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**Z3** DIY Guides (post links here)

289K views 96 replies 52 participants last post by  DonZaga 
#1 · (Edited)
#30 ·
engine

Ron Stygar said:
Current S54 remanufactured engine part number 11 00 0 304 353 suggested retail is $6590 plus $2000 core if you want to keep your stock one.
Dealer net (their cost) is $4151.
or still available direct drom alpna.de

Sonderverkauf - neuwertige Ausbaumotoren begrenzte Stückzahl, 3,0l, 170kw / 231PS
BMW Motor M54 B30
Teileumfang siehe Fotos, wie abgebildet passend für BMW 3er (E46), BMW Z4 (E85)
Sonderpreis: € 2.308,- inkl. MwSt.
Details http://www.alpina-automobile.de/de/zubehoer/zubehoer_ausbaumotoren.php#
 
#33 ·
Fitting an Interstate MTP-91 Battery to a Z3 Coupe or Roadster...

The Interstate MTP-91 battery, which is supposed to be the battery from Interstate that fits all Z3's and MZ3's, is a half inch shorter than a stock BMW battery. This is not a problem on the M Coupe, because the battery well is in the center of the boot and the battery is oriented width-wise. On the Z3C or Z3R the batter well is on the passenger side of the boot and the battery is oriented length wise. This orientation makes it so that the positive cable lead from the car rests on the edge of the battery well / car body. The half inch drop in the battery height prevents the cable lead, then, from seating properly on the positive terminal post. The following instructions describe a work around for the problem...

Bend the forward sheet metal flange "up" slightly. About half way. You still want some lean to it, or it won't catch an edge on the battery's base. Can be bent with channel lock pliers. "Pivot" your wrist and make small bends. Work your way across the bracket with small movements. If you just "pry" the whole thing foward, you may break the spot welds. Be patient. Slowly bend it up.

Go to your local industrial rubber supplier [ Yes, yes.. some comic sarcasim there, but really.. check around. You may be surprised that your area has a shop like this. Usually they make custom hydraulic and water hoses ]. Get a 1 foot square sheet of 3/8" thick rubber, and a small scrap piece of 3/16" rubber, and a small scrap piece of 1/2" rubber. The 1/2" one will likely measure out to 1/16" less than 1/2". That's normal. and that's what you actually want. The other two pieces should measure out to exact (and need to).

Cut the 3/8" sheet to fit the base of the battery. 7" x 11" rectangle. Now, cut out another inner rectangle inside of it, leaving a 1" boundry all around. This is to dump off excess weight. only the outside edges of the battery touch anyway (look at the battery well). Yes.. you could do this rubber shim with several little pieces, but then they could move around. It's cleaner and more "Stygar / Forbes" like to make the single piece and cut it down to make it light.

Put it down in the battery well. Set the battery in. Unlike the M Coupe, the Z3 Coupe (or Roadster) has plenty of the light grey original BMW battery vent tube hose to reach the new location for the vent (don't need to buy more). Hook up the vent tube kit that you got with the battery. Couple it to the car's hose. Gently stuff it down along side the battery (don't leave it where it could get crimped). Center the battery so the Pos connector will reach nicely.

Put the cross strap over the battery. Carefull.. don't drop the little bolt down inside the well. Place a 1" x 2" piece of the 1/2" thick rubber underneath the left side of the cross strap. This will take up the remaining slack, give plenty of threads for the cross strap bolt to bite, and will provide a very secure locked down fit.

Use the 3/16" thick rubber to make a 1" x 2" piece that will go down where the back end clamp goes. Make a little half round cut out to allow the bolt to pass through to the threads in the car. Without this shim, you could bend or break this particular bracket. It needs "a foot" to help it deal with the fact that the battery is now 3/8" higher in the air.

Put the positive lead on. Note, that the 3/8" pad provides juuuusst baaarely enough for the positive lead to go on squarely and tightly. Why not use an even thicker piece of rubber underneath the battery (after all.. the battery is a half inch shorter). 'Cuz.. if you did this, then the front base of the battery would slip past the spot welded on bracket. It's only "so high".

