We have a right treat this week. @Boysie has been waiting patiently since last year for a spot in the shed. We knew his M would be a joy to work on due to the low miles. The plan of attack for his M was to remove everything and refresh what needs replacing, this shouldn’t be too much due to the low miles. We’re also only going to powder coat the smalls, so not the trailing arms and beam. You’ll see why.
First up we treated the shed to a new floor, the first time in 7 years. This should work perfect with such a clean Z3M.
Assuming the normal position.
Look how clean the bay is.
and the miles, oh my god!
once I’m the air we get a good look at the condition of everything.
Crazy to see the original factory markings.
First item we removed was the body brace. This is the smartest and tidiest body brace we’ve seen. It sits flush to the car chassis.
It was held on with a 29mm sleeved nut!
It bolts on under the front belly brace.
Some serious metal work. This will go off for powder coating and Ray can decide if he wants it on or kept off.
Now the brace is out the way we can start to disassemble the rear. First up we removed the arch liners showing the beam bushes completely toast sat on the beam. 34k miles means nothing with 23 year old rubber. The beam must have been banging on the plates.
Bush split.
Starting to remove the rest of the hardware.
At this stage we were only just over an hour in and ready to drop the subframe. It’s amazing the dIfference clean nuts n bolts makes. One subframe
Not much left underneath.
only being an hour half in we decided to strip the rear. We also made the decision at this stage not to powder coat the beam and arms. The factory rubber coating was still pristine. First arm being stripped down.
The under side coating.
Passenger arm.
We then removed the beam bushes.
these were shot.
5 min wipe down of the diff.
Top side.
Old fuel tank straps.
Not actually that bad. Still will fit the upgraded Mazza straps.
Giving the rear an inspection.
Diff hanger looking factory fresh.
So at this stage we were only 2 hours in so we decided to remove the gearbox ready for the shift pin replacements.
Parts building up.
We’re planning to powder coat everything else like springs, roll bars, brackets and roll bar caps. The pivot arm and release bearing not looking to bad, be mad not to replace them while they’re out.
Again it was only 3 o’clock so we decided to strip down the front. When this goes smoothly it’s only an hour. Front hubs.
Wishbones and track rods left, ball joints feel good on these so no point replacing.
This completes the hardware removal, tonight will be a big parts list order and plan of attach for next week. This is a record for us in the shed. We’ve never done this much in 5 hours before.
First up we treated the shed to a new floor, the first time in 7 years. This should work perfect with such a clean Z3M.
Assuming the normal position.
Look how clean the bay is.
and the miles, oh my god!
once I’m the air we get a good look at the condition of everything.
Crazy to see the original factory markings.
First item we removed was the body brace. This is the smartest and tidiest body brace we’ve seen. It sits flush to the car chassis.
It was held on with a 29mm sleeved nut!
It bolts on under the front belly brace.
Some serious metal work. This will go off for powder coating and Ray can decide if he wants it on or kept off.
Now the brace is out the way we can start to disassemble the rear. First up we removed the arch liners showing the beam bushes completely toast sat on the beam. 34k miles means nothing with 23 year old rubber. The beam must have been banging on the plates.
Bush split.
Starting to remove the rest of the hardware.
At this stage we were only just over an hour in and ready to drop the subframe. It’s amazing the dIfference clean nuts n bolts makes. One subframe
Not much left underneath.
only being an hour half in we decided to strip the rear. We also made the decision at this stage not to powder coat the beam and arms. The factory rubber coating was still pristine. First arm being stripped down.
The under side coating.
Passenger arm.
We then removed the beam bushes.
these were shot.
5 min wipe down of the diff.
Top side.
Old fuel tank straps.
Not actually that bad. Still will fit the upgraded Mazza straps.
Giving the rear an inspection.
Diff hanger looking factory fresh.
So at this stage we were only 2 hours in so we decided to remove the gearbox ready for the shift pin replacements.
Parts building up.
We’re planning to powder coat everything else like springs, roll bars, brackets and roll bar caps. The pivot arm and release bearing not looking to bad, be mad not to replace them while they’re out.
Again it was only 3 o’clock so we decided to strip down the front. When this goes smoothly it’s only an hour. Front hubs.
Wishbones and track rods left, ball joints feel good on these so no point replacing.
This completes the hardware removal, tonight will be a big parts list order and plan of attach for next week. This is a record for us in the shed. We’ve never done this much in 5 hours before.
.
but still needs the magic touch to bring it back to near perfection. 
