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Thread: Working under your Z3?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Dec 2019
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    Powell, Ohio
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    13
    My Cars
    2000 BMW Z3 2.3

    Working under your Z3?

    So how do you do it? I finished a set of modular cribbing blocks, but even these aren't really high enough. Stable and good enough for now, but more curious as to how others have solved this challenge.

    --e


    Last edited by erimille; 02-17-2020 at 05:19 PM.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    Mesa, Arizona
    Posts
    976
    My Cars
    2000 Z3 M-Roadster
    What kind of maintenance are you trying to accomplish? For example, I used 3' pieces of 2x6 to build my cradles. I only used cradles for a portion of my subframe repair; I use jack stands for other maintenance work.
    Tony
    "You can't sign away negligence."

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Apr 2017
    Location
    Volcano, HI
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    207
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    2001 M ROADSTER

  4. #4
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    Austin, TX
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    3,968
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    2001 M Roadster
    I've pulled out and replaced the subframe with it about that high and I'm a large human.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Location
    Larryville
    Posts
    202
    My Cars
    2000 M Roadster
    Quote Originally Posted by erimille View Post
    So how do you do it? I finished a set of modular cribbing blocks, but even these aren't really high enough. Stable and good enough for now, but more curious as to how others have solved this challenge.
    What are you trying to do that makes you think you need more height? I think you could pull off dropping the transmission where you are right now.

    It has been my experience that it often requires more effort to jack up the car and position jack stands / tire stand blocks / etc., than it does to do the repair work; I recently bought a QuickJack but have not set it up or tried it under my car as of yet. I'm hoping for Z3 lifting bliss...

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jun 2011
    Location
    Springfield, Ohio, USA
    Posts
    1,233
    My Cars
    1998 Z3 Roadster
    Jacked.jpg
    Here is my car when I replaced the clutch. It took several iterations of putting blocks under the jack, then under the car tires. I screwed the blocks together two-at-a-time as I went up.
    I now have a two-post lift, so life is much easier now.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Oct 2013
    Location
    Rock Hill, SC
    Posts
    785
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    2000 BMW M Roadster
    I removed the rear subframe with jack stands. I have a quickjack and it gets the car a little higher than jack stands although I'm not sure it is high enough to get the transmission out.

    You can get a low car a lot higher than jack stands when using the SUV adapters and the quickjack (not my Cayman unfortunately):
    cayman.jpg

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    Sarasota, FL
    Posts
    7,560
    My Cars
    98 M Roadster
    Jack stands under the jack pads. I would not feel comfortable doing heavy work under the car with it sitting on the wheels and suspension. I want to know that when I torque on something, the car isn't going to move.

    The example above with the rear end on stands and the front end supported on wood under the wheels makes me very nervous. There is nothing to keep the front wheels from rolling and tipping over the jack stands in the back.

    I have pulled a Z transmission out several times and I would not want anything rocking around when I'm fighting a stuck bolt and wiggling the transmission in/out.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
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    nova
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    8 BMW's & a Ford p/u
    judging by the pictures, y'all have garages with space. stop screwing around with wood blocks and jackstands. just get a lift. this one is great for smaller spaces. worth every penny.

    https://www.maxjaxusa.com/dannmar-ma...caAlnFEALw_wcB

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    Mesa, Arizona
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    976
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    2000 Z3 M-Roadster
    Quote Originally Posted by mlytle View Post
    judging by the pictures, y'all have garages with space. stop screwing around with wood blocks and jackstands. just get a lift. this one is great for smaller spaces. worth every penny.

    https://www.maxjaxusa.com/dannmar-ma...caAlnFEALw_wcB
    How about send me the money for this lift?
    Tony
    "You can't sign away negligence."

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Sep 2003
    Location
    kansas city
    Posts
    143
    My Cars
    98 Z3, 01 330i, 07 328iT
    I’m not gonna hide it. I have a lift. Best 2500 I’ve ever spent. Luckily, I have a 30x60 outbuilding with a 12 foot ceiling to put it in. Makes working on cars much more fun and less of a chore.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
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    nova
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    i was one of the "oooo, lift too expensive. will just struggle working on floor" guys for years. then i got a lift (two actually). never going back. should have sucked up the cost a LONG time ago. a lift is SO MUCH BETTER than trying to do cheesy wood block stacks or multiple rounds of jacking to get a car on jack stands.

    the right tools for a job are ALWAYS the best solution. cost of quickjack or maxjack (or even better a REAL two post lift) is minor in the long term view of how many times it will be used, the better access they provide for work, the hours of jacking and adjusting blocks saved, the decreased risk of your car dropping in the jacking process, the increased safety and the joy of not lying on your back trying to fix things.

    just do it.
    Last edited by mlytle; 02-18-2020 at 12:11 PM.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Arida Zona
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    30,108
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    z3
    Quote Originally Posted by ProductUser View Post
    How about send me the money for this lift?
    You can use my lift if needed for day projects ...just get in touch. Its in Mesa near the 60 and 101

    Going into my TENTH YEAR of providing high quality reproduction BMW fabrics!

