Long time BMW owner/BMWCCA member, picking up a '97 2.8 Z3 this week

[e30cabrio]

Previous owner bad repairs rears its ugly head again.

The 3rd brake light lens was old so I got a new one.

Supposed to disconnect the electrical connector, unscrew 2 screws, pop out the lens & light assembly, reverse

NO! he glued the damn thing in!

 

[e30cabrio]

Liking the brake lights, kind of shocking.

 

[e30cabrio]

ZHP weighted shift knob came today, man it's nice!

 

[e30cabrio]

Reasonable quality non-OEM grilles have been a PITA to find, but I finally did!

 

[e30cabrio]

Dropped the Z at the body shop, it's first time away from home, they grow up so fast

 

[e30cabrio]

I got a new Dragy & I got a mount.

Ordered a teal mount for the BMW.

 

[e30cabrio]

Got the car, there was a miscommunication, they didn't install them.

In! it was easy!

 

[t-tony]

Did they not install them because the colour was way off?

Tony.

 

[e30cabrio]

I don't know if it is the camera or light or reflection but it's not as bad as it looks

Here is an angle that better represents the color, I need to see if I can fix the alignment.

Alignment is tough, get the front right & it's too far back, back right too far forward, I compromised.

 

[e30cabrio]

Normal grill badges are huge for Z3 grills. I took a chance and got some pins, most were too small. This one is ok. I like it but am on the fence.

 

[e30cabrio]

I removed the grille badge, I took a drive this morning, and the car is a beast & joy to drive, the only issue is the passenger side suspension is squeaking, I have picked it up 5x verified nothing is loose, cannot localize the noise.

 

[Althulas]

Have you poly bushed the rear trailing arms or anti roll bar? Could need regreasing. Have you tried bouncing the car or jacking it up and using a pry bar?

 

[e30cabrio]

I have 85A AKG rear subframe bushings & 75D Rear Trailing Arm Bushings, they were drenched in Permatex grease.

It is only the passenger side, both sides were done 100% the same.

 

[Althulas]

Rear subframe ones give no problems, but I seen post of people reverting back to oem bushes on the trailing arms because of squeaks, try what I said on the passenger side corner, just trying to help.

 

[e30cabrio]

I appreciate any suggestion, do I have to disassemble the trailing arm to grease them? I did it pre install going in.

What is the best way to grease them?

Thanks

 

[Althulas]

I would test first before disassembly as that’s the only way to properly do them, I suppose you could ‘top up’ with Silicone spray grease.

 

[e30cabrio]

I just got under the car while my wife slowly jacked the passenger side. It sounds like it is coming from everywhere. Truly infuriating.

The thing that makes no sense is they have less than 500 miles and were slathered in Permatex silicon grease. A full large tube for the 6 bushings.

Thanks

This is from about a week ago.

View: https://vimeo.com/955561221?share=copy

 

[Althulas]

It does sound like a rubbery squeeze, try some silicone spray on the trailing arms and anti roll bar bushes if you have them there and see if that improves it the subframe ones should be fine but I’m surprised you would get this after just 500 miles. I thought it would be an annual maintenance job.

 

[e30cabrio]

It was silent on the OEM 158k bushings, I figured while the car was engineless and as I was more than doubling the HP, I needed to protect the trunk floor so did these and installed the Z3M differential bushing (over 250 for the single bushing from Schmiedmann which with European shipping was still 60 less than North American sources)

Thanks

 

[e30cabrio]

I ordered this to localize the noise.



https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CCPBF9HJ?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details