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Sam's Project Clubsport/OEM+

2003 - 2009, roadster, coupe, facelift
HGoward
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Sam's Project Clubsport/OEM+

Post by HGoward » Wed Aug 10, 2022 10:40 am

LemonConnoisseur, Yeah when I went In April got very lucky since it wasn't quite peak season for caravans so you had some long bits of open road with no traffic, and out of the 5 days there was only rain on one day. So I'd say look for April time.

Yeah I know they are pretty much equal price now which is crazy but shows how the M variants are still valued today. I also had my car mates trying to get me to get a e92 M3 but I can't quite justify the maintenance costs that come with a full blown M car.
Sapphire Black E86 LN56 ZKJ Purchased Jan 2021 - Sold June 2022
Bilstein B12 Pro Kit
Eisenmann Quad Exhaust
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LemonConnoisseur
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Sam's Project Clubsport/OEM+

Post by LemonConnoisseur » Wed Aug 10, 2022 4:55 pm

HGoward wrote: Wed Aug 10, 2022 10:40 am LemonConnoisseur, Yeah when I went In April got very lucky since it wasn't quite peak season for caravans so you had some long bits of open road with no traffic, and out of the 5 days there was only rain on one day. So I'd say look for April time.

Yeah I know they are pretty much equal price now which is crazy but shows how the M variants are still valued today. I also had my car mates trying to get me to get a e92 M3 but I can't quite justify the maintenance costs that come with a full blown M car.
Cheers for the tip! It's definitely on the lsit.

An E92 M3 would be awesome too, different beast though. A lot more power, but a lot more weight too.
I'd agree with the running costs of M cars, but then the older ones don't really depreciate anymore, so it probably offsets itself.

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Post by LemonConnoisseur » Wed Aug 10, 2022 5:22 pm

Last part of the update!

Forgot to mention in the last one, I found the source of the "clunk" when changing gear - rear diff bush has some movement, so that will be replaced with a Powerflex jobby at some point, when I get round to the rear end (oooh matron!).

Here's a better picture from the Welsh mountains...
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Now on the Monday we were due to return from Shropshire, I had booked onto a last minute track evening at Brands Hatch. It was £89 with Opentrack as it was a bike evening that they couldn't fill.
I've always wanted to do Brands, as I've been there a few times to watch racing, but couldn't justify the £160 evening session costs that they typically charge.

So a 4 hour journey, followed by a quick pitstop at home to grab a few tools, led me on another 1 hour jaunt down the M11 and M25 to the track.
Got there in plenty of time, so just wandered around having a look at the other cars and watching the last couple of sessions of the bike day that was preceding the car evening.

I booked onto this with the car in it's current form, because I wanted to know where the weak points are before going down the rabbit hole of modifying :fuelfire:

The car performed faultlessly for the 3 sessions that I did, with the only real issue being the brakes. They're standard pads and discs, so work fine on the road (just), but on track they just can't cope with the heat. I think changing the fluid paid off, but maybe braided hoses are needed if the pads don't fix the long term performance.
The staggered wheel set-up also didn't really help with understeer. I've got the Z4M Front ARB fitted, and on the road you don't really notice any understeer, but when pushed nearer the limit, it is definitely present.
Stickier tyres are in the garden, and once my new wheels arrive, it should help with that weak point a little bit :)

There was some very fast machinery there, but it was definitely a way to get the adrenaline pumping again after about 2 years with no track time. If anyone wants to watch it going round at a reasonably sedate pace, here's the video :rofl:


A few pictures too, as they come included for free with Opentrack :D
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Returned home with no issues, other than getting through about half of the brake pads.


