zroadster.net

Recently purchased a 1999 Z3 1.9 as a daily car after spending most of my life with vans and estate cars for hobbies and work. It's not my first sports car as last year I owned two MG Midgets, sold them to a chap and his wife, added some more cash and bought a Triumph GT6 that had not been on the road for 8 years needing some finishing after most of the hard work had been done. The GT6 is going to be my part time fun car but I needed a runabout too hence the Z3 purchase. My wife has had 3 of these and I knew them to be a solid car and fun to drive "with the exception of her latest one which is automatic" which is a bit like driving one of my old vans with a slipping clutch up a steep hill fully loaded.
I've used the car for a few days now and had a great drive home from Blackpool, the engine is well balanced and quiet, the steering and suspension feels really tight for a car with 114000 miles on the clock. It has had a new roof and motor, almost new tyres and a large file of old MOTs and garage bills including dealer service history. It was from a dealer and it sounded mint but there are a few niggles that need sorting which I will enjoy doing at leisure and it seems there is a large data base on here covering everything possible. Priority has to go to the GT6 but once it has an MOT the Z3 will have every niggle sorted, hopefully see some of you throughout the year at some meets and maybe some track days.

Welcome to the Forum

Hi
Great forum here, lots of tech info and folks willing to help.
Have fun Koolflyer

Welcome - looks a very tidy example - keep the questions coming, theres plenty of information on here and loads of helpful people

Welcome mate!



Bonzo.

Hi & welcome - don't tend to see that colour interior too often

Thanks for the welcome all, I have an apology to make according to my wife. My light hearted view regarding her automatic Z3 was not meant to be a direct criticism of the Z3 auto box, it is just me and automatics don't get on. If I had any doubts about the Z3 I would have looked at something else, she has had 3 different Z3s and all have been solid, the only reason any of them went was to let them be driven with some enthusiasm as a sports car should be A bit like letting a horse out of the stable for a good run around the field.

Headintheclouds wrote:Thanks for the welcome all, I have an apology to make according to my wife. My light hearted view regarding her automatic Z3 was not meant to be a direct criticism of the Z3 auto box, it is just me and automatics don't get on. If I had any doubts about the Z3 I would have looked at something else, she has had 3 different Z3s and all have been solid, the only reason any of them went was to let them be driven with some enthusiasm as a sports car should be A bit like letting a horse out of the stable for a good run around the field.

I'm sure theres no apology needed, however you are right, they need to be driven. Some people like to park them and wash them... you'll find me with the rest of the gang somewhere further down the road playing with the loud pedal...

.......yeah, life over 4000+ of them revolutions

Just seen your profile, I was a sparky before I retired. It's all getting too involved now, too much paperwork, even for the simple jobs!
I like GT6's, but isn't the rear end a bit tricky if it's near the limit? I understand it's a swing axle set up!



Bonzo.

I'm lucky enough to be working alongside a guy with all the test and inspect quals, it has blown the roof off doing odd jobs which really is a good get out when you don't want to do them. As yet I've not yet driven the GT6 but I do believe the rear end skits when going light on one side cornering hard, apparently the wheel tries to camber in as if it were being jacked up, then when it sits back down everything is off until you do a few more yards. Luckily I started driving in 1981 so I've had my share of having to drive whilst making allowances for a lot of old I've owned. The Midgets were pretty skitty in a different way to the GT6 but that's what makes driving fun again.

feel free to post pictures

This was my first little project, 1975 1500, short MOT and failed on 22 points, I did most of the work including welding the A pillar but had to farm the major welding out. Had some fun port matching and polishing and setting up the carbs, after adding electronic ignition it was quite nippy.

This one came a year later and was supposed to replace the green one but I ended up keeping the two for a short while until a buyer for the green one also wanted this one for his wife. All I did was put some vinyls on, added the rally type spots ad cleaned the engine up a bit, only had it 6 weeks before selling.

Finally this was the car I always wanted when I decided I had time to enjoy a sports car. This arrived in Dec on a transporter after being laid up and worked on for 8 years, loads of work done already including an engine re-build and unleaded conversion. Been working through master cylinder replacements, brake re-furb, bulkhead re-spraying and general tidying up. No rear lights working or dash lights so fun to be had there before MOT time, engine runs fantastic but carbs needing some balancing. Hope to be mobile in a month or so then I can do some tidying on the Z3.

