#ZedShed Graham's Topaz 2.2i Sport

GazHyde

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This time we have a 64k mile Topaz 2.2i Sport which Graham has been chatting with us for a while about. The main reason we've taken it in is that it needs a bit more done that Graham had expected. It had failed the last MOT with a laundry list of items, some easy fixes but the big problem was a hole in the passenger side swing arm. He'd already sourced a replacement set from our tame breaker and we'd got them stripped, zinc and powder coated. Graham was expecting pretty much what we found underneath despite it getting a bill of health from a previous garage.

Parts wise this will almost be a copy/paste of our Z3 refurb with new rear calipers and a new guibo. May be a few other bits as we go....

So here she is, warts and all....
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Here is the MOT failure sheet:

Repair immediately (major defects):
  • Nearside Rear Suspension arm corroded and seriously weakened Trailing (5.3.3 (b) (i))
  • Offside Rear Coil spring fractured or broken (5.3.1 (b) (i))
  • Nearside Front Brake hose ferrule excessively corroded (1.1.12 (f) (i))
  • Offside Front Brake hose ferrule excessively corroded (1.1.12 (f) (i))
  • Parking brake efficiency below requirements (1.4.2 (a) (i))
Repair as soon as possible (minor defects):
  • Offside Windscreen wiper blade defective Ends split (3.4 (b) (i))
Monitor and repair if necessary (advisories):
  • Nearside Rear Direction indicator slightly discoloured (4.4.3 (a))
  • Offside Rear Direction indicator slightly discoloured (4.4.3 (a))
  • Offside Rear Suspension arm corroded but not seriously weakened Trailing arm badly corroded (5.3.3 (b) (i))
  • Nearside Front Suspension arm pin or bush worn but not resulting in excessive movement Wishbone bush (5.3.4 (a) (i))
  • Offside Front Suspension arm pin or bush worn but not resulting in excessive movement Wishbone bush (5.3.4 (a) (i))
  • Front Prop shaft flexible coupling slightly deteriorated (6.1.7 (d) (i))
  • Nearside Rear Coil spring corroded (5.3.1 (b) (i))
  • Nearside Front Macpherson strut corroded but not seriously weakened (5.3.3 (b) (i))
  • Offside Front Macpherson strut corroded but not seriously weakened (5.3.3 (b) (i))

Condition pictures on arrival:

Yep, that's swing arm is beyond repair so at least the MOT guy got that right :oops:
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Broken rear spring
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It's all a little crispy underneath
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Original factory shocks, the passenger side has no rebound but the drivers side has a little fight left in it.
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Other arm looks like it might survive.
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Both rear beam bushes have failed.
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Exhaust studs are horrendous, but we've had worse.
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Front end:
Again, all looks completely factory original.

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If you look closely you'll see the factory shock sticker
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Oil leak in the sump area
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AntStark

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Amazing what (horrors) lie beneath. Having seen Graeme’s car you’d say on first impression it was pretty tidy. Pulling up a chair for this one
 
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B21

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There’s a lot of corrosion in there…is it merely a function of time / location or are later Zeds better protected?
 

GazHyde

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Having seen Graeme’s car you’d say on first impression it was pretty tidy
It is very tidy above the water line!
…is it merely a function of time / location
With a low miler it tends to be location/storage more than time, but rubber has it's limits as seen in the beam bushes.
 

motco

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Blimey! :eek: Mine is only a year younger (it can't be more as they stopped production in June 2002) and twelve thousand miles fewer! I've never had any advisories for structural corrosion and only tentative ones for brake pipes - no MoT fails in my ownership of fourteen years. It is stored in my garage and has been for most of my ownership and I actively avoid wet/salty roads - mostly...

The only other owner lived in Folkestone and it therefore spent its early years (seven) in a marine environment and it bears some evidence of that in superficial corrosion on the odd part. I sincerely hope that the car above is an outlier and that mine isn't suddenly going to crumble like Christopher Lee's Dracula in the next few years.

My son had an S2000 a year younger than my Z3 and it was steadily transmuting to iron oxide before his very eyes. I felt quite smug - unreasonably it seems.
 