Last weekend I got round to removing the rear bumper and Eisenmann exhaust - all went to plan other than when I was lowering the car down with the new bumper, and the jack dropped suddenly and punched the handle through the bottom of my new bumper, brilliant.
To be honest, it's in pretty poor condition, so will need painting anyway. When I do get round to this I'll ask them to repair the hole too.
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A little care package also arrived, which gives an idea of the next course of action with the car.
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This large box contains:

- Brake discs (front and rear)
- Outer track rod ends
- 4 new wheel bearings
- 4 rear control arm bushes (they're all ball joints so you can replace the upper/lower bushes with them, instead of the bottom bush being rubber)
- rocker cover gasket
- CCV kit
- Eccentric shaft sensor and new gasket - I have a slightly fluttering idle, so I'm hoping this will rectify that. There's also no evidence of it being done, so worth doing from a preventative perspective anyway.

Now we are up to date, just need to find the budget for some new pads.
I plan to do Snetterton in September, and fancy trying out the EBC RP-1 pads. If anyone has experience with them, your opinion would be greatly appreciated :)

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Mr Tidy
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Post by Mr Tidy » Wed Aug 10, 2022 11:50 pm

Great update Sam and I enjoyed the video - good to see you finally got passed the Blue Leon! But those Caterhams are just ballistic.

Back in the 90s I did several track days at Brands and always enjoyed them, especially the one time it was on the full GP circuit! Even passed my ARDS test there but then Mrs Tidy came on the scene so my racing plans didn't get any further. :(
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Post by Joycey » Thu Aug 11, 2022 6:39 am

Great read keep the content coming. I'm on Brands again later this month been there way too many times this year. Will be 8 zeds playing the evening on the 24th.
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Post by LemonConnoisseur » Thu Aug 11, 2022 9:12 am

Mr Tidy wrote: Wed Aug 10, 2022 11:50 pm Great update Sam and I enjoyed the video - good to see you finally got passed the Blue Leon! But those Caterhams are just ballistic.

Back in the 90s I did several track days at Brands and always enjoyed them, especially the one time it was on the full GP circuit! Even passed my ARDS test there but then Mrs Tidy came on the scene so my racing plans didn't get any further. :(
Thanks Mr Tidy! Yes, the blue ST was a slight annoyance as I wasn't quick enough to overtake him on the straight, but I think he was relatively new. The Caterhams are extremely quick, but because they're so fast, they were overtaking in some pretty terrible spots on occasion.

The GP circuit is meant to be something else, but at £485 for a day, I shall be giving it a miss :rofl: Sad to hear that your racing career was cut short though!

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Post by LemonConnoisseur » Thu Aug 11, 2022 9:13 am

Joycey wrote: Thu Aug 11, 2022 6:39 am Great read keep the content coming. I'm on Brands again later this month been there way too many times this year. Will be 8 zeds playing the evening on the 24th.
Thanks mate :) Ah, very nice! Wish I could join, but don't think the car will be in a suitable state by then.

Do you track anywhere else, or just Brands?

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Post by 1536Z4 » Thu Aug 11, 2022 9:45 am

LemonConnoisseur wrote: Wed Aug 10, 2022 5:22 pm and once my new wheels arrive
Another interesting update :thumbsup: Looking forward to seeing the new wheels but probably not as much as you are :)
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Post by LemonConnoisseur » Thu Aug 11, 2022 10:38 am

1536Z4 wrote: Thu Aug 11, 2022 9:45 am Another interesting update :thumbsup: Looking forward to seeing the new wheels but probably not as much as you are :)
Yeah I'm hoping they'll suit! Also, keen to see whether they fit :roll:

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Post by Joycey » Thu Aug 18, 2022 12:35 pm

LemonConnoisseur wrote: Thu Aug 11, 2022 9:13 am
Joycey wrote: Thu Aug 11, 2022 6:39 am Great read keep the content coming. I'm on Brands again later this month been there way too many times this year. Will be 8 zeds playing the evening on the 24th.
Thanks mate :) Ah, very nice! Wish I could join, but don't think the car will be in a suitable state by then.

Do you track anywhere else, or just Brands?
Yeah I do most tracks around the UK with the occasional trip to the Ring or Spa. I've had quite a few friends wanting to do track days for the first time, Brands is a nice track for beginners to learn on so often go there. :driving:
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Post by Joycey » Thu Aug 18, 2022 12:38 pm

If your after a brake upgrade this kit is cracking value for money, I've been running this Brembo setup for a couple of weeks now looking forward to seeing how it performs on the track over my previous setup.

