16x11 - Send in the Clown Shoe

[bunniefuu]

Oh, this car's quick!
A driving purist's dream.

Clown shoe!

This 99 BMW Z3 M Coupe has
been called many things over the years.

And this one was screaming, buy me!

This was part of a very small
production run, so for you

to find one, you may need
to see past a problem or two.

There are a couple of issues. One of them
is this passenger seat wobbling, or three.

The anti-roll bar's missing.

In order to eventually drive off into the
sunset in one of the rarest BMWs ever made.

Oh, this car!

Well, there are some cars
that you can't deny, love

them or hate them, that
are just absolutely fantastic.

They're a treat for the driver,
no matter what they look like.

And this morning, I'm on my
way to the workshop to go meet a

chap called Adam, who's bringing
down exactly that kind of car.

Well, the truth is, it's a
car I've been chasing for

many, many years, and I'm
very excited about seeing one.

Because, visually, people
think, well, they're not

brilliant, because they
look like a clown shoe.

But, driving-wise, I think it's where BMW
got the name the ultimate driving machine.

It is, of course, the BMW Z3 M Coupe.

Now, the good news for me is the
market for this car is incredibly strong.

There's less than 3,000 Z3 M Coupe's
that ever made it to North America.

So, that means I've already
got an in-built marketplace for it.

Just the fact that there's
one for sale gets the jungle

drums beating, and people
start to chatter about it.

Now, Adam's got a particularly nice car.
It's in the trim that I want.

It's silver, it's got the correct
wheels on it, it's got the charcoal

interior that I'm looking for, and it
looks to be in fairly decent condition.

And he's only asking $17,900
for it. In my opinion, that's really

good value, because I've seen
these cars sell for upwards of 25 grand.

Now I'm smiling. Adam, how are you?

Hey, nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you. I'm going
to say, first and foremost,

Adam, thank you so much for
bringing the car down to show me.

And here it is, right in
front of me, the Z3 M Coupe.

Hey, it's wicked, isn't it?
Isn't it nice? What's it drive like?

Oh, it's amazing.

Is it?

You have to drive it yourself to see.

I can't wait. Do you
know, I don't even want to

look round it. I just
want to get in and drive it.

Can we take it for a test?

Yeah, let's do it.

Yeah, come with me.

Oh, this is just... I've
been waiting for this

moment for a very long
time, and away it goes.

Wow, this... Oh, this car's quick.

It goes up and down through the gearbox
lovely, doesn't it? Really, really nice.

You can really feel the power
coming from that 3.2 inline six.

Funny enough, this
engine is a bit, well,

lightweight compared
to what we got in Europe.

In Europe, we have the S50 engine.

76 horsepower less.

Yeah.

This one, this is 240 horsepower,
but it doesn't feel like it.

Why do you want to get rid of this car?

Well, I ended up buying an E30 M3.

Oh, get out of here. Seriously.

I've always wanted one.

No way. See, this was the
warm-up event for the main act.

Yeah.

So, in the time that you've had this
car, have you done anything to it?

It's part of the cooling refresh.

It's a weak point on these, isn't it?

Basically, that's kind
of it for the most part.

I took some fog lights out that the
old owner had, left these speakers.

Silly little speakers dangling around you.

I meant to get those
out, but that's kind of it.

It's just been ready to go and turn key.

Cool.

You can feel that there's a
couple of little issues with the car.

Immediately, when I pulled
away back there, it squatted down.

It was a bit squirrelly on the rear, and I
know that these cars have a little problem

with the subframe cracking in the rear.

Yeah.

Do you know if the job's
been done on this one?

It has not been done.

So, that could be another reason as well.

So, that might need
a little bit of looking at.

I should tell you about this, too.

Oh, yeah, the seat? What's up with that?

Yeah, the seat bushing.

Apparently, they're common, too.

Right.

So, kind of just rocks back and forth.

Well, that's very kind of you to say so.

How much did you want for it?

It's $17,900.

Yeah.

I've done everything wrong.

I'm going to tell people out
there, don't do what I've just done.

Get in the car like an excited
schoolboy if you're going out to buy a car.

I've done everything wrong.

Emotion is running away with me.

