Zed Two

[IainP]

My second Zed, take the two part any way you like.
So, I’d been looking for an e85 for quite a while. Cheap ones weren’t available, Mot fails were the other end of the UK. And no you can’t book a Mot at your local garage and drive a car 300 miles without a Mot.
Loads of cars between £2-3k and they were all rubbish, loads of faults, low spec, none of them worth what people valued them at.
I did see one for a Grand in Dalmarnock, Glasgow, but it had a bad leak from the expansion tank so I’d have to fix it by the roadside before driving to Perth. Since I’d blown the rad on the Cooper S the week before and it was a massive amount of hassle I wasn’t too keen on that. Given the amount of hassle I had getting the “quick release hoses”, which weren’t, off the tank on the car I bought I think that was the sensible decision.
What did I buy?
A 2.0 2008 e85 from Copart, £400 and £475 in fee’s and delivery
What does it need? I could see a headlight and slam panel for certain. Possibly an exhaust, the rest fixable.

How did I know it needed a slam panel? Look at the overflow filler, it’s hard against the plastic.

The bumper is split in the middle, has a big gouge in it and scuffs. I have a metal stapler and plastic welder plate. No worries. The wing? I’m sure I can fix that.

the other wing has a dent, they unbolt, so I’m fairly sure I can fix that too.
Fair amount of work, why did I buy it?
This.

Two tone heated leather, multi function wheel.
Pity it’s been smoked in, it stinks. Neutradol and cleaned, and cleaned, and cleaned in its future.
That belt is done.

 

[Pingu]

Is it categorised? If it is = Bargain. If not = SUPER BARGAIN

 

[IainP]

Why did I think it might need an exhaust? Non standard pipes in the Copart pics. And it was this.

A back box delete. I chopped it off immediately, hadn’t even heard it run by then. My son took delivery, said it was loud, since he has a classic Mini I consider too loud but he thinks isn’t, then it had to go. Replaced with a Y piece and a 2 in 2 out stainless box that’s Chinesium, so I’m not showing pictures of the welding, because it’s shocking. The tips weren’t too bad, the internal pipe helped. The Y wouldn’t tig, turn it up a couple volts and it would vaporise and flare. Tried all sorts of settings and another Y piece, then gave up before I went blind. Broke out the mig and basically made a mess, I could weld the mounting rods to the outer casing, but the endcaps and the Y, no idea what they are. Ended up with a setting I’d normally use for 5-6mm and just zapping it, the spatter was epic, since I don’t weld with my glasses on I completely destroyed the outer lense of the weldcap. Let that be a lesson to you, cheap Chinesium “stainless”, isn’t.
Ended up with this

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Yes, that noise you hear over the exhaust is the chain! I reckon it’ll need the big kit, chain, sprockets and guides. Also belt tensioners by the wobbling, which may be why the alternator is full of belt fluff.

Flushed and changed the oil and filter, the cam chest is quite clean, decent iridium plugs. The anti freeze was quite weak, though the pics makes it look very green it really wasn’t.

All new discs incoming, the rears are really badly scored, fronts not too bad but I’m looking to upgrade to 3.0si spec.
Rear tyres are almost on the wear limit, fronts half worn but the right has a chunk out of the rim protector, don’t fancy running on that, so tyres all round. Pretty much everything I went to see needed either tyres, or brakes, or a chain, and two were higher mileage than the 112K this one has.
The roof pump is noisier that it should be, I think anyway. I won’t be surprised if it’s sitting in a pool of water. Drains will be cleared tomorrow, relocation probably next week.

That poor engine though.

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[IainP]

Is it categorised? If it is = Bargain. If not = SUPER BARGAIN

Cat N Pingu, I’m quite happy spending money on it, it’s a far better interior than any of the cars I’ve seen. And all of them needed quite a bit spent on them, likely why they were a mix of Sorn or little used cars.

 

[Pond]

Only problem is that the 2.0 E85 is not a good engine, from all accounts, and the least sought after. Worth pennies if good (and not a 'cat') from what I have seen on the 'other' forum.

But if you're happy with it, that is all that matters.

 

[IainP]

All BMW engines have ‘issues’, quality control is abysmal. It’s a daily, I’m more interested in lowest tax and best fuel economy. I looked at 6’s, poorly maintained crap. Oil stinking of fuel contamination because it’s barely driven. Not for me. This one is honest. It’s been neglected, as most mid life bimmers are, then someone spent some money on it, or at least according to the Mot record ( or, they used a mate/garage who didn’t bother with advisories).
The 2.0 will do huge mileage’s if people bother to change the oil. If they don’t, it won’t. Simple as that. Condition based service, load of nonsense. Oil is cheap, engines aren’t. Compression is fine, no piston slap, it needs a chain, it’s entirely expected and no big deal. I change oil every six months, it should see me out no problem.