Mint

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Looks a bit like mine did before the Zed Shed team worked their magic :thumbsup:. At least mine had done over 200,000 miles :whistle:
 

GazHyde

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Friday bonus update :) Just Trev and myself today while Lee is on his jollies still.

First off to get the exhaust off. The whole exhaust thing is getting more of a pain on each car and this was no different. This picture sums the issue up. The upper stud on the right is rusted up bad and the lower stud is trying to give the impression that it once had threads. Don't think that this is because this car is bad, yours are probably getting as bad!
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With the exhaust out the way we can remove the heat shields and main prop shaft.
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Got this annoyance out the way so we could see what we are doing under there....
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Once all the grotty stuff is out the way it looks pretty good under here. It will get new tank straps although these aren't too bad, we'll probably get them powder coated and popped in the spares box.
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Here's some nice close ups of the sub frame.
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Beam bush failed and delaminated
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Diff bush delaminating
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Perished drop links
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GazHyde

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Front end progress pics:

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Despite the nuts/bolts looking like this they all came out with little trouble.
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Front subframe removed:
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Now for a slight change to protocol. When we remove the front subframe we normally support the engine by running a strap underneath the whole engine. You can probably see we have a bit of an oil leak which initially was thought to be the sump gasket. You can't take the sump off with a large strap wrapped around it so we've run chains down to the engine mounts to give us maximum access.

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Incidentally we think we found the oil leak and it probably won't be getting a new sump gasket.... :rolleyes:

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There will be a Saturday update. We have some more stuff to strip down ready for the zinc/powder coating. New parts have started arriving and a few extra ones been requested from the stores man.
 
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GazHyde

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We are pretty done now with the tear down, now waiting on parts! Not so many pics today, just some highlights..

Front shocks, one has *some* life and the other is feeling the cold and doesn't want to come out and play...
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Tank straps, although we have fitted a set of Mr Straps patent Z3 tank straps we'll pop these in for powder coat and they usually come up good enough for spares.
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New diff bush has been fitted, this is how we do these with very little effort.
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Powder coat pile - no arms as Graham had sourced new ones already and we'd previously had them coated.

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Hopefully should be able to start reassembling next Saturday.
 

Lee

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Looking good. I’m stuck away and not lifted a single spannner =))
 

GazHyde

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  • Haha
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Mazza

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Looking good. I’m stuck away and not lifted a single spannner =))
Stuck away ..........as in .....errrr........the Golf Simulator or the Games room ??????=))=))=))
 

Peewee

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Nice photo - Johan Sverdrup complex, offshore Norway? Back in 2014 I was involved in the front end design of the drilling facilities you see there, centre right. Big job, one of the biggest offshore Norway in recent years. Sadly I can't see any more like this one being approved. I hope you left it as you found it as they say!
 
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Lee

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Nice photo - Johan Sverdrup complex, offshore Norway? Back in 2014 I was involved in the front end design of the drilling facilities you see there, centre right. Big job, one of the biggest offshore Norway in recent years. Sadly I can't see any more like this one being approved. I hope you left it as you found it as they say!
Should be proud mate. I’ve not stayed in 5 star hotels that nice. Incredible place.

never been offshore and they have their own grand piano.
IMG_1424.jpeg
 

GazHyde

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Rear arm reassembly begins....

We are working on creating a spreadsheet of replacement dimensions for every nut and bolt. Ordinarily in areas like this we reuse the originals but this is all about stepping up the game. Once we have a complete list then we'll get our supplier to make up complete kits for us to use.
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Pushing the hub in to the brand new bearings, thought you'd like to see how we tool up for this.
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Also, lots of grease!
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New rear shoes and fixings/springs. We reuse the adjuster and bottom mechanism, just give them a good wire brush and grease them up.
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The caliper carriers we powder coated and we sent them off with the bolts by mistake - hence the powder coated bolt heads. Had to run them from a die to clear the threads of powder coat...
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Brand new calipers (forget the brand) nice quality along with some new Brembo pads. They don't come with slide pins, but we still had the originals.
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Matching Brembo discs with the nice coating for extra prettiness!
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Ready for the shafts to be fitted and the rest of the powder coating to arrive.
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The shafts given a spruce up and coat of black hammerite.
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More updates Friday/Saturday when the powder coating arrives.
 
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