It's not something that I've seen done over here but makes so much sense when you really look at it. Flexible, easily done and best of all easily removed. And looks factory! JIM
#ZedShed Project Dino D
- Thread starter GazHyde
- Start date
The Masters at work - brilliant!!The latest car to arrive at Dr. Lees garage belongs to @Dino D. It has a variety of issues needing looking at, including setting the suspension up correctly. It has coilovers on the front and lowering springs on the back.
Before anything gets tweaked its up on the axle stands & wheels off for the obligatory inspection.
Wheels off, and mahoosive wheels they are too...
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Don't fancy being the one to clean them, even though they are rather nice
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Rear suspension setup. Not much spring in those springs. Not sure how much lower these actually are than standard, but pretty low by the look of them!
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Everything looks pretty much the same as every other Z3 we've had in the garage - a bit tired looking! Yellow stuff pads all round as well.
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Front suspension with coilovers (slight issue with this one visible to the eye!)
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The differential bush can't seem to wait to come out, and looks to be making a bid for freedom already...
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Drop links are starting to crack...
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After our look over it became pretty clear it needs the rear sub frame dropping and a full refresh on the rubber components therein. Once the rear wheel arch liners were removed it was clear to see that the rear beam bushes had failed already. The video below shows the state of the beam bushes and the differential bush in better detail.
View: http://youtu.be/q_KWZk4TLJw
You've seen the process we are about to show you several times before in the other progress threads, but mainly for Dino's benefit here they are again!
First off the car is the spare wheel and spare wheel carrier. Spare wheel has seen better days...
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Off with the tasty sounding Supersprint exhaust. The great thing about the 2.8 exhausts is they are joined midway down the underside of the car, so we don't have to remove the whole thing. It may need a quick go over with some metal polishView attachment 12363
I'll skip over the things we disconnected and unplugged, but after about 3 hours we got to this stage (it would have taken less but we had to pop out for a bacon buttie!).
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After a rather awkward lift it was on the work bench. Not sure why this one seemed to weigh heavier than the other subframes, but it almost broke both of us (particularly those who got their hand trapped in the process!).
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With it on the bench we removed the anti roll bar and separated the swing arms from the ream beam. Having made such good progress we took a little drive out to drop the rear beam and PowerFlex beam bushes at the local garage for removal and fitting.
Next stage will most likely be Saturday when we will have collected the reworked beam and collected pile of parts from GSF. We now have a white board up in the garage so we can list things out, I forgot to take a picture of exactly what is going to be ordered. It's pretty much everything except springs and shocks. I'll update this thread later with a list when I get chance.
Z
zedonist
Guest
If you think that feels good, throw some H&R ARB's on it, it will take it to the next level.
So a review is order of the improvements added by Dr Lee at the Zorg Z3 hospital(!).
To sum up key improvements added where new coilovers, Powerflex Rear Beam Bushes (purple) Powerflex Diff bush (purple) new brakes and lots of other little bits...
The car had FK Coilovers which were dead after 5yrs and around 25k miles.
All the other bushes were already Powerflex purple.
I won't compare the ride to what it was before on the dead Coilovers as obviously it's an improvement but rather to what I remember it being like when the original FK's were fresh.
Whilst it cornered flat, rode very well over smooth roads it always had a bit if 'steer from the rear' which robbed confidence.
It was just about acceptable on the bumpy roads round where I live. It was ok on the motorway but needed plenty correction and would do some strange vertical movements over certain undulations.
Until I experienced something else in really thought it was very good. In any case it was better than standard, even a Z3 on fresh standard suspension is not my idea of a sports car at all.
Would I say buy FK Silverlines now though- definitely not.
So now on the new BC Coilovers. Currently the firmness is set to at 20 on the rear and 15 on the front (30 being the hardest damper setting).
Ride height a bit lower than standard, say 20-30mm.
It's now firm yet supple at low speeds, the wheels feel pushed down into the roads.
Higher speeds is a total transformation - confident is never a word I used to describe a Z3. It is now. The only other car I've driven over the same road that felt so planted was Cooper S (supercharged convertible model).
Traction has improved greatly, simply no more slip!
No more steer from the rear (that is no doubt helped by the Powerflex rear beam bushes).
Motorway cruising is more like cruising, before it would be constantly hunting and following ruts and bumps.
It's still very much alive but now the feedback is more pleasant and useful rather than just tiring hunting around.
Cornering is still as flat as ever even with the increased ride height over previous set up. So flat that on the road I think any ARB upgrade will be redundant, perhaps on track when really being pushed it may be useful but for the roads it's flat as flat can be! I'd like to try a car with the ARB upgrade at some point just to see.
To say I am pleased with these coilovers is a major understatement!
Now let me talk about the bushes:
It's not really fair to compare dead OEM bushes with new Powerflex but I think I'm correct in saying that even compared to new OEM rear beam bushes the powerflex are a huge improvement (I recall the first Z I ever drove back in the 90's having a strange sensation when turning on fast sweeps, even though it was running 17 inch staggered ACS wheels supplied from BMW and was a new 2.8).
There is simply non of that now, what a pleasure!
The trade off be some increased road roar into the cabin but not a massive amount more (given mine is already elevated due to low profile and 18inch wheels).
Now the diff mount. Again it's now a Powerflex item and the OEM one was completely worn. I had a difficult gear change always having to select 3rd before taking first and generally a bit of slop. Now it changes smoothly and I can take 1st again without issue from a stop.