 

[IainP]

I struggled to get the rear wheel bolts out, they’d been done up to a gajillion ft/lb and required the jack handle on my 3/4bar. Soon found out why. 12.5mm spacers on standard bolts, I’m actually astonished they held that torque with only 3 threads engaged.

Please, stop raining.

 

[Z Victor 1]

Blimey, amazed they stayed on! That interior is worth the £400 so a 'couple of weekends work ...' as they say on B & Cash.

 

[IainP]

Weirdly, there was only one spacer on the whole car, no idea what that was about.
Upgrading the brakes to 3.0 spec. Fronts are quite easy, parts are readily available, going from this
To this. 325mm of MTEC dimpled and grooved disc.

This one gives a good indication of the difference.

The rears don’t go up quite so much, though they do become vented.

The great knowledge base that is the internet says e46 330 rear brackets work. Thankfully I got them cheap, because they don’t. I’ll need to scour eBay for calipers with brackets, same as the front. New ones are actually cheaper than s/h. Don’t even need to change the backplate.

In between the rain showers I fitted the wiring and box to convert the Business stereo to Bluetooth. Works intermittently, whether it’s the box or the stereo I’m unsure. I’ll unplug and replug it to see if it makes a difference, though I’m inclined to fit one of those £150 Blaupunkt and be done with it.

 

[IainP]

Messed about with the Bluetooth box and it locks the stereo into bluetooth half the time. Since the ‘mode’ button sticks at times, I have a feeling it’s the actual stereo at fault, definitely leaning towards some Blaupunkt model. Though the folding screen single din Chinesium stereos are tempting, by the time you find one with actual dab+ it’s not a kick in the arse off Blaupunkt money.

Anyway, bodywork. Haven’t tackled the wings or bonnet because it keeps raining on me. Forecast next week is one day of rain, so I’ve taken the week off.
Bumper took longer than expected but came up well, the break stapled and welded fine

The great big gouge and scuffs filled in and disappeared.

Painted it in the gazebo, if it wasn’t raining it was windy. Being in the country we have loads of flying insects as well as weed seeds.

Err, isn’t that paint supposed to be black(ish)?

Looks a lot better once it’s lacquered, though I layed it down fast and it went orange peely ( is peely a word?).

It’s not quite as dark but I’m not going to worry about it. I’ll need to t-cut the other panels and see if it makes a difference. If it doesn’t, well - oops, ‘cos I need to blow over the front of the wings and the edge of the bonnet.

Definitely see the orange peel in this pic, I’ll run over it with the polisher once it’s hardened for a week, couple of insects to get rid off.

Overall, I’m happy though.

 

[Peter1450]

Markets mad , sold my lads 3.0 on eBay about a year ago no reserve sold for £1100.
Full mot and in use everyday wasn’t a garage queen but actually more fun because of that , you could actually park it and not worry that Karen in her oversized child carrier would batter it!

 

[IainP]

Crazy cheap down your end, if I hadn’t been banned from flying at the time I’d have had one about then. Up here folk want £1600 for a Mot fail, that needs £600-800 spent on it.
Not for me.
What a lovely day, disconnected the battery and whipped the seats out to vacuum properly underneath.
The drivers side is wet, the passenger side damp, I’d actually expected the opposite way round. I’ll check the drains, but thankfully it’s not the leaky U-Boat state of my Z3.

With the seats back in as high as they go, I’ve pulled the carpets up to expose the foam. I’ll be working at one of the lads tomorrow, then two days on brakes, with this heat and the hood up it should dry out in a couple days.
I thought I’d give the seats a quick run over with saddle soap ( Lincoln’s if you’re in the market), and discovered they weren’t quite as clean as I thought.
Believe it or not, this was just one red panel. That pad started out bright yellow.

The black, which to me is grey, was even worse. This was just one panel of the base.

So, some serious scrubbing and rubbing time later, I had a clean seat. Marked by the seatbelt at the shoulder and folks arses at the bolster.

Prettied up the rails with some satin black. The build sheet calls the colour Imola Red, I tried Tannin Red, Z3 and too light, then Brightwood, Mini and too dark. Since I didn’t seal them, the dye came off with some more scrubbing with saddle soap.
Then, speaking of Mini’s, my eldest turned up, some fettling required, its first Hillclimb is in just over two weeks.


