MadaboutKitcars

Hi All
I'm Ian from Abingdon and I'm addicted to modified cars.

Cars I have rebuilt include Lotus Seven S1, TVR Grantura 2, TVR Tuscan V6 and I'm on my second Jago geep (bought and sold the third). I also have a Sylva Fury.

I am a fan of early Italian sports cars, specifically Maserati and have attended the Mille Miglia revival twice (2007 & 2013).

I've just sold an Alfa Romeo Spider 916 and bought a 1999 BMW z3 2.8 manual.

I blame WCA and his black Z300S Barchetta which he so enthusiastically demoed at Stoneleigh.

So I'm currently collecting parts- mainly lights but I am on the lookout for some Jaguar wire wheels and the famously mooted reasonably priced Polish adaptors.

Cheers
Ian

So you've done it' have you made room on the drive? All the best and I'll see you at Kitfest? Be it Tribute or Jago cheers Pat

Oh yes, the Alfa has gone so the Z3 was only on the lawn for 2 nights!!! Hope to get to KitFest but probably not overnight. Cheers.

I will be there for 1 day only too

Welcome aboard Ian. See you in a few weeks

Easy Washers
Thought I'd better make a start on preparing the Z3. I'd seen that washer jets on the bonnet would be of no use so I decided to put them on the wipers just like my departed Alfa Spider 916. I bought a pair of wipers complete with the wash jets, rubber tubes and two tube joiners. I bought a tee-piece joiner and a length of clear pipe.

First thing I did was cut the existing washer feed pipe:



That turned out to be a good guess because when re-routed around the scuttle, the end landed right by the passenger wiper spindle. I added the tee-piece and linked up the rubber pipe to the jet. Didn't even have to trim it.



I fastened the tube to the wiper arms using cable ties and covered them with black tape. Overkill really and likely to get untidy so may be removed.
Then I attached the new tube to the tee-piece and routed it over to the driver side wiper spindle. Cut to length and attached to the driver wiper rubber tube.



More cable ties and tape. I secured the runs of the pipe using cable ties with their "tails" trapped under the clip-on rubber trim around the scuttle. Seems to work quite well.

The finished (almost) job:



Tried them and a good drenching ensued. The wiper blade on the driver side fouled the windscreen frame at the top of the stroke so I roughly trimmed the blade. That may be a MOT-able offence but it wouldn't be difficult to properly trim the metal backing strip and re-instate the indents to secure the wiper end cap.



I saw that Mercedes has developed a wiper for convertibles with micro jets along its length actually through the blade. In this way they minimise the amount of water available to splash the occupants. Spoilsports.

For my next trick, I'll show you how I installed some of those kick@rse (if cosmetic) roll hoops you see on eBay.

Roll Hoops

I've decided to renege on that last bit on the basis that if I showed how to fit them, someone could easily unfit them- I'm suspicious of this criminals' playground we call the internet.
So- here is a before pic of the Z3 without the hoops:



and here is one with them fitted. Suffice to say, it involved a 45mm hole saw. And the girly net still fits although it will not fold down.



They certainly look good, which is really what they're for. If I was serious, I'd get a full roll cage.

No hoops on the original but I actually think mine looks better with them.

Still aiming for the white and red?


Do you have any pictures of the rear of the car?

Hoops: That's why I got a pair for mine.

Colour: Yes I have asked Chris for the code number of the white gel coat pigment and I have my red stripes and spacing tape ready.

Rear of the car: I didn't get any pics of the rear of the car and Bruce (the owner) hasn't got back to me following his 2014 Mille Miglia trip with any hi-res pics.

All I have is this vid that I took.

Nice and clean. If you look at the start of my build thread the later cars have loads of holes cut in.

Loads of turns of the steering wheel to change direction. Must be lots of arm spinning through the hairpins

Thought I'd better do a bit more preparation so:
1. went to a local tyre shop to check out their familiarity with wire wheels. Not a problem but their stock availability was pathetic so we agreed it would be best if I sourced the tyres and tubes and they fitted them.
2. Cleaned up the wire wheels and applied Jenolite to get rid of any surface rust.
3. Took the rear silencer (with its funny vacuum operated tailpipe valve) off so it now has a side exit exhaust or it will do when the correct pipe is delivered. I used what I had and it comes out underneath but my home made baffle system works well.
4. I wrapped the doors and windscreen pillars in white vinyl. First attempt and it looks quite good from a distance- of 0.25 mile. Seriously, the tops of the doors look great but the lower panels, not so good. I have respect for people who do this professionally. Me- took 30 mins per side and cost £18 in materials. Looks better than I could have done with rattle cans anyway.

PHOTOGRAPHS or it didn't happen

I'll do a photo shoot one evening this week- somewhere with a car park in the distance.

And here it is- first from the front showing the windscreen surround...



and next with a missing set of tailpipes...

I put the "Boston Green" mirrors back on to keep legal but may do something to them with the leftover white wrap and red stripes. Could then call it a Stradale or Tricolore. Thinking about the latter, wonder if Chris could do a carbon fibre reinforced transparent blue gel coat- never seen one in the flesh. Bob Forstner had a silver one in the showroom in Park Lane when I was up there last week. So I said to Bob I said "NO, it's a Tricolore or nuffink!" and walked away.

Panels moulded

Just heard from Chris that the panels have been moulded- the excitement mounts..

Trimmed panels loosely placed on our "workshop" Z3

Windscreen rake

Those pics make the screen look even more raked- but good !!!

Changed the engine oil and filter tonight. Just about to introduce the lights to their fixing bolts.

When do you pick it up?

Dropping the car off at Tribute on Saturday- he said 1 or 2 weeks.

Ask Chris to show you my fuel filler cap. It is the Monza style one that was fitted to mine. Has a nice patina but could easily be polished up. If you like it, make me an offer

PMed - as agreed. Have arranged for Chris to fit it during the build.
Collecting car on 5 July.

Rubber

So- the inner tubes have arrived and I've ordered the tyres. Thought I'd start with some 195/65 x 15 V-rated Falken AS200 all weather tyres. They are snowflake marked so have a high silica content. With that skinny width on the 5" Jag rim, I'm looking for all the grip I can get.

Progress

Rear light and plate position now fixed





Side vents cut and bonded, just require some filling and priming in white

Kights

Thanks for the call Chris. Lights look OK, shame we need so many now!!!! The tub looks quite thick there so may take the flattening for the base of the lights without needing any strengthening from behind.

Cleaned and sprayed the wire wheels silver today. Arranged to have the new rim bands, inner tubes and Falken tyres fitted tomorrow morning.