College car rebuild - 1996 BMW Z3

Picked up my car from college last weekend. It's been in my parents' garage since 2005 with my dad driving it occasionally. The car was purchased used in 1997 with about 6,250 miles on it.

It's in need of a deep clean and paint correction but I think it still looks pretty good for an almost 30 year old vehicle.



My son took the trip down with me to pick it up. It has been driven less than 1,000 miles in the last 10 years so I was somewhat nervous about the 225 mile trip home. To prep the car I had to replace the clutch slave and my dad put a fresh battery in it before I returned a couple weeks later to pick it up. The top needs to be replaced which meant I needed decent weather if I was going to get it home. The radio isn't working either so I'll have to figure out what's going on there. The drive back home was a bit sweaty for a couple hours going through Vacaville/Sacramento/Rocklin with the top up and no AC but uneventful otherwise. We stopped near the Rainbow Lodge to cool off in the South Yuba River.


In addition to a new top, the interior needs some work. I'm planning on getting it in to an upholstery shop to get a price to have the seats and door cards reupholstered. I have the fabric picked out but not the skills to get it done on my own.


In the meantime, I have a small order of parts coming to address some rotting rubber pieces. Once winter comes I'll tear into the project more and update this thread to keep track of it all.

My Tacoma build is here: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/stickytacos-boosted-eff-cancer-build-and-ramblings.452204/

 

To be addressed/pending mods:

• Sub frame/trunk floor repair/reinforcement
• Suspension refresh
• ITBs or supercharger
• Cooling system refresh
• Wheels and tires
• Clutch

Maintenance and Repairs:

• New top https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/college-car-rebuild-1996-bmw-z3.814421/#post-29579332
• Derlin bushings in the seat tracks https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/college-car-rebuild-1996-bmw-z3.814421/page-2#post-29618584
• Door handle gaskets https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/college-car-rebuild-1996-bmw-z3.814421/page-2#post-29636322

Interior Modifications:

• Nakamichi TD-35 tape deck installed in 1999ish along with a cd changer speakers, a 10" sub and a 4 channel phoenix gold amp. The amp and sub went into my truck after about a year and then were stolen in 2003.
  https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/college-car-rebuild-1996-bmw-z3.814421/#post-29214296
• Glovebox reinforcement to fix the common droopy glovebox. Installed 10/2023. https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/college-car-rebuild-1996-bmw-z3.814421/#post-29217530
• M-Tech shift knob. https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/college-car-rebuild-1996-bmw-z3.814421/#post-29287140
• E36 M3 M-Tech steering wheel (test fit https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/college-car-rebuild-1996-bmw-z3.814421/#post-29301606)
• Seats and door cards reupholstered https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/college-car-rebuild-1996-bmw-z3.814421/#post-29570335
• Roll bar https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/college-car-rebuild-1996-bmw-z3.814421/page-2#post-29599827

Exterior Modifications:

• OEM BMW shorty antenna installed with a new grommet https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/college-car-rebuild-1996-bmw-z3.814421/#post-29301606

Suspension Exhaust, and Drivetrain Modifications:

• Removed the stock muffler in 1998 and replaced it with a magnaflow mated to a ANSA tip. I'll have to do something to refresh this at some point because I was blowing rust flakes out of the tail pipe for the first few days of driving it and it had a bit or a rattle from the muffle at idle. That's stopped now but I'm sure its days are numbered at this point.

 

Brought the old Nakamichi back to life. Have to figure out how to get Bluetooth and I'm hoping to get the CD changer working so I can recover my copy of License to Ill that's been stuck in it since ≈2005.


Don't mind the dust...I hadn't cleaned the interior at that point. It'll get a deep cleaning in the winter when the seats and door cards go to the upholstery shop.

 

Sorted out the droopy glovebox today. $25, a bit of spray paint and primer, and 30 minutes...should have taken care of this decades ago but out of sight out of mind.

 

A few boxes of stuff have shown up this week. Popped on some fresh wiper blades today and swapped the tape deck holder for cup holders in the center console. I also received samples for the upholstery work.

I'm pretty set on the perforated M-Tech alcantara but will put it in the sun tomorrow and see how warm it gets compared to the current tan leather. It is also less slippery than the cloth options which will be good. The grey is out...the pattern and color reminds me of casino carpet.

 

Parts are piling up. I have most of the replacement suspension bushings, poly subframe and differential mounts, a new top, serpentine and accessory belts, various rubber body gaskets and grommets, pedal and seat bushings, m-tech short shifter knob, and probably other stuff I've forgotten.

Roll bar and new recovered M3 steering wheel arrive next week. I'm still trying to decide on the suspension setup (probably either splurging on kw coilovers or going with koni shocks/struts paired with H&R or eibach springs). I'm pulling the seats and door cards in the next week or two to drop at the upholstery shop and then I'll start on the new top and prepping the interior for the roll bar. Once the roll bar and top are installed it'll go on jack stands and the suspension refresh will begin.

After some very scientific testing I decided on the m-texture alcantara with a nappa leather trim for the seats and I'll carry the alcantara onto the doors. It was a few degrees cooler than the cloth and about 20° cooler than the leather seats. The leather trim I picked is outdoor/UV rated and shouldn't be much hotter than the cloth. Fingers crossed I don't break any interior bits...the old plastic can be brittle and replacements parts aren't cheap. For most of it you're limited to hunting salvage yards eBay for used replacements.

 

New steering wheel arrived today.


I went with an OE M3 wheel recovered in nappa and perforated leather with tri color stitching.


It'll be a nice match for the m-tech shift knob I installed last week.


The shift knob is nearly an inch shorter that the knob it replaced and it has a much better feel when shifting.

