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

[Matt Barnes]

Good progress Matt, it's so shiny under there you won't want to drive it. You'll be eating your dinner of it

It's certainly not going out on salty roads mate....rain will be questionable as well!

 

[DrWong]

Great work mate, looks amazing under there!

What did you end up doing about the bracket for the fuel/brake line, where the clip had sheared off leaving the screw in the threaded post? I can see you managed to get it sorted!

 

[Lee]

Lovely job that mate. Those rear drop link lower brackets are sided and have a very slight twist to them, Best way to get them right is when its all back on the car and the arms are raised.

 

[Matt Barnes]

Great work mate, looks amazing under there!

What did you end up doing about the bracket for the fuel/brake line, where the clip had sheared off leaving the screw in the threaded post? I can see you managed to get it sorted!

erm....er...um...I haven't...it's what they call "youtube ready"...because the pipes slightly splay out the clip, I was able to clip on the metal cap as it has a little metal tang. I could just pull it off again. I do need to sort that.

 

[Matt Barnes]

Lovely job that mate. Those rear drop link lower brackets are sided and have a very slight twist to them, Best way to get them right is when its all back on the car and the arms are raised.

thank you mate..that's interesting as they're the same part number..unless I just flip them round in situ?

 

[Matt Barnes]

erm....er...um...I haven't...it's what they call "youtube ready"...because the pipes slightly splay out the clip, I was able to clip on the metal cap as it has a little metal tang. I could just pull it off again. I do need to sort that.

one thing I did think of was cutting the shank off a bolt, JB Welding it to the stud that's left and securing with a nut

 

[Matt Barnes]

After last weekend's big push, not much this Saturday..... I did end up fettling the Sill ends and putting top coat on finally....

Tried to blend it in with the original (hence the deliberate bit of overspray that pokes out from under the outer sill when they go back on)

so that really ends the excuses of having it on four jack stands....... however.... I didn't joke when I said I hadn't addressed the front yet.....

I have new tie rods and and wishbones, so that's not an issue as these ones are going.... I did take an angle grinder to the front shock and disc and it's all clean metal under that grot.... in fact the discs look nearly new, not even a hint of a lipped edge. So hopefully i take take all that off and clean it all up.

The front anti roll bar was "dusted" with surface rust but came up fine but the bush looks a bit cracked. You can see in the background how far gone the tie rod is... but that's going....

 

[Matt Barnes]

Sunday was supposed to be nice and relaxing... but nooooooo... like a fool I decided to attack the front suspension.... as I suggested yesterday... very crusty down there !!... but managed to get a shot of the front shock label...

First challenge was trying to get the caliper off... don't think the offside one has been off in decades.... couldn't get the hose out so had to sacrifice the pipe and the spring clip...

These were all my instruments of torture to try and get the caliper bolts off !!...

but..... we got there !!.... the brake union was solid in the hose, so ended up putting it in the vice and using a flat spanner on the flats on the hose end to get it off.... looks like I'm making new front brake lines as well !

Then it was a case of attacking the shock and the tie rod...these bolts were ABSOLUTELY solid... it took a big breaker bar to get them moving.

Got the two bottom ones done, then I attacked the Tie Rod ....again needed brute force to even budge it...even though I'm replacing it, I still make sure to smack the nut and not the thread...... and the thing flops around like a floppy thing, so the inners need replacing as well...

The last bolt for the day was the top one on the shock. I just about managed to get the nut off, but that bolt is in there !!... I managed to turn it with a breaker bar and whacked the end (via a block of wood) but it's not budging...

So after hours thrashing like John Cleese with a branch on an Austin 1100... this was the total haul for my efforts... and I've got to do the nearside as well yet ! ... I know I should use the nugga gun... but after my nightmare with that driveshaft nut two years ago, I'm mentally scarred

 

[Matt Barnes]

ok Bank Holiday weekend, and I'm not going to try and spend every day under the car...... however... while I'm here......

dug out my box of front suspension parts that I've been building up over the past two years.

compared to what's on the car it was a sound investment !

First thing to come out was the Shock Absorber..... which was relatively painless in the end

that's when the easy bit finished..... tried getting the tapered ball joint off the knuckle.... ..nut came off easy and the bolt didn't swivel on me...

but could I knock it off ?..... no..... I do have a ball joint splitter but as it has a web each side it won't sit flush... so I'll have to get a different design.... in fact it's just dawned on me posting this, that I have a hub puller !!!!

so I abandoned that for now and went for the drop link.... had that horrible moment when the socket just slipped on the nut... probably from the rust eating the edges...... so.... out came the Erbauer helical extractors and took it off like a champ

loosened the lollipop bolts but then looked at the wishbone middle nut with a "how the hell do you get that off !!"... watched a YouTube video where one guy used a two foot extension and a wobble adaptor from up top..

I took the front undertray off...... oh... and guess which one was the last screw I needed to get off..... ?

and yes I had a long term oil leak.... I'm hoping it's the rocker cover

Now with that lot all out the way, I reckon I can get onto that top nut when I remove the inner tie rod. Has anyone successfully removed the wishbone with everything in place ?

