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Keith's Dakar Z3 M Coupe - Progress Update with Pics.

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  • Keith's Dakar Z3 M Coupe - Progress Update with Pics.

    Well its been about six weeks, so I've got some news to update on her, which you may or may not be interested to read about!

    I have a regular journal on e36coupe.com, but you need to be registered to read it. So I will keep updating this thread with my posts from there as I go along...


    January

    Been a bit of a slow month, as I had to spend a proportionately excessive amount of money on the missus after treating myself to the Z , which meant the car fund has taken a back seat for a month.

    Then it was a combination of Christmas, snowfall and illness that kept me from getting on with tidying the car up.

    Anyhow, before Christmas the car went into see my mech for a 'proper' inspection II (valve clearances + box oil all-in), even though the car had been serviced just 800miles ago, for my own piece of mind. All the usual service items replaced along with the valve clearances checked and new 'box + diff oil, plus I had the vanos filter and gaskets replaced for new. Lovely.

    The last couple days a little progress has been made. When I bought the car, you may remember I posted up a picture of the engine, showing a little rust on the fuel and vacuum rails. That is still there... but will be sorted in course. However, The chromed trumpet nuts were tatty, as was the oil filter cap. So these were replaced with new items (at a cost of £3 each trumpet bolt), and I also purchased some Evo 'vert strut tower caps, as I think these smarten up the bay;




    There is some paint coming away from both the plenum and the rocker cover, although entirely cosmetic, these will be addressed at some point as I continue to smarten her up.

    My good woman treated me to one of Bilal's (Storm Motorwerks) Titanium-finish Storm V2's for Christmas. Well, what can I say. The Z3M gearthrow is short anyway, and this is about an inch shorter. Coupled with the sheer weight of the thing (520grams iirc) and the new 'box oil, the shifts feel sublime. A lot more 'guts' to each shift now. Such a small item, yet such a significant change in feel. Love it.

    Bloody cold in this weather though



    I think the titanium finish is perfectly suited to the car's interior;





    Yesterday I removed the drivers door card to tidy up some small marks made on the leather, probably from the previous owner shutting the door with the keys still in their right hand. It was a good excuse to treat it to a full scuffmaster dye treatment.

    The leather and plastic were shampooed, and then the individual marks were treated with the neat dye, applied with a cocktail stick. Once all of those were seen to, the entire leather elements were washed with 2 coats of 85/15 dye/water solution. Came up like new.

    Before;


    After;


    The door card now looks lovely, and has a more matt finish to the leather, which I like. The passenger side was pretty much fine, so I Scuffmastered that in-situ, as it just required a quick shampoo, a single wash with some dye solution and then a condition.

    The seats will be removed and the leather centre console will be receiving the same treatment soon too
    Last edited by -Keith-; 18-08-2012, 12:22 PM.

    Ex-Dakar MC Owner - Gone But Not Forgotten

  • #2
    PHOTOBUCKET HAS REGRETABLY RUINED THIS THREAD!

    Apologies for the lack of pictures this thread now displays. For posterity, I offer this single image of this fondly remembered car:



    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



    Now for the time consuming job I've been on non-stop last couple days. The only parts of the bodywork that let the car down are the very common Z3 affliction of oxidising mirror bases, which had started to bubble badly. Looking at these on an otherwise mint car made me cringe, and I've been itching to do them. The corrosion is not the earthy-coloured ferrous corrosion, but the milky-white bubbling due to them being made of aluminium, which requires a slightly different treatment.

    This required a full strip back to the bare metal, and to then be refinished. The mirror bases can not actually be removed from the mirror body, which posed some issues. The standard Z3 mirrors have a two piece body which allow dismantling, but the single piece M mirrors do not. This meant that without destroying the interference-fit split-washer (which you cant seem to buy from BMW on its own) that secures the internals of the mirror to the base, I had to unscrew the internal bracket, and just pull the body away from the base as much as possible, taping it in place and masking the body. Difficult to explain, but it now looks like this;



    So, the worst side of the bubbling looked like this, and I can't describe how much of a splinter in my side this was;


    After sanding down with various levels of paper;


    Priming is different on aluminium, as for it to key correctly, you must use acid etch Primer.

