'Izzy' (2.8 widebody)

[John_B]

Introducing Izzy, my new-to-me cosmos black 2.8. She is a little rough around the edges, but gives me plenty of things to work on over the coming months.

She has come with a luggage rack, although I'm not interested in using that, and also sports seats - in need of serious refurbishment! I wasn't really a fan of the seats on the drive home, so both those and the luggage rack are available for sale if anyone is interested (luggage rack now sold). Meanwhile I have poached the best bits from Tandy's interior and installed them into Izzy.

I picked her up on Saturday afternoon and spent the day yesterday stripping, cleaning and then rebuilding the interior. I haven't plugged or bolted the seats in yet, so they're currently fully raised and forwards and so look a bit daft. And I couldn't be bothered to lower the roof for the 'after' photo. Izzy has a power roof compared to Tandy's manual one. I'm sure it's much better when you're mid journey and fancy raising or lowering it without getting out of the car, but when working on the interior it's a pain in the arse having to mess about with the ignition and pressing the brake - and also involves it falling the last few inches into your head/neck/back when you're leaning in to do it. A rite of passage for power roof owners??

I'm taking it down to Cornwall in a few weeks, so the race is on now to finish giving it a good clean, transfer other bits from Tandy like the doorcards, headlights and coilovers, I also want to give it an oil & filter service since the previous owner hadn't changed them in a couple of years (although did minimal mileage) and I want to change the tyres. I've also got some new centre caps, door handle gaskets and chrome handle covers coming (that I'm going to see how they look painted cosmos black)

Longer term I want to see about transferring the (brand new ) soft top from Tandy, and it's running cool, so I suspect needs a new thermostat. Also the instrument lights went out when I tried to increase the brightness, although they came back on the next time I put the lights on, so I maybe a loose connection or dodgy headlight switch? It also has aircon buttons, although the prev. owner didn't know it had aircon and it didn't make any noticeable difference to the temp, so a bit of investigating to find out whether it just has the buttons, or if it has aircon that doesn't work!

 

[Kenhayes247]

Wasn't this Happy tadpoles car, advertised on here recently and generated quite a lot of debate I seem to remember?

Good luck with work, it just needs a bit of TLC.

 

[John_B]

Wasn't this Happy tadpoles car, advertised on here recently and generated quite a lot of debate I seem to remember?

Good luck with work, it just needs a bit of TLC.

Correct! 10pts

 

[spurs fan in a coupe]

Nice project

 

[Lee]

Brilliant project look forward to more updates.

 

[spurs fan in a coupe]

Despite what some may say, those red black sport seats have plenty of value

 

[John_B]

Despite what some may say, those red black sport seats have plenty of value

i've listed them for £400, if there is no interest I'll have a go at restoring them myself as a winter project

 

[RickyBobby]

Definitely agree with you regarding the sports seats - I much prefer the standard seats and a manual roof

 

[Kenhayes247]

i've listed them for £400, if there is no interest I'll have a go at restoring them myself as a winter project

John-
I went the other way and removed my standard seats for sport seats. The sport seats were more supportive than the standard but a little flat under the bum. I spent a whole 6.00 euro to do the seat lift mod and it transformed the seat. Classic coachworks are asking 850 pounds for reconditioned seats and door cards, the same as yours. 400 for the seats as is I think is a fair price and certainly 600 plus if you do a good repair.

 

[John_B]

No more pics to show, however the last couple of evenings I've done a bit more work on the interior.

Seats are all plugged in and bolted down, I've also transferred a few other bits across like the mesh wind deflector, footwell net storage and my dashcam (hardwired).

The last thing standing in the way of the interior being complete are the door cards. I did a whole 'mini-project' on the doors of my 1.9; fitting new vapour barriers, handle & mirror gaskets, restoring the mirror bases and some maintenance on the door hinge and window mechanisms - So I am going to repeat the process now for Izzy - grabbing the vapour barriers and mirror gaskets from the 1.9 which are only a few months old.

I started last night with removing the door cards and vapour barriers from both cars, removing the mirrors from Izzy and swapping the mirror gaskets with what were on the 1.9. Over the next few evenings I'm going to disassemble the mirrors and then sand the bases down to bare metal, all the while feeding the swivel mechanisms with lots of ACF-50.

I've also put in a couple of orders to OpieOils and AutoDoc for oil, filters and a replacement thermostat & rad hoses

 

[John_B]

I've had a bit of a challenging long weekend!

On Saturday morning I started attempting to fit the coilovers and immediately sheared one of the bolts holding the bottom of the front strut to the knuckle when I inadvertently knocked the impact wrench onto tighten instead of loosen. I spent about 2 hours using (shredding) gradually larger bolt extractors until if I had gone any bigger I'd have started removing the threads from the knuckle. I was weighing up options, when I thought to check RealOEM and found the knuckle, bearing and ABS sensor are all the same on the 2.8 as they are on the 1.9 currently languishing on my driveway destined to be broken. I just needed a ball joint splitter to be able to swap them across.

