11x12 - BMW Z1

[bunniefuu]

This time on Wheel
Of Dealers, a rare 80's

classic with a unique
design and a big problem.

Being that this is a one off design,
a part for this could be really costly.

So Ed pulls the car apart.

It's a big chunk of engineering isn't it?

But have we bitten off more than we
can chew with this radical roadster?

Unfortunately we have a
bit of an unexpected bill.

£650.

Oh Ed you're kidding me.

I find the cars, this car has got a massive
reputation in the classic car world.

Ed mends the motors.

The cutter's got a lovely
action thanks to those new parts.

Together we're on a mission to save
classics and hopefully turn a profit.

In the mid 1980's BMW decided to rethink
the roadster and the Z1 was their answer.

Most of us remember the
trademark drop down doors

but the whole car was
a high tech masterpiece.

With lightweight thermoplastic body
panels and a six cylinder engine, this two

seater was capable of 0-60 in around 9
seconds and a top speed of 137 miles an hour.

With a low front end,
great wind screen and

streamlined rear exhaust
it slices through the air.

They only ever built 8000 Z1's, now they're
an appreciating classic and I love them.

Well the first thing I've noticed
is that this beamer is very rare.

I keep looking on all
my usual search engines

and I get the same
result saying no results.

Seems like the Z1 is
going to be very elusive.

The left hand drive only Z1 sold
really well in continental Europe

so I decided to throw the net wide
to track down a suitable beamer.

More cars appear but most are in
excellent order and prices are high.

Right now this is interesting, there's
an ad here for a non standard yellow Z1.

What an ugly colour but
the price is very attractive.

It's only £14,350.

The problem is the car
is in the Netherlands and

I'm not just going to pop
over there to take a look.

So I think the best thing to do
is to give the seller a call first.

What can you tell me about it?

Well that is fascinating, the
car is being sold by a dealer

and it seems like the kind
of car that I can add value to.

I need to grab my passport and get
myself across to the Netherlands sharpish.

Now when I first
started searching for this

rare rag top I did hope
to find one in Britain.

But being that the majority of the
cars were made in left hand drive it's no

surprise that I've had to hop across the
channel to come and track down a cheap Z1.

I just hope it's worth
the gamble of a ferry

ticket and splashing
the Van full of diesel.

The Z1 I'm off to view
isn't registered for the road,

I can only road test it on
the dealer's trade plates.

I bought the trailer in case I
buy it and need to ship it back.

There it is, you can't
really miss it can you?

Do you know what, I do have
a small confession to make.

I can't stand yellow cars
and this actually looks

worse in the flesh than
it did in the pictures.

It's not even been
painted bright is it because

look that's a different
colour yellow to that.

But let's look at the good stuff.

Nice set of original wheels,
they look alright didn't they?

Now what makes this car
famous are these brilliant

drop down doors and
this one, look at that.

That does not fit in right is it
because I can get my hand in there.

Let's see if it works though shall we?

Yes, how cool is that?

Just look at the colour of that delightful
interior, that is horrible isn't it?

Actually the leather's in good
condition but it's the colour that's nasty.

But it's all there, doesn't
look like anything's missing.

The dashboard looks good.

So not too bad.

This must be Vincent,
hello Vincent how are you?

Nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you too.

Well I've come a long way
to come and see this little Z1.

First impressions, I'm
not thrilled by the colour.

It is indeed not so
good that it is this but it

is the lowest price for a
BMW Z1 in whole Europe.

Well that's why I'm here because
it is the cheapest one in Europe.

Maybe you can help me get the roof off?

Yes of course, I'll go to this side.

Put this one back, hold the roof.

Hold the roof and it's really
important when you've got

one of these soft top roofs
with a soft top rear glass

you have to make sure that
you fold it correctly because

they can really damage and
they cost a fortune to replace.

They do yeah.

Look at that, wonderful.

This car has got a massive
reputation in the classic car world.

Do you know what, it really deserves it.

This car is all about fun,
fun and even more fun.

Up front is one of my
favourite all-time engines.

It's that silky smooth
straight six BMW six cylinder.

In this little car it's a two and a half
litre, reduces 170 brake horsepower

and this little car ain't that heavy
so it gets down the road quite quickly.

You put your foot down, this car gets to


and in fifth gear it'll
top out at about 130.

This little motor is a pocket rocket.

The driving experience
of this car is fabulous.

It doesn't feel its age at all,
it feels like a really young car

but I have noticed a problem
and that's with the gearbox.

Every time I change gear, take
my foot off the clutch, it goes quiet.

then when I lift my foot
back off, it goes noisy again.

