Z3 2.2 rebuild journal - The Terd-Mobile

mrscalex · Post by **mrscalex** » Mon 30 May, 2016 12:14

I took delivery of the new project on Thursday. It's a 2001 Cat C Z3 2.2. It's received light frontal damage and was partially stripped in the salvage yard (seats, rear lights, roll bars, door mirrors and door cards). However it's only done 61k miles and looks to be a well kept car so seems like a worthy venture.

I thought I'd keep a photo journal for my amusement and yours. I'm no expert but I've done a similar level of rebuild on my brother's 1.9 and that's not looking too shabby now, although it remains an ongoing project itself

I'm picking most of the parts for repair up on Wednesday evening and will make a start next Sunday. I just need a bonnet and front bumper now in Topaz Blue if you can help

Here's the first of the photos as it arrives. And first of all what the 1.9 looks like as encouragement for me to get the 2.2 looking the same way

motco · Post by **motco** » Mon 30 May, 2016 17:26

It would be a shame to scrap such a nice car; well done for taking it on. I hope you find a bonnet to suit - in the the correct colour if possible, but a respray wouldn't be too bad if necessary, surely? I love my 2.2 hope to keep on running it for a good while yet.

peter2b · Post by **peter2b** » Mon 30 May, 2016 17:43

best of luck getting her back on the road, funny thing is mine got hit on the off side
peter2b

mrscalex · Post by **mrscalex** » Mon 30 May, 2016 17:56

motco wrote:It would be a shame to scrap such a nice car; well done for taking it on. I hope you find a bonnet to suit - in the the correct colour if possible, but a respray wouldn't be too bad if necessary, surely? I love my 2.2 hope to keep on running it for a good while yet.

The trouble is a Cat C car is only worth around 60% of a non Cat car. A bit unfair really because if the work's done properly it shouldn't matter a jot. So you have to be careful with the budget. There's not really room for paint in the budget and I was amazed how good a match the panels from 3 different cars were on the 1.9.

mrscalex · Post by **mrscalex** » Sun 05 Jun, 2016 23:21

I picked up what I thought was going to be all the parts I needed for the project last Wednesday. Unfortunately the nearside rear wing and rear bumper were not immaculate as the ebay seller suggested and are going back for a refund. This has caused a rethink and by a happy coincidence I have now been promised a full set of panels in the correct colour from someone intending to do a kit car. It could be several months before they come through but I don't mind waiting if the panels are good ones.

So in the meantime I decided to use the front panel and front bumper from the pre-facelift Boston Green I'm breaking as a temporary measure to get the car through the MOT.

We started the day off removing the donor parts from the breaker. All pretty straight-forward but a couple of points to note. When you're removing/replacing the front panel no need to remove the radiator - lesson learned, see later. I guessed at an 8mm drill bit to take out the spot welds on the chassis rail ends and that coupled with a large bolster chisel worked well. A well placed 10mm bit would probably have taken the spot welds clean out but I felt it would be better to try and leave a bit more metal and break apart the 1mm ring that was left.

The 2.2 has air-con so has the addition of a condenser and 2nd (pusher) fan forward of the radiator and I'd been wondering about the complications of dismantling that. Encouraged by the lesson I'd learned on the breaker I did the front panel change with the radiator and condenser in-situ although the pusher fan had been destroyed in the accident and literally fell out. I just had to prop the condenser up as that was left free to otherwise drop - the radiator sits happily on the rubber mounts only. The power steering cooling loop was turned round gently on the rubber hoses and pushed under the car during the work.

Here's the damaged front panel next to the temporary replacement. I will need to find a Topaz Blue one from a different source as a kit car will obviously require that. But Boston Green will do for the MOT! It really was the front panel (and bumper bar) that took one for the team.

To cut a long story short everything went on nicely and I discovered no damage to the chassis rails. I haven't got the replacement air ducts back in yet as I'll need to study how they go back.

We had a go at straightening the bonnet out as a temporary measure for the MOT but it didn't work out. We'll use the bonnet from the breaker for now but the 2 cars are in different locations, neither mobile and I have to work out how to get a near 6ft square item across town. I have an Alhambra but it won't fit in - by a long way.

My very able assistant, my son James 12, did an excellent job of cleaning the inside and the carpet was immaculate under the dirt. The power hood works and to my amazement the air con worked as well after the new pusher assembly was fitted.

So far so good. Once the bonnet is sorted it really only needs the seats and wing mirrors fitted for the MOT although I'll put the roll hoops in too.

