We have had our Z3 around 15 years now and enjoyed many road trips around Europe. During this time there has only been one failure, an exhaust cam shaft sensor had to be replaced. There is 115,000 miles on the clock now and the engine still runs sweet.

The car was first registered in 2001, so 24 years old, and sadly it is not looking its best. In fact it is quite rusty, corroded with poor paintwork and various bits of trim coming apart. The leather interior is looking very worn and the plastic panel in the rear of the hood has gone brittle and cracked. I patched it up but rain still got in and the whole of the passenger area was soaked.

What to do. I could sell it for a few hundred quid. Someone would probably run it into the ground and it would end its days in a crusher. Or it would be broken up and used as a basis for a kit car maybe.

Or I could restore it to nearly new condition and save it from the knackers yard. I'm about done with my kit car builds so I have time and workshop space. I have a rough figure of £12,000 as a budget and probably a two/three year time span. I did think about fitting body panels from someone like Classic Coachworks giving it a '60s Italian sports car vibe. But after a few discussions with folk, I think I'll be refitting the original restored body panels. I'd still like to alter the interior though - smiths instruments, wood rim steering wheel sort of thing but we'll see.

Meanwhile we still need a fun car so I have temporarily bought a Porsche Boxster - which I have to say is quite an upgrade on the Z3, so which one do we keep when the Z3 is back on the road?

Anyway, here we are in the workshop ready to start the strippage:

The aim is to completely restore all parts of the car so it will look as close to brand new as I can get it. But also we'll protect it for the future by powder coating or painting all the parts that have thus far suffered rust and corrosion

 The engine has 117,000 miles and was running really well. I don't think a full rebuild is warranted now so the refurb will just be about replacing clutch plate, sensors, seals, pipes, tubes, gaskets (some of which show signs of oil leak). Also clean the block and associated bits of rust and corrosion and apply some engine paint. Along with all new nuts and bolts etc and we should have a nice clean engine to put back.

First job is to drill out and tap two of the Etorx bolts that sheared off during removal

Clutch and flywheel removed.

Exhaust headers removed. The studs connecting to the main exhaust pipe have sheared, they need dealing with or the whole headers and cat converters replacing.

Oil filter housing and steering pump bracket removed for cleaning and seal replacement.

New Exhaust gaskets needed.

Sump off for cleaning and gasket seal renew. Several of the bolts sheared due to corrosion, they had to be tapped for new bolts to be fitted with new gaskets.    

Vanos refurb

There are a few youtube videos on this. Also the X8R company who supplied the recon kit have good instructions.

The crank and camshafts should not be moved while the vanos unit is away from the engine. So crank is locked with number 1 cylinder at TDC.

Vanos unit stripped and laid out. All bearings, rattle rings, seals, gaskets all renewed.

Vanos unit refitted after a good clean and high temp engine paint job.

Cam cover is now refitted with all new seals.

 I don't have room to work on all parts of the car at the same time, so I'm starting with the front end.

This is the approximate order of disassembly to remove the engine. In my case I don't want to remove the transmission. It is working well and just needs a clean to make it look nice. The engine though has an oil leak which I think may be coming from the crank oil seal. Also removing the engine makes the job of renovating the engine bay easier.

1, Remove bonnet

2, remove washer bottle

3, remove headlights

4, remove front bumper

two main Torx50 bolts and self tappers to soft panels

5, remove soft inner panels

6, remove airfilter box

7, remove radiator

lift two tabs at top, no drain plug so remove lower hose and drain.

Remove top hose. Remove zip ties at top holding fan shroud. Jiggle

radiator and fan shroud out together

8, remove fan belt

9, remove block containing idler valve on inlet manifold

10, remove intake spreader with two seized screws 

    connector in centre of spreader is intake temp senor

11, disconnect all wiring connectors, remove long wiring block for injectors

12, remove inlet manifold

13, remove power steering cooler frame

14, remove belt tensioner

15, remove fan – do not replace

16, remove starter motor

17, remove/cut off nuts/studs from header pipes to main exhaust and prise apart

18, remove 7 Etorx bolts holding bell housing to engine block.

    Remove 6mm bolt from offside of bell housing

19, attach engine hoist

20, remove engine mount brackets and remove nearside rubber engine mount

21, take weight of engine on hoist and carefully separate from transmission.

Lift engine clear and place on wheeled dolly for refurbishment.

It isn't necessary to remove these plastic clips along and around the bumper. It is held in place by two large bolts accessed from underneath.

There are two large clips on top. They don't need to be removed, just a screwdriver to lever them up to free them form the top of the radiator

Rad removed with the plastic shroud that goes round the cooling fan. The lugs holing it are quite brittle and easily broken. If we can run the engine with no cooling fan, I think this wil not need to be replaced.

The tube at the front fashioned into a large square shape is a cooling tube for the power steering fluid.

It has quite a bit of corrosion and might need replacing

There is a cross member spot welded and bolted to the chassis. We really need to remove it to make getting the engine out easier. Drill out the spot welds and remove the eight nuts. There are a further four bolts on top.

Front end is now quite open and we can see how this car is put together. The two large tubes either side is where the bump absorbing tubes are fitted. These are held in place buy four nuts and studs each side.

The throttle body and idle control really needs to be removed before removing the inlet manifold.

Apart from the obvious mount points, there is a hidden nut centrally under the inlet manifold.

At the rear there is the fuel line connection. Hard to see and get at, feel for it and release the tube connecting to the fuel rail.

We will need to disconnect the power steering pipes from the engine.

This lower connection needs to have the large collar removed after loosening the smaller collar so it can turn without twisting the pipe. I had to remove the pump pulley to get a spanner on the collars. Fashion a slim holding tool to fit behind the pulley to hold it while loosening the three bolts that hold the pulley on. It is a tight fit and needs some light tapping and levering to remove it.

Also removed the pipes to the front cooling frame and the reservoir next to the oil filter bowl.

On the offside of the engine bay is a collection of connectors in a box in front of the brake servo. I wanted all this out so I could access the dark depths of the engine bay. Take many photos and label all the wiring so we know how it all goes back in a few years time.

The exhaust headers will come out with engine so underneath release the headers from the main exhaust pipes. They will be so corroded the studs will probably shear off before the nuts turn. Prize the joints apart.

Now we can remove the seven Etorx bolts holding the bell housing to the engine block. They didn't come out easily. Most where corroded and as the end threads that protrude were wound backwards through the aluminium block, the thread was chewed up and the bolt seized. Copious amounts of releasing fluid and even an oxy-gas torch to heat the surround made little difference. Two of them sheared off, the rest took ages to remove. In one case I worked for two hours moving the bolt a 1/8 turn out, then back in and out several times to free it a little before working it out a further 1/8 turn and then working it back and forth again.

The result will be damaged threads and two sheared bolts in the engine block that will need to be removed later when the engine is out.

On the forward facing offside of the bell housing there is a small 6mm bolt. This is holding a thin steel plate to the bell housing. The thing is that it has to come out with the engine as it is actually fitted behind the flywheel.

In this photo you see a thin curved piece of steel by the starter gear ring bolted to the bell housing.

I had to have the engine held to one side on the hoist while I got in there with a 10mm spanner.

And away.....

Careful with the cat converts on the headers as they are close to the steering column, the engine has to be manoeuvred around the column as it is pulled forward from the transmission.

The nearside rubber doughnut of the engine mount should be removed as the sump bumps up against it during removal.

Once free, the car was was pushed back and the engine lowered onto a wheeled dolly so I can move it around the workshop.