£760
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Post by LemonConnoisseur » Fri Aug 19, 2022 9:55 am

Joycey wrote: Thu Aug 11, 2022 6:39 am Yeah I do most tracks around the UK with the occasional trip to the Ring or Spa. I've had quite a few friends wanting to do track days for the first time, Brands is a nice track for beginners to learn on so often go there. :driving:

If your after a brake upgrade this kit is cracking value for money, I've been running this Brembo setup for a couple of weeks now looking forward to seeing how it performs on the track over my previous setup.

£760
Ah very nice. Love the ring, haven't been for a couple of years though.
Interesting you say Brands is beginner friendly, I'd say the opposite :rofl: Paddock and Clearways are 2 corners you could get it wrong big time.
Good fun though, don't get me wrong!

I have seen the k-system setups to be fair, and I have a set of Meg RS Mk3 calipers in the shed that I need to refurb... At the moment though, I think they're a bit too rich for my blood. Given the weight of the car, I'm hoping some more aggressive pads will cope with the heat better, and should be fine for the occasional track day until I decide 4 pots are necessary.

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Post by LemonConnoisseur » Fri Aug 19, 2022 10:02 am

In other news, I have a new backbox :)

This was made up by a local motorsport place, DT Motorsport Engineering. When I first saw it, I questioned the fitment because it was unlike anything I'd seen on a Zed before. Can't tell from this picture, but the tips stick out from the rear bumper about 2 inches.
Given time, however, I've actually grown to like it because of how different it is :) Sounds awesome too, deeper and louder than the Eisenmann.
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Also, a long awaited package arrived yesterday... My wheels!
First impressions, I'm very happy. These are a wheel of choice on E36s at the Nurburgring because they're TUV approved and lightweight - 9kg per wheel :D 17x9 ET30, so an aggressive fitment for the Zed. It might require me to purchase adjustable top mounts to get some more camber out of the front, but need to find somewhere that will fit my tyres to them first. Annoyingly, a lot of places aren't interested in fitting tyres to wheels if they haven't been purchased through that business.

Not seen another set of these fitted to a Z4 in 17s :D
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Mr Tidy
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Post by Mr Tidy » Fri Aug 19, 2022 6:20 pm

Wow - your new wheels look great and I like your custom exhaust too. :thumbsup:

But I'd agree those sizes are aggressive for a Z4 - good luck getting them to fit!

Where are you buying your tyres from? If it's somewhere like Black Circles they have local fitters. If you struggle to find a tyre place who will fit them maybe a wheel refurbishing company would?
Coupes because stunning!
Current - Silver Grey MC, Imola Red heated Nappa & carbon trim. Aeros, H & R Coil-overs, 224s, OE Strut brace, Nav, cup-holders, DSP Hi-Fi, pdc, cruise, MFSW, no CDV! E90 330i daily
Gone - Montego Blue
Gone - Ruby Black

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Post by LemonConnoisseur » Mon Aug 22, 2022 8:28 am

Mr Tidy wrote: Fri Aug 19, 2022 6:20 pm Wow - your new wheels look great and I like your custom exhaust too. :thumbsup:

But I'd agree those sizes are aggressive for a Z4 - good luck getting them to fit!

Where are you buying your tyres from? If it's somewhere like Black Circles they have local fitters. If you struggle to find a tyre place who will fit them maybe a wheel refurbishing company would?
Cheers!

To be fair, I think the wheels will fit with the right alignment, as there are plenty of people I've seen with 17x9 ET30 - I think Wursle on here has some in Apex ARC8 form. :)

Unfortunately I've already got the tyres. There was an offer on where it was £60 per tyre for Accelera 651s, and I bought them there and then because I wanted to see what they're like. Good shout on the wheel refurb company though, I'll do some digging!

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