Time for an overhaul of my 1.9 '98 BMW Z3 Individual

[Matt Barnes]

ok, no real time last weekend but ... yes I went and did it.... zinc plated the pad retaining springs...

gave them a good clean up and into the tanks they went

not brilliant, as I did sort of rushed it, and they got a bit "burnt" on the copper wires....

but. for today... decided to clean up and paint the front wheel arches, ready to receive the shiny shocks !

so gave them a decent scrub, firstly with wire pads to get rid of the mud, then warm soapy water, then washed down and then sprayed with brake cleaner as a degreaser... and we get here.

also ground down the front subframe and thankfully no nasty surprises under the grot

liberally coated the whole lot in Kurust...

and let it do it's magic

turned completely black in about 10 minutes

one thing I did notice was an area of crust where the seam sealer meets the lollipops, on both sides, so that needed some attention

then it was a general mask up, and on with my favourite paint !!.... I didn't go too precise as most of that will be covered by wheel arch liner anyway.

with that drying, I then masked from behind the wheel arch and out, so that I could get enamel black on the subframe... and yes I was temped to zinc plate the bolts, but talked myself out of it

so I got done today what I planned to do, so I'm happy with that.....next is replacing those tie rods and getting that new cross brace on...

 

[Matt Barnes]

I know I should wait but I couldn't help it...... decided to try and offer up the "new" front shocks... fought for what was like 20 minutes when these things weigh a ton when you're at an awkward angle... could I get those bolts into the mounting holes ?.... no..

tried the old shocks and they slipped straight back in... when I looked at the bolts on my "new" ones they were slightly splayed out. The holes on an E36 must be ever so slightly wider. Anyway I took a large adjustable spanner to the top plate and slowly tried to straighten it up so all the mounting bolts were parallel. Then we were all good !

I've ordered two new gaskets for the top of the struts, and for now the shocks are back in the garage snuggled under their favourite blanket...

next step is definitely the tie rods... I promise !... they should be the last of the old stuff to take off.

I'll look at that offside brake pipe again to decide whether to make a union in the wheel arch, or... try and run a new one through the engine bay

 

[Andyboy]

E36's and Z3's are all the same. There's a locating lug on the hub. It may be that aftermarket struts aren't drilled as precisely as the originals.

 

[Matt Barnes]

E36's and Z3's are all the same. There's a locating lug on the hub. It may be that aftermarket struts aren't drilled as precisely as the originals.

cheers @Andyboy .. makes sense, little tweak sorted it out

 

[ktnez99]

Welcome to the “That one Neighbour” Club!

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I wonder if I should get a trolley jack thinking don't they have to be super low to get under the sills on our cars?

 

[Althulas]

From experience a low profile jack is far more usable on our cars, I don’t use my old standard sized jack any more.

 

[AntStark]

I wonder if I should get a trolley jack thinking don't they have to be super low to get under the sills on our cars?

Slippery slope that.. you’ll use it and notice something that you’ll think ‘that can’t be too hard to fix’ .. before you know it you are knee deep looking at catalogues of socket sets and flare nut spanner’s.

 

[Matt Barnes]

I wonder if I should get a trolley jack thinking don't they have to be super low to get under the sills on our cars?

hi mate...I survived with a normal trolley jack for this entire project. Only got a low profile one as I put my subframe on a trolley, but then realised I couldn't get my jack under it. Plus my old jack was feeling lonely and needed a fwend...