    PRICE CUT on ALL FABRICS
    Offering the best prices on the best quality reproduction fabrics!

  14. #14
    Join Date
    May 2009
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    Richmond, VA
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    704
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    Spec3 & MCoupe

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Great Dismal Swamp
    Posts
    16,026
    My Cars
    E36/7 E36/8x2 E46 F25
    I find lifts in general kill my back. They don't go quite high enough, so I end up stooped over. That combined with a low ceiling had me working on stands at home. For heavy work underneath I used 6 ton stands. 3Ton all the way extended are just too wobbly for me. Jack up the front. Set 3Ton stands. Jack up the rear, 3Ton at half height. Jack up the front. 3T all the way up. Jack up the rear, 6Ton down. Jack up the front, 6Ton at height. Maybe jack up the rear again. depending on the job. I lost an oilpan once by taking too big of a bite at a time, and the jack slipped. Plus the S54 cars with all of their plastic gets in the way of the jacking point. With the run of medical issues of late, putting an S54 in the air consumed on entire evening. So now I just push a button.


    lift.jpg


    /.randy

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Sep 2003
    Location
    kansas city
    Posts
    143
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    98 Z3, 01 330i, 07 328iT
    BTW - Anyone in the KC area is welcome to use my lift if they don’t mind the drive ( I’m about 45 mins into the country in NE KS) and the dust from the last couple miles being on gravel (just drive slow and it’s not bad).

  17. #17
    Join Date
    May 2002
    Location
    SW Florida
    Posts
    12,681
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    99-01 M Cpe & Rdts, X5M
    When you get to a certain age, laying on your back under the car inhibits production__you tend to take naps instead of working

    In 1986 I moved into a rental that used to be a service station & lounge; it had an old school single center post lift in the 2-stall garage half. All I had to do was buy an air compressor and I had a lift. That's where I was living when I put new floors, sills and rockers in my Healey.

    It would be 2006 before I had another lift to work under. It too was limited by available ceiling height, but fortunately, I'm not too tall. I could work under the rear end standing straight up__and that's where I did most of my work. If I was doing a clutch-job or front suspension, I splayed my legs out, but continued to stand straight up, as far as my back was concerned. I brought this floorplate lift with me to Florida, putting it in the attached garage, but don't use it very often for working, mostly storage.

    Nowadays for working, I have an Bend-Pak overhead lift in the detached shop, built with a 12'4" ceiling. I raise an X5 high enough to stand underneath and work. For the Z3s, I have to have it a step or two down from the maximum lifting height or some parts are out of reach.

    If you have the space, budget (beg, borrow or steal...) the money for a lift! The quality has gone up__even on the Chinese ones__and the prices have come down since I bought the 1st 2-post in 2006; they're more affordable than you think, and benefits are truly endless. Even if you don't do any heavy mechanical work, the ability to wax the lower sides of the car while standing straight up is of more value to your back than you can imagine. I don't know anybody that's regretted putting a lift in their garage.

    Now you just have to decide what kind, 2-post (my preference) or 4-post.

    Freshly painted hood and front bumper (my last foray into bodywork)...


  18. #18
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Denver, Colorado
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    1,922
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    MRster / Z4 M4i / X5 M50
    I have a 4 post lift with a low ceiling, but I made a couple of seats out of car dollys and two stadium seats. Now I can not only work on my car without jacking and jack stands, I can do it sitting down.
    2002 M Roadster, Steel Gray Metailic, Gray Nappa Leather, Black Soft Top, Steel Gray Metailic Hard Top, TC Kline Double Adj Shocks with H&R Springs, Stromung Exhaust, SSR Type C Wheels. Looking for a new home.

    2022 Z4 M40i, Misano Blue Metallic, Prem Pkg, Driver Assistance Pkg

    2023 X5 M50, Phytonic Blue, Black Extended Merion Leather, Driving Asst Pro Pkg, Park Asst Pkg, Exec Pkg, Climate Comfort Pkg.