So, 3/8" inch is the magic number. Any more, the battery slips past the front bracket. Any less, and the positive terminal lead will not fit well.

Without the proper fit on the terminal lead, not only could it lead (arr .arrr.. lead) to a problematic "mysterious" battery drain problem, but, that odd angle fit and the bar resting on the car frame.. and a tens of thousands of miles of minute vibrations... could crack the positive terminal post. Much worse problem.

This combo of rubber parts should work forever. "Interstate MTP-91 infinitum".

The ROadster went well too, although interestingly.. there is no cross strap. Unfortunate, but.. the back end clamp seemed to be enough to apply pressure against the front bracket. I'll have to check it in 4 months. But really, we should all be checking out batteries every 4 to 6 months anyway. I've had a cracked and leaking battery before (no other reason than a defective battery case). Bad enough in the engine bay. But to have that happen in the boot...

Hope this helps others. :)
 
#41 ·
#44 · (Edited)
Stupid Easy, 10min Seatbelt Guide Fix

Hey all, first post here.
Bought my first BMW last week (2001 Z3 3.0i) and other then being really unimpressed with the quality of the plastics, I really like this little car!

Anyways, from reading the posts around here, I see the seatbelt guides breakage is a common issue, and there are a few good write ups and/or "kits" out there.

I REALLY wasn't into taking my seats apart, and I had already bought the new guides from BMW when I found out what a PITA they were to replace...so thinking cap on time.

Seeing as the last seven vehicles I've own/ed are Jeeps, I'm used to fixing things that should have been taken care of at the factory :tsk:

Anyways enough blah blah blah...

Supplies:

1 - Drill (on hand)
1 - Drill Bit (on hand or about $1-2 to buy, I used an 11/64 but a 3/16 should be fine too)
1 - Counter Bore or large drill bit (1/2"ish should do it) (i already have a counterbore bit on hand, but you can buy a cheap one from Home Depot for <$5)
1 or 2 - New guides from BMW (mine were #52 10 8 410 505 and 52 10 8 410 506) ($$$ in Canada :mad: )
4 - #8 Nylon Drywall Anchors ($2)



1) Remove any remaining pieces of the old clips



2) Drill holes through the Guides using the tabs as a drill guide



3) Counterbore the exit holes just enough for the screw it sit kind of flush (i may change the screws to a counterbore type in the future)



4) Remove the tabs sticking out of the back (i used a grinder, but a sharp knife and some patients should do it)



5) Screw in the nylon anchors, make sure you are screwing into the plastic backing in the seat, not just the foam.



6) Screw the guides to the seat and paint, jiffy or whatever the screwheads (i will buy some flat black model paint later)



7) Don't tell whoever broke the guide (in this case it was my wife) how easy it was to fix and ride the guilt wave as long as possible (ie: damn it honey, now I HAVE to go buy that new tool to fix this) :angel:

Best part about this fix, is if it breaks again, it is a quick replacement.
 
#47 · (Edited)
z3 Seat Swap DIY--older seats into newer car

Recently, when I bought second-hand black leather Z3 seats to replace my blue leather seats, I discovered that the electrical wiring had changed during the course of Z3 production. I'd need to rework the electrical wiring if I wanted seat adjustment, heat, and occupancy sensors to work correctly. After many months of stalling, and occasionally taking another befuddled look at the wiring, I decided to just dive in.

Wiring diagrams were of no real help, since the wiring colors didn't match what was present on the seats. I purchased a complete wiring harness in the hopes that I could scavenge the needed parts. In retrospect, that wasn't necessary, but it did help me determine which wires on the seats connect with which wires in the car.

I'll be the first to admit that I'm no wiring expert, and I offer these instructions simply as a helpful guide to you if you're contemplating the same mod. There may be other approaches that work better, and these instructions may not pertain to all seats and all year vehicles. In this case, the seats are 01/97 production and the car is 04/2001 production. I believe the wiring changed in 04/99 with the 2000 model year cars, though there may have been other iterations along the way. Also, I believe the ///M seats maintained the earlier wiring throughout production....