We even had time to place the rear lights in position. The car should have clear indicators but budget doesn't currently permit so amber headlamps will also be going back in from the breaker.

peter2b · Post by **peter2b** » Mon 06 Jun, 2016 14:32

looking good my zed has yellow front indicators ,(might be starting a new retro look) my excuse was i didnt know any thing about pre /post face lift trimat that timebut they were the only ones I could find in time and a £45 each were worth it
peter2b

mrscalex · Post by **mrscalex** » Mon 06 Jun, 2016 16:47

peter2b wrote:looking good my zed has yellow front indicators ,(might be starting a new retro look) my excuse was i didnt know any thing about pre /post face lift trimat that timebut they were the only ones I could find in time and a £45 each were worth it
peter2b

I actually prefer the amber indicators as they do indeed look more traditional. But restoring the car to how it left the factory is even more important to me. That said I usually hate chrome bling like the bonnet grills and door handles but I'm seriously tempted to put them on this one as I think it will go so well with the blue.

mrscalex · Post by **mrscalex** » Tue 07 Jun, 2016 07:29

The interior got some more attention yesterday. The main priority was to ensure the area where the roll loop/cubby box system is going in was clean. But we took the opportunity to give the whole dash a deep clean with Autoglym Interior Shampoo and finished it off with Autoglym Vinyl and Rubber. Just need to give the carpets a wet vax now.

The little man did most of the work.

Have to say I really don't like the brushed alloy centre console but the rules are if it left the factory like that...

Boosh · Post by **Boosh** » Tue 07 Jun, 2016 08:20

Hi, nice job!
Would it be against your rules to cover the centre console you don't like with a sheet of vinyl? It's pretty cheap, easy to do, and above all reversible in a matter of seconds. Your local sign maker should have any shade you want. Moreover, strictly speaking, the original bits would still be on the car...

Boosh.

mrscalex · Post by **mrscalex** » Tue 07 Jun, 2016 09:47

Boosh wrote:Hi, nice job!
Would it be against your rules to cover the centre console you don't like with a sheet of vinyl? It's pretty cheap, easy to do, and above all reversible in a matter of seconds. Your local sign maker should have any shade you want. Moreover, strictly speaking, the original bits would still be on the car...

Boosh.

Good idea but I think I should learn to appreciate it instead as I've just had a pleasant surprise. I've realised it's a Sport model and have just been familiarising myself with the differences to a non-Sport model. The brushed centre console is a part of that along with the staggered wheels, clear 3rd brake light, sports seats, alternative front bumper grill and lowered/uprated suspension. Funnily enough my lad said to me Dad, I think this one sits lower than Uncle Jon's. 12 and he can pick out things like that! I also nearly threw the bumper grill out with the damaged bumper that came off. It was slightly worse the wear but serviceable - I thought the replacement bumper would come with one and they were all the same. I'm learning!

I know Sport editions are hardly rare but still nice to find out that's what the car is. This one also has air con and powered hood. So all in all a nice spec

motco · Post by **motco** » Tue 07 Jun, 2016 12:04

I agree about the aluminium console panel, it's cheap and tacky. Mine has one and it never looks clean let alone at all classy. I might have a bash at covering it if it's easy to get the panel out.

Boosh · Post by **Boosh** » Tue 07 Jun, 2016 13:20

I thought the same of my wooden console. I picked up some vinyl and had a go. Managed to do it in situ, after taking out head unit, chrome dials, and gear lever knob. Pretty pleased with the result, and I know I can just peel it off if I ever get bored.
Blacked out:

I have since done the same with the door trims, though the cards had to be taken out:

Boosh.

mrscalex · Post by **mrscalex** » Fri 10 Jun, 2016 08:22

Boosh wrote:I thought the same of my wooden console. I picked up some vinyl and had a go. Managed to do it in situ, after taking out head unit, chrome dials, and gear lever knob. Pretty pleased with the result, and I know I can just peel it off if I ever get bored.

That's a nice job Boosh. Must admit I think I'd struggle with woodgrain even more than brushed alloy. Do BMW still do all these trims or were they a turn of the century indulgence?

mrscalex · Post by **mrscalex** » Fri 10 Jun, 2016 08:50

Temporary bonnet has gone on. It's off the Boston Green breaker which is 10 miles across town at my Parents. My daughter and I had a right hoot trying to swap the bonnets in the space of 1 hour using the Hertz B&Q hourly van hire service. What was a £15 headline hire turned into £41 as we ran over by 15 mins. We also dropped the bonnet putting it in the van when I stumbled (it's okay, just dug into the ply-boarded floor) - it nearly impaled me in the chest on the hinge end and we both burnt our hands picking it up as it had been sunbathing in 26 deg. Top tip - don't rush any work involving a bonnet! Have to say the kids did a sterling job of helping me on with the bonnets at either end. These things really are horrible to handle (nearly 6 foot square and heavy!) and it's vital to put protective sheeting around the windscreen in case they slip while you're bolting to the hinges.

