To Fix Or To Sell

[Alex Funnell]

Hi,
My Zed is feeling tired and the handling is getting quite bad. Its coming up to 103k on a 99 plate and is buring a ltitle oil. I can see the dampers have been weeping a bit and I have a broken front spring. There is excessive camber at the rear when I last got the geo done and the inside edge of the tyre is quite worn, so I figure the bushes need replacing too. After fitting the supersprint exhaust, replacing the front arms, water pump and tensioner I am torn as to sell it or fix it.

I think the best way to fix it would be bc racing coil overs as they are fully built units. Poly bushes and some new drop links. However it may be better to spend the 1k for fixing on another with a better engine but it would just be delaying the same thing.

I'm not sure what to do.

What are your thoughts

 

[Low Rider]

You could end up buying some else's problems by purchasing another car

 

[bruce&kim]

a visit to the z shed Alex? Winter is hard on z,s but come spring its all worth while.

 

[swamper]

my honest opinion would be to fix it....why go and spend money on another car that will give you problems sooner or later.
you have identified the problems already so you already know the costs involved.
plus how much will you loose on the car if you sell it with the faults

 

[Alex Funnell]

I guess that's unanimous. I see some people have the bc coil overs, how is the ride comfort effected? Does adding coil overs make it a less desirable sale in the future?

 

[swamper]

i would say it would help sell it

 

[t-tony]

There is another option, that is to buy a car from some one who documented what they've done to it. I have such a car if you're interested.

Tony.

 

[BMBabe]

FIX IT!!!!

 

[Antm72]

It has to be fix as said you know its needs and like buying an second hand car you just inherit the same ,better the devil you know

 

[madleemark]

its always nice to improve and revive a car, that for me is one of the many plus points in owning older vehicles.

 

[GazHyde]

That's the standard set of symptoms we see in #ZedShed for sure. Tired bushes & shocks on the back end cause no end of bad ride problems.

If you have the time/effort take the rear arch liners out and have a close look at the the bushes. Put a large bar underneath the beam bushes and see how much vertical play there is.

No point in just changing to coilovers if the rest of the suspension is tired as you will just get even more fed up

 

[andyglym]

Yep, fix it for me. As stated, you'd just be buying somebody else's problems. At least this way you know what you've got. Work out a strategy and costs/time and bob's your uncle. IMHO.

 

[Dino D]

Which engine is it? How much oil is it burning?
Would be good to understand that as some the engines like the 2,2 and 3.0l can burn up to a liter per 1000miles and be within BMW's spec.

I was at a similair point last year but no engine issues.
Fitted BC's and did the bushes that weren't already poly (rear beam and diff) and have completely different car (I had coilovers before the BC's too).
There is a thread about my car and a few others, I'll get the link so you can see.

Here it is: https://zroadster.org/threads/zedshed-project-thread-directory.10962/


Values are low right now so selling won't yield enough cash to buy a car that won't need suspension work, even the MX5 is not immune to worn suspension.
As for resale suspenion work polarizes opinion but I personally bought a car that was already modified as I was never happy with the way a Z drive in standard suspenion, exhaust etc. You probably won't get your money back come resale but a keen driver will be more interested in a properly sorted car than a tired 'unmolested' example. I've seen adverts with people boasting the car is still on original tyres a decade or more later! For museum owner that may be plus..

 

[Alex Funnell]

It's the 2.0 6 cyl. It's not that bad maybe a ltr every 3-4k. It's my daily driver so doing a fair few miles. Apparently it gives a puff of oil smoke when accelerating hard, i'm not too worried about the engine as they tend to be bulletproof if serviced regularly.

I think i'my definitely leaning toward fixing it now. I kind of guessed I would never get my money back. I will improve it and get a few more years out of her.

However the rear subframe job is a pretty daunting task, especially as it's me and my dad on the driveway

 

[Dickymint]

mine burns no oil anymore and its the 2.2i, I thought It was the new breather system I put on it along with new O rings like the one on the dipstick ect but..... and here is the big but at the same time I used some fuel system cleaner (strong stuff!) and I have since read on a lot of forums about the BMW engine and its oil usage and more than one person also found the oil usage better after using a fuel system cleaner and the consensus was that it unclogged the piston rings or maybe it was both.... either way I have not used a drop since and I was at 1l for 1k
https://www.bgprod.com/catalog/gasoline-fuel-system/bg-44k-fuel-system-cleaner/

 

[MartinN]

It's the 2.0 6 cyl. It's not that bad maybe a ltr every 3-4k. It's my daily driver so doing a fair few miles. Apparently it gives a puff of oil smoke when accelerating hard, i'm not too worried about the engine as they tend to be bulletproof if serviced regularly.

I think i'my definitely leaning toward fixing it now. I kind of guessed I would never get my money back. I will improve it and get a few more years out of her.

However the rear subframe job is a pretty daunting task, especially as it's me and my dad on the driveway

The rear sub frames not too bad, I did mine one the drive over a winter, couple of weekends though. The only job I farmed out was removing the beam bushes, apart from that the Diff is heavy so I took that off before dropping the sub frame on a couple of trolley jacks. The rest of the bushes were no bother. Good luck

 

[Tracy Dee]

If you can fix it yourself worth doing keeping cost down to parts only and worth shopping around for best price on those. As others have said you could buy another with troubles also.
In my case not mechanically minded if garage costs were to high for the value of the car I am affraid it would go.
Hope you get sorted.

 

[Alex Funnell]

Just a little update, not be on here for a while. The zed has started to be fixed. She just had new boots and brakes (having some trouble retracting the pistons so new pads next week). Fitted the BC coil overs and really impressed with how it sits on the road, corners a lot flatter, feels like there is a lot more grip. It also fixed the tramlining a bit. Bushes need to be done but no plan for that yet as dropping the subframe is quite daunting.

 

[Nodzed]

I would agree a fix is worth it and very rewarding, and the cost can be spread out over a longer period but I agree with @t-tony if you do change it then the only sensible option would be to buy an already sorted car with plenty of documentation otherwise you could well be buying more trouble as others have already rightly pointed out.

 

[Davyhoogy]

I'll stick my nose in too, definitely a fixer upper!
You will have such pride driving around in a car that you have personally transformed, you sort out the suspension and any other issues and you will have a better car than any you could buy for the same cost.