The Exterior:
I get a phone call from Classic Coachworks 3-weeks ahead of schedule saying they have had a cancellation from a European customer as they cannot deliver to Europe (C-19 restrictions) and do I want the kit early - Duhhh!!!
Remaining kit payment is made, van is hired, another trip to Little London (Basingstoke) is underway to pick up the kit, No sign of @Lee and his dad this time though. All goes in a Puegeot Boxer van easily and we are homeward bound ("i wish i was, homeward bound" - Simon & Garfunkel - Never liked them!).
As this is now going to be an intensive build I spend a day sorting out my workshop (would never have atempted this build without it) and sectioning off a 22' by 18' area with polythene sheet and 4 daylight LED lamps, added a few double sockets whilst i was at it.
Now to build:
Cannot wait to see what it looks like so start with the easiest bit and glue/bolt the boot extension tray in place. Right that is enough for one day..... not..... Get the rear end and sills trial fitted to look at gaps etc (which are bloody awful). Grind a few fits, lever a few other bits and i'm happier.
So off come the sills and the rear end (one piece and heavy) only to be immediately put back on again but this time fully bonded with Tiger Seal and all the original Z3 screw-bolts re-fitted. The rear section and sills are pre-drilled from the factory to fit the original bolts holes (which they do, almost).
As I was doing this Cock-Up number one on the bodywork nearly happened. I had not fitted the extended fuel filler tube needed to move the fuel filler further back in the car. This was remedied immediately and the arse-end re-fitted and glued.
Top Tip: I chose to elongate the holes in the GRP to allow for some wiggle room on the fit, makes things so much easier to get it lined up. Also do not forget the fuel hose!
Now the arse-end is one I sit the bootlid in place and sit the front clam shell and baby-bonnet in place to get an idea of how it all looks. Answer great but with some pretty big panel gaps (more on that later).
I fix the calm shell hinges in place (original Z3) but leave the gas struts off for now, they are nowhere near man enough to hold this up anyway (not without a very large blue pill!). All under bonnet work for the next few weeks is done by propping up the clam shell with two Oak stair spindles.
I cannot fit the door skins over the original Z3 doors yet as i need to open up holes in each door. The Ferrari door handles (MkII Mini) have a pushrod which needs to act on the bar inside the Z3 door via an aluminium plate.
Top Tip: Put some self adhesive felt pads on the Aluminium plate to stop rattles. (No pics of this).
Now i bolted the door handles onto the door skin from the inside and fixed the door sking with rivnuts into the GRP and hex head bolts through the outer edges of the Z3 door skin to bolt it all up along with lashings of ginger beer... i mean tiger seal adhesive... hope the hell I do not ever need to get this door skin off it is going to be nigh on impossible.
Now all the panels are on or placed in position it is time to trial run all of the bling and drill all the necessary holes. I do not want to be doing this on fresh paint! So I fit all of the front lights (Lucas P700 Tripod style with modern reflectors and bulbs), rear lights (Lucas 681), door mirrors (Alfa Romeo), boot hinges (From a Standard 8/10).
Whilst all this was in place I decided to wire it all up to make sure everything was working and I could suss out the wiring OK. Very time consuming.
Top Tip: Every little wire and connector both inside and outside the car was marked with masking tape and a bloody big marker when I stripped the Z3. Without this and my multimeter I would have been days trying to figure it out.
Apart from a bit of dodgy wiring on my part with the fog light switches under the dash (forgot I needed to run the switch to the Lucas warning light then to ground) which took an hours to work out, everything worked well. These headlights are really powerful, nothing like the useless 60's 7" types I used to have on my Cooper S.
The hardest part under the rear section of the body was sorting the fuel pipe run out. I initially cut a big hole in the wing to fit the little Fuel Filler GRP panel that comes with the kit and then discovered the Aston Style fuel filler fouled the chassis member with the silicone elbow fitted.
That hole had to be fibreglassed over from behind and filled. A new one was cut further back and the fuel outlet still hit the chassis member Grrr........ This time though i could get to the welded seam of the chassis with a 1" metal bar and a lump hammer to belt it round a bit so the silicone hose could pass. You can just see the modification in the pics from underneath. Result.... well, not exactly... it leaked from the hose and need an hour of fiddling to stop it.
Fuel is slow to fill but it is not a problem as you cannot get away from everybody on the forecourt asking you about the car anyway!!!
Onwards and upwards.