Sunday, I was still waiting for the ball joint splitter to come, so I spent the day working on the doors, the last part of transferring the interior from my 1.9 into the 2.8. I cleaned off all of the butyl from the doors, cleaned & lubed the handle, hinge & window mechanisms, replaced the handle gaskets, fitted the restored mirror bases, fitted the new(ish) vapour barriers and finally door cards. It's quite sad how satisfying I find removing the old butyl and cleaning the doors

The ball joint splitter came on Sunday evening, so Monday morning I transferred the knuckle from the 1.9 onto the 2.8 (and vice versa) and finished rebuilding the front suspension. I jacked the rear of the car up to start on that, but got distracted with some other jobs, so I still need to do the rear suspension, however I completely stripped and cleaned the boot, then removed the spare wheel cage which I am in the process of sanding down and will repaint. I also gave the engine bay a quick clean,

It's being let down by the washer bottle at the moment. I took it out and have scrubbed the outside which has come up great, but 25yrs of mould and algae visible from the inside is letting the side down. Soaking in hot soapy water for an hour didn't make much of a difference, so I need to investigate the best methods for cleaning the inside!

 

[AntStark]

Waterbottle..gravel or ball bearings in a solution of Milton fluid..give it a shake.

 

[John_B]

Oh, good idea!

While it was stewing in the sink yesterday I did half-heartedly look for Mrs B's baking beads. It's probably a good idea I didn't find them, or I'd have been in trouble

 

[t-tony]

Small gravel or course sand works best.

Tony.

 

[John_B]

Ultimate facepalm moment - I filled the washer bottle with Milton tabs and water and left it overnight. It worked great and the biofilm was gone. Except, what did this moron do before he left it overnight? He ran the washers for about minute to pull the fluid through the system, so the fluid went down and left a couple of inches at the top where the biofilm survived! God damn it, what a muppet. Anyway, refilled again. This will be the worlds cleanest washer bottle by the time I'm done!

I fitted the rear shocks from my coilover set, however have left the original springs on (You may have seen me complaining about the ride height on these coilover springs making the car look like a monster truck on the lowest setting). I may revisit the rear springs at some point, but for now the original springs live on.

I'm taking it for new tyres (Avon ZV7-s) on Saturday, then coming home to service and give it a good clean. I've got some new centre caps to fit but I am saving those for the finishing touch when it's been cleaned.

 

[Kenhayes247]

Have to say I am a great fan of the style 68 wheels on a black car. I have considered buying a set for mine but so far I have stuck to the originals. Your car seems to be coming along quite nicely John

 

[John_B]

I didn't know the style number, so thank you! before I knew they were staggered the plan was to transfer the Style 18s from my 1.9 (square) - which I love, and only put new tyres on 1500miles ago - but these 68s have really grown on me. I think they suit the Z3 in black really nicely

 

[Kenhayes247]

A useful link should you fancy a change of wheel.

All BMW wheel styles Z Z3-E36 | BmwStyleWheels.com

All BMW Wheels style including technical data & pictures Z Z3-E36

www.bmwstylewheels.com

 

[John_B]

I had a slightly smoother weekend working on Izzy this weekend, although still not without a bit of drama...

I had new tyres fitted all round Saturday morning, and the trip to the tyre shop was supposed to warm the oil ahead of draining it.... Except when I got home I found the 36mm socket required to undo the oil filter housing was not part of my socket or spanner sets, which all maxed out at 32mm. Same for my neighbours. Adjustable spanner and rubber strap wrenches wouldn't touch it either. I could have spent £200 on a socket and 3/4" ratchet from the hardware shop in Matlock, or I could order a 1/2" one from Amazon for £10. So my servicing plans were deferred to next week (...or was it)

After that I gave it its first wash in my ownership, happily I found that many of the paint chips/grazes were just polish that hadn't been properly rubbed in I fitted a fresh set of centre caps and replaced the badge on the passenger side grill which had seen better days. After that I went all around with a Chipex repair kit. The paint on the rear bumper is cracked all over, like the scarring you see when someone gets hit by lightning. I used the repair kit on all the cracks and it does look better, but I think replacing the bumper is going to be necessary at some point.

(Still looking for a replacement passenger side front wing if anyone knows of one going...)

She cleans up well and in the bright sunlight I've also fallen completely in love with the Cosmos Black colour! I haven't got my new log book yet, but checking on the DVLA website I can see my private plate has transferred (I had to apply it offline for some reason ), so I put the plates on too.