Anyway, some pics. Interesting 2-tone colour scheme.

With a mysteriously similar schemed car across town (wanted to protect the engine bay as the breaker engine bay is complete and it's a good runner).

Yesterday I started to bolt the roll loop and cubby box assembly back in. I'll be taking my time there as it's a big box of parts & fixings and needs some figuring out. For now I just got the roll loop turrets back in.

Now for the exciting news. The full panel set from the kit car has turned up much, much quicker than expected. I've seen all the panels in person and they are excellent needing very small amounts of stone-chip etc touching in only.

The temporary bonnet swap earlier in the week wasn't completely wasted as I wanted to see that the bonnet fitted square before parting with any more money bearing in mind it was front-end damaged - alignment all perfect by the way.

We pick the panels up Sunday night (24 hour van hire this time) and I'll be taking Monday off to fit them. So if all goes according to plan we'll have a good looking car pretty quickly now.

The only panels not being replaced from the panel set are the 2 doors, 2 sill covers and the front panel. Doors not available (1 on the car nice, 1 horrible). 2 sill covers on car are perfect. Front panel not available (and one on car currently Boston Green). So it's possible the car will need paint after all. But if I get both doors done then they should 100% match the rest of the panel set and it should be a cracking looking car. Hopefully looking at no more than £300 to paint the 2 doors and front panel.

I have non-sport black leather seats for the car for now. I was going to wait until next year to find the proper Sport seats and door cards. But with things moving so quickly and looking like I'll have a nice result I might just be tempted to buy them this year if anyone on the forum has them available for the right price

Boosh · Post by **Boosh** » Fri 10 Jun, 2016 10:49

Nice job, coming along nicely. Interesting colour scheme, indeed. Still not as bad as a picture of a 'corvette'-style painted z8 i saw on the net yesterday...
I'm somewhat envious of your project: looks like the result will be a cracking car, no reported hiccup, regular progress, nothing mechanically heavy to sort out, and you seem to have the weather on your side...
Please keep this thread updated,

Boosh.

mrscalex · Post by **mrscalex** » Fri 10 Jun, 2016 11:49

Boosh wrote:looks like the result will be a cracking car, no reported hiccup, regular progress, nothing mechanically heavy to sort out, and you seem to have the weather on your side...

Boosh.

I won't tempt fate by agreeing with you! And I shall view it as being very, very lucky if I find nothing else wrong. Although I've checked the exterior and interior enough to hope it wouldn't be there. The gotcha might be when I drive it. Which remember I haven't done yet as it came from a salvage yard on a transporter with no MOT. I was treating the wait for the panel set as a blessing in disguise so I could get the MOT and check the car properly before committing more cash. But you don't turn down a minty Topaz Blue panel set when it's being offered for reasonable money.

We shall see! In the meantime, luck or not, rain or shine, the kids are doing a brilliant job of helping and we're having a lot of fun together. You can't put a price on that

Boosh · Post by **Boosh** » Fri 10 Jun, 2016 12:23

I agree, but if you were solely after bonding time with the young'uns, you could have bought a Vauxhall Nova to do up... What you're likely to end up with here is substantially nicer.
Good luck for the rest of the rebuild,

Boosh.

mrscalex · Post by **mrscalex** » Tue 14 Jun, 2016 10:42

Some good progress the last 2 days.

Firstly inside where the roll bars and cubby box/lateral trim panels are nearly in. Had to stop as 2 small fixings were missing/broken but I have both now and can finish off.

The rear window is pretty reasonable but has a lot of scratches and marks to get out. We're using Greygate paste, Greygate liquid and Autoglym SRP in that order so from coarse to fine. Here's before.

We spent about 30 mins doing pass 1 and it's a lot better but probably needs 2 more passes before it's finished.

The tool kit area got a good clean from James. It's in nice condition with no evidence of water leaks.

The panel set was picked up Sunday evening and the wings were all given a good clean on the back before going on. They are all very solid, no rust, the paint is good but will benefit a good machine polish. Note how you need to clean in the box section of the front wing. A lot of debris accumulates in here.

Start of the rear end strip-down with the bumper off. Window starting to look better.

Off-side rear wing off.

Inner wing area cleaned and petrol filler gasket too.

