'Tandy' - First project car, first Z3!

[estgray]

This is the paint I have used for the calipers and strut brace:

Thanks! I asked not to be contrarian about how long it would last, but because the same idea has crossed my mind in the past, at least on brake calipers. I've seen jobs that looked good and ones that had degraded pretty badly but not knowing how long ago they'd be done and with what I've not made up my mind. I hope it wears well!

 

[John_B]

Thanks! I asked not to be contrarian about how long it would last, but because the same idea has crossed my mind in the past, at least on brake calipers. I've seen jobs that looked good and ones that had degraded pretty badly but not knowing how long ago they'd be done and with what I've not made up my mind. I hope it wears well!

I painted the calipers (& drums ) on my first car back in my youth, although I did that with a brush and without removing them from the car. As you'd expect from a young lad armed with a paint brush and the misconception that red calipers = +100bhp - the quality of the job was pretty terrible, however I don't remember any issues about it not lasting very long or aging badly.

I'd say like anything if you're an inexperienced DIYer, if you want a top quality job then it's probably best to pay a professional. But for me, as much as this Z3 is about having a fun toy for the nice weather, It's just as much (maybe more so) about getting hands-on and doing stuff I wouldn't dare do with my daily

 

[John_B]

Time for another update!

Last time I had cleaned up and was painting the front calipers, cleverly leaving the old fittings, piston and dust boot in place to avoid things getting where they shouldn't. Genius, right? Well perhaps not. Calipers cleaned and painted aaaaand couldn't remove the old pistons Perhaps the cause of the brake imbalance on the front axle at the last MOT? I tried compressed air, I tried vise grips and neither were budging, and I ruined the fresh paint trying.

So new calipers ordered (and more paint). calipers came but were the wrong ones - for thicker, vented discs, which mine aren't. I considered upgrading the discs and carriers to match the new calipers, but eventually decided against it. These discs & pads only have about 50 miles wear on them, and I figure if/when I do upgrade the brakes, I should do both axles at the same time. So returned those and reordered checking the part numbers rather than just a "fits BMW Z3" line in the description. Oops.

Calipers came, painted and installed. Dropped the car back on its wheels and went to take it for a very short lap of my road to check the brakes and of course the battery was flat. I could have jumped it but thought now would be a good time to invest in a charger. That came yesterday and I charged the battery overnight. I was able to do a quick test drive this morning and all seems well, ready for the next attempt at an MOT on Tuesday!

I couldn't find a suitable date with the garage who did the last MOT, seems like the guy who tested it only works on days with a Z and they didn't seem particularly thrilled about the prospect of doing the lambda sensor at the same time. But since now I have ruled out the emissions problem being because it was tested cold, I don't need to trek halfway across Derbyshire to get it hot before the test, so I have booked in with my local garage which will be far more convenient. I'm just a little anxious about it being a different tester again and what other issues a new pair of eyes might find :-(

Couple of jobs this weekend, the 12v socket isn't working, I presume just a fuse but I keep forgetting to look and I need to clay bar the bonnet and boot after getting a bit of orange overspray . Thankfully I've had a half-cover over the roof, so the soft-top didn't catch any. Phew!

 

[John_B]

MOT PASSED!!!

Just an advisory for rusted sill covers, which was already on my list of post-MOT jobs. In the end the only thing required to pass the emissions was a bottle of Cataclean and getting it really hot. Boom!

I ended up clay-barring and polishing the whole car at the weekend which I found quite therapeutic! And the 12v socket issue turned out to be the plug I was using just doesn't work with that socket (even though it works in my other car!) so I tried another 12v plug and it works fine.

So that's it! Tandy is all set for 12 months of usage! Now the fun stuff starts! I'm thinking;

Angel eyes
Roll hoops
New sills and those rectangular panels that have the side repeaters in them
Undersealing/waxoyl treatment.

I've also got an Atlanta Blue chipex kit on order to tidy up the many stone chips on the bonnet and bumper

 

[John_B]

I took a trip to a local bodyshop a couple of weeks ago to talk about spraying replacement sills & quarter-panels, during the short journey I developed a misfire. Thanks to a bit of poking around and some advice from the kind folk on this forum, I identified a spark plug had worked loose and allowed fuel into the spark plug well and stoped the spark firing (probably a good thing it did! )

After fixing that and properly torquing the plugs, I took Tandy on my longest journey so far, a 296 mile trip down to Cambridge and back for lunch with a friend on Wednesday. It didn't miss a beat! The only slight niggles are a lumpy idle making me paranoid it would cut out (it didn't) and the temp gauge reading slightly on the cool side.

