What did you buy your Z3 this week? v3.0...........

[magnetchief]

Powder coated her rims.




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[gfish]

Your newly powder coated rims look great!!!

[IndianaRoadster]

Looks great, good looking wheels makes for good looking car!

[robb1887]

Welcome to the TS club! One of the most elusive brand at that. Congradulations!
-Donny

Thanks Donny. Gonna have to come to Schuh this year to see it in person 😉

[N69428Z3]

Eisenmann sport exhaust, should be coming in couple weeks now

[Hoyt Clagwell]

Eisenmann sport exhaust, should be coming in couple weeks now

Would you be able to post some before and after sound clips?

[IndianaRoadster]

Well I finally pulled the trigger and bought headers and mid pipes with catalytic converters. My car had the Super Sprint mufflers when I bought it. So now they're all matching. Will have to tip toe around the wife for a few weeks.
Screenshot_20230130_153434_Gallery.jpg

[N69428Z3]

Would you be able to post some before and after sound clips?

Of course, theres essentially no video clips of the sport exhaust online so i'll make sure to put one up. Ordered beginning of jan, 4-6 wk timeframe puts it around end of feb for delivery. Cant wait!

[BUCK57]

Well, it's more for me than the car. I shipped my 01 M to Hawaii. Dropped it off yesterday in Socal, sailing on February 8 to Hawaii as I sit at the bar in Honolulu awaiting my flight to Hilo.
Aloha

[cyberman]

$600 for dent repair on my old buggy. That brings the total to $22,000 over three years of ownership for a dinky M44. Sometimes I think I'm not as smart as I used to think I was.

Oh, and I've tried everything to stop window noise and leaking from the windows where they meet the seals. So, I noticed some tips and will try 1) Place rope inside the hollow seals to push them out. and 2). Fill the seals with foam. I'll try these ideas as new seals are expensive and it looks like the top's frame is distorted so the seals are too high relative the top of the windows. And yes, the windows have been adjusted to go up as far as I dare and the windows' lean as been adjusted inward.

I think post #4: https://www.bimmerfest.com/threads/z...ubbers.727649/ is correct where he says (in 2013):

First, rain leaking in is just the nature of the beast and, in my opinion, to one degree or another, it will always be a problem. I purchased my 2002 3.0i brand new and it has always leaked although with proper adjusting it can be minimized. I ALWAYS have two hotel type hand towels in the car.

The horizontal bracket that holds the molding at the top of the windows is easily removed and has shims behind it so it can be positioned so that the rubber molding mates snugly and continuously against the top of the window. Properly sized stainless steel washers make good shims. I found, with time, I continue to need to shim it farther and farther out. To see if it needs more shims use a good bright flashlight and see if the top of the window mates snugly against the molding. Your likely to see a small narrow airspace and that is where the water is coming in from.

A second source of water entering the car is from the big gasket that seals the convertible top to the top of the windshield. This gasket has a hollow internal channel that drains water down the side of the windshield. If you look where the top of the doors mate with the top sides of the windshield you will note this big gasket has a small flat surface facing the rear of the car. You will also note there is a plug in the center of this flat surface. I noticed a bunch of years ago the water draining through this gasket can leak through the sides of this plug. I fixed that with a very thin layer of RTV over it.

Overall I think the reason the Z3s leak so much is because the convertible top frame is not structurally robust and distorts as the top is used. I think BMW made a piss poor engineering decision to save weight but at the expense of a convertible top that always leaks and never works right. We live in south Florida and always using the top. From the continuous problems we had with it appears the frame is always slightly taking on a new geometry. The min structural member that is connected to the hydraulic ram just sheared last year from fatigue. I have it fixed so we can now manually put the top up and down but am sure my fix will not hold up under the force of using the hydraulics to raise and lower it. The permanent fix is replacing the entire frame and that will cost substantially more than an almost 14 year old car with 145000 miles is worth.

