The cheap Z3

[Herbmiester 923]

A couple of weeks ago I bought a 1999 Z3 of FB Marketplace for a ridiculously cheap price. FB Marketplace is in my mind, the Wild West of Car buying and in this case I was first to contact him, first to get to him and paid on the spot after a quick carjam.

The spec is not too bad, 2l M52, Auto GM 4 speed , but it is an LCI with the fat bum, has an LSD and a reasonably nice interior with Heated 2 tone seats. Body wise its pretty tidy with a few scratches here and there. It has 179k on it and has clearly been looked after, for part of its life. I will admit I have always loved the Z3 look, and convincing Mrs Herbmiester, was actually easier than I thought. She did state of course that 6 cars may be overkill. Pfffft. She didn't mention the 7 motorbikes, so all good I guess.

As mentioned the car did not run, well technically it did but would not rev past 2500 rpm-ish. So I figured it was the throttle body, and as such I took a punt and paid the princely sum of $2300 for it. After trailering it home, I looked in the box of spares and found a spare throttle body. After taking the old one off I could see that it had corrosion holding the blade shut, very firmly shut in fact. For those in the know this TB was used for a few years and uses a cable but also has a servo motor that is what actually opens the blade. The throttle body rubber manifold was split, but a quick visit to Pick a Part sorted that. With the new bits installed it fired right up. Just like on TV. Haha. 

Next are the issues that need to be addressed. While I dont want to skimp on important fixes, this will be a budget restoration with money spent where it . and I will state for the record I am not into M539 levels of fixing things.

• The ABS light is on, with the dreaded  F0 code. Once I get the unit out from under the dash, Pramod says he can reprogram the unit. 
• There is an intermittent transmission warning light, so a trans service is probably required. 
• There is a rocker cover leak. No surprises there.
• Drivers door card is loose (Fixed)
• Radio is a crappy old Sony with no BT (Fixed). 
• New front marker lights. 
• Cut and Polish.
• The suspension is tired, shocks are not leaking but bump-stops are gone. Front lollipops feel worn. The suspension rubs on the inner guards especially at the front. New bump stops and a thicker spring perch should sort this. At the rear I will raise it 10-15mm with some thicker spring pads. I will pull the shocks before I commit to replacing them, but they look pretty old so if anyone has some Z3 shocks I am all ears. 

 

[Eagle 1662]

Struts and shocks sure to be well worn if they are original. Bilstein B4's front and rear from Spareto are $700 shipped. Less than 1k you can replace the entire suspension - subframe bushings, trailing arm bushings, sway bar links & bushings, front control arm bushings and struts\shocks. Very easy to do and makes a big difference.   

[Herbmiester 923]

Ok time to checks a few things with the Bimmersport experts. 👨‍💻

My car is fitted with a set of style 18s, 7.5 x 17 and 8.5 x 17. They are fitted with 235 45 17 tyres all round. Now I know the square vs staggered argument, and I am not keen to dredge it up here, however because I have rubbing on the front guards I am curious to know if going back to 225s up front and the installation of new bump stops might fix the rubbing. While I will probably replace the struts as well, I am curious if this might fix  the rubbing issue?

If you look at the image you can see the edge is where the contact is taking place.

 

Edited March 6 by Herbmiester

[Vass 830]

How severe is the rubbing? If it's just slight then going to 225's should be enough. 235 at the front does seem a bit excessive for a stock setup.

The shocks must be well gone if it's bottoming out that easily. A suspension refresh is well worth taking on if you're planning on keeping the car for any decent length of time. 

[Herbmiester 923]

The bump stops are well and truly dead, The front end, when bounced up and down settles very quickly, so there appears to be quite a bit of damping still there. But yes I should just replace them for piece of mind. 

[Bruski 34]

For the rubbing on the front guard, you can always cut out some of the plastic guard where it rubs.  That stops the rubbing!  

 

[Gaz 1060]

Factory sizing is 225/45 and 245/40 so yes will cure the rubbing

[BM WORLD 1283]

On 3/7/2024 at 6:13 PM, Gaz said:

Factory sizing is 225/45 and 245/40 so yes will cure the rubbing

yes and new shocks and bump stops , most z3 i see have worn out guard liners even when running correct tyre sizes 

but yes 235 wide is a no no on the front