This is a brilliant car,

and I know it's got a
brilliant marketplace,

and I have to have it.

And I'm not even going to bid you for it.

It's $17,900.

Let's do it.

You've got yourself a deal, and I
just bought myself a BMW Z3 M Coupe.

That's a long badge on
the back of a car, isn't it?

Right then, see this?

This needs a bus stop.

This will take you all the
way where you want to go.

Thank you very much.

I really appreciate the deal.

Thank you so much.

I'm going to drive away
with a smile on my face now.

See you later, Adam.

A clown shoe!

I've not seen one of these for years.

Well, you have now.

Give us a hand out.

Low down that car,
even out where I've got

a lower centre of
gravity, one or the other.

This is beautiful.

I love these cars.

I'm glad you like them.

You know there's people out
there that don't actually like them.

I think they're wrong.

I think it's beautiful from every angle.

Yeah, people with no taste.

That's the problem.

Do you know how good that engine is?

I don't know.

Well, this engine feels
good, but I don't know

what it looks like because
I haven't seen it yet.

What do you mean?

Well, I haven't seen the engine.

I just let my, you know, heart...
Oh, right, the bonnet catch is broken.

No, I'm pretty sure the catch works fine.

Hang on a second.

You bought a car but
you didn't open the bonnet.

All right, get over it.

I didn't have a look at the engine.

Mike, it takes like five
seconds to open an engine.

I know it.

But, you know, it's a... You've
basically gone with your heart.

It's a Z3 M Coupe.

I just knew... Listen,
three, two, one.

Whew!

Yes, look at that!

Is that your relief?

That is a bit of a relief.

Listen, as I say, I think I
know what I'm looking at,

and the leaks... Are you
making all these changes now?

Yes, I got away with it.

That is fantastic.

There are a couple of issues.

One of them is this.

Oh, yeah, look at that, the fan.

Oh, right.

There was a ticking when I
was driving the car, and that's it.

Look, it's hitting.

Oh, you've diagnosed that one, have you?

I diagnosed it when I was in the car.

It's ticking away, so... OK.

Look, there is a little thing
you can do with this car,

and we can still back
a couple of horsepower.

by actually just doing away with this fan,

because we can use what's there.

There's another fan at the front,
and truthfully, you don't need it.

OK, viscous fan gone.

How's it drive?

Drives really well, yeah.

Being powerful, rear-wheel drive, obviously
it's a bit loose down the rear end,

and it does seem to break away quite
easy, but, yeah, I mean, it's all right.

Right, because you know these have a
reputation for a rear subframe cracking.

Has that been done?

No.

Because it's a lot of work.

You have to take it
off, do a bit of welding.

No.

But you looked underneath.

No, of course you didn't look underneath.

I didn't look underneath.

No, but I told you, I
know cars and cars talk

to me, and this one
was screaming, buy me!

So you didn't look underneath,

you didn't even look under the bonnet.

No.

You definitely didn't look at the wheels.

No, I sort of regret not
looking at the wheels.

Don't worry about that, right?

Anything that unbolts
off the car, give it to me,

I'll refurbish it.

Any engineering, that's
your job, you can fix it up.

Also, the passenger
seat, look at this, look.

It's wobbling, and
if I'm going to take

somebody for a test
drive, we need to fix that.

It must be some bushings
or something inside.

I've been chasing one of
these for the past 17 years,

and I thought it was more
important to get the car for $17,900.

Boom, done.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. $17,900.

I know I can sell it, all right?

Let's get it in.

Yeah, but are we even going
to make any money on it?

Did you know a band of BMW
engineers designed that car in secret?

See, they knew it was
going to be unpopular with

executives, but they went
ahead and did it anyway.

And when it was costed up
and presented to the money men,

they couldn't say no even if they wanted
to, because this car makes so much sense.

I mean, it's insanely fast,
it's absolutely cool-looking,

and at the time, it
was iconic, and it still is.

I mean, when you consider it's
only just out of its teenage years,

and already this car is
a classic, and I love it.

But I must admit, not everybody else does.

Now, BMWs of a certain age
are known to carry some baggage.

Now, our car has an
epic engine, that's an S52,

and it's pretty much
bulletproof if you look after it.

