stiffening up!

[joey]

right, now I have your attention...


time to deal with the ride, now i am happy with the rest of the car and i know the Mrs will not be driving it at all or be a passenger in it much I can look at the handling.

there is a bit of body roll on cornering, its a 97 1.9 with the factory 15" rims..no tramlining to speak of just the ride is a bit soft and not quite as "sporty" as I would like, don't want to lower it just harden up the suspension a little.

I can safely assume the OEM bushings have never been replaced so maybe just doing this will make a difference on a 15 yr old car? am considering changing to the polyurethane bushings on the front but not the back.

also will be replacing the 15" pepperpots with 16" bondstar wheels when I can source an OEM set in reasonable nick.

any other suggestions would be great, bear in mind though its not a track car and I want to keep it as close to stock as possible.

thanks


joe

 

[Brian H]

Joe,

Refreshing the suspension/bushes with new OEM or equivalent will help, I would do this and then take it from there. I've not made my mind up with polyurethane bushes (had them on my previous car) some say it make the ride too harsh.

There is a set of wheels on eBay for a decent price.

Clicky link

Brian

 

[joey]

Thanks Brian,

will go ahead and do that, it was part of the plan as its one of the consumables that will degrade over time regardless of milage...

and thanks also for the heads up on the wheels...

am "watching" that item..Yapton isn't a million miles from guildford so fingers crossed.

 

[zedonist]

Joey, Change the ARB's you can either go full bore and put the H&R kit on for £250 or you can get yourself some used ones off a 2.8 or 3.0 either way they will be larger and stiffer than the thin ones you have the 1.9, remember to change both front and rear to keep the handling neutral as you have now, the H&R are adjustable if you like the tail out every now and again. This was the single biggest modification on my 1.9 that made the difference to handling, you could also fit larger wider wheels and lower it with uprated suspension, but give the ARB's ago first you will be amazed and the change can be done with the wheels on the car it is that simple (you will have to remove the front undertray and the rear wheel carrier)

 

[joey]

thanks!


so the ARB's from a 2.8 will be a straight fit right? mine is a pre facelift narrow body,if so sounds like a great idea,also using 2.8 ARBs means it stays closer to stock..
there is a specialist BMW breakers quarrybank motors,will give them a try for some.

also would you still do the bushings if you are changing ARBs?

re the wheels brian kindly posted me a link for some 16'' bondstar wheels, not a huge difference I know but I really don't want to be rocking anything bigger than that, its a look thing for me and the idea has always been to have a car that is visually stock whilst having better handling and a touch more go..

I think your suggestion plus a cold air intake and a remap at some point will achieve this.

 

[zedonist]

Yes they should fit, but you will need the ARB rubber bushings from the same vehicle as the bars are thicker, best to buy new bushes.

Mine was 1.9 narrow body, until I did the wide body conversion, and the list of changes I did is as follows:

New front lower wish bones & bushes (the ball joints wear on the wish bones)
New rear arm bushes
New rear shock mounts
Bilstein B12 kit, lowered 30mm on Eibach springs
H&R ARB kit
Front strut brace

The handling is superb now, and improved somewhat by the wider track at the rear and 255 tyres. With regards to wheels you could go 17" and still retain the OEM look, and probably fit some 235 wide rubber at the rear, don't go any wider than 225 at the front, else you will get tram lining, plus rubbing issues.

These are original Z3 wheels:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-Z3-E3...its=Car+Make:BMW|Model:Z3&hash=item4178ca9a02

 

[joey]

I love the wheels...very tasty

re the wide body conversion...was this just a case of getting the rear wheel arch sections and bumper and rear wishbones,bushes from a widebody?

and changing suspension and wheel spacing?

i have to admit they do look far better at the back than the narrow body version and yours looks a cracking job.

how easy was it?

 

[zedonist]

Its an easy job, you just need the following:

Both rear qtrs both outer (metal wings) and inner (plastic liners)
Both side sills
Rear Bumper including inner plastic hangers
fuel filler boot

I got all mine for £250 and in the same colour, quite lucky really, and everything is bolt off/on, the panels do need to be off a pre-facelift though 2.8 or //M

You will then need some rear wheel spacers size depending on wheels, or you can buy a set of //M wheels and not need the spacers, or as i did buy some nice bespoke wheels with the closest off set, i would imagine you can fit the rear axle off a 2.8, but then you are into some serious mechanical tinkering time.

