2003 Z4 - New Member & Pics!

[10Terp]

Hi all,

New member here, figured I'd stop in and introduce myself because I think I'll be frequenting this forum a lot over the coming months/years. I just had a 2003 Z4 fall into my lap from a friend who's moving and didn't want to deal with moving it; wound up paying $500 for it (he said I could have it but I felt guilty taking it without giving him anything). Just got back from trailering it from North Carolina yesterday.

It's a 2003 Z4 3.0i 6-speed sport package with 116,000 miles on it. It's definitely in need of a good bit of TLC as it has sat outside for the past 10 years and has had several owners. It needs a bunch of little things such as a DISA valve, cosmetic repairs (front left fender), interior repairs, to name just a few. My first order of business was running codes on it and I was getting P0171 and P0174 (both banks too lean), which to me indicates a vacuum leak. Checked the DISA valve and it's in awful shape; it wreaked of gas and the actual valve just rotates freely on the shaft and it looks like it almost has some melted spots on it.

I look forward to being a part of the community! It's going to be a lot of work to get this car to where I want it but I think it will be worth it. Plus, the price was right.

Pics are attached!

 

[Mr Tidy]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Despite those faults I can't help thinking you got a real bargain there. Good luck getting it fettled.

 

[MikeyH]

Yes, a real bargain and a great colour, welcome to the forum

 

[T_J_G]

Welcome

 

[Barty]

Welcome, and sounds like you’ve got a nice little project for a great price

 

[darich]

Bargain!! And welcome!

 

[10Terp]

Sorry for the double post...see post below. I think I hit submit once by accident when I meant to hit preview.

 

[10Terp]

Hello all. I've been chipping away at the myriad of work this car needs. Need to have it ready for Spring! Here's what I have knocked out so far:

• Compression and leakdown test of the engine (it's healthy)

• Inspected the cylinders with my boroscope. Good crosshatching on all cylinder walls, but lots of carbon buildup on the pistons

• Rebuilt the DISA (was in awful shape)

• Replaced the intake elbow (IAT bellow was cracked). Rigged up a smoke tester with a black and mild and fluid transfer pump...worked great, even though the car may have smoking habit now

• Rebuilt the VANOS with new seals and rattle rings (check out how clean the inside of this engine is!)

• Replaced the valve cover gasket and spark plugs

• Replaced water pump and thermostat. No pics of the new parts on but here's the nasty mix of pink and green coolant that came out

• Bavariane39 PCV mod

• Reconditioned the headlights. The projector bowls also had the reflective coating flaking off, so I put a piece of HVAC tape to hopefully limp this projector along until I can find a new one.

It's been quite a bit of work and I have a lot more to do. Next up on the list is repainting this fender; I'm going to attempt this myself with a can of color matched paint and 2k clear cans:



I'll continue to post updates as I power through. It's got a few electrical gremlins I'll probably post about in a separate thread. Thanks for reading!

 

[Beatman]

Hi and welcome

 

[Mr Tidy]

You've really been getting stuck in there. At the rate you are going you'll have a great z4 once you've finished.

 

[R17SKO]

Welcome! Looks like a great project car and a steal at that price - enjoy!!

 

[paddy wright]

Welcome along.

 

[Reamesy]

Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your bargain purchase. Looks a good car to be fair.

Good work so far. Keep us updated

 

[Zedebee]

Welcome to the forum.

I have never seen an undamaged fender with such bad paint. I’ve tried some rattle-can respray myself with mixed results. Looking forward to seeing how you get on.

 

[MikeyH]

Yes my rattle can attempts didn't turn out very good so I will get someone to do mine now I've got the damage sorted myself.

 

[10Terp]

Yes my rattle can attempts didn't turn out very good so I will get someone to do mine now I've got the damage sorted myself.

We'll see how it turns out. After sanding, and priming, and sanding, and priming, and sanding, and priming and sanding some more....here's how the car sits:



This pic is actually after the disaster of last Friday. I primed and painted it and it turned out AWFUL. The paint color didn't match (ordered by paint code), and the actual can spray was terrible. So the pic above is after spending an entire day sanding again and re-priming. There's an automotive paint supply store near me that will color-match aerosol cans, so I'm going to take the gas (petrol?) cap up and have them match the color. One of my best friends regularly repaints motorcycles using their aerosol cans and he sings their praises, so hopefully it'll turn out better. I'll keep everybody here posted. If it turns out like crap again, off to the professionals it will go.

In the mean time I need to figure out why the running lights are flickering that will keep me from getting through state safety inspection:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ixyu2mWE7k

Ignore the "outside ones are halogen" statement. I realized after popping the rear lights out that they're all LED. Any input is welcome! Electrical is where my comfort level reaches its end.

 

[MikeyH]

I hope you have better luck as mine were colour matched but came out darker :thumbsdown:

 

[enuff_zed]

I don't think we appreciate in the UK how lucky we are to be able to source replacement used panels so relatively easily.

 

[10Terp]

Attleborough, Norfolk

It will be interesting to see how it turns out. I'm not looking for perfection; just a good bit better than it was. However, if it turns out awful again I'll probably send it to a body shop in the spring.

 

[True-Blue]

Nice work