So finally yesterday evening (Boxing day) I took the car out to 'test' it again after a bit more 'snagging'. I wanted to fill it with fuel for it's hibernation until spring and there is a local garage selling fuel very cheap at present. I bought 99 RON super unleaded at £1.299 a litre which is dirt cheap IME!
I have never driven the car in the dark, either, so it was useful to see (no pun) how good or bad the lights are! I changed the standard H4 headlight bulbs to Philips Racing Vision when they were installed. The lights are surprisingly good, with the bulbs giving a very white light, similar to Xenons.
Using the front 6" fogs aswell (they are more driving lights than fogs TBH) as the headlights gives a good spread of light without being a pain to oncoming traffic. The lamps in the gauges are good, being bright enough without being a nuisance.
I wanted to check the cooling system properly after I changed the thermostat and viscous fan recently. I had only tested it all in the garage, so a run out in cold weather would give it a proper test. All was good. The coolant temperature rose pretty quickly to around 85c and the oil temp followed as it should. It took about 10 minutes of local town driving in 2c ambient for the oil to reach 90c. My oil pressure is very good aswell, which is a good sign mechanically.
My car has new adjustable coilovers fitted. These were added as the only way to reduce the ride height enough for the car to sit 'correctly'. Mine are are only adjustable for spring height, obviously, and preload on the dampers (or is it rebound I can never tell the difference!).
I have adjusted the ride height on all four wheels and changed the damper settings more times now than I can remember, as the ride just wasn't good. I think this is a combination of stiff coilovers (which are really made for kids who want slammed rock hard rides) and high profile tyres. Mine are 65 profile on a 205 wide tyre, so around 6 1/2" tyre wall. The car was originally crashy AND bouncy which was not a good feeling.
The front suspension has camber adjustment on the tops of the dampers and I noticed these were not at the correct angle (they need to be parallel with the front of the car) as they had been installed wrongly (not be me!). I removed both front dampers and spun them around to sit correctly.
I also dialled back the dampers to around 20% from their softest setting.
The car feels much better on the road. The 'crashiness' is much better. The bounce is still there a bit, which I put down to the tyres, but it settles back quickly now.
There are a couple of small niggles still to sort out; the steering still feels a bit 'vague' at slow speed. The tracking/ camber needs to be done, as it hasn't been touched since the build. That is a job for the early spring. The big 'old fashioned' wooden steering wheel doesn't help with this either. I am maybe going to change the wheel for a smaller one if the tracking doesn't cure the steering.
The only other niggle is that the brakes feel a little 'underwhelming'. I changed all pads and discs, aswell as restoring the calipers, just before completing the car. The new brakes have now done 200 (very gentle) miles, so not sure if they are still not bedded in. It could be that I am not used to the Z3 brakes, as my other two cars have very powerful brakes which don't need much pedal pressure. The brakes do work OK, just not as confidence-inspiring as I am used to. Time may tell on this. I also never drove the Z3 before all the conversion work, so don't know how good or bad the brakes were before.
After much messing with tyre pressures I have settled on 30psi rear and 32psi front. The tyres are 205/65/R15 Goodyear vector 3 all seasons.
Hopefully someone may find some of the above useful reference on their 'rebody' Z3.
PS. The attention the car gets, even at night in a petrol station on Boxing Day, is hard to get used to. I am not complaining though!
