New Al Pedals and Al Rings

[asawadude]

On my first free Saturday in months, I got two mods in -

First up was a set of aluminum rings purchased from a private seller on eBay who had bought them originally from Delsa Motorsports (an eBay retail seller), but never installed them on his E39. Purchase price $26 including shipping.

Following JV's instructions made the job pretty much a snap. Twisting all five + fasterners was somewhat difficult, a problem noted in other threads. After scrutinizing it for awhile, I did notice that when twisting the + fasteners, they will stay twisted for a while before eventually returning to their original positions. The secret is to work on one side at a time and using popsicle sticks. Starting with the top, I twisted the top and middle fasterners to the open positions, popped the two latches on top, and separated the cluster from the housing just enough to wedge the two popsicle sticks into the gap. This prevents the cluster from re-latching to the cover. Flipping the unit over and repeating the steps on the bottom and middle + fasteners should allow the gauge cluster to be separated from the housing.

Here's where I made a mistake. The aluminum rings were very shiny and I intended on rubbing them out with a steel wool to give it a matte finish similar to the factory gauge rings on the '04-'06 X5's. Before doing this, I installed one of the large rings to check the fit. Mistake - the fit was so good, I couldn't remove it. So I ended up installing 4 shiny rings instead of 4 matte rings.

But I can verify that the rings sold by eBay seller Delsa-Motorsports fit perfectly.

Next mod - pedals.

I bought a 3 piece aluminum M-Tec Clone pedal kit from eBay seller Trendgear $51 including shipping (cheaper than goodstuffs4u0904). Seller currently has more kits on sale.

Footrest took about 3 minutes to drill and install. Brake pedal was a little more difficult. I drilled pilot holes using a 3/16" bit, followed by a 1/4" bit. Gas pedal was pretty simple, but it took about 20 minutes to get the bottom right nut threaded on because of clearance problems.

I'll probably remove the new brake pedal cover and spray the metal surface silver because the black surface is noticeable under the pedals. I'll also change out the round head screws and swap them them out with flat countersink screws so they lie flush with the pedal surface - if and when I find another free Saturday.

Happy Father's Day to all.

[cmyX6go]

The rings look good Mike. Not too shiny. Now if they were those thicker beveled ones it might be too much.

[asawadude]

Thanks Laura - see my CD's on the left? I'm ripping 2 box sets of Led Zep, 1 Clapton box set, Santana, and Aerosmith greatest hits as I type this while listening to Whole Lotta Love.

I can only multitask at 3:00 am. I'm useless any other time of the day.

[cmyX6go]

Originally Posted by asawadude

Thanks Laura - see my CD's on the left? I'm ripping 2 box sets of Led Zep, 1 Clapton box set, Santana, and Aerosmith greatest hits as I type this while listening to Whole Lotta Love.

I can only multitask at 3:00 am. I'm useless any other time of the day.

Nothing beats Whole Lotta Love cranked! The way it goes back and forth from speaker to speaker. Don't forget the Lemon Song. I could have alot of fun with your collection. I missed my calling in life. Not quite sure what it was but I LOVE MUSIC (O'Jays?)

[NOC]

Looks great.
Enjoy the new mods...

[asawadude]

Originally Posted by cmyX5go

Nothing beats Whole Lotta Love cranked! The way it goes back and forth from speaker to speaker. Don't forget the Lemon Song. I could have alot of fun with your collection. I missed my calling in life. Not quite sure what it was but I LOVE MUSIC (O'Jays?)

It is the O'Jays who, BTW, are still going strong. In my other life, I'd probably be a librarian, so I'm okay with this one.

[Hoopie]

Nothing beats Whole Lotta Love cranked! The way it goes back and forth from speaker to speaker. Don't forget the Lemon Song. I could have alot of fun with your collection. I missed my calling in life. Not quite sure what it was but I LOVE MUSIC (O'Jays?)

Just because of this quote, I had to jam with some Zep!! Thanks I needed this.

By the way, I love the rings. I'm in Italy and need to find an Italian seller or a German one. With the games on right now, I think it would be useless.

[asawadude]

There is a German eBay seller for the rings, but received a negative review from forum member here who said the rings were too loose and wouldn't stay fixed. Don't know of any others in Europe.

[Don Coffey]

Great mods dude. I will look at getting the set of alloy peddles now I have seen yours. Already have the rings but I agree with cmyX5go, they don't look to shiny, may have been a blessing putting the first ring on so quickly.

Don

[6to]

Love the pedals. One mod I'll now definitely put in mine.

Agree with all the comments on the rings; they look great. Not too shiny.