Welcome to the Zoo..... Good to see you have your feet firmly on the ground with your motoring hobbies,,,, Nice Triumph that... I only ever drove one once for about 5 miles before the owner jealously wanted his seat back... It was a spanking new one at the time..

great looking cars... love the size of the engine compared to the bonnet space !!! ... and the pipe thats bigger than the U bend on my bog !!

Im officially jealous !!

need to get off this thread... just been looking on ebay....

Headintheclouds wrote:Recently purchased a 1999 Z3 1.9 as a daily car after spending most of my life with vans and estate cars for hobbies and work. It's not my first sports car as last year I owned two MG Midgets, sold them to a chap and his wife, added some more cash and bought a Triumph GT6 that had not been on the road for 8 years needing some finishing after most of the hard work had been done. The GT6 is going to be my part time fun car but I needed a runabout too hence the Z3 purchase. My wife has had 3 of these and I knew them to be a solid car and fun to drive "with the exception of her latest one which is automatic" which is a bit like driving one of my old vans with a slipping clutch up a steep hill fully loaded.
I've used the car for a few days now and had a great drive home from Blackpool, the engine is well balanced and quiet, the steering and suspension feels really tight for a car with 114000 miles on the clock. It has had a new roof and motor, almost new tyres and a large file of old MOTs and garage bills including dealer service history. It was from a dealer and it sounded mint but there are a few niggles that need sorting which I will enjoy doing at leisure and it seems there is a large data base on here covering everything possible. Priority has to go to the GT6 but once it has an MOT the Z3 will have every niggle sorted, hopefully see some of you throughout the year at some meets and maybe some track days.

Hi headintheclouds. Yes and a welcome from me. Where are you based ?

I'm based in Cumbria on the outskirts of Barrow in Furness. will be doing a good few miles around the Lake District in the Z3, I must get round to seeing if my paragliding wing will fit in the boot next actually, something I forgot to consider when looking for a new car. There's always the passenger seat I suppose.

Headintheclouds wrote:I'm lucky enough to be working alongside a guy with all the test and inspect quals, it has blown the roof off doing odd jobs which really is a good get out when you don't want to do them. As yet I've not yet driven the GT6 but I do believe the rear end skits when going light on one side cornering hard, apparently the wheel tries to camber in as if it were being jacked up, then when it sits back down everything is off until you do a few more yards.

I thought cornering at or near the limit was tricky due to the lateral force causing the mass of the car to ride up over the swing axle on the outer side of the turning circle, i.e. the n/s when taking a right hand corner. This would cause the tyre to tilt, thereby losing grip on the road on the side of the car with the most load needing the most grip. As opposed to the side of the car that could be waving a wheel in the air when cornering. I could well be wrong of course, I quite often am on lots of things (ask my wife), so would welcome further comment from those 'in the know'.
Cheers,
Bonzo.'

Bonzo wrote:

Headintheclouds wrote:I'm lucky enough to be working alongside a guy with all the test and inspect quals, it has blown the roof off doing odd jobs which really is a good get out when you don't want to do them. As yet I've not yet driven the GT6 but I do believe the rear end skits when going light on one side cornering hard, apparently the wheel tries to camber in as if it were being jacked up, then when it sits back down everything is off until you do a few more yards.

I thought cornering at or near the limit was tricky due to the lateral force causing the mass of the car to ride up over the swing axle on the outer side of the turning circle, i.e. the n/s when taking a right hand corner. This would cause the tyre to tilt, thereby losing grip on the road on the side of the car with the most load needing the most grip. As opposed to the side of the car that could be waving a wheel in the air when cornering. I could well be wrong of course, I quite often am on lots of things (ask my wife), so would welcome further comment from those 'in the know'.
Cheers,
Bonzo.'

Think that was the Mk1 GT6, they got it right for the Mk 2 and 3.

Welcome OP from another Triumph owner.

Bonzo wrote:

Headintheclouds wrote:I'm lucky enough to be working alongside a guy with all the test and inspect quals, it has blown the roof off doing odd jobs which really is a good get out when you don't want to do them. As yet I've not yet driven the GT6 but I do believe the rear end skits when going light on one side cornering hard, apparently the wheel tries to camber in as if it were being jacked up, then when it sits back down everything is off until you do a few more yards.

