BMW Z3 2.8 - OEM+ long term project

[5harp3y]

Sf_Manta said:

I'm liking the Orange LEDs, got a link where you got those from?
Also the leather die kit details would be good

I'm looking at upgrading the brakes on the 330i, (I know the callipers can be sold on to negate some costs against the upgrade) and found that there's a particular Brembo from Porsche that's on the front of the 3.2 Boxter or the rear of a 996 911 turbo which has similar piston area to the 57mm single that the 330i uses.

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=361448567508&alt=web

You will need to either run extra resistors or mod your indicator relay or you will get hyperflashing

Leather was from liquid leather

Yeah you can fit brembos but you need m3 discs so the wheel thing can end up costing £500+

Im looking at 330 calipers and carriers for mine.

[5harp3y]

aka_kerrly said:

Front splitter looks spot on!!

Cheers

[5harp3y]

Busy weekend as the wife was away on a hen do.
Friday night:
Decided to wrap my centre console in 6D carbon





took about two hours and need a fair bit of patience and a very sharp craft knife. im not 100% happy with it but im not sure if its the wrap im not happy with or whether ive spent too long looking at it. might skin it in proper carbon in the summer.
Saturday
removed the centre console in the car to upgrade it to a new facelift version.

spaghetti!
was absoltuely filthy so i hoovered up the years of biscuit crumbs!


fitted everything back in




notes from doing this.
All the wiring is a straight swap (even the OBC) apart from the ASC / DSC
prefacelift switches dont fit in facelift spaces and vice versa
all the wiring for illuminated gearknobs etc are there next to the airbag module.
the wiring for the DSC button was easily overcome as all the connectors are AMP Tyco connectors so the piuns are all the same. Take the pins out of the early connector and pop them into the facelift connector, et voila!

i then fitted a e36 dimming rear view mirror as i hate manual ones and these are dead easy to wire in.
they fit on the sam windscreen mount as the Z3 and just need power and ground to work, i took a permanent live from the dome light and an earth from the same place. you can also wire them into the rear lights so that it resets when reversing but i couldnt be bothered with that.

Sunday morning:
Few little jobs
painted the headlight bolts as they were rusted


replaced the oil cap seal as mine was crumbling


then went for a drive to Southampton to see the mighty saints destroy man city.

car goes into the paint shop tomorrow to have the bonnet painted

[5harp3y]

KillerHERTZ said:

Nice updates been following this thread for a while.

Bit of feedback, dont take this the wrong way but the finish on that dash wrap looks awful, bubbles/creases around all the bends and the switches.

Needs re-doing IMO

Thanks for the feedback, awful it isnt, but bad it is. like i said at the top of the post im really not happy with it.

im speaking to a guy at the moment about having it professionally carbon skinned. ive got enough carbon to redo it but might be worth cutting the losses and getting it done properly.

[5harp3y]

KillerHERTZ said:

Wrap is so cheap id keep having a go at it myself.

Ive been there myself, get yourself decent hairdrier and take your time. Its easy(ish) after a couple of attempts

thanks for the advice, i'm gonna to see what this guy comes back to with prices. ive also heard really good things about the 3M Dinoc stuff which might produce better results.

[5harp3y]

Podie said:

Might be worth considering the hydrodipping option for the centre console.

personally dont like hydrodipping, none of the carbon looks even close to vunyl which is closer again to the real thing

[5harp3y]

pstruck said:

The spring sun is shining, temperatures are improving and I'm thinking a bit of open top motoring could be on the cards. One of these could fit the bill nicely. What would you say are the main points to look out for when viewing/test driving these?

Hi can only comment on the 2.8

but the engine and gearbox are relatively bulletproof but check for a really notchy gearchange when cold, they can also have quite a bit of slack in the drivetrain and rubber bushes start to become problamatic at 70,000 miles.

they are tough on shocks and springs, snapped springs are not uncommon but MOT should pick those up very easily.

rust on the panels is common but they all bolt off and the chassis is galvanised so no issues there.

rear windows go cloudy and brittle but they are cheap and easy to fix. (£70)

they are not the most dynamic drive when compared to an mx5 etc but they are plenty fun and much much faster in a straight line.

[5harp3y]

ethomas said:

If you want to get the carbon done properly, have a word with these guys:
http://demo.carbonized-bg.com/products-page/bmw-mo...

They have a great reputation, and use real carbon. I am sure they could do a Z3.

Great link thank you!

[5harp3y]

vx220 said:

Did you have the hairdryer out while wrapping?

From what I remember (I last did twenty odd years ago!) you need to get it warm, especially when pulling in through switch holes and such. Those square-cornered holes, don't cut the film right into the corner, pull/push it through as much as possible, to get a better finish. The film will conform while warm, don't get it too hot (definitely hairdryer, not heatgun!) and you're good to go

My advise is offered from the depths of my misspent youth, not sure how the films have changed? IIRC "Fast Car" magazine gave away a free A4 of fake carbon film, and I bought loads of issues the following month from a market stall for 30p an issue. I had a MK2 XR2 at the time, and I did all kinds of little bits, switch surrounds, door pulls, head unit surround etc

Might grab some and have a go on the RX8...

yeah used a hairdryer, the problem with the holes is that the parts thatg go in them are super tight anyway so not much clearance. the more i look at it im tempted to go real carbon

[5harp3y]

Big update and something i've wanted to do for ages.

The paintwork on the bonnet car was shocking when i got it and the reason i got the car so cheap.

