Typical!

[john-e89]

My efforts today, I used a mild phosphoric acid to wipe off the general rust staining, and will apply a rust convertor that turns it black before reassembly. Should look good once all the new hardware arrives, then will disappear once the new discs are fitted.

before 2023-04-02_17-16-04_495.jpeg

after 2023-04-08_19-38-13_036.jpeg

Personally I think you've made good progress Justino, you can only do so much with axle stands and whatever your motivation. Also doing something to more detail involves the car being off the road for significant lengths of time. My only issue with so called rust treatments is ultimately they're covering rust, not getting rid of it, so longevity has to come into the equation at some point, but as i said from what you've said and done so far it's all good.

 

[Justino]

I should really have done all this over the winter, but a cold barn doesn't help the motivation either.

I have a scissor car lift on my wish list of things to get, that would help no end with access underneath - or do I just drop it down at Reddish and let them do their magic.

Maybe wishful thinking, but just swapping out the rusty bolts on the underside would lift it no end, along with the drive shaft/diff gaiter clips, get the alloy wishbones sent to TS Engineering who do a coating to stop alloy corrosion, along with the any other brackets, track control arms, anti roll bar etc etc.

Ideally the disc backing plates would want painting, but I dont fancy taking the hub off and distrubing the wheel bearing etc, but it would need to come off to get the stub axle painted.

After the brakes I need to refit the airbox having fitted a new starter motor after it failed in Turin! I was going to get a Karbonius but an impending divorce, have put that extravagance on hold for now until I know where I am. A job for the winter I think.

 

[LawrenceW]

I'm just fitting new discs and pads on the rear, and whilst there I am putting new handbrake shoes and fittings.

Having it all open and visible underneath, I can see the majority of bolts are rusty, and the alloy wishbone and diff casing are very crusty, with a white powdery residue. No doubt this is because it has lived outside between 2008 and 2019. At only 38,000 miles its letting the car down. the clips that hold the rubber gaiters in the drive shafts are particulalry unpleasant - real shame these weren't stainless

Would love to have the time to do as you guys have done, my problem is motivation, and then where do you stop cleaning, and stripping down and sending away to be coated/painted.

Are you using any special cleaning products, or is it just elbow grease?

Just elbow grease for me plus the usual wire wheel on a drill, a dremel for the little rust scabs in the floor pan etc (I may be motivated to do a decent job but my skill level runs out of road pretty quickly)
Looking at the before and after rear brake splash guards, that’s pretty impressive, was it off the shelf stuff?
Btw I wasn’t brave enough to do a proper job on the back of the car I.e dropping and refurbing the rear subframe etc. Also good point about the rusty clips around the drive shaft gaiters, as I think the clips used around the gaiters on the steering rack are stainless.

 

[Justino]

This stuff. It’s 30% phosphoric acid, but wonder if there is anything better go use.

 

[LawrenceW]

Thanks Justino, worth knowing

 

[inkey$]

This is the kind of car you dream of finding for sale. Great work, OP. Beautiful

 

[Justino]

Motivated by all your efforts I’ve had an afternoon on the rear whilst the brakes are off and I’m waiting on parts to arrive to start reassembly.



The phosphoric really gets the old brake dust off the calliper and hanger. I will get some black calliper paint to touch up the various chips in the paint before a full refurb at some stage.

It’s also a good stainless cleaner. I will do these properly when I remove them to fit the new exhaust tips.



What is nasty is all the fittings around the diff. Ignoring for now.



You can see the general surface corrosion on this pic of the ABS sensor.

What I would like is all the running gear removed, blasted, coated, all consumables replaced, use stainless bolts etc. wonder what the cost at Reddish would be.

The cleaner has a wetting agent which has left a residue. I will rinse off with hot water in a pump sprayer.

 

[Beedub]

Looks like we’re on the same page Lawrence….just done my Imola roady…

lovely john, heads up.... the rear spring adjustable top perch has its own rubber feet, the oem TOP rubber is meant to be removed as per the instructions of the suspension units.... The lower oem rubber that sits in the arm/ bottom of the spring is reused on the new spring.

 

[LawrenceW]

Great work Justino. Ref Redish supporting with underside refurb, I don’t know what their hourly rate is but I guess with dismantling, blasting, painting/coating, reassembly it wouldn’t be cheap but as no doubt you’ve seen on their you tube vid’s their work can be impeccable (owners budget permitting). I know Wassup on this forum offers a great deal of blasting, powder coating and refitting of all genuine bushes to the rear subframe for under £400 (apologies if I’ve misquoted Wassup) which to me is amazing value.
Either way your ZM staring to look really good

 

[pvr]

If he could do my subframe I would certainly do that

 

[Justino]

Great work Justino. Ref Redish supporting with underside refurb, I don’t know what their hourly rate is but I guess with dismantling, blasting, painting/coating, reassembly it wouldn’t be cheap but as no doubt you’ve seen on their you tube vid’s their work can be impeccable (owners budget permitting). I know Wassup on this forum offers a great deal of blasting, powder coating and refitting of all genuine bushes to the rear subframe for under £400 (apologies if I’ve misquoted Wassup) which to me is amazing value.
Either way your ZM staring to look really good

That’s what I am aiming to do, remove all running gear and get it coated, painted etc, all new bolts, clips etc.

