Nigel G Wilcox
BMW Z3
Maintenance Project On A Shoestring
The Diary of the BMW Z3
The Diary of The BMW Z3                2025
To Living the dream...if we are allowed to!
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2025__________________Drive!________
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BMW Z3
2.2 Straight Six
5 Speed
Manual
Convertible
Titan Silver
2171ccm 170HP
125KW
Petrol
Happy New Year!
'Looking Good!
The Positive!
24.04.22 This afternoon has been forecast rain and I was looking for an excuse and couldn't find one. The oil needed changing and it wasn't going to do it on it's own, so up to the garage...
The New Year 2025 - it is now 8 years on with my Z3 Daily Driver and it is still going well.
This year the Z3 needs be driven.  With changes in Government legislation many of us are uncertain on how long we will have our freedoms to be able to drive our classics without the ongoing abuse from politicians, but we can only guess and see what develops!
Let us hope that this year the British people have something positive to experience and share, instead of the usual exploitation we seem to constantly get.
01.01.25  -
Jobs I can think of that may need to get done this year:
*3. Rewire internal Fuse boxes - (1 Panel remaining)
*7. Sill paintwork may require a rubdown rust treatment and touch-up?
*8. General Fluid,  Service?
*17. The A/C could do with a complete top-up
 
 
Red = not completed or in progress)
Actual
After - looks better
14.07.24
'Kate'
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07.01.24 - It's cold, we had snow, anyone with any sense would not be working on their car until the weather gets warmer, however; I have done just that on previous years, (must be getting older) will need to get the Z3 ready for it's annual MOT for early February,  and I will need to possibly drag it out of the garage in the next few days, making sure the tyres are still inflated, check the engine block hasn't frozen, (I Did put anti-freeze in it, so it should be alright, it's unlucky for humans, namely pensioners, as they will be facing the cold, even though it was avoidable this year! This of course is down to a certain 'dictator' that can only be deemed as an 'idiot'...), however;  I digress and I will need to run some errands within the next few days. The snow is currently clear for now, let's hope it stays like that...and the weather gets warmer quickly.


07.02.25 - Another cold day, no snow yet...It is that time of year, the dreaded MOT. Why it couldn't be a summer MOT? I have been trying to book one for the past couple of days and this is no different to the previous years at the same garage. I will have to drop in unannounced as previously done in the past, left  recorded messages, so they should be expecting me, hopefully. Does anyone else have this problem?

08.02.25 - I decided to travel to the MOT garage today, just to see if they were still there, since I couldn't get anyone to answer their telephone, low and behold they were there and it seemed a little busy. They told me they would have to call me later in the afternoon to try and squeeze me in, this meant another return journey and it wasn't that local, (bearing in-mind the price of fuel now-a-days). They did contact me a few hours later and I did manage to get the car booked in and tested. (another reason for using this particular garage). They did eventually PASS the Z3 with one proviso, and that was to do with the offside, (driver) side-marker light was not working. I could only put that down to the journey there and falling down a large pothole in the road on the way to the garage and this had knocked it out either via the bulb or a loose wire, I was surprised that the suspension hadn't gone through the roof at the time. Fortunately, the side-marker can be easily corrected. It Passed, passed, passed, passed, passed! Clear for another 12 months.
Looking at the sills during the inspection, I did notice some surface rust on the ends at the rear of the sills, this is common for the age of these vehicle and these may need some attention when the days get a little warmer and dry. I had previously listed this on my jobs to do list last year and hadn't got around to it. I may have to get the welder out to weld on a couple of plates after cutting some rust out...I will see....? Prices of sills, like most spares and replacements are proving expensive nowadays; to the point of pricing many people out of motoring. Many of the classics are slowly disappearing to be replaced by the so-called 'green' vehicles. I had noticed catalytical converters on older vehicles are also priced out and some difficult to get hold of. This is, in my opinion, to price out owners with older vehicles. It is all down to legislation, politics and more money into government coffers and not forgetting, greed!

11.04.25 - Note: For communication via eMail has changed to: TheParagon@gmx.co.uk


29.04.25 - Today; I received a new wall sign, I thought it appropriate as occasionally I

get the odd comment from a local neighbour and end up never being able to finish the

task I started, it has already paid for itself. 


12.05.25 - OK, I have a weakness for vintage metal signs, even though they may not

be the originals and are a Chinese rip-off. This is the way of the world today, unfortunately.

Here is another one for the collection:

Some may recognise this one from my

'Tools introduction', one or two have asked

me where they can get one. Click on the

image and this will lead to the purchase

page. Mmmm! Not sure what has happen to

my original sign? Perhaps one day I may

catch the son of a....@!

I am currently waiting for consumables for

the small service maintenance I have had

scheduled, that is; changing oil, filter,

replace the oil bolt crush nut, (currently out of them), also; specific direction indicator bulbs. I also have the radio signal booster for the radio, this has now arrived, I am still waiting on the air horn, (being delivered over land. I believe it has something to do with Panama Canal, whoops!) And so on, hence the delays in the write-up.

