How To Guide Another rear end refresh

Althulas

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Btw is that 3 way brake union standard on an M?
Yes RAL. As far as I’m aware I thought the brake lines are the same across the Zeds except the front and rear rubber brake lines. The three way union According to the real oem diagrams is for the 1.8, 1.9, 2.8 and ///M
 

Lee

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It’s different on the M’s. The brake lines run above the beam allowing for quick release of the subframe. You jus lift the callipers out the way. Non M’s the lines drop in the middle and run under the arms. I guess the 3 way block is a tidy way of distributing the lines
 

mrscalex

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View attachment 121801

@mrscalex I used RTL 7002 in satin described as olive green but comes out lighter than a drab American tank olive green as you can see from my underneath a near match. If you try a different code I will be interested in your results.
Well RAL 1000 was no use. Too sandy and not enough green. In fact similar to this

CBA19B3D-E05C-4587-9DFF-1CB92EBCF758.jpeg


So I’m having a RAL 7002 mixed up. If no good on my car I think I’ll refer to some military vehicles and try to find the closest match from that and get the name of the colour. It’s definitely in the military palette somewhere.

I actually had a car fly past this morning in a similar colour which is bizarre, not least because it’s a bit yuk. But it was gone before I saw it. Possibly a Vauxhall coupe.
 

mrscalex

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Axle beam brackets after Deox. Next to no visible rust left.

IMG_0789.jpg
IMG_0790.jpg


And after a coat of Rustbuster FE-123. Note how the open side looks no different. But the enclosed side has turned black. Which is the FE-123 finding rust in the pitting and stabilising.

IMG_0796.jpg
IMG_0801.jpg


James has been chipping away at the diff.

IMG_0793.jpg

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And I've been trying to find a paint shade to match the underside light green e-coat. Here's a new shell as it comes out of the e-coat bath. A slightly more green shade than on the Z3 but similar.

IMG_0788.JPG
 

Althulas

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mrscalex

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I’m gradually putting together a complete swap set of rear end parts. With the idea being to greatly reduce elapsed time for completing a car.

Cleaning up large components is a frigging mare and heavy time consumer. So the big stuff is getting blasted and coated. I’ve got a brilliant place doing the parts for me here in Swindon.

Here’s my list of how I’m trying to tackle it.

Swap out
  • ARB (satin black)
  • Axle beam brackets (satin black)
  • Drop link brackets (silver)
  • Springs (satin black)
  • Spare wheel carrier (satin black)
  • Caliper carriers (silver)
  • Calipers (silver)
  • Fuel tank straps (satin black)
  • Trailing arms (satin black)
  • Axle beam (satin black)
Self-clean (expensive to procure or unnecessary/difficult to blast/coat)
  • Hubs
  • Driveshafts (satin black apart from diff flanges)
  • Diff (satin black apart from cover plate & diff flanges)
New parts (major)
  • ARB bushes
  • Handbrake shoes
  • Handbrake shoe fitting kit
  • Brake flexi hoses
  • Brake rigid pipes
  • ARB brackets (silver) - only about £4 ea
  • Trailing arm bushes
  • Axle beam bushes
  • Wheel bearings
  • Shock mounts
  • Diff bush
  • Drop links (silver)
New parts (minor)
  • Brake pipe securing clips
  • Brake union supports (silver)
  • Driveshaft nut & securing plate
  • Axle beam bracket bolts (not self-lock but replace with hex bolts M8X22)
  • Trailing arm nuts (self-lock)
  • ARB bracket nuts (self-lock)
  • Drop link nuts (self-lock)
  • Drop link bracket nuts (self-lock)
New parts (optional)
  • Axle beam securing nuts
  • Handbrake cables
  • Spring seats
  • Handbrake adjusters
  • Brake pads (ie not needed if done recently)
  • Brake discs
  • Dust shields (satin black)
 

mrscalex

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I’ve been progressing all the small parts. Some of these are expensive from BMW so I was determined to reuse what I could. The only fixing I’m replacing in the end is the ARB mounts as they are only about £3.50 ea.

The axle beam brackets are sprayed up now. Finish not perfect but the main thing is they are protected with several layers of paint now. Next time round I’ll get them blasted/powder-coated.

84A3EAD7-F34F-4D3B-A460-83154CD657A3.jpeg


The rest has been going in the Deox in batches.