The baggage on our car is the
chassis, it's the platform itself,

because it's an E36 platform
which has a reputation

for having a little bit
of a strength issue.

Now, you can fit some aftermarket bits,
which somebody has done on this car.

They've put these strengthening
plates in the strut towers.

It's just a bolt-in aftermarket kit.

On top of that, they
have also fitted this strut

brace here, which helps
strengthen the front end.

At the rear, I've also
noticed that the shock mounts

have been strengthened as well,
right there, with that aftermarket plate.

It's also bolt-in.

It's clear the previous
owners tackled the easy ones,

and they very generously
left the tricky one to me.

Oh!

Yeah, the anti-roll bar's
missing, it's not even there.

Yeah, it should run
across here to two brackets,

and someone's obviously
bodged that bracket here,

and this side's completely missing.

Now, it's this section here,
this kind of folded box section

that's the Achilles heel
on the E36 platform.

So there's the weak point,
this folded channel here,

and in particularly this
bracket that holds the diff,

it's just not strong enough.

So there's my problem.

And no anti-roll bar.

Now, my investigation
starts within the boot.

See, part of the issue is
the way the chassis is made,

and in this case, it's actually
three thin layers of steel

spot welded together,

and it's those spot welds that come apart.

Yeah, I need to get rid
of all this soundproofing.

To fix what will soon be broke,
I'll have to expose the metal

and remove the factory
sound dampening material.

It's tedious work.

You know, it's all pretty solid under here,

which is good news,

and it means my work's
going to be isolated underneath.

Well, the top side was easy.

Some carpet, some trim,
and a bit of sound deadening,

but under here, I got
a few more obstacles.

First off, I'll have to get
the exhaust out of the way.

Then there's the heat shield.

And the drive shaft.

The CV joint or axles
are always a bit of a pain.

With the axle separated from the diff

and the diff almost ready to drop,

I can slide in the trans Jack
to help carry some weight.

Well, thinking about it, my best guess is

that this space here is where
the anti-roll bar would have lived,

and because that bracket's
broken, it would have made it loose,

and ultimately, as the
car's bumping up and

down, it would have
chafed against this metal,

and compounded what
was already a BMW issue.

Remove the last couple of bolts, and
the heavy lump of the diff can drop out.

I'm going to reinforce this whole section.

I need to cut some material
away to get back to decent metal.

The BMW's engineering was challenged

by the increase in power
put out by the M series.

Couple that with enthusiastic drivers,

well, the weakest link will be exposed.

To address the clown shoe,
I must first remove its sole,

and by sole, I mean the
subframe mounting bracket.

I'm now going to be using
a very specific drill bit,

which is this.

So this is designed
specifically for drilling

out spot welds, and
you can see how it works.

It's kind of like a mini hole saw.

This sharp pointy bit
touches against the spot weld.

It's actually spring-loaded,
so as you add pressure,

it engages the saw bit,
and it works like a hole saw.

It cuts around the spot weld,
leaving the spot weld on the chassis,

while you can pull the panel away.

It's a cool bit of kit.

Always wear protective goggles when you're
drilling above head height like this.

Burning hot shards of steel
does not feel nice in the eyes.

The spot weld drill bit isn't foolproof.

You might need a hammer and chisel behind
the plate to persuade it all the way off.

Car frames and chassis do
twist and bend a certain amount.

when the car is being driven.

Manufacturers know this, and they
have to account for it during construction.

BMW, however, have had problems
in the past not anticipating it properly.

With the plate out of the way,

the little spot welds can be ground out.

That bracket that I've removed, this one,

this is pretty much bog-standard steel.

The difference is it's quite thin.

I'm going to be putting
loads of steel back.

It's just going to be thicker than this.

Cars like this are
deliberately driven with spirit.

Combine that with the fact that
it's made out of rather thin steel,

and of course you're
going to have a problem.

I've removed all the under seal
and the primer back to bare metal.

And then this goes right there.

The steel that I'm adding is thicker
than what BMW originally used,

at one-eighth of an inch,
or just over three millimetres.

I've drilled holes in my new plates,

and I'm welding through these
holes onto the steel unibody.

