Sapphire Black Z4C Project

[dougie1142]

Hi all,

So after selling my '65 Mini i've been on the hunt for a Z4. I couldn't see much passed the Z4 in terms of value, performance and looks.

Well i finally made a purchase! After initially looking for a Z4Mc, i was pointed in the direction of the 3.0Si and after initially not considering them they became a much better proposition for what i'd be using it for. I was hunting for quite a long time here and elsewhere, I was fairly fussy with spec, i wanted cruise control, less than 80k miles, colour specific. Everything seemed to be more expensive than i wanted to spend on an Si (£8.5k upwards for some higher mileage examples). But i spotted one on Facebook for a really good price, with all the spec options i wanted.

On discussion it was definitely lowered, but i wasn't sure on what setup.

Well, to cut a long story short I collected the car yesterday! Had a fair drive home, but needless to say I absolutely love it already.

It has already been fitted with 19" BBS CH004/CH005 wheels. While i wasn't set on them in the photos, in person they actually look really nice and i'm fairly confident they are genuine (after following an online ID guide). They don't have great tires on them, and to be honest i'm still contemplating selling them for a 17/18" wheel (perhaps Apex wheels) with some MPSS's. Time will tell.

It has also been fitted and has a receipt for Bilstein B12 dampers all round and Eibach springs. The ride was really great, although it definitely needs an alignment done so that will be a priority.

Some issues that need sorted:
- Wheel bolts need replaced or painted as rusty
- Drivers seat rail needs painted as for some reason it's quite rusty?

Other plans at the moment: new centre caps for the wheels, Royal Steering Wheels refurb, remove the 3.0/Z4/Si badges, and a bluetooth module for inside.

 

[ColinBR]

Stunning car there. Love the 2 tone leather combo. In that 1

 

[mr wilks]

Looks a belter that Doug glad you persevered & got what you wanted in the end

 

[Mr Tidy]

Great to see you have found one, and a great looking one at that!

I'm sure I remember someone saying genuine CSLs have BBS stamped on the front near the centre. Mine are Reps, but I think CSLs suit the E86 really well. Then again you can get 18" Reps as well if you like the look but just want to down-size.

And it seems you've fallen for it already! They can get addictive. :roll:

 

[JamieZ4C]

Great news and a great purchase. But then I'm probably biased

I like the current wheels, think they look great

 

[jock156]

That looks the tits!

 

[Homer]

Lovely example and those BBS CH look fantastic

 

[beanie]

That looks really good 8)

I think the CH is one of the nicest wheels for the coupe so unless you’re set on something lighter, I wouldn’t change them.

 

[dougie1142]

Cheers for all the comments guys. Definintely appreciating the CH's more now, it's just tire size and price is not ideal. However i think once i get some new centre caps for them and perhaps have them repainted it'll transform it! It certainly was fine to drive even with the large diameter.

 

[dougie1142]

Still very much enjoying the car. Not had many chances to drive it recently, and a flock of birds seemed to have very good aim at the car so i gave it a wash today. No great photos, just phone shots. I'm still really undecided on the wheels - sometimes i really like them, but i've noticed that the front rubs a tiny bit on the arch liner with the lowered springs, and given I want to use the car properly i'm not too keen on this. And that's with some very "stretched" tires, which i'm not a fan of. I might get them refurbed, and then sell them to fund a smaller set of wheels.

 

[dougie1142]

I laser cut a keyring from some veg tan leather, along with a coaster for the desk! Pleased with how they turned out.

 

[Mr Tidy]

My M came on CSL Reps with 235/35x19 tyres on the front, H & R coil-overs and spacers and unsurprisingly the fronts had been rubbing!

But after getting the ride height raised and the spacers off I don't get any rubbing now, so it might be worth checking whether your car has spacers fitted.

 

[dougie1142]

Small update, having been inspired by Jono's thread - i've decided to try and recover the aluminium trim on the dash. I'm not a fan of the way it distracts my eye while driving, and it's a little beaten up in certain places.

I bought black alcantara which was a horrible match for the colour of the dash, so i've ordered some "grey" alcantara to try out. If this doesn't work i might investigate paint or anodizing or perhaps just leave it for now.

I have also ordered up a ZHP along with a new gaiter set from JF Customs (i've gone for custom alcantara with grey stitching to match my leather).

The rear diff is clunking as per a lot of threads on here, i've bought the BMW grease to put onto the input shaft splines, so all going well over the next couple weeks i'll get a chance to jack the car up and do this to see if it resolves the issue.

Cheers.

 

[Mr Tidy]

I was never a fan of the brushed aluminium dash either. Even if it isn't a colour match your alcantara is still a definite improvement.

 

[dougie1142]

A bit of a long overdue update, on stuff that happened in Summer!

