath currently. I removed the plastic tray and used a cable of cable ties to suspend it in place which means it’s shallow enough to fit under the flap but still maintains an air gap between it and the amp’s heat-sink below.

I had to extend the power cable from the front camera to reach the smart battery so a bit of soldering was required and some cloth wiring tape to make a nice neat job along with LOTS of black cable ties. Took a fuse tap from an ACC live fuse for the battery and fitted the ground wire to the one of the bolts holding the TCB module in place. Pretty happy with the job.


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For anyone installing a dashcam in an F32 / F33 / F30 / F82 etc etc. You want fuse number 143 for your ignition live and 161 for your constant live. If using the. Lackvue battery only fuse 143 is used. Have a couple of spare fuses handy because of you out the fuse tap in the wrong way round you’ll blew the original fuse. (See my pic above)
 
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moonstone

Tyre Kicker
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1,655
Location
Lanarkshire
Drives
Audi R8 V10+ • Taycan GTS
Car was traded-in in September 2021 for an F90 M5. Built thread for that can be found on the site.
 

BENLEV

Tyre Kicker
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M3 E93
Massive
Finished the paintwork on my lights. I opted to keep the chome strip along the bottom half of the eyebrow and do the indicator diffuser and matching element next to grill in Audi Daytona Grey (had some lying around from my RS5).

The idea is that even with no lights on the Angel rings and lightbrow are still light against an otherwise dark background so that the classic twin ring and eyebrow style is retained even with the lights switched off.

Decided to order new lenses so I'm waiting on these before I reseal and fit. Pretty happy with how they turned out.

ligh1.jpg


NEW HEADLIGHTS FITTED

My new lenses finally arrived from China today and being itching to get my painted lights fitted I was determined to get it done today. So blitzed through work and got started at lunchtime. Before today I hadn't been happy with the paint finish on the parts (just weren't durable and prone to flaking off in parts) so further to my last update on these further above, I actually stripped all the parts (whacked them in a bag of Oven Pride) and started again. I'd read some bad advice saying I should use heatproof paint and I ended up using VHT engine enamel which was a bad shout. So after stripping the bits back I used a combo of gloss black and matt black Plastikote and everything came out much better this time around.

At this point I've no idea if the new headlights even work! So first thing to do was to get the old ones off and then swap the modules and bulbs and plug everything in. I wanted to do this before sealing them up with the new lenses just in case something was knackered.

So firstly, jacked up the car, took the front wheels off, front arch liners off and then took the front bumper off before removing the existing headlights.

Stripped.jpg


Next up. It was time to swap over my modules and bulbs before plugging them back in to make sure everything works before re-sealing them back up. Here's a comparison between the original headlights and the custom set I made.

I painted the indicator housing gloss black along with the chrome decorative part closest to the kidneys and the chrome section that runs along the bottom. I split the eyebrow so that the bottom section where the eyebrow light is, is still chrome but the top part is matt black (to contrast against the glossy black paintwork of the bonnet). I also did the light-housings themselves matt. So all black but some nice subtle contrasting elements.

Healdights-floor.jpg


Now it was time to plug them in and make sure everything was OK. One thing I was a bit concerned about was painting the chrome reflector for the indicators but a happy coincidence of stripping everything with oven cleaner is that the small difusser piece that goes in front of the indicator bulb is entirely clear plastic. That coupled with my LED bulbs meant that it works perfectly and is still nice and bright.

Old-Left-New-Right-Test.jpg


After testing I used Tigerseal to seal the lenses to the housings before re-installing back to the car. This had taken much longer than I thought due to having to line up the panel gaps and headlights so it was a bit fiddly and took me ages to get everything lined up exactly right. Especially seeing as it was dark when I was getting finished. This is the finished result:

Complete1.jpg


Complete2.jpg


I'm delighted with it. I'd love a set of ICONS but based on what I paid for the car versus what a set of those, with modules is coming in at, it just doesn't make sense. This job makes the car much more modern looking. I think it has an even bigger impact on on a black car as all the chrome is especially noticeable against the black paintwork. I’ll get a daytime photo tomorrow.

My plan is to customise my old set of lights and then put them up for sale which should make the whole thing cost neutral.

Car is filthy but here's some better comparison and day-time shots of the headlights. Straight-on the difference is pretty negligible to be honest but from any other angle you really see the difference. This was the final peice of the puzzle for me I think in terms of the exterior. Few other wee bits but this has really brought the front end bang up to date.

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Massive massive difference. The wheels really suit the car.
 

b1n

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M4
Hi - Looking to switch my black seatbelt trim to silver like what you did. When I tried to search up the parts I see 4 parts listed for the trim (#2 in the link below) , Not sure what the difference is between belt deflection and belt guide? Do I need all 4 parts?


Are you able to help clarify?

Thanks!
 

moonstone

Tyre Kicker
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Location
Lanarkshire
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Audi R8 V10+ • Taycan GTS
Hi - Looking to switch my black seatbelt trim to silver like what you did. When I tried to search up the parts I see 4 parts listed for the trim (#2 in the link below) , Not sure what the difference is between belt deflection and belt guide? Do I need all 4 parts?


Are you able to help clarify?

Thanks!

There are four options as there are four variants of the same part. 1 for the left seat, 1 for the right and each pair is available in black or chrome. On the link above, if you click on each item it takes you to another page and you’ll see SCHWARZ (black) or CHROM (chrome).

Just order the two chrome ones and you’re sorted. Or buy mine for half the price!
 

b1n

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4
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0
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M4
Thanks Moonstone!

I'd love to buy yours for half the price :)

can you ship to Toronto Canada?

Any other goodies from your old car that you're selling too btw?

Thanks
 

moonstone

Tyre Kicker
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Location
Lanarkshire
Drives
Audi R8 V10+ • Taycan GTS
Thanks Moonstone!

I'd love to buy yours for half the price :)

can you ship to Toronto Canada?

Any other goodies from your old car that you're selling too btw?

Thanks

Everythjngs gone, I’m afraid but I never got around to selling those. Let me look into shipping costs and I’ll come back to you. 👍🏻
 

b1n

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M4
No worries, keep me posted on these if you're willing to ship out :) Cheers
 

BENLEV

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M3 E93
Well it’s off but as suspected it’s been bonded on so will need to get the bootlid repainted. Ive got a bad scratch next to the numberplate anyway so kills too birds with one stone.
Much happier with the new one (test fitted). The rear of the vert needs a spoiler. I really don’t get why they didn’t even do a lip spoiler for it.

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how did you manage to get it off mate. Having trouble with mine which is also bonded on. I have bought some fishing wire which I hope should do the trick.
 

moonstone

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Location
Lanarkshire
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Audi R8 V10+ • Taycan GTS
how did you manage to get it off mate. Having trouble with mine which is also bonded on. I have bought some fishing wire which I hope should do the trick.

Fishing wire kept breaking. I ended up making a right mess and had to get the boot lid resprayed.
 

b1n

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M4
Hi Moonstone - I noticed you had the Carbon Fiber M performance door sills on the car, do you know if the F82 shares the same door sills as the f83?

Found a vendor who still sells them but they weren't able to confirm if it fits a f83, only states it fit f82

Thanks in advance
 

moonstone

Tyre Kicker
Posts
3,129
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1,655
Location
Lanarkshire
Drives
Audi R8 V10+ • Taycan GTS
Hi Moonstone - I noticed you had the Carbon Fiber M performance door sills on the car, do you know if the F82 shares the same door sills as the f83?

Found a vendor who still sells them but they weren't able to confirm if it fits a f83, only states it fit f82

Thanks in advance

Hi. Yes. Exactly the same.
 
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