This technique is called plug welding.

I'm just going to let
that cool for a second.

It's actually a good time to bring the
diff in and work out that upper bracket.

It's so much easier to
make a cardboard template,

then match that later in steel.

Cardboard's definitely easier to cut.

And just tack the new diff mount in place.

Now I need to drop
the diff, fully weld this

whole area up, give it a
lick of primer and paint.

There's no way that's breaking in a hurry.

And that is it.

We can now sell this car with
the subframe reinforcement done.

Now I'm actually not going to be putting
this differential back in the car just yet.

I'm going to keep it out of my way
while I get my head round the next bit,

the missing anti-roll bar.

Right now, our car is missing one of these.

This is an anti-roll bar.

And without it, the handling
is going to be disastrous,

and the principles are
actually quite simple.

And that's because BMW
designed the rear suspension

on this car as independent
rear suspension.

And what that basically means
is that the left-hand side here

runs totally independently
from the right-hand side.

These two aren't joined.

So let's say, for example, I was to
drive this car without an anti-roll bar

and this wheel went into a pothole,
the wheel would react to the hole.

It would go in and out,
compressing, decompressing,

putting the wheel up in the arch,
whereas this side, nothing would happen.

It would just remain the same.

And what that means for
handling is if we drive the car

and do a really tight left-hander
without an anti-roll bar,

all the weight of the car is going
to load up onto this left-hand side.

It's going to compress the suspension
and lift the wheel up into the arch.

What it means for the other
side is the total opposite.

It's going to open up the suspension

and make the gap between the
arch and the wheel even bigger.

And that's because the body's now rolling.

It's swaying around.
It's kind of out of control.

By adding an anti-roll bar,
it helps control that sway.

It's actually kind of ironic that
in the US they call it a sway bar.

And what this does is it makes our independent
suspension a little less independent.

And to fit it is really, really simple.

It bolts to the chassis
with two brackets here

with these two rubber
bushes in the middle.

That allows a little bit of movement.

I'll join this side to the
right-hand suspension,

this side to the left-hand suspension.

So if there's any movement,
let's say, for example,

the right hand lifts up,

that exact same force is translated
and placed into the left-hand side.

It's now working in perfect Harmony,

thus eliminating some of the unwanted sway.

Now, my upgraded anti-roll bar
kit also came with some brackets.

There's a pair of lower brackets
to join to the trailing arms.

And these two brackets here,
these hold the anti-roll bar into the car.

Problem is, they're not that simple.

There's a slot on one side and a hole,

so I need to make something with a
bracket and a single bolt that holds it in.

More steel.

It's a good job I like metal
fabrication and welding.

This piece of one-inch angular is
already halfway to being just what I need.

Just a couple of slight modifications.

And these join the lower trailing arm.

Now, that is the rear anti-roll
bar system assembled.

Perfect.

I'm not actually going to
weld these on straightaway.

I might as well, while I'm
here and I'm in the mood,

add a little bit of strength here and here.

This chassis area is
going to be extra strong

and a perfect base for me
to mount my new brackets.

Thing is, though, I'm not actually
going to fully weld these on just yet.

I'm going to line it up and I'm only
going to put a tack weld on for now.

And the reason is that
inside here is that rubber

and if I fully weld it, it's
going to melt the rubber.

Those tacks are certainly
strong enough to hold it into place.

So if I now drop the anti-roll bar,

get those vulnerable
rubbers out of the way,

then I can weld it up fully.

Tack welding is still very strong.

In fact, one inch of linear weld is
enough to hold one metric tonne of force.

Four small tacks is more than
enough to hold this bracket in place.

And that is all my welding finished.

That's an awful lot of
strength to add to a chassis.

Now, this might seem like a lot
of work, and that's because it is.

But remember, this is an M car.

It's about the driving experience.
It's about the way it handles.

In fact, I'm doing Mike's job for him.

All he needs to do
is get someone in the

driver's seat and let
the car do the talking.

You all right, sunshine?

Mr Brewer, where have you
been, spending money, no doubt?

Been out there, doing
some Wheeler-dealering.

Right, OK.
How about you, what have you been up to?