It was a bit of an impulsive decision, but I swapped the steering wheel with the one from my 1.9. I'm getting it (and gaiters) retrimmed this winter anyway, but at least for the next few weeks I have a steering wheel that is actually nice to hold. The leather was falling apart on the original and it was bugging my OCD. It's the first time I have removed a steering wheel, removing the airbag was a little bit terrifying

Saturday evening saw a last-minute dash to Halfords in Chesterfield, where I was able to get a 36mm socket (£12) and cancel my Amazon order, this meant I was able to crack on with the service on Sunday morning instead of having to wait for the Amazon delivery to come. (It came at 2pm just as I was settling down to watch the F1).

Sunday morning I did the oil and filter service. I was going to use an engine flush but chickened out at the last minute having read about old engines ruined by flush when it removes the gunk and sludge that was keeping it running! Instead I'll do another oil change sooner than normal. I've got a new fuel filter too but I'm going to save for that second oil change since I have a full tank of BP Ultimate in Tandy that I am going to transfer across and inevitably will stir up some sediment in the tank.

Last job of the weekend was fitting the restored spare wheel carrier that I had sanded down and repainted.

Sadly my experiment with the door handle covers has failed. Filling in the extra keyhole with body filler actually worked really well. however they have just not taken the paint at all. Exactly the same paint & lacquer I used on the mirror bases and produced a great finish, but on these handle covers it's like the base coat absorbed the lacquer and no matter how many coats and how thick I put them on, they dried to a matte finish. I might sand them down and try again, I might just abandon my plans to have the only Z3 with body-coloured door handles

Finally Izzy was back down on all four wheels and should stay that way now for a little while. We're going to Cornwall for a week on Friday and then when we get back the next thing I want to tackle is transferring the lovely new roof from the 1.9

 

[RickyBobby]

I had a slightly smoother weekend working on Izzy this weekend, although still not without a bit of drama...

I had new tyres fitted all round Saturday morning, and the trip to the tyre shop was supposed to warm the oil ahead of draining it.... Except when I got home I found the 36mm socket required to undo the oil filter housing was not part of my socket or spanner sets, which all maxed out at 32mm. Same for my neighbours. Adjustable spanner and rubber strap wrenches wouldn't touch it either. I could have spent £200 on a socket and 3/4" ratchet from the hardware shop in Matlock, or I could order a 1/2" one from Amazon for £10. So my servicing plans were deferred to next week (...or was it)

After that I gave it its first wash in my ownership, happily I found that many of the paint chips/grazes were just polish that hadn't been properly rubbed in I fitted a fresh set of centre caps and replaced the badge on the passenger side grill which had seen better days. After that I went all around with a Chipex repair kit. The paint on the rear bumper is cracked all over, like the scarring you see when someone gets hit by lightning. I used the repair kit on all the cracks and it does look better, but I think replacing the bumper is going to be necessary at some point.
View attachment 316313 View attachment 316315
(Still looking for a replacement passenger side front wing if anyone knows of one going...)

She cleans up well and in the bright sunlight I've also fallen completely in love with the Cosmos Black colour! I haven't got my new log book yet, but checking on the DVLA website I can see my private plate has transferred (I had to apply it offline for some reason ), so I put the plates on too.
View attachment 316321

It was a bit of an impulsive decision, but I swapped the steering wheel with the one from my 1.9. I'm getting it (and gaiters) retrimmed this winter anyway, but at least for the next few weeks I have a steering wheel that is actually nice to hold. The leather was falling apart on the original and it was bugging my OCD. It's the first time I have removed a steering wheel, removing the airbag was a little bit terrifying

Saturday evening saw a last-minute dash to Halfords in Chesterfield, where I was able to get a 36mm socket (£12) and cancel my Amazon order, this meant I was able to crack on with the service on Sunday morning instead of having to wait for the Amazon delivery to come. (It came at 2pm just as I was settling down to watch the F1).

Sunday morning I did the oil and filter service. I was going to use an engine flush but chickened out at the last minute having read about old engines ruined by flush when it removes the gunk and sludge that was keeping it running! Instead I'll do another oil change sooner than normal. I've got a new fuel filter too but I'm going to save for that second oil change since I have a full tank of BP Ultimate in Tandy that I am going to transfer across and inevitably will stir up some sediment in the tank.

Last job of the weekend was fitting the restored spare wheel carrier that I had sanded down and repainted.
View attachment 316319

Sadly my experiment with the door handle covers has failed. Filling in the extra keyhole with body filler actually worked really well. however they have just not taken the paint at all. Exactly the same paint & lacquer I used on the mirror bases and produced a great finish, but on these handle covers it's like the base coat absorbed the lacquer and no matter how many coats and how thick I put them on, they dried to a matte finish. I might sand them down and try again, I might just abandon my plans to have the only Z3 with body-coloured door handles

Finally Izzy was back down on all four wheels and should stay that way now for a little while. We're going to Cornwall for a week on Friday and then when we get back the next thing I want to tackle is transferring the lovely new roof from the 1.9

Looking good John - concious we still need to sort out that trip to The Barrel Inn at Bretton but it looks like you are in full on maintenence mode