Costs have obviously risen, very much due to stupid and incompetent politicians, so one needs to currently tighten one's belt..., (that's a luxury,  if anyone can afford one nowadays with the price of food and heating...), but I digress. (I am sure the rant will continue in some form).


21.05.25 - Now some of you have asked me, 'why have I bought a new horn when I had installed new ones a while ago? Good question! Even though the installed ones boast 130db volume, they seem to come across as average or low volume and just, conventional. Remember where I got them from, (China), sellers are not exactly renowned for their honesty in their advertising and there is the practical application of product effectiveness. Horns should be loud by nature most of the time, I didn't think they are loud enough, installed within the engine compartment. Therefore why not add a air-horn into the equation. I have had air horns in my earlier cars and they proved very effective, especially linked up to the early type of alarm systems of the day. It even woke up residents in a multi-story complex at 3am, during my Cortina MkIII being broken into,  they were not very happy, however; I was; as it prevented my car from being stolen. I did tell the one resident shouting out of the window who told me to turn it off and using a few other chosen words... I told them to check their car as someone had broken into mine. Low and behold resident room lights flickered on across the buildings and neighbouring ones.. with individuals slipping on outside attire, to go and check on their vehicles, this was amusing to watch.

click
So! This was the same set up I had years ago, bar the colours of red and blue, mind you there had been a third horn as well, but this shook the car and dislodged the driedup mud from under the wheel arches, it also evacuated my pet spiders I had become fond of; so I decided to knock it down to just two horns this time around, I may have had a few cautions from the police, that of course when we had police, not like today... This did prove to be the correct decision at the time. I will be connecting the latest horn to the original car horn circuitry in tandem,  the new horn with it's 80v Resistor, should be able to take the load, hopefully. I will see what the performance and decibels is like,  I may have to resign myself to just using the latest set of horns, it should be loud enough and louder than my currently ones, we shall see. (Fitting pending)
11.06.25 - There have been some delays, as well as the predictable wet weather and other events, preventing the updates and scheduled maintenance, will get around to it as priorities dictate, many of you will know the scenario...

22.06.25 - Still delays in shipping of the updated ordered remaining maintenance items... We are also, currently going through a heat wave throughout the UK 27.2 to 30 deg C.

05.08.25 - Some problems with the new email address, suggest using ngwilcox100@gmail.com until the problem can be sorted out, sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused, I am replying to all emails with this current address.

09.09.25
- After an errand into my local town and on my return, I decided to have a quick look at one of the jobs I needed to do and that was the off-side (driver) side indicator light bulb replacement, a basic maintenance job. I remembered it had come up at my previous MOT, however; I had forgotten about it until after this years MOT. Fortunately; they told me to replace it as soon as I got home. O.K. the job was still waiting eight months on and I have just got around to it. On inspection, (and it was not easy to access, I presumed it required access via the removal of the wheel arch cover, hence the delay or so I thought!) I managed to prise the lens unit out, on inspecting, I could see the unit needed to slide forward before lifting it out, one learns something new again and again after a space of time....  I could not see anything wrong with the unit other than the obvious wear and tear. On taking the amber bulb out (T20 21W), of the connector; inside the unit was the blue/green colouring, of oxidisation around the metal connectors, water had got in at some point. With a good wire brush, and noting the electrics were off, it cleaned up ok. With the inspection of the bulb, I did notice one of the wire pins had broken off, weird that! I did manage to test it and there was life still in the bulb, unfortunately this pin or wire couldn't be soldered and yes,  I did try, so! It was requiring replacement.  For x2 bulbs £5.50 eBay (see purchases for details).






12.09.25 - I
Received the ordered bulbs T20s they were much too big, (I did like the 21W) however; I needed the T10s half the size and these only gave off 5W and I was still not happy with this after travelling to the local auto=shop to get the replacements. The fella that served me had never heard of the T' bulb classification, only the 501s and looked at me as if I had two heads however;  I did purchase them, we had both learnt something possibly, he with the T classifications and me to understand the sizes. After all that, I didn't like the light they were giving off, so I reverted back to some LEDs I had purchased earlier in march this year via Temu. They worked better when they were paired off,  rather than as a mismatch of bulbs and wattage, que sera, sera. (what will be will be).

Whilst I had the Boot/Trunk raised, I had the radio booster unit resting on my tool bag, the radio wasn't secured in the car so that was slid out and the unit fitted too, took two minutes at the most and worked well. One of the easier installations.
2 x 582A T20 7440 AMBER ORANGE WY21W INDICATOR WEDGE LIGHT BULBS LAMP 12V 21W - Not suitable for BMWZ3 These are 'Big' require half the size received 12.09.25
- Not Fitted
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O.K. one needs a T10 or 501 price is around Temu £3.49 for x2
I went back to the LED, worked better with both sides matching
- fitted
12V Universal Car Automobile FM/AM Radio Signal Amplifier Anti-interference Car Antenna FM Booster Amp Windshield Mounted Automobile Parts, Without Battery - Fitted
Temu: £2.84 RRP £27.11?
Ord: 01.04.25
Rcvd .08.04.25
I now just needed to muster the inclination to move on to the oil change and fit the horn, but! Not today, perhaps I'm being a little lazy...