Now that is your clutch release
bearing and that could be expensive.

Also, I'm having to use
hand signals to go round

things because the
indicator stalk is missing.

But the thing that I'm most worried
about would be this door mechanism

because remember when I first
see the car, it wasn't sitting right

and when you're driving
along you can pop this door up

which is good but again
it's not kind of sitting right

so being that this is a one-off design,
a part for this would be really costly.

You know what, even with all
this car's faults, it's still a rare car.

They don't come off often and
when they drive as well as this one

well, you just have to throw your
money in the ring and go for the gamble.

You know the Z in Z1, that means
Zukunft which is German for future

and I reckon if I was
to buy this car, there's

definitely a Zukunft
in it for me and Ed.

Oh, that was a test drive.

It wasn't bad. What I don't like is this.

You can hear that?

Yeah.

That's the thrust race bearing
and that will need doing.

How much do you really want for it?





See, I think really it's
worth 16,000 Euros.

No, it's really too low for this car.

What if I said 16,300?

The lowest I can do is 16,750.

I'll tell you what I'll do.

I'll offer you 16,500 Euros.

If you put 50 Euros
with it, then I can do it.



I'll hold out your hand.

Yeah?

Yes.

Okay.

Just bought myself a Z1.

In Stirling, that works
out to 14,037 pounds.

Not bad.

I bought the cheapest
Z1 anywhere in Europe,

but there's a problem
with the gear change.

Now that is your clutch release
bearing and that could be expensive.

To make a profit, I have to take
it back to an original BMW colour,

but a paint job and an interior
re-drim won't come cheap.

I need some clever ideas to
sort out this distinctive 80s rag top.

I bought one of the 1980s
most unique convertibles.

This car is all about fun,
fun and even more fun.

A technological marvel with clever
design touches like the drop-down doors.

Being that this is a one-off design,
a part for this would be really costly.

A shocking non-standard paint job
meant I could negotiate a cheap deal.

Just over 14,000 pounds.

But there's a hill of work
to fix the car ready for sale.

Now, that Vincent, he
was a real tough cookie,

but I've got to think about how
we can maximise our profit out of it.

Now, if we can get the colour changed

and get some really good
value parts on the car,

I reckon we can be demanding
up near £20,000 for it.

Well, I've nearly made it to the port
and I've got that lovely feeling inside,

but I'm coming back
with a cracking little gem.

Blighty, here I come.

Oh, you beauty!

Hey, have you got me a Z1?
That's fantastic.

It's so refreshing to see you so
excited about a car that I turn up in.

Look at these doors work as well.

That really is so cool, isn't it?
Isn't it great?

There is a little bit of a
problem with them, though.

When you press this button, they go back
up and it's sort of an intermittent fault.

Sometimes it settles down nicely
like this, other times it doesn't.

That's probably just a sensor, then,

because it sounds like
everything's working fine.

I don't mind actually
taking the whole thing apart

to find out how they work
anyway, so let's do that.

Oh, that's good, because,
you know famously,

the body panels on this
car unbolt really easily.

Apparently, yeah.

Why don't we just change the
colour as well at the same time?

Well, you don't like the yellow.

No, I've got bumblebees and flies
chasing me everywhere in this car.

It's driving me nuts.

We need to get rid of
this horrible yellow car.

I was just saying,
because I think the original

yellow was a kind of
more primrose-y yellow,

so it looked a bit better,
suited the car better,

but there's also a black, a dark green and
a red, so we've got quite a good choice.

I reckon we should change it,

but our options are open, definitely.

But if we do change the colour
of the paintwork on the outside,

we'll have to do something
about these nasty

seats, maybe change
the leather in some way.

I guess they'd always be
matching, would they not?

They would, yeah.

Could be a problem.

The interior does sort of
look a little bit shabby in places

and there isn't actually
any indicator stick either.

What's going on there?

I've had to revert to using arm signals.

It's quite nice.

So we're actually
racking up quite a list

already and we haven't
even started, have we?

No, we haven't, and there's
other areas of the cabin that could

do with tidying up, but on a
good note, it's a nice cabin.

The electric windows work.

OK.

It does look like a
reasonably up-together car,

and obviously with the panels being removable,
it's easier to fettle with some stuff.

How does it drive?

Well, it drives OK.

So good, isn't it?

I know it's great, isn't it?

It drives OK.

There is a problem with the clutch
release or the thrust race bearing.

Once your foot's down
on the clutch, it's silent,

but as soon as you
release your foot off the

clutch, it makes this
horrible noise inside.

OK.