I brimmed the tank before I went and brimmed it again after* and used 31.55 litres, working out at 42.2mpg if my sums are correct. Pretty happy with that considering 75% of the journey was at 70mph with the roof down!

But before I refilled the tank, I took the opportunity while it was low to fit new tank straps courtesy of @Mazza! I was pleasantly surprised at how easy they were to fit, top notch quality and they look great. Super clear instructions too. Thanks!

I also fitted new rear shocks that I bought from a chap on FB marketplace, not sure if he's on here or not, but they look good. It's a shame that with the lowering springs, none of the rear suspension is visible anymore when the car is on the ground

Very satisfying box of scrap accumulated today

Next up, I have the Angel Eyes kit from @ZEDonist UK that I am going to try and fit this weekend, and the Chipex paint kit has arrived to try and tackle the myriad of stone chips on the bonnet and bumper. I've also arranged to buy roll hoops & wind deflector from a breaker, although it might still be a week or two before I have them and am ready to fit.

All in all, it's been a bloody good week so far in terms of the Z3!

 

[Mazza]

I’d be interested knowing how you fit the angel eyes … a few pics would be nice

 

[John_B]

Angel eyes kit is in!


It took me a little longer than planned as I ran out of glue sticks, and I took the opportunity while the lights were out to replace all the bulbs for some whiter ones, so had to wait for those to come.

@Mazza broadly speaking the installation goes;

• Remove lights from car
• Remove bulbs, rubber boots & aim motor
• Bake the headlight unit in the oven for 15mins at the lowest temp your oven can do
• Split the unit apart
• Build up a base for the LED units using hot glue
• Stick the LED unit to the base
• Lightly put the unit back together, feeding cables around the back of the reflectors, bake again to soften the sealant, press closed & latched

then the wiring kit was a fuse tap running to two blocks (voltage transformers?) with connectors for the LEDs and an earth each which I connected to the earths on the front of the wheel arches each side.

 

[John_B]

I have been trying to upload a gif of how they look with different lights on, but it's not working. Here's a still of the end result

 

[Jam03]

Angel eyes kit is in!


It took me a little longer than planned as I ran out of glue sticks, and I took the opportunity while the lights were out to replace all the bulbs for some whiter ones, so had to wait for those to come.

@Mazza broadly speaking the installation goes;

• Remove lights from car
• Remove bulbs, rubber boots & aim motor
• Bake the headlight unit in the oven for 15mins at the lowest temp your oven can do
• Split the unit apart
• Build up a base for the LED units using hot glue
• Stick the LED unit to the base
• Lightly put the unit back together, feeding cables around the back of the reflectors, bake again to soften the sealant, press closed & latched

then the wiring kit was a fuse tap running to two blocks (voltage transformers?) with connectors for the LEDs and an earth each which I connected to the earths on the front of the wheel arches each side.

View attachment 280419
View attachment 280421
View attachment 280423

Love the F1 on in the background

 

[John_B]

It's been a bit of a 'good news bad news' weekend with the car.

Good news:

• Fitted OEM roll bars and new speakers in the footwells

Bad news:

• The new speakers I bought for behind the seats are the wrong size
• The footwell speaker on the drivers side isn't working
• While I was fitting one of the speakers I dropped a screw down behind the carpet and in retrieving it discovered the insulation under the carpet was totally sodden.

So the plan is to switch the footwell speakers to determine if it's a dodgy unit or dodgy wiring. I suspect the latter as the reason I replaced the pair was the drivers side wasn't working before either. Annoyingly, I had disconnected the battery after removing the seats, so I had put the whole interior back together before I tested the new speakers and found one wasn't working, whoops. (Slight silver-lining here is that I am positive the drivers' side rear speaker wasn't working, but after I put everything back together following the roll hoop installation, they are definitely both working now!

