2.2 engine replacement project

[mrscalex]

The front end is pretty much complete now. It's looking like a Z3 again!

Rubber bonnet bump stops cleaned up and screwed back in. New radiator clips and black top trim cleaned up.

New headlamp adjusting mounts fitted.

Wiring harness clipped up across whole of front and earthing points cleaned up and remade. Front panel bolts will get a blast of colour when I'm happy everything is aligned properly.

Power steering cooling loop bolted up with new rubbers and nuts.

Little bit of a wrestle around the nearside headlamp to get the wiring harness positioned.

Headlamps on. Loads of care taken to position the headlamps correctly so as not to strain the mounting tabs and to get as close to right first time as possible with the bumper on. The top plastic mount screws can be counter-held with a 19mm spanner. The bottom ones need an 8mm socket on the underside.

And they work!

Bumper shocks bolted up. Bumper placed on loosely. Needs mounting brackets and wheel arch liners refitted. Then probably some adjustment on the headlamp positioning in the aperture.

I want to get it MOT'd next week. There's a little more work than I'd like to reach that point. The main refitting jobs are rear wings & boot lid, roll hoops, seats and bonnet release.

 

[mrscalex]

Front end fit out more or less completed tonight.

Fog lamps cleaned up.

Fog lamp aperture cleaned up.

Fog lamps and side lights now in, connected and working. The headlamps need a little adjustment in the aperture but I'll wait until the bonnet release is in and I can shut the bonnet so I can see the gap on all sides.

Slam panel catch escutcheon cleaned and refitted.

Cheap source of replacement bonnet catch bolts identified for new bonnet catches. These bolts are virtually identical to OEM but are not tapered. A new bonnet catch needs the thread cutting so I used an old bolt to do that due to the lack of taper on the new bolt. These bolts are quite expensive as OEM parts - £1.50 each or nearly £10 for all 6. These ones are 25p each and look great - they are stainless steel

 

[mrscalex]

Lot's of bolting back together to look like a Z3 again on Saturday

We gave the rear wheel arches a clean in advance of putting the liners back. I have an industrial steam cleaner now and it did the job in about 10 seconds v 20 mins by hand. That said it can bizarrely leave a fine film of dirt behind that needs a scrub by hand. Sorry no full after picture here!

Door shuts given a clean up.

A couple of rusty bits got treated and painted. Edge of rear panel and rear wing support on both sides.

Sill covers and front wings back on. We were careful over panel gap and happy with results on all the sections we put back.

Rear wings on and a quick polish.

Followed by the boot lid.

We got all the panels back on including boot lid in just over an hour. Apart from having done a few panel replacements now I think the most important thing was getting the panel gap right and everything follows, most notably the boot lid shutting correctly!

The aerial went back with a new grommet.

The rear lamps were cleaned.

And put back.

We still have the wheel arch liners to do so didn't bother putting the bumper back just yet.

We wanted to send the car for MOT on Friday. But I don't see how we are going to make that as I'm in Swansea until Wed evening. So we'll probably finish it off by end of Saturday and leave it with the garage to MOT early next week while I'm back again in Swansea.

Full list of outstanding work for MOT with my time estimates (17.75 hours of work)

Clean and refit wheel arch liners 3
Adjust front bumper fit 0.75
Adjust headlamp fit 1
Fit cross brace 0.5
Check rear brakes & suspension 0.5
Replace exhaust joiner 0.5
Top-up gearbox oil 0.75
Top-up diff oil 0.75
Dismantle, clean & reassemble front brakes 1
Dismantle, clean & reassemble rear brakes 2
Fit new front wheel sensors 1.5
Resolve error 62 2
Check non-engine fault codes 0.5
Refit roll-bars 2
Refit seats 1

 

[mrscalex]

Oh and we did the bonnet release between showers as well. The first time I did one of these I must have spent 6-7 hours. I did this one in about an hour. I used secondhand cables and new lower bonnet catches. It doesn't work quite as sharply as my Topaz Blue 2.2 but then that was all new at a cost of about £65. This one I got a 90% result for just the £25 of the two catches.

If your bonnet release is sluggish/stuck start with the 2 lower catches unless one of the 2 cables is definitely knackered!

 

[Faheem]

You can do my zed next

 

[mrscalex]

You can do my zed next

I'm not even sure I want to do my own Zed next! A project like this just takes over. 150 hours and counting so far on this one. And for every hour I spend working on the car I can spend 2-3 hours in the background reading up and researching in preparation.

I've got 2 more 2.2s waiting after this but they have single issues rather than require a major rebuild. After that I'll do a 3.0 or an M and that will be my lot (probably ).

 

[DaveP]

Great work so far. My compliments to you (and mini you)

Dave

 

[oldcarman]

That may be the end as you see it Robert but I think James will need something else to keep him out of trouble. So be prepared to keep on going. Think of the Zeds you're saving and the knowledge Jimmy is absorbing!! Love this thread, thanks, JIM

 

[buze]

Yep without a Zed to keep him busy, he'll soon be a nuisance in the neighborhood, get a girl pregnant, steal a moped to disassemble to put a bigger engine in, or all kind of dreadful trouble, so you definitely need a new zed to keep him busy

(and us, untertained!) fantastic job all around, that car looks 20 years younger than it is now!

