I love reading other people's journals of all things BMW; I just love the cars and find each persons journey and direction inspiring - I hope my journal may be interesting for others to read too.
My Previous Cars
Cut my driving teeth in E36s (first car after passing my test was a 328), bought another 328 after that, then a 330 Clubsport, and now the Z3 M Coupe.
In order;
1997 Cosmos 328i E36. Saffron Leather. Standard bodyshape.
1996 Cosmos 328i E36. Black Leather. M-Tech kit.
2003 Estoril 330ci Clubsport.
Now...
2000 Dakar II Z3 M Coupe
The Z3 M Coupe
Well... Here is where I am now.
Finally plucked up the balls to sell my beloved Clubsport, after managing to find both a buyer and at the same time 'The One' to chop it in for.
It's a 2000 (S50 facelift) in Dakar II, with full black interior and only 32k. FSH, pretty much mint, and with some tasty options.
I discovered it tucked away fairly local to me at prestige/race car trader Duncan Hamilton, after finding it mistakenly paced in Autotrader under Z3, rather than M Coupe. The Z3M Coupe forum boys are mad-hot on exactly what's available on the market at any one time, and so the good one get snapped up very quickly as everyone in the market looks at said forums. The car looked perfect (condition and spec wise), so I knew I had to act quick.
Nearly had a heart attack when another forum member on E36coupe.com posted up a link to the car in the middle of my negotiations
! He kindly removed the link after a quick PM - I was bricking it that someone else might outbid me, as I had negotiated a rather aggressive discount, knowing the owner wanted to sell; blissfully unaware that most of his potential buyers would never even see it, as it was advertised in the wrong place. Well a deal was struck for a very fair price (it was advertised for £16995 - I paid nowhere near that) considering condition, mileage and the fact it comes with a 1year warranty. Bonus.
Well, the 330 Clubsport went to the new owner on a Friday night, without the girlfriend or my Parents knowing. This was just because I couldn't be bothered with the inevitable 'What? You must be bloody joking the amount of time you spent on that car blah blah blah' . My girlfriend love the 330 and I knew she'd be pi55ed off if I told her it was going.
Well part of my plan ran smoothly. My girlfriend literally lives 5 doors down, and I was with her that night. I said that I had to go home quickly to get something, sold the car, and came back without her knowing a thing.
However, whilst at home, in the middle of filling in the V5, the folks came back from the pub to find me and two fellas sitting in the lounge exchanging. Cue much embarrassment as my rather loud and lathered-up old man starts going into shock.
So. Next morning, Girlfriend thinks I'm going to work. I come home a couple hours later in a 2 seater marigold.
Plan is to keep the car mostly OEM. No flash rims methinks, just original goodness with a twist. By that, I'm thinking lowered and uprated suspension, ARBs, polybushes, spacers and dechromed. And that's it. The rest will just be refreshing parts for new, tidying and maintenance.
Car needs some new rear pads in the next 2000 miles or so, and some new rear rubber - I have a pair of Conti's waiting to go on when the snow goes away. Bushings and what-not are all ok, so apart from the pads and brakes, nothing else critical is necessary, which is nice. I intend to work on this at a more leisurely pace than my last car... Which was bought, tidied, transformed and turned-around in under 8 months, sold on for a profit.
If I 'finish' this one too soon, will I get bored and buy something else? Well the S50 lump has draw a smile on my face so big since I got her home, boredom seems unlikely right now...
So It Starts - December 2009
I had a box of unfitted parts that I ordered before I'd even picked the car up. I had given it a thorough once over and test drive, so I had a mental log of what I needed to get. They are mostly under-bonnet refreshment bits, but that'll be posted up later.
Some rain-x was applied (crazy sh1t to see when you are on the motorway and water is dripping up the windscreen), and some new Bosch wipers fitted.
Big bottle of G101 ordered, which was used in door hinges and various other places, and will also be used to clean the arches before undersealing.
Car had been clayed by Duncan Hamilton, so paint felt very nice indeed. However, it became evident when it rained that they had just used some kind of shitty quick-wax as beading was poor. As they saved me a job on the claying, wasted no time I getting stuck-in with the snowfoam and Collinite 476s - a marvellous product.
The Karcher, alongside the pressure washer
Snowfoamed
All finished, and after two layers of Collinite all over;
Beading;
Finally, the essential application for this time of year; Gummi Pflege. Marvellous gear.
Pleased with the results. The car could do with a quick mop, but I'll wait until meet-season next summer, and share the cost of a DA with my brother.
Did clean in all the hinges, boot shuts etc, but forgot to take pictures (if anyone other than the fellow OCDers even care).