Well, the thing is,
the thrust bearing itself

is actually quite small and
is relatively easy to change,

but, of course, to get to it, I need to
take the gearbox away from the engine

and I don't know how much
room I'm going to have under

the bonnet there, so it's
going to be a big old job.

If we get this car right, and
I know we can earn a profit,

they're really rare,

the purists want these
cars to be as original as

possible, and that's what
we should concentrate on.

OK, I can sort that out.

Fantastic.

Let's get it in the workshop.

Cool.

Now, this is a great,
well, great, great motor.

Oh, it's good to see you
so happy about a car.

Usually you're moaning.

Well, this Z1 certainly makes a statement,
and that statement is, please save me,

because this colour
absolutely needs to be changed.

The non-standard yellow just
does not do our Z1 any favours,

so my first job is to actually
strip off all of the bodywork.

Now, there are plenty of mechanical
remnants for me to fix on this car,

things like the thrust
bearing on the clutch,

so it might seem a bit strange
that I'm starting with the paintwork.

It's all a bit back to front,
but, actually, this car has got a

bit of a party trick, which means
I can get the panels painted

at exactly the same time that
I'm doing all the mechanical stuff.

The car's body is made up
of lots of different sections.

I can actually take off all of the panels

and send them off to the
paint shop independently

while I crack on with
the mechanical stuff.

The fibreglass bonnet is
lighter than steel but also fragile,

so Phil is helping me strip the car.

Come on down on this side, are you ready?

Ready.

Very few cars have
this kind of bolt-on body,

and just in case they ever
wanted to change the colour,

BMW encouraged owners to
buy two complete sets of panels.

Now, great little top tip, just
make sure everything is organised,

especially on a car as complex as this.

Put everything in boxes, label it neatly,

and it doesn't matter how long it
takes to put the car back together again,

you're not going to forget
where everything goes.

So with all the bolt-on done on the top,

I should now be able to slide the
wing forward and remove it from the car.

And interestingly, BMW, one
of their little marketing ploys

was the fact you could actually change
all the body panels in about 40 minutes,

and so far I'm 40 minutes
in and I have a wing

and a bumper off, so
it's not going quite to plan.

But the lightweight body panels
offer no protection in a crash,

so designers used
continuously welded zinc seams

to create a strong safety
cell for them to bolt onto,

which is gradually revealed
as we strip the body down.

Right, so what should happen now is
I should be able to kind of prise it off.

There we go. That's pretty cool.

Ah, and interestingly, the inside is red,

which would suggest this is
the original colour of the car

and that's far better
than the old yellow there,

so perhaps that's the
direction we should go in.

If we do respray the car original red,

then there's no way we can
keep the garage yellow seats.

Now, these seats are a real challenge.

Because they've got
such a sculptural shape,

it's going to be really
expensive to reupholster,

but we're going to
have to do something

because they're such
a horrible yellow colour.

I think I might leave
that challenge up to Mike,

but either way, I do
need to take the seats out

because I need to
take off the plastic backs

so they can be repainted at the same
time as the rest of the body panels.

Before removing the seats,

first I've had to take off the body seal
panel to access a hidden retaining bolt.

There's a right order to
do everything in a BMW.

A little bit fiddly, but I
think we're there now, so...

Oh, hello. That's interesting.

We have presumably a
spare ashtray of some kind,

but also, more importantly,
an indicator stalk.

Now, of course,
remember that Mike was

complaining there wasn't
one attached to the car.

Well, that's why, because it
was under the passenger seat,

so hopefully I'll be doing
something about that later on.

That find might prove important
in helping me keep costs down.

After six hours of work, the
body is finally all stripped.

Certainly a bit more than
the 40 minutes BMW claimed.

Well, the bodywork's stripped
and ready to go off to the paint shop.

Now, they will have to
put plasticiser into that paint

because plastic panels have a bit
more flex in them than steel ones.

I can't wait to see how it turns out.

I've been looking for
a clever, good-value

way to transform our
horrible yellow seats,

and I think I've found one, not

reupholstering, but by
dyeing the yellow black.

Hey, you, Barry? I am.

Barry, how you doing? Very good, Mike.

Ooh! Not bad at all.

So, what can you do for me?

Well, we're going to take it back to
black, I think, and we'll deep-clean it.

We'll take off the top, shiny
surface to make the leather

absorbent, take all the
greases out using degreasers,

dye it, resurface the whole lot,

make it into a proper seat again.
Fantastic.

Re-dyeing leather is
something that's new to me.

I'm after a good, even black colour
across all the leather and stitching.

I wonder what kind of
finish we can achieve.

