SERIOUSLY UN-PI$$ED OFF!! (Old Skool worked his magic!!)

[KINGOFSNAKE]

aye we all need a bit more attention when were older, you dont mind so much when its a ball achingly beautiful beemer

[Brianmoooore]

It's very easy to loose the 13mm nuts when changing a touring rear mount. They disappear down into a void, never to be seen again, along with the odd 13mm socket.
I reckon that sometime in the past a nut was lost and left off for a while, and that's when the damage started.

[whipsey]

could this have been caused by loose bolts etc?

[JohnnyThunders]

Im scared now, my touring was a bargain and there is some occasional knocking from the rear shocker area. I had been hoping it was the load cover but it could be something like this... I dont want to look tho, ignorance is bliss, besides its pissing it down outside.

[JimmyC]

Are the Z3 reinforced plates just a standard BMW order part? and does anyone have a part number, could be a good move for the race car

Bad luck BTW, least you noticed it and no further damage/accident happened

[ZedOne]

Just ordered 4 of the Z3 reinforcement plates from ZimmerBimmer @ Cotswold BMW (thanks Paul ). I'll be fitting (welding) one above and below the turret on each side to make sure it is all nice and secure for a good few years...

When the plates arrive, I will probably take a template and get a batch laser cut for anyone who is interested in reinforcing their rear turrets too?? Paul has given a good price and I am more than happy to pay out to get the car back on the road ASAP, but I can probably get them made a lot cheaper for other members if they are thinkng of doing the same? (as long as that doesn't tread on anyone's toes??)

Thanks again for all the comments and suggestions.

Hopefully be back on the road later this week....

Regards,

Bruce.

[ZedOne]

Are the Z3 reinforced plates just a standard BMW order part? and does anyone have a part number, could be a good move for the race car

Part number: 51718413359 (£10.20 each inc VAT, but Paul can do them a bit cheaper)

Jimmy, see my post below yours regarding getting a batch made....

Regards,

Bruce.

[Brianmoooore]

Im scared now, my touring was a bargain and there is some occasional knocking from the rear shocker area. I had been hoping it was the load cover but it could be something like this... I dont want to look tho, ignorance is bliss, besides its pissing it down outside.

This will just be the top mount itself. Very common.
Replace both of them with E46 cab. top mounts, which are a direct replacement, more durable, and probably cheaper.
Get them from zimmmerbimmer1, our soon to be announced, very own, zone dealer.

[steerfromtherear]

If it helps calm any specualtion I had a few areas of metal fatigue on my m535i that were equally confusing and annoying. No rust or stress exerted and things snapped clean away. Handbrake through the floor and captive nut for the front seats to bolt to just fell through the floor.

I think it is a slight concern for older BMW owners, especially as it cant be identified anyway like rust can.

[Simon13]

Crikey i've never seen that before. Very strange is it passenger side?

I've never had problems with top mounts but i have always used the e46 m3 cab ones, also on super low suspension for the ring piece and the mounts are still in top condition.

I'd say normally you wouldn't need the Z3 plates and that the e46 bush is adequate but in your case Bruce i think it's a good idea!

[Brianmoooore]

The only area that E30s have any metal fatigue problems are in the front inner wings on hard driven cars, and the wire that goes to the speedo sensor. This is a total one off, and must have had a cause somewhere along the line.

[B7]

If it helps calm any specualtion I had a few areas of metal fatigue on my m535i that were equally confusing and annoying. No rust or stress exerted and things snapped clean away. Handbrake through the floor and captive nut for the front seats to bolt to just fell through the floor.

I think it is a slight concern for older BMW owners, especially as it cant be identified anyway like rust can.

Used to look after an m535i e28 and it too had the captive seat nuts fatigue away into the box section.

[steerfromtherear]

Same has happened to James at BeemerRedeemer's m535i iirc.

Must be a common fault, should really post this on a 5 series board lol.

[Martinaston]

The only area that E30s have any metal fatigue problems are in the front inner wings on hard driven cars, and the wire that goes to the speedo sensor. This is a total one off, and must have had a cause somewhere along the line.

At a guess, uprated anti roll bar and shorter shocks

[ZedOne]

The only area that E30s have any metal fatigue problems are in the front inner wings on hard driven cars, and the wire that goes to the speedo sensor. This is a total one off, and must have had a cause somewhere along the line.

At a guess, uprated anti roll bar and shorter shocks

The car has stock ARB's at present. The shocks are H&R ones - the car has the H&R cup kit fitted.

Regards,

Bruce.

[Rosc0PColtrane]

I guess when any NDT or inspection is done on the materials used for these cars, not only would 20 years down the line not really be a consideration, but also impossible to test every car that comes off the line. So there is every possiblility that some cars will have fatigued metal in them. They'll slip through the batch testing.

20 years of driving and uprating components may exacorbate the issue and it's just ill-fortune.

Bruce, (O.T) Did Jeremy get hold of you? (The z1 owner). He has a touring too. Knows a lot of people and is a worthwhile connection.

[ZedOne]

20 years of driving and uprating components may exacorbate the issue and it's just ill-fortune.

"What does exacerbate mean?"

