Montego Blue E86 is Long Gone - Z4MC Diff Rebuild

[N4LLY]

6 Series a good choise, most excellent.

(Your picture has come out left hand driver )

[N4LLY]

Oh, happy New year to you and Rusty

[lucasxdiniz]

6 Series a good choise, most excellent.

(Your picture has come out left hand driver )

Selfies on Androids don't tend to be mirrored back.

[1536Z4]

allowing me to always take Rusty around with me.

It is a shame the way it has worked out but you have done everything you could and Rusty looks comfortable .

[lucasxdiniz]

Today I met the current owner, Michal. Great guy and definitely keen to keep the car to a great standard. Replaced the water pump for him and had a look over the car. Then we had a little drive and got to take a couple of shots of my old and new car together.

[zeastom]

I haven't been doing much work on the car as I'm waiting until I get all the parts I've been ordering to do many things in one go. But looking at the pile of parts on my desk that have already arrived, I decided to change the cabin filter ASAP because the service history shows it's been a long time since its been replace and the car was mostly in London for that entire time.
vidmate 2014 mobdro app

[paddy wright]

Great thread, enjoyed catching up on it

[lucasxdiniz]

Hello again,

It's been a while since I properly posted on here. I've only been posting wanted this or that lately. But basically a mini update to say I'm going to be re-cycling this thread instead of creating a new one.

My life has changed a lot since the Montego Blue E86 went to a different owner. I unfortunately had to put Rusty down in April; I thought I would be ready but I was not... It was somewhat unexpected as, up until the day before, he had been completely normal. So my guard was down and it was such a blow that even now almost 3 months later, there's still a weird 'knot' feeling in my chest/stomach - no idea how to even describe it. I spent the following weeks just keeping my mind busy with DIYs around the house, but very quickly noticed it wasn't doing it for me. My usual escape from 'reality' is to go on a drive and enjoy the feel of the car around corners, but every time I took the 650i out, I just came back feeling frustrated.

The 650i is an amazing car. However, the combination of being incredibly fast, hefty in weight, automatic, and having the steering ratio of a ship, made it an unideal option for the type of enjoyment I was craving. So even though the soundtrack was glorious, instead of my little getaways hoons clearing my mind, it would just add another frustration to it. So I started looking at cars that I could essentially just buy for however much I sold the 6 series. Cheap Lotus 7 style kit cars seemed like a realistic option. But then I kept thinking/dreaming of some of the best moments of my life - driving the 3.0si in some Welsh roads last year - the car was almost telepathic then and the roads absolutely superb. This memory basically drove me to put the 6er up for sale on the forum as well to see if anyone was selling a high miler E86 that I could buy at the low end of the scale and make it into a project. Then I decided that screw being too sensible, and contacted the guy who currently owns my old 3.0si as he has had it for sale on Facebook for months... long story short, he's not really selling it.

Whilst the current owner of my old 3.0si was being indecisive, someone sent me a rather attractive offer on eBay against the 6er. A gent asked if I was interested in a trade with a Z4M Coupe... I couldn't resist and said 'yes, tell me more', when he said how much he wanted for his car, I absolutely threw all my house plans out of the window and thought 'f*ck it, I made my house perfectly nice and livable, the rest can wait' and arranged to see the car. The car is known to the forum as it was sold here last October I think - I remember seeing the ad. Rather attractive price for a Black Z4M, with CSL style airbox, rod bearings and some other goodies. I ended up walking away from that car... it was definitely worth what the owner wanted for it, but being at the top end of my budget, I would be able to buy the car and not have much left to sort out many little things that would annoy me and my 'OCD'. In hindsight, I should have researched more about the Z4M prior to viewing it, as the diff noises put me off more than anything else and I have now read how common certain noises are and how rectifiable they are with additives.
This very car is now up for auction on Shooting Brake.

But the seed was planted, I knew what I truly wanted. I went to see the black Z4MC as it was a bargain, but it is as bad as a spec as it gets for one of those (in my opinion). So I ended up buying the M version of my old 3.0si - basically my dream spec. I've had it for a few weeks now, but the last time I drove it was the day after I bought it. I parked it and sorted out a lot of little things on it while waiting for RBM to have a slot for rod bearings, which is tomorrow! Here's a little teaser of how she looks:

20230627_192454.jpg (147.29 KiB) Viewed 620 times

20230617_220403.jpg (184.28 KiB) Viewed 620 times

I really lucked out with the spec:

• Interlagos Blue
• Individual Champagne Walknappa Interior
• Carbon Trim
• DSP Hi-Fi + Handsfree
• Folding Mirrors
• Privacy Glass

[inkey$]

Exactly the same spec of my first MC. Beautiful, lucasxdiniz. Rusty would be very proud, I'm sure
Enjoy every single moment and look forward to seeing your progress.

[N4LLY]

Most excellent !

(Is it parked in the kitchen ? )

[lucasxdiniz]

Exactly the same spec of my first MC. Beautiful, lucasxdiniz. Rusty would be very proud, I'm sure
Enjoy every single moment and look forward to seeing your progress.

Thank you. Enjoyed it so far and I'm very impressed of how good it is out of the box (such a contrast to a stock 3.0si).

(Is it parked in the kitchen ? )

Before I bought my house, it had had various tenants over the years, one of whom decided to convert 3/4 of the garage into an office. The dividing wall was taken down, but the rest I left untouched as it was done nicely. Eventually I'll bring the other 1/4 of the garage to the same standards so it all looks nice.

[hopz121]

Sorry to hear about Rusty, we lost our family dog last year and it’s horrible, they really are a man’s best friend.

The car looks great, looking forward to the updates on this one.

Nice spec on it as well, the DSP audio is outstanding you’ll enjoy that when you aren’t enjoying the epic S54 sound track.

[Barty]

My sympathies on the loss of Rusty, it can leave a hole that’s hard to fill…

Congrats on the new purchase, and what a dream spec car! Any pics of the interior? Walknappa champagne really is something else

[Mr Tidy]

So sorry to hear about Rusty.

I hope if nothing else your MC will keep your thoughts occupied while you inevitably fettle. Love that colour combination and your garage interior!

Looking forward to reading about your exploits and hopefully I'll see your new P & J sometime soon.

[lucasxdiniz]

Thank you all for the kind messages about Rusty.

Congrats on the new purchase, and what a dream spec car! Any pics of the interior? Walknappa champagne really is something else

Not yet; It's not quite up to my standards at the moment. I've given the interior a good clean, and started phase 1 of making the seats acceptable to me (deep clean and touch up of the bolsters). I've also started refurbing the steering wheel trim and ordered new mats and ZHP (not a cheap bill from BMW as the champagne leatherette lined mats are close to £100 nowadays).

However, after making the 3.0si interior immaculate, a full seat refurb is inevitable. Since this car is in much better condition than the 3.0si when I first got it, it can wait until I finish enjoying the car this summer.