I've been a lover of the maturer BMWs since I was a lad and have had my fair share of what would be classed as classic bimmers now. I still have (my shark) the E28 and have owned a 1602, E21, E30, E34, E39 and a few E28's. Recently I've been looking at Z3s having never owned a soft top. I was wondering could I make a Z3 look like a lads car and try and shake off that "hairdressers car that mate" thing.
So it began.. In the beginning I had my heart set on a 2.8l but with this being (well it started as) a budget build and I wanted it to sit verrry low. It didn't make much sense to buy a fast car that was over my budget I also couldn't drive fast.. So I settled for a 1.9l
I bought a tatty 1996 Z3 locally. It was silver, had a roof that'd been attacked by a tiger, the wing mirrors had disintegrated and the body was full of taps and scratches... Perfect!
Firstly I went over to Birmingham to pick up a good second hand roof. With the roof back at home I stripped the interior entirely to dry out the carpets whilst I fitted the new roof and God did they need drying! The previous owner must've let the old roof pi55 in for donkeys as there was about 4" of water when I took the carpet out. I removed the 6 drain plugs and was delighted to find the only rust (surface) was around the plug holes.. Bonus. Ground these back and zinced the whole floor.
With the new roof fitted the fun began.. Off with the original wheels and suspension and on with new. Full coilover kit and some 19" 9.5 and 10j tiger claws off an X5 and fitted with slightly stretched tyres. After about a month of jacking up and down, drinking brews, swearing and ordering spacers it sat just how I wanted it.
Kristian at Firefly speedshop collected the car as I wanted quite a bit of body work doing. With the mirrors off the car I just loved the look so I decided to have the mounting holes plated over and deleted and Kristian suggested we did the aerial too to keep the smooth look going. A colour was decided (Porsche none metallic slate grey with black details) and that was that! Arches were rolled and a few bits repaired, she was in paint! Can't thank the guys at firefly enough for their help and ideas, also for putting up with me pestering.
Anyway.. The car was back the wheels looked curse word now with the new paint so off they went to be painted black. That's better! I cleaned and treated the leather seats while they was out and when they was ready I built all the interior back up and drove it. Felt ace to step back and have a proper look at it. For mirrors I'm using motorbike mirrors on suction cups to the quarter glasses does the job quite well.
Have some pics.. Cheers Neil.
So it began.. In the beginning I had my heart set on a 2.8l but with this being (well it started as) a budget build and I wanted it to sit verrry low. It didn't make much sense to buy a fast car that was over my budget I also couldn't drive fast.. So I settled for a 1.9l
I bought a tatty 1996 Z3 locally. It was silver, had a roof that'd been attacked by a tiger, the wing mirrors had disintegrated and the body was full of taps and scratches... Perfect!
Firstly I went over to Birmingham to pick up a good second hand roof. With the roof back at home I stripped the interior entirely to dry out the carpets whilst I fitted the new roof and God did they need drying! The previous owner must've let the old roof pi55 in for donkeys as there was about 4" of water when I took the carpet out. I removed the 6 drain plugs and was delighted to find the only rust (surface) was around the plug holes.. Bonus. Ground these back and zinced the whole floor.
With the new roof fitted the fun began.. Off with the original wheels and suspension and on with new. Full coilover kit and some 19" 9.5 and 10j tiger claws off an X5 and fitted with slightly stretched tyres. After about a month of jacking up and down, drinking brews, swearing and ordering spacers it sat just how I wanted it.
Kristian at Firefly speedshop collected the car as I wanted quite a bit of body work doing. With the mirrors off the car I just loved the look so I decided to have the mounting holes plated over and deleted and Kristian suggested we did the aerial too to keep the smooth look going. A colour was decided (Porsche none metallic slate grey with black details) and that was that! Arches were rolled and a few bits repaired, she was in paint! Can't thank the guys at firefly enough for their help and ideas, also for putting up with me pestering.
Anyway.. The car was back the wheels looked curse word now with the new paint so off they went to be painted black. That's better! I cleaned and treated the leather seats while they was out and when they was ready I built all the interior back up and drove it. Felt ace to step back and have a proper look at it. For mirrors I'm using motorbike mirrors on suction cups to the quarter glasses does the job quite well.
Have some pics.. Cheers Neil.