[Hoyt Clagwell]

$600 for dent repair on my old buggy. That brings the total to $22,000 over three years of ownership for a dinky M44. Sometimes I think I'm not as smart as I used to think I was.

I think post #4: https://www.bimmerfest.com/threads/z...ubbers.727649/ is correct where he says (in 2013):

I find that the older I get, the better I was.

I'm happy with the function of my roof. In average rain, with no wind to speak of, it doesn't leak at all. In heavier rain or in certain cross wind conditions, I get a few drips from the driver's A-pillar. I think I can probably fix that with a product called "Sugru" but it is so minimal I haven't been bothered to yet.
A PO installed a new aftermarket top and I guess the installers did a good job. I could see where an improperly installed top might distort the frame and cause problems. Anyway, as long as the leak is minimal, I've decided to find it charming.

As far as what I bought for my Z3, I bought new Powerflex carrier arm bushings. 95A front and 70A rear. I want to tighten up the shifting and I hope these don't add intolerable NVH. I don't mind a little extra for a better feeling/functioning shifter. The OE rear bushing is about as firm as jello, ridiculously sloppy. I also bought a new shifter ball cup. 'may as well for 6 bucks while I'm in there.

[dantheman7913]

I've tried everything to stop window noise and leaking from the windows where they meet the seals. So, I noticed some tips and will try 1) Place rope inside the hollow seals to push them out. and 2). Fill the seals with foam. I'll try these ideas as new seals are expensive and it looks like the top's frame is distorted so the seals are too high relative the top of the windows. And yes, the windows have been adjusted to go up as far as I dare and the windows' lean as been adjusted inward.

What I've been doing is I put the top down and put a paper towel under the seals, put some 3M weatherstripping adhesive just on the gaps and spread it thin with a credit card or similar. Let it dry, then add 2 or 3 more layers. I do this on the A pillar gap and on the door seals, works great. I have to replace it maybe every year as it gets brittle, but it comes right off and takes so little time to do - worth a shot

[IndianaRoadster]

I find that the older I get, the better I was.
.

I just can't believe that I'm the same age as old people!

[cyberman]

I just can't believe that I'm the same age as old people!

Thanks for the tips. I'll document my findings with the foam tubes I purchased. It's difficult to test now because my outside spigot is off and the hose is frozen shut. Age: I just realized I'll be 70 before I know it and that shocked the crap out of me. I was bumming around in my 20's when my mom told me to shape up and make something of myself because, as she said, "you'll be 40 before you know it". Moms are always right, and time just keeps accelerating.

[JWLZ3]

Want to buy a Momo hub for my 8/98 Z3 Roady... not sure which one I should be buying... #2008 ? Do I need anything else?

I'm a little late to the party, but just installed a Momo "Indy" wheel and Momo 2008 hub on my 10/98 built Z3 Roadster. You will need a BMW contact pin that fits the E31, E32, E34 and E36. Turner has them. The contact pin fits right into the column and works with the pick up ring on the hub. You will need to join the horn wire from the cars wiring (brown) to the pin wire.. This will get you power to the horn. Then you will also need a 3.3ohm, ½ watt resistor to bridge the airbag wires (red and white). This resistor matches the impedance that was in the air bag so the SRS light will not be on all the time. I bought mine at Amazon - 100 for $7. You will need to find a way to secure the ground wire (blue) from the cars wiring. I drilled and tapped a hole for a screw in the top part of the steering column. I have horn and turn signals, but of course no airbag. Love the look of the wheel and it is the right distance for easy use of the turn signal, wiper and cruise control stalks. A great appearance improvement.

[Hoyt Clagwell]

Love the look of the wheel and it is the right distance for easy use of the turn signal, wiper and cruise control stalks. A great appearance improvement.

Pics?

[sleeperz]

Well I finally pulled the trigger and bought headers and mid pipes with catalytic converters. My car had the Super Sprint mufflers when I bought it. So now they're all matching. Will have to tip toe around the wife for a few weeks.
Screenshot_20230130_153434_Gallery.jpg

And I thought I was the only one to tip-toe. Wink

- - - Updated - - -

Well, it's more for me than the car. I shipped my 01 M to Hawaii. Dropped it off yesterday in Socal, sailing on February 8 to Hawaii as I sit at the bar in Honolulu awaiting my flight to Hilo.
Aloha

Hope all of that goes well!

