BMW Z3 2.8 - OEM+ long term project

BMW Z3 2.8 - OEM+ long term project

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Discussion

5harp3y

Original Poster:

1,942 posts

198 months

Tuesday 29th September 2015
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Decided that the side markers were too bright so swapped them with my number plater 501s. its really handy that the sidelights, side repeaters and numberplate all share the same bulb type!
here are the differences

Standard bulb / 'White' LED / 'Xenon' LED


e21Mark

16,205 posts

172 months

Tuesday 29th September 2015
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As you obviously know a bit about bulbs / LED's etc, what could be done to get better lighting from old H4 type headlights? My Mrs has an old 2002 and the headlights are like birthday cake candles in filthy jam jars! Any help / advice appreciated muchly.

5harp3y

Original Poster:

1,942 posts

198 months

Tuesday 29th September 2015
quotequote all
e21Mark said:
As you obviously know a bit about bulbs / LED's etc, what could be done to get better lighting from old H4 type headlights? My Mrs has an old 2002 and the headlights are like birthday cake candles in filthy jam jars! Any help / advice appreciated muchly.
Upgrade to OSRAM nightbreakers (we did this on the 1997 Golf Gti we have and the difference is great)

On some older cars you can upgrade to multiple new relays for the lights which can boost the, i did this on my old Mk1 Golf GTi and it was a massive difference. Not sure the 2002 would benfit from the same as i've not had any experience of them.

the bulbs are the first thing to try. The night breakers are pretty amazing and about £20 a pair

e21Mark

16,205 posts

172 months

Wednesday 30th September 2015
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5harp3y said:
e21Mark said:
As you obviously know a bit about bulbs / LED's etc, what could be done to get better lighting from old H4 type headlights? My Mrs has an old 2002 and the headlights are like birthday cake candles in filthy jam jars! Any help / advice appreciated muchly.
Upgrade to OSRAM nightbreakers (we did this on the 1997 Golf Gti we have and the difference is great)

On some older cars you can upgrade to multiple new relays for the lights which can boost the, i did this on my old Mk1 Golf GTi and it was a massive difference. Not sure the 2002 would benfit from the same as i've not had any experience of them.

the bulbs are the first thing to try. The night breakers are pretty amazing and about £20 a pair
Thanks, I'll give them a try.

richierich37

383 posts

196 months

Wednesday 30th September 2015
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So far so good, looks a clean wee car! smile

Alias218

1,485 posts

161 months

Wednesday 30th September 2015
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IMO keep the yellow lights. I find that cars that came out of the factory with incandescent/yellow bulbs just don't suit more modern, and colder, light fittings. Otherwise, looking great! Z3s have aged very well.

Vince70

1,939 posts

193 months

Wednesday 30th September 2015
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This thread is well and truly bookmarked for me it's a great read plus I'm looking forward to your next update and thanks for the advice on doing the seat runners I never knew about the seat height kit so I've just bought one so thanks again for your link..

I bought my new seat rubbers from eBay Germany back in January but have been putting the job off could you please tell me how long did it take to do both seats as I do like to stop for a coffee break of 3 when doing such jobs and do you have to disconnect the battery beforehand..

My seat rubbers are knackered both sides on my 60000 mile Z3 but I guess it's more to do with the age of the car rather than the mileage as mines an early one..

Mines only got the M44 engine but I can honestly say the car touch wood is dead reliable the only problems I've had apart from doing a general service is a new thermostat and repaint the mirror bases plus sort out the boot seal leak which was only the boot brake light gasket and cost about £3.

I also replaced the rear window in mine but to be honest it still bugged me slightly as my hood had shrunk slightly and I found the best place for a roof is Surrey Softops and it only costs £320 fully fitted and the quality and workmanship is superb so can highly recommend them if you go for a new one..

Here's mine but I'm keeping the gingers lol


rohrl

8,712 posts

144 months

Thursday 1st October 2015
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If you're going for a clean uncluttered look I think it might benefit from some numberplates with the "Stanley Street Motors" on them.

Vince70

1,939 posts

193 months

Thursday 1st October 2015
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I can recommend this badge Tim.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/171532790331

I've got one of these on my winter hack E36 and the guy is a uk seller and mine was delivered within a couple of days..
For £2.95 with free delivery it's a fantastic deal and it looks just as good as the original badge, once fitted you can't tell the difference..

I've just seen the badges have gone up by 50p since I bought mine..

Edited by Vince70 on Thursday 1st October 19:32

5harp3y

Original Poster:

1,942 posts

198 months

Friday 2nd October 2015
quotequote all
Vince70 said:
This thread is well and truly bookmarked for me it's a great read plus I'm looking forward to your next update and thanks for the advice on doing the seat runners I never knew about the seat height kit so I've just bought one so thanks again for your link..

I bought my new seat rubbers from eBay Germany back in January but have been putting the job off could you please tell me how long did it take to do both seats as I do like to stop for a coffee break of 3 when doing such jobs and do you have to disconnect the battery beforehand..

My seat rubbers are knackered both sides on my 60000 mile Z3 but I guess it's more to do with the age of the car rather than the mileage as mines an early one..
it took about an hour a seat but half of that time was spent sanding down the new bushings.

5harp3y

Original Poster:

1,942 posts

198 months

Friday 2nd October 2015
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rohrl said:
If you're going for a clean uncluttered look I think it might benefit from some numberplates with the "Stanley Street Motors" on them.
Haha yes!

The plates on the car are awful. I'm hopefully recieving my new pressed plates today in the post so great minds think alike!

