2006 Z4M Roadster with 80 something on the clock, came from a F13 640i coupe so a completely different genre of car. Had a Z4 2 litre before in 2018 and swore I'd come back and get myself a Z4M as a keeper for life. For the price I believe they are seriously undervalued compared to E46 M3's. I would like to make the car ideal for road tripping Europe but also capable of lapping the Nurburgring. Anyway here are some snaps:
First modification was a custom 3” valved exhaust setup with a butterfly valve made by myself and a friend. Left side is for dailying, right side has an F80 M3 butterfly valve for ‘sporty’ drives and really creates the split personality and removes drone making it almost stock like on motorway stints. Uses the right pipe as a resonator when valve closed, overall extremely happy and the X-pipe gives an awesome howl.
Wired a membrane switch into the dash opposite the OEM sport button so looks discreet and can easily switch between the modes. Each to their own but I ditched the quad pipes as I think hey look too small. Also. What a PITA the underside of these are for access!
Next up was removing the mushy gear knob 'slop' and making it more of a tactile experience with a positive engagement of gears. I dislike the standard illuminated M-knob and it was a little tatty so removed it and swapped in the CAE style shifter which I had laying in the garage unused. This bolts directly to the transmission tunnel metalwork and the linkage replaces the existing, resulting in a very firm knob (no puns please) with about 2mm of wiggle in neutral. It is definitely a controversial one this but I really like it so I have recently re-trimmed all the inferior panels just need to re-fit them but here is the 'as is' status until then:
The M Gauges are cool but they were the same as every other Z4M so I had to change them up, got some custom yellow gauge faces and had the fun and games of stripping the cluster and rebuilding. Actually one of my favourite mods as it makes the car feel special every time I drive it and is unique, I have a yellow accent theme rolling as it is in line with the long term plan for Zoe (That's what she's named). Gauges:
I recently fitted spacers to the car is sitting in the arches much more proportional that prior. All road legal for for MOT as tyre is within arch but it is mm perfect without getting myself in trouble. The front spacing is perfect width, the car was still on jack stands so the loading isn't correct -more on that shortly The rear spacing is near enough perfect but don't think I will roll the arches unless I go to 19's. The wheels are in desperate need of a refurb and acid wash but I want to swap them out to 8.5J front 9.5J rear so won't be investing in them. Anyway here are the spaced photos:
BC Racing RM series coilovers with adjustable top mounts are arriving in May and will be fitted plus corner weighting alignment to set up the geometry correctly and add some additional camber from factory. I cannot wait to remove the stock suspension replace with a proper set of coilovers as I think it will transform the ride. Fingers crossed
Other small mods not worth photographing:
- Yellow seatbelts were installed as I like the colour yellow if you couldn't tell
- Fitted factory wind diffuser, what a PITA removing roll over hoop covers is!
- Painted V-Bar behind kidney grills as it was flaking
- BC Coilovers as mentioned
- M Performance big brake kit or K-Sport 8 piston callipers with floating discs..
- Polybush underside of car
- Vibratechnics engine mounts
- Wheels have to go, anybody want 224M wheels to or px swap let me know
- Rear diff rebuild or maybe change from 3.62 to 4.10
- Roll cage & Bucket seats +Harnesses
- Engine rebuild
- Under body restoration & Re-Paint