Initial Impressions
Now I've had time to take in the driving experience of the car, I can't really describe the drive as anything other than an 'event'. You simply can't have a relaxing drive it it, due to the nature of the car - it's loud (engine noise, road noise, gearshifts and bumps are all presented quite obviously), and the driving position is so low down that you're prepped to drive it, rather than breeze along in it. If that makes any sense. As soon as engine oil is up to temp, you forget about the cost of fuel, and find opportunities to bury your foot. It's addictive... And the car makes most sense, perfect sense, right then. It's a lot of fun. You can't arrive at work (after the 5:30am drive in) feeling anything other than awake, especially if its tried to kill you on the frosty/wet roads in
. Comparatively, I could drive the CS whilst still asleep... TC on, music playing. Christmas '09/Early January 2010
Been a bit of a slow month, as I had to spend a proportionately ridiculous amount of money on the missus after treating myself to the Z
, which meant the car fund has taken a back seat for a bit. Then it was a combination of Christmas, snowfall and illness that kept me from getting on with tidying the car up.Inspection II + Vanos Gaskets Filter
Anyhow, before Christmas the car went into see my mech, Mike at A-L Tuning. I can't recommend the fella enough, he's an ex BMW mech, and its him that tunes all the CA Automotive cars, whacks great supercharges on them and writes his own maps. He also created that red 475bhp N/A E92 M3 after spending about year designing the map alone. Well you get the point - he knows his salt - so if your in the London Berkshire area - give him a shout.
My car went in with him 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.
Engine Bay Tart-Up (Pt.1)
When I bought the car, there was a few engine bay bits that needed addressing, but all superficial, including 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 just cosmetic, these will be addressed at some point as I continue to tart her up.
Storm V2 Titanuim-Finish Weighted Gearknob
The missus treated me to one of Bilal's Titanium-finish Storm V2s 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 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;
Door Card Leather Treatment
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 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 also be receiving the same treatment soon too.
Mirror Base Refurbishment
The only parts of the bodywork that let the car down are both mirror bases, that have 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 oxidation aluminium suffers, which requires a slightly different treatment.
For an in-depth pictorial guide to how I treated these, I did a DIY for the mirrors if you want to do the same;
///M Mirror Base DIY Refurbishment
Just a brief run down of images for the journal;
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, I also sanded the rest of the clear coat to allow a better key;
After priming, I sanded gently with 1200 grit wet and dry to a smooth finish, looking like this;
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;
Also, whilst I was doing the mirrors, the motor wires were taped up and neatly stuck to the side of the car inside some clear plastic, as snow was forecast (and boy, did it come!). It's illegal to drive without a driver side mirror, but I bet I could shave a few seconds off a lap around the ring without them
Anyway, back to the mirrors themselves;
After a couple coats of paint
After two coats of lacquer;
You can see in the reflection that 'orange peel' appearance is minimal.
I honestly think the finish is not far short of what a bodyshop could have achieved. Well chuffed.
All items were meticulously cleaned before remounting;
And back on the car;
Must say, Halfords did me proud on the colour match. It's identical.
Got the confidence to do other small items now. I think I may go black grills and black side fins (IMO Dakar and Chrome are not the best partners). If I do, the only remaining chrome piece on the car will be the chrome boot handle. I've seen this in black before (you can actually order an OE black boot handle), but to me, in black it looks like a Hitler moustache on a Simpson's skin tone;
Because i think ^^^that looks odd, I may well try and do the boot handle Dakar myself. We'll see.
Very kindly, I have been made an offer on some OE grills by another member on here, so once I get them, I will be sanding them and doing them black.
Fuel Cavity Blockage/Fuel Cap Not Flush
I had noticed after washing the car before that the fuel cap cavity would fill up with water and not drain away... Obviously a blockage, but I kept forgetting to see to it.
In the end I got some electrical multicore cable (flexible but strong), located what should have been the drainage hole and fed it inside. I then added a few drops washing up liquid, and poured in some boiling water. After a few bubbles, the lot disappeared - problem solved. The rest of the cavity including fuel cap itself was then given the obligatory scrub with some G101. That 5l bottle is paying for itself...
I then noticed that the fuel flap on the body was not sitting as flush as I'd like. This was annoying.
A few tugs outward on the shoulder it rests on when closed, and the cap now sits how it should. Or how I think it should at least. Satisfying.
Before;
After;
Mid January 2010
These all arrived in the post
Braided Clutch Hose, custom made by Earl's for the Z3Ms;
Rogue Engineering Top Mounts;
These will be fitted myself in the next couple of weeks, so expect an update then.
Hope you have enjoyed reading so far (if you haven't fallen asleep yet)
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How did you remove the mirror glass from the mirror housing, they are clicked in place at 4 points, curious as to how you did it without cracking them!................I speak from experience 
thanks
);
) and I was prepped for some crimping and soldering. 