That's a lot better. But i think you missed a little bit James

Near-side rear wing off and cleaned.

Wing mirrors on and getting a clean and polish.

We had to dodge rain showers and cover the rear end up while in progress. But we managed to keep it all dry and get the rear wings and boot lid back on late last night before another downpour over night.

I'm picking up a set of Sport seats tonight. I was going to leave that until next year, putting pre-facelift seats from the breaker in temporarily. But a nice set came up and I thought what the heck.

bertiejaffa · Post by **bertiejaffa** » Wed 15 Jun, 2016 00:36

theres loads of work going on there - well done. anyone would be happier to buy this when its finished

mrscalex · Post by **mrscalex** » Wed 15 Jun, 2016 10:24

bertiejaffa wrote:theres loads of work going on there - well done. anyone would be happier to buy this when its finished

Thank you sir. We'd put that much effort in anyway but I think it's even more important on a Cat C/D car so one day when I sell it it's clear the car has been properly restored.

The Cat system really doesn't work on older cars. The amount of damage was laughably minor on this car and it was Cat C'd. I can see why as a new OEM bonnet, bumper, front panel, air con fan, fog lights and headlights would have been £2-3k worth then it would have needed a front end respray so probably £4k + of work.

In my view the current system works for cars up to say 5-7 years old. I really wouldn't to buy a Cat C'd 1 year old car as the work would have been huge to repair it £15-£20k maybe on a £30k car.

But for older cars like Z3s the Cat C/D doesn't work as it takes no account of the car's much lower value, much easier repair and leaves a permanent stigma that is unnecessary. I'd suggest a Cat E for 5+ or even 7+ year old cars which means they are easily repairable and there should be no impact to value or insurance.

It's also sending very nice cars like this to the breakers as that's the route a Cat C/D normally takes.

This one in the link is beyond it though. But it gives a very clear indication of how rigid a Z3 shell is when it's been hit very hard (rolled presumably in this case) - note it still drives!

https://auctions.hills-motors.co.uk/veh ... =0&srch=z3

mrscalex · Post by **mrscalex** » Thu 16 Jun, 2016 17:55

Things are edging along.

Here's the new back end.

The little guy power-washing the rear bumper bar and wheel liners. Not my house btw - though I did just plant the flower beds! My parents' house as we have much more space to work there for some stuff.

The inside was really clean anyway but has had a wet vax now.

The thing that has caused me the most confusion was putting the nearside air ducts back. But I got there in the end. The front end has to come off again when I get the correct colour front panel so we're not making the same fuss cleaning the front end as the back end just yet.

Headlamps going back on. The original clear units came with the car but need a little repair which will have to happen later. Decided to get them on now to help prevent any damage to the front bumper cover once fitted.

And a new aerial grommet. This went on like a dream when I did it on the 1.9 but I had a bit more of a fight with this one. Not as cheap as they apparently used to be from the main dealer. £10!

Boosh · Post by **Boosh** » Thu 16 Jun, 2016 18:20

Coming along nicely indeed.
Aerial grommet is cheaper over here, only about €7. Still expensive considering what it is. Not as bad as the fog light's screw-through metal washers, though. Stealer told me they were special clips, so paid the stupid money on ordering, only to find out they were piddly little washers I could/should have got from Halford's!
What colour seats did you manage to find? Or shall I wait and see?
Thanks for updating the thread,

Boosh.

mrscalex · Post by **mrscalex** » Thu 16 Jun, 2016 18:46

Good point about the seats. The cream (Lotus White) pair were superficially nice enough but had been subjected to a considerable degree of amateur repair so I said no. So I'm back to putting in the pre-facelift black leather pair which are nice enough. They just need a wiring harness converter made up but I know how I'm going to do that now.

Sport seats, particularly nice ones are a horrible price. If needs be I'll buy a whole Sport car as a breaker after the 1.9 breaker has bitten the dust. An accident damaged one with chassis damage (ie economically beyond repair) will be little more than the cost of the seats separately and I'll get a stack load of spares off for myself or to sell on. Well that's the plan...

And as we all know everything Z3 is cheaper in the winter months and I can wait till then.

Hoping the car will be roadworthy next week but suspect I will be held up for another 2-3 weeks while a replacement V5 is issued.

mrscalex · Post by **mrscalex** » Thu 16 Jun, 2016 18:57

And on the subject of small fixings. I'm on a mission to document sources of quality non-OEM fixings.

