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

[Matt Barnes]

ok so the end of another day under the car... today's focus was more connecting up and sorting out the Prop shaft bolts

Yesterday I mentioned the flange had jammed against the diff, so as I suggested yesterday, I took the middle heat shield off and disconnected the centre bearing. Must say it didn't give me as such play as I thought. So the thoughts of disconnecting the whole prop shaft briefly ran through my mind....

.....until

I dug out a reasonably sized crow bar and after fettling for what must have been at least half an hour, I managed to jemmy the flange and pull the centre bearing down just enough for all four bolts to be pressing on the diff flange. Then it was a collection of gentle twists to get the holes to line up. As soon as I got two in....get those nuts on !!

eventually got all four in... then I used a tyre lever to jam the prop shaft so I could tighten up the bolts with a ring spanner. God knows how you're supposed to torque them. No chance of even getting a socket on there let alone a torque wrench.

With those nice shiny zinced nuts, there no way I could leave the prop shaft in that state..... soooooo

I rubbed it down and painted it. Paint one section, leave it to dry, turn it round, paint that bit, wait to dry... etc

There, much better

Time to look and the handbrake cables.... they fed themselves into the cabin, then I had a head scratcher..... there's no way that "spreader plate" is going over that threaded end.

Previous cables must have been a different design. Can't remember

So I adapted, and stuck on a couple of washers instead, I'll put on the lock nuts when I've sorted out the shoe adjustment.

quick jump to the front, as if you recall one of my lower control arms didn't come with the nut for the strut. Anyway, eventually a new one turned up and I got it onto the car.

Again I think this is Gooduntight ? as there's no way of torqueing it. So that's probably it now until next weekend !

 

[Mazza]

some handbrake cables have flats on the end to accept the brass plate… it’s meant to stop the cable turning as it’s tightened up …
The original cables on my 1.9 just had washers … when they were replaced they had the flats so I made a brass plate to fit . Don’t think it’s critical though.

 

[Matt Barnes]

some handbrake cables have flats on the end to accept the brass plate… it’s meant to stop the cable turning as it’s tightened up …
The original cables on my 1.9 just had washers … when they were replaced they had the flats so I made a brass plate to fit . Don’t think it’s critical though.

Interesting, cheers mate...I must have had said handbrake cables before then !

 

[Matt Barnes]

Bank Holiday weekend and to be honest not much action other than trying to sort out the handbrake. Spent ages on Friday afternoon trying the adjuster but whatever I did was making no difference.. Saturday was a right off and we were setting up for BBQ and evening with friends, so I tried again today (Sunday). Started on the nearside and in the end I had to take the caliper and disc off, which was annoying. Glad I did though as one shoe had gotten jammed under the lip of the backplate. So with some fettling and convincing myself I knew which way to wind the adjuster, I wound it out enough to get the disc back on and the caliper

Then, it turned out the be exactly the same on the off side !.. adjuster just wouldn't budge. Eventually got it wound out so I could paint the thread with copper grease and that was much better.

Inside the cab, wound the nuts up enough for a decent resistance....though had to use my fingers as for the driver's side there's no way I could get a socket or spanner on it

you can see the handbrake is on because the wheel's not moving

and yes those wheels need a damn good refurb !!

 

[AntStark]

Assuming you are not doing them yourself. Southside Alloys in Swanmore did my Zed and my Merc. Nice to support a small growing business and work was excellent.

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[Matt Barnes]

Assuming you are not doing them yourself. Southside Alloys in Swanmore did my Zed and my Merc. Nice to support a small growing business and work was excellent.

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thank you mate.... I had convinced myself to do them, because I've done everything else....however a good set of wheels are critical to the overall finish so I might take you up on that..... cheers !

 

[Matt Barnes]

well.... it's another weekend...was going to spend the whole day buttoning up everything mechanical... then hit slight technical issue. Wife got a phone call inviting us to a BBQ... so it was tools down !.... but... before that..

first things first.... addressing that Wing mirror...

There..... fixed it !!

Don't worry... remember, I have the upgrade shell from X8R... that'll be going on later.

it was time to button up the brakes at last.... put on the last spring clip for the rear trailing arm brake hose..

Then onto the front calipers. FAR easier to build them up on the bench, carry the whole assembly out including pads, and just slide it on the disc

Then on with my zinc plated anti rattle springs....

Then it was time for the offside....

And as Del Boy would say......... Bonnet de douche Rodney........

I was going to bleed the system then realised my cans of DOT4 are 5 years old !.... so that's not going in the car... time to go online..

looking at my plastic tubs... I only have one tub of zinc plated parts left......... swivel bolt for the spare tyre bracket and exhaust bolt and springs. Think I zinced those over a year ago.

So that's it for today.... depending on how I survive the BBQ, I'll be back tomorrow !!

 

[Mazza]

Eating, drinking and sitting in the sun have always taken precedent over car mechanics … but I am finding more and more they get intertwined..

 

[Matt Barnes]

Eating, drinking and sitting in the sun have always taken precedent over car mechanics … but I am finding more and more they get intertwined..

if someone mentions BBQ and alcohol... it's almost like a Pavlovian response to drop what you're doing

 

[Matt Barnes]

ok last session of the weekend....thought I'd start with finally torqueing up the wheel hub nuts courtesy of @Mazza 's Torque adaptor. And a mighty fine piece of kit it is too...