5harp3y

Original Poster:

1,942 posts

198 months

Friday 2nd October 2015
quotequote all
Vince70 said:
I can recommend this badge Tim.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/171532790331

I've got one of these on my winter hack E36 and the guy is a uk seller and mine was delivered within a couple of days..
For £2.95 with free delivery it's a fantastic deal and it looks just as good as the original badge, once fitted you can't tell the difference..

I've just seen the badges have gone up by 50p since I bought mine..

Edited by Vince70 on Thursday 1st October 19:32
Thank you, now i've fitted mine it doesnt bother me too much, it looks identical to one in your link too. i think next to the BMW OEM badge it looked wrong but in isolation it looks fine.

5harp3y

Original Poster:

1,942 posts

198 months

Wednesday 7th October 2015
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Small update this week (MOT next week eeeek)

Hated (HATED) the horrible dealer numberplates that came with the car, the front plate was cracked and the back one was straight out of the 90's.

Ordered some pressed metal plates off eBay on Friday night and they were here monday morning!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251663535494?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

decided to remove the numberplate plinth whilst i was there, grim!



Cars look so much better without front plates



bent the front numberplate slightly over my knee and then stuck it to the car, added some tape to hold the shape for a couple of days.



before and after



rear plate before and after


vsonix

3,858 posts

162 months

Sunday 25th October 2015
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Really nice Z mate, lot of the same things will be happening to mine, although I'll be keeping the Tango bits but possibly treating the clusters to a light tint. Don't suppose yours came with orange front corner markers did it? Wouldn't mind a set of those, although I do quite like the effect of the amber LED 501s I have between clear plastic.


5harp3y

Original Poster:

1,942 posts

198 months

Sunday 25th October 2015
quotequote all
vsonix said:
Really nice Z mate, lot of the same things will be happening to mine, although I'll be keeping the Tango bits but possibly treating the clusters to a light tint. Don't suppose yours came with orange front corner markers did it? Wouldn't mind a set of those, although I do quite like the effect of the amber LED 501s I have between clear plastic.

Mine cane with clear side markers, think only the American cars came with ambers

OldSkoolRS

6,720 posts

178 months

Sunday 25th October 2015
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I've had a 3.0 model for three and a bit years now, it's a nice change from my daily work estate car (320d then a C220). I know they get some stick for the softer handling, but I've added a strut brace bought off eBay and replaced most of the bushes (polybush replacements) and drop links for the front of the car. Along with some new tyres (Avon Z5, so not massively expensive) the car handles well enough for my requirements.

I haven't done anything in the way of cosmetic mods on mine, just a good detailing and I had the drivers side wheel arch liners and sill covers off to clean behind and apply extra wax treatment. However, since Z3 are gavanised there wasn't any rust behind to worry about, so I've not rushed to do the passenger side.

I bought a used hard top for mine, but since I can't lift it on and off on my own, I've left it off for this winter incase I feel like a bit of top down driving and no one else is home to assist removing the hard top. I'd like to get some more use out of it as I'm finding that I've barely hit 1000 miles each year, so will probably sell it next spring and combine it with the OH's car to get a convertible with a metal folding roof to replace her Mini. I doubt the replacement will be as much fun to drive as the Z3 though...



Engine bay with the strut brace:


vsonix

3,858 posts

162 months

Sunday 25th October 2015
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I'd say keep it mate, you'll regret it otherwise and proces on the 6cyl cars are on a sharp upswing at the moment. Having owned an E36 cab and driven an e46 cab, I can say you'll miss the brisker pace of the Z and despite the fact the Z is criticised for scuttle shake and chassis flex, it's nothing like as bad as the 4-seater soft tops. I suppose a folding hard topped Z4 might be worth a look but they're too much drive by wire for my taste and way outside my budget so I've not really exlpored them as an option yet...

OldSkoolRS

6,720 posts

178 months

Sunday 25th October 2015
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Yes I get what you mean, but as it barely gets driven it seems to make more sense to combine the OHs and my weekend car to get her something newer, that just happens to be convertible too. I'll have had it 4 years by next spring, so I've got it out of my system and having one less car might mean I finally get round to working on my RS2000 (much less 'fly by wire' than even the Z3).

Apologies to the OP for the off topic, by way of compensation here are some pictures of a seat bolster repair I completed on mine. I bought the kit for about £15 on line and it got rid of the faded crease marks on the drivers seat:

Seat how it was when I bought the car:



After I used the kit:



Edited by OldSkoolRS on Sunday 25th October 19:37

vsonix

3,858 posts

162 months

Sunday 25th October 2015
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yeah, true - yours being a facelift one already has a fair bit of 'wire' going on compared to my 2.8

However, low miles use isn't necessarily a bad thing, it's not about how far you drive, it's the number of smiles per mile. And if the OH enjoys the new car too much, you'll robably end up fighting over it, or at least, fighting over who drives when you go out in it together.

Vince70

1,939 posts

193 months

Thursday 29th October 2015
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If your cars are low mileage or don't get much use it's worth cleaning out the idle control valve and getting a new PCV valve (only about £10) as it makes the car drive so much smoother and rev better plus I'm sure my fuel consumption has improved.

Both my daily E36 and Z3 get very little use and are low mileage cars and the 3 series' never seemed to rev right even after a service and the idle speed was a tad high..

I've just cleaned out the throttle body with a bit of autoglym and stripped down the idle control valve (supposed to be a sealed unit) and gave it a good clean with cotton buds and carb cleaner and cleaned out the PCV valve but I will be changing it once the new one arrives, and its transformed And I'm amazed at the difference it's made.

I will say though change the idle control valve bolts for some nice stainless steel Allen key bolts and give the thread a smear of copper slick as it makes life so much easier to get back off in future.

I just wondered how long did it take for your seat base kit to arrive from America as I'm still waiting for mine..

Edited by Vince70 on Thursday 29th October 07:46