To follow on from last update, i removed all the alcantara, just wasn't happy with it. It's cheap stuff, so i suspect if i got the pricier genuine alcantara that it'd be a lot nicer, but i'll just live with the aluminium panels just now.

On that note though, i ordered a new ZHP gear knob, shift boot and handbrake boot too, i ordered them custom spec on the basis of my dash being alcantara, but obviously now it isn't so I'm not sure if they look out of place or not. Still a vast improvement on standard!





The next thing I tackled was slightly more involving.. the root issue i was trying to solve was the infamous "clunking" from the rear diff when changing drive direction or letting the clutch out in gear. As you probably all know, this involved removing the exhaust which meant I would need to tackle the nightmare job of getting the exhaust studs out. Ha....

To make the job easier i bought a mobile scissor lift, it was pretty cheap and ideally i want a hydraulic one but until i get my house this will do. Great bit of kit once you get it all setup! One you get the balance point right, you can actually rock the car back and forward to work under the front or rear which was especially hand for this task. I don't think i have a photo of the car fully lifted, it goes quite a bit higher than the photo below.









Then onto the task at hand

Many drill bits later, i found the best method was to use a Dremel with cutting discs on it to cut the studs off, then separate the exhaust and remove it, with the remaining stud on the manifold side drill a pilot hole through it then work up one size of drill bit at a time until you can get it out. Once i'd done the first one, the rest were a lot easier. Use plenty of cutting fluid otherwise it'll just destroy drill bits. My drill took a battering and it's still got cutting fluid coming out of it today!





With that dealt with, it was almost time for the home straight. I removed the propshaft and the input flange to apply the OEM BMW grease (p/n: 83 23 0 443 864). Quite an easy job although i don't thikn i've actually applied quite enough grease to the right part, but the diff will likely be coming out next year anyway :evil:







Reassembled and put back together with 4x new M10 BMW bolts as per spec.

Then chucked the exhaust back on with some new fixings up front and some new OEM rubber hangers and BMW gaskets (how are these so expensive?!?!).





Last job while i was there was to change the "lifetime" diff oil, i couldn't get any good oil for it in time so just went to Halfords and got some COMMA 75-90 synthetic stuff being an open diff i wasn't too fussy and as i mentioned before the diff should be coming out next year anyway.





And thankfully that was that! The grease on the input flange definitely helped the clunking noise, although i probably could've been a fair bit more liberal with application!

Now the car is off the road just now as i'm in the process of buying a house so the extra insurance, tax etc was not really viable to have as a spare car over winter. I don't have many winter plans to do stuff to it, but as I mentioned next year i would love to fit an LSD, refresh the bushes and have at least the rear subframe powder coated etc to freshen it all up. I might go down the route of looking for a set of 18" wheels i like too. As much as I love the look of the BBS, the 19" wheels are very firm with such low profile tires and although i've never experienced it the front appears to rub a tiny bit on the arch liner. I would get a much better tire choice on a set of 18's too and i'm all for a bit of meat on the sidewall. No rush though. To be honest I wouldn't mind going back to an OEM set of 108's as that's what this car was spec'd with from factory. On top of that would love a Royal Wheels refurb too just to finish tidying up the interior.

Here's a couple of pictures i've taken with my first year of ownership, loving it so far! (yes the photos are rear bias because coupe)

 

[inkey$]

Great write up and shall be watching with interest on the progress
(Love that scissor lift too!)

 

[dougie1142]

Great write up and shall be watching with interest on the progress
(Love that scissor lift too!)

Cheers! It's a great tool, well worth the money i think. Always hated/found it difficult jacking up modern cars with limited jacking points etc so this solves that quite well. Just used it to do the struts on a Fabia too and it was great being able to almost stand normal height and work on that.

Now added a picture of the diff oil that came out the diff, horrible!

 

[enuff_zed]

Got me thinking on that scissor lift, though i'd need a platform on the gravel drive I think.

Is it possible to fix it in position? Just thinking of the day I'm under it and a cat jumps on the bonnet!

 

[JamieZ4C]

Great update

Very interesting to me for two reasons in particular. Firstly I've got the diff clunk you describe and I've been meaning for quite a while to do the grease job, so it's good to see it done DIY.

Secondly, I've been looking at all manor of ramps and lifts for years but never come across the one you have. Done a bit of research and looks like it's a CJAutos one. Correct?

I think this might be the one for me. However I would struggle to store it anywhere. Once collapsed, would you say it will lie low enough and compact enough to sit on the floor of my garage and me be able to park my lowered coupe over it?

Edit: my clearance is roughly 130mm, so not much room to work with :lol:

 

[minimental]

Love the little lift!
that diff oil looks horrid though, what sort of mileage is on it?
really like the bbs too!