 

I've been driving it around without plates and with the temporary tag in the glovebox because it seemed dumb to tape it to the windshield when I park it with the top down. Once the set arrived on Wednesday I installed the rear plate right away. I went with the solid blue NV plate with white lettering that's a pretty close match to the rondel. My daughter noticed the match right away and voiced her approval.


Once that major project was done I removed some of the trunk interior so I could replace the rotten antenna grommet.


Looks much cleaner with the new OEM shorty antenna and fresh rubber. Both the antenna and grommet were crumbling.


While I was working in the trunk I decided to remove the cd changer. It's not working and I have a copy of license to ill that's been stuck in it. I'll have to try and disassemble it to see if I can get it out.


I was going to replace the door handle grommets next but it looks like I ordered the wrong parts so that'll have to wait. I ordered them on clearance from pelican and will probably just eat that cost...it was only $20 for the pair so I'll probably just find out what they fit and give them away if I don't decide to hang on to them incase I end up buying whatever they fit someday

After the door handle failure I decided to take a look at the throttle cable grommet and throttle pedal bushings because the throttle pedal feel has been inconsistent/sticky. The fix for the grommet is quick so I figured it would be an easy recovery. Turns out someone beat me to it and the grommet looked brand new. My guess is it's probably 10 years old since that's when it had its last major service. The bushings appear to have a bit of play but I decided that will be an easier job when the seat is out so I just put some grease on the pivots and put everything back together. The pedal travel is smooth now so bushing replacement is going to be a low priority this winter.

I'm going to wait until the new top is on and the interior work is done before installing the new steering wheel but I did a quick test fit to see how it all comes together. Turns out the new one uses a different clock spring and airbag/horn assembly so I'm going to have to see if I can find a complete e36 m-tech steering wheel in decent shape that I can remove them from to swap over (and praying to baby jesus that the clock spring to steering column plugs match). Money I wasn't planning on spending but I'm hoping it'll just be a couple hundred dollars.


The OE wheel is just a bit more flat across the top of the airbag, the relief in the corners is slightly different, and the distance between spokes doesn't match...basically none of it fits right.

 

Nice car. I used to have the coupe. Brings back memories.

 

I bought this with my dad the summer before college...blew my savings and committed to working full time to pay for it. I was working at the dealer that took it in as a trade in and was able to get a decent deal. It only has the 1.9 but I've been researching supercharger and turbo options that'll push it to ≈250 at the wheels or an engine swap to the 3.0 or 3.2. I'm leaning towards forced induction but I want to get the rest of the car sorted before I get too far ahead of myself.

 

Started removing the interior last night

 

Roll bar is in. It took some work to get it installed but in the end I was able to use a ratchet strap to line the rear supports of the bar with the seatbelt towers on the car. I'll drop the seats back in this weekend to confirm clearances before I take them to the upholstery shop next week. Then the bar comes back out and I'll start on the installation of the new convertible top.

 

Finished the test fit on the roll bar. Clearance is good with the seats in so I can drop the seats next week. It'll be nice to get them out of the garage...it's getting cozy in here.


I removed the crusty old top tonight too. That thing was pretty nasty.





I have a bit more fabric to remove along the back and I'm contemplating ordering the fabric straps and replacing the ones that are on it currently.

 

The upholsterer is working on reshaping the seat bottoms currently, which means that I need to find some time to install the new top and get the interior back together in the upcoming weeks to get everything ready for the seats to go back in.

 

More progress on the seats. The seats and door cards should be done next week. Now the pressure is on for me to get the new top installed and put the interior back together. In April/May I'll work on the suspension refresh.



Still have to stitch up the seat back...I'm pretty happy with the work and how it's coming together so far.

 

I removed the last bit of the old canvas top today after protecting the paint with towels and paper. I was nervous for this step because the canvas is sandwiched between a plastic and metal frame and the plastic part is known to break and is NLA so if you break it the new top will not seal properly. Fortunately the butyl that holds them together had released after sitting unbolted for a couple months so it all came apart really easily.



The canvas is held on with at least 200 staples and I managed to avoid getting stabbed by them until the last foot when it was removing it.



I also took advantage of the warmer weather (≈45°f) and shampooed the carpet before I started reassembling the interior.



The carpet and center console are back in the car now. Excited for the upcoming weeks. Need to order a couple more parts the but it should be driveable again by the end of the month after getting parked in November.

 

And a few seat and door card progress pics

 

Picked up the seats and door cards today and dropped off the shift boot and e-brake handle/boot. I hope to start on the install of the top this weekend. Rain is forecast for Monday so if I get it done I can install the seats and steering wheel and back it out of the garage to check for leaks and season the canvas. I lined it all up this evening to confirm I have the right part. I was tempted to fire up the compressor and start shooting the staples but it's better left for another day.



The sooner I get the top on the sooner this can all go back in the car amd out of my office (that's already full of bathroom remodel materials).

 

Got the courage juice going and ran about 350 staples this evening. Hope to finish installing the new top tomorrow.

 

Made good progress last night and wrapped up the sides earlier today. After the kids go to bed I'm going to head back to the garage and start gluing the interior to the frame then do the final stretch hopefully.

Not a lot of room to work back there...it would suck to have to reach over the seats and storage cubby.


This is how I left things last night. The rear of the top was attached to the bracket and everything was bolted up with a fresh butyl seal.


Today I worked on the sides for a couple hours and got them wrapped up.


The brackets for the tensioner cables were a little crusty so they got sanded and repainted.



Waiting for those to dry enough to handle took awhile since it was barely above 50°f out but after a long lunch I was able to wrap the sides up. Hopefully I can get the seats and steering wheel installed this week so I can pull the car out and wash it between storms.