BMW Z3 Diary

03.01.23 The beginning of a New Year, Happy New Year everyone let's hope it's a good one for a change... The Z3 has been tucked up for the cold bits and is coming out of the garage today for some errands... So far, So Good!

08.01.23 A couple of days ago I heard an almighty clatter on the road, looked in the rear view mirror to find part of my cut-off exhaust bouncing off the road surface. I did stop to retrieve the bits with the help off a pleasant passer-by, the disgruntled driver of a Range Rover, that was behind me, needed to slightly swerve to avoid the incendiary packages that were aimed for him, he did have somewhat of a stern look on his face as he passed by... (well his car did look new, poor chap, shame he nearly took out the poodle and walker on the pavement..as he was glaring at me... the latter did look a little surprised as they collected themselves) and the failure was down to the clip that had, to coin a phrase, 'failed,' they are not the best of designs, (this one was from China, what do you know!) this held or retained the exhaust chrome tip. I also have an MOT coming up in early February, so it looks like another few repairs, but first I need to find my motivation, just can't remember where I have left it last, especially with a snow forecast that is also threatening everyone...so, we are on to a 'good' start, nothing new on that score...;)

24.01.23 On the way to my local town in the Z3 just to cover a few quick errands, (above clip refit, obviously pending, surprisingly there were no loud exhaust noises either, weird that). I did need to address another problem and this was the dash or clock instrument binnacle that houses the clock cluster. Some how; the clips had broken or they had become brittle over the years and the binnacle had just decided on this day to jettison itself into my lap, to inform me that there was a further problem, however this was somewhat awkward and inconvenient at the time, especially when driving and initially, I was startled to say the least! After placing the binnacle back quickly; from where it came, it would stay until I decided to accelerate, (as one does from typical road junctions or traffic lights stops), and it was back on my lap in a flash or thereabouts. This was not good, (when I had got home and finished with the icepack, only kidding), with further inspection, of the binnacle, the repair potential was also not so good. Fortunately, I did find a unit replacement, (see below). One out of two were available and this was unusual, (I had never seen them advertised before on eBay or at any other place or time at that matter), so I decided, reluctantly, to order it, my only justifications were based on my obvious personal safety, (not forgetting the passenger) and then there is the up-and-coming MOT next month, whereby they look for things just like this to add further salt to the wound; again a needs must, scenario and they seem to be more frequent... isn't it weird how one can go through months without a problem and then find oneself coming up to; or even on the day of an MOT, when one does not need these sort of problems in their life or any 'soft stuff' to hit the proverbial fan hard.... I am told it makes us stronger, my reply is, 'yes it does, how wonderful,' and yes indeed...right!

31.01.23 This afternoon my task was; to put in the replacement binnacle and reconnect the chrome tip of the exhaust cut-off, a simple ten minute job, yes? It was an afternoon where much was done, with very little reward coming from it; as in terms of positive results. To cut this story to as short as possible, the binnacle would just not come out and it seemed as if I could end up having to take out the centre console, to get to a bracket, (most likely an after market or third party one tying everything together and was overlapped with everything else) believe me, I was becoming a little disgruntled. This was a weird one and should have been straight forward, one could get so far, and then exasperation would set in, time was ticking on. On leaving that for a break and a think, I moved onto the chrome tip, this was fairly straight forward and went together reasonably well and this I considered to be a successful fix for now at least. Whether the cut-off in general worked or not, was another matter as from a previous electrical task and required me to delve into the wiring and the fuse box and I wasn't going to do that today. However, on putting everything back together and without replacing the binnacle, the lighting switch module, i.e. illumination bulb, catapulted out of the module into the dark depths of despair, when found, (after twenty minutes) and on inspection, the bulb had blown (now how did that happen, when no electrics were on and it had worked prior to today?) and the decal had also disappeared down the side of the driver's seat. Further to a painstakingly retrieval, at this point I had the zombie glaze style approach, due to what seemed to be lately, regular occurrences of small failures that hit one's ego, confidence and other psychobabble, I digress.... the various pieces were all put back into their appropriate places, working or not, I just didn't really or couldn't care at this point, (my patience was at critical) as most of the daylight hours had gone. This was becoming a bad afternoon; these basic repairs considered as the 'normal' book of general maintenance and repair as being set as, a very trivial process or procedure, today was different! To top this off with a 'cherry on top', the reverse lights had stopped working, then the rear lights stopped working. Further scrambling in the low light, didn't help either, one required a replacement reverse light bulb, (fortunately, I did have one and it worked - Wow!) and the rear red tail lights did then decide to work again, (most likely a bad earth) so, I took that omen, as a positive, without any further questioning, returned to the vehicle, garaged it, as it was dark at this point...This was the most simplest recap for the afternoon. Just thinking about it before an MOT, sends shivers, my zombie state will just have to suffice for now and these jobs will be for another day.

06.02.23 Well! For the past few days my remote MOT station has not been answering my calls, this is quite concerning.... so, decided to pay them a visit, they are a good 25-30 minutes away from my abode, however, needed to know if they were still operating and at the same location and needed an alternative if they had gone...

