Time for an overhaul of my 1.9 '98 BMW Z3 Individual

[Matt Barnes]

Its there, if and when you need it…

If its any consolation I had the same problem recently…. And had to destroy the locking ring…my saving grace was that I had Lee , Gaz and Trev looking over my shoulder and helping me with it.

my nut is well and truly on there..now I've what's left of the ring off..I might buy some steel dremel.grinders just to.see if I can split it

 

[Matt Barnes]

only slightly more positive news... the Diff looks very decent... all this was a soaking in Gunk degreaser... no scrubbing or anything...think it'll come up a treat
View attachment 271623

oooo forgot to say...It's a 3:45 ratio Diff.. is that usual for a 1.9?

 

[Matt Barnes]

well it's another day...and I'll come on to the bad news in a bit....
thought I'd have a break from hammering driveshafts and turn my attention to some bodywork..... with the offside rear arch liner off... all looked very promising I must say... just a bit of surface rust... jabbed it all with a screwdriver and all very solid..

Time to get the sill covers off.....only broke a couple of clips as well

All looking VERY promising I must say !!

Also managed to get the front wing off without removing the wheel.....just managed to get the front wheel arch liner undone enough to reach that last bolt..

inside of the wing very very clean....

inside of the sill cover is a bit crusty but will clean up nicely...

and that is precisely where my luck ran out....the Bad news........ I have holes....

with the jacking pad removed

everything around the holes is solid... passed the screwdriver jabbing test

then I tried the offside rear jacking pad.... another hole...again, everything around it is rock solid

now I don't know what my options are now...... get a mobile welder ?... or wait until the car is back on the ground and truck it to a shop ?

 

[Althulas]

Honestly you need to be brutal and get to clean metal even if it mean chopping some out. A good welder should be able to make a near seamless repair, have a check in my thread in the my sig mine was a lot worse.

 

[Matt Barnes]

Honestly you need to be brutal and get to clean metal even if it mean chopping some out. A good welder should be able to make a near seamless repair, have a check in my thread in the my sig mine was a lot worse.

cheers mate...will have a looksie

 

[Matt Barnes]

Honestly you need to be brutal and get to clean metal even if it mean chopping some out. A good welder should be able to make a near seamless repair, have a check in my thread in the my sig mine was a lot worse.

@Althulas just been going through your build ...wow !..... I've ordered one of those jacking repair plates you suggested and I'll start grinding away...cheers !

 

[Matt Barnes]

so today I did the nearside...

due to the tight space as I left the19" front wheels on.... had to get creative getting the wheel arch liner... midget rachet with a extender and small mole grips

left side off....

nowhere near as bad...BUT we had this "professionally" done only 4 years ago.....I can't see any treatment on there !

luckily.... no holes that shouldn't be there

applied DEOX GEL.....my taping up isn't as professional as @DrWong though !

 

[DrWong]

Looks good to me! As long as it's airtight so the gel doesn't dry out. Decent temperature to be applying it too atm. I'd leave it for a couple days to do its thing. You can tell the gel is spent when it turns black and manky.

You ground all the loose rust off first before applying the gel, right.?

 

[Matt Barnes]

Looks good to me! As long as it's airtight so the gel doesn't dry out. Decent temperature to be applying it too atm. I'd leave it for a couple days to do its thing. You can tell the gel is spent when it turns black and manky.

You ground all the loose rust off first before applying the gel, right.?

as much as I could chip and grind off yes...and it's as airtight as I can get...I need to move the jacks onto the body rails as I need full access to the sills...that'll be interesting on a slope!...

car tucked up for the night

 

[Andyboy]

Those sills have been changed already by the looks of things.

 

[Matt Barnes]

Those sills have been changed already by the looks of things.

really?...how can you tell?

 

[Matt Barnes]

Rain stopped play today (got a few days off)

so I got back onto you know what...... I swear this nut is taking the p***.... several hours hammering, drilling and chiselling...got through all my cobalt bits and broke my Dremel. and got HALF of it off....I'm convinced the previous guy welded it on !

 

[DrWong]

Jeez, that nut is having your life haha. Keep up the good fight!

Is the sand colour gravel yours then? Cos the bit behind where the Z currently is looks more level, so just wondering the it isn’t there instead

 

[colb]

Just hate it when you come across seized nuts like that, just been through that with a Lambda Sensor on my Z4 ended up using an air hammer chisel to break the sensor off so I could get a extractor socket on the sensors Hex. Wonderful sockets to have, they are fluted so when anticlockwise pressure is applied the socket grips even tighter and with a long breaker bar it freed off and came out. Those Hub nuts are quite big, not sure the kits of extractor sockets on ebay go up to that size biggest I have seen is 22mm in a set.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/385828216454?hash=item59d5275e86:g3UAAOSwJKxkv49H&amdata=enc:AQAIAAAAwNOFIktt4STCvdmcZI33zfNh21eFIiSVvBY97oF4jBF4DyuVJ5TVm9LgkEMW4GeboEXu8QGeIGJmu2Rd8kVrn3bbbUXdWPpUt5iKoAMf7DNzajgmDf+zwe/eHxYTuqXMam4+wmnMII1aTpTmWn74MO/pvdpL5j1kV1nZ21mw2txHS37QbHfWcuZr9eCUmrIflKIElK6nLRpGqwnmPVxrDyvFqEdgOFOWvmHyn85dVrVmddpNllK3yquelBKuB/8bjA==|tkp:Bk9SR_7G18q-Yg

 

[Matt Barnes]

Jeez, that nut is having your life haha. Keep up the good fight!

