'Tandy' - First project car, first Z3!
- Thread starter John_B
- Start date
Thanks, that is really helpful! I'll start there next time
Snap ……
Had to take the drivers seat out as its gaving a couple of panels replaced to get rid of a crap repair..
and found the drivers side soaking…
sponged most out now , but wont have the seat back till next week so hopefully will be dry by then.
I have put a large piece of polythene sheet under the half cover and that seems to be working to stop any more water….
Had to take the drivers seat out as its gaving a couple of panels replaced to get rid of a crap repair..
and found the drivers side soaking…
sponged most out now , but wont have the seat back till next week so hopefully will be dry by then.
I have put a large piece of polythene sheet under the half cover and that seems to be working to stop any more water….
A few more pictures and detail on the weekends activities, now that I'm not sat cross-legged on the driveway scratching my head about leaks! 
This is the pool of water I found after removing the carpets. My driveway is slightly downhill, so it is about half an inch deep at the end, and then dry at the lower edge of this image. The passenger side was slightly less, but still a pool nonetheless. I dried all those out on Saturday, and then after a bit of rain overnight, sure enough there was water there again Sunday, albeit much less! This is good news though, at least I know it's a leak, rather than that a previous owner used it as a submarine and I have been driving around several litres of stagnant flood water for the last few months.
Fun fact: a blue roll fits perfectly on the inner roll hoop bracket
Saturday night I re-fitted the half-cover and still the pool of water appeared after some rain. I think this rules out the A-pillar or hood drains, since these are under the cover. It should also rule-out the vapour barriers, since the window and window seals are all under the cover - unless the water gets into the door through the mirror spindles (which stick out from the cover), or some other mechanism? The vapour barriers are hanging off anyway, so I am going to replace the buytl sealant. I think the most likely culprit now is the scuttle drains as advised by @Duncodin. I'm going to try and sneak away from work a little earlier one day early this week and investigate. I can then leave it to get rained on for a few days while the carpets finish drying indoors and hopefully convince myself we're not leaking before putting the carpets back in.
I jet washed the carpets (including the foam/sponge side), it's not like I could make them any wetter!! Then wet-vacced them before bringing them into the house. Despite my wet-vac of them in-situ after I bought the car, seeing the colour of the water coming away in some spots under the pressure washer was equally satisfying and horrifying. I am quite optimistic that once they're dry and fitted they're going to look brand new. The carpets have spent the rest of the weekend sat around a heater like cub scouts around a campfire. I'd say they're down to about 20% dampness now (Monday morning) compared to when they came out of the car. Few more days to go yet.
I met up with @PhilH67 last night and collected the black seats and door cards I've bought from him. Quite an incredible set up he has. I have some serious garage-envy going on!
This is the pool of water I found after removing the carpets. My driveway is slightly downhill, so it is about half an inch deep at the end, and then dry at the lower edge of this image. The passenger side was slightly less, but still a pool nonetheless. I dried all those out on Saturday, and then after a bit of rain overnight, sure enough there was water there again Sunday, albeit much less! This is good news though, at least I know it's a leak, rather than that a previous owner used it as a submarine and I have been driving around several litres of stagnant flood water for the last few months.
Fun fact: a blue roll fits perfectly on the inner roll hoop bracket
Saturday night I re-fitted the half-cover and still the pool of water appeared after some rain. I think this rules out the A-pillar or hood drains, since these are under the cover. It should also rule-out the vapour barriers, since the window and window seals are all under the cover - unless the water gets into the door through the mirror spindles (which stick out from the cover), or some other mechanism? The vapour barriers are hanging off anyway, so I am going to replace the buytl sealant. I think the most likely culprit now is the scuttle drains as advised by @Duncodin. I'm going to try and sneak away from work a little earlier one day early this week and investigate. I can then leave it to get rained on for a few days while the carpets finish drying indoors and hopefully convince myself we're not leaking before putting the carpets back in.