I'm just wiping off this stuff with a
pad, and look at that. That's disgusting.

That's 20-odd years of filth and
grease embedded into the seat.

We're using a water-based cleaner with
lemongrass and citrus oil extracts in it.

Nothing but the very best for my beamer,

and it's so gentle, it doesn't
damage the leather at all.

A quick blow-dry, and we're
ready for the next stage.

I can't believe we're
actually doing this, Barry.

We're rubbing down with,
it looks like sandpaper,

a leather seat.

Well, it's the only way
to make it absorbent,

because the leather
is sealed in place,

nothing will soak into it,
and it won't take the dye.

The seat gets another
clean before a base layer,

a black dye, goes on by hand.

So this is the point of
no return then, Barry?

This is actually just going into the
absorbent surface that we've created,

and obviously we're
dyeing the stitching as well.

Already you can see the seat is looking,

I would say, 1,000%
better than it did before.

It's just meant to be
black, isn't it, this seat?

It should never have been yellow.

The seat's looking much better
already, but a real transformation happens

when Barry mixes the paint to the right
BMW black coat and sprays on the top coat.

Now Barry has matched
that colour perfectly.

with his spray g*n, and
he's spraying it onto the seat.

He's using a hairdryer to
make sure it bonds to the seat,

and this is a bit that
I'd love to get involved,

but actually it's the bit
that cost him money,

so I'm going to let him do it.

He's the professional.

But it's worth it.

Reupholstering two seats, the gear stick,

and the handbrake gaiter
would take about a week.

Barry's done it in just a day.

Once it's been given a final
coat of leather conditioner,

it looks absolutely fabulous,

so the quality finish is there,
but the big question is cost.

How much money have I saved by dyeing rather
than reupholstering my leather interior?

So that's the quality
finish, that's one done.

Just got the other seats and
the other bits of pieces to do.

So how much is it all
going to come to this, Barry?

It's £360.

£360.

Do you know what?

I reckon to take it all
to a leather upholsterer

and get it all recovered,

it would have been another
£1,000 on top of that.

I really appreciate it, and I've really
enjoyed being part of the process.

Thanks, Barry.

The leather's looking good,

and my wallet breathes a sigh of relief,
but underneath the Z1 is a very complex car.

You can see the shape of this
has actually been specially designed

with the aerodynamics of the
car, all very cutting edge in its day.

And there's a very nasty surprise in store.

It's going to make it pricey.

This is our Canary Yellow Z1.

It's a shocker.

You don't like the yellow?

No, I've got bumblebees and flies
chasing me everywhere in this car.

Ed strip the body for a colour change.

Interestingly, inside is red,

which would suggest this is
the original colour of the car.

That's far better than
the old yellow there.

Now he needs to tackle
the major mechanical fault.

Every time I change gear,

take my foot off the clutch, it goes quiet.

Then when I lift my foot
back off, it goes noisy again.

Now that is your clutch release bearing.

Now, you can hear that this
straight six has a wonderful

noise about it, but if I
take my foot off the clutch...

You can hear there is this kind of whining,

and that's telltale sign
that the clutch release

bearing actually
kind of starting to fail.

So I'm going to have to change it.

The good news is that even though
you can't actually buy it individually,

you can buy it as part of a
clutch kit for just over £100,

which is quite a bargain.

The really bad news is
it's a nightmare to get to.

The clutch release bearing may be small,

but it's a vital link between
the engine and the gearbox.

If it fails, the clutch will
stop working completely.

Let's have a look under here.

We've got our engine there.

Obviously, we've got the gearbox here.

We've got the bell housing.

Somewhere inside
there will be our flywheel,

the clutch assembly and, of
course, our release bearing.

But to get to it, or to get it out,

we're going to need to remove that gearbox.

But on the back of that, normally
you'd expect to see a prop shelf.

There's actually a torque tube.

There's a big load of metal

that goes all the way to the
back to the rear differential.

That's also got to come
out along with the exhaust.

It's going to be a proper mission.

First off is the exhaust.

Freeing off the nuts is easy.

Tackling the corrosion a lot more complex.

We've disconnected our couplings here.

So the only thing holding
the exhaust back box

in place are these
little hangers either side.

But you can see there's something
quite critically wrong with our back box.

You can see all this welding and
kind of rusty bits all over the place.

In fact, the whole of the
underside here is just a

big, nasty patchwork quilt
of repair on top of repair.

Now, if it's that bad on the outside,

you can imagine it's going to be
pretty terrible on the inside, too,

and that can actually affect the flow
of the exhaust gases coming through.

