Joe's track car revival

[TriggerFish]

Hi all,

I've wanted an E86 for years now, but never really thought I'd get one any time soon. I had a saved search on eBay for `z4 coupe` under £4,000, and then this one cropped up just down the road (some of you on here might have seen the advert, too), my wife said yes, and now it's mine for a little over £3k - within a couple of hours of the advert going live!

(Only photos I've got - it's just sat on my drive way since I got it)





I'm posting as I'm wondering if anyone on here recognises it? Not that it's anything special, but I'd love to know some of the back history. It's been 'stripped' for track days (but some really odd choices made, like removing the Sport and DSC control buttons so DSC was on all the time!), the front bumper is from a pre-facelift (and the fog lights/undertray etc are missing), the airbag control unit was removed and the MFSW replaced with a standard non-Sport steering wheel, too. I'm just trying to piece together some of what happened to it - I'm thinking a front end knock maybe? But the crash beam is intact, and the bolts don't look like they've been touched for years...

It's had a couple of other plates in the past - HV07KJX, F11LSW and J8JVP.

Either way, my plans are to refit the interior and just have it as a regular car. I've found someone close by who's stripping theirs for track use, so I can basically buy their interior off of them - result!

I'm not new to BMWs, having had a couple of E46 330ds in the past, and currently having got an E92 (my wife's), an E30 325i (finished project), and an R53 Cooper S (ongoing project), so nothing on the Z4 should be too much of a surprise.

 

[buzyg]

Welcome to the forum. Enjoy the project.

 

[Mr Tidy]

Welcome aboard from a serial Coupe owner.

FWIW I think the pre-facelift front bumper looks better than the facelift (with the crusty/cloudy fog-lights).

Good luck getting it how you want it. :drinkwine:

 

[j3nks79]

I saw it on eBay. Looked like very good value for the money.
Was on 24 hours then you must have pulled the trigger

 

[enuff_zed]

Maybe the front bumper was swapped and fogs removed as some sort of attempt to get more cooling to the brakes?? Just guessing.

 

[j3nks79]

Maybe the front bumper was swapped and fogs removed as some sort of attempt to get more cooling to the brakes?? Just guessing.

My guess would be a light front end bump.
Pre facelift bumpers are cheaper

 

[TriggerFish]

Thanks for the warm welcome!

My guess would be a light front end bump.
Pre facelift bumpers are cheaper

That's my guess too, but would be nice to know for sure. :fingerscrossed:

Like Mr Tidy, I actually prefer the pre-facelift bumper too, but still have my eyes open the post-facelift one at a good price at some point

I saw it on eBay. Looked like very good value for the money.
Was on 24 hours then you must have pulled the trigger

I think it should be good value. I know the interior bits will add up (I expect about £1k for everything, hopefully), so it's not a bad price, given it seems in good condition mechanically and the bodywork is good/rust free. I wanted a project though (I enjoy the tinkering), and with my R53 and E30 both being more mechanical, this being a nice simple interior project should be a nice easy one to work through. (Although I'm sure I'll get stuck into the mechanicals at some point when the weather is warmer/need arises!)

 

[Mr Tidy]

Thinking about it the undertray may be missing because the facelift undertray is different to the pre-facelift so wouldn't fit that bumper?

If you got really lucky an M bumper might pop up although the M undertray is unique to them, as I found out last year when I needed a new one after a bird strike.

Just a heads up but I know someone with a facelift Roadster had his sump pan rust through from the outside. His car hadn't had an undertray fitted for quite a while, so that may have been a factor!

 

[Z450]

Be good to see this restored, keep the thread updated

 

[Meds]

Be good to see this restored, keep the thread updated

Yes absolutely.
Be great to see an E86 returned and loved.
A good number of these are being modified for track use as they get older, ultimately killing them off as I doubt they'll return to road duties if the mods have gone too far.
Sad.

 

[Z450]

Be good to see this restored, keep the thread updated

Yes absolutely.
Be great to see an E86 returned and loved.
A good number of these are being modified for track use as they get older, ultimately killing them off as I doubt they'll return to road duties if the mods have gone too far.
Sad.

Agree with this. I really feel these cars a hugely under appreciated and valued!

 

[DaveP]

Maybe the front bumper was swapped and fogs removed as some sort of attempt to get more cooling to the brakes?? Just guessing.

My guess would be a light front end bump.
Pre facelift bumpers are cheaper

Came here to say the same. It wouldn't bother me on a car of this age and price, but it's almost certainly the cause of the issue here.

 

[TriggerFish]

Thinking about it the undertray may be missing because the facelift undertray is different to the pre-facelift so wouldn't fit that bumper?

Thanks for the heads up on the sump - I'll whack some hydrate80 and hammerite on it if it needs it - hopefully keep it going for a while! I checked the under tray on realoem, and it lists the same part for both pre and post facelift - are they definitely different?

I spent a little bit of time on it today, and got the front bumper and passenger headlight off (and then ran out of time for the drivers side), and there is nothing untoward behind there - crash bar is straight, no breakers-yard writing on it (unlike the inner bumper) and the bolt heads holding the crash bar on are all ok, so I suspect it was just a big scrape or something to the bumper. It doesn't bother me, but just nice to know it's not hiding something insidious!

I also got the new (second hand) airbag module connected and coded to the car (was really easy with BMW Scanner 1.4 - just had to type in the new VIN and it updated itself - no need to struggle with ISTA-P at all!) - no airbag warning light on the dash any more (someone had taped over it in the past, I didn't notice when I bought it ).

