E86 Z4M DIY - Must read for all Mcoupe owners

[Andy1GP]

So for reasons to protect my motorplan I decided to not make anything public until I knew for sure that I will keep the car out of motorplan.

So at long last I can start on my DIY thread on this awesome car

As some of you should know I bought the car form another fanatic and I was over the moon with this particular example.

I flew down to cape town and picked up the beaut.











After verbally confirming over the phone I went ahead and purchased goodies for the car 2 weeks prior to actually buying the car.



Lots of elbow grease to get these pretties into tip top shape.









The morning we started the journey back.



After the long road trip she was safely at home.





And the very next day the mods started Motorplan friendly ofcourse!













More storyline and pics to follow...

 

[Andy1GP]

I also acquired another midsection (decat) as well as AFE intake (sold now).

With the help of another Fanatic we swapped out the midsection.



The old ugly one is the original that I now have back in the car. (modified of course)

The pretty shiney one is the decat one that is currently for sale.







Before I forget I also made some really good friends at the same time I acquired the car.









Peertjies bought himself a stunning example of an E46M3. And then I also met Rommies for the first time.







I had to borrow some wheels while I was looking for new rear tyres.

Personally I'm not a fan of them on the car but took pics nonetheless.









more to follow...

 

[Andy1GP]

Then the obvious had to follow.

CDV delete.

















And since I did not have software on the car I had to fit cat foolers and clear errors to get the most of the decat.







Installed into the O2 sensors



Soon I found my replacement tyres. Toyo Proxes T1 Sport. And I am very well pleased with them.



The car also came fitted with a complete Rockford Fosgate retrofit. And in the passenger door there was a slight rattle. The rattle had to go.





Then we had an M hookup









More to follow...

 

[Andy1GP]

Finding things to do...

The Steering wheel trim wasn't looking it's best.









Plasti dip was the Rave but I decided to go against it. I ended up going matt black and satin black on the different trimms. To mix things up a bit.

















I have lots of pics where I stripped the interior removing the Fosgate goodies. Sorry Gav not for sale So I won't post them. I merely have them for when I'm going to do the re-install one day when I feel like it.





Some snaps at my moms old place









At this point I discovered that the S54 in this car does not come fitted with a viscous fan.

 

[Andy1GP]

First trip to the south coast. What a blast!









BMW LEO HAESE conveniently broke my cup holder so I had to fix their stuff up.



Then I had a soft single layer material sheet made to act as a cover. Since She only drives twice a month and we all know keeping a black car is a PITA



Itching to do something else I discovered this little devil



It also needed to go







What can only be described as an inertial seperator to prevent water and FOD entering the airbox.







Some pretty M goodies



Cleaned the vanos filter









Let's see how fat this lightweight is





Time to shed some weight

 

[Andy1GP]

LoL no seriously I wanted to clean the carpets and was to lazy to fit the seat back :fencelook:





Turns out these particular seats weigh 27kg each

I also did some CF Vinyl wrap on the sideskirts near the rear wheel well. As well as the front splitters on the bumper. (no pics)





Test fitting the Style 220's





I removed the Elec fan since it was easy, so I can clean the radiator. I had free time











The aircon belt was perished and BMW neglected to replace it. So I removed it for them.



Another pic of the Elec fan just to show it's sheer size





The new Semis R2700 each.

 

[Andy1GP]

I still experienced gear grinding and ended up resorting to this. Honestly I did not expect this to be a solution but low and behold it made a miraculous improvement.

For now I only installed the engine mounts. I want to experience and document improvements made by each individually. In case the NVH becomes to harsh I can resort to only having the engine mounts.





OEM engine mounts











Anti seize copper slip applied

 

[Andy1GP]

And lastly I have finally been able to take my car in to Peter for some TLC. Vanos seals, rattle kit, shimms and oil pump disc drilling.





On this matter I will take more pics and a more detailed description. The work and effort involved is noteworthy. And anyone that has an S54 whether it be M3 or Z4M needs to have this done. No excuse.

The car will be better off and the proof will be in the pudding. I shall take pics and vids as evidence

I've made most of my commentary short and sweet, but mostly for just having this thread up by request. As well as having pics and somewhat of a history and storyline attached to it. All my Z4M diy's will be posted in here as well as any improvements made on it.

Thanks for watching

 

[Andy1GP]

Here's a little video to show why the disc needs to be drilled.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/p8ufcr3mRY4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

The tabs shear off over time as the tolerance inside the disc is just too great. And when the tabs to the vanos no longer has any effect on the cams...

 

[MikeR]

:thumbs::thumbs: Brilliant Andy

 

[Ashlin]

Great recording of events. Well done Andy

 

[Z4MC]

This is an outstanding thread Andy! Keep up the good work. Look forward to seeing more in the future.

 

[Johnny135i]

Awesome thread although I'm not an M-coupe driver!!

Keep it up!!:thumbs::thumbs:

 

[Peter@AEW]

If one looks carefully on the surface of the pump disc one will clearly see the score marks that the hub has made on the disc.
That is sufficient travel for the cam not to advance immediately which in turn causes a momentary dip in torque delivery and also slams the tab in the hole wall.

The constant shock which the tabs undergo is sufficient over time to have them shear off especially if the seals have not been done.

 

[Yulz9081]

Brilliant thread Andy.
Keep up the epic work on such an iconic beauty :thumbs:

 

[Sabretooth tiger]

well-done Andy, you a inspiration to us all

 

[Rayzor]

So awesome, im sure you couldn't wait to create this thread :rollsmile:

 

[Mr H]

Excellent thread!:thumbs:

 

[moranor@axis]

got to see this car in person at Peters place Friday looks and sounds great :rollsmile: I was quite surprised when I saw the semis on...

 

[Shiny]

raise: Thanks