I get a phone call from Classic Coachworks 3-weeks ahead of schedule saying they have had a cancellation from a European customer as they cannot deliver to Europe (C-19 restrictions) and do I want the kit early - Duhhh!!!
Remaining kit payment is made, van is hired, another trip to Little London (Basingstoke) is underway to pick up the kit, No sign of @Lee and his dad this time though. All goes in a Puegeot Boxer van easily and we are homeward bound ("i wish i was, homeward bound" - Simon & Garfunkel - Never liked them!).
As this is now going to be an intensive build I spend a day sorting out my workshop (would never have atempted this build without it) and sectioning off a 22' by 18' area with polythene sheet and 4 daylight LED lamps, added a few double sockets whilst i was at it.
Now to build:
Cannot wait to see what it looks like so start with the easiest bit and glue/bolt the boot extension tray in place. Right that is enough for one day..... not..... Get the rear end and sills trial fitted to look at gaps etc (which are bloody awful). Grind a few fits, lever a few other bits and i'm happier.
So off come the sills and the rear end (one piece and heavy) only to be immediately put back on again but this time fully bonded with Tiger Seal and all the original Z3 screw-bolts re-fitted. The rear section and sills are pre-drilled from the factory to fit the original bolts holes (which they do, almost).
As I was doing this Cock-Up number one on the bodywork nearly happened. I had not fitted the extended fuel filler tube needed to move the fuel filler further back in the car. This was remedied immediately and the arse-end re-fitted and glued.
Top Tip: I chose to elongate the holes in the GRP to allow for some wiggle room on the fit, makes things so much easier to get it lined up. Also do not forget the fuel hose!
Now the arse-end is one I sit the bootlid in place and sit the front clam shell and baby-bonnet in place to get an idea of how it all looks. Answer great but with some pretty big panel gaps (more on that later).
I fix the calm shell hinges in place (original Z3) but leave the gas struts off for now, they are nowhere near man enough to hold this up anyway (not without a very large blue pill!). All under bonnet work for the next few weeks is done by propping up the clam shell with two Oak stair spindles.
I cannot fit the door skins over the original Z3 doors yet as i need to open up holes in each door. The Ferrari door handles (MkII Mini) have a pushrod which needs to act on the bar inside the Z3 door via an aluminium plate.
Top Tip: Put some self adhesive felt pads on the Aluminium plate to stop rattles. (No pics of this).
Now i bolted the door handles onto the door skin from the inside and fixed the door sking with rivnuts into the GRP and hex head bolts through the outer edges of the Z3 door skin to bolt it all up along with lashings of ginger beer... i mean tiger seal adhesive... hope the hell I do not ever need to get this door skin off it is going to be nigh on impossible.
Now all the panels are on or placed in position it is time to trial run all of the bling and drill all the necessary holes. I do not want to be doing this on fresh paint! So I fit all of the front lights (Lucas P700 Tripod style with modern reflectors and bulbs), rear lights (Lucas 681), door mirrors (Alfa Romeo), boot hinges (From a Standard 8/10).
Whilst all this was in place I decided to wire it all up to make sure everything was working and I could suss out the wiring OK. Very time consuming.
Top Tip: Every little wire and connector both inside and outside the car was marked with masking tape and a bloody big marker when I stripped the Z3. Without this and my multimeter I would have been days trying to figure it out.
Apart from a bit of dodgy wiring on my part with the fog light switches under the dash (forgot I needed to run the switch to the Lucas warning light then to ground) which took an hours to work out, everything worked well. These headlights are really powerful, nothing like the useless 60's 7" types I used to have on my Cooper S.
The hardest part under the rear section of the body was sorting the fuel pipe run out. I initially cut a big hole in the wing to fit the little Fuel Filler GRP panel that comes with the kit and then discovered the Aston Style fuel filler fouled the chassis member with the silicone elbow fitted.
That hole had to be fibreglassed over from behind and filled. A new one was cut further back and the fuel outlet still hit the chassis member Grrr........ This time though i could get to the welded seam of the chassis with a 1" metal bar and a lump hammer to belt it round a bit so the silicone hose could pass. You can just see the modification in the pics from underneath. Result.... well, not exactly... it leaked from the hose and need an hour of fiddling to stop it.
Fuel is slow to fill but it is not a problem as you cannot get away from everybody on the forecourt asking you about the car anyway!!!
Onwards and upwards.