The water under the carpets is a pain though, that's going to be a full strip-down. And god knows how I am going to dry the carpets out. Shutting them in a room with a dehumidifier/heater for a couple of days? And then finding the leak! I do have a half-cover for the car but I'll be honest and say since it passed its MOT I haven't been using it. In which time we've had a few heavy rain showers

While the interior is stripped down I'd like to put a USB socket in one of the blanks next to the ASC switch, and I while I'm at it, I might even put a heated seat switch in there - I understand all the wiring is there, I just need the switch, relay and fit the pads to the seats?

I'm pleased with the hoops though! I have a mesh wind deflector too, butI think they detract from 'the look'. I'm going to keep it in the boot, and then fit it when needed.

 

[Jam03]

Sorry to hear about the wet carpets. On my car, I discovered that the vapour barrier in the doors is not sealed, so water that gets into the doors as it should, drains into the cabin as well as out the bottom of the door drain holes. Also, I get a drip from the top of the A pillar as the rubber has perished. That’s why I avoid driving in rain and always put the half cover on.

 

[John_B]

Sorry to hear about the wet carpets. On my car, I discovered that the vapour barrier in the doors is not sealed, so water that gets into the doors as it should, drains into the cabin as well as out the bottom of the door drain holes. Also, I get a drip from the top of the A pillar as the rubber has perished. That’s why I avoid driving in rain and always put the half cover on.

Thanks for the advice! I was planning on taking the door cards off soon anyway to have a look at the tweeters, so when I do I'll check/replace the vapour barriers.

When I first got the car and washed it or it rained, I could see some water droplets running down the inside of the side windows, since I gummi-pfleged the seals I haven't seen that anymore, so I very stupidly presumed I was water-tight and stopped using the cover . Lesson learned!!!

I'm taking it for an alignment check-up on Wednesday and then I have a couple of appointments on Thurs and Fri I was going to use it for, but after that I think I'll start stripping it out and accept it's going to be out of action for a week or two.

Oh, and 2x Heated seat switches have been purchased from ebay (£23 for the pair, posted)

 

[Althulas]

Don’t forget the hood drain holes

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8cBd7UP0dk

 

[Duncodin]

Also the air vent at the front. There's two drain pipes into the engine bay. All that crud and dead leaves you see collecting around the bottom of fhe windscreen ends up in those drain pipes. Once the pipes are blocked all that rain has to go somewhere and that is via the air vent through the heater into the cabin.

The doors is another good shout. Water inside the doors runs down the plastic sheet to the bottom of the door card and into the cabin.

 

[John_B]

The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry...

Despite my plans to spend much of the weekend stripping the interior and starting to dry out the carpets and hunt for leaks, I decided to fall ill instead, accompanied by a positive covid test on Sunday. Balls.

Whilst resting, I ended up down a research-rabbit hole looking into, amongst other things, replacement seats and cleaning seat-belts.

I'm not a fan of the tan leather, I think it looks grubby, despite my efforts to revitalise it (and the matching door card inserts are horrible). I was going to wait for a pair of black leather, heated, pre-facelift seats to replace them with, but having scoped out eBay and Marketplace, I am finding quite a varied range of prices & conditions, and since the whole motto of this project is to learn new skills, I am going to attempt to repair the driver's bolster (torn leather) and to re-colour them with a leather dying kit. So that is going to be an upcoming project! I should be able to use the same kit on the door-card inserts too!

I was also planning to give the seatbelts a really good clean. The retraction was slow/non-existant and I did think the reels looked a bit grubby when I had the trim apart to fit the roll-bars. However, I've had a change of plan, instead I am sending them off to a company called VentedUK that will replace the webbing, and since I have a choice of colour, I think it's a good opportunity to continue with the orange highlights theme. So I'll have orange belts in my black interior - which I think will look quite snazzy!

 

[PhilH67]

It's been a bit of a 'good news bad news' weekend with the car.

Good news:

• Fitted OEM roll bars and new speakers in the footwells

Bad news:

• The new speakers I bought for behind the seats are the wrong size
• The footwell speaker on the drivers side isn't working
• While I was fitting one of the speakers I dropped a screw down behind the carpet and in retrieving it discovered the insulation under the carpet was totally sodden.