Do you know that didn't
have an anti-roll bar on there?

Yeah, I know, you told me.

Yeah, but what I'm saying
is there's a huge empty

space where the anti-roll
bar should have been.

In fear of repeating myself,
you have told me that.

That's why I got you all the parts,
so hopefully you've fitted it, have you?

You're not actually
understanding what I'm saying.

I'm saying, yes, I've done the
anti-roll bar, I've put it in there,

but it didn't have one at all, there
was nothing in there, the moose, empty.

But it's got one now!

All right, look, I've moved on from the
anti-roll bar, let's talk about the wheels.

I've had a good think about the wheels.

What about we change the colour?

No, how about no?

Why not? I reckon it's a great idea.

At the moment, they are
very silver and I was thinking of

dialling down the colour,
making them a bit darker silver.

No, but this is a German
car, look, it's German silver,

silver wheels, it just works.

No, these ones are all marked
and chipped round the edges,

they've got to be refurbished
anyway, and there's a two-part

process, we can repaint
them, bring the colour down,

I think it'll make it look much
more current and more sellable.

Right, and what about this
kerb rash, it's pretty aggressive.

Round here, there's loads of
wheel rights, they're like magicians,

they'll repair the rims, do the colour
change for us, they're going to look magic.

Right, so you're going to take these
round the corner to Mr Copperfield,

it's going to fix them and
probably change the colour.

Not Mr Copperfield, no,
because he was an illusionist.

and I'm talking about magicians.

And that's what I need you to
do right now, I need you to magic

the wheels from here into
the boot of my nice shiny motor.

Let me get the latch for you.

Now, the wheels on our BMW,
I'm going to be honest with you,

they're rather second-hand.

In fact, the previous owner,
his parallel parking was,

well, it was frankly useless,
look at the state of the wheel.

These are incredibly
expensive wheels to replace

and I have had a few sleepless nights over
them, but I've got a friend called Matt,

he runs a company called Wheels America,

he's helped me out in the past,

and when I described
these wheels to him, he said,

no worries, bring them
down, him and his team,

they can set them out rescuing them.

Not only that, I've got a plan in mind

to also change the colour and
modernise them ever so slightly.

And he also said he can help out there too.

Right, now there's four of these wheels,

and they're rather
heavy, so let's get a trolley.

Refinishing the used wheels that you have

can save thousands
overpurchasing new replacements.

Right then, Matt.

Now, buddy, notice I'm
saying buddy here, Matt.

My big pal! Come on, it wasn't me!

What exactly have you brought me here?

BMW Z3 M Coupe wheels,

and it looks like the previous owner,

or the previous previous
owner, really couldn't drive.

Well, it's pretty bad, but
nothing we can't handle.

First we need to remove the
old tyre and inspect the wheel.

This is probably the
most important part of

the process when
you're sorting out a wheel,

because the wheel has been
through all kinds of hassle.

It could be damaged in other
ways that we can't visually see.

Ramon puts it on this machine,

and using a very small micrometer,

he works out if there's any
imperfections in the wheel.

And now you can see behind me
he's having to add material to the wheel.

Where it's been curbed so badly,

it's taken off so much material

that you have to actually
add material and grind it back.

Now to heat and repair the
surrounding area to ensure a good bond.

Using a wheel lathe, the bit cuts
the added material from the repair,

creating a uniform shape and thickness,

and a quick sanding to
remove any machining marks.

So essentially what we're looking at here
is your Lexus colours and your BMW colours.

So right now the factory BMW
that you're in is right over here,

and I believe you want to make them a
little bit darker to write this colour area.

What you're getting
is a base coat of gloss

black and hypersilver
sprayed on top of that.

The more hypersilver you spray
on, the lighter or brighter it gets.

So our wheels have now got to be warmed up

so we can lay down
that black powder coat in.

That's right.

A ride through the oven readies the
wheels for the powder coat to be applied.

And back into the oven at
a high heat to fuse powder

coat particles together,
adding durability to the finish.

Can you believe that's the same set of wheels
I rolled in here with not too long ago?

Thanks to Matt and his team,

they've done an absolutely incredible job

turning what was a very
second-hand set of wheels

into something that's going to
absolutely improve our BMW.