Serious question: What do you use to clean parts?

 

[mrscalex]

My brother and I both have 'keepers' that need plenty of maintaining so I don't think we'll go short on stuff to do

And this one will of course need some final fettling and ongoing maintenance. We still have to swap the soft tops and finish the 108s for it too.

And perhaps those other 2 2.2s could end up needing more work than imagined.

We also have a 2.2 to finish breaking.

And a 1.9 bought for my other half's son in Swansea he was supposed to help me do up. And guess what... so that will probably be brought back to Swindon and tarted up to be sold on. But it doesn't justify a deeper dive.

But honestly, big time consuming, long term projects end up taking over your life in both good and bad ways. The bad ways mean you can't be doing this sort of thing all the time. And Jimmy will be first in the queue to agree with that

 

[mrscalex]

Yep without a Zed to keep him busy, he'll soon be a nuisance in the neighborhood, get a girl pregnant, steal a moped to disassemble to put a bigger engine in, or all kind of dreadful trouble, so you definitely need a new zed to keep him busy

(and us, untertained!) fantastic job all around, that car looks 20 years younger than it is now!

Serious question: What do you use to clean parts?

He's a very well behaved little chap but I won't tempt fate suggesting he'd never do any of the above.

What do I use to clean parts? James of course

Seriously, most things we use household Cif mousse - it's truly superb with all but very heavy, dirt laden deposits. We go through cans of it.

The steam cleaner gets used vary rarely.

For delicate stuff we tend to use Autoglym interior shampoo which is surprisingly aggressive on moderately oil/dirt stained stuff. And you don't even need to rinse it off.

Most rubber and plastics we finish off with Autoglym vinyl & rubber to preserve the look.

We use very little else than that.

And we use a lot of Autoglym Rapid Detailer on the paintwork. I'm not into polishing and that stuff is a great cheat.

 

[mrscalex]

The other materials worth mentioning are the cleaning devices.

I have a ton of cheap but carefully selected microfibre cloths. A lot of this type of cloth are not absorbent and are useless. I use the same cloths all the time from Home Bargains. They come in a box (Ultra by Cleanit). And I put them in the washing machine afterwards. They're perfect and cheap - £1 for 3.

We also use Home Bargains sponge scourers. The ones with the white non scratch pads.

And lots of toothbrushes!

 

[Althulas]

I think you could spare the lad though and get him a larger tooth brush for doing these jobs it'll do him good though I look fondly on with my dad teaching me mechanical techniques all skills for the real world to come but good times and memories suppose why I like this thread so much

 

[bluesaz3]

Nice work and great advise.

 

[Lee]

I'm not even sure I want to do my own Zed next! A project like this just takes over. 150 hours and counting so far on this one. And for every hour I spend working on the car I can spend 2-3 hours in the background reading up and researching in preparation.

I've got 2 more 2.2s waiting after this but they have single issues rather than require a major rebuild. After that I'll do a 3.0 or an M and that will be my lot (probably ).

Your on a slippery slope now! I said that exact thing when I rebuilt my M now look at what I'm doing

 

[Jjim]

Fantastic thread, great read.
Looks like a labour of love. You've both done a fantastic job.
Can't wait to see the finished car, and will follow with interest.

 

[Disky]

Wonderful

 

[mrscalex]

Wheel arch liners scrubbed to within an inch of their lives and sponged with plastic wax.

Final push today and we will hopefully be there for the MOT. A number of jobs have been deferred for post MOT but I just want to get the thing on the road now.

 

[handsomejackuk]

nice work Rob good write up.. keep up the good. work you have to come out with us sometime for a run.. when you in the area or when you are free...

Al...

 

[mrscalex]

Good news from last night's marathon session was we now have a fully reassembled car. Well okay a few small bits of snagging but that falls into the ongoing love category.

Bad news is a stack of SRS errors which looks like a bad module. I swapped it for the one from the breaker and got rid of the original errors. We didn't even pull the centre console. We did it as 'key hole' surgery through the side 'flap'. And I just laid the module on top of the existing one to ground it. Unfortunately the donor module had side air bags so I've got to figure out how to code those out as it's now looking for them still and throwing different codes.

We still have misfire on cylinder 4 error. And some horrible readings on cylinder 6 in INPA. I have no idea what the reading is but it's different to the 4 good cylinders and appears when you hit the 'LU' button. Any thoughts?

The front wheel sensor errors are gone with the new Delphi parts. Huge amount of sanding required to get them to fit. But I'm left with a rear wheel sensor error and no spare.

Also got the mystery error 62 complaining about a non functioning secondary air system, without a SAS installed...

The exhaust system still has a small leak despite throwing a ton of cash on joiners but the MOT garage can sort that now.

In short, with holiday coming up next week this will have to be parked until Sep now unless I can free up early from decorating my brother's new flat with him today