[BUCK57]

Hope all of that goes well![/QUOTE]

All's good. Picked up the M Roadster this rainy afternoon. Filled it up $5.21 premium and took it home. Sun might be out next week they say. Got 10 inches of rain last 24 hours, it's a rain forest at 3500 feet on Kilauea Volcano.
Aloha

[BUCK57]

Hope all of that goes well!

All's good. Picked up the M Roadster this rainy afternoon. Filled it up $5.21 premium and took it home. Sun might be out next week they say. Got 10 inches of rain last 24 hours, it's a rain forest at 3500 feet on Kilauea Volcano.
Aloha[/QUOTE]

I stand corrected. I measured my 5 gallon bucket rain gage with a tape measure. 8 7/8 inch in 30 hours.

[ZJon]

Four tires
Pilot Sports on the front have date code 1511 and 4/32 tread still remaining...

[rasmuw]

Not so much this week but this winter, I installed AC Schnitzer style fog lights, along with repair and a repaint of the front bumper and installation of a Never Done grille. The amber directional lenses were replaced with clear from a pair of poor condition Ebay headlights. The rear tail lights were replaced with some fairly good used lights found on Ebay. All lenses on my Arctic Silver are clear andIMG_2747.jpgIMG_2748.jpg backed by chrome amber lamps. Thanks to Cemal for the fog light purchase and Vinci for the instructions about how to remove and replace the headlight lenses.

My left headlight still needs a polish.

[IndianaRoadster]

I've been noticing that when I back out of the garage, sometimes I hear a noise coming from my driveshaft carrier bearing. I guess after 23.5 years I can't complain. I thought I would try the JXB Performance carrier bearing which I'm getting with the soft (street) and hard ( track) rubber inserts. I will try both and see which one I like. On their website, they show a couple of videos with a GoPro strapped underneath. I was amazed at how much play there is when shifting. In the second Short video, they just move the driveshaft by hand and it moves quite a bit. I'll report back my experience once I install it. It will be a while, because I do all the upgrades in the winter when we don't get to drive, unlike our friends from the South and Arizona.
Screenshot_20230618_130909_Gallery.jpg

[Hoyt Clagwell]

I've been noticing that when I back out of the garage, sometimes I hear a noise coming from my driveshaft carrier bearing. I guess after 23.5 years I can't complain. I thought I would try the JXB Performance carrier bearing which I'm getting with the soft (street) and hard ( track) rubber inserts. I will try both and see which one I like. On their website, they show a couple of videos with a GoPro strapped underneath. I was amazed at how much play there is when shifting. In the second Short video, they just move the driveshaft by hand and it moves quite a bit. I'll report back my experience once I install it. It will be a while, because I do all the upgrades in the winter when we don't get to drive, unlike our friends from the South and Arizona.

I was gonna' install one of those last winter when I did my transmission and shifter work. I was told by many on this forum that it was a solution to a non existent problem. To be fair, I said that my main reason for doing it was to minimize movement at the differential and thereby lesson the strain on the trunk floor. That idea was shot down. After installing firmer engine mounts, I do notice crisper excellaration and would expect this CSB to enhance that aspect as well. It looks like a quality made item. I'll be interested to hear your experience.

[IndianaRoadster]

I was gonna' install one of those last winter when I did my transmission and shifter work. I was told by many on this forum that it was a solution to a non existent problem. To be fair, I said that my main reason for doing it was to minimize movement at the differential and thereby lesson the strain on the trunk floor. That idea was shot down. After installing firmer engine mounts, I do notice crisper excellaration and would expect this CSB to enhance that aspect as well. It looks like a quality made item. I'll be interested to hear your experience.

Well I got to spend my social security check on something!