Time for an overhaul of my 1.9 '98 BMW Z3 Individual

[Matt Barnes]

Another afternoon under the car.....and I'm definitely getting there..... noting what @Althulas said about the cable ties, I decided to gently wiggled them off with a pair of pliers, going to and fro, left and right until they came off. The studs are threaded but the ties aren't.....

HOWEVER. the brake pipe clips unscrew !, I tried for ages trying to pull them off the studs, got them loose and turned anti clockwise and they unscrew !....

and I'm mighty glad I did take them off, somehow the studs and the surrounding area were heavily pitted and corroded...and took a fair bit of finger sander, drill with a wire wheel and the Dremel to get it all off.

in getting rid of it I noted something curious.. this recess above the brake hose support. It felt like sharp edges and seems really weird, but it's on the nearside as well. It just doesn't look factory, almost like the brake hose has worn it down but it can't being rubber. That too was pitted with rust and took a lot of grinding to get back to bare metal

anyway, I treated the whole area with good old (and I mean old, I've had the bottle since the 90's !) of Kurust.

The studs and surrounding area were treated to a liberal dose of Kurust and within 5 minutes was starting to turn black.

I also seam sealed the end of the sills both front and back and well as the two rear spring perches. didn't photograph it though...

I also had a bit of a setback... I went back to my "favourite" front offside Sill end and looked underneath, and to my horror, there were three small brown brown areas on the Epoxy primer !... again !!.... this time I ground down the whole area, and got it as shiny as I possibly could given the rivulets and my dodgy welding.

I tried something different this time and caked the entire area in Kurust... I'll leave that until tomorrow and go over what I exposed today with epoxy primer

so the next steps are..... Epoxy prime the areas I've left (rear cable harness and this bloody sill).. then apply rattle can stone chip (I chose light grey given the colour of the top coat), to the sills and wheel arches.

Then it's spraying the underside in Fiji Green and e-coat colour where needed....then.... we're ready to start putting hardware back on ! starting with the brake and fuel lines.

currently the car is raised so much I can kneel underneath it, I'll obviously lower it a bit before I refit the fuel tank and the subframe.

I'll go with the option most have chosen, and that's the build up the entire rear end and roll it out on a trolley and lift.

 

[Matt Barnes]

Progress on painting a bit slow today as it's blowing an absolute hooligan and turning my tarp into a parachute !.....

still, I managed to complete the epoxy primer, and I think I've covered everything I need to before paint, think it's now ready for some Fiji Green !

oooo one word of warning, if you do use this type of 2k Epoxy primer, be warned it sets rock hard. made the mistake of getting it onto some threads on the first outing, and the nuts wouldn't go back on. Had to get the drill with a wire wheel to dig it out of the threads, took ages !!

so it was back into the garage and decided to practice my brake flaring for a bit.... talk about skill fade !.... anyway, got there in the end on some scraps..first two attempts weren't pretty... the final one is in the middle, which is more like the one I took off the car...

Then I decided to completely waste my time and clean up all the heat shield fixings because I had this crazy idea of zinc plating them... totally overkill I know, but I have to kit so it's only costing me time. I'll need to get them much cleaner than this before I do it though

Think next for me is to get the new Diff bush back into the Diff plate (I've already warned my wife that I'll need to put the bush in the freezer overnight)

 

[Matt Barnes]

well yesterday I had plans to really sort out the underside rear and get that all buttoned up for paint, but forgot i'd promised to fit a new bumper to my Sister's Skoda Fabia.....quite an interesting design as the rear lights are held on by locating pins and one plastic screw !..... anyway back to Z3s

given I'd mis ordered the rear trailing arm bushes, they arrived during the week and I set to....I came up with a cunning plan to make it even easier than using ring spanners... why not use the nugga !!....

all was going so well... pulled it in about halfway in seconds, then hit a stop and started stripping the thread of the bar...

abandoned that idea and went back to locknuts and ring spanners......

far more sensible and did the job admirably...

so onto today !.... thought I'd clear the decks, literally... and do a dry fit of most that has been refurbished.... first time this lot's been back together since July 23 ! proper Spinal Tap moment

it was then I noticed something a little odd, I couldn't get the trailing arms back into the brackets on the subframe. Much manoeuvring and pushing led me to realise, the bushes were not seated properly..

notice how the left side is sticking out more than the right ?.... yep... that matters....

so I dug the threaded bar and nuts back out and gave them a little "tweak"....

then they sat nicely in the brackets.... it did come at some collateral damage in chipped paintwork, but that was sorted with a few brushes of Hammerite...

then I thought I'd have another practice at brake flaring..... getting there, but the flare on the OEM pipe seems a little wider and "fatter" (yes, my attempt is a very old bit of pipe pipe!! ). So I need to sort that out...

so that's about it for now...... progress progress..

 

[Matt Barnes]

well.... decided to have a long weekend, primarily taken up by us going away with friends to Somerset and effectively drinking for three days !!... however, today was a garage day and I set to by making up the front to rear Offside brake pipe.

