Inquiry

[bazzaz3]

I have purchased a 2nd hand front strut brace for my Z3 but to fit the top plates I need to remove the welded bolt and 17mm nut on right hand 'turret' . Does anyone know what this fitting was for orginally ?
Barry

 

[andyglym]

I have purchased a 2nd hand front strut brace for my Z3 but to fit the top plates I need to remove the welded bolt and 17mm nut on right hand 'turret' . Does anyone know what this fitting was for orginally ?
Barry

If I'm on the same page it's the bolt that you clip one end of the jump leads to. Strut braces should cater for this and have a bit cut out.

 

[bazzaz3]

If I'm on the same page it's the bolt that you clip one end of the jump leads to. Strut braces should cater for this and have a bit cut out.

View attachment 71912

Yep that's the one. I guess this strut brace I bought wasn't for a Z3 , but it will fit if I remove this fitting , and touch up where it was welded on. I really this particular oval alloy bar strut brace as it traverses straight from the left to right 'turrets'

 

[Antm72]

Can you not cut the strut brace ?

 

[Antm72]

Mine is cut in a single cut to avoid it the brace fitting similar to how yours will fit can get a better pic in the morning

 

[t-tony]

Yep that's the one. I guess this strut brace I bought wasn't for a Z3 , but it will fit if I remove this fitting , and touch up where it was welded on. I really this particular oval alloy bar strut brace as it traverses straight from the left to right 'turrets'

Barry, PLEASE be careful if you fit this brace as it my be from a different model and although it "fits" ok it could well be too high and you bonnet would hit it when you close it.
I had one for my Z3 a few years ago and had exactly this issue, I did make it fit ok but it was very close to the rocker cover when it was done.
I had to cut out the mounting for the "Jump start" connection point too.

Tony.

 

[t-tony]

What I had to do was screw the adjusting bars out of the main frame quite a way, this in turn made the brace longer and therefore it could be mounted lower in the two side turret mounting brackets. After marking and drilling the brackets I then marked and trimmed of the excess alloy and dressed the cut edges. It can be done but needs some trial and error type fitting.

Tony.

ps. The reason I bought this brace bar was because it was very cheap and was marketed at E36 saloons. I just took a chance on making it fit.

 

[Stevo7682]

I have purchased a 2nd hand front strut brace for my Z3 but to fit the top plates I need to remove the welded bolt and 17mm nut on right hand 'turret' . Does anyone know what this fitting was for orginally ?
Barry

Barry the 17mm bolt is the negative jumper cable point

 

[Faheem]

As @t-tony has said, be careful when fitting the strut brace. I bought one from eBay a couple of years when I first got my zed (bodywork was immaculate at the time) - bought the strut brace, bolted it on and slammed the bonnet down, I've since had a ridiculous dent on my bonnet which can't be taken out by PDR because it's stretched I was able to get it to fit but I had to cut a bit out, it also made quite a mess of the upper manifold as it was touching it. The brace I bought was for an E36 rather than a Z3. After a while it went in the bin.

 

[hard top]

After a while it went in the bin.

Don't know whether to laugh or cry my friend ....

 

[Faheem]

@hard top When I fitted the brace on the zed I wouldn't have been able to tell you where the brake fluid reservoir was... Just a newbie mistake I guess. Still annoys me every time I see it so it needs to get fixed at some point.

 

[bazzaz3]

Barry, PLEASE be careful if you fit this brace as it my be from a different model and although it "fits" ok it could well be too high and you bonnet would hit it when you close it.
I had one for my Z3 a few years ago and had exactly this issue, I did make it fit ok but it was very close to the rocker cover when it was done.
I had to cut out the mounting for the "Jump start" connection point too.
View attachment 71918 View attachment 71919 View attachment 71920 View attachment 71921 View attachment 71922 View attachment 71923 View attachment 71924 View attachment 71925 View attachment 71926 View attachment 71927 View attachment 71928 View attachment 71929


Tony.

Thanks for your advise Tony, and for the great photos. In my case the 3 holed bracket for the alloy strut runs close to the bracket so much so that I can't make the cutout ( I'll try and send photos sometime ), but there are other places to hook up a jump lead to a negative earth, so I don't think removing this earth mounting is a problem. And I'll be extra careful the first time I close the bonnet !!

 

[bazzaz3]

As @t-tony has said, be careful when fitting the strut brace. I bought one from eBay a couple of years when I first got my zed (bodywork was immaculate at the time) - bought the strut brace, bolted it on and slammed the bonnet down, I've since had a ridiculous dent on my bonnet which can't be taken out by PDR because it's stretched I was able to get it to fit but I had to cut a bit out, it also made quite a mess of the upper manifold as it was touching it. The brace I bought was for an E36 rather than a Z3. After a while it went in the bin.

Whoops, I guess one leans by ones mistakes Faheem...damn painful though they maybe !! Thanks for the warning.
Barry

 

[Bampz]

Hi Barry and welcome ,looking at the photo of your z ( nice car ) looks like a 1.9 in which case if your strut brace is the same as above photos which are on the straight six engineI don't think it will be a straight fit as the brace for the 1.9 140 bhp is angled to sit round the back of the manifold to clear the bonnet when closed ,
Bill

 

[bazzaz3]

Hi Barry and welcome ,looking at the photo of your z ( nice car ) looks like a 1.9 in which case if your strut brace is the same as above photos which are on the straight six engineI don't think it will be a straight fit as the brace for the 1.9 140 bhp is angled to sit round the back of the manifold to clear the bonnet when closed ,
Bill

Hi Bill,
Actually both our Zeds are the wide bodied 6 cylinder models, the Green one 2.8 the red 3.1, so we have that bit extra space for the oval alloy brace to fit under. Thanks for the welcome.

 

[Sean d]

Mine has a small cut out, you cant really see it on this pic but it was a great oppertunity to show off my engine bay

 

[andyglym]

Mine has a small cut out, you cant really see it on this pic but it was a great oppertunity to show off my engine bay
View attachment 71981

Show off

 

[Sean d]

Show off

It was bloody hard work mate

 

[andyglym]

It was bloody hard work mate

Engine bay is on the list mate, looks great though that colour is epic.

 

[Sean d]

Show off

Do you remember the time I was deciding on the colour, it took bloody weeks to settle on Protonic, Carrie was sick of it, I was constantly going on about it,