There's a lot of junk on ebay either quality wise, because it's not as described on receipt or not matching the OEM part number indicated. But there's some good stuff too. I've bought a stock of fixings to put the car back together and I'm documenting the matching OEM part numbers and supplier sources. I have digital calipers I'm using to verify the true size to ensure it matches realoem and then waiting for an opportunity to try out on the car.

I've tried two different plastic rivets and also the large headlamp mounting plastic bolt so far that I got from seller byronix on ebay. They were all good quality, as described and the OEM part numbers were correct. Surprisingly I couldn't find a reliable source of plastic bumper rivets (there are a lot of different size plastic rivets on a Z3 even if they look similar), byronix didn't have them, then I found out they were cheap enough from the dealer at 30p each.

I'll be trying the u-clips and Acme bolts next when I put the wheel liners and bumpers back. There are about 3 million different sizes of u-clip and it's quite a challenge finding one that matches close enough. But I think I have a good source now.

If I can put a coherent enough table together of what I find out I will post on the forum.

mrscalex · Post by **mrscalex** » Mon 20 Jun, 2016 23:11

The sill covers have now been removed. They look a bit nasty here but that's nearly all dirt. The amount of dirt trapped at either end (and in the sills themselves) was considerable. Well worth removing for a good clean up.

And the front wheel arch liners out.

The pressure washer brought the sills up a treat and revealed virtually no rust.

The wheel arch liners like to make a break for it when you're pressure washing so we improvised with a garden fork to pin them down

Very small amount of rust on the outside too:

And here's the only rust found on the inside.

The rear wheel arches got a clean too. Before.

During.

And after.

I naively thought I'd find no rust at all under the sill covers. In the event it was only a tiny amount but it needs treating anyway. So a few days wait now while some Por 15 arrives.

That will gives us an opportunity to fix the bonnet release cable and a number of other items we've added to the snagging list. The seats still need to go in too but I'll be leaving them to the very end as sod's law I'll find a job that requires them to be pulled back out otherwise.

mrscalex · Post by **mrscalex** » Sun 26 Jun, 2016 20:37

Progress has been slower this week as I've been tackling the rusty bits under the sill covers which has been time consuming to do properly and hindered by the rain.

The door slams are extremely clean and pretty much unmarked.

This is why you need to take the sill covers off even if there is no evidence of rust on the outside. My sill covers were pristine on the outside. This is a jacking point.

It would be easy to be upset at the discovery of patches like this but the reality is it's surface rust that has been caught in plenty of time. I'm using the Por 15 system which will convert the rust into a stable compound and provide a bullet proof coating that won't rust again. Here's the cleaning and degreasing phase. You rinse off with clean water and once dry apply the second phase called Metal Prep. That's a light blue liquid which will create a zinc coated key for the actual rust barrier paint. You need to keep the Metal Prep wet by recoating for about 30 mins then rinse off with clean water.

I am short on any other photos as care is needed with Por 15 products as they are all quite strong chemicals and need to go on quite quickly especially when you are facing the threat of rain. So my gloves pretty much stayed on throughout apart from 'comfort breaks' and I was loath to stop for photos. Suffice to say the top coat is now on and I will take some photos of the finished repairs before the sill covers go back on next week.

James went through the fusebox and checked there were no blown fuses. We also checked all the fuses were rated correctly for the circuit.

Finally I replaced the bonnet release system from the breaker. The latches went on fine and required little adjustment but I had trouble with the main release cable as documented here.

http://www.zroadster.net/forum/viewtopi ... =5&t=44357

I am fairly certain it's because I disturbed the positioning of the bulkhead grommet along the length of the cable when it came out the breaker. There's also a gold hex lock ring to secure the cable on the end of the grommet and again I suspect I disturbed that so it was no longer doing its job. I will be ordering a new cable from the local dealer tomorrow. I found it was easiest to take the lid off the wiring box and remove the rubber tubing to get access to the grommet area. No amount of fiddling fixed the apparent problem I caused though.

Next week we'll be getting the sill covers and front wings back on so it will look like a whole car again for the first time in a few weeks. We'll be turning our attention then to a couple of mechanical issues with the brakes and suspension. Then we have to fit the pre-facelift seats with the accompanying loom converter harness. I have the V5 now so the MOT is in sight

This is the front offside brake disc which I'm not happy with. Discussed here:

http://www.zroadster.net/forum/viewtopi ... =5&t=44360

Suspect on the front side.

Just not right on the rear.

mrscalex · Post by **mrscalex** » Mon 27 Jun, 2016 21:21

Relieved of £68 in Eurocarparts today for Pagid discs & pads. Seemed like the best compromise between quality and cost. 25% off in Eurocarparts currently!!

