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Behold...the shed-4

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nfo
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Behold...the shed-4

Post by nfo » Sun Sep 18, 2016 10:20 am

Recently became a Z4 owner, did exactly what I said I wouldn't do and bought at 'scraping the barrel' money (£3400). I've done that before and had it not end well!
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Car is an '04 3.0i with 115k, pretty basic spec (business CD, no heated seats, halogen headlights). It's got a fair few dings and scrapes including some rather nasty circular scratches on the NSF wing apparently from a botched polishing attempt. Wheels (108s) not too pretty either, but I've seen worse. Can't see any of that from the driver's seat though ;)

Didn't get off to a great start with a seized front caliper and boiled fluid, ended up replacing both fronts along with discs+pads. I've also adjusted the 'eccentric ring' to cure sticky steering, getting to the bolts isn't much fun! Other spannering so far has been replacing the FCABs and front ARB bushes which went very smoothly. RTABs and alignment next. On runflats all round, considered junking them but came across a pair of nearly new fronts for a bargain price locally to replace the 'Joyroad' and 'goodride' tyres it came with.
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First major adventure was an annual tradition - camping trip from Bristol to Snowdonia with uni motor club friends via a well-honed route. Used to include an Anglesey track day but we're all too boring and disorganised now. Weather did it's best to spoil the fun, but had some good driving along the way. Got the roof down eventually! In previous years it's been an MX-5 heavy group, now the Z4 is the car of choice :)

First BMW for me, car history goes something like: Mk3 Polo, Mk1 Focus, 2xSAAB 9000 T16, Mk2 MX-5, SAAB 900 T16, Jag XJR V8, Audi A6, Seat Leon FR 184 (current company car).

This site has been very useful already, so thought I'd join up and say hello.

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Marlon
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Behold...the shed-4

Post by Marlon » Sun Sep 18, 2016 10:38 am

Welcome to the forum. Car looks great in the photo :wink:
3.0i good choice :thumbsup:
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nfo
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Behold...the shed-4

Post by nfo » Sun Sep 18, 2016 10:46 am

Photos are always deceptive...my £200 rusty SAAB looked great in the eBay ad ;)

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Marlon
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Post by Marlon » Sun Sep 18, 2016 10:49 am

nfo wrote:Photos are always deceptive...my £200 rusty SAAB looked great in the eBay ad ;)
True :D
Hope this time it ends well
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Gone: 3.0si 2008 E85
911 997 Carrera S

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Behold...the shed-4

Post by nfo » Sun Sep 18, 2016 12:09 pm

Well, it couldn't go much worse than with the Jag - jack went through the sill when I went to jack it up! Z4 seems in pretty good shape underneath :)

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Post by Sky-drive » Sun Sep 18, 2016 12:35 pm

I did something very similar, picked up my first ever Zed in July 2.5 on a 53 plate with 5 owners and 85,000 on the clock and part history ... still a bit of a steal at £3000 I reckon!

Had it inspected and recommended to have new rollers, tensioner and new bushes fitted, plus a brake fluid change and just had an air intake hose fitted recently to cure engine "chirp". . From what I can tell its had new springs and new window regulators at some point in its ownership too. Cruise control, new door speakers, aux in and silent coat on the doors all being sorted this week ready for a weeks road trip to Ireland in the Zed on Friday.

Paintwork needs sorting on it so planning on a full respray in Monaco blue sometime over the winter and will update the wheels to 18". Couple of mates in Bristol already expressing an interest in possibly buying it off me so guess it cant be that bad a state.

In some ways I think the unloved ones tend to have a certain charm and it feels good to bring one back to almost original factory condition.
Xenons | LED S/lights | CF Trim | Royale SW | ZHP | CDV | AUX | DISA | Vanos Refurb | Cruise | MV2s | Roof motor > boot | K&N | Sound Gen | Interior LEDs | E/H seats | Remapped

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Sky-drive
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Behold...the shed-4

Post by Sky-drive » Sun Sep 18, 2016 6:46 pm

Sky-drive wrote:I did something very similar, picked up my first ever Zed in July 2.5 on a 53 plate with 5 owners and 85,000 on the clock and part history ... still a bit of a steal at £3000 I reckon!

