Z3 2001 2.2L Widebody Renovation project (let the pain, frustration and scraped knuckles begin 😉)

[Steve D]

Hi all,

Joined the forum tonight. As the title describes.. I have a 2001, 2.2L widebody Z3 which I am in the progress of restoring.

Hopefully, if all goes to plan, it will be my lifelong buddy and share a journey with me.

I make no apologies.. I'm not a purist, this is my car, I want the look and feel in the cockpit that I want, which may differ from BMWs initial ideas (I despise orange LEDs despite having had many other BMWs which still have an orange dash ).

So first picture of many... this is my nemesis which currently doesn't run (but turns over, no fire)... time will tell if we become best friends or not... I genuinely hope we will.

I look forward to virtually meeting those of you interested in my progress,

Best regards

Steve

 

[mwpe]

Good luck with the project, look forward to seeing the progress.

 

[Althulas]

Hi and welcome from me, we all like a progress thread

 

[t-tony]

Great to see you've taken the plunge Steve. It's your car, do it your way. Where did I see that before.

Tony.

 

[Steve D]

Well I haven't posted for a while, had to wait to get parts shipped (20 pin OBD adapter and exhaust and intake cam position sensors) plus that annoying little side gig called work!

Today I found a few minutes to swap out the exhaust position sensor. I also connected the 20 pin OBD. The engine is still cranking but not firing, there is still a 'whomp whomp whomp' noise coming from somewhere in the engine bay when the accelerator pedal is pressed, sounds like it's in the engine bay on the other side of the driver's footwell somewhere but it's hard to tell.

The OBD is not picking up any errors.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll have time to swap out the intake position sensor.

I'm crossing my fingers but to be honest, I'm not expecting any results... this is one poorly Zed I think.

As always, grateful for any ideas and I'll keep you all posted with my (very) slow progress

Steve

 

[t-tony]

Well I haven't posted for a while, had to wait to get parts shipped (20 pin OBD adapter and exhaust and intake cam position sensors) plus that annoying little side gig called work!

Today I found a few minutes to swap out the exhaust position sensor. I also connected the 20 pin OBD. The engine is still cranking but not firing, there is still a 'whomp whomp whomp' noise coming from somewhere in the engine bay when the accelerator pedal is pressed, sounds like it's in the engine bay on the other side of the driver's footwell somewhere but it's hard to tell.

The OBD is not picking up any errors.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll have time to swap out the intake position sensor.

I'm crossing my fingers but to be honest, I'm not expecting any results... this is one poorly Zed I think.

As always, grateful for any ideas and I'll keep you all posted with my (very) slow progress

Steve

Can you record what happens when you crank it upload to YouTube and post a link on here? Then, we'll be able to hear what's happening .

Tony.

 

[Steve D]

Hey Tony, I can certainly give it a go.. I've never uploaded to Youtube but I'm sure it's quite straight forward.

I'll drop the link on here when I've done it

 

[IainP]

I make no apologies.. I'm not a purist, this is my car, I want the look and feel in the cockpit that I want,

Steve

Exactly
Because it’s mine and I can. Is what I usually say to people when they ask “why did you xxxxx?”

 

[Mazza]

[

As always, grateful for any ideas and I'll keep you all posted with my (very) slow progress

Steve
[/QUOTE]


Look forward to reading your thread…..

and you cant be any slower than me…… if I went any slower on my build , I’d be going backwards

 

[Steve D]

I got a bit of time to spend swapping out the Inlet Cam Position Sensor this evening... so here goes:

Got the airbox out (eventually)... unfortunately managed to shater the very brittle plastic radiator pipe. Question 1: does this carry fluid under pressure? If not I can probably make a replacement with some small guage irrigation pipe I have.

Referred to a previous post on here and the photos show what I believe to be the Vanos solenoid missing.. with it in place, there is no way I can change the sensor as the allen bolt is directly behind the solenoid with no space for an allen key. Any ideas as to how I remove the end of the solenoid? Special tool maybe? Anyway, photos 2 and 3 show where this is.

So all in all a very unsuccessful attempt to swap the sensor. On top of that, the mosquitoes ravaged me and I dropped my glasses and scratched them

Best regards

Steve

 

[t-tony]

Removing the Vanos solenoid I is easy enough. I used some water pump pliers (about 8”) to loosen it, they’re not silly tight. I used a 1/4” drive socket set to remove the sensor screw. Try searching for “How to replace Inlet Cam Sensor” in the search box at top of page.

Tony.

ps. I broke the pipe on my Z3 too and replaced it with copper.

 

[Steve D]

Thanks Tony, I've been following this guide by Aceman which I found with a search:

BMW Z3 M52TU Cam Sensor Replacement

BMW Z3 M52TU Cam sensor replacement Article submitted by Aceman Firstly the following explanations and part numbers are for the M52TU engine but I am sure it can also be applied to the other varients in some way. I originally experienced...

zroadster.org

This is the article that showed the solenoid off but given that I'd just snapped the plastic pipe, didn't really want to do more expensive damage trying to get the solenoid off first without checking on here

 

[Steve D]

Just tried the water pump pliers... it's on solid. Looks like it needs a good WD40 soak for a day or two

 

[Steve D]

A pair of Mole grips and a gentle tap of a hammer has freed the Vanos solenoid. Swapped the intake position sensor over, put everything back together but still not firing. The battery is getting a bit low so it's on charge... will try and turn it over when the battery is charged up (of note, it's a brand new battery so I know that isn't causing the issue).

Back to the drawing board!!

Happy Sunday everyone

 

[Steve D]

Battery charged and back on. Turned her over, usual story so I sprayed a liberal amount of Quick Start on both sides of the air filter. Hey presto she ran for about 2 - 3 seconds.

This tells me a few things:
The new sensors are working and the spark plugs are firing.

I now believe I probably have a fuel issue. I recently added 10 gallons of new fuel so that should be ok. Typically, I have the model whereby the fuel relay is in that really easy to access area behind the passenger glove box (thanks BMW designers ).

I don't have a fuel pressure guage so how safe is it to loosen the intake test ports and see if anything comes out? I understand this won't check my fuel pressure but maybe a starting point?

As always, grateful for any steers, in the meantime I'll be using the search function to see what advice is on the forum.

Cheers

Steve

 

[t-tony]

My start point, unless you know its history, would be change the fuel filter. Might be a bad move adding 10 gallons of fuel because ic you need to remove the fuel.pump you will have to drain the tank down below the level of the fuel pump.
If you loosen the fuel ports slowly it's perfectly safe provide there are no naked flame sources nearby and in a well ventilated area.

Tony.

 

[Steve D]

Thanks Tony... I read in a post using the search that I can use a plastic pipe attached to the nozzle and catch in a jar.

Yeah, I'll definately swap the fuel filter. Do you know if they are specific to Z3's or do other 3 series use the same filter? I ask because I live overseas and some parts are like hens teeth as there are so few Z3's here.

Thanks for the reply

 

[t-tony]

I imagine a fuel filter for any 3 series might fit. It fits next to the left side front chassis rail on the inside.

Tony.

 

[Mazza]

 

[Steve D]

Thanks Mazza and T - Tony.... I just watched a how to video.. hopefully I can find some wheel ramps to get the front end up