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

[Matt Barnes]

well I'm now on Christmas leave !!... so.. first day off... of course I'm going into the garaage !!

first job was to remove the old fuel pipes.... not helped by the slotted heads being ruined and the nut heads rounded off by a previous "careful" mechanic so it took half an hour to get them out...not going to fit the refreshed fuel pipes until I get the "double ear" fuel clamps, arriving at the weekend

once I got them out it was a little tidying up the metalwork with epoxy primer ready for undercoat colour. Then it was time to try and fit a new brake lines. Using the old lines as a former worked like a charm... took literally 5 minutes to fit and near millimetre perfect.

I did have to reuse the ASC rer left union as out of all the nice shiny ones I had, none of them fitted !... although 12mm (for the rear left on ASC cars) the union is 21mm deep unlike all mine which were about 15mm...but we got there.

I also noticed that the 10 mm unions that connect to the flexi hoses at the rear have a shoulder..... so although I have the zinc ones I opted for the silver one as that had a sort of shoulder

so, it was a case of running it under the car, feeding up in to the engine bay, and it met up with all the clips perfectly....so that's the rear left pipe now in

if all good tomorrow, I'll try the rear right !....

 

[t-tony]

The reason those small jubilee type clips are spoiled is because previous people haven't used a 6 point 1/4" drive sockets to turn them. A flat blade screwdriver does work, but only for so long. Any clips with a hex head needs to be turned with a socket.

Tony.

 

[Matt Barnes]

The reason those small jubilee type clips are spoiled is because previous people haven't used a 6 point 1/4" drive sockets to turn them. A flat blade screwdriver does work, but only for so long. Any clips with a hex head needs to be turned with a socket.

Tony.

exactly....every one of them was completely trashed. Trying to get them off from next to the engine turning about 2mm at a time was joyful

 

[t-tony]

1/4 drive socketry is the thing to use.

Tony.

 

[Matt Barnes]

1/4 drive socketry is the thing to use.

Tony.

I would have done but the heads were completely rounded off.. none of my sockets fitted

 

[t-tony]

Do they fit the new clips? If not buy one that does before you use them Matt.

Tony.

 

[Matt Barnes]

Do they fit the new clips? If not buy one that does before you use then Matt.

Tony.

I measured the fuel hoses and they're 14mm OD so I've bought a few 12-14mm clips....only a few quid

 

[t-tony]

I meant buy a socket that fits the clip hex heads properly before using the clips mate. Using those 2-ear clips is ok if you don't intend removing them in the future, but if you do then they are not what you need.

Tony.

 

[Matt Barnes]

I meant buy a socket that fits the clip hex heads properly before using the clips mate.

Tony.

oh right .... .oh I have dozens of sockets..so I'm covered there..

 

[t-tony]

OK, just make sure it's a good fit. Mostly they are 6mm hex.

Tony.

 

[Matt Barnes]

OK, just make sure it's a good fit. Mostly they are 6mm hex.

Tony.

cheers Tony...yeah I have dozens of small sockets..I couldn't hammer one on as the dipstick was in the way, so gently teased with a screwdriver

 

[Matt Barnes]

not much done on the car today due to other things.. like... cutting the grass... in December !?

anyway..... in my excitement of fitting the new brake line, I completely forgot I had ground down and treated a few areas under the car, this had a little flash rust on it, so ground it down to clean steel again and put on two coats of MIPA epoxy primer

now you've already worked out my little faux pas... in that my grey stone chip is spray...... and.... I've fitted a nice shiny new brake line... so... out with the masking tape !

Then it was a good old coat of grey Stone chip... to be covered with RAL6019 to match the e-coat.

I did also take delivery of a pack of "double ear" fuel hose clamps to use on the replacement fuel pipes which should make life a lot easier !

Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to fit the other rear brake pipe and the newly refreshed fuel pipes !.... then.... gulp... the tank can go back in !

 

[t-tony]

When you said "Double Ear" type clips I assumed you were talking about the "Crimp" type of clips, not one with screw and nuts.

Tony.

 

[Matt Barnes]

When you said "Double Ear" type clips I assumed you were talking about the "Crimp" type of clips, not one with screw and nuts.

Tony.

sorry Tony... I might have called them the wrong thing... oh I HATE those crimp things....

 

[Matt Barnes]

well... my aim for today was to get the brake lines and fuel lines back in. SPOILER ALERT.... I did !.... but a few head scratches along the way......

Firstly I had to cut of the brake union at the ASC end and reuse it. Even though the offside rear uses a 10mm at the ASC unit, it's longer than my standard 10mm brake unions....

it worried me that they wouldn't seat properly so I reused the old one. For the rear I checked with one of my new flexi hoses and the new unions fitted that fine.. it's just at the ASC controller you need longer unions it seems.

Now one head scratch .. ... I laid the second pipe in the clips and in parallel with the left side pipe, fed it up through the engine bay and immediately thought... "erm"...."that's not quite right is it"

Then unclipped both left and right side pipes and re routed and re clipped..... there.... MUCH better !!.

so this is now the two pipes in without fettling or clipping in

Then it was time for the fuel pipes.... exciting eh !?

the ones I refurbished and stone chip painted with new filter and new clips, against the ones I took out the car. (old ones are on the right)

Then it was a case of feeding them under the car and clipping in....

Yes i need to re clip as I forgot the blue Vent pipe that needs to be clipped in between the fuel and brake pipes.

However, in my excitement to replace the fuel pipes with my nice clean ones... can I do a sanity check ? as I didn't note it when I removed them. looking down into the engine bay, fuel feed is the left one ?... it looks right and the pipes are parallel... just me being an idiot

 

[t-tony]

Looking good Matt.

Tony.

 

[Matt Barnes]

Looking good Matt.

Tony.

Thank you Tony !

 

[Matt Barnes]

well they say, "the proof of the routing is in the clipping".... ok so I've just made that up..

Firstly, managed to not lose the brake pipe clips...... secondly, the pipes all clipped in !

might need to straighten out some of those ripples but don't want to run the risk of folding the pipe after all that.....

so now the focus is on getting the tank prepped... (which is still half full of fuel !) ...

and yes I've gone there..... cleaned up the ferrules or crimps to be precise, masked up and sprayed in Hammerite silver

 

[Althulas]

Better than rust

 

[Matt Barnes]

Better than rust

I had to grind the rust off ! .... got it back to shiny metal with a brass wheel on the Dremel. Those crimps will be visible under the car, firstly by an MoT inspector and secondly if I happen to run someone over the pain will be eased by them seeing nice shiny fuel pipe crimps