I thought cornering at or near the limit was tricky due to the lateral force causing the mass of the car to ride up over the swing axle on the outer side of the turning circle, i.e. the n/s when taking a right hand corner. This would cause the tyre to tilt, thereby losing grip on the road on the side of the car with the most load needing the most grip. As opposed to the side of the car that could be waving a wheel in the air when cornering. I could well be wrong of course, I quite often am on lots of things (ask my wife), so would welcome further comment from those 'in the know'.
Cheers,
Bonzo.'

That sounds likely too, I was referring to something I read somewhere rather than experience and it made sense to me. Your explanation also makes sense, all the same I'm sure as with all old cars once driven enough you learn to deal with all the quirks and it becomes more fun than scary.

Been working on the GT6 quite a bit but had to break off for an urgent job on the Z3, I noticed from the time of purchase there was some damp in the boot but thought it was minimal. Well after a couple of weeks of Cumbria weather I was left with two options. Option one, purchase some Koi and pretend it's a custom idea, option two trace and fix the leak. As the car had a very recent looking hood I decided this would be the problem, after some direct wetting from a hose I could see water running in a lovely waterfall fashion in 3 places onto the parcel shelf behind the seats and into the boot. Once I took the bolts out and moved the plastic hood surround to see the gap it was obvious someone had removed all the old sealing strip and forgot to replace it with something to create a seal so it was only watertight where the two plastic rims met well. Once it had a nice bead of silicone and was put together in a similar fashion to symmetrically tightening cylinder head bolts I now have a watertight hood. I just hope I'm not the one who has to remove it and replace it when needed. That's my first bit of work on the Z3, back to the GT6 for a couple of weeks and MOT before the end of April.

Hi - have you fitted Gill's headlights yet?

For the seal, the original stuff is Butyl and is easily available on ebay - this is the stuff I bought and used to reseal the roof on Roger's new Z3

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Self-Amalgama ... 5b202274ac

No he hasnt they are still in the box in the living room - thinking of putting a plant on the top as they may be there some time

Looking at the GT6 brought back memories. Some good, some not so good. Bought an emerald green one back in 1972 and the on the road price was £1495.42. I still have the brochure with the negotiated price on it. When I took delivery the car badly shuddered out of showroom and after a short drive I had to return to the garage. Their comment was the clutch had fallen apart whilst waiting for me to pick it up. They claimed it had not shown up on the predelivery check. When I told them I was not impressed with their checks because the bonnet catches were missing on one side so maybe they didn't check if there was an engine in the car. Triumphs back then were basically great cars but manufacturing quality control was virtually nonexistent. For the first year I had major problems with the overdrive which was finally cured when a new unit was fitted. When the car went well it was fantastic and we kept it for five years and 60000 miles, only to replace it with a Stag. Still miss them both. However, neither can compare with the Z3. We have a 1.9 and a 3.2. Both are 19 years old and if given the choice I would not exchange them for either of the Triumphs. However if I had the space to own all of them I would not hesitate. Enjoy your cars I am sure you have a great mix.

Tilly wrote:Looking at the GT6 brought back memories. Some good, some not so good. Bought an emerald green one back in 1972 and the on the road price was £1495.42. I still have the brochure with the negotiated price on it. When I took delivery the car badly shuddered out of showroom and after a short drive I had to return to the garage. Their comment was the clutch had fallen apart whilst waiting for me to pick it up. They claimed it had not shown up on the predelivery check. When I told them I was not impressed with their checks because the bonnet catches were missing on one side so maybe they didn't check if there was an engine in the car. Triumphs back then were basically great cars but manufacturing quality control was virtually nonexistent. For the first year I had major problems with the overdrive which was finally cured when a new unit was fitted. When the car went well it was fantastic and we kept it for five years and 60000 miles, only to replace it with a Stag. Still miss them both. However, neither can compare with the Z3. We have a 1.9 and a 3.2. Both are 19 years old and if given the choice I would not exchange them for either of the Triumphs. However if I had the space to own all of them I would not hesitate. Enjoy your cars I am sure you have a great mix.

great story - I know a lot of people find Jezza marmite, but it kinda makes me laugh reading this then imagining him doing his brummie accent while talking about ad-hoc uk car building. However, I am still very keen to see the one on this thread, and like you say, to have a garage that is big enough to store all our faves would be amazing - my ld illuminous pink Beetle would be in there along with my Dads Dolomite

seasurfer wrote:No he hasnt they are still in the box in the living room - thinking of putting a plant on the top as they may be there some time