    So after priming, I sanded gently with 1200 grit wet and dry to a smooth finish, looking like this;



    You may have noticed the yellow over-spray on the masking in the first picture (that was taken a moment ago, as I didn't have another image that showed way I had to tape it all together for prep). I have now given both sides a first coat of yellow, which will be lightly wet & dried, before having a final coat of colour and then a couple coats of lacquer.

    The Halfords match is actually very good indeed (must be easier on a flat colour - the Estoril mix was shit), and for such a small part, I didn't mind doing it myself rather than getting it professionally sprayed. Plus the satisfaction of a DIY is immense.

    Whilst all the mirrors were dismantled (along with a couple bits from the door), all the individual components were cleaned up with a G101 mixture and a combination of scrubbing and toothbrushes - they needed it after 10 years, but came up good;




    I'll update with finished result of the mirrors once I've got the finish spot on, and all reasembled. For now, should I need to drive the car, the motor wires have been taped up and neatly stuck to the side of the car inside some clear plastic lol. I guess its illegal to drive without mirrors, but I bet I could shave a few seconds off a lap around the ring without them






    Thanks for looking, have a few other bits in the pipeline and waiting on some deliveries, so I'll update again in a week or so.

    Keith
    Last edited by -Keith-; 04-10-2017, 03:49 PM.

    Ex-Dakar MC Owner - Gone But Not Forgotten

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    • #3
      Excellent writeup Keith
      Strongstrut CL front brace-Yellowstuff pads/Castrol SRF race brake fluid-Rogue top mounts/Rear support bushes-H&R ARBs-Whiteline droplinks-Bilstein Sport shockers-H&R Springs-Black Halo Angel Eye headlight units-Sachs lightweight flywheel/matching clutch-Supersprint exhaust/race catalysers-BBS RSGTs with Falkens-K&N High Flow Air Filter-Recaro Pole Position seats - Exdos mod - ACS flippers

      Comment


      • #4
        Good info there! Particularly the leather treatment which looks great. I like the matt look of leather too (after all this is what it looks like when it's a brand new car!). Are they off the shelf productsor something you do to other leathers?

        One thing I always thought about doing was moving the mirrors to the "correct" position at the corner of the door near the bonnet, sometimes they just look wierd halfway down the door. I know the front quarter glass is the reason for this but then why is that there!? as most frameless doors have full size glass as normal.

        Comment


        • #5
          Thanks Coupe Fan

          Originally posted by c_w View Post
          Good info there! Particularly the leather treatment which looks great. I like the matt look of leather too (after all this is what it looks like when it's a brand new car!). Are they off the shelf productsor something you do to other leathers?
          Cheers CW

          They are Gliptone Products. 'Liquid Leather' shampoo and conditioner for the prep, and then a Gliptone 'Scuffmaster' dye set. You can get the lot for about £30 off a guy called John who runs Bespoke Leathering (Google it).

          I agree - the matt finish looks great, and those products do restore that OEM finish like new.

          Originally posted by c_w View Post
          One thing I always thought about doing was moving the mirrors to the "correct" position at the corner of the door near the bonnet, sometimes they just look wierd halfway down the door. I know the front quarter glass is the reason for this but then why is that there!? as most frameless doors have full size glass as normal.
          I know what you mean, but thats a lot of body work to relocate something, add additional interbnal brackets/supports for it to screw too, and the smooth and finish the door over where they used to be!

          Coming from an E46 though, the mirrors being that far 'back' did take some getting used to!

          Ex-Dakar MC Owner - Gone But Not Forgotten

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          • #6
            Excellent work Keith!

            Also interested in the leather treatment for the drivers side bolster of mine. Will google Bespoke Leathering and have a chat with them

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            • #7
              ...love this post -- clear evidence of MC fetish symptons !!!

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              • #8
                nice one keith, once you got the mirrors back on we need some proper pics of the car! not the ones in the carpark in dark!!!

                Click here to email me

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                • #9
                  I love your attention to detail Keith.