And a further £26 for the bonnet cable from the local dealer. Note it comes with the inner release handle suggesting the correct way to install it is inside out.

I'll be using it before it goes on as a known good one to see if I can fix the 2 used ones I have, ie to re-establish the correct position/grip on the bulkhead grommet. On the new one the grommet is very firmly locked to a specific position - which I assume is the correct position!

Will be fitting later in the week once the panels are all back on.

peter2b · Post by **peter2b** » Mon 27 Jun, 2016 22:23

you were lucky to get your v5 first , I had to get a MOT first then go for a VIC check before I could get the V5 for my Cat C but It only took 2 weeks I total
peter2b

mrscalex · Post by **mrscalex** » Tue 28 Jun, 2016 07:33

The VIC check was abolished in October 2015.

The V5 normally costs £25 to replace but there's no charge if your car has been Cat C'd as it seems to be normal practice for the salvage company to destroy the V5. Not sure why.

peter2b · Post by **peter2b** » Tue 28 Jun, 2016 20:12

oops I had to get one in may last year
peter2b

mrscalex · Post by **mrscalex** » Wed 29 Jun, 2016 21:50

More rain

So raked round for some inside jobs to do again

First up was seeing if I could fix one of my spare bonnet cables. The theory was if the grommet (locked in position normally) got moved along the length of cable and/or it was not locked properly it was what was causing the slack. I certainly disturbed it getting the donor cable off the breaker. Using the brand new OEM cable as my guide I wanted to get the grommet in the right position and locked properly.

First of all you have to push the locking ring back. It's crimped into that position so it's a pain to move.

Even then a firm grip is required to shuffle the grommet along the cable. But finally it got to the same position as the new one.

Then the locking ring had to be persuaded back into its locked position. The whole exercise stretched the grommet a bit so it was the rebate where it sits in the bulkhead which I figured was the important bit to align. The old one is the one at the top and the new one the one at the bottom.

If it ever stops raining I'll try it out. Any more agro and the new one will be used and I'll give up (for now...).

Next up was putting the cover on the front bumper bar. This is secured with a number of plastic 'rivets'. I tried some copy ones off ebay but a) they were a bad fit and b) the BMW ones are just as cheap. You put the plug in first and then hammer the pin in. The pin is a tight fit and you need to give it quite a whack. There are a number of problem positions where there is no clearance to swing the hammer.

In the grill area:

In the fog lamp area:

I couldn't figure out how to do the fog lamp one but I could see if I took the grill off I'd get enough on the ones there. The grill needed to come off at some stage anyway as I have the proper Sport grill for it. I just wasn't going to put it on yet as I could see it's a fiddly job because of the star-loc washers used on flimsy plastic pins built into the bumper.

Time for the Dremmel as I couldn't see another way.

Two problems here. A little over-cut is inevitable into the grill that is coming off (only slight - you can see what I mean on the lower pin in the picture above) and the heat starts to melt the plastic pin on the bumper. But I got there in the end.

While I was doing that I realised I could get the fog lamp area rivet in with a g-clamp arrangement. Socket required to sit over the end of the rivet pushing through the other side of the bumper.

And yes, it works

All the way home now.

We're currently doing some final cleaning and treating of the arch liners. They've been pressure washed. We've used Autoglym Interior Shampoo on them tonight

And we've found some great heavy duty back to black type dye to give them back a good as new look

mrscalex · Post by **mrscalex** » Wed 29 Jun, 2016 23:39

Found my car's twin bro! Identical everything including mileage.

Chassis numbers 8 apart and built just 2 days apart. Surprised it wasn't on the same day as the chassis numbers are only 8 apart.

Would be very happy if mine came up looking like this one

Especially as he has £6k on it!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bmw-z3-2-2i-s ... 2503135474

peter2b · Post by **peter2b** » Thu 30 Jun, 2016 09:22

glad swmbo didn't see it as she wants a blue 2.2 z3
peter2b
I've noticed your door cards are slightly different from my zed I don't have the insert above the door handle,

mrscalex · Post by **mrscalex** » Thu 30 Jun, 2016 10:22

peter2b wrote:glad swmbo didn't see it as she wants a blue 2.2 z3
peter2b
I've noticed your door cards are slightly different from my zed I don't have the insert above the door handle,

Do you mean on the ebay car? Mine doesn't have any door cards yet.

