First Z3: Lots to play with 🤗

[MickyG]

Hi
Just like to introduce myself and Z3 as newbies to the club.
I have long liked the “true” wide body Z3 (pre-facelift!) with its gorgeous curved rear quarters, and wide rim wheels all round. So, earlier this year I finally found a very late, March 1999, pre-facelift 2.8 with the improved (Edit: M52B28TU engine - not M54B28) with bodywork in exceptionally good condition and relatively low mileage @ 67k miles.

The drive home revealed a few home truths about a 25 year old car compared to our current daily drives!
The handling is atrocious! It tramlines and wanders all over the road!
There is no cruise control- I use it extensively: on long motorway journeys it makes driving so much more relaxed, whilst driving through towns with (ridiculously?) difficult to maintain 20mph speed limits, so much easier.
The standard leather seats are not particularly comfortable, supportive, or conducive to spirited driving.
Lacking air conditioning was a big revelation/disappointment!
We have become so used to having it that it took me back to my early days of long journey driving, with windows up, windows down, roof down, roof up , windows down, ………..

So, I have 4 major upgrades to make on my Z3.

1. Renew all the suspension rubber bushes with new OEM rubber. It had a new set of decent tyres fitted last year that have less than 500 miles wear.
2. Adding cruise control - it’s very easy with the M52B28TU engined cars
3. Swap my standard seats (despite their very good condition) for a set of M or Sports seats
4. “The big one” : Retrofit Aircon (from a donor Z3). This is quite an involved task not to be undertaken lightly by all accounts, but I’m retired and love a challenge!

I will post a progress thread on my retrofits/upgrades for anyone who may be interested, as I have certainly appreciated many posts by other’s showing “how to”.

Kind regards to anyone reading this and all those who post and sustain the club.

Mike Garner
South Lincolnshire

 

[andyglym]

to the Forum from West Cumbria. Nice find. My 2.8 tramlined like a b*****d when I first got it, tyres and suspension refresh cured it, zero tramlining. Swapped my standard seats for Sports seats, an improvement. Not sure about the M54 engine on the 2.8 (though I stand to be corrected), certain that all 2.8s are M52 with the later model being Twin VANOS.

Rear Beam bushes are probably goosed to so worth a look whilst you're in there. Good luck

 

[elevensies]

howdee from north lincolnshire,

nice car btw, but you want to swap standard seats for more uncomfortable m/// sports seats, i think you might want to sit is some first hahah

it looks in very good condition, looks like an ex enthusiast owned car..

there's a good few z owners in lincolnshire, be nice to have a ''lincoln'' get together come the summer time.

 

[Stevo7682]

Hi and welcome from me in Scotland .

I also have a march 99 2.8 and as Andy has said your engine is not an m54 .
It is a M52b28tu the twin vanos version of the M52b28 which i also own one of .

In regards to the stuff you have said .

Yes sports or M seats ( if you can find them ) would certainly improve the lack of support from the standard seats i have proper M seats in my 1.9 Dakar love them

Cruise control.
You cannot fit cruise control to a 2.8 tu engine can be retrofitted to the earlier engine and the later M54 drive by wire engines but the 2.8 tu still has a throttle cable.
The earlier single vanos has a twin bracket on the throttle flap for the throttle cable and cruise control cable from at actuator motor on the inner wing and the additional wiring for it was there the Tu engine has a totally different throttle assembly and air ducting and doesn't have the twin cable mount and no wiring for the motor unit that i can find .

Air conditioning is doable as long as the wiring is there ( should be to a point as zeds use us centralised loom so lot of stuff plug and play) you would just need to assemble all the parts
The engine bay bits
Pipes, compressor, condenser, receiver drier , brackets for compressor etc .
Inside you will need dash out

As you will need to aquire a full heater box assembly from a car with air con as its totally different from the standard one as it has a recycle function and the evaporator both of which the standard one has no position for ( as you can see I've had the dash out of mine not the worst job ive ever done ) so if you can get all the parts yes air con is a retro fit.

A lot of zeds have original shocks which will be done by now.
The 3 biggest issue with bad handling bar shocks would be excess float in the semi floating front outer balljoints then the 'lollipop bushes ' at the rear of front arms poor design wear fast i have solid rubber ones in mine which i like ( less harsh than poly )

And the rear subframe bushes absolutely guaranteed to be done in unless been changed.
Now this was the best pic i could get at 8pm on a Monday night

Mine were done around 5 years ago ( and are still holding out) so the plate at the rear with the big nut on the the bottom that the beam sits on if the beam is sitting on the plate and there is not a gap that you can at least get pinky into then rear beam bushes are done like the ones in picture below.

Hope some of this may help .

Stephen.

 

[MickyG]

to the Forum from West Cumbria. Nice find. My 2.8 tramlined like a b*****d when I first got it, tyres and suspension refresh cured it, zero tramlining. Swapped my standard seats for Sports seats, an improvement. Not sure about the M54 engine on the 2.8 (though I stand to be corrected), certain that all 2.8s are M52 with the later model being Twin VANOS.