I jet washed the carpets (including the foam/sponge side), it's not like I could make them any wetter!! Then wet-vacced them before bringing them into the house. Despite my wet-vac of them in-situ after I bought the car, seeing the colour of the water coming away in some spots under the pressure washer was equally satisfying and horrifying. I am quite optimistic that once they're dry and fitted they're going to look brand new. The carpets have spent the rest of the weekend sat around a heater like cub scouts around a campfire
. I'd say they're down to about 20% dampness now (Monday morning) compared to when they came out of the car. Few more days to go yet.I met up with @PhilH67 last night and collected the black seats and door cards I've bought from him. Quite an incredible set up he has. I have some serious garage-envy going on!
Interesting. Did your polythene sheet cover the scuttle panel when the water stopped? I'll let you know how I get on when I delve under the mine. To my mind, I'm hoping that the fact I'm still collecting water even with a half-cover, pretty much rules out all the ingress avenues besides from the scuttle drains.
Hopefully the scuttle is where your water is coming in. If you have the Custom Cover half cover, you may have noticed that it’s not waterproof. The older it gets, the more it leaks through the seams. It also still drains into the boot area, where I suspect there are paths for the water to get into the boot…and possibly elsewhere.
My diary just cleared up an hour so I have managed to clear out those scuttle drains, sure enough they were clogged and as soon as the water went over the lip into the heater matrix it was gushing into the footwells. I've dried them up again, although there were still a few drips working their way through, so I'll have to do another check/mop up tomorrow.
The cover is actually a new one I got off Amazon (Z3 tailored, non-OEM), it was only cheap although I am reasonably convinced it is water-proof, for now... Tbh I was thinking about changing it for a full cover anyway, particularly if I can't convince myself in the next couple of weeks that I have cured the leak...s.
My leak into the boot was here
Here's picture inside my boot. I pore water carefully into the channel near the hinges. See blue arrows top right of this picture.
and drips appear inside at this joint. (Yellow-Arrow)
Water collects in the corner (Red arrow) and from there spreads to the battery tray etc.
It's a spot welded joint with sealant along the seam i guess sealant gets old dry and cracks. I've now sealed that seam front to rear with proper chassis sealant. Water doesn't come in any more. But where is it going? No idea.
Here's picture inside my boot. I pore water carefully into the channel near the hinges. See blue arrows top right of this picture.
and drips appear inside at this joint. (Yellow-Arrow)
Water collects in the corner (Red arrow) and from there spreads to the battery tray etc.
It's a spot welded joint with sealant along the seam i guess sealant gets old dry and cracks. I've now sealed that seam front to rear with proper chassis sealant. Water doesn't come in any more. But where is it going? No idea.
Last edited:
It should be running round the outside of the boot seal and dripping off below the boot lid. It's all down hill from where you poured the water.
Tony.
Tony.
I assume because I pored the water it had a bit of uphill momentum. But we don't all live on the lincolnshire flat lands. Some of us need to drive down hills or even park on them. Doesn't take much of a hill to get the water going up that channel.
To no avail it seems, I've still managed to collect a footwell-full of water overnight. I still need to do the vapour barriers, the new butyl tape has arrived though, so I can have a go at that this evening if the weather cooperates. After that I think I'm just going to have to crouch in the car while my wife blasts it with the hose
Ok, long story short, I'm now in the market for a waterproof full cover 
The scuttle drains have certainly stopped water coming in through the heater matrix, but it is still coming in from somewhere, even with the half-cover on.
I did the hose pipe test this evening and it was pouring in from the top corner of the drivers side window, and I think I know why:
Does anyone know what has happened here? My first thought was the window has closed too far/high, but in actual fact when the door is closed it looks like the window is right and actually the quarter light is too low!?