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
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    USA
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    1999 BMW MZ3 Roadster
    Quote Originally Posted by ProductUser View Post
    How about send me the money for this lift?
    It is not right for you to ask him for money. I would have just asked him to send the lift. I'm polite like that.

  20. #20
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    Mesa, Arizona
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    2000 Z3 M-Roadster
    Quote Originally Posted by Kram71 View Post
    It is not right for you to ask him for money. I would have just asked him to send the lift. I'm polite like that.
    Thanks for the laugh!
    Tony
    "You can't sign away negligence."

  21. #21
    Join Date
    Sep 2015
    Location
    Chicago
    Posts
    116
    My Cars
    2000 Z3 M Coupe
    "judging by the pictures, y'all have garages with space. stop screwing around with wood blocks and jackstands. just get a lift. this one is great for smaller spaces. worth every penny."

    Two post lifts like that one have pretty specific requirements for the thickness of the concrete slab they're bolted into. Many garage floors will require removing (at least) a section of the floor and pouring a new section of thicker concrete to tolerate the stresses of the lift. This can be prohibitive.

  22. #22
    Join Date
    Dec 2014
    Location
    Austin, Texas, USA
    Posts
    43
    My Cars
    2001 Z3 3.0i E36/7 5spd.

    QuickJack vs Two Post Lift

    I am about to get myself a set of QuickJacks, at of all places Home Depot! They have a Black Friday sale on the BL-5000SLX model for $1,050.

    The issue PhilPhil points out about the depth and/or compression strength of the concrete can be an issue with your garage for a two post lift. Another issue, like my house, is that I have a post-tension slab, and I would have to have a company come in with a Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) to locate where the tensioning cables are, and then after doing that (and paying for it) I still may not be able to install a lift in either garage bay, depending on where the cables are - i.e. they could be in places that interfere with one, or both of the locations where I would want to drill for installing lift(s).

    I sure wish, that when I had the house built, I had taken some spray paint and marked the slab where those cables are! I have though about putting a fire-resistant safe in the slab in the master walk-in closet and am faced with the same issue about the location of the cables in the slab...

    The other nice thing about a set of QuickJacks is that I can throw them on my trailer, under the Z3 (will have to add some more tie downs for cross straps), and take them to the track with me!

    EDIT: Oh, FYI, if y'all with QuickJacks haven't figured this out already, at least for the BL-5000SLX model (not sure what the size differences are on the other '5000' series and the '3500' series) you can lift the Z3 (and most likely other similar sized vehicles) with the QuickJacks running 90 degrees to the 'normal' orientation. The pictures shown on the Home Depot site (see below) actually show a Z3 being lifted like this; one QJ frame assembly across the front lift points and the other QJ frame assemble across the back lift points. (although in that photo it looks like they have the front QJ frame assy. too far back...)
    But I guess the point here is that the width of the Z3 (between lift points) seems to fall within the specs of where you can place the lift blocks on the BL-5000SLX, which the manual says is minimum of 29.5" and a maximum of 60".
    I am at work at the moment, so not quite sure what the distance is between the lift points, either front to back or side to side (will measure tonight before I buy a QJ) but the rear track width of my Z3 is listed on-line as 58.8, if I remember correctly it seems like the rear jack points would be about at the middle of the rear tires, so 58 to 59 inches would be a ballpark, which just fits the QJ sideways.
    quickjack-car-lifts-bl-5000slx-ac-110v-4f_1000.jpg
    Last edited by wfidrock; 11-11-2020 at 06:02 PM.

  23. #23
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
    Location
    San Diego, CA
    Posts
    89
    My Cars
    2001 Z3 Coupe
    I unfortunately (?) got a quickjack 3500. Z3 is fine, but it definitely won't fit my minivan for doing oil changes. I haven't gotten the $220 SUV kit to get it higher, and maybe I'll wait until I have a real PITA to do under a vehicle.

  24. #24
    Join Date
    Oct 2020
    Location
    Austin, tx
    Posts
    21
    My Cars
    99 Z3 M
    I used an ez car lift with my previous car. This is a pic from their website (not my car) It raises it about 26” and is portable. CCFBC67F-6783-4076-83E3-7FBA9F7DC6AD.jpeg

  25. #25
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
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    Charlotte, NC/Denmark
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    1,115
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    2K Z3 2.8
    Giant cribs made out of 2x10's glued and screwed.
    Esco flat top jack stands
    A pair of cheap harbor freight ones as backup

    Haven't lacked height yet.
    Zed's dead baby. Zed's dead.

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