I can't wait to see
them screwed to the car,

but really I can't wait to see Anne's face.

And the cost? $600.

These are really going
to set the car off nicely.

Now, this BMW is
actually fitted with two fans.

This electrical fan up front and
the more traditional mechanical fan

here on the water pump
at the front of the engine.

And it's this fan that has
a reputation for failing.

Now, our fan here is
actually fouling on the shroud.

Now, the good news is with this
car there is actually a simple solution,

and that is to do away with the
problem fan by keeping the friendly one.

Now, the single electric
fan is sufficient to do the job

if, and this is an important
if, I use these parts here.

Now, all of this comes together as a single
kit, and it's actually quite good value.

It's about $269.

It's around 215 quid,
and it has very few parts.

Now, it has this, a fan switch, but,
critically, the temperature setting on this

is much lower than the stock
switch already fitted to the car.

It has a new water pump, but it's uprated.

This is way more efficient.

A new pulley, but it's made of steel,

way stronger, and a new belt.

Because if we're now asking
one fan to do the job of two fans,

we actually have to
improve the cooling system.

It has to be better than stock.

And the fan blades are
held on by a large single nut.

Right, next up is this fan switch,
and this is absolutely crucial.

See, it's mounted in the
side of the radiator right here.

so that the switch itself
contacts with the coolant inside.

That way, as the engine
heats up, the coolant heats up,

the switch senses that temperature change
and, via the wires, turns the fan on.

And, in turn, as it all cools
down, it tells the fan to turn off.

Now, crucially, the difference
between the fan switch

that's fitted in the car's
stock and the new one

is the new one is set at a much lower
temperature, though this kicks in earlier.

It helps regulate the temperature
and balance things out.

Now, when you compare these, the fact
that the pulley itself is made of plastic,

with the aftermarket one,
the pulley's made of metal.

That's much stronger.

Now, the cool thing about
this is it has the O-ring here.

There's no gasket.

And one of the contributing factors to
why this new water pump is more efficient.

actually lays within
the size of the pulley,

because if I compare the original
stock one to the new metal one,

you'll notice that the
new one's actually smaller.

And what that means is the
belt speed remains the same.

The belt is working at the same amount
of rotation, but every time the belt turns,

this turns way more times than this.

Now, the kit also comes with a new belt.

It's exactly the same as the old belt.

The only difference is it's slightly shorter
to accommodate for the smaller pulley.

Now, I am going to keep the shroud,

because it's got some important hoses
and the expansion tank, but the fan? Gone.

And now I need to start the car.

Allow the engine to get up to temperature.

And make sure that single fan now kicks in.

Now, the engine is almost at temperature.

I just need to wait for
this electrical fan to kick in.

Now, it's relying on the...
Oh, there it is.

It's relying on the right
temperature setting at that fan switch.

Look at that.

It's drawing nice, cool
air through the radiator,

and we've got rid of that
grenade fan, the mechanical one,

which means there's going to be
less mechanical drag on the engine.

It's made the whole car more efficient.

Plus, this is a really popular upgrade.

If you're in the market for a Z3M,

you'll know that this is
a nice job to have done,

which basically means
I've made Mike's job easier.

MUSIC.

Something as simple
as a wobbly seat like this

can make even the greatest
car on the road really awful.

It's a massive letdown, or in this case,

it's a letdown for the passenger.

And actually, a wobbly seat's
quite a common problem.

In fact, I'm pretty sure I already
know what the problem is on this car,

but to deal with it, unfortunately,
I have to take the seat out.

Perfect.

It's amazing how heavy these seats are.

There's absolutely no way
to tackle this job in the car.

The best way to do it is here on a bench.

And it's this. Yeah, there you go.

It's inside here, that's the problem.

First off, I'm going to
release this Torx bolt here.

The Torx head system was invented in 1967.

It was developed in line
with better factory machinery

that can precisely fit
screws to specific torque.

Ah, now, this bit here, this block,

that's where the critical problem is.

See, this is called a
linear motion lead screw,

this part here, and you
can see where the play is.

It's right in there.