Had to adapt to survive so put the newly adjusted handbrake on but still needed a little help on leverage.... soooo

so we're all done there..... and checking my inventory of parts left... this is more or less it !... panel clips, trim clips and the X8R upgraded wing mirror mount.

Talking of trim.... thought I'd address another heat shield casualty.. this is the one that goes under the prop shaft....so as before, you need to hammer flat the area of concern

Then dug out an old tube of jointing compound that must have gone off about 30 years ago !!.. cut it into sections to make repair strips

Glued both to the back side of the heatshield

and a quick squirt of Hammerite silver spray... job done

I then turned my attention to the power steering cooling hoop... now is the time for that to go !!... I hate those crimp on clips, and was tempted to go with jubilee clips out of sheer spite..

As it's mounted on rubber supports, the bottom right one was just a petulant child and wouldn't come out unless I undid the back nut as well as the Aircon radiator is in the way.. I was going to replace all of them until I realised they were about 12 quid each !

So no that and managed to clean them up on the brass wheel and a light coat of optimal thread paste.

Like a good little boy, I had previously bought a box of crimp clips and the crimp tool

Then it was a case of connecting up my refurbish power steering hoop.

and fitting the correct clamps

So that's this weekend done !

Next big job is prepping the body panels for clear coat.... that's going to be messy !

 

[Althulas]

Matt I replaced mine with these from Febi did the job https://ebay.us/m/a8YOv4
Just remembered bought them from https://www.partsinmotion.co.uk/car...kL7AuiBoBfOaxOatgRTar3Pc2YHarbo5BDbLlIHU5Kg-b

 

[Matt Barnes]

Matt I replaced mine with these from Febi did the job https://ebay.us/m/a8YOv4
Just remembered bought them from https://www.partsinmotion.co.uk/car...kL7AuiBoBfOaxOatgRTar3Pc2YHarbo5BDbLlIHU5Kg-b

cheers mate....I was really lucky in that my new hoop had one mount with it, and only one of mine was completely shot..I think I struck lucky but will bear yours in mind..cheers!

 

[Matt Barnes]

well the weather has put paid to doing anything today.... hoofing it down earlier and blowing a hoolie.....cover got pulled off by the wind multiple times during the week so is now strapped down harder than Hannibal Lecture

That's me at the yellow arrow... cooooooooooeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!

The plan was to bleed the brakes, put the Diff oil in and connect up the brake pad wear sensors and sensor clips....

oh and put the repaired heat shield back in, oh and fit the coil springs and the new rear shocks.

Then mechanically (apart from starting the engine !) we're pretty much there !

I did watch this series on Youtube MomentsofZed about pulling the radiator and replacing all the Auxiliary belts and tensioners, which I need to do as my belts are quite... ahem... "weathered". I did note that he has a 1.9 M44 with Aircon but no aircon fan. Must be a 1.9 thing

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecqSoXsJGu0


As he does all his work on his own, he points out some of the impracticalities and how to overcome them.

Then.... remember this little lot that I painted and stored in the attic ?

well, soon they'll be seeing natural daylight for the first time since May last year !

I need to key the surface (as the paint is now a year old !) and then add two layers of 2K Clear Coat and get those bad boys back on the car !...needs to be planned properly as 2K only lasts 48 hours once activated, so I need to set up a painting production line !

Tomorrow's looking a bit better so we'll see !!

 

[Matt Barnes]

WE HAVE A PEDAL !!!!........

but it wasn't without a few setbacks along the way....I had previously checked everything was tight, all the pipes and hoses looking good, and with the enthusiasm of a teenage boy finding an "artistic" magazine in the bushes, I dug my bleeding kit out... yeeeeess it's from the 1980s.... yeeees... but it does the job.

and off we go !!!... and precisely where my problems started

First thing to note while the system was under pressure... two of my new ABS connections were weeping out fluid

So that's the two new ones that go to the Rear Trailing Arms... lovely...... now... I did make these lines long, just in case I needed to redo them..... and I did .

To add to that.... EVERY connection on the rear subframe was dripping. Enough for me to put pots on the ground to catch it..

I could have used the drips as a ticking clock....

When I think back, all the connections that were dripping were ones I did on the vice brake flaring tool. All the front ones were bone dry, and they are the ones I used the hand flaring tool on...... a pattern here I think !

so I remade the flares on the ABS pump..... et voila

I remade the flares on the offside rear Trailing arm pipe, as there was enough material to just make one more flare.

The nearside got too tight after I cut the flare off, so I ditched it and made a whole new pipe with fresh unions.....

Then it was time to pressurise the system again. Had a tyre at 16 PSI connected to the bottle.

Start at the offside rear (opposite the ABS pump) then nearside rear. Then offside front, then nearside front.

On completion. checked for leaks and there were none !... pushed the pedal with my hand and it was spongey to start and then firmed up. I'll probably have to bleed it again when the pump is running, but for now we have brakes and a handbrake..

Replacing brown liquid with another form of brown liquid !

 

[Mazza]

Another good day in the ‘ office ‘

 

[Matt Barnes]

Another good day in the ‘ office ‘

it was only supposed to be an hour...ended up being three!

 

[AntStark]

it was only supposed to be an hour...ended up being three!

Is that 3 years?