#ZedShed Nessie - Road to recovery (Z4 2.5)

[Lee]

We decided to call her Nessie because she’s from Scotland and sporting the right colours

We snapped her up last week and she came down on a transporter. We already knew she had plenty to sort and when you buy a car for 1k you kind of expect it. Being from Scotland the road salt would of been hard on her, we weren’t disappointed with what we found.

So spec’s of the Zed:
* 2003
* 2.5 Straight Six
* M54B25
* Maldives Blue
* Blue / Ali Interior
* Sport Mode

The feel of this engine is very different from a Z3, this is mainly due to the power steering being Electic so you’ve got no parasitic drag on the engine, also no Vicous fan due to the bulkhead.

First thing we did today was take off each wheel and see what we’re working with.

The outside:

The close ups:

Leaking rocker cover

then what’s underneath: The Rear

The wheel was holding this dust shield on…

Crispy

The front

We also have the mother of all blowing exhausts, can see why, it’s like a combination of Gary on protein with a side of Broccoli.

 

[Lee]

The first jobs we did today were getting the engine to run smoothly. Kindly the previous owner left us a new intake boot we also grabbed a new rocker cover gasket.

Then a quick clean up.

Next the rocker cover. We were very impressed by how clean everything was, the lack of oil staining tells us she’s had regular oil changes.

Little bit of oil in the bores.

She ran so much smoother after both these jobs.

Next job is deciding what to do with the interior. We’re planning To change it all to a black set.

we also had a look at the subframe, when the previous owner gives you a subframe with the car alarm bells start to ring.

Oh yeah, we might have to do something about that.

Shopping list is looking quite extensive at the moment

 

[Paul Rice]

Plenty to keep you busy there Lee. Not seen a rusty Z4 before

 

[andyglym]

Job on there chaps, did it live in the sea

 

[Mint]

Can see why you've called her Nessie. Another great ZedShed build coming up...

 

[Z Victor 1]

Wow there's a bit of rust on that! Rear springs look surprisingly clean. Saw a very good one with that colour combination and I thought that interior looked good, but I guess that one needs attention anyway. Sport seats?

 

[colb]

Gordon Bennett, theres crusty and theres crusty, thank goodness my 2003 2.5 escaped that fate. Looks like its going to be a wallet buster, best of luck will be watching for updates.

 

[Shelly]

What a great interesting thread
Ill keep watching
Good luck

 

[FRANKIE]

Good luck with it.............Frankie

 

[Paul H]

I know it'll be factory fresh when it's done, I'm watching with interest

 

[Nodzed]

You may need to revaluate your definition of "crusty" Lee

 

[ThePockerGT]

Ignore my reply, e85 it is! Never seen one this rusty, looks like a lot of work required. How are you finding resourcing parts? Any struggles...

 

[Mazza]

Loads of work for you to do by the look of it… but you still have it on the road before mine

 

[Duncodin]

We decided to call her Nessie because she’s from Scotland and sporting the right colours

You called her Nessie because she's from scotland amd the right colors?

So you have evidence that that the lochness monster is blue?. (With rust colored patches)

 

[Lee]

Ignore my reply, e85 it is! Never seen one this rusty, looks like a lot of work required. How are you finding resourcing parts? Any struggles...

I've got most of my parts from the Z4 forum and ebay, no issues yet. I also run a BMW buy n sell page with over 100k members.

 

[Bazza]

This one is not for the faint hearted.

 

[bombur]

Nessie because it used to live in the water?

 

[Dino D]

@Lee you had best quarantine that Z away from the Coupe and Gaz’s M.

That stuff growing on it could be contagious

otherwise it’s a nice spec and that interior is unusual but could look pretty good all cleaned up on a summers day.
Is it half cloth/leather?

 

[Duncodin]

Are you sure that's a Zed? Maybe it was build by Mercedes.

I'm actually gob smacked by the state of that metal work.

I must confess to being a 'merc' man. Always had mercs. Bought another just a couple months ago. But Mercs built since mid 90's rust like hell. (I've got a well used mig welder in the garage (the machine, not the operator)).

But my z3, at 23 years old, has had nothing done to it. It's not particularly nice but it's miles (and miles) better than any (post 80's) merc I've ever owned.

I've never owned a recent BMW. Are they going the same way (in the rust department) as Mercs now?

Actually I did bodge a little panel into the back end of the Zed's right sill last year coz I knew the MOT guy would pick on it. But that really is it.

 

[Lee]

Nice big juicy update. We have success, it turns out this Z4 is in very good shape under all those rotten body panels. This rotten body panels took some serious time to remove mostly due to rusty bolts shearing or refusing to undo. We had a full team today, @mwpe @Mr C @GazHyde @Dom @Oldguysrule @mbrenan

First up is the front end, metal work is all in great shape no heavy corrosion or broken brackets. We gave the bulkhead a light wire brush and she came up well. The only damage up front is the offside (driver side ) headlight, it has 3 out of 4 tabs broken off from a deer strike this also split the bumper, that’s the first item on the order list.

First picture gives a good overview

this is passenger side looking into the engine. You can see a previous brake line repair this is common practice fixing them like this.

Front bulk head showing good signs of cleaning up.

shot focusing forward. The bracket sticking out is what the headlight bolts to and bumper aligns with.

Other side has light surface rust but again nothing serious.

so in all looking really good up front. The sills have some light surface rust. We see much worse on Z3’s. First up drivers side

Passenger side

Little bit of crispyness on the rear drivers side this wasthe worse bit

shot of the rear drivers side sill

Now looking at the rear this seems to be the focus of the corrosion. We currently have both rear wings ready to come off but we’re stumped on where the last bolt is inside the boot area under the roof if anyone can shed some light this would be handy.

An over view photo.

rusty crash beam, boot lid gingerly resting on the roof

we’ve been told Z4 rear bumpers are a moisture trap.

Up in the arch’s look good.

more showing the extent of the rust. Least we can see new springs and rear shocks recently. This leaves us having to source just front shocks n springs. We already have new brembo discs n pads all round and the callipers with carriers will be grit blasted

we will be changing this subframe out for the replacement. This is just nasty to look at.

funny large pile of body parts outside. We need to source 4 new wings maybe one sill. Still in two minds to either change the colour of car by changing most of the panels or paint a load of new panels ourselves, these decisions are being driven purely by cost.

we can gain a few pennies back from selling the old wheels. No curbing and 4 new budget tyres on, these will be good for someone send me a PM if interested. So the wheels will be changed for something more period correct and user friendly. Also the interior will be swapped out for a black set with heated seats. Baring in mind the car cost 1k, shipping £360, new brakes £200 so our max budget for everything can’t really go above £3.5k we’re guessing this to be the value of this Zed once finished, it’s going to be tight

watch this space.