In fact if anyone has a nice set of black Sport seats and door cards they'd like to sell me for a reasonable consideration please PM me. I'm currently planning on using the non-Sport black Oregon leather seats and door cards from the breaker as a temporary measure. They're in good useable condition (well I still have to repair the passenger door card) but I have to make up a loom for them to fit a facelift and won't really do the interior justice.

peter2b · Post by **peter2b** » Thu 30 Jun, 2016 12:05

oops not your car but Boosh's door card
peter2b

g8jka · Post by **g8jka** » Thu 30 Jun, 2016 16:02

mrscalex wrote:In fact if anyone has a nice set of black Sport seats and door cards they'd like to sell me for a reasonable consideration please PM me.

Pair of facelift sports seats for sale here at £375 over on zroadster.org from Andy, spurs fan in a coupe

mrscalex · Post by **mrscalex** » Thu 30 Jun, 2016 21:32

g8jka wrote:
mrscalex wrote:In fact if anyone has a nice set of black Sport seats and door cards they'd like to sell me for a reasonable consideration please PM me.
Pair of facelift sports seats for sale here at £375 over on zroadster.org from Andy, spurs fan in a coupe

Thanks. I've spoken with Andy about these.

mrscalex · Post by **mrscalex** » Thu 30 Jun, 2016 21:34

Another wet evening and no progress!

Here's the finished front wheel arch liners from last night.

mrscalex · Post by **mrscalex** » Thu 30 Jun, 2016 21:42

Aahh! Someone else buy it before I'm too tempted! Haven't got the pennies actually...

Little bit of damage to the driver's side chassis rail but I don't think that would be a big job in a body shop.

£6k yes. £8k maybe as it's a cheap repair on the face of it but nearly £10k is worth as much as a Cat C'd one of these would be fully repaired.

Back to the job in hand

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/152150011178

mrscalex · Post by **mrscalex** » Sat 02 Jul, 2016 00:58

Finally - some dry weather! We were straight out this evening with the goal of getting the offside sill cover and front wing back on.

Here's one of the Por 15 treated areas on the offside. Don't expect any rust back here again!

And a full view of the nearside

First of all we finished cleaning the debris out of the sill box section. Leaves and all sorts had found their way in there. I really don't know how!

Access is tricky so we made a special brush that flicked the dirt away from the front edge

And into easier reach of the vacuum

With our trick nozzle attachment.

Here's the Por 15 treated sill cover just about to go back on. But not before the sill box section had a liberal dowsing in Waxoyl.

The rear wing has to be unbolted round the door jam to get access to a sneakily located hidden sill cover bolt. Small hands needed here - thanks James.

Sill cover back on and polished. When we do the nearside we'll be putting the jacking points back on afterwards as they did get in the way a bit having gone back on first on the offside.

I also did a small section of a rear wing with the machine polisher just to get an idea of what the whole car might look like. Happy with the finish

If the weather stays good we'll get the nearside bits on Saturday morning, finally sort out the bonnet release cable and get the wheel arch liners back on.

In terms of bodywork reinstatement that will just leave us with a little fettling to do. We then have a suspension bush to change and new front discs & pads. Then something to sit on to drive it to the MOT hopefully sometime in the next 2 weeks

Brian H · Post by **Brian H** » Sat 02 Jul, 2016 09:34

Great Read, well done to you and your boys!

mrscalex · Post by **mrscalex** » Sat 02 Jul, 2016 21:12

Time to get the nearside front wing and sill cover on today.

Looking more like a complete car again now.

Rear wheel arch liners back in with new bolts. Not sure about the bright look of the bolts. May replace with black ones. But it took me long enough finding exactly the right size for the bolts and bolt clips as it was regardless of colour!

This is a vulnerable area to moisture where the bottom of the liner meets the seal - it's not a tight fit and leaves a gap. I may seal it up.

Much easier with the bumper off to get the liners back. We only put the bumper back loosely with the 2 bolts to the bar when it went back on previously so a 2 min job to come off again.

Both rear liners back in.

Rear bumper back on. Held on with the plastic stays either side and the 2 main bolts. Will also be securing to the wheel arch liner. But the 2 push and drop rivets that hang from the rear wings are too much agro to put back in until we are certain all the panels are lined up and the bumper doesn't need to come off again.

Yet again the bonnet release defeated me. I'm not sure if my cable length/grommet theory was correct. But it certainly didn't help previously. I used a fettled second-hand one retaining the new one as a last resort. The cable entry guide on the offside latch broke testing it. So I never got as far as using the new cable but I don't think that would be the (only) problem anyway. So I am going to buy new latches and a new inter-latch cable. I am beginning to wonder if the top latch positions are more sensitive than I thought and not helping things. Will be googling for bonnet alignment tips before I go any further. I've swapped bonnets various times. But this is the first time a bonnet entered the equation where the top latches had been removed and there is quite a lot of range to position over.