So I wrapped it up for today.... once I have the knuckle off I can rinse and repeat on the nearside...

 

[Matt Barnes]

ok it's Monday and after managing to get the nearside off in less than half the time it took for the offside, I'm calling it a day..... but to recap

This is what welcomed me this morning, so let's get cracking

Caliper I fitted a few years back still really good !.. and at the same time I fitted a new brake pipe which unscrewed easily !!... and plenty of meat on those shoes, so they're going back on...

Got the nearside off in what felt like 20 minutes !!.... tried my hub puller (which I found !) but alas to no avail, just kept sliding off as it was going off at an angle...

So this time a tried a different approach.... get the wishbone (lower control arm) off and take the bits off in the garage..... first was getting onto the 22mm nut... and with the undertray off it was easy to get to ... but had to use the "double spanner" method to get any leverage....

As you've probably experienced, you get about 10 degrees of turn and have to keep repeating it until it's off....so with that nut off, the lollipops off and drop link off we get to this....

undid the offside one as well...

and that left me a bit stuck as I can't get that centre ball joint off. Tried crow bar, tried banging... so if you have any tips I'd appreciate it

so while I was mulling the meaning of life... I got the anti roll bar off...

So the car now is the lightest it's going to be .... actually no, as there's the tie rods to come off.... caught out on a technicality

Thinking of pimping my ride...

so this is my weekend haul !... the car got lighter... and the garage got heavier !!

so now it's time for

 

[AntStark]

Bit warm today to be doing that!
Carlos Fandango.. it’s a good look!

 

[Matt Barnes]

Bit warm today to be doing that!
Carlos Fandango.. it’s a good look!
View attachment 345893

maybe some blue lights under the sills and a massive sub woofer ?.... luckily I was in shade for the nearside

 

[AntStark]

maybe some blue lights under the sills and a massive sub woofer ?

At the very least mate! You do want to fit in up on Portsdown Hill after all

 

[Matt Barnes]

At the very least mate! You do want to fit in up on Portsdown Hill after all

This is the view of my fleet..... with a scorchio Portsmouth Harbour in the background........

 

[Mazza]

maybe some blue lights under the sills and a massive sub woofer ?.... luckily I was in shade for the nearside

I think the blue lights will be on the car following you if you dont extend the wheel arches

 

[Althulas]

I had the same problem separating the center wishbone ball joint from my front subframe. I purchased this kit DAYUAN 5 pcs Ball Joint Separator... https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08M611VRD?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share It took some hammering and the tool held up well. I don’t know how far you are from Banbury but your welcome to pop over and borrow it or just bring your subframe over and sort it, give it a clean up and epoxy paint it while your here?

 

[Matt Barnes]

I had the same problem separating the center wishbone ball joint from my front subframe. I purchased this kit DAYUAN 5 pcs Ball Joint Separator... https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08M611VRD?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share It took some hammering and the tool held up well. I don’t know how far you are from Banbury but your welcome to pop over and borrow it or just bring your subframe over and sort it, give it a clean up and epoxy paint it while your here?

thank you so much mate, I really appreciate it..ironically that's exactly what I've just ordered off Amazon!..I'm in Portchester which is about as South as you can get without getting wet..when I'm on four wheels I'll come up and visit !

 

[Althulas]

From memory the smallest fork in the set plus a lump hammer sorted it in two thacks with that set.

 

[Matt Barnes]

From memory the smallest fork in the set plus a lump hammer sorted it in two thacks with that set.

arrived today!

 

[Matt Barnes]

ok, so it's Saturday, and another day on the car....firstly.... "new" shocks turned up on Tuesday courtesy of eBay. well.... better than the ones I took off !.... they'll get rubbed down and sprayed gloss black....

Then I attacked that lower control arm with the pickle fork and OH MY GAAAAAAAAAD.... both came off in about 10 minutes !! ..used it as well to separate the lower ball joint from the knuckle... so as @Althulas suggested, these are DEFINITELY the way to go if you're not planning on putting those ball joints back on.

so for posterity when I look back, this is the state of the hubs...

and i had a little chuckle to myself when I saw the brake pad wear sensor was tucked into the clip

"While I'm here" I thought.. I'll get the bearings out.....

knocked the tabs back ......... DUG OUT THE NUGGAAA !!!!....

The nut didn't round off on me like it did with the driveshaft nut a couple of years ago, so I think I've finally overcome my fear of Impact Wrenches.

used the old trick of dropping an extension bar down the hole...

Then failed to take a photo of my hub puller setup.....

hang on let me recreate for educational purposes..........................................................right... I'm back....

there you go....

both Hubs came off really easily and did I get away with it ??

...... no

Tried getting the hub puller on the bearing shell that was left over and... no dice chicago....

So I tried the angle grinder approach, but getting in there with the back plate on was tricky, so thought I'd cut it off as I have new shiny ones !!

what is this race doing ?... marked with the yellow arrow... it's not part of the bearing and I don't want to destroy it, but it's stopping me getting the backplate off and hence the bearing shell

so that should be the last of the big parts off..... definitely onto the front end rebuild !!!