First through was a drop link bracket. £10 new from BMW but x2 = £20 and soon adds up.

63C17C15-0E99-4188-BDAD-BA6A83AA7E35.jpeg


Then the trailing arm bolts, here with a coat of Rustbuster FE-123.

9650B17B-05E8-46A0-A55B-48882A238551.jpeg


Then the rest, here in 2 piles.

11189EB3-2489-4145-9CE9-7F10E6B32FDF.jpeg


The nearest pile is plated in something that comes off as a black cloud in the Deox. And you get a film that dries off you can’t remove by washing. That includes the handbrake linkage/adjusters. No idea what that is. The bracket on the top is in the wrong pile. It holds the handbrake cable at the drop link. £10 for new ones of these with 2 required. Very easy to bend as they come off but they will straighten out.

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The rest just cleans off normally. The large parts are the hub handbrake cable guides. These were in a nasty way.

EDC0D1A0-1300-4C60-B177-8187A6F1AF4C.jpeg


The 2 piles will be going back in the Deox for one final dunking until Tue while I’m in Swansea. Then they’ll have the FE-123 and will be painted up in a range of different finishes to make them as factory matched as possible.
 
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mrscalex

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Out of the Deox today after final 3 day dunking. Didn't need that long but I was away in Swansea so it might as well have it. All looking 100% rust free. Although by the time they have a had a rinse off the flash rusting starts straight away. That's fine as the FE-123 likes to have something to grab onto.

James wire brushing after final removal from Deox.

IMG_0880.JPG


Job done and awaiting FE-123.

IMG_0881.jpg
 
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t-tony

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Not much different from when I had the headlight surrounds sand blasted off my Capri many years ago. The guy who did it told me to get some paint on them asap to stop the corrosion starting.

Tony.
 

mrscalex

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Not quite a full set but this is everything completed so far - in rust-proof coating but not yet painted.

IMG_0883.jpg


Spreadsheets as we all know are the answer to nearly everything so I dumped in an entry for everything I could think of then scanned realoem to see if I'd forgotten anything. Of course I had - there are a lot of bits! And there will be more again when I go to put it together. So another bucket of Deox is now doing it's stuff on the forgotten parts along with a second set of components for the next rebuild we do.

The spreadsheet tells me part number, description, price, colour to paint and whether I'm having the parts blasted/coated (the big stuff), buying new (some things like nuts are not expensive) or deoxing/painting up myself.

We're hoping that with so much attention as above the actual re-assembly is going to be fairly quick. Though we expect to spend a good time cleaning up and repainting the chassis.
 

Mazza

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I hope you have a good memory for where all those bits go !=))

I aim to start mine in a months time......and seeing all those parts laid out, it looks bloody frightening :eek:
 

mrscalex

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I hope you have a good memory for where all those bits go !=))

I aim to start mine in a months time......and seeing all those parts laid out, it looks bloody frightening :eek:
That’s about half of the fixings involved as other parts will be new like handbrake spring kit plus the bits I forgot.

How it goes back - I’ll be fine. Done enough work in that area now and it’s a simple setup.
 

mrscalex

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We've got back on this in the last few days. It's been a long winter lay off as I just can't be done with working on cars now until the temperature establishes itself over 10 deg.

Anyhow, the front to back brake pipes were the last thing to be removed and will be replaced in single kunifer sections. Then the job I wasn't looking forward to, cleaning the underside off. It had the Cif and dish brush in a bucket scrub and then a steam clean. That was interesting in a garage but we successfully built a water shield/funnel out of a large tarpaulin.

Very pleased with the result. It's in flippin good nick for a 20 year old vehicle with minimal corrosion to see to. And yes that is the colour all Z3s are underneath all the dirt. Its from the factory electro-plate dip. Complete b*gger trying to find something in the correct colour but I think I have something close.

IMG_1885.jpg
 

Jack Ratt

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That looks mega clean
 

mrscalex

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That looks mega clean
It's a tidy car. It would need to be as that's the one that had the £850 new loom and many hours spent installing it.

Forgot to change my trainers to work ones :( Bit of liquid soda crystals, washing machine and they were looking great too :)

IMG_1886.jpg
 

mrscalex

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Just to tie things together. I continued this rebuild thread under my original wiring loom thread here.

 
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