Now, before I do any
of this, adjust anything,

I'm just going to take a
measurement because the point is

this needs to go back in
exactly the way it came out.

So all I'm going to do
is take a measurement

from the end of the thread
to the end of the block.

See, the way it works is the
screw itself is attached to the motor.

So when the screw rotates, it's
not the screw itself that moves,

it's the block that moves.

Problem is, there's this slack here.

See, there's supposed to be a pair of
shims, one either side of this metal block.

That's why you get that wobbly movement.

And because this is a common
problem, I can get an off-the-shelf kit,

and it's only around $15,
a shade over a tenner.

But I've got a solution
right now in the workshop.

Luckily, I've got this piece of
nylon left over from another job,

a race car, and as it's
sat here gathering dust,

I figure I might as well make my own.

Each one of my nylon shims
needs to be half of the total gap.

See, nylon like this
is actually really easy

to cut, particularly in
a bandsaw like this.

Now, I've deliberately
cut it slightly oversized,

and now I'm going to sand
it down smooth so it fits.

First of all, I want to
smooth out all the saw marks.

I could just put a pair of
metal washers in there,

but ultimately, that's
going to be too hard,

and it needs to have
a little bit of give in it.

The good thing about using nylon is it'll
wear away just enough to take up the slack.

See, now it evenly fits nice and snug.

Knowing that my
measurement is set from earlier,

I want to unscrew this, release
that block in the centre there,

and then I'm going to use that block
knowing that that's exactly the size I need.

So, I have my single puck of nylon.

There are my four spacers.

Now, this should drop
straight in the block.

See, that metal block now fits snugly
because of those two new shims.

This then...

This then winds through.

I'm using my measurement from earlier.

There.

And this can simply...

Oh, stay there.

..drop back in.

The trick is...

..line those bolts up here.

Right, now, that should...

Oh, yeah, that is now solid as a
rock, but, of course, it is only one side.

Side number two.

The job itself is relatively easy.

It's a little bit time-consuming, and I
know I've only saved Mike ten quid,

but it's one of those great
jobs to get your fingers busy.

Like I said earlier, the hardest part of it

is moving the seat
because they're so heavy.

And the new owner is
never going to appreciate

the amount of work
that went into the car,

but it's one of those jobs that, if you
left it, it would have compromised the sail.

And by my reckoning with a solid seat,

this car is now done.

What's stronger than a
Royal Navy battleship?

Now I'm smiling.

Sway's less than Patrick Swayze.

The anti-roll bar's missing.

But rock's less than Elvis.

Wrong, I think he's
beautiful from every angle.

A BMW Z3 M Coupe, of course.

Didn't even look under the bonnet.

Definitely didn't look at the wheels.

Oh, no, I wish I looked
at the wheels a bit closely.

And reinforcing of the rear subframe

brought back the strength that
should have come from the factory.

That's an awful lot of
strength to add to a chassis.

So we paid $17,900 for the car,

$100 for the metal, reducing the Swayze.

That kit cost $368.

Keeping things cooler,
the fan kit set us back $269.

To keep us from rocking,
the seat bushings were free.

The brilliant wheel
refinishing by yours

truly, $600, giving us
a grand total of 19,237.

That's around 14,870 pounds.

And all done in 21 man-hours
for a new and improved coupe.

Oh, this car is absolutely amazing.

It is unbelievable.

I love the fact that it's
a little bit of a sleeper.

You know, people actually mock this car.

They call it the clown shoe,
which I think's actually kind of rude.

Oh, it is rude, isn't it?

I mean, you can call it what you like.

I tell you what, I just blimmin' love it.
It's brilliant.

She's a beast.

She is a beast.

You know, one of the
rarest BMWs ever as well.

And I can tell you it's handling a lot better
than it did the first time I got in it.

Okay, that's a tight one.

Yeah, that is tight.

God, that hurts, doesn't it?

That's a hairpin, yeah.

This car's got grip.

It's got grip and grunt.

Yeah, that's because when you bought
this car, the rear end was shocking.

In fact, it didn't even
have an anti-roll bar.

What?

Yeah, not only did it
not have an anti-roll bar,

which meant that it was
flopping all over the place,

some of the actual chassis structure
had torn off because it was weak.

