Good to hear it looks good. The before cleaning photos are not so nice. Munich Legends took the sill caps off before it was cleaned, and I expected some corrosion. A small spot of paint had flaked a bit but after cleaning no real corrosion was found. Sills were all re sealed and sills coated inside and out. Munich topped the inhibitor up when it went back to the body shop and it all looked good. I’ll attach a couple more photos to show the sills.
Z3M S54
- Thread starter Z3M(S54)
- Start date
- Joined
- Dec 8, 2011
- Points
- 145
Looking VERY good. It would be good to see a better photo of the rear beam bushes. The beam should be resting on a pad of rubber about 5mm thick (Item 3 in the link).
It's very common for the pad to be worn away and the beam drops, revealing a gap at the top of the beam. Most cars have it, but if you are paying top dollar, I'd want it sorted, or use as a negotiation. It's expensive to sort (unless DIYing), as most garages would take the rear beam off to fix it. It's on my list of things to do to Bluey after the summer season.
The gap would be where the red arrow is...
Sills look tip top. It's either been a garage queen , or it has been really well looked after. It's obviously been garaged to be that rust-free.
It's very common for the pad to be worn away and the beam drops, revealing a gap at the top of the beam. Most cars have it, but if you are paying top dollar, I'd want it sorted, or use as a negotiation. It's expensive to sort (unless DIYing), as most garages would take the rear beam off to fix it. It's on my list of things to do to Bluey after the summer season.
RealOEM.com - Online BMW Parts Catalog
BMW parts Z3 E36 Z3 M Rear axle support/wheel suspension
www.realoem.com
The gap would be where the red arrow is...
Sills look tip top. It's either been a garage queen , or it has been really well looked after. It's obviously been garaged to be that rust-free.
Not sure about the beam bushes, wasn’t aware of the issues, but hope ML would have picked it up and advised me. They did a very thorough survey and job. I’ll ask.
The reason I had the underside dry ice blasted is that it didn’t look too good when I first got it home. All the suspension, steering, Componants had a good covering of surface rust, the diff/drive likewise had a covering of surface rust. The subframes were covered in road dirt and grime. It was not really possible to evaluate the sills because of 22 years of dirt, debris and oil. Hence my decision to get it thoroughly cleaned and rust protected. I had the view that the sills would be corroded and would need remedial work. It was a pleasant surprise that it was effectively corrosion free.
Cannot thank Munich Legends enough for a superb job, well managed with good communications.
Giving the paint a light cut tomorrow with a DA, polish and wax. Trouble is that it won’t leave the garage unless the weather is right!
The reason I had the underside dry ice blasted is that it didn’t look too good when I first got it home. All the suspension, steering, Componants had a good covering of surface rust, the diff/drive likewise had a covering of surface rust. The subframes were covered in road dirt and grime. It was not really possible to evaluate the sills because of 22 years of dirt, debris and oil. Hence my decision to get it thoroughly cleaned and rust protected. I had the view that the sills would be corroded and would need remedial work. It was a pleasant surprise that it was effectively corrosion free.
Cannot thank Munich Legends enough for a superb job, well managed with good communications.
Giving the paint a light cut tomorrow with a DA, polish and wax. Trouble is that it won’t leave the garage unless the weather is right!
- Joined
- Dec 8, 2011
- Points
- 145
Wow. If that's what dry ice can do, I'm impressed. I've seen it on telly, and it looked good, but thought it could be snake oil. Was it dry ice to clean, then Lanoguard to make it shiny, or is that ML's little secret?
It looks like one of the best undersides that I've seen on a car that hasn't been stripped and rebuilt.
With everything being so original, I'd be very tempted to get a set of original rear boxes (around £250 for the pair was the price for the last pair I bought, but that was around 10 years ago), and then you have a real super gem. At the moment, it's just a gem
.I wouldn't be too concerned about the ream beam bushes. I would estimate that 50% of the Z3s have failed bushes and don't even know it. They are hidden by the rear wheel arch liners, and need a determined examiner to see the fault, and Jim Clark (or Lewis Hamilton for the younger readers
) to notice the fault through driving. The 5mm pad wears down, then the rubber can become detatched from the inner sleeve, and the whole rear beam drops by 5mm. The bush still works for left-right, front-back absorbsion unless the bush gets properly destroyed, but the beam is now at the wrong height at the front, and doesn't work for up-down absorbsion.It's nice to see a car that's not just "shiny on top"
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The dry ice blasting was followed by a rust converter to convert any rust, and then treated with a rust inhibitor. Munich legends then injected all the boxes, internal structure and bits they felt important. Then they put back sill Caps, under trays etc. I’m very pleased with the result. Looks good.
You are right about the rear boxes, they are too noisy for me. I asked BMW for a price. They are the same boxes as the S50 and common to all ZM’s, they are left and right and £500 each. I’m chasing down a pair of second hand original boxes at the moment and will change them.
Cleaned the interior and conditioned the seats and cleaned all the internal panels.
Cut the paint back today with a light compound and a DA. Then used a pre glaze polish and finished with liquid wax. Paint is not perfect but it looks really respectable.
I think it’s finished!! (Apart from chosing a replacement radio?) Just use and enjoy now.
You are right about the rear boxes, they are too noisy for me. I asked BMW for a price. They are the same boxes as the S50 and common to all ZM’s, they are left and right and £500 each. I’m chasing down a pair of second hand original boxes at the moment and will change them.
Cleaned the interior and conditioned the seats and cleaned all the internal panels.
Cut the paint back today with a light compound and a DA. Then used a pre glaze polish and finished with liquid wax. Paint is not perfect but it looks really respectable.
I think it’s finished!! (Apart from chosing a replacement radio?) Just use and enjoy now.
Underside pictures look great! I do hope you are now brave enough to use and enjoy!
Just a note on the beam bushes: although you will see a lot of examples of the bushes being replaced with the whole subframe out, I can confirm that it is possible to replace them with OEM bushes one at a time without dropping the subframe. I had mine done a few years ago at BMR Performance for a relatively reasonable price…probably a drop in the ocean compared to what I’m guessing you’ve spent with ML.
Just a note on the beam bushes: although you will see a lot of examples of the bushes being replaced with the whole subframe out, I can confirm that it is possible to replace them with OEM bushes one at a time without dropping the subframe. I had mine done a few years ago at BMR Performance for a relatively reasonable price…probably a drop in the ocean compared to what I’m guessing you’ve spent with ML.
Thank you! I’m hoping mine are ok, but it’s good to know that it is possible to do the job reasonably.
Just need dry weather to get it on the road, I don’t fancy getting it dirty!!