I think thats shocking Gill.... tut tut

It is, i think i will have to abscond from making tea, doing the washing , doing the cleaning ect ect i need somebody with an hour to spare

bertiejaffa wrote:

seasurfer wrote:No he hasnt they are still in the box in the living room - thinking of putting a plant on the top as they may be there some time

I think thats shocking Gill.... tut tut

I think some words need to be had, after making some good progress on the GT6 today Gill persuaded me to fit her new projector headlights, I agreed mainly because someone "cough cough" told her it only takes 15 minutes. I know what Ricky Tomlinsons famous character would say to that! They are installed but it took a bit longer than 15 minutes, may have been sooner without having to cut and shut the nearside indicator wires to reach the loom and without 2 seized headlamp fixing screws in the most awkward places. I have to admit they look great and I can now deduct 2 hours labour from the cost of buying Gills old lights for my Z3.

Headintheclouds wrote:

bertiejaffa wrote:

seasurfer wrote:No he hasnt they are still in the box in the living room - thinking of putting a plant on the top as they may be there some time

I think thats shocking Gill.... tut tut

I think some words need to be had, after making some good progress on the GT6 today Gill persuaded me to fit her new projector headlights, I agreed mainly because someone "cough cough" told her it only takes 15 minutes. I know what Ricky Tomlinsons famous character would say to that! They are installed but it took a bit longer than 15 minutes, may have been sooner without having to cut and shut the nearside indicator wires to reach the loom and without 2 seized headlamp fixing screws in the most awkward places. I have to admit they look great and I can now deduct 2 hours labour from the cost of buying Gills old lights for my Z3.

Who said that?

What I havent mentioned is that they will now need aligning - now that took me "15 mins"

MOT time today for the GT6, 9 years since the last one now. Seems like the last owner had a lot of panels replaced but whoever welded them only spot welded them in place so the MOT place has agreed to join the dots and I'm once again sorting out some electrical problems and sorting the passenger door that only opens from the inside. I did however get some good pictures of the car after a good clean for it's visit to the garage.

I remember those GT6s well – many seemed to be in a pale blue colour. Triumph had a good range of sports cars back in those days:- 2 versions of Vitesse 1.6 & 2.0, the Spitfire, GT6 and Stag plus several saloons and the Dolomite/Sprint with what was an advanced engine at the time! German cars were in the doldrums then with VW flogging a tired, rust-bucket Beetle, BMW making bubble cars and Audi not really off the starting block. Times change

Bang on, I agree Triumph and MG did have a great time in the 70s and 80s and now again for enthusiasts. Simple to work on being mechanically simple and functional and quite reasonable on parts availability and price.
Bertie, re when the GT6 will be on the road. I have done all the MOT fails that I can do but it failed on the floor pan welding just being tack welded and the garage can't fit it in for seam welding and re-test until the end of the week, unfortunately it will be another two weeks until I can pick it up after that so mid May is the first time it will be driven in 9 years. I will be using it almost daily to get used to any quirks and how reliable it is. It will take some time to trust it on journeys with being in a long term restoration, especially when I didn't do a lot of the restoration with my own hands. I will be going to as many classic shows as I can within reasonable distance and will probably bring it to the next NW BMW meet unless I'm forced to bring the Z3.

Headintheclouds wrote:Bertie, re when the GT6 will be on the road. I have done all the MOT fails that I can do but it failed on the floor pan welding just being tack welded and the garage can't fit it in for seam welding and re-test until the end of the week, unfortunately it will be another two weeks until I can pick it up after that so mid May is the first time it will be driven in 9 years. I will be using it almost daily to get used to any quirks and how reliable it is. It will take some time to trust it on journeys with being in a long term restoration, especially when I didn't do a lot of the restoration with my own hands. I will be going to as many classic shows as I can within reasonable distance and will probably bring it to the next NW BMW meet unless I'm forced to bring the Z3.

Slowly Slowly wins the race.... I know what you mean about trust, Ive had it with both my Zeds - not knowing if the work was good or not or if the next bend is the last one and I am still having it with my porker... you're right, a little further each day and soon it will be yours and not an unsolved mystery. I've mentioned to Gill that it will be the end of May anyway before I can get up to the lakes so hopefully everything will be fine by then.

Thought you may like to see the GT6 after some more time spent tidying and I have now done just over 500 miles in it so getting used to throwing it around a bit. I've been to 2 shows in it now and it's holding it's own against other show cars.

You must be a happy daddy now you can show it off...