Yep! They were still operating at their current location, this was fortunate, they just hadn't answered the phone, weird that.... and as a bonus, I managed to get an MOT booked in, needed to wait a couple of hours before they could carry out the inspection. They did seem quite busy. Just checked the lights before handing over the keys and low and behold the one red tail light had stopped working, fortunately after a few minutes it was corrected for at least now, it was down to a poor earth, managed to sort that same problem out again, as described in the previous entry and will need to make sure in the future to make the repair a little more permanent and good. A long walk around the local town and a slow cup of coffee, it was like waiting for a dentist, then a slow walk back, the job was done, the MOT inspector couldn't get into the bonnet or engine area, just to add more anxiety to the process. There was a technique in regards to opening the bonnet and this was down to an added third party security, I had forgotten to mention to him, once I had opened it up and he had seen everything, he seemed satisfied with the mechanics, after revving the guts out of the engine a number of times. The electrics, water, oil and gases had also been checked. The Z3 eventually received a PASS! Great! So good for another year. Not quite sure what I would have done if it had failed, as I do need it for some future or up and coming days. Not even thinking what could have been... nope! Not going there.

25.05.23 - The months have just flashed by, where has the time gone? Very little work has been done on the Z3, or even driving it due to further academia studies from August of last year until January this year, then there has been updating CPC for HGV, ADR - this may be the last time of updating these requirements, as this is a young mans game and it is expensive. However; the days have now gotten warmer, whereby it may be time to take off the hard-top of the Z3, allowing the soft-top to breathe again. There is still plenty of work to be done, such as sorting out the jobs that were not completed last year. I still have to sort out the exhaust cut-off wiring to the new fusebox and there's the front bumper that needs to be taken off and re-installed correctly, (never been happy with that since I bought the car). It also requires a good clean inside and out, maybe due for another service, the list goes on... So why has my interest waned, one may well ask, the cold weather, constant rain and most of you can appreciate, the cost of living and the tight squeezes on our purse-strings for starters, most motorist are being penalised for having cars today. I only did 700 miles last year and this has been my daily run-a-bout! It just shows the state of the country for the 'normal people' of this country and the psycho-dribble we get from Whitehall and Westminster, it seems the residents of the Asylum have been allowed to run the show for way too long but I digress...

26.05.23 Today the hard top comes off and the soft-top gets an airing, the weather is hot, hot, hot at 23.6 dC (recorded temp inside).... Those with the same hard/soft-top setup may find over a period of time there maybe shrinkage in the soft-top as it has been stored folded away over winter and/or when the hard-top has been in operation. Some may find the soft-top may require some stretching, as the fabric has relaxed during storage or has gone back to it's original shape. This is normal with new or near new fabric. The stretching of this fabric can be carried out by clamping it down in the normal way for a few days. The best time is during garaging or as a security measure when out and about. Either way, it will eventually normalise.

19.10.23 - Plenty of work to do on the Z3, prices of spare parts have jumped in price ten-fold, fuel prices have risen astronomically, insurance and, no doubt road tax will increase to bump up the political confers after the politicians poor judgement and mistakes. Someone has to pay, like you and I for instance, we would be imprisoned if we performed the same functions with the same incompetence...but that is my view. I have also found my personal time has proven to be a valuable commodity too this year.... The future of car enjoyment or getting the opportunities seems to be going out like metal detecting and drone flying due to ever increasing restrictions or costs. Seems to be a pattern here! We are not allowed to have hobbies it seems unless wealthy and we definitely cannot speak freely without the Woke kicking off;) OK., my moan is over for now, so what have I done? Very little; as many other projects on the go, I did struggle to replace the Z3 hardtop roof by myself, a few days ago. It is one of those situations where it can look easy, in reality it can be too much or awkward for one person, due to it's uneven weight distribution however; easy if there are two people carrying out the same task as the weight can be adjusted and directed accordingly. It would be ideal if carrying out the function on one's own to have a constructed pully system in place attached to a garage beam, whereby one can reverse in and then to be able to lower the roof onto the vehicle or visa-versa helping to distribute the weight - I don't have a pully system, just haven't gotten around to it and one assumes there would be plenty of people around to help... ? Nope! So I man-handled the roof on my own, slowly; with plenty of old cushions, underneath the glass part, as one tried kick and slide it closer to the vehicle, obviously trying not to damage the paintwork. I raisied the roof with the glass on the bottom and the flatter or lighter end facing upright, step by step raising it onto wooden blocks until I could rest it onto any of the available framework, adjusting the cushions as and when, the roof could then be swung around onto the body boot/trunk safely, again protecting the paintwork with old cushions, did manage it, so it is possible even though not ideal and it does take time! One does feel better when the hardtop is back on, mainly relief of no damage due to the process and for the potential added security with less opportunities for vandals to damage the soft-top as it is folded up inside - 'what a world we live in', we have to laugh or we would cry...

After around six years, it is still a head-turner.

16.12.23 - Reviewing this year I must say, I have sat on my laurels, thinking and not doing and low and behold early next year another MOT, OK, lower mileage, (is that good?) higher prices on insurance and road tax and fuel. One can understand any pessimism of those with hobbies limited by the central government, but I digress....
I have had to address my O/s rear light cluster and strip it down, renew solder joints (as they do become dry and brittle over a number of years. With this done my traffic indicator was just not working, fuses were checked and seemed OK. I eventually concluded it was the replacement bulbs I had purchased a number of months before LEDs, tried pulling them out and they just fell apart, (bulbs were purchased via eBay from China and were not cheap! - manufacturing today sucks!
I ended up replacing the stoplight and indicator bulbs and ordered a couple of new stop LEDs, I am hoping these will surfice within the coming weeks and MOT (not many British manufacturers are left, sold out by the Government no doubt).
The light cluster is working for now.