Private variable are "private" and can not be changed directly from outside that class definition.
Usually private variables can be accessed through getters or setters already present. Or they have to be set indirectly (for example, the internal representation of speed may be in m/s and you have a setter that is in km/h).
In your case you could do this:
public function operation() {
$orgZ=$this->z;
parent::operation();
$this->z=$orgZ;
}