Supplies Needed:

~ 10mm, 13mm, 16mm sockets w/wrench
~ adjustible wrench
~ hammer
~ blankets or towels to place seats on (they'll be upside-down alot of the time)
~ wire stripper and crimper tool
~ butt connectors, blade connectors, wire nuts, or soldering tools
~ portable lighting to see under seats
~ plenty of workspace at the side of the car
~ several hours to complete the task

Step 1:

Use the power adjuster to raise both seats as high as they'll go--this will give you more working room under the seats later on. Slide both seats back far enough to expose the nuts on the floor at the front of the seats' rails. Use the 13mm socket to remove all four nuts (two for each side of each seat). Next, slide the seat forward to expose the nuts at the rear of the rails. If your seatback is reclined, release it to full upright position to get better access to the rear. These nuts will now be removed with the 16mm socket. Now use the adjustible wrench to remove the bolt that holds the seatbelt to the seat base, and in the case of the roadster, work the strap out of the seatbelt guide at the top of the seat.

Step 2:

Disconnect the negative battery cable using pliers or the 10mm socket. Make sure you have your car's stereo code #--once the battery is reconnected, you'll need to reenter the code to use your stereo.

Step 3:

Tilt the seatback rearward as far as possible--this will allow better leverege for working under the seat, and also easier removal from the car. lift the back of the seat forward toward the windshield and get in behind it with lighting so you can see where the connection from the floor meets the seat connection. It is a yellow and black boxlike plastic structure that is fastened to the seat bottom. You can twist it to unfasten it from the seat. Once it's unfastened, the wiring can be disconnected by pulling on the black plastic piece on the side labelled 'a' in this image (The connection is shown already disconnected):



Here is an image of the connection that comes out of the floor (already disconnected):



Step 4:

Remove the seat from the car being careful how you lift and swing it out--It's easy to gouge your sill plate or center console. Set it upside down on the blacket or towel for easy reference to its underside. Set the replacement seat near it so you can compare the connections.

Step 5:

Remove the black plastic 'caps' on the floor's yellow connector for easier access to the wiring. Remove the cap on the seat-side connector as well.

Step 6: Passenger Seat only

Look at the underside of the replacement seat and you'll see the "seat occupancy sensor" which is shown in the following image. This needs to be connected in order for the seatbelt tensioner to fire and passenger side airbag (if equipped) to go off in event of an accident. The airbag indicator lamp will light up on your instrument panel if this is not connected when the battery power is restored. You will then have to pay for either the reset tool or a trip to the dealer to reset it. The driver's side doesn't have the occupancy sensor--the car assumes there is a driver present in the event of a crash. This image shows it disconnected--a white plug inserts where the arrow is:



Step 7:

On both replacement seats you'll see connections like the following:



The black plug is for the heating feature, and the white plug is for the seat motors. Because I had bought a separate wiring harness, I was able to salvage the parts that plug into these and make the following connection using butt-connectors (you can use blade connectors, wire nuts, or solder if you prefer). If you use butt-connectors, gentle pulling will ensure that you've crimped them sufficiently.




As I hope you can see, I only cut and rewired what was necessary to make the circuits complete. Some of the wiring from the old seats was compatible with the wiring in the yellow floor connector, and I plugged those seat wires right into the yellow seat-side connector as shown is this image (the central three blocks of wiring in the connector):



The outside blocks of wiring--one at each end--are what were converted to the old style plugs.

Place the replacement seats back into the car and get in behind them to reconnect everything. Reconnect the battery cable and test your connections.

I don't know what some of the connections were for, but none of it was redundant, and they've worked well since completion. This isn't the complete story, as I've forgotten some details in the 2 weeks since I did this. Questions, comments, or corrections are welcomed, but please post replies to the following thread:

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php?t=255325
 
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