So the plan is to switch the footwell speakers to determine if it's a dodgy unit or dodgy wiring. I suspect the latter as the reason I replaced the pair was the drivers side wasn't working before either. Annoyingly, I had disconnected the battery after removing the seats, so I had put the whole interior back together before I tested the new speakers and found one wasn't working, whoops. (Slight silver-lining here is that I am positive the drivers' side rear speaker wasn't working, but after I put everything back together following the roll hoop installation, they are definitely both working now!

The water under the carpets is a pain though, that's going to be a full strip-down. And god knows how I am going to dry the carpets out. Shutting them in a room with a dehumidifier/heater for a couple of days? And then finding the leak! I do have a half-cover for the car but I'll be honest and say since it passed its MOT I haven't been using it. In which time we've had a few heavy rain showers

While the interior is stripped down I'd like to put a USB socket in one of the blanks next to the ASC switch, and I while I'm at it, I might even put a heated seat switch in there - I understand all the wiring is there, I just need the switch, relay and fit the pads to the seats?

I'm pleased with the hoops though! I have a mesh wind deflector too, butI think they detract from 'the look'. I'm going to keep it in the boot, and then fit it when needed.

View attachment 281313

I've got a black interior, seats, carpet (dry hopefully), door cards, yours for £250ish, in Derbyshire too

 

[John_B]

The dreaded covid has subsided, and I have spent a couple of evenings this week stripping the interior back down. As I write this, the whole rear trim section and roll-hoops have been removed, as have all the panels around the footwells, and the final thing I did last time I was out there, I managed to free the centre console - now THAT was a pain in the arse. I seemed to spend most of the time trying to pull the heater knobs off, only to realise as I wrestled with the last one that I didn't even need to do that and the whole unit easily popped out of the panel with the knob still attached. Grr. Anyway, it's free now, just need to disconnect the connectors tomorrow and then I should be able to remove the carpets and start the clean up/investigations.

The reason for the impromptu evening sessions was that I placed my order for the seatbelt colour change with VentedUK on Tuesday, and they contacted me immediately to let me know they were about to temporarily close and that if I wanted them doing before mid/late Nov, I needed to send them away ASAP! (there was a warning about to go up on their website but I had just snuck in before it) I managed to extract them by headtorch on Tuesday night, they were in the post on Wednesday morning, and by Thursday evening I had received this photo by email...

To say I am pleased with how they look is an understatement. I should have them back this weekend Once I've got them back and installed I'll do a full write up. Their customer service has been fantastic and based on the experience so far, I would not hesitate to recommend them. It was £55 for the pair including return postage, but excluding the outbound postage (I paid £16, but that was only for guaranteed next-day due to the time constraints)

On the interior-front, I have taken @PhilH67 up on his offer to buy his black seats, door-cards and possibly carpets too, so once I have all those I should be able to put it all back together!

 

[spurs fan in a coupe]

Belts look cool

 

[John_B]

#WetCarpetGate investigations are on going.

I got the carpets out (what job!? ) and they are currently being dried out via a heater, dehumidifer, and helpfully a sunny day!

There was about a half-inch of water in both footwells after I took the carpets out (parked on a slight downhill). So I dried all that out. Last night it rained although the half-cover was on. Today there is a small puddle in the footwells again!

so far I have found:

1. vapour barriers are both loose around 75% of their perimeters, so I'm going to get some butyl stuff to seal them back up

2. the "bung" at the top of the A-pillars looks ok. And since the car was covered last night and it still got wet, I am thinking to rule that out.

3. Drain holes on the scuttle panel - passenger side was clear, but drivers side was gunked up. Interesting
the drivers side seems to get more water than the passengers side. Are these the drain holes you meant, @Duncodin?

Lastly, I noticed a gap on the drivers side door seal that seems bigger than the passengers side - there was also visible moisture in it. Is this normal? There was enough slack/stretch in the rubber to close the gap (matching the passenger-side), but it's not exactly water-tight!

I looked for the hood drain holes @Althulas, but I presume these are only accessible when you remove the hood? Either way, the rear-half of the cabin was still dry this morning, so I am reasonably confident the water is coming in from the front end, somewhere!

Thanks all for the help and advice so far!

 

[Althulas]

This thread should help you out with the rear drain holes https://zroadster.org/threads/cleaning-rear-drains.60345/