I've re the butyl on the vapour barriers this evening.It turned out the only thing holding the passenger side on was two bits of duct tape
So the car is now dry (again) and this time I have put a tarp under the half-cover to try and keep it dry while I get a full, waterproof cover. Any recommendations?
Some good news though is that the carpets are now fully dry and ready to be installed as soon as I know they're not going to be ruined again as soon as we get some rain. And we're forecast a LOT over the next couple of weeks
The scuttle drains have certainly stopped water coming in through the heater matrix, but it is still coming in from somewhere, even with the half-cover on.
I did the hose pipe test this evening and it was pouring in from the top corner of the drivers side window, and I think I know why:
Does anyone know what has happened here? My first thought was the window has closed too far/high, but in actual fact when the door is closed it looks like the window is right and actually the quarter light is too low!?
I've re the butyl on the vapour barriers this evening.It turned out the only thing holding the passenger side on was two bits of duct tape
So the car is now dry (again) and this time I have put a tarp under the half-cover to try and keep it dry while I get a full, waterproof cover. Any recommendations?
Some good news though is that the carpets are now fully dry and ready to be installed as soon as I know they're not going to be ruined again as soon as we get some rain. And we're forecast a LOT over the next couple of weeks
I went for the full cover (XS) from Halfords for £45 (link), it's been on now for 48hrs including some pretty heavy rain and winds, and the interior remains dry!
I'm no expert on the subject but I am impressed with the quality. The outer side feels heavy duty while still being easily able to fit on my own, and the inside has a soft felty fabric which I expect will be very kind to the body work. The corners are elasticated like a fitted bedsheet, which made hooking it under the front and back bumpers very easy. There are three straps that go underneath to keep it taught and stop it catching the wind. I was thinking they'll be a nightmare to pass under the car, but actually a little flick of the wrist and they glided underneath no bother. Having a smooth resin driveway surely helped here, it might be more difficult on a rougher surface. It also comes with a 2yr warranty.
Obviously this doesn't fix the leaks, but it buys me time to consider options and lets me put the interior back together and be able to drive it again - I'll just stick to dry days
I'm no expert on the subject but I am impressed with the quality. The outer side feels heavy duty while still being easily able to fit on my own, and the inside has a soft felty fabric which I expect will be very kind to the body work. The corners are elasticated like a fitted bedsheet, which made hooking it under the front and back bumpers very easy. There are three straps that go underneath to keep it taught and stop it catching the wind. I was thinking they'll be a nightmare to pass under the car, but actually a little flick of the wrist and they glided underneath no bother. Having a smooth resin driveway surely helped here, it might be more difficult on a rougher surface. It also comes with a 2yr warranty.
Obviously this doesn't fix the leaks, but it buys me time to consider options and lets me put the interior back together and be able to drive it again - I'll just stick to dry days
I agree 100% with the type approved CAT. The next best thing to an OEWhen you start looking at the CO2 emissions, I've just been through this on my 1.9.
Tried all sorts
Oil / filter change
Redex
New plugs
New coil pack
Cleaned the MAF
Ran hot
New thermostat (was faulty and keeping it choked)
New CCV valve
Cleaned DISA valve (check it's not gone)
New lamba in the exhaust
New standard cat
But what really made the difference was using a type approved cat. Wasn't legally required, but it sorted the emmisions. When buying look for one like this
Catalytic Converter Type Approved + Fitting Kit fits BMW Z3 E36 1.9 97 to 99 BM 5052746038378 | eBay
Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Catalytic Converter Type Approved + Fitting Kit fits BMW Z3 E36 1.9 97 to 99 BM at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products.www.ebay.co.uk
Good luck with the wheels
Despite the lack of an update, progress has been made. I was waiting until my new mats came before getting some photos and they finally arrived today.
The interior is rebuilt!
