My new Titan Z3

TitanTim · Post by **TitanTim** » Mon 23 Jun, 2008 19:42

Hello all,

This is my first post and thought I would say hi and post some pics of my Z3 which I picked up a week ago. Its a 1.9 Sport with M suspension and has covered just over 21K. I looked at a good many, mainly 2.2's but I just couldn't find one reasonably local that had a low mileage and was in good nick. This was one was at my local BMW dealer literally 500 yards away but overpriced at £11995

Dealer knocked another grand off so took the plunge, still overpriced but more reasured it has a full history and is BMW approved. My other car is a Corsa VXR so I wasn't really after a fast Z.

Pic of my VXR a cracking car

Only slight problem I have had so far is the fabric was lifting in one corner at the top of the rear screen, fixed using some Aradite Fabric glue. The rear screen has come up new using the special plastic polish for these type of screens. Car has now been clayed and carnauba waxed and engine bay cleaned. Cleaned a reproofed the hood yesterday using the Autoglym kit, however word of warning dont get the protective spray on the glass as once dry its a real job to remove.

Can anyone advise how to remove the gear knob as I would like to replace it, I guess it pulls off? The previous owner was a lady and the M sport gear knob has suffered ring damage to the leather

All in all loving the car.

Sorry for long post

Cheers

muppet · Post by **muppet** » Mon 23 Jun, 2008 19:51

hello titan tim

nice looking Zed and shiney

TitanTim · Post by **TitanTim** » Mon 23 Jun, 2008 20:03

muppet wrote:hello titan tim

nice looking Zed and shiney

Hi Muppet,

Thanks, I'm sure I will e posting even longer threads lol

Ian_C · Post by **Ian_C** » Mon 23 Jun, 2008 20:24

Welcome to the forum TitanTim. Your zed looks like it's in fantastic condition - well worth the approved used price premium.

The gear knob pulls straight off. Do a couple of searches on here and you'll find a few tips - apparently you need to be careful not to knock your own teeth out as it flies off

TitanTim · Post by **TitanTim** » Mon 23 Jun, 2008 20:29

myredzed wrote:Welcome to the forum TitanTim. Your zed looks like it's in fantastic condition - well worth the approved used price premium.

The gear knob pulls straight off. Do a couple of searches on here and you'll find a few tips - apparently you need to be careful not to knock your own teeth out as it flies off

Hi myredzed,

Thanks for the comments

ummmmmmmm most Zeds I looked at were around the 6 to 8k range with 50 to 80k mileage, I really wondered if I was paying too much as when I did a National Search of BMW stock it seemed the most expensive and still the 1.9 lol, still I'm not dissapointed, put the roof down and forget what I paid lol.

Thanks for the tip on the gear knob I will have a play once I get a new one, I'm probably looking at a M sport chrome and leather or brushed alloy

Ian_C · Post by **Ian_C** » Mon 23 Jun, 2008 20:42

These Storm Motorwerks gearknobs come highly recommended from others on the forum: http://www.storm-motorwerks.com/interio ... _knobs_v1/

Bloke · Post by **Bloke** » Mon 23 Jun, 2008 21:44

Nice car, and yea, just pull really hard on the Gearnob and it will come off..
Its great how putting the roof down can wipe away a bad day...
ps I have a nice wooden Gearnob for sale...

Bloke

TitanTim · Post by **TitanTim** » Mon 23 Jun, 2008 22:10

Bloke wrote:Nice car, and yea, just pull really hard on the Gearnob and it will come off..
Its great how putting the roof down can wipe away a bad day...
ps I have a nice wooden Gearnob for sale...

Bloke

Cheers, I'm looking at the M-Tec chrome as I think it might match the brushed alloy centre console,

http://www.nm-motorsport.com/acatalog/B ... Knobs.html

///M_aniac · Post by **///M_aniac** » Mon 23 Jun, 2008 22:13

Terrific looking Z3. Welcome to the forum

C

Bally · Post by **Bally** » Tue 24 Jun, 2008 11:54

Very nice looking car, polished up a treat, i have the same dash as yours but with the chrome M Tec gear knob (as pic). Its fixed on with a screw under the self adhesive centre cap, found it when i replaced the scratched old one!