No.

Yeah, the rear end was a mess.

Apparently, you do all your
best work in the rear end.

That's what they say.

I am not going to rise to that.

No.

What I did do is I
reinforced the structure,

I put stronger differential
mounting blades in

and a new anti-roll bar.

Well, you can really feel it because my
rear end is now happy with this rear end.

Oh, my gosh.

Look at that.

Do you know what this car
needs for the passengers?

Handlebars.

Handlebars, yeah.

Nice one, mate, because
you've done epic work.

I can really feel it.

Yeah, but it's stronger now.

All that extra metal,
all that extra structuring,

the diff is now fully supported.

Bear in mind, this is
a rear-wheel-drive car.

It's everything you want from a driver's
car, manual, two seats, rear-wheel-drive.

If the diff isn't mounted correctly,
how the hell are you going to drive it?

Leave it to you to outdo BMW,

and that's no mean feat, is it?

Brilliant.

Do you know what I have to say as well?

I was a little bit hesitant about your
choice of wheel colour, but it works.

It just works, doesn't it?

Yeah.

It gives this car a little
bit of a modern edge,

but still keeps it a classic car
because they're still the original wheels.

This is good. This is good.

What?

Have you fixed that fan noise?

Oh, the fan? Yeah, I fixed it.
I threw it out.

What?

Yeah, it's gone.

You know, if those fans let go,
they can actually go through the mud.

I have heard that.

Yeah, so what I've done is I've lost it.

It's actually quite a little
upgrade for the cooling system.

Nice little job.

It's still called a car,

metaphorically and temperature-wise,
and it's a nice job. Well done.

Right, let's get down to business.

Who's going to be
lusting after this little car?

Somebody who understands the M Sport coupé.

Somebody who's a real M enthusiast,

and I reckon whoever
that person's going to be

will instantly know that they're
coming to buy the right car.

Huh?

Yeah, well, if I'm digesting
that, because we're sat

in the car now on a truck,
because it is a race car.

It feels like a track car.

But it's also a road car.

So you're buying two cars?

You are.

There are a few cars
that are so thrilling to drive.

It reminds you of why you fell
in love with cars in the first place.

Cars like this.

A BMW Z3 M coupé.

Just look at it, eh?

Doesn't it look fantastic?

Sitting there with those
power silver wheels,

which I did.

It's ready for sale.

So I advertised it out there on the
Internet, and the market for these is hot.

My phone has been bouncing off the hook.

The first guy down is this fella here.

He's called Dan.

He's been out for a test drive.

Big smile on his face.

And I reckon this one would
be easy to push over the line.

Right then, Dan, what do you think?

Do you like it?

It was great, yes.

Sweet.

Nice.

Very nice ride.

So why do you like one of these?

What is it about the BMW Z3 for you?

Oh, it's a little like me.

Old, fast, cheap, and fun.

Old, fast, cheap, and fun.

What a great description.

You put fat in there,
that would be me as well.

So have you had one of these in the past?

I had the convertible model back in 99.

Z3?

But that was the automatic
and the tiny engine.

Right.

And if you were going downhill
with the wind behind you, it was okay.

But it was still very nimble.

But this, I mean, this is what it
really needed under the hood.

It's so much better.

Well, I've asked $23,000.

That's over 17,000 pounds in my money.

So what do you think?

Well, you're priced close
to what I was hoping to do,

but I'm just concerned
that this is a ticket machine.

I'd want to be closer to $22,000.

You will get tickets in this car.

And I'm willing to pay for some
of your fun, but not all your fun.

Okay.

So I can't do $22,000,

but I'll be a gentleman and
meet you halfway, $22,500.

What did you say?

$22,500, done.

Yes, hold out your hand.

Got yourself a deal.

You just bought yourself a cracking Z3.

Well done.

Thank you.

There is no doubt that
this is absolutely one of

the best cars we've ever
had through this workshop.

And I'm going to be honest with you, I'm
utterly jealous of Dan taking this car away.

But we did make a profit,

and you can't say fairer than that.

If you want to see more iconic cars like
this BMW being turned around by me and Ant,

then join us again soon
on Wheel of Dealers.

Salut.