Sill removal experiences

[John Wilson]

I just removed and replaced my Z3 sills (2litre 2000 roadster). I decided to have them resprayed because of that little bit that rusts where the front wheel kicks up grit onto it. In fact that bit was not too bad, but elsewhere inside was quite rusty in places so I was glad I did it. I had them done at 'Paint and Beyond', just outside Diss, and he did a brilliant job, as usual. I had the small front side panel touched up at the same time because it was blebbing through at the bottom corner, and it was so good a match that I thoght he must have resprayed the whole panel, but he hadnt.
Anyway, taking the sills off was not too bad, and it is documented elsewhere on this site, with pictures, but if I could add a bit for those thinking of doing it, now the weathers a bit better, it might help.
The wheel arch covers have to come off for access to bolts behind. The rear ones are no trouble, mainly because the back bumper is quite bendy. The front ones are a bit of a pain. There is a square bit at the rear which fits into 2 studs which are then secured with plastic nuts (10mm). If you think it's hard getting them off, then its worse putting them back on. Theres a lip that the cover has to slide over before locating the studs. Eventually it just seemed to happen, and from hat experience the second one was easier, but I still dont know the best way, except to say to start with getting that bit in place first, but also having the rest of the arch roughly in position.
Putting the sills back on has to be done in a certain order. The first one I did, i put the top bolts on first, only to discover that you cant get the underneath bit to then fit around the jacking points. So get the sill slotted around the jacking points first and put in a couple of bolts to hold it in place. Then the top bolts can be done. There is a flange bit that needs to be pushed behind the door. This can be done but great care is needed not to scratch the door. Te door needs to be wide open to do this. The little side panel needs removing and replacing because of access to a bolt in the middle. When replacing this it is important to carefully try the door to see that the panel is not scraping the front edge of the door. If the gap is too small the just reposition the panel forwards. There is one bolt that goes through the side panel, the through the sill. So don't do up this one when putting the sills on, until the side panel is in place.
By the way, I did this job just using the jack in the boot and without any help. It certainly would be better to have someone at the other end of the sills when replacing them, but its not impossible to do alone.
Hope all this is some help.

[Jonco]

Agree with most of this as I did mine last year but did you not use axle stands?

There is a very good step by step guide over on .org http://zroadster.org/wiki/bmw-z3/mainte ... rotection/

With regard to scratching doors - yes they have to be open but apply masking tape to lower corners to protect.

The surprise area for me was the bottom lead corner of the wing panels. The factory applied sealant hardens in this area and becomes inflexible. It then breaks away from the wing panels and creates a crevice/moisture trap which leads to corrosion. Found mine just in time.

[BladeRunner919]

By the way, I did this job just using the jack in the boot and without any help.

That jack is for emergency wheel changing. Using it for doing work on a car is a very good way to lose a limb or sustain some other injury. Please buy yourself a proper jack and some axle stands.

[Z3cade]

It's a good write up that one

[Jonco]

It's a good write up that one

Any idea which one of you is the imposter

[John Wilson]

I did most of the work with the wheels on. You just need to remove the inner wheel arches with one wheel off at a time. I would never have any limbs under fhe car, whether I was using a scissor or hydraulic jack. In fact, having worked on cars for over 40 years I have had failures of hydraulic jacks, but never scissor jacks.