Is the sand colour gravel yours then? Cos the bit behind where the Z currently is looks more level, so just wondering the it isn’t there instead

it's permeable resin mate....NOT cheap!... the bit in front is more level but means I can't the other cars in or out...I need to get axle stands on the chassis rails so I can get them off the jacking pads

 

[Matt Barnes]

Just hate it when you come across seized nuts like that, just been through that with a Lambda Sensor on my Z4 ended up using an air hammer chisel to break the sensor off so I could get a extractor socket on the sensors Hex. Wonderful sockets to have, they are fluted so when anticlockwise pressure is applied the socket grips even tighter and with a long breaker bar it freed off and came out. Those Hub nuts are quite big, not sure the kits of extractor sockets on ebay go up to that size biggest I have seen is 22mm in a set.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/385828216454?hash=item59d5275e86:g3UAAOSwJKxkv49H&amdata=enc:AQAIAAAAwNOFIktt4STCvdmcZI33zfNh21eFIiSVvBY97oF4jBF4DyuVJ5TVm9LgkEMW4GeboEXu8QGeIGJmu2Rd8kVrn3bbbUXdWPpUt5iKoAMf7DNzajgmDf+zwe/eHxYTuqXMam4+wmnMII1aTpTmWn74MO/pvdpL5j1kV1nZ21mw2txHS37QbHfWcuZr9eCUmrIflKIElK6nLRpGqwnmPVxrDyvFqEdgOFOWvmHyn85dVrVmddpNllK3yquelBKuB/8bjA==|tkp:Bk9SR_7G18q-Yg

I've got those thanks mate..up to 27mm...used them to get the bolts of doom off...30mm ones are like rocking horse do doo.. but I think I'm beyond extractors for this

 

[Matt Barnes]

right.... I decided today was a non driveshaft nut banging day !

took the bin bags off the rust and was quite impressed @DrWong ..doing job nicely !.. I've just setup a Screwfix account to ordered a cheapy angle grinder and some cup wheels... I'll add another layer later on...

then decided it was time to take the tank out.... I never knew there was a "formed" tank access hatch behind the driver's seat...

.just needs opening with a Stanley knife

annoyingly.. you can't get the 4th screw out without removing the drivers seat.... well... I couldn't

reading that @IainP had trouble with his tank fixing bracket, so I broke as much rust off that I could with a hammer.... and gently rocked the strap up and down, tapping as I went.. eventually tapped it off the bracket... phew !!

Tank..... out... wallop !.... aaand I forgot it was half full.....

and the straps.... amazingly under the bolt heads, it was still shiny black !!

my little "homage! to @Mazza

very clean under there with only a few spots of rust on seam edges that everyone has....

the tank neck got stuck.... so I rested the tank on the propshaft and managed to wiggle out the filler neck gaiter... and the vent pipe didn't break !!

only casualty was the bracket screw holding the brake and fuel pipes

and now I'm officially.... That One Neighbour

 

[DrWong]

only casualty was the bracket screw holding the brake and fuel pipes

What happened with the bracket screw? I couldn't for the life of me get it to turn when I re-did my rear brake lines. Was bashing it with a hammer and chisel and all sorts, but just wouldn't budge. Ended up cutting the lines after the bracket, inside the wheel arch.

Excellent progress btw, well impressed with how you've gotten stuck in!

 

[Matt Barnes]

What happened with the bracket screw? I couldn't for the life of me get it to turn when I re-did my rear brake lines. Was bashing it with a hammer and chisel and all sorts, but just wouldn't budge. Ended up cutting the lines after the bracket, inside the wheel arch.

Excellent progress btw, well impressed with how you've gotten stuck in!

cheers mate...yeah happy with this afternoon's effort...with that bracket, the head just sheared off...so if I can't get the shank out I'll need to play with my rivnut set!

 

[DrWong]

Seems there's still some loose stuff there that would prob be helpful to rid of first mate. This was what mine looked like before I applied the gel, pretty smooth in comparison.

For getting rid of loose paint and rust, I'd highly recommend poly paint and strip discs with an angle grinder. They work amazingly well and are really benign to good metal (won't grind it away). They're kind of pricey and wear out quickly, but well worth it.