It's also going to affect
the sound of the exhaust,

so it really is going
to have to be replaced.

But I bet you it's not going
to be cheap because you can

see the shape of this has
actually been specially designed

to actually help with the aerodynamics of
the car, all very cutting edge in its day.

But as I say, that's
going to make it pricey.

This could make an
unexpected dent in our profit.

Now, going by a quick search on the web,

it would seem the best price

I'm going to get for a genuine
BMW part of our exhaust system.

Just the back box is over £1,000.

Maybe I could get a custom-made one

and still save money.

This is going to be tough.

It's an issue I need to
resolve cost-effectively,

but now I've got rid
of the rotten exhaust,

I've got good access
to unbolt the gearbox.

I'll need the hydraulic Jack and
Phil's help to support the 100kg weight.

So we're just getting a crack forming there

between the bell housing and the engine,

so I'm just going to
slightly rise it apart.

Really careful here.

There we go, so we've
now got a bit of freedom.

Hopefully we can push it back slightly.

But the whole assembly
doesn't want to move.

Something is still caught.

We're just trying to
free off the gear stick.

There's not a lot of room under here,

so we can't really do it until now.

What we need to do is just make
sure the selector disconnects.

From the rest of the assembly.

It's very tight.

But with some careful jiggling,

we're there.

There we go, now we're completely clear.

Just keep going down.

Look at that.

That's a big chunk
of engineering, isn't it?

Look at that.

It took a lot longer
to get out than I was

imagining, but we have
our gearbox or transmission.

We've got the torque tube inside there.

This is the outer tube that kind
of holds everything together.

We've got our differential at the back.

And the reason it's been such a pain,

of course, I've had to
take the whole thing out

in one bit because
it's all bolted together,

and all of that just to get
our little release bearing out.

The way to confirm that the clutch release
bearing has gone is to listen to it.

You can hear ours.

Really doesn't sound very good.

Those bearings sound a bit
more square than round, to be sure.

Well, this is our brand
new clutch release bearing.

Interestingly, it's made out
of a kind of plastic composite

rather than steel, but the
main thing I'm interested in is,

do the bearings make any noise?

Absolutely not.

They're brand new and
perfectly silent, which is wonderful.

Replacing the bearing would
cost over £900 at a dealership.

As I do the work, of course, I'm
fitting a completely new clutch, too.

Always a good policy when
the gearbox is out of any car.

It's a precise and time-consuming business.

OK, we'll get a bit more.

Oh, that's nice.

But that is why I only change
a clutch every once in a while.

With the new clutch kit in,

I can bolt back all the parts
I removed for better access,

including the new exhaust,

which I've had made by a
specialist company for £650.

Now, that sounds a lot,

but it's much cheaper
than a genuine BMW part.

Now, what's really clever about this car

is it actually designed the
underside panels and the rear box

to actually be part of the
aerodynamics of the car,

which is why it's quite important
that our replacement exhaust,

our back box, has also got that aero shape.

It looks good.

I'm hoping it'll help
boost performance, too.

Now, the best way to test
our new clutch release bearing

and clutch is to drive it, so
that is what I'm going to do.

Now, having this car stripped down,

it's a fantastic once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity for me,

so I couldn't resist having
a bit of a drive around

as a local private road to my
wonderful back-to-basics Z1,

body panels off, doors
down, wind in my hair.

It's fantastic.

Oh, lovely.

Now, I've been going through the gears,

and I can no longer hear any horrible noise

coming from our release
bearing, which is wonderful.

The clutch has got a lovely action thanks
to those new parts, so that's fantastic.

But also, oh, that exhaust
note sounds wonderful.

This has been a very, very successful fix.

Hey, how you doing, sir?

Are you all right?

What brings you here?

I've got a present for you.

Oh, okay.

Look at that, you've had
our Z1 seats reupholstered.

That's great.

You would think so, wouldn't you?

No, actually, Ed, I've had them dyed.

That is amazing.

It's good, isn't it?

Look, I've had it all done as well.

That's the gearshift gator,
and if you think that's a new one,

actually, look, it's the
original yellow one.

That is amazing.

That's a really cool process.

Hey, £360 to do the whole
lot, which was really cheap,

and I reckon that's up the
profit potential of our Z1.

Well, that is a great
deal and a great process.

So, well done, sir.

And also, quite good timing,

because unfortunately, we
have a bit of an unexpected bill.

Really?

Yeah, the rear box on our
exhaust system had to be replaced.

How much?

£650.

Oh, Ed, you're kidding me.

Come on, I go and save us money,

and you go and spend it.

What's going on?

I'm sorry, but it did have to be replaced.