Enjoy

partybish · Post by **partybish** » Tue 24 Jun, 2008 12:19

That's a lovely looking Z you've got yourself, it looks mint - I like contrast of the red carpets with the black interior!

Bally · Post by **Bally** » Tue 24 Jun, 2008 12:27

partybish wrote:That's a lovely looking Z you've got yourself, it looks mint - I like contrast of the red carpets with the black interior!

I have to agree with you on the red mats

TitanTim · Post by **TitanTim** » Tue 24 Jun, 2008 16:07

Bally wrote:Very nice looking car, polished up a treat, i have the same dash as yours but with the chrome M Tec gear knob (as pic). Its fixed on with a screw under the self adhesive centre cap, found it when i replaced the scratched old one!

Enjoy

Cheers Bally, I'm looking to replace the original gear knob with the chrome one like yours, when you say its fixed on with a screw, do you think the old one would be too? or should it just pull off? The original one on the car is a M-Tec leather as part of the M package, just a shame its all scuffed up and scratched.

Thanks

TitanTim · Post by **TitanTim** » Tue 24 Jun, 2008 16:09

partybish wrote:That's a lovely looking Z you've got yourself, it looks mint - I like contrast of the red carpets with the black interior!

Thanks for all your kind comments, really appreciate them

The red carpet mats are tailor made for the Z3 and a bargain £14 off e-bay lol

Bally · Post by **Bally** » Tue 24 Jun, 2008 16:26

All the guys suggest your old one pulls straight off so i assume they are right as mine was fitted when bought.

Try taking off the plastic self ahesive cap on the top (very small screw driver) and having a look underneath if you are not bothered about damaging it.

TitanTim · Post by **TitanTim** » Tue 24 Jun, 2008 16:44

Bally wrote:All the guys suggest your old one pulls straight off so i assume they are right as mine was fitted when bought.

Try taking off the plastic self ahesive cap on the top (very small screw driver) and having a look underneath if you are not bothered about damaging it.

Thanks Bally, will have a look once I get the new one, won't really matter if I damage the old one so worth exploring! don't want to be pulling with the force of an elephant if there might be a screw holding in place lol.

whiteminks · Post by **whiteminks** » Tue 24 Jun, 2008 16:49

Looks great Tim!

Very much like Toadster my 2.2.

Pipes · Post by **Pipes** » Tue 24 Jun, 2008 18:36

TitanTim wrote: Cleaned a reproofed the hood yesterday using the Autoglym kit, however word of warning dont get the protective spray on the glass as once dry its a real job to remove.

Looks great Tim, in fantastic condition!

Can I ask... how did you remove the protective spray in the end? I did exactly the same thing this weekend - bought and used the Autoglym kit, a bit of the protector rolled down the passenger window and I can't remove the marks at all! I tried Autoglym Fast Glass (as the bottle suggests) immediately, doesn't help at all!

bighfishing · Post by **bighfishing** » Tue 24 Jun, 2008 18:47

a small amount of white spirit will move it from the window or the plastic screen very easily and do no damage, i did it a couple of weeks ago.

TitanTim · Post by **TitanTim** » Tue 24 Jun, 2008 19:03

Pipes wrote:
TitanTim wrote: Cleaned a reproofed the hood yesterday using the Autoglym kit, however word of warning dont get the protective spray on the glass as once dry its a real job to remove.
Looks great Tim, in fantastic condition!

Can I ask... how did you remove the protective spray in the end? I did exactly the same thing this weekend - bought and used the Autoglym kit, a bit of the protector rolled down the passenger window and I can't remove the marks at all! I tried Autoglym Fast Glass (as the bottle suggests) immediately, doesn't help at all!

Cheers Pipes

yes I was a little annoyed getting the protective spray on both side windows and rear screen

especially as I spend hours the day before polishing up the plastic screen lol. I tried like you Autoglyms fast glass with no result, then tried methylated spirits on the glass only and still no joy

Ended up using Meguires Scratch X which is a very fine cutting compound, but still took some elbow grease. Result in the end and the glass came up beautiful lol. I had to do the rear screen again with the plastic polish but it seemed to come off much easier for some reason. I didn't have any white spirit unfortunately. You live and learn

Next time i'm going to use some old sheets over the car before doing the top again.

