The 99's trunkfloor story begins today...

I took the car in yesterday and met with the body mechanic this morning. He wanted to know what I wanted done, so the Service Manager asked me to meet with him.

BMWNA's suggestion to replace the entire trunkfloor panel made me a little nervous. If they had devised an entire new assembly that addressed the weakness of the original, that would be a different story...

Cutting an otherwise good car in (nearly) half to wind up with a car that was no stronger than it left the factory five years ago does not seem like the right solution to me. I don't want to repeat this again, not with the same car anyway! I will be repeating the process again with the other car as soon as this one is done and passes judgement.

It has been determined to not section in the entire assembly, but to repair the (albeit minor) damage and strenghten the area using the pieces laying in the trunk.

Picture me taking a big sigh of relief!

Those pieces laying in the trunk will be utilized to strengthen the xmbr as described here

Here are a few pictures that show how big the Z3's trunk is when it's not in the car.

I echo the big sigh of relief!

Tht did NOT sound like a good way to fix things.

Not much to report for the past week (judging by the activity of this thread, not likely a problem ).

I stopped by yesterday and the car is "almost" apart; all the trunk trim has been removed and the bumper and tailights were also removed to save them from damage while the work takes place.

They still have to drop the subframe, not so much for their repair operation, but as a favor for me to be able to pull out the old subframe bushings and replace them with the Ireland ones. You've got to love that kind of cooperation

They also discovered that the differential mounting ear was starting to crack (remember that this car was only autocrossed just a handful of times and never by Sue).

Just a couple shots that show the naked trunk before work commences.

Randy,

Is BMWNA covering the cost? Who is doing the work?

Nice Healey! Did you go to the annual British car show at Easton?

Randy
Your email must have problems, BMW NA forwarded this to be to get it to you

Dear Randy Forbes:
I am Edward Longshanks with bmwna, We have figured out that the use of your hardtop is possibly the cause of your sub frame problem, I am pleased to let you know that a remedy had been found. It was staring us all in the face the whole time. All that is needed to be done to keep this from happening again is to ship your hardtop to san antonio and we will take it from there. thank you for your time and safe driving
E. Longshanks
Senior Director of Lets get Max a Hardtop

I am right I saying no pieces of the trunk floor section BMW sent are being used in the repair?


Only the pieces you devised.

shouldn't we be looking at adding this also?

Who was it that welded on a second ear to the diff housing? He had the black coupe at the fix it day.

Originally Posted by bob lindquist

I am right I saying no pieces of the trunk floor section BMW sent are being used in the repair?

No, for it to be a legitimate section, they have to use a portion of the trunkfloor assembly.

I can give you more details at HC...

Originally Posted by bob lindquist

shouldn't we be looking at adding this also?

I was going to bring that up when the gray car goes in...

Originally Posted by Mpire

Who was it that welded on a second ear to the diff housing? He had the black coupe at the fix it day.

There're actually a few of them out there (that I know of). I have a picture and a link to Mr. Blonde's Coupe in one of my other threads on this subject.

Randy,

YOU ARE AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!

Respectfully,

Originally Posted by Mpire

Who was it that welded on a second ear to the diff housing? He had the black coupe at the fix it day.

Brent - that was Duane Ball, aka 8ball. He rarely posts because of his dialup speeds, but you can occasionally find him on roadfly.

Bodyshop manager called me up yesterday evening and said I should come by for a "Kodak moment".

Armed with a box of fresh donuts, I showed up first thing this morning to get a few more shots of the progress.

Stopped back by again this afternoon to see how things went and got a couple more pictures.

These pictures show the differential mounting ear that was modified by overlaying a second stamping on top of the original to double the wall thickness.

The tech was proud of the fact that you have to really look close to see the difference. When the job is finished, it's important to him that it looks "factory". My kind of guy!

Looks nice so far.

I talked to Ireland Engineering about moving the trailing arm mounting plates on this crossmember to adjust the camber so I dont go through tires so fast... Has anyone thought about this?

Originally Posted by Randy Forbes

Here are a few pictures that show how big the Z3's trunk is when it's not in the car.

Randy, amazing pics! Is that your trunk in the pics on the floor (first post), or is that from a stand-alone mockup or another car? If it's yours, how did they get it out of the car?

I'm curious to hear a description of the access and removal process. This reminds me of Boyd Coddington's shop on American Hot Rod (Discovery Channel, Friday nights). Fortunately for you, Bluebear is not lurking in the corner shooting paintballs at the other shop employees.

Originally Posted by Razorbak

Randy, amazing pics! Is that your trunk in the pics on the floor (first post), or is that from a stand-alone mockup or another car? If it's yours, how did they get it out of the car?

The picture shows a brand new replacement trunkfloor assembly, courtesy of BMWNA. A portion of which will be used in the repair of the black car.

Stay tuned for continued coverage...

Originally Posted by Randy Forbes

Stopped back by again this afternoon to see how things went and got a couple more pictures.

These pictures show the differential mounting ear that was modified by overlaying a second stamping on top of the original to double the wall thickness.

The tech was proud of the fact that you have to really look close to see the difference. When the job is finished, it's important to him that it looks "factory". My kind of guy!

Tell that tech that texas is a nice place to live, I hate my dealership and ohio would be biattch for warranty work

A little more progress to report. Monday he'll probably get the pieces that I made up welded in place. Right now, his biggest concern is finding the correct shade of seam sealer and "E-coat" that was put on at the factory.

These pictures show the flat plate that was welded inside to the bottom of the xmbr. The vertical membrane will be welded to this plate and the cap (via plugwelds).

so you cut out the cross member to add INSIDE the hollow an additional plate.

Originally Posted by bob lindquist

so you cut out the cross member to add INSIDE the hollow an additional plate.

Kind of...

The xmbr wasn't cut, the floor section above it was cut out to get access to the inside of the xmbr.

He still has the vertical membrane to install and then he'll finish it off with the piece I made. See below:

Only needs to be put back together now. They'll work on other jobs while I continue to wait on the Ireland bushings (called them again today...).

Looks good, and a lot stronger than what was (not) there from the factory.