Hey all, my name is Mike, and I've got this Montreal Blue Z3. It's got the M44 1.9 engine, which I have used and abused for 8500 miles since I bought it in September. Bought for just £1600 at 80,500 miles, it had been garaged for most of it's life, with some years only doing 1 mile between MOTs. In my ownership I have changed the thermostat as it was underheating, changed the outer tie rods, put e36 328i front calipers on to fit 22mm vented, drilled and grooved discs, discs, EBC Ultimax front pads, Hel braided lines at the front, Febi rear discs and Brembo pads, put it on BC Racing coilovers (rears as low as possible, fronts lowered to match), changed the wheels to E36 BBS RC041s (12mm spacers front, 20mm rear) that I had refurbed and polished, and put in some sports seats. It's also got a Powerflow backbox and a K&N cone filter (kept in the bottom half of the original airbox keeping the OEM cold air feed). This weekend just gone I also got a 2.8 front bumper and a replacement bonnet due to some lacquer damage, but that's still needing some fettling so you may see that once that's done. Compared to my daily, which is a 2015 Octavia VRS Estate 2.0 TDI, it's a riot to drive, sounds great, and I couldn't think of a better first project car! It's also got the full history file going as far back as the second owner to picked it up when it was 2 years old.
So far it's been an amazing 10 months of ownership, and hopefully due to just how clean the car is underneath, it'll be good for many years to come. I'm already in talks with people about putting an M54 2.5 6 cyl engine in, and then eventually I'd love to put the full widebody rear end on as I think the prefacelift 6 cyl Z3s look absolutely incredible. I did also manage to find a Montreal Blue hard top with fitting kit a few months ago, but I've now got that for sale as I need the cash. They look amazing with the hard top, but needs must.
If anyone sees me around Southampon, or on my commute to Reading on the M3, give us a wave. You may also see it in the background of some car YouTube videos as I'm a video editor for a relatively big channel in the UK. Also a massive thank you to this forum in general, lots of amazing advice and friendly answers to questions which I've found very useful.
So far it's been an amazing 10 months of ownership, and hopefully due to just how clean the car is underneath, it'll be good for many years to come. I'm already in talks with people about putting an M54 2.5 6 cyl engine in, and then eventually I'd love to put the full widebody rear end on as I think the prefacelift 6 cyl Z3s look absolutely incredible. I did also manage to find a Montreal Blue hard top with fitting kit a few months ago, but I've now got that for sale as I need the cash. They look amazing with the hard top, but needs must.
If anyone sees me around Southampon, or on my commute to Reading on the M3, give us a wave. You may also see it in the background of some car YouTube videos as I'm a video editor for a relatively big channel in the UK. Also a massive thank you to this forum in general, lots of amazing advice and friendly answers to questions which I've found very useful.