TitanTim · Post by **TitanTim** » Tue 24 Jun, 2008 19:04

whiteminks wrote:Looks great Tim!

Very much like Toadster my 2.2.

Cheers whiteminks

bighernan · Post by **bighernan** » Fri 27 Jun, 2008 13:33

I had the same problem when I redid my roof. I used a piece of clay with quick detailer and it came of with minimal effort. Worked really well on the headlights too.

srvz3 · Post by **srvz3** » Wed 02 Jul, 2008 11:51

Hi TitanTim.
just picked up your thread, nice motor, looks similar to my 98 2.8, as i am in the Stafford area i will keep my eyes open for you.
there will be a few of us at Beacon Park, Lichfield on sat/sun, Cars in the Park show, pop down if you fancy a chin wag.
changed that gear lever yet?

yalden · Post by **yalden** » Wed 02 Jul, 2008 12:48

Car looks cracking, you've paid a high price, but as you'd expect you've got a minter with seriously low mileage. The Z3 can only depreciate so far, it'll always remain a classic imo so you'll never lose out too much, especially as you'll only be using it as a play thing.

I'd echo someone elses opinions and go for the Storm Motorwerks V1 shifter, I am biased though

Click to enlarge

srvz3 · Post by **srvz3** » Wed 02 Jul, 2008 15:55

Hi Yalden.
I'm lovin that carbon fibre, where did you get it from, and can i dare ask how much it cost. any more of it in the car?

yalden · Post by **yalden** » Wed 02 Jul, 2008 18:23

srvz3 wrote:Hi Yalden.
I'm lovin that carbon fibre, where did you get it from, and can i dare ask how much it cost. any more of it in the car?

I had it custom made, the two centre console pieces cost me £150. That's the full extent of it on the car at the moment, but there's much more to come!

TitanTim · Post by **TitanTim** » Wed 02 Jul, 2008 20:23

srvz3 wrote:Hi TitanTim.
just picked up your thread, nice motor, looks similar to my 98 2.8, as i am in the Stafford area i will keep my eyes open for you.
there will be a few of us at Beacon Park, Lichfield on sat/sun, Cars in the Park show, pop down if you fancy a chin wag.
changed that gear lever yet?

Hiya,

Cheers, I never see any other Zeds in Stafford

so feeling lonely lol, the weekend get together sounds good, I'm at Tatenhill Airfield at some stage so will try and drop by as its not too far away.

Haven't changed the gear lever yet lol, my wind deflector came yesterday so I need to fit that and I'm waiting for a pair of magnetic stone chip guards for the rear wings but there someing from the States so not sure how long that they will take to arrive. New gear lever is next on the list althought I had a tentative pull of the curremt one but it doesn't seem to want too budge, any easy way of doing it?

Cheers

Tim

TitanTim · Post by **TitanTim** » Wed 02 Jul, 2008 20:31

yalden wrote:Car looks cracking, you've paid a high price, but as you'd expect you've got a minter with seriously low mileage. The Z3 can only depreciate so far, it'll always remain a classic imo so you'll never lose out too much, especially as you'll only be using it as a play thing.

I'd echo someone elses opinions and go for the Storm Motorwerks V1 shifter, I am biased though

Click to enlarge

Hi Yalden,

Thanks for posting the pics, yours looks great

I really haven't decided what type of gear shift to get as yet, I might decide on brished alloy and leather, I had a Peugeot 207 CC which has an all alloy gear shift but it was very cold in the winter lol.

Haven't stopped using the zed the past 2 weeks my poor VXR has been locked away in the garage!

yalden · Post by **yalden** » Wed 02 Jul, 2008 21:02

TitanTim wrote:Hi Yalden,

Thanks for posting the pics, yours looks great I really haven't decided what type of gear shift to get as yet, I might decide on brished alloy and leather, I had a Peugeot 207 CC which has an all alloy gear shift but it was very cold in the winter lol.

There is a solution to every problem... (excuse the bad photo, also note that this was a prototype, hence the untidy stitching)

Click to enlarge

Storm Motorwerks also produce a leather sock that slips tight over the shifter for winter use. They are normally black with black stitching, I chose the blue stitching to follow the Hartge theme on my previous car.

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My new Titan Z3

My new Titan Z3

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Re: My new Titan Z3