These fog lights are pan bread, they’ll have to go on the car initially, but really, they are absolutely done. I’m not paying £80 for a pair that are not much better. I’m certainly not paying £233, each, for new ones. Not for lights I never ever use.

I think I’ll need to come up with some sort of custom led marker solution, or vents, maybe into the airbox. I could even just paint them black for the moment, that would make them unobtrusive. One is black inside already anyway, and the reflector of the other has crumbled to dust. Actually, I have some wide black pvc tape, that’ll be a 3 minute job then.

 

[IainP]

I’ve just found my sound meter and ZedTwo measures 84.5db at idle. Which I’m thinking is quite a lot. Ai, or A-notvery-i, depending on your point of view, states a standard car is 72db at idle. That’s 12db. If memory serves that’s 16 Times louder that Standard. At idle. FECK!
I may need to make a custom rear box before SWIMBO will travel in it.
Bas***d.

 

[IainP]

I have an idea to try and quieten the exhaust, that will need to wait until I get a new bottle of argon on Tuesday.
While hunting for the big can of Hammerite silver I have, somewhere, I came across a tin of blue Smoothrite, so I thought I’d irritate the M Police.

There’s no rear pads in place because I found I had two sets of front pads, instead of the front/rear I thought I had.

One front wing is nearly done, covered in masses of primer for the moment, ordered more paint from a different supplier.

I’ll tackle the drivers wing if the paint matches. The scuff on the rear bumper polished out enough I won’t do anything more.
Fitted a Maxton rear spoiler, which is really just a Gurney flap.

One thing I find really annoying is having to use the key to get into the boot, I may investigate if I can fit a Z3 push button lock.

 

[IainP]

Not getting on as well as expected, I had wanted the Zed in the road this week but it keeps bloody raining, which means no painting, or engine stripping. The new paint does look darker, so I’m hopeful.
I have had a supervisor at times

That’s Harley. Not even my cat, he’s from two doors up.
Been waiting on a caliper for a week and it arrived today, 30 minutes before a veritable monsoon, so that’s not going on until the weekend. With the new Monroe rear dampers that arrived yesterday. One of the current ones has been replaced some time ago, the other is original and looks like s***, so they’re both off to recycling. Forecast for Saturday, 67% chance of rain, Sunday 65%. Great, smashing, super.
Have managed to change the gearbox oil, it was pretty decent, someone had been there before. Diff? That was a bit more difficult, WTF is the drain? Used a syringe to get as much as possible out, then refilled it the same way, whoever had done the gearbox hadn’t done the diff from the smell of the oil.
Changed all the internal bulbs and the number plate lights to led, even with that the boot light isn’t great so I’m thinking to add some led strip, or panels. After doing that I thought best check all the headlight bulbs while they’re easy access. Just as well really, the original right light had a 100w “upgrade” blue bulb, which had melted the bulb holder and started on the insulation.

Getting the bulb out required breaking it, getting the terminal out took a scalpel and swearing. Luckily the rear of the bulb holder unclips and I have flag terminals in my leccy box. Since I’ve seen what can happen to plastic headlights with 100w bulbs, I grabbed the composite cut and polish and hit the cover with the random orbital.

That haze that’s left? What I was afraid of as soon as I saw the bulb. It’s on the freaking inside. Even better, Zed 4 covers are bonded on permanently, I can’t just heat them and prise them off like the Zed 3. They need cutting off and replacing completely, which is not on the cards. I’ll put up with it.

The RH headlight has a mount completely missing and another needs repaired. Tackled the repair first. Stainless steel mesh pushed into the plastic with either the heat plate, or a soldering iron. Start at one corner, embed all the mesh, then add plastic from a stick, smooth over, quick sand if you want. Trim the center of the mesh with a small tungsten.

The LH headlight I bought has a previous repair that’s not very good. If you use metal staples fully embed them, then wait on them cooling before releasing from the gun. Whoever repaired this previously didn’t, these staples are useless. I added a couple new ones, then two pieces of mesh. Top Tip; trying to bend mesh into multiple planes doesn’t really work. Pick a corner, press it in with the soldering tip and hold it with something metal. Work right through the middle and work your way out.
Once the mesh is embedded, add more material and smooth over. This looks rough as a Badger’s arse in close up, it’s really not, but if you have some sort of Dremel type tool, smoothing it completely flat takes minutes and loses the white discolouration.
I’m leaving it because it will never be seen.

Another Top Tip
Before attempting to check headlight adjusters work, ALWAYS spray with silicone first. They’re all plastic now, spray them, move them a millimeter back/forwards at a time, they are old and brittle, break a tooth off horsing them and you’re stuffed.