The rebuild was not without a couple of hiccups - first after fighting with getting the stereo and heater controls back into the centre console, I screwed it all back down again and only then realised I'd lost the window controls and hazard warning light under the refitted carpet, so had to take it all apart again to dig those out, oops. And then another award-winning moment was when I dropped the T40 bit into the turret while I was reinstalling the hoops. Turns out that was the only T40 bit I had, and after fishing inside the turret for about 15 mins with a magnet and failing to snag it, the only option I had left was to painstakingly back-out the bolt using pliers (thankfully I had only just started on the first bolt) and disassemble the whole rear trim section again to be able to remove the turret!
So in terms of developments, I have the orange seatbelts from VentedUK (highly recommended), black leather seats and door-cards thanks to PhilH67, plus I have fitted heated seat switches ready for a retrofit in the coming months, and a USB socket into one of the switch blanks. Finally I used "Finest Car Mats UK" for the mats. They look ok although I can't say I am bowled over by the quality. And shipping took bloody ages.
I wanted to use some rivnuts to fit the fire extinguisher to the floor pan in the passenger footwell, but having seen how thick the carpet/foam is, and not knowing what I could be drilling into, I had a change of plan and decided I would use the two front lugs for the seat and a couple of metal brackets for the extinguisher mount. I bought some brackets from Amazon, cut them to the right length, went to fit them this afternoon and found they are too thick (4mm) and once slotted under the seat don't leave enough exposed thread for the nuts to grab on to. I think if I really pressed them into the carpet I could just about get the nuts on, but I was worried about how little thread they'd be fastened with, so I have scrapped those and have ordered some 1mm aluminium sheets and am going to cut my own brackets out of that instead.
The interior is rebuilt!
The rebuild was not without a couple of hiccups - first after fighting with getting the stereo and heater controls back into the centre console, I screwed it all back down again and only then realised I'd lost the window controls and hazard warning light under the refitted carpet, so had to take it all apart again to dig those out, oops. And then another award-winning moment was when I dropped the T40 bit into the turret while I was reinstalling the hoops. Turns out that was the only T40 bit I had, and after fishing inside the turret for about 15 mins with a magnet and failing to snag it, the only option I had left was to painstakingly back-out the bolt using pliers (thankfully I had only just started on the first bolt) and disassemble the whole rear trim section again to be able to remove the turret!
So in terms of developments, I have the orange seatbelts from VentedUK (highly recommended), black leather seats and door-cards thanks to PhilH67, plus I have fitted heated seat switches ready for a retrofit in the coming months, and a USB socket into one of the switch blanks. Finally I used "Finest Car Mats UK" for the mats. They look ok although I can't say I am bowled over by the quality. And shipping took bloody ages.
I wanted to use some rivnuts to fit the fire extinguisher to the floor pan in the passenger footwell, but having seen how thick the carpet/foam is, and not knowing what I could be drilling into, I had a change of plan and decided I would use the two front lugs for the seat and a couple of metal brackets for the extinguisher mount. I bought some brackets from Amazon, cut them to the right length, went to fit them this afternoon and found they are too thick (4mm) and once slotted under the seat don't leave enough exposed thread for the nuts to grab on to. I think if I really pressed them into the carpet I could just about get the nuts on, but I was worried about how little thread they'd be fastened with, so I have scrapped those and have ordered some 1mm aluminium sheets and am going to cut my own brackets out of that instead.
I don’t know if you have read this thread it might be of use to you https://zroadster.org/threads/bmw-z...oem-style-fit-gloria-fire-extinguisher.24932/
Newbieowner
Dedicated Member
I am rather in awe of your endeavours! Especially as you say its your first ever go at this type of thing. I can do really basic stuff - I mean BASIC, but I'm currently toying with redoing my brake calipers and thats a big thing for me. How easy was it? And how stable are the axle stands?
Thanks Althulas, I hadn't seen that thread. Unfortunately I had already bought my extinguisher before I learned there was an OEM one, so I am having to come up with my own solution
It's not like I am going for a nut & bolt restoration or concourse show standard. So it's all good!