                  Look forward to seeing the showroom fresh ZM once youre done with it!

                  Whats the bodywork like?

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Chopper - http://www.bespokeleathering.com/leather_care.html

                    Above is the link to the leather products you can buy from John. You want the '65ml dye with cleaner and conditioner' kit - it'll come with a 250ml bottle of each shampoo and conditioner, and a 65ml dye colour of your choice for £29.90 delivered. That will be enough to treat the entire interior IMO.

                    For those who wish to go all-out and treat both colours of their two-tone interior, you may need to buy an additional 65ml dye kit (£19.90) in their other colour.

                    As you can see from my results, well worth it though.

                    Look at these specific scuff applications I treated on my old Clubsport;

                    BEFORE

                    Passenger Seat Scratch;


                    Passenger Seat Scuff;



                    AFTER

                    Passenger Scratch;


                    Passenger Scuff


                    I will shortly be using the stuff on my drivers bolster (when the snow pi55es off!) and have no doubt it'll come up like new


                    Anyway, enough singing the praises of Scuffmaster.

                    @Wfarrell, Indy & Rags - Cheers fellas. When I sink my teeth into a car that I've got for keeps, my OCD takes over... And it runs much deeper than this post believe me! I've got lots more planned for this, and hopefully, it'll be somewhere near 'showroom fresh' when I'm done !

                    Regarding the rest of the bodywork Rags, it's all immaculate - no rust or dings anywhere.

                    I think the first owner (a rich, eccentric land-lady) used to clean bird-poo off the bonnet with kitchen wipes and a hard scrub - as in the light at certain angles I can make out about 6 spots on the bonnet where something has been rubbed off. I will either get this to a local detailer I know for a full bonnet paint correction, or I will buy a dual-action polisher (DAS-6 methinks ) and do it myself, along with the rest of the car.

                    Apart from said marks on the bonnet, the paint elsewhere is very good indeed, but will of course have some light swirling (in certain light) from 10years worth of washing, however the flat nature of the Dakar does not show these easily. But I know they are there, so it'll be done at some point

                    Ex-Dakar MC Owner - Gone But Not Forgotten

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                    • #11
                      Top drawer! Great post.

                      When you put the wing mirrors back on, can you take photos of the alignment that it "twists" from. I need to give mine exactly the same treatment that yours has had (it's the only real blemish on my car too!) but as the wing mirrors are stuck at the moment, I don't want to apply pressure in the wrong direction!

                      Jez
                      1998 Cosmos Black - Not quite standard ...

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                      • #12
                        Thanks chap

                        No worries fella!

                        Mine felt stuck too, but I wasn't going to accept that. They are spring loaded, so you have to pull them out and then toward the back of the car; i.e. to make the mirror face the floor

                        It does feel like they are going to break, but after inspection of the internals, there really is nothing in there to break - like I say, the internals of the mirror are screwed to a metal bracket, which in turn is screwed to the body. The bracket itself is just sprung with a heavy duty spring which requires a tug outward before you can twist.

                        Hope that helps.

                        Ex-Dakar MC Owner - Gone But Not Forgotten

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Thanks! I'll buy myself the "kit" that you've used and have a go. For such a small area, I'll do it myself too.

                          Jez
                          1998 Cosmos Black - Not quite standard ...

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Originally posted by wadh0070 View Post
                            Thanks! I'll buy myself the "kit" that you've used and have a go. For such a small area, I'll do it myself too.

                            Jez
                            If you like, I'll do a little DIY guide. It'll be good for future forum use, as I guess this afflicts many MC's.

                            I've taken a good few pictures of most of the stages, so I should be able to knock together a little DIY.

                            Ex-Dakar MC Owner - Gone But Not Forgotten

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Great write-up Keith! Looking forward to getting home as my companies internet "spy" program has blocked all your pictures! I too have the same wing mirror mount problem and would like to get this sorted when the weather gets abit better so your write-up will help alot.
                              2002 '52 S54 - Titanium Silver with 18" BBS LMs, AP Racing BBK, KW V3, H&R anti roll bars & ACS flippers (previously 2000 'X' S50 - Arctic Silver)

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