Panels

[PeteZ3]

Well, I have taken the rear quarters and the front quarters of my z3 because of rust. If you've have had a look at my progress thread then youll know that my girlfriends dad was going to respray them for me, but it seems the sills are beyond prepare, the front and rear quarters are salvageable but it will be a bit of work to get them to a spray ready condition... i have been looking around the web for replacement sills and panels, It seems aftermeket z3 panels are pretty hard to come by, but I have found a company that has panels advertised, although, there not very cheap. there called "driverlinksperformance" ... heres a link http://www.shop.diveriks.co.uk/24-z-series

If anybody has previously used them please let me know. or if you have any good/ cheap places to get pannels, let me know....

Also, the jack points on the chassis have rusted through and they will need to have new metal welded un unfortunately! so any advice on that would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers, Pete

 

[Jack Ratt]

There is a forum member who makes and sells GRP panels. Can't think of his name at the moment but someone will very soon I'm sure

 

[t-tony]

It's @Stormy_be who does the panels but he's in Belgium.

Tony.

 

[PeteZ3]

It's @Stormy_be who does the panels but he's in Belgium.

Tony.

Cheers, ive given him a message

 

[Stormy_be]

Yes, I'm still fabricating all Z3 panels in fiberglass.

For the jacking points, fiberglass wouldn't be my choice, although you can make fiberglass as strong or even stronger then metal (for example if you would include some Kevlar in there, you can literally make them bullet proof).

For the body panels, nevertheless, fiberglass is an option.
In a lot of new cars, the body is part of the chassis-structure, but with the Zed, the body is only a shell.
With this, the body parts don't need to carry any weight or reinforcements to contribute to the structural strength.
They just need to "look to part".
As my moulds are made from the parts that came off my 1999 2.8 wide body Zed, they would fit directly on to your car.
As with all panels, even when bought from BMW, you will need to check for panels gaps and they will need a little preparing (sanding down & setting a primer coat) before painting them.
I supply my panels in gelcoat finish.

Regards, Koen

 

[Grumps]

Looks like you have your work cut out Pete. Nice to see your prepared to have a go and save another Zed. I am a little suprised in you saying the Jack points are rusting. First time I've heard anyone mention any sort of structural rust. Good luck with it, drop some pics in as you strip and replace your panels.

 

[jonco]

................I am a little suprised in you saying the Jack points are rusting. First time I've heard anyone mention any sort of structural..........

Agree - I've only ever found `surface staining' on the drainage route around the jacking points.

Good Luck with project.

 

[PeteZ3]

Looks like you have your work cut out Pete. Nice to see your prepared to have a go and save another Zed. I am a little suprised in you saying the Jack points are rusting. First time I've heard anyone mention any sort of structural rust. Good luck with it, drop some pics in as you strip and replace your panels.

Yep, It would be a straight up MOT failure if they had noticed (only passed a month ago), i have some pictures on my phone, ill post them in a sec, it wont be that hard to put in new metal though, just a simple cut the metal away, and weld in some new metal .... he says hah

Tbh im not surprised, it looks like somebody has used a jack on the jacking points and somehow bent the metal, so they must have used a jack with a very small contact point, and missed the plastic bit that your supposed to jack the car up with, or just used a crappy jack. this has then rusted over time, i mean they could have done it the day they bought it from the dealership and over time, its just gradually rusted away.

also the sills are supposed to have air running through them, thus preventing rust, but mine were completely filled with dirt and stones, and preventing proper ventilation.... oh well, itll get done, i love my zed, not gonna give up on her!

 

[Brian H]

Interested to see the pics of the rust, the jacking point area is in an engineered beam running from front to back.

 

[PeteZ3]

Interested to see the pics of the rust, the jacking point area is in an engineered beam running from front to back.

give me a few mins, ill just take some better pics now, ones i have on my phone are rubbish

 

[PeteZ3]

So here she is, up on axle stands and blocks of wood .... first two a close ups are the front, seckond two are the back, as you can see the front is very bad, its totally rotten, there is literally a hole there, lots of rust, ill clean it up to see what i have to work with when i get the chance. back is potentially worse, it deoends what its like when i grind all the rust out, but i may eed to replace that entire section, its not looking like just surface rust.

 

[PeteZ3]

you can see the front jack point is completely fooooked

 

[Brian H]

Certainly have not seen this before, I have seen the front and rear of the beam suffer from surface rust but nothing like this…...

 

[PeteZ3]

Certainly have not seen this before, I have seen the front and rear of the beam suffer from surface rust but nothing like this…...

do i get any prizes for having the rustiest zed then?


im actually crying inside.

i have no idea where its lived all its life, maybe near the sea in a ditch? ... i

 

[Brian H]

Message sent

 

[Grumps]

Yep must say that's as bad as I've ever seen on a BMW. Nothing that can't be sorted tho Pete. Keep at it, it'll be worth it.

 

[PeteZ3]

Yep must say that's as bad as I've ever seen on a BMW. Nothing that can't be sorted tho Pete. Keep at it, it'll be worth it.

Well It looks like I have a solution! @Brian H is sorting me out with replacements, hes breaking a zed so hes going to grind them of and send them to me! what a Gent! all i need to do from there is cut out the rot from mine and weld them in, itll be as good as new after that

 

[PeteZ3]

I payed £1700 for the car, so i was expecting these sort of problems, you can pay more than double that for a 2.8!... nothing phases me though, ill have a go at fixing anything

 

[jonco]

Wow! that is bad - when you took the sills off were the drainage slots clear as that looks as if it has been swimming in water for some time.

This was mine after ~12 years

 

[Jack Ratt]

Don't feel too down though, that bit of welding is a straight forward job for a welder / fabricator. It's great that you can replace the bad bits with bone fide bits from a doner Zed and will be well worth the effort and expense once you are driving her again.
There are plenty of mobile welders who will come to you too.
Best of luck mate