I want the bonnet latching and opening properly now as it's an important reference point for lining up the bumper and headlamp positions on the mounts and once the headlamps and bonnet grills are back in release servicing access is restricted as is the emergency release option when it gets stuck down!

mrscalex · Post by **mrscalex** » Sat 02 Jul, 2016 21:18

Brian H wrote:Great Read, well done to you and your boys!

Thank you. It's one enthusiastic 12 year old boy and one is there something I can do without getting my hands dirty 17 year old girl

bertiejaffa · Post by **bertiejaffa** » Sat 02 Jul, 2016 21:50

that car is looking stunning....

btw... £10k for the crashed M? That £5k more than I paid for mine in one piece !!!

mrscalex · Post by **mrscalex** » Sun 03 Jul, 2016 08:42

bertiejaffa wrote:that car is looking stunning....

btw... £10k for the crashed M? That £5k more than I paid for mine in one piece !!!

That's very kind of you to say. I'm not sure about stunning but it will be clean, tidy, solid and well fettled etc.

I take it you've had your M for a few years if you paid £5k!? I think the ebay one would be worth around £15k straight and non Cat'd these days? Following repair, unless desirable cars follow different rules, it's going to be worth about 60% of a non Cat'd car so about £9k. So therefore, although it's an easy and cheap repair (on the face of it - some of the plastic ducting etc in that area is £200 for a small piece if missing/damaged) I wouldn't price it anymore than £5-£6k as is currently.

mrscalex · Post by **mrscalex** » Sun 03 Jul, 2016 08:48

Just wanted to say hello to the previous owner of the car in case he drops by

I wrote to him after getting his details when I received the V5 - lost as it went via a salvage dealer and was saved from the dismantler who bought it.

He very kindly returned my enquiry and is sending me the remaining paperwork, spare key etc that he still has.

mrscalex · Post by **mrscalex** » Sat 09 Jul, 2016 15:41

Little in the way of progress this week as I realised the Z3s had taken over to the exclusion of everything else so I pretty much had a week off from the project!

I did strip the front pads and discs off. And I did recover a couple of small parts I need from the breaker. I've also ordered new drop links for the front and procured all the parts I need from BMW that I can't track down secondhand or made no sense to buy secondhand. That includes bonnet catches, an air duct and an under wheel arch liner access panel. The bonnet catches are just £10 each. Secondhand ones on Ebay commonly cost twice that! The air duct and panel were the same sort of price or cheaper than I would expect to pay secondhand but they are parts that don't seem to come up on Ebay anyway.

Whilst I haven't bought much in the way of new BMW parts I have to say Trainer BMW in Swansea have been very efficient and accommodating when I have. They also seem to be very competitive on price. And they don't make me feel like a low-life when I walk in and spend £50 rather than £50k like some dealerships do

I also spent time researching what the best brake component lube is. Opinion seems to be divided but I've come down on the side of specialised silicone lube (I bought Pagid) rather than copper grease. That said copper grease is still useful on the back of the discs to aid later removal so I bought some of that too.

I might just take a day off work next week to see if I can get the remaining jobs finished. I really would like to stick it through the MOT and once passed leave all the fettlings jobs until after the summer. Time to be driving it not working on it.

Still have a dilemma with the seats. Not a fan of the oregon leather non-Sport seats I have and I will have to lash up a harness as they are pre-facelift. The proper Sports seats, especially in good condition at an affordable price are not easy to get hold of.

Brian H · Post by **Brian H** » Sat 09 Jul, 2016 15:57

mrscalex wrote:............................

I also spent time researching what the best brake component lube is. Opinion seems to be divided but I've come down on the side of specialised silicone lube (I bought Pagid) rather than copper grease. That said copper grease is still useful on the back of the discs to aid later removal so I bought some of that too.

which part of your brakes are you applying silicone lube too?

mrscalex · Post by **mrscalex** » Sat 09 Jul, 2016 16:01

Backs of the pads and slide points on the mounting bracket. And probably the slider pins. I know the BMW recommendation is no lube on slider pins as it can damage the plastic carrier but I think that advice might have pre-dated the specialised lube now available.

Southernboy · Post by **Southernboy** » Sun 10 Jul, 2016 07:57

I think the reasoning behind the "no lube on the sliders" is to eliminate the opportunity of brake dust and general road grit from getting stuck into the lube and making a decent grinding paste out of it which would act as a wearing medium to the plastic and other parts.

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