Whilst I could probably strip it my self, I’m tempted by a turn key solution, maybe getting involved in getting stuff refurbed. The diff looks shocking, drive shafts etc, which I’d rather leave to an expert, also wheel bearing needs to come off to get to stub axle.

 

[Justino]

Great work Justino. Ref Redish supporting with underside refurb, I don’t know what their hourly rate is but I guess with dismantling, blasting, painting/coating, reassembly it wouldn’t be cheap but as no doubt you’ve seen on their you tube vid’s their work can be impeccable (owners budget permitting). I know Wassup on this forum offers a great deal of blasting, powder coating and refitting of all genuine bushes to the rear subframe for under £400 (apologies if I’ve misquoted Wassup) which to me is amazing value.
Either way your ZM staring to look really good

That’s what I am aiming to do, remove all running gear and get it coated, painted etc, all new bolts, clips etc.

Whilst I could probably strip it my self, I’m tempted by a turn key solution, maybe getting involved in getting stuff refurbed. The diff looks shocking, drive shafts etc, which I’d rather leave to an expert, also wheel bearing needs to come off to get to stub axle.

 

[Wassup]

Great work Justino. Ref Redish supporting with underside refurb, I don’t know what their hourly rate is but I guess with dismantling, blasting, painting/coating, reassembly it wouldn’t be cheap but as no doubt you’ve seen on their you tube vid’s their work can be impeccable (owners budget permitting). I know Wassup on this forum offers a great deal of blasting, powder coating and refitting of all genuine bushes to the rear subframe for under £400 (apologies if I’ve misquoted Wassup) which to me is amazing value.
Either way your ZM staring to look really good

Thanks for the shout out Lawrence

I'm currently in the process of rebuilding the old rear axle from my Z4M Roadster that I parted out last year. Taking longer than I would like but rather get it done properly. I have a couple of rear subframes that I've had stripped and powder coated and just finished trailing arms with new FAG bearings and OEM sensor, ball joints etc.

Also had the old differential rebuilt with 3.91 final ratio and ECS tuning polybushes which were a fortune but worth it as I prefer the look over powerflex bushes for the differential.

 

[Wassup]

If he could do my subframe I would certainly do that

Drop me a pm as I have a couple of subframes ready to go.

 

[Wassup]

Loving the work on this thread, takes some doing but worth the time and effort to preserve our glorious Z4Ms

I did a full nut and bolt restoration on my E46 M3 a few years back and swore I'd never do it again but just can't help it, think I need professional help!

 

[LawrenceW]

Wassup, you’re a master Jedi

 

[pvr]

Loving the work on this thread, takes some doing but worth the time and effort to preserve our glorious Z4Ms

I did a full nut and bolt restoration on my E46 M3 a few years back and swore I'd never do it again but just can't help it, think I need professional help!

Now where is that E46 M3 as I want it :lol:

 

[Wassup]

Since you asked...

 

[Justino]

Great work Justino. Ref Redish supporting with underside refurb, I don’t know what their hourly rate is but I guess with dismantling, blasting, painting/coating, reassembly it wouldn’t be cheap but as no doubt you’ve seen on their you tube vid’s their work can be impeccable (owners budget permitting). I know Wassup on this forum offers a great deal of blasting, powder coating and refitting of all genuine bushes to the rear subframe for under £400 (apologies if I’ve misquoted Wassup) which to me is amazing value.
Either way your ZM staring to look really good

Thanks for the shout out Lawrence

I'm currently in the process of rebuilding the old rear axle from my Z4M Roadster that I parted out last year. Taking longer than I would like but rather get it done properly. I have a couple of rear subframes that I've had stripped and powder coated and just finished trailing arms with new FAG bearings and OEM sensor, ball joints etc.

Also had the old differential rebuilt with 3.91 final ratio and ECS tuning polybushes which were a fortune but worth it as I prefer the look over powerflex bushes for the differential.

This is precisely what I am looking to do at some stage, drop all the running gear, get it blasted and coated, renew all the bolts etc - funnily enough I have just swapped out the ABS sensor bolts at lunch time as they were exceptionally crunchy, had to hammer in a 5mm allen key to remove as the correct 4mm was lose given corrosion had removed metal.

The ABS sensor is rock solid though, but as I don't need to remove will let sleeping dogs lie - had to Dremel one out on my pals Z3 in the summer as they snap once you start applying force, but by swapping out the bolt now, that avoids a disatster at a later stage if the sensor ever needs removing.

 

[Justino]

Progress report, new handbrake shoes and fittings, disc and Caliper carrier fitted, what a pig of a job the springs are for the handbrake shoes, I’m sure there is probably a specific tool or a knack, but not an enjoyable job

Waiting on parts to refit the Caliper and pads

Before that I treated surface rust with Neutarust 661, then ACF 50 and detailed inside the arch with trim dressing etc.

One area of concern is the union on the passenger side brake line where it goes from solid to flex. Pretty crusty. Not sure if a new flex hose and clip would be ok as one bolt is on the hard brake line. Don’t get why these aren’t stainless from the factory.