Rear Beam bushes are probably goosed to so worth a look whilst you're in there. Good luck

You are quite right - it is the M52B28TU and I’ve fingers crossed new bushes at the rear will resolve the handling.

 

[MickyG]

howdee from north lincolnshire,

nice car btw, but you want to swap standard seats for more uncomfortable m/// sports seats, i think you might want to sit is some first hahah

it looks in very good condition, looks like an ex enthusiast owned car..

there's a good few z owners in lincolnshire, be nice to have a ''lincoln'' get together come the summer time.

Hello from Cabbage land
A meet up in Lincolnshire next year would be good.
You don’t like M seats?
I drove a donor Z3 with M seats back home for 4 hours and found them much more comfortable than my (good condition) standard seats.

 

[MickyG]

Hi and welcome from me in Scotland .

I also have a march 99 2.8 and as Andy has said your engine is not an m54 .
It is a M52b28tu the twin vanos version of the M52b28 which i also own one of .

In regards to the stuff you have said .

Yes sports or M seats ( if you can find them ) would certainly improve the lack of support from the standard seats i have proper M seats in my 1.9 Dakar love them
View attachment 352099

Cruise control.
You cannot fit cruise control to a 2.8 tu engine can be retrofitted to the earlier engine and the later M54 drive by wire engines but the 2.8 tu still has a throttle cable.
The earlier single vanos has a twin bracket on the throttle flap for the throttle cable and cruise control cable from at actuator motor on the inner wing and the additional wiring for it was there the Tu engine has a totally different throttle assembly and air ducting and doesn't have the twin cable mount and no wiring for the motor unit that i can find .

Air conditioning is doable as long as the wiring is there ( should be to a point as zeds use us centralised loom so lot of stuff plug and play) you would just need to assemble all the parts
The engine bay bits
Pipes, compressor, condenser, receiver drier , brackets for compressor etc .
Inside you will need dash out
View attachment 352103
As you will need to aquire a full heater box assembly from a car with air con as its totally different from the standard one as it has a recycle function and the evaporator both of which the standard one has no position for ( as you can see I've had the dash out of mine not the worst job ive ever done ) so if you can get all the parts yes air con is a retro fit.

A lot of zeds have original shocks which will be done by now.
The 3 biggest issue with bad handling bar shocks would be excess float in the semi floating front outer balljoints then the 'lollipop bushes ' at the rear of front arms poor design wear fast i have solid rubber ones in mine which i like ( less harsh than poly ) View attachment 352107View attachment 352109

And the rear subframe bushes absolutely guaranteed to be done in unless been changed.
Now this was the best pic i could get at 8pm on a Monday night
View attachment 352113
Mine were done around 5 years ago ( and are still holding out) so the plate at the rear with the big nut on the the bottom that the beam sits on if the beam is sitting on the plate and there is not a gap that you can at least get pinky into then rear beam bushes are done like the ones in picture below.
View attachment 352115

Hope some of this may help .

Stephen.

Hi Stephen
Thanks for your response.

I’m sorry but your comment regarding cruise control not being possible in an M52B28TU is not correct. It is a very straight forward retrofit requiring only 3 standard BMW factory cruise control parts which are plug and play into the pre-wired existing loom.
I have already fitted them, in around 45 minutes, and it works.
So, the good news is you too can have cruise control.


I’ve acquired a donor Z3 with Aircon and have removed all the parts to swap into my car - you are certainly correct about the amount of work required!

You make a good point about changing the control arms for the E46 version with solid mount ball joints in place of the standard floating ball joints in the Z3. I have changed my control arms to the E46 spec.

Your front control arm bushes are interesting. I did some research on front bushes, believing them to be a contributing factor to the poor handling, and came up with M bushes which are much fuller than standard lollipop bushes - see below - the lollipops have the standard bushes fitted: the more solid M bushes on the outside have now replaced them.

However, your bushes are completely full - where did you locate them? What are they normally specified for?

I will replace the complete rear end bushes with standard OEM bushes after the Aircon retrofit (so it could be a while!). Hopefully it will be the final stage to bringing the handling back to factory issue standards.

I have bought a Z3 donor that has M seats and drove it home for 4 hours and found them to be much more comfortable than my standard seats.
The drivers bolster is badly worn, so I’ve taken it to a local upholsterer to have a new bolster sown in - and the ubiquitous broken seatbelt guide replaced.

 

[Stevo7682]

@MickyG
Re cruise.

So is your zed drive by wire then ?

If you only fitted 3 parts that will be the switch, control module and clutch bypass switch i presume.

Edit.

I have just read your other thread about your cruise retro fit so i see your zed is drive by wire and you have said that it was easy as m52tu is drive by wire only some are mine has a cable.

Stephen.

 

[MickyG]

Yes, the M52TU is drive by wire, albeit that it has an accelerator cable that links to the electronic actuator on the side of the throttle body.
Yes there are just 3 components for a manual car:
The column switch (I could only find them available used

The control module. - on EBay UK
View attachment 352145

and the clutch switch - to cancel cruise if you change gear) - again on EBay UK.