I tried using a brake forming tool but on the second bend, (luckily I'd just started) it caused a kink.....

so I had to chop that off with a the pipe cutter and start again... this time, I did the whole thing with my thumbs and no kinks

Then I realised I clearly had too much time on my hands and decided to clean up the heat shield fasteners....

and yep.... you guess it...... zinc plate them !!....

some didn't turn out too well... but hey, it was only me playing around.... they might look good contrasted against the silver heat shields...

so next steps....

1. Paint the underside - mixture e-coat colour where needed and Fiji Green.....
2. Paint the inner sills
3. Fit the fuel lines (thanks @Mazza ! )
4. Fit my newly made brake pipes
5. Refit the heat shields
6. Assemble the subframe
7. Make up subframe brake pipes
8. Rebuild the rear brakes
9. Lower the car to a reasonable height !!
10. Fit the tank with new straps... (again thanks @Mazza )
11. Get that lot back on the car !

Then...... sort out the front !....

- both shocks rusted
- both front discs rusted
- cross brace surface rusted
- front axle support rusted, but only surface rust

 

[Synclare]

That is because it looks like you are making standard SAE flares as opposed to a DIN flare that it should be. They have different profiles.

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then I thought I'd have another practice at brake flaring..... getting there, but the flare on the OEM pipe seems a little wider and "fatter" (yes, my attempt is a very old bit of pipe pipe!! ). So I need to sort

 

[Matt Barnes]

That is because it looks like you are making standard SAE flares as opposed to a DIN flare that it should be. They have different profiles.

View attachment 319903

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then I thought I'd have another practice at brake flaring..... getting there, but the flare on the OEM pipe seems a little wider and "fatter" (yes, my attempt is a very old bit of pipe pipe!! ). So I need to sort

interesting!... thanks for that mate, I'll go back and do some research, though I'm only using one compression, i.e. one use of the Die...but of course I'll do more practice!

 

[t-tony]

You have to make the convex joint before making the concave one Matt.
Have you not looked at my "How to Guide" on making brake pipes?

Tony.

 

[Matt Barnes]

You have to make the convex joint before making the concave one Matt.
Have you not looked at my "How to Guide" on making brake pipes?

Tony.

Thanks Tony, I thought I was doing it right as they're supposed to be ISO/DIN bubble flares?..I've got something wrong then. Glad I'm practicing on scrap pieces

 

[Matt Barnes]

Back on the car again... really must start ramping up the time getting this all back together.... anyway... today I applied some Stone Chip... quite forgiving stuff with a narrow spray reducing the over spray....

and yes I am still THAT Neighbour !...

So I'll let all that dry and then I'm ready for top coat at last !!!....

meanwhile decided to replace the fuel filter, don't know how old the other one is but replaced it anyway while the pipes were off the car

offered up my freshly zinced heat shield fasteners to a very grubby heat shield.. no practical reason for zincing them, other than I have a plating kit, and they were there !

 

[DrWong]

Well done for persevering with it. Just reminded myself when this thread was started - March 2023! Coming up to two years..

 

[Matt Barnes]

Well done for persevering with it. Just reminded myself when this thread was started - March 2023! Coming up to two years..

thank you mate...I've never restored a car before so everything has been a learning journey, from treatment chemicals; welding; plating; tools..everything I've done has been learnt on this car... but I now have a huge arsenal of stuff to use in the future

 

[Mazza]

I hope your wife appreciates.all your hard work … and lets you drive it occasionally

 

[Matt Barnes]

I hope your wife appreciates.all your hard work … and lets you drive it occasionally

I did say to her, there's no point getting it on the road before Christmas...you know, all that frost and wet roads and all?..

 

[Matt Barnes]

well..... another few hours under the car with a couple of revelations........ plus !..... we have started the....... TOP COAT !!

ok things started a little fraught.... I was checking the clips and runs for the brake pipes and fuel pipes and noticed this rusty clump which got me worried. I dug at it gently with a screwdriver and luckily it was rock solid. it's where the undertray clip to the body. so there must be a little moisture trap there.

so it was out with the trusty file sander as it's nice and narrow and can get into all the little crevices.

then a liberal coating of Kurust which I'll let do it's thing until tomorrow then go over with MIPA epoxy primer...and of course stippled seam sealer and anti gravel before top coat.

while I was under there, I thought I'd crawl forward and check the front... had a little dig around the cross brace and...........oh.....the oil leak is deliberate by the way... stops rust

so it looks like I'm on the hunt for a new cross brace... luckily as we know it's not structural and only held on my 4 bolts so easy fix... he says.

I also bit the bullet and decided to BUY new zinc plated Bolts of Doom.. these are M8x20, but... for 2mm ?... shouldn't make a difference....

Think they look rather fetching in their new home...

