My very first BMW was also the only one that I've ever bought brand-new for myself - the new cars are usually reserved for Mary Ellen. It was in 1997 that I got my beautiful green Z3 2.8 Roadster. When the Z3 was first released in 1996, it came only with a 1.9 liter four-cylinder engine. In 1997 the 2.8 liter inline 6 was announced, and the magazines went nuts over it. I decided that would be just the ticket!
When I was shopping for the car, after doing much research in magazines and on the rudimentary web sites of the time, I showed up at Faulkner BMW with a rolling carry-on suitcase in one hand and a substantial computer case in the other.
Salesman Rob Howry met me at the door, and I introduced myself, pointed to the Z3 and said, "Would you mind opening the trunk?" He did, and the bags fit, and I said, "Great! Now we can talk!"
See, I was previously driving a Mazda Miata, and every time I took a business trip (which I did a lot in those days) I had to strap my suitcase into the passenger seat, because it wouldn't fit in the Miata's tiny trunk.
The way that BMW made the smallish Z3 have such a relatively capacious trunk was a scheme more often seen on pickup trucks: the spare tire is suspended underneath the vehicle in a carrier, and dropped down when needed. BMW's implementation is a masterpiece of over-complicated German engineering, but it works and works well. They even included a fitting that allows you to check the air in the spare without having to remove it from the car.
Of course, in my coupe, that fitting was just one more thing that didn't work. It was dead - "perished," in the evocative term that the British car magazines use when describing junk. For the longest time, I thought it was no longer available, because it didn't appear on the parts diagram for the spare tire carrier system:
But, when I was getting my state inspection renewed at Jack Miller's shop, I mentioned it to Jack and he suggested that we check the diagram for the actual spare tire. There it was! Item 9 on the diagram below:
That was a special order from Faulkner BMW, and when I ordered the parts guy asked if I wanted the washer (#10) and nut (#11) also. I said, "Sure." Reminder to self... always ask the price. That stupid nut was almost 7 bucks! I guess it's because it's a special thread, to match the very fine thread on a Schrader valve - the rubber tire valve you use to put air in the tire. I definitely kept the old one, which was in usable condition.
The procedure to access the spare is so unusual, I thought I'd document it. Here's the view in the trunk, after removing the carpeted floor panel. Tools, and of particular interest, the handle on the cable:
You slide it down the cable, and use the wrench end to release the nut holding the spare carrier in place:
But that's not all - there's another nut, accessible through a removable panel on the passenger side of the car:
You put two tools in the tool kit together to make a deep wrench to remove that buried fastener.
Once both fasteners are loose, you hold the handle so that the cable is tight, and then squeeze a spring clip together to allow the carrier to be lowered by the cable.
Then the plastic tire carrier slides out of the frame, making the spare accessible.
My spare wheel is in pretty rusty condition - another project for another day.
Once the spare is removed from the carrier, it's easy to see the "perished" hose that was originally used to check and replenish the air in the spare.
I replaced it with the new part, and hooked it up to the spare. No way to get that in a picture, but it's a tight fit and your hand has to squeeze between the carrier and the tire, attaching the hose to the spare's Schrader valve by feel.
Once it's all back together, you can see the valve cap on the outside Schrader valve - accessible, but not easy! You have to either put the car on the lift, or become very well acquainted with the ground to get to it. Still, I'm glad to have it there. I hope to do some touring in this car, and making sure the spare has adequate air is part of the prep for the voyage.
One more thing about that spare tire - it's a Continental "donut" spare, size 125/90 R15. Who knows how old mine is. It doesn't look rotten, but it has clearly spent some time on the ground because the tread is worn. A quick online search found sites that listed it, but they were all out of stock. Walmart shows the price as $99. A quick eBay check found them cheaper, and I can probably source one from a junkyard locally. When I get around to refinishing that wheel, maybe I'll get a new tire at the same time.
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