Z3 barn find

Not a salvage title. There are five hail dings on th hood and drivers fender. I am going to talk to a guy tht does paintless ding repair and see what it would take to fix it. Not really big enough to worry about.

The daily report....

I get about an hour a day to work on this thing. I spent another hour on the seat issue. I checked the fuses ...all good. I used my limited knowledge of this strange switches and my trusty bluepoint multimeter...all good. I used a 12 volt power supply and tested the motors...all good. So I guess it is time to tear into the dash and find the needle in the haystack. I mean, the broken wire! While I had the power supply out I was smart enough to think and adjust the seat where I want it!

I think once the seat is unplugged the light will come on. I also think the right seat has a tendency to have a failure in the switch. I have installed the bypass but my code reader will not reset the airbag light. I have one of those coming. I would not go looking in the dash at this point. ic

Radio was bad. So I ordered a new one. This thing is sweet! I got a Sony dsxs100 media receiver. The face folds down , but it doesn't play CDs. I though about it and I decided that I didn't want CDs thrower around in the car for people to grab in the Walmart parking lot of i am too lazy to put the t up.behind the fold down face is a little drawer. You actually put your iPod inside it! And the best part...54 bucks!

You are killing me without new pics!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Great deal, have you installed it yet? Did it plug and play? Did the radio just show code? Was it really bad? We are taking the Z3 down to Natchez for the weekend next week. Hope the weather is good. Got a windblock coming for the roll bar this week. ic

[QUOTE=Ivanhoe1997;7237590]Great deal, have you installed it yet? Did it plug and play? Did the radio just show code? Was it really bad? We are taking the Z3 down to Natchez for the weekend next week. Hope the weather is good. Got a windblock coming for the roll bar this week.
The display is burned out. So that makes it pretty useless. Besides...I would have to go to the attic and dig out all my old cassettes if I kept it! I don't have the new radio yet. I will let you know how it goes when it arrives sometime next week. Going to polish some oxidized headlights now.......

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Oh wow what did you use to polish them?

I used the Maguire's heavy duty restoration kit. 24 bucks. It has everything you need in the kit except a drill!

The headlights look good. I used the same kit on mine. Pretty easy to use.

Originally Posted by mhopper

There are five hail dings on th hood and drivers fender. I am going to talk to a guy that does paintless ding repair and see what it would take to fix it. Not really big enough to worry about.

I had a door ding, a crease about 6 inches long and another small indentation in my driver's door when I got my car. A local "Dent Doctor" place made the door perfect for $138. Probably the best bang for the buck of everything I have spent on the car. Hopefully you will have a similar experience.

You know if you stand back a little further next time, your next headlight photo can give everyone that better look at the car they have been asking for.

^^^what he said!

Some of us non z folks have been following this thread with baited breath waiting for those pics! Hook us brothers up!

Awesome story btw...

Engine bay pic please! That's either a 1.9L 4 cyl or it was in a collision at some point and has the wrong front bumper on it. Either way, nice score!

When I first found out about the car, my wife told me she thought it was a six. That is when I started this thread. You are correct it is a 4. Sorry I never went back and fixed that. I drove it Saturday. I don't have a tag yet. But it was 72 degrees. I couldn't resist. It drives like a million bucks! Pray for me...starting the top replacement Saturday.

Originally Posted by mhopper

for your headlights, if you want to restore them yourself, try this product.

http://www.dvelup.com/Cart/index.php...products_id=78

I used it on my Z4 before i sold it and it made my car look brand new. It got rid of all the haze and everything. Plus the owner of the company will answer any questions you have personally. I know i bugged him on the best way to use the product.

It will take some elbow grease but totally worth it. Dont buy those cheap ones out of the store either they dont work as good. They also have another product that i use with is called CColor enhancer for exterior paint s a scratch remover) and Color Nu for the interior non metal panels. you should check them out. I know they have some oder removers and windshield cleaner and spray wax too but havent used it yet so i cant say. I will say this though, I love their products and wont use anyones elses because of the quality.

Obviously i didnt see your post from above but i will leave this here for everyone else.

Originally Posted by mhopper

... it is a 4... drives like a million bucks! Pray for me...starting the top replacement Saturday.

Love my 4, too, bought in Oct with 32,000 miles and elderly owners. For your top, read these in case you have not found them already:
http://webspace.ringling.edu/~dplassma/str/str.html
http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1923506

Did you get the radio, install it yet? ic

Still waiting on the dang thing! As soon as it is in you have all the details. It didn't even ship until yesterday.

Old top off. That was almost like work!

You are putting a top on?

Attempting to put a top on!

Gonna need a sealing frame. Where should I buy one?

You can fix the one you have. Even if its in pieces. Put some gasket RTV on the cracks and then go over it with a strip of aluminum duct tape. It just needs to be water tight. For me, the hardest part of putting on a top was cleaning the butyl off. That took longer than the rest.

I started a separate thread just for your top project.


http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=665407

Thank you so much for the pictures! I had thought about trying some type of tape. It is only broke in one place. There was a screw i didn't see because it had goop over it. It snapped in that one place. i will take care of that tomorrow. One thing I did differently was that instead of bending the bracket to take the cable out, I carefully split the barrel crimp on the spring and cable lengthwise and will just replace the crimp. I will let you know how that works out. Tomorrow I fight the goop monster.