It was in a terrible state, so
you can stop me moaning,

but the good thing is the rest of the
work on the BMW is going really well.

Come have a look.

£650 for an exhaust.

Oh, Ed, that is awesome.

Look at it, stripped down.

You can see the inner workings of the Z1,

the complicated door
mechanism, the suspension,

everything is brilliant.

It is very Mad Max,

and the really interesting thing
is, as I was stripping down the Z1,

I found loads of evidence to suggest
the original paint was actually red.

Really?

That is interesting, because we
need to decide on a colour for this car,

and red was one of the
most popular-selling colours.

Why don't we paint it red?

Do you think that's a plan?

That's a good plan.

Indisputably, the coolest feature
of the Z1 has got to be the doors.

The way the windows go into the doors
and the doors go into the body of the car,

it's all very cool, but
what's not quite so cool

is the way that our door is quite
juddery going back up into position.

And perhaps even worse than that,

you've actually got the door
panel and the side panel.

There's no consistency about
how they align when the door comes

up into position, so I really
do need to investigate this.

The drop-down doors came in
for a lot of stick on launch in 1988.

Some loved them, others
said they actually made

getting in and out of
the sports car harder.

But I'm a fan.

Let's have a little look at this mechanism.

I can see straight away
there are two motors here,

and that looks like it's
operating on the door.

And this other motor here,

you can see there's some teeth on
a kind of a little arc just inside there.

I reckon that is actually
operating the window,

so let's have a little look.

You can see it kind
of lowers the window at

the same time as
actually moving the door.

You can see this is spinning
at the same speed as the door.

That's definitely the door,
and then that's the window.

So it's quite a complicated mechanism,

but of course this is also
actually winding onto a pulley,

and there'll be a rubber
belt or something inside

there, but also what's
controlling all of this,

there's going to be some microswitches
deep inside there somewhere as well.

So we've got microswitches,
we've got motors, we've got belts.

It could be any one of
these which is at fault.

The new motor is about £100.

Who knows how much the microswitches are,

so I'm hoping for a cheaper fix.

I've had a really good look around,

and the motors look in order, as do all
their connections to the various mechanisms.

I can't even see the microswitches,

but obviously we know that the door
works in principle, so they must be fine.

Well, something I have noticed,
which I'm sure isn't the way it should be,

and that is the belt that actually
drives the door up and down.

It's way too slack, or at
least it seems that way.

Luckily for me, a complete
Z1 manual is on the web.

Here we've got a picture of the
belt mechanism with all the pulleys.

Now, it turns out that that belt
has to be at a certain tension,

and it even has a little
hook on the bottom,

so you can actually pull
the right amount of tension,

but we're looking for a
pull of about 20kg, or 44lbs.

So all I have to do now is
work out exactly how to create

that tension, and then
hopefully I can adjust the doors,

and maybe, just maybe,
they might actually work again.

I don't have any 20kg weights to hand,
but I do have a tap and a water container,

and after a bit of fiddling,
I get it exactly right.

Bang on.

This is my 20kg weight.

You can see I've already rigged up a wire

that's threaded through the
bottom of the adjuster there,

so I'll just hook that in place.

So there we go, so we've now
got 20kg of load on the bottom

of our adjuster, so if I now
undo it with the spanner,

what's going to happen is it's
going to pull down, tension the belt.

That's it.

So now, tension the belt, and you can
see straight away that's so much better.

You can now do it up,

and with any luck, that should now work.

I've done the belt adjustment,

but there could still be a problem
with the motors or the microswitches.

I'm keen to find out if my door runs
smoothly and whether it aligns consistently.

So having sorted out
the tension of our doors,

let's hope everything works.

Well, down was always quite reasonable.

Well, look at that.

That is fantastic. It's so smooth.

And the cool thing is, ideally,

we should do the same thing
again and again and again.

If it does so, it means those panels,

they're going to line up
perfectly every single time.

And it looks to me as if that is job done.

So the doors work perfectly,

but this Z1 is far from
the finished article.

There are still plenty
of details to resolve.

If you put the two pieces together, you can
see very clearly there's actually a hole.

And there's the body to refit,

taking the beamer back to original red.

Now with all the other panels on, I
want to make sure that this still works

and there's no kind of scraping
of that lovely fresh paint.

But will our colour change
bring us to Big Buck's inner sail?

Our mission to take
our one-off yellow

BMW Z1 back to
original spec is going well.

Oh, lovely.

Ed sorted the noisy release bearing.

I've been going through the gears and
I can no longer hear any horrible noise.

This has been a very, very successful fix.

