Z4-forum.com

Hi all.
A quick intro before the fun starts!!
I am a 54 year old retired secondary school maths teacher who has opened his own car restoration/servicing business in Chesterfield, Derbyshire.
I repaired a 2005 2.0 Z4 in october last year, and the owner left it with me for a month to use it (Thanks Paul, if you are reading this!).
And I loved it.
So, onto mid life crisis number 8...........
Spotted this in Wembley, London at a seemingly good price and went to have a look (well actually its about 200 miles away, so went down to get it!!)








Got it £100 cheaper, after a bit of discussion.

It has its faults, otherwise I wouldnt have bought it!

1) lacquer peeling on front right hand wing (just in one small spot, but it may as well be the whole bloody wing then, cos the repair is the same!)

2) Matching front tyres, but 2 different ones on back axle

3) Missing ashtray and lid (although found the broken lid in the boot!). Is this common? And whats that other thing at the side of it in the boot?


So need one of these

4) Wheels need a refurb

5) cream leather a bit scuffed, but OK (well, will get fixed anyway)
6) front fog lights full of condensation and rubbish!
7) Base of black ragtop has mildew/algae
8 ) RH cup holder missing

Need one of them also then!
9) Slight dent on drivers front wing
10) Rear brake discs just fossilized relics! Photos soon

to be continued.................................

Had a short test drive because the nearby A406 north circular was a traffic jam, and the local side roads were all speed bumps. Oh, and there were 13 miles left of fuel in the tank............

Plugged my Autel small hand held scanner in and all fuel trims (short term and long term) were at 0.0 , so the battery had been disconnceted. But the seller said it hadn't. But there were no fault codes either since it had been disconnected (or gone flat). Slight concerns there.

It had an irregular misfire on cold idle but the engine bay had been blasted with high pressure hose very recently (wish they wouldn't do that). Scanner wouldn't pick misfire up though.

So, was assured it was good to go, so we did!
Stopped off at local Tesco petrol station and headed off up north.......but stuck in a that huge north circuilar traffic jam first though"

Ran up to temperature okay and drove very well. Misfire disappeared after about 2 or 3 miles.

So, onto the start of the M1 (always find that weird - why isn't it junction 0, rather than junction 1?)

Got about 30 miles out and the engine management light popped on!

No sign of any rough running, so I bet my lovely wife Carol (who I press-ganged into coming with me!) that it was a CAT code P0420 or P0430.

Oh, by the way, my wife's comment on the car was .................."where are we going to put the dog"

Stopped off at Northampton service station and took a couple of snaps first before code read and cappuccino





And i was right, a P0420 code!!

Cleared the code, set the scanner to graph mode and set off again........

Now, on my small scanner I had with me (wasn't carrying my big un on the train!) it had data for O2 bank 1 sensor 2 and O2 sensor bank 2 sensor 2. Which is a bit weird cos that suggests 2 cats and no pre cat O2 sensors!! But will plug my proper one in later, so wasn't worried.

Both graphs visible, one showing almost flat line 0.5 volts, other one very erratic up and down like a prozzies knickers!

160 miles later and no light reappeared and graph was steadying out.
I had been told the car had been standing for about 3 weeks, and no doubt had been moved around a bit, stopping and starting, so expect some "clogging up" problems. Will keep an eye on it though as restoration continues.....

Into the back of my workshop it goes. Will go on the lift later.

Brakes first............


Wheel was stuck on the hub good and proper! Took some persuasion......

Spotted this first, a missing plastic "door" in the inner wheelarch liner at the front..Anybody got one?



Very heavy build up of rust at the back of the disc (as seen by pad profile here


Here's the caliper, pads, pad carrier bracket etc off...


Discs not too bad, and may have them skimmed for future use, but, for now, gonna get new 'uns! Apec. And some BMW spec oil and a filter and new front pads and new rear pads and discs (rears are not in this pic because I forgot to pick them up off the parts counter!!)



........................

Caliper strip down and media blast pad carrier and caliper itself, etch prime and spray caliper red.







Onto the new discs. The hub was already painted black as was the edge of the discs, but,............dont like that. So mask it off, degrease and paint the inside red and also the outer edge red. But not the areas where it meets the hub and wheel.







Oh, by the way, is this thing in the boot a standard BMW thing, or added later?



More to come today.................

Hi, you certainly don't hang about do you. The car has a fair bit work needed by the sounds of it but none too difficult. If you carry on with being as thorough as how you've started it should end up being quite nice.
You might get a bit smoke from the front discs as the red paint burns off from the outer edge, I can't see that paint putting up with the heat
Good luck with the restoration, at the rate your going it'll be finished mid week

Welcome Andy, that's one way to make an entrance to the forum! Looks like that'll be a lovely cad when you're done with it, seems to have been a little neglected so perfect for your attention.

The bits in the boot look like they are the ashtray lid and the inner ashtray, the big that's removable so you can tip the ash out.

The mobility kit was (I think) an optional extra as the Z4 typically came with run flat tyres.

The missing door in the wheel arch is for access to the rear of the headlights for bulb changes, best bet would be a breakers or a main dealer, unless someone here is parting out their car after a write off.

Looking forward to seeing how you progress!

Dev

Hi Stu Boy.
Thanks for your comments.
The paint will last, trust me!! Done this loads and loads of times! May go slightly dark, but will hold.
Hate it when people just paint calipers in situ! Bodge it and scarper................Stripping down completely is the only way to go (sounds almost wrong there!).
I don't want "quite nice", i want "super sexy"!!

This is the standard I work to.....my camaro engine bay................


Andy

Hi Dev.
Thanks for your input. New to Z4's so its up all the way for knowledge.
Got BMW TIS off ebay which is good but hard to navigate till you get used to it.
keep watching...

Andy.

Good luck with the refurbishment - enjoyed reading it so far.

Love how the dealer advert describes the Z as "immaculate condition throughout"

Hi TR4man.
Yeah. hahaha. Took that with a pinch of salt anyway! If it was immaculate I wouldn't have bought it!

Love this stage in restos. Finding out all the cars secrets. Scary bits, good bits, bad bits, OMG bits, expensive to replace bits and, mre enjoyable, what people leave behind bits......

Got 2 other cars in undergoing restos (only mk 6 fiestas) but the stuff people leave in......phew!

Fascinating.
Andy.

Camero engine bay is stunning

Thanks Stu Boy.
Front discs done..






Andy.

Quite enjoyed reading this, way to go buddy. Car's looking good. :

How some people treat their cars is beyond me after spending so much money purchasing it in the first place. Immaculate condition my behind

Nice write up Andy,
Your certainly a fan of red paint
Izzie the dog coordinates perfectly with the car interior, either ban her from the car, don't take the wife or she'll have to sit in the passenger footwell. My 2 dogs are banned from the Z if we only had 1 then we'd probably do the footwell thing with a couple of travel rugs.

Looking forward to episode 2 and as above at the dealers immaculate throughout description.

I was expecting something different with the restoration title. Keep up the good work.