35i & Z4M

E

enzed4

New member
I had a visit from member BTZ461 and his friend who had just bought an ///M and was preparing to drive it home to Queenstown - a nice near 6 hour drive south. Grabbed the camera, took a few shots and got a bonus drive in his roadster. I was surprised at how 'normal' it was to drive, having never driven an M before and only hearing the online gospel about how harsh/firm they are, or how hard they can be to change gears (first to second?) - I found it an absolute pleasure to drive, so maybe that means my 35i is adjusted too firm on the Bilstein coilovers? Have never really had anything to compare them to except my old 2.5si which was on m-sport suspension.
Anyway, some pics of his newly acquired ride:

35i_Z4M01s.jpg

35i_Z4M02s.jpg

35i_Z4M03s.jpg
 
Nothing harsh about the ride in the ///MR Shane. The Coupe is the one with the harsher ride. :wink: As for the shift I have never had any trouble with mine either. So perhaps some are better than others or perhaps it is just people's expectations. Good hear you enjoyed the ///MR any way. :driving:

We will hopefully get back down there one day, Our lad has bought a house in Miramar, so it could be a while before he heads back to blitey.
 
Looks good Shane - some ///M’s are piss poor between 1/2nd & some have some extra tlc to make it much smoother - plus, with a +12 year old car, it’s likely someone may have already invested in the suspension.

Great to hear first impressions were so good :thumbsup:
 
BTZ461 said:
enuff_zed said:
Wyldie85 said:
Lovely car... although those god awful wing tip things screwed on the boot lid do it no favours whatsoever.
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With you on that! What the hell was the thinking there?
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A C Schnitzer rear wings. Rare as RHS, function over form, and acknowledged as items of style and elegance by the cognescenti. Guess few of you have seen them :wink:
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enuff_zed said:
BTZ461 said:
BTZ461 said:
A C Schnitzer rear wings. Rare as RHS, function over form, and acknowledged as items of style and elegance by the cognescenti. Guess few of you have seen them :wink:
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Nope! Guess we've been lucky up to now :wink:
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enuff_zed said:
BTZ461 said:
BTZ461 said:
A C Schnitzer rear wings. Rare as RHS, function over form, and acknowledged as items of style and elegance by the cognescenti. Guess few of you have seen them :wink:
Click to expand...
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Nope! Guess we've been lucky up to now :wink:
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I like them :-)
 
Interesting OP.

I've found the gear shift quality in my M to be the best of the 8 manual BMWs I've owned. I'm sure I read somewhere that BMW use Getrag boxes, but the Z4M has a ZF, so maybe it's no coincidence!

I've no experience of E85s or E89s but an MC rides and handles much better than a 3.0Si Coupe on M-Sport suspension and run-flats so if your cars had RFs that might be a factor.

But you've gotta love the sound of an S54!
 
Both the Z4M and the 3.0si use the same gearbox,GS6-37BZ/DZ, manufactured by Getrag. Substantially narrower than the ZF transmissions used in M3 E36 and E46. The Z3M and other manual transmissions in the Z 3 series also use a Getrag transmission.
 
Sorry disagree. The ZF is too wide to fit in our cars. Hence the narrower cased Getrag (GS) works in the Z4 3.0si Z4M,
and in the S50 and S54 engined Z3M coupes a five speeder Getrag does the job. Try and fit a ZF from a E46M3 into a Z4 chassis, won't fit. Well it can be made to by chopping out part of the bulk head and transmission tunnel cover. Check the id numbers side by side. Even better, ask a BMW technician, err maybe not. :)
 
Lol,l as googled
The ZF S6-37 is a 6-speed manual transmission manufactured by ZF Friedrichshafen AG. It is designed for longitudinal engine applications, and is rated to handle up to 370 newton metres (273 lbf⋅ft) of torque

E46 M3 is a different gear box as you say due to being to wide for the E85/86 transmission tunnel.
E46 330 is the same ZF as the Z4 in 3.0 and M although different ratios..
:thumbsup:
 
BTZ461 said:
Sorry disagree. The ZF is too wide to fit in our cars. Hence the narrower cased Getrag (GS) works in the Z4 3.0si Z4M,
and in the S50 and S54 engined Z3M coupes a five speeder Getrag does the job. Try and fit a ZF from a E46M3 into a Z4 chassis, won't fit. Well it can be made to by chopping out part of the bulk head and transmission tunnel cover. Check the id numbers side by side. Even better, ask a BMW technician, err maybe not.
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Hi, not trying to be smart, I'm a new guy around here :) But everything I've read over the last day or so has said it's a ZF in the Z4M.
Is that not the case?

Or have I misunderstood?

https://www.bmwcca.org/forum/index.php?threads/z4m-transmission-question.1522/

https://z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13916&start=45

https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/showparts?id=DU93-USA-09-2006-E86-BMW-Z4_M32&diagId=23_0918

https://www.wikizero.com/en/ZF_S6-37_transmission
 
Something else I noticed almost immediately - the 'old school' hydraulic steering was very nice after owning 2 EPS Z4's. Wish BMW had stuck with hydraulic steering for the E85/86/89's. :(
 
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