And the awful yellow seats
have been transformed.

Actually, Ed, I've had them died.

That is amazing.

Good, isn't it?

I'm saving money.

£360 to do the whole lot,
which was really cheap,

and I reckon that's up the
profit potential of our Z1.

And Ed's spending it.

The rear box on our exhaust
system had to be replaced.

How much? £650.

Oh, Ed, you're kidding me.

So to make amends,
Ed's tackling the interior

and a job where he can do a
clever fix and save some cash.

Now, it's about time I had a go
at fixing the broken indicator stalk.

But to get access to
the other half of this,

I need to take off the steering
wheel and the boss behind it.

Always remember to disconnect the
battery before you do anything like this,

and never remove a steering
wheel if it houses an airbag.

I'm persuading the end of the
indicator stalk out with a pop rivet.

So I've managed to
extract the other little bit

of metal from inside of
our indicator mechanism.

If you put the two pieces
together, you can see very clearly.

there's actually a hole made at the factory
to make this into a sacrificial part.

The idea being that
should you get into the car

and accidentally knock this
little stick with your leg, perhaps,

it'll actually break off
rather than actually doing

really bad damage inside the
mechanism, inside the column.

What it means is when I weld it together,

I need to make sure
that I maintain that hole.

Now, the trick is to get just
enough penetration with the weld

to make the joint strong
enough to do its job,

but at the same time,
got to keep it weak enough

that actually it can break in
the future if it needs to as well.

When I'm happy it's finished, I
grind the excess off with a soft pad.

OK, so our repair is nice and strong.

So the last thing I
need to do is just thread

a little bit of heat shrink
over our indicator stalk

and then the idea is once I've cut it
to length and actually shrunk it down,

it's going to look pretty
much as good as new.

You can buy heat shrink very cheaply
from any motor or electronic supply store.

Apply 90 degrees of heat and it
shrinks back to form a lovely clean seal.

A top tip is to always
ensure your driving wheels

are pointing straight ahead when
you put the steering wheel back on

as a wonky wheel is a real
distraction when you're driving.

Now, repairing our existing indicator stalk

means it no longer has to drive
along making strange hand signals

but better than that,
it's also saved us £180,

which is what a replacement
would have cost us.

Happy days.

Aha!

Now, our Z1 panels have been painted.

They should be in the Van
right now, so let's have a look.

Oh, look at that.
That is a proper transformation.

Wow.

This is the door panel.

That is quite stunning.

Now, the colour is called Toprot.

It's actually German for top red and it's
not exactly cheap at £3,500 for all this

but, of course, it is a
special, flexible paint

and it's going to make all
the difference on the car.

It's going to be one of those
features that actually helps sell it.

It's going to be wonderful. Look at that.

Now, obviously, I want to get the
shut lines on all these panels just so

but, actually, it's quite tricky because
you see these little tangs here and here

and they just slide into these
kind of little rubber cotton reels

and the problem is,
once they're in, they're in.

There really isn't very
much movement at all

but, at the moment, it looks like
everything's going to line up nicely

so, hopefully, we'll be OK.

It's a complete Jigsaw puzzle

and I'm taking my time to make sure I
don't damage any panels while fitting.

I've replaced all of the seals
and many of the visible fixings, too,

to give this renovation
a high-quality feel.

Now, I already know that the door works.

I'm a bit concerned now that,
with all the other panels in place,

there may be some paint scraping
if everything isn't perfectly aligned

so I'm here, really, just to pry things
apart should everything horrible happen.

And it's looking fantastic. Result.

Well, now the seats are
bolted back in, this interior

is finished and that lovely
dyed leather on the seats,

the gator for the gearstick
and the handbrake

make this interior look
so much more classy.

Now, I've always loved the Z1.

When it turned up, it
was in a bit of a sorrow

but now we've transformed
the exterior and under the skin,

this is now a car with
a very bright future.

Ed, how are you, son? You all right?

I'm good, sir, I'm good.

Wow, look at the Z1.

I'll be honest with you, when I
bought this car, I didn't really like it.

I don't like yellow cars but it's
amazing what a lick of red paint can do.

Well done.

It really is fantastic.

This colour really helps accentuate
those rakish lines of this one-off design.

It's fab, really.

Looks like a great job as well.

It looks new, this car.

You've done a great job.

Do you know what, I can see a
big profit on the horizon for this one.

I'm really happy with it too.

I think actually the
recolouring of that

interior you did is
just really rather lovely.

It makes all the difference.

It's a very clever thing to do
but also, because we've done all

the mechanical stuff, I'm now
more than happy this is 100% ready.