It's still a BMW shift though so not amazing (for those who have driven Hondas or Mazdas you will know what I mean!).
With the new bushes and suspension it somehow puts the power down much better and a result it feels like there is more of it.
The diff bush has a trade off though and that is diff whine. It increases noticeably. In a focused weekend car like mine I love it, adds to the 'muscle car' feel and sound. If it's your daily or you do lots of motorway miles then the OEM might be a better compromise for you.
For me I feel like I now have the perfect riding Z.
And it still needs to be corner weighted (although as Lee set it up with tape measure it probably not far out, especially the way it feels). Also needs proper alignment again.
I really need to get track day booked and explore it more.
However even on the road just cruising along it's feels great, a real pleasure to steer.
Many thanks to Lee and Gary for all the help on this!
To sum up key improvements added where new coilovers, Powerflex Rear Beam Bushes (purple) Powerflex Diff bush (purple) new brakes and lots of other little bits...
The car had FK Coilovers which were dead after 5yrs and around 25k miles.
All the other bushes were already Powerflex purple.
I won't compare the ride to what it was before on the dead Coilovers as obviously it's an improvement but rather to what I remember it being like when the original FK's were fresh.
Whilst it cornered flat, rode very well over smooth roads it always had a bit if 'steer from the rear' which robbed confidence.
It was just about acceptable on the bumpy roads round where I live. It was ok on the motorway but needed plenty correction and would do some strange vertical movements over certain undulations.
Until I experienced something else in really thought it was very good. In any case it was better than standard, even a Z3 on fresh standard suspension is not my idea of a sports car at all.
Would I say buy FK Silverlines now though- definitely not.
So now on the new BC Coilovers. Currently the firmness is set to at 20 on the rear and 15 on the front (30 being the hardest damper setting).
Ride height a bit lower than standard, say 20-30mm.
It's now firm yet supple at low speeds, the wheels feel pushed down into the roads.
Higher speeds is a total transformation - confident is never a word I used to describe a Z3. It is now. The only other car I've driven over the same road that felt so planted was Cooper S (supercharged convertible model).
Traction has improved greatly, simply no more slip!
No more steer from the rear (that is no doubt helped by the Powerflex rear beam bushes).
Motorway cruising is more like cruising, before it would be constantly hunting and following ruts and bumps.
It's still very much alive but now the feedback is more pleasant and useful rather than just tiring hunting around.
Cornering is still as flat as ever even with the increased ride height over previous set up. So flat that on the road I think any ARB upgrade will be redundant, perhaps on track when really being pushed it may be useful but for the roads it's flat as flat can be! I'd like to try a car with the ARB upgrade at some point just to see.
To say I am pleased with these coilovers is a major understatement!
Now let me talk about the bushes:
It's not really fair to compare dead OEM bushes with new Powerflex but I think I'm correct in saying that even compared to new OEM rear beam bushes the powerflex are a huge improvement (I recall the first Z I ever drove back in the 90's having a strange sensation when turning on fast sweeps, even though it was running 17 inch staggered ACS wheels supplied from BMW and was a new 2.8).
There is simply non of that now, what a pleasure!
The trade off be some increased road roar into the cabin but not a massive amount more (given mine is already elevated due to low profile and 18inch wheels).
Now the diff mount. Again it's now a Powerflex item and the OEM one was completely worn. I had a difficult gear change always having to select 3rd before taking first and generally a bit of slop. Now it changes smoothly and I can take 1st again without issue from a stop.
It's still a BMW shift though so not amazing (for those who have driven Hondas or Mazdas you will know what I mean!).
With the new bushes and suspension it somehow puts the power down much better and a result it feels like there is more of it.
The diff bush has a trade off though and that is diff whine. It increases noticeably. In a focused weekend car like mine I love it, adds to the 'muscle car' feel and sound. If it's your daily or you do lots of motorway miles then the OEM might be a better compromise for you.
For me I feel like I now have the perfect riding Z.
And it still needs to be corner weighted (although as Lee set it up with tape measure it probably not far out, especially the way it feels). Also needs proper alignment again.
I really need to get track day booked and explore it more.
However even on the road just cruising along it's feels great, a real pleasure to steer.
Many thanks to Lee and Gary for all the help on this!
Z
zedonist
Guest
I didn't DIno, and they are fine at the moment, I do know some members have though, what I would say is have a look at the condition of the trailing arm, if it looks crusty, strengthen or replace it. After doing my rear end refurb, I would say that some Z3 owners are in for a shock if they don't address the rear end soon, especially those over 15 years old.
Thanks Rich, just what I was hoping to hear now that I own two over 15 yrs. JIM
Can't click agree enough times on that Rich. I'm thinking people will start failing the mot on beam bushes, as that was the biggest visual indicator on mine. They were An advisory on my silver Z3 before that.
Z
zedonist
Guest
I'm documenting the full refurb not just bushes onmy dual mass thread, certainly have enough photos between us to do a full rear end wiki
Z
zedonist
Guest
Jim, there is nothing that will worry you my friend, just get the students on it...
That would be great Rich except they're about 1800miles away. Am planning a trip out west to see my Mom and Sister so may go over the Rockies to see how the Model A is going. Have a new fuel cell, steering wheel and hub adapter that has to go in soon plus a bunch of misc stuff I've had lying around my shop. JIM