 

[MickyG]

@MickyG
Re cruise.

So is your zed drive by wire then ?

If you only fitted 3 parts that will be the switch, control module and clutch bypass switch i presume.

Edit.

I have just read your other thread about your cruise retro fit so i see your zed is drive by wire and you have said that it was easy as m52tu is drive by wire only some are mine has a cable.

Stephen.

All M52TU engines have cable accelerators, but the cable operates an electronic actuator on the throttle body making them drive by wire.

 

[Stevo7682]

After your post you had me thinking i was going a bit off in my old age so out came the torch and went for a look and can say categorically 100% my M52b28tu has a throttle cable that goes from the pedal to the throttle body and is definitely not drive by wire.

You will find this with the last of the pre face-lift and first of the face-lift models are a bit hybrid in their bits .
Stephen.

 

[Stevo7682]

So if they have a cable operated electronic throttle body then the full drive by wire cruise set up of the m54 still works .
Stephen

 

[MickyG]

So if they have a cable operated electronic throttle body then the full drive by wire cruise set up of the m54 still works .
Stephen

Yes
I will try to take a photo of my throttlebody for you to confirm it’s the same as yours.

 

[MickyG]

howdee from north lincolnshire,

nice car btw, but you want to swap standard seats for more uncomfortable m/// sports seats, i think you might want to sit is some first hahah

it looks in very good condition, looks like an ex enthusiast owned car..

there's a good few z owners in lincolnshire, be nice to have a ''lincoln'' get together come the summer time.

Just a thought…………
Would you be interested in a set of very good condition standard black leather seats?

I’ve acquired a set of M seats (which, I found to be much more comfortable and supportive).

It will be interest to meet up and compare why we have differing views of them???

 

[elevensies]

Just a thought…………
Would you be interested in a set of very good condition standard black leather seats?

I’ve acquired a set of M seats (which, I found to be much more comfortable and supportive).

It will be interest to meet up and compare why we have differing views of them???

ahh no thank you, my car is completely standard as it left factory (apart from exhaust) and my seats are a very unique colour for my car but thank you.

Always good to meet up with other like minded people, gives really good perspectives on enthusiast cars like ours.

 

[Shelly]

 

[GZed]

After your post you had me thinking i was going a bit off in my old age so out came the torch and went for a look and can say categorically 100% my M52b28tu has a throttle cable that goes from the pedal to the throttle body and is definitely not drive by wire.

You will find this with the last of the pre face-lift and first of the face-lift models are a bit hybrid in their bits .
Stephen.

Hi stevo, I am the proud custodian of @gookahs magnificent “iMposter”. That has the 2.8TU engine ( with 3.0 manifold upgrade), and Gookah fitted cruise control to it. It’s a W reg year 2000 model with a build date of April 2000. Wonder when the cut-off date for the change over was (in a similar manner to the cut off date for OBD1 to OBD2 Bering March 1998)?
Very interested to hear that cruise control can be fitted to non TU engines too, as I still have my first love prefacelift 2.8 in red, with a Sept 1997 build date.

 

[bmwz3tower]

Hi Stephen
Thanks for your response.

I’m sorry but your comment regarding cruise control not being possible in an M52B28TU is not correct. It is a very straight forward retrofit requiring only 3 standard BMW factory cruise control parts which are plug and play into the pre-wired existing loom.
I have already fitted them, in around 45 minutes, and it works.
So, the good news is you too can have cruise control.


I’ve acquired a donor Z3 with Aircon and have removed all the parts to swap into my car - you are certainly correct about the amount of work required!

You make a good point about changing the control arms for the E46 version with solid mount ball joints in place of the standard floating ball joints in the Z3. I have changed my control arms to the E46 spec.
View attachment 352131

Your front control arm bushes are interesting. I did some research on front bushes, believing them to be a contributing factor to the poor handling, and came up with M bushes which are much fuller than standard lollipop bushes - see below - the lollipops have the standard bushes fitted: the more solid M bushes on the outside have now replaced them.
View attachment 352123
However, your bushes are completely full - where did you locate them? What are they normally specified for?

I will replace the complete rear end bushes with standard OEM bushes after the Aircon retrofit (so it could be a while!). Hopefully it will be the final stage to bringing the handling back to factory issue standards.

I have bought a Z3 donor that has M seats and drove it home for 4 hours and found them to be much more comfortable than my standard seats.
The drivers bolster is badly worn, so I’ve taken it to a local upholsterer to have a new bolster sown in - and the ubiquitous broken seatbelt guide replaced.

Hi, I was also searching for the full rubber front control arm bushings. I've found these on autodoc if it helps you. https://m.autodoc.co.uk/sidem/10275325

 

[MickyG]

Yes
I will try to take a photo of my throttlebody for you to confirm it’s the same as yours.

Hi Steve

My accelerator cable to the throttle body: it does not mechanically open the throttle, rather it activates the potentiometer which then tells the throttle actuator to open the throttle.
Hence it is very easy to add cruise control to a M52Tu.

 

[Mint]

Hi Mike and to the forum from me too in Stafford.