Had it inspected and recommended to have new rollers, tensioner and new bushes fitted, plus a brake fluid change and just had an air intake hose fitted recently to cure engine "chirp". . From what I can tell its had new springs and new window regulators at some point in its ownership too. Cruise control, new door speakers, aux in and silent coat on the doors all being sorted this week ready for a weeks road trip to Ireland in the Zed on Friday.

Paintwork needs sorting on it so planning on a full respray in Monaco blue sometime over the winter and will update the wheels to 18". Couple of mates in Bristol already expressing an interest in possibly buying it off me so guess it cant be that bad a state.

In some ways the unloved cars tend to have a certain charm and Im certainly looking forward to restoring it back to almost original factory condition.
Xenons | LED S/lights | CF Trim | Royale SW | ZHP | CDV | AUX | DISA | Vanos Refurb | Cruise | MV2s | Roof motor > boot | K&N | Sound Gen | Interior LEDs | E/H seats | Remapped

firebobby
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Behold...the shed-4

Post by firebobby » Sun Sep 18, 2016 8:12 pm

Welcome to the forum
BMW Z4 30i 2003 auto 107's Whippy Toledo Blue
Beige M sport seats, wood dash
Toyota MR2 NA 1995
Triumph GT6 1972 (project)
Land Rover Discovery 1994 TDI (Tow car)
Mini 1000 1981

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mr wilks
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Behold...the shed-4

Post by mr wilks » Sun Sep 18, 2016 10:41 pm

Welcome , hope your positive vibes continue , a Z is a great car :driving: :thumbsup:
3 ZMRs
3 E89s
5 Si coupes
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997 C4
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paddy wright
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Behold...the shed-4

Post by paddy wright » Sat Sep 24, 2016 5:24 pm

Welcome- looks tidy.
Z4 2.2 sterling grey,Msport seats,retrofit cupholders,cruise,footwell lights,sound gen and mfsw,18"ellipsoids,xenons+light washers,ZHPknob,folding mirrors,3"stubby,update wheel caps,gateway300 ipod, wind deflector to keep the wife happy!

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Behold...the shed-4

Post by nfo » Mon May 01, 2017 10:34 pm

Don't know if this is the done thing or not, apologies if not.

Update time...

Had some fun over the winter with the car, plenty of top-down fun and the odd dab of oppo :)
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No tlc though, but with the coming of spring and another trip to North Wales (last weekend) I've been back on the spanners. First job was RTABs, which was OK apart from a few nervous moments with the eBay special tool getting the old bushes out. Oh, and the classic mid-job dash to Halfords when I realised that two 18mm spanners were needed!

After that, full alignment at FCM in Bristol. What a difference.
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Picked up a cruise control stalk and wheel shroud, bit of an extravagance but I am a fan.
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More adventures in Wales, absolutely cracking drive up and back plus great company, weather and walking.

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Behold...the shed-4

Post by nfo » Mon May 01, 2017 10:42 pm

Like so:
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(Yes that is a diesel Volvo S80, and it acquitted itself remarkably well!)

On that trip my 108s were declared to be 'hideous' so I gave into peer pressure and ditched the split rims and runflats for a set of MV1s shod in normal rubber...
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First impressions very promising. With the sticky steering gone, new FCABs and RTABs, alignment sorted and normal tyres I'm starting to enjoy driving the Z4 as much as my much-missed NB MX-5. Pulling the foam from the sound generator pipe definitely helped too ;)

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Post by paulgs1000 » Mon May 01, 2017 10:48 pm

Quite an adventure - Zed now performing well - nice work :thumbsup:
Now Porsche flat 6 experience, 986S & 981S.
2006 Z4MR Imola Red/Imola Red, 2008 3.0si Sport Stratus Grey/Piano black, 2006 2.0I Sport Silver Grey Facelift. MX5, TVR Chimaera, many motorbikes.

nfo
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Post by nfo » Mon May 01, 2017 10:59 pm

Also got some e46 330i calipers and carriers on the way - brakes didn't entirely enjoy Wales. What's the preferred option for better pads round here? I suspect they may be to blame, but bigger discs can't hurt...

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Post by enzed4 » Tue May 02, 2017 3:39 am

Crikey - you're certainly getting stuck in from day 1, no mucking about :lol: :thumbsup: . Hopefully you'll have no problems with clearance between the 330i calipers and the new wheels :? . Also, do you need another alignment after fitting new wheels, or will they not make a difference?
Enjoy the new Zed.
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