I also took the heat shield off behind the cross brace and.... wow !!... the undercoat looks factory fresh !!.... the E-Coat certainly did it's job there !!

now to the bit where I got a bit carried away..... I saw the Fiji Green cans on the shelf and thought... "oooh let's see what a quick spray looks like..."

A little bit turned into a bit more...

the top of the arch (the grubby bit) is original paint and I'd painted the spring perch, colour match is superb, and yes I am replacing the shocks

I then had to stop myself doing anymore, firstly as I was spraying under a tarpaulin with no mask, and secondly I hadn't masked anything up !

might carry on tomorrow !

 

[Matt Barnes]

Day 2 of the Big Spray Off.... and I think I'm done!... well.... for the subframe area at least......

not sure the car should be jacked up high enough to sit under while masking up but....... it is...

Most people won't know but I'm a Parkside (Lidl) tool addict and I bought this temperature scanner for my zinc plating kit... came in handy as the paint area is supposed to be between 20 and 25 degrees...November ?...on a driveway? ..... no

So it was out with the heat gun to warm up the area, and as I'd left the tarpaulin on the car it worked quite well. Well enough to be laying down paint at least...

perfectly tailored masking up !!

and off we go !....

yes it is the same colour !,, just my LED lighting

wasn't sure how far under the body to go so stopped about............ here !

I know it's a bit finicky, but i hated the over spray on parts... so took the clips and bungs off and Meths worked really well.....still a green "hue" on the clip but road grime will sort that out !

so the next steps are..... spray the front sills and feather in where the factory paint went....then it's time to start putting things back on !

 

[DrWong]

Haha that first picture is crazy! Paint looks an awesome match.

How did you get the white brake/fuel line bracket off in the last pic? I tried all sorts on the screw (impact, hammer and chisel etc) but the sodding thing didn't even budge a millimetre.

 

[Matt Barnes]

Haha that first picture is crazy! Paint looks an awesome match.

How did you get the white brake/fuel line bracket off in the last pic? I tried all sorts on the screw (impact, hammer and chisel etc) but the sodding thing didn't even budge a millimetre.

thanks mate..... to be honest the metal clip that goes over the top, screw head sheared off back when I was removing stuff..... gulp... July last year !... so the plastic bit just pulls off... not decided yet how I'm going to refit it. To be honest it doesn't really need to be clamped in as there are plenty of clips holding the fuel and brake lines firmly in place.....

 

[Matt Barnes]

Strange old day in the garage, couldn't do any painting or bodywork thanks to the storm..... so decided I'm going to have another go at the rear springs as I just don't like how they turned out... firstly tried with the wool pad....scuffing it down....that's not rust by the way it's red oxide primer

very quickly realised that will take FAR too long.... so resorted to the Jelonite and clingfilm approach to get the paint off again

so, a liberal coating of Jelonite, wrap it up in clingfilm to keep it moist and let it cook overnight

whilst mulling over the mysteries of life and the universe, I spied the spare wheel cage, remembering there was a powdercoated one on the For Sale page... I decided I'm going to have a go at restoring mine !

yes.... it is that bad

you might juuuuuuuuust see a tiny hole, so small I had to mark it with an arrow.... yes... that's not supposed to be there. So I get to practice my welding again !!

however !!.... much grinding later with the angle grinder and wire wheel cup got me to this

and I even managed to expose the part number

one piece of equipment I found REALLY good, especially if you wear glasses and a mask... this face shield is brilliant and can highly recommend and it's very comfortable to the point I forgot I was wearing it and hit the Perspex with my Cuppa !!

so with most of the grinding done, I then started on the swivel bolt... and … yes.. I think I've found my next zinc plating victim !!

Actually thinking about it.. I might just chop this bit out, i mean what's it doing apart from being a water trap ?

 

[Matt Barnes]

Sooooooo I was planning on fitting the fuel and brake lines today but BBCs midweek forecast for the weekend turned out to be completely wrong...

therefore I decided to carry out my threat and save the Spare Wheel carrier by chopping out the rot

angle grinder and cutting disc made light work of it......

tried peeling back the left overs which was mildly successful until I got to the spot welds

then it was the joys of stripping all the grot off with the angle grinder and wire wheel cup. I used my file sander to smooth off the sharp edges of the bits I cut off....

Finished off with a coat of black Hammerite Stone chip which actually made it look like it was powder coated.... nearly...

tomorrow I'll flip it over and paint the top side.

 

[Matt Barnes]

Storm Darragh stopped play today as I had intended to put the brake unions on the pipes, flare and fit onto the car but it remains firmly covered up !... BUT... that doesn't mean progress can't be made.... decided to tart up the fuel pipes that @Mazza got me. Absolutely nothing wrong with them other than a little surface rust and a bit of bubbled paint....

So I took to the pillar drill with a bit fat brass wire wheel and set to on the pipes

The aim wasn't to get them sparkling clean, but enough to make it feel smooth

then it was out with my new favourite spray.... Black Stone chip !.... makes them look brand new !