Bruce, (O.T) Did Jeremy get hold of you? (The z1 owner). He has a touring too. Knows a lot of people and is a worthwhile connection.

Not heard anything yet.....but would be great to get in touch with him....especially if he's got a Touring AND a Z1!

Cheers,

Bruce.

[Rosc0PColtrane]

Sorry, spelling error, meant exacerbate; To make more violent, bitter, or severe.

He said he'd call you mate. He was fannying around in London yesterday and was worried about disturbing you. I'll PM you his number if you like.

[Simon13]

The shocks will be boge's, as H&R don't make shocks

[ZedOne]

The shocks will be boge's, as H&R don't make shocks

Thanks for that. Steep learning curve & all that....

Got the plates from ZimmerBimmer today (thanks Paul ) and fitted one plate on the N/S so that I can drive the car in relative safety to Dameon's on Sunday where he has kindly offered to have a look at it.



There isn't enough room on the threads to have a plate top and bottom unless I use nylock nuts instead of spring washers. I'll let Dameon decide how to address this issue....he certainly knows what he is doing!

When I removed the nuts, there were no spring washers underneath (i.e. nothing to stop the nuts coming undone) and both nuts were fairly loosly fitted - maybe the cause of the problem??

I took the liberty of adding spring washers and tightening the nuts on the O/S while I was at it!

I'll update again when I've seen Dameon on Sunday.

Regards,

Bruce.

[gcorky]

glad i flicked through this and must say,Bruce very sorry its gone...and no i have seen the mount area within last 18 month,i have done over 6k on it since,never a problem-but will say as good ole Brian mentioned that it did have one stud (top mount)sheared.dont know how long it drove like this with previous owner ,but never made any noise?

this area is very weak however...so all you "i smell a rat,he knew"dont judge me that way...id hardly flog a car to a guy that he had to drive 4-5hrs home in that way...

[munky30]

yeah you would, you're a born scammer, scraping a living by flogging potential deathtraps to poor unsuspecting z1 owners.

Its tantamount to attempted murder, you should be locked up and bum raped and hit with sticks and stuff.

Burn him.... BUUUUURRRRN HIIIIIIIM!

[Demlotcrew]

They dont need washers as the nuts are self locking.

Nice Z3 plates

[Simon13]

wouldn't welding that Z3 plate where it is put the strength back in?

[Simon]

I'll be fitting (welding) one above

[Simon13]

ok re phrased, will the welding of that Z3 plate put enough strength back in to that area?

Metal fetigue is a nasty thing as when things are bent back or sorted out it seems to take half the force it did the first time to bend it again.

[ZedOne]

ok re phrased, will the welding of that Z3 plate put enough strength back in to that area?

Metal fetigue is a nasty thing as when things are bent back or sorted out it seems to take half the force it did the first time to bend it again.

Simon, thanks again for the Z3 plate part number. I'll be ordering 4 of them first thing tomorrow (one welded above + one welded below each turret)

Put it this way - a 3mm sandwich of steel welded either side of the fatigued area (6mm all in) 'should' be enough to put the strength back!

Just to be safe, Dameon will be handed the car and the plates. What he does with it will be more than enough to ensure all is safe.

[ZedOne]

They dont need washers as the nuts are self locking.

Aha....but what you can't see in the original photos is that the nut was just a 'standard' nut - not the flanged type used when I fitted the Z3 plate. (obviously I wasn't expecting you to be able to see this in the first photos....I do understand that your x-ray vision doesn't work on digital photo's )

I still added a spring washer to be on the safe side even though I used some flanged nuts I had in my toolbox (would have used Nylocks, but didn't have any that size! )

Regards,

Bruce.

[andymn]

sorry to hear the problems you've been having mate. I think you should point out what you actually got for your money, just for the critics.
Graham has been a good mate for 10 years and you know you're getting a good deal from him. As said previously, he won't sell anything with a fault........it will be fixed regardless of cost.

The thread has gone on about this bad point, what about the good points of the car?
Do you honestly think Graham would put a turbo in it, ( as he was going to do ) if he thought there were any serious problems???

[march109]

andymn I think everyone is well aware of that, there was another thread where ZedOne listed all the extras he got and how much he loved the car, no one here is blaming gcorky, munkys post I am sure was in jest (as are most of his posts!)

[munky30]

yes very much so

And graham would know it if he read it,
otherwise I wouldnt have said it.

(look malc, I can rhyme.. is it too much to ask that you do it just once?!)

[andymn]

no sweat mate, just getting my thoughts across

[munky30]

I agree, I've not known graham long and not actually met him. But from chatting to him on here and msn, and doing a bit of business with him and he is a thoroughly genuine guy. I cant for one second believe he sold it knowing of this problem.

I think its been accepted that he didnt know about it by most if not all of the people that have replied.

[Rosc0PColtrane]

FFS Bruce wasn't blaming Graham!!! We've established that it's one of those things and we've moved onto a fix, with pics that we can all learn from!!!

[andymn]

woah chill bill,.... ..........my post was aimed more at beginning of thread.... ......peeps saying this that and tother

and as I said above, I was just getting my thoughts across