Diary of a Z3 M Roadster owner

The truly beautiful part is the simplicity of this car.

By far the least amount of electronic crap to break on this car.

Originally Posted by Mpire

The truly beautiful part is the simplicity of this car.

By far the least amount of electronic crap to break on this car.

Update:



Body Shop:

• Went over the car to make sure frame was straight from the accident history on Carfax and it looks perfect.
• Alignment is correct
• remounted the front bumper so it was lined up better
• Scraped down the hood to bare metal, smoothed and repainted.

Subtotal, body shop: $1075

Full outer detail $85



At my favorite mechanic:

• Oil service (engine, transmission - previous owner used the wrong viscosity!!!)
• New Battery (the one in it was toast)
• OEM Locking gas cap (it had a non-locking aftermarket one)
• New wiper blades
• Replaced sway bar links
• Replaced a few tail light & brake light bulbs and a socket
• Clutch switches (cruise control)
• Rear view mirror (it was missing that tab to control day/night)
• Tightened oil pan drain plug that was loose
• fixed power steering leak
• checked seals and other leak points

Still to do:

• Seat heater (on order from Germany STILL)
• Dash light out behind the vent position knob

Subtotal, mechanic: about $900

Last thing, it could use a new rear plastic window and maybe a new top-down-windscreen.

What do people typically pay for a new rear window? I'm hearing it's a several hundred $ to sew a new one in.

Any glass options out there?

Anyone out there using a zip-in window?

Originally Posted by mark_m5

[*]Rear view mirror (it was missing that tab to control day/night)
Last thing, it could use a new rear plastic window and maybe a new top-down-windscreen.

Are you sure the mirror wasn't the auto-dimming mirror?

Rear windows are 250 bucks delivered.

You just zip out the old one and zip in the new one, then you seal it with rubber cement. New window comes with the necessary tools.

54318401027 $292.81 $0.00 $234.25

Cant use glass because window has to fold in half to fit in the well. No where for a glass one to go. However, one person can replace the window on a Saturday morning.

Originally Posted by Mpire

Are you sure the mirror wasn't the auto-dimming mirror?

Rear windows are 250 bucks delivered.

You just zip out the old one and zip in the new one, then you seal it with rubber cement. New window comes with the necessary tools.

54318401027 $292.81 $0.00 $234.25

Cant use glass because window has to fold in half to fit in the well. No where for a glass one to go. However, one person can replace the window on a Saturday morning.

I've seen a lot cheaper, but what if my top doesn't have a zip-in window? It looks like it's sewn in.

Original BMW top had the zipped in window, replacement tops have the window sewn in. A shop that does convertible tops should be able to advise you on replacing your sewn in window.

Rear view mirror should be auto dimming thus no lever to dim it.

Originally Posted by ZZZING

Original BMW top had the zipped in window, replacement tops have the window sewn in. A shop that does convertible tops should be able to advise you on replacing your sewn in window.

Turns out I was mistaken... the window was a zip in. I got a factory replacement since my mechanic said that the aftermarket ones can't use the patented locking mechanism for the zipper or something like that and apparently they're difficult to get to fit correctly sometimes.

Originally Posted by Mike Clark

Rear view mirror should be auto dimming thus no lever to dim it.

Not on the Z3 M.

Originally Posted by mark_m5

Not on the Z3 M.

Huh? Thats a typo right? You meant to say that the M cars have the auto dimmer and the non-m Cars have the regular mirror. However, all the cars have the harness apparently to install the auto dimming mirror. I put one in Tiff's car.

Mine doesn't have the auto dimmer, and didn't have it before. So are you telling me that I need to find a harness and install a different part?

Yes YOU HAVE TO DO THIS! Otherwise the guy next to you at a stop light will recognize this flaw and interpret it as a weakness.

What is the production date of your car?

Originally Posted by Pants

Yes YOU HAVE TO DO THIS! Otherwise the guy next to you at a stop light will recognize this flaw and interpret it as a weakness.

Originally Posted by Mike Clark

What is the production date of your car?

I'll check the plaque when I get it back from the shop. The seat heater finally came in so it's almost done. It's a 1999.

Do you have the VIN handy. I can get production date from that.

Our baby.

Build date 12/98



Yes, I photoshopped them a little to add the lens blur.



Fixed a leaky set of heater hoses to the firewall, and replaced the fan belts to the tune af another $600

We have the seat rocking issue BAD in the passenger side. Mechanic was saying $1200 for a new seat rail, so I decided to check out Bimmerfest DIY sticky threads. Jackpot! Got the fix from a link to Esmerelda's Fixit Page:
http://www.waycoolinc.com/z3/essenti...xit/index.html

Which led me to a writeup:
http://www.waycoolinc.com/z3/02/100602/shish01.html#SIB

And the official BMW service Bulletin:
http://www.waycoolinc.com/z3/02/1006...rockingfix.pdf

And the replacement bushing:
http://www.whalenshiftmachine.com/in...&products_id=8


So...

What does everyone think about the Diablo wheels?

on the Diablo wheels. Source some OEM roadstArs (at least) NOW. Looks cool otherwise.

+1 on the wheels

Nice pictures. Glad to see you are properly restoring the car to what it should be! From what I can tell, the rear view mirror on 12/98 build date was not the automatic adjusting kind. That came later around 3/99 and subsequent.

The car looks great! But why oh why would anyone (the previous owner) take the beautiful Roadstars off and replace them with those wheels??

I bet it has the wheels for the same reason it has a $4,000 stereo that renders the trunk useless.

Originally Posted by mark_m5

Mine doesn't have the auto dimmer, and didn't have it before. So are you telling me that I need to find a harness and install a different part?

When I was doing my research, ALL, Z3Ms had the auto-dim mirror. It is actually one of the items that has received negative comments because it dims too much in early morning hours and late evening hours..... I know that some of the early 98/99 builds didn't have what the '00s and later had, but sheesh you would think the mirror would be consistant...

Originally Posted by alijonny

I bet it has the wheels for the same reason it has a $4,000 stereo that renders the trunk useless.

Our thoughts exactly!!! I looked at a lot of styles of aftermarket wheels, and I think the stock ones are probably the classiest.

We have to dump the stereo.

Update!

Fixed the seat bushing on the passenger side and replaced the seat heater back in 2011, forgot to post about that. Tightened the radiator hose to eliminate a tiny leak. I think I did an oil change last year... I'd have to look at receipts. Some miscellaneous plastic bit broke loose under the car due to impact from freeway debris; my mechanic bolted it back and it's good to go. The motor for the top seems not to want to engage now on the first attempt to lower it; so I may have him check that out and do a maintenance service for the heck of it.


The tires are finally wearing out, so just ordered a fresh set of Michelin Pilot Super Sports, and figured that as long as I was on Tire Rack's site, I'd order new wheels too.

So, O.Z. Alleggerita HLT wheels in Anthricite are on the way. I'll need to offload those Diablo wheels. Anyone know someone that might want them?

Noticed a little rattle in the passenger side window when all the way up. Gonna have to tighten something probably. Good news is the convertible motor seems to be working consistently in several tests since...

Hello ! Mark, I delved into this performance "gizmo" and found out that the ones costing less than about $200.00 are purely a scam. To improve performance you need to spend upwards of $800.00 but the return just isn't worth it. If it's a 2.8 - surely thats quick enough. Ease up on the pedal power will increase gas mileage to around 26 to 28. Blimey

Post some new pictures when you get it all done. Sounds like you got everything well in hand.

Regards