 

[Mr Tidy]

Thanks for the heads up on the sump - I'll whack some hydrate80 and hammerite on it if it needs it - hopefully keep it going for a while! I checked the under tray on realoem, and it lists the same part for both pre and post facelift - are they definitely different?

I have no idea if the pre and post facelift undertrays are different which is why I posted with a question mark, but wondered if that might have been why your car didn't have one. Maybe more likely it got damaged when the bumper did!

 

[TriggerFish]

[
I have no idea if the pre and post facelift undertrays are different which is why I posted with a question mark

Ah - sorry - I missed the question mark. From my looking too, the undertrays are cheaper from BMW than they are second hand off eBay, if anyone else is in need.

Anyway... I've been making some slow progress on bringing this back to life. I've sourced most of the interior (just B-pillar trims I need to find a set of), and have got a few basic servicing parts to go on it/while you're in theres

I've also got the following waiting to be fitted as preventative maintenance/fix an ongoing leak:
- oil cooler gasket (very actively leaking!)
- oil filter gasket (very actively leaking!)
- new drive belt
- new drive idler and tensioner
- new expansion tank + O-rings for anything I have to disconnect (how many of these have I been through in my E46 days?!)
- new coolant and oil/filter + air filter

But the most important thing (for me, anyway) was checking the bodywork out. Knowing that the rear quarters unbolt, I thought I'd whip them off to make sure everything was OK under there. All looks OK from the outside, but that's no guarantee...

So off with the sill covers and rear quarters, and on with the investigation...



At first, everything looked OK, but after a blast with the jet wash, there were signs of surface rust in places...





But after a short while with a wire brush, it was just surface rust which all came off without any drama. I also stuck an endoscope camera into the voids, and there was no rush coming from the inside out, which is a relief (no photos from this, however). The fact that clean metal was so close to the surface further reinforces my belief that it is not rusting from the inside out, too.







The driver's side was much the same, too.



Then came time to treat the rust. I used Bilt Hamber Hydrate 80, which I've used to good effect on other projects, so even though the metal was clean at this point, I gave everything a good coating and left it to dry.



Once dry, you're left with something like this...



This is now, in theory, safe to leave as is, but I have some primer and beige-y/undersealy coloured paint to go on, along with new seam sealer for all the stuff I removed, and some Bilt Hamber undercoating to be applied to the inner quarters.

It's debatable weather or not this needed doing, but despite looking good from the outside, there's no way of knowing what is lurking within without checking, and I'd rather nip rust in the bud as best as I can. I'm sure there's people saying the only way to really treat rust is to cut it out and start again, but I'm going to be realistic about the costs of that vs. the value of this car, and the severity of the rust that was there to start with

I'd urge others to do similar!

 

[TriggerFish]

With that done, I turned my attention to the freshly removed quarters, and followed the same process. Not many photos here, just a couple showing what they were like inside







That was the worst of them, so not too bad considering their age/mileage.

The outer sills look perfect (as do the inner voids of the sills), but I haven't got underneath to check the inner sills yet.

The most annoying thing by far though, is this...





There is a small hole in the driver's footwell. And underneath that hole, is (well, was...) a stud that the exhaust heat shield bolts on to. My guess is that something (a stone/rock or whatever) hit that stud, broke the paint barrier, and it rusted out, taking the floor with it. It was all intact when I first got to it, but quickly came away as I poked it. Luckily it's got a clear cause/starting point, and there is nothing underneath it (no brake pipes, brackets, wires etc), so it will be an easy patch to weld back on again. Probably would have got totally unnoticed, had the carpet not been removed and I don't want to think how far it would have spread!

Anyway, that's this up to speed for now

 

[Meds]

Great work there, sir.
My rear middle arch was the same, a very light coat of surface rust, especially where the spot weld things were.
I scrubbed it back and used the same product, BH Hydrate 80 to cover it.
I suspect condensation between the outer and middle layers causes this.

 

[Mr Tidy]

That's some mighty impressive rust investigation.

Thankfully you didn't uncover any real horrors and will be doing some preventative treatment.

I feel a bit mean saying it, but have you looked around the edges of the tailgate, as they sometimes suffer from corrosion too?

 

[TriggerFish]

Thank you both!

Great work there, sir.
My rear middle arch was the same, a very light coat of surface rust, especially where the spot weld things were.
I scrubbed it back and used the same product, BH Hydrate 80 to cover it.
I suspect condensation between the outer and middle layers causes this.

That's a good point with the condensation - I wouldn't be surprised if you're into something there! And yes, mine was worst (on average) around the spot welds. The joints were mostly fine though - very odd!

I feel a bit mean saying it, but have you looked around the edges of the tailgate, as they sometimes suffer from corrosion too?

I have, yes - it's all fine so far thankfully! It's one of the first things I checked when I viewed it (and then my excuse got me carried away and I forgot a load of other basic checks!) :roll:

I'm going to see if I can find a suitable hole to spray some wax into the cavities of the boot lid (if even possible, I can't remember how it's constructed), but I'd like to keep it rust free if possible!

 

[Mr Tidy]

Mr Tidy wrote: ↑Mon Dec 23, 2024 7:46 pm

I feel a bit mean saying it, but have you looked around the edges of the tailgate, as they sometimes suffer from corrosion too?

I have, yes - it's all fine so far thankfully! It's one of the first things I checked when I viewed it (and then my excuse got me carried away and I forgot a load of other basic checks!)

That's great news, but treatment sounds like a good plan. :wink:

I got my first 2006 Coupe in 2014 and I remember a few people saying they'd had theirs repaired under the Corrosion warranty - one or two actually had them replaced.