So i finally bit the bullet and had it painted along with the front bumper. I'm much happier with the paint now but still not 100% so ill be going back to the bidyshop for some snagging (i am fussy) i didnt pay top dollar to get it done as its a stopgap before having the whole car potentially painted in the winter.

Lacquer still needs to settle and then i'll crack on polishing and waxing in a couple of months






Then fitted my e46 M3 gearknob complete with lighting. Didnt want to rip off the top so i'll pretend i have a 6 speed! haha

switching the pins over (FYI the loom is already there!)



Love it at night



then i fitted some carbon ive had commissioned for my engine bay on top of the radiator

Proper engineered carbon! love it (i also have 9 of these to sell as had to buy a batch)

[5harp3y]

Exactly as the others have said

make sure the bush is all the way down the arm on the wishbone (i used a socket to whack mine down)
it may look like it wont line up but it will get there it just needs some wiggling.

[5harp3y]

Podie said:

Hey 5harp3y - any updates?

Little update, have loads of stuff to do but work is getting in the way (pesky thing)

picked up some of my all time favourite wheels for an absolute bargain.

They need to be repainted as the lacquer has gone yellow but they are Genuine, forged, perfect z3 fitment and bloody awesome.





My new gearknob had a few problems

it is a 6 speed
it needed recovering

enter ebay and some Scuffmaster black and a new button for the top from Lithunia (genuine bmw part)

Much better





other than that i've been driving it lots, and putting a new battery in it as it went really weak on me





and then we added this to the fleet for the wife.

[5harp3y]

shalmaneser said:

Great selection of 90's coupes!

Probably both fairly sound investments, too.

you're right, i dont think we can lose money on either of them. My z3 is already agreed value insured for double what i paid for it.

[5harp3y]

L9 GTE said:

Great thread!


Lovely car and good choices on the resto modding. I used to have a Z3m roadster and evryone always used to mention the handling (nobody who had actually driven one mind!) I would say it handled far better than my E36 M3.

Would like to say caution with the Powerflex stuff, I did the lollipops and it made a huge difference. Then did a few more and it ruined the car. Chassis was stiff, but the body was still wobbly, horrible feeling on anything other than a completely flat smooth road.

thank you, i've done the full polybushing thing before and didnt enjoy it but just doing a select few on this.

[5harp3y]

Busy weekend! Decided to tackle a load of outstanding jobs and treat some rust.

Saturday.

Replaced the diff bush with a poweflex item, good god was it a pain to do. Exhaust off (from the mid section) and then lower the diff down enough to bastardise the rubber bush so that it comes out, hacksaw the metal ring and hammer and punch it out.

After about 2 hours doing that the new one went in in 3 seconds flat!



as you can see the rear antiroll bar is a relic from the titanic so i whipped that off to treat the rust and replace the bushes

top tip, a 3 pointed gear puller whips the old drop links off easily.

KURUST doing its job


then after it dried i applied some por15 and left it overnight

rettattached the exhaust so that i could move the car back into the garage without blowing my ears to pieces but i think ive not done it right as its blowing slightly.

SUNDAY

new Meyle drop links were pressed on using a vice, i can't see another way of doing it to be honest as it needs some serious effort



new clamps and OEM rubber bushes



then i tackled the gearbox mounts which i had seen before were quite soft, i had some Revshift 80a poly mounts to put in.

this might be the easiest job on the car

car on stands
support gearbox with trolley jack
undo 4 x 13mm gearbox cross member bolts
loosen 2 x 13mm mount bolts
slide off the mount
repeat in reverse

[5harp3y]

RUST removal

my sill covers and front wings are quite bad, most of the underside of my car looks like its beein under the sea! (it lived its life in Great Yarmouth up until i had it)

so before i repalce the sills (i already have new wings to go on) i thought i'd whip them off to check the rust and make sure there is nothing serious going on

its not hard to do but there are a millions screws

whilst i was there and the arch trims were off i cleaned the arches

50/50



i wonder why this area rusts!!!!!!



so erm yeah, front corner isnt great!



rear corner is better and the whole length isnt rusted



so out came the abrasives on the drill and all of the rust taken back to bare or seasoned metal which took about an hour

the ends were then coated with POR15 chassis black




the cavities were sprayed with Bilt Hamber Dynax s50 ( http://www.bilthamber.com/corrosion-protection-and...)

this stuff is the nuts, proper coverage, massive can and a lance.

i'll do the passenger side this week (no where near as bad)

[5harp3y]

Thank you

so really quick lunchtime update. my facelift console update wasnt complete as i was waiting on a roof switch. got one off ebay for £10 and then went to fit it.

the connectors are different but all you need to do is trim a small piece of plastic off using a craft knife. the wiring is the same

console is now complete!



FYI st carbon wrap is on its way out as a chap in Bulgaria is doing me a real carbon version!

[5harp3y]

Not much work yet, been devleoping an induction kit for the z3 which i will show later after ive had a chance to film the noise! (oh my god the noise)

but went on my first z3 run this weekend.

[5harp3y]

Podie said:

I saw a blue one in London last week - certainly wasn't standard, but looked great - BBS wheels and twin exhausts were the most obvious.

Keep up the good work!

Thanks

[5harp3y]

General Fluff said:

Are you going to be replacing the sill covers? Just wondering if you've managed to source them cheaper than from BMW.

yes i am, cheapest i have found is BMW at the momnet at about £140 a side before paint