 

[Stormy_be]

Joe,

Maybe you want visually stock.
On my 2.8 (pre-facelift) I've got these "bondstar" (style 18) wheels in 17" straight from the factory.

Regards, Koen

 

[zedonist]

Yes the style 18'were standard Z3 choice in wheel, so would be in keeping with the model

 

[joey]

cheers all for the info...

so what I need is some ARBs and rubber bushings from a 2.8 pre facelift. and the style 18 wheels..

although it looks great I have decided against the wide body conversion as I kind of like the ''modesty'' of how the car looks now.. its more in keeping with the british sports car vibe that I am going for.

 

[Stormy_be]

"Britisch sports car" is a flexible naming.
The AC Cobra is originally Britisch...and you can't get more "sports car" than that.
As you can see from my avatar, both have "bulky rears".

I do follow you that the "bulky rear" looks better on the pre-facelift models.

I would be going for the H&R ARB's as an upgrade to the standard ones I now have on my 2.8...
...so mine would come of my car in the near future..........

Regards, Koen

 

[joey]

koen...

maybe we could sort something out re my purchasing your old ARBs..

shipping might be a prohibitive cost but might be worth looking at..let me know when you are thinking of doing it.

i'm kind of on the fence re the widebody conversion I do love the way it looks but am torn because i'm a bit of a stickler for things being stock.

cheers

joe

 

[Stormy_be]

It's not that you are putting giant spoiler on it.
The wide body was a standard way the body used to be.
For me stock means: there was a version of the car that left the factory like that.
For some it means: this verion of the car left the factory like that.

But that's just me humble opinion.
Mine won't stay stock at all...as it is a 1 purpose car...a track car.

I the subject of planning the ARB's...I wasn't going to do it immediatly...but if I can recover some of the costs, that could influence that
Don't even know what a sensible price would be for the 2.8 ARB's.

Regards, Koen

 

[joey]

koen I will look into what a fair price would be for this..

I agree totally with the idea of stock being a flexible term and you are right on this, however I don't think the 1.9 was ever available as a wide body because the m44 1.9 engine was phased out when they bought out the 2.0 and then the 2.2, also I am basing any work I do on the end result being exactly as the "bond" spec...its my inner nerd coming out i'm afraid!

when I have done it and enjoyed it for a year or two I may well sell her on and buy something that already is or can be modded to become a pure sports car..(or my idea of), probably the 2.2 as I like smaller engined sports cars.


cheers

joe

 

[zedonist]

Joey, you are correct the M44 was never built in wide body form, which is a shame as all versions apart from the 1.9 are wide body, makes you wonder why? one possible answer was that the 1.9 was launched first, and soon had to compete with the Boxster so the change to wide body came with the 2.8 and the //M to provide a car with similar wide body appeal, i am sure someone else will have a take on this.

I love the wide body effect and the fact it provides a true staggered set up, so ticks the boxes for me, but then again i hate standard, so its swings and roundabouts, if you like stock keep it stock, if you dont then mod away, either way they are all nice Z3 in what ever guise.

 

[Drew]

Just to add, I have 225/45x17 all round running very standard set up and have had no issues re tyres catching bodywork, bottoming out etc.

 

[joey]

thanks for all the input..

koen willl def have those arb's off you in march..really looking forward to getting the suspension and wheels sorted, drew the 17's are exactly what i am planning in the style 18 "bondstar" wheel..

the widebody conversion is off and here is why...

I have a feeling that in coming years when these cars become a classic (and I think they will) due to the much larger number of widebody variants the 1.9 narrowbody with relatively fewer made may be seen as more desirable, its also the original design concept before BMW responded to the porsche boxster with the fat rear end, so in terms of visual stuff I am keeping my car as original.

still to do though will be a cold air intake or some other airbox mod to deal with the restrictive factory one, and a remap mainly to increase throttle response and MPG..suspension is a must because even as the engine is the general handling capabilities are below what my driving style requires on occasion.

cheers

joey