1997 BMW Z3 2.8 - anything specific to watch out for earlier 2.8?

[Mr Bingley]

Congrats--I'm sure you'll remain happy as a clam with it for years.

[healeydays]

@HealyDays old Z3 is my new Z3 . Build date is 1/97. I am pretty sure the rollbars were installed after the fact as they don't show up on the build list in the system (had a dealer pull it) and I found the install instructions in the trunk.

Huh, never saw that in the trunk, but never looked to see if they were after market.

[Colo Springs E]

Congratulations! Glad you found one for a good price.

[vampirefish]

Here she is
IMG_2600.jpg

[ProductUser]

Looks great! Congrats!

[deni2s]

Here she is
IMG_2600.jpg

Ebay rollbars - as I expected. Congrats on the ride!
Rocking seats is 20$ fix - http://www.whalenshiftmachine.com/_p.../seat-bushings

[rf900rkw]

Yep, for sure.

[Colo Springs E]

Beautiful!! Black & tan is hard to beat... Nice score

[LimehouseBlues]

Beauty!

Sent from my RS988 using Tapatalk

[RedRedZ]

Ebay rollbars - as I expected. Congrats on the ride!
Rocking seats is 20$ fix - http://www.whalenshiftmachine.com/_p.../seat-bushings

Yep, for sure.

What makes you so sure? Just asking, they look a lot like my Alumex hoops.
Nice looking car by the way.

[rf900rkw]

The inner legs of the two hoops are not attached to the chassis, they are merely attached to each other with a cross bar. Structure stiffness of those joints are near zero. Whether they were sourced through eBay or some boutique shop is of no consiquence, they are for show, not structural.

[vampirefish]

...that's a bummer

[deni2s]

What makes you so sure? Just asking, they look a lot like my Alumex hoops.
Nice looking car by the way.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/361813613106

[RedRedZ]

The inner legs of the two hoops are not attached to the chassis, they are merely attached to each other with a cross bar. Structure stiffness of those joints are near zero. Whether they were sourced through eBay or some boutique shop is of no consiquence, they are for show, not structural.

OK I know they look the same , but Alumex and Schnitzer were supposed to be TUV rated in Germany.
It's my understanding the windshield frame and seat backs were supposed to provide rollover protection anyway.
Personally it doesn't matter to me, but if there is a difference I hate to see them lumped together.
Hey Randy thanks for taking the time to post and answer questions. There is so much misinformation and opinions on the internet that it's great to have a trusted knowledgeable source.

[rf900rkw]

If they have TuV, then at least they aren't considered dangerous. I just tried finding info, but between photobucket blockage and 404s, I came up empty. Anyway, my frame of reference is from years building SCCA approved bars and cages. Their rules were such that they would rather have no bar at all than one that would collapse in on the occupants (specific reference, Solo2 sedan with race tires). Unsupported joints in the main legs would certainly not fly.

And yes. we've had enough pics posted to this forum over the years, the factory seats and windshield frame does the job in simple roll-overs.

[BimmerBreaker]

It's my understanding the windshield frame and seat backs were supposed to provide rollover protection anyway.

Correct - inside the outer sheet metal of the windshield frame is a strong tubular piece of high strength steel. The below car rolled over 5 times. But the windshield is part of a system, if there are no roll bars this car will not have faired as well nor would it's occupants.



The bars on OP's car are not Alumex or Schnitzer. They are ebay junk that dennis linked to a couple posts up. They come from the TUV-less UK

[deni2s]

To clear up some myths about roll bars, alumex made three types of roll bars:

1) 2 piece 60mm price being 590 euros which they soon removed from sale


2) two piece 50mm - price being around 690 euros (and 490 on discounts). Alumex refused orders at the end of 2009. ACS rebranded these by adding soft pads and selling in 2002 for 595 gbp.
http://mz3.net/ac-schnitzer-roll-hoops.html

According to Falk from Alumex:

We had build the 50mm 2piece for AC Schnitzer before they took them out of their program.The hoops are build in our company here in germany with the same specs we had done them for Schnitzer.
Only difference, we do not offer the rubber piece on top of the hoops + we have meanwhile very nice aluminium "covers" where the hoops go into the plastic. Before they was from rubber.
From Rear view, the 50mm 2piece look exactly the same as our 50mm 1piece just without the connection tube.

3) one piece 50mm (seems like OP might have them actually and I was wrong) price being around 250gbp, offered in chrome and satin black finish, it served decorative purpose only, and probably later replicas were sold on ebay.

AFAIK only AC Schnitzer ones were TuV approved (as they were an official option through BMW dealerships in Germany) and no roll bars sold under Alumex brand were TuV tested/approved.

I believe the weight might be the factor how to differentiate "original" working from fake replicas. At least I know that my ACS roll bars are at least twice as heavy as chromed two piece ebay roll bars (a bit different shape).

Another z3 roll bar manufacturer who got replicated is Hamann.


Maybe @BimmerBreaker wants to put this info in some knowledgebase or FAQ? I am quite sure it isn't assembled anywhere else.

[rf900rkw]

Okay Deniss, now you have me questioning what came on my car. I thought Hamann, mainly because everything else is Hamann. They are individual hoops mounted in the factory carrier. 60mm satin stainless steel They were already on the car when I bought it in 2006.

[deni2s]

Okay Deniss, now you have me questioning what came on my car. I thought Hamann, mainly because everything else is Hamann. They are individual hoops mounted in the factory carrier. 60mm satin stainless steel They were already on the car when I bought it in 2006.

Do you have pics? Something like these? http://www.myroadster.net/rollbars_z3.asp

[rf900rkw]

That's the right shape. Mine are shinier than that, more like what they call polished stainless in the upper pictures. I'll get a pic after Jose quits lobbing rain bands at us and I can put the top down.

[deni2s]

Probably Alumex. Like these then, right? http://mz3.net/chrome-roll-hoops.html
Will compare with some hamann cars pictures from their brochures when you will post your pic, I think there were some cars with roll bars which looked very similar to ACS.

[rf900rkw]

IMAG0492.jpg

[deni2s]

Almost the same image

[BimmerBreaker]

Ive been here years and thats the second picture of Randy's car Ive seen, first pic of the coupe and wagon

[rf900rkw]

It's really hard to tell in photos. Mine are not chromed, they are stainless.



Ah, I see he corrects himself in the text.

- - - Updated - - -

Ive been here years and thats the second picture of Randy's car Ive seen, first pic of the coupe and wagon

Missing from that shot is the other coupe and the other wagon (E46). Wife and kid had already left for work.