You're happy?

I'm excited because this is the kind of car

that you have to go out for a
drive when the sun is shining.

This is a car we can
truly be proud of saving.

A revolutionary roadster with
great looks and fine handling.

I had to travel far to
find a car with potential.

No surprise, I've had to hop across the
channel to come and track down a cheap Z1.

Looking beyond the horrible
paintwork, I saw a Z1 with a future.

When they drive as well as this one,

I think you just have to throw your
money in the ring and go for the gamble.

Ed loved it.

Oh, you beauty!

But costly problems appeared.

So it really is going
to have to be replaced.

But I bet you it's not going to be cheap.

I managed to overhaul the
interior with a clever solution.

That's $360.

Thanks, Barry.

And when the bodywork
came back from the paint shop,

it's going to be one of those
features that actually helps sell it.

We knew we had a car
capable of earning big bucks.

We bought the cheapest Z1 in Europe and
the biggest cost was that shiny paintwork.

The interior was great value,

but the exhaust and clutch
work ate into the budget.

In total, we spent just over £19,000.

What do you think, Ed?

What a cracking bit of
road to bring a little car to.

Certainly a fantastic place to
put the Z1 through its paces.

It's awesome.

This is BG Head Road.

A twisty little bit of switchback

that's high above those iconic
white cliffs of southern England.

It's one of my favourite
places in the world

to bring a little two-seater sports
car to put it through its paces.

Now, these curvy roads are really a
fantastic way of testing our beamer.

What's lovely to hear is
there's no horrible noise

because I managed to fix that
dodgy old clutch release bearing,

which is great.
How does a new clutch feel, Ed?

It feels actually clean and crisp.

And do you know what the other thing is?

I know I'll give you a hard time over the
price of the replacement exhaust system.

It was so worth it because just
listen to that exhaust, though.

It definitely feels peppier.

It feels more like it's got
that 170 brake horsepower

it would have had
when it left the factory.

You know what? The top speed
of 137 miles an hour and 0 to


seems perfectly achievable now.

Nice.

The biggest thing
for me, perhaps, was

actually giving the Z1
back its raison d'etre.

That's French, Ed.

This is a German car.

Yeah, yeah, but you know what I mean.

I wanted to make sure that this one-off
door design was actually working 100%.

And look at that.
That action is now so smooth.

It's great, isn't it?

And do you know what?

I never tire of that.

It's so cool, isn't it?

And once the door's
down, you get this feeling

of being totally exposed
and at one with the road.

I doubt we'll ever see a
car made like this again.

It's totally unique.

I think you're probably
right, but I have to say.

it's pretty much indisputable
this car is Wunderbar.

But what about our resale price?

Have we actually added thousands of pounds.

for the work that we've done?

Well, it's summer.

It's a good time to sell a car.

BMW Z1s are really rare,

so I'm going to ask £25,000 for it,

which is about £1,500.

Why Euros?

Well, I bought the car
in continental Europe,

and I reckon somebody
might be willing to travel

just over the water
here, across the channel,

to come and buy this car.

I don't want to keep the market for
this car open as wide as possible.

Well, that is a good plan,
and if you can hold out for

that money, that will be a
real result. Why don't we?

I advertised our Beamer
European-wide for £25,000.

I had an amazing amount of
calls on the car, but, actually,

it was an Englishman who
was first on the phone, Stuart.

Now, I reckon this car's worth every penny,

so I'm going to play
hardball with this one.

Let's see how I get on.

So then, Stu, do you like it?

Oh, I love it, Mike.

The seats, the doors,
the colour, beautiful.

They are a cracking car.

You look like you want to own it.

Oh, I do.

Good.

Well, you know the price.

I want £25,000 for it.

I'll say £24,000.

I just can't do that.

I'll tell you from why, Stu,
because you're the first person here

of a very long list of people that are
desperate to come and see this car,

and I feel pretty confident
I'm going to get £25,000 for it.

So you're going to have
to do better than that.

Meet in the middle.

It's only four and a half.

That is tempting.

I'm going to be honest with you.

I feel like I'm just
saying goodbye to £500,

and I don't need to.

I'm not going to budge.

I'm not going to budge.

I don't want to lose it.

Yes? Top work.

Just bought yourself a cracking Z1.

Awesome.

The sun's out, and this is the perfect
car for Stuart to enjoy the summer in.

Me and Ed, well, we'll enjoy
the nearly six grand profit.

If I could do a deal like that every day,

I'd be a very happy man.

If you want to see more iconic cars
being turned around by me and Ed,

join us again soon on Wheel of Dealers.

Salah.