A few bits and pieces and a trip to Spa - New Windscreen

[Mr Tidy]

If you do go for cams it would be interesting to know how much power you gain.

But if you go for a V10 well.....

[Beedub]

Nice to read that you enjoyed Spa. I took my ///MR there in 2011. Fabulous place. Don't tell any one, but I ran out of petrol and had to be towed back to the pits.

Spa was simply fantastic - I have been lucky enough to go there a few times with work in the past so to be able to drive it was real bucket list stuff - can’t wait to get back there…!

Crest Automotive had an offer on a little while ago for Schrick cams, might be worth a call to see if it’s still on. If I ever suffer cam wear/follower flattening I’ll fit some, but given the limited gains for such a hefty outlay, I’m in no rush!

For sure it’s the law of diminishing returns, but I’d love to squeeze just a bit more out of the engine as I know there’s more there to come - I know it’s easier and better hp/£ with super charging, but I want to keep this car N/A for that throttle response and old school feel.

It’s either cams or a V10…..

the blower is just porn.... absolutely no difference to throttle response or power curve.... its literally identical just way higher up the graph , its literally feels like a v10 engine swap. Best thing i ever did to the car , infact best thing ive ever done to any car, but i wouldn't do it again.

[Mikey_Boy]

If you do go for cams it would be interesting to know how much power you gain.

But if you go for a V10 well.....

There’s got to be some threads on here detailing power gains from cams??

[Mikey_Boy]

Beedub - I LOVE the contradiction:

‘Best thing I ever did to a car, in fact, best thing I’ve done to any car, but I wouldn’t do it again’….!

How much power are you making? Do you have a build thread at all? I’m curious….

[Beedub]

Beedub - I LOVE the contradiction:

‘Best thing I ever did to a car, in fact, best thing I’ve done to any car, but I wouldn’t do it again’….!

How much power are you making? Do you have a build thread at all? I’m curious….

love it but.... put short really glad i i did it but....... i look back at the cost and i could have had a new kitchen , lol.

car made 527hp..... very similar build to yours i even went as far as magnesium wheel nuts , its also won a few concours shows too, but i originally built it around the sprint track scene which i really love, the car was competing for a good while, then life took over.

here's a really short crappy tik tok i did.. but next year i promise i will do a proper video of this car, its long over due. it will be in the shop anyway being PPF'd so ill use that as an opportunity to do some proper filming. Its also going through another set of changes as we speak.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rISI95dJcY

[Mikey_Boy]

Super clean…….! That’s a lovely build Beedub - 527hp ain’t to be sniffed at either - that must go extremely well…

[Ed Doe]

I believe TomK has schrick cams and an airbox on his and a map took it to something in the region of 385bhp? I would love to do cams, but have had to prioritise childcare next year for my 10month old!

I don't have anything against supercharging and I do think it's a cracking mod, and I've experienced a centrifugal charger in other cars, but for me I prefer the s54 engine in n/a form - I'd rather do cams than supercharge. Probably just me though

[Mr Tidy]

I believe TomK has schrick cams and an airbox on his and a map took it to something in the region of 385bhp?

Thanks Ed.

I was just curious really - I still haven't reached the point where I'm finding it lacking power in stock form!

[TomK]

Between these plates and the Strut Brace ( doing the same from top ) i'm certain you wont see an issue.... Gt4s have been known to complete break this piece out lol which is bonkers.

The strut brace from the top will do little to nothing to prevent vertical forces from underneath damaging the tower metal.
Gt4 & GT3 suffer a different issue as their strut towers are aluminium, so yeah they fail completely rather than mushrooming. Neither is ideal, but at least you'll have some kind of 'warning' with our steel towers.

It’s either cams or a V10…..

You're missing the correct answer to this problem; a stroked s65

I believe TomK has schrick cams and an airbox on his and a map took it to something in the region of 385bhp?

It's probably something like 370 (numbers came in at 383 but who knows). Imho you're never really going to have enough power, so for me what is more important is how the power I do have is delivered. The cams make the last 1000 rpm even more exciting than stock and of course the airbox adds the (all important) noise (and is the reason why I would never supercharge an S54).

[Ed Doe]

You're missing the correct answer to this problem; a stroked s65

I believe TomK has schrick cams and an airbox on his and a map took it to something in the region of 385bhp?

It's probably something like 370 (numbers came in at 383 but who knows). Imho you're never really going to have enough power, so for me what is more important is how the power I do have is delivered. The cams make the last 1000 rpm even more exciting than stock and of course the airbox adds the (all important) noise (and is the reason why I would never supercharge an S54).

Yeah dyno numbers are never truly reliable unless you hoik the engine out and whack that on an engine dyno, but certainly from the vids of yours I've watched it looks pretty strong!
Absolutely agree with what you've said - airbox is on my eventual list - but for me cams first!

Also a Stroked S65 would be an epic idea - I assume you've seen a chap on youtube called 'jangobipbip' who does a lot of Ring lap videos - he has a Schirmer M3 with a stroked 4.4 S65 - I believe it makes something in the region of 560bhp? Sounds incredible, plus being a v8 it's effectively a shorter block than the S54, so could be mounted further back in the engine bay, potentially improving weight distribution and handling. Sticking an S65 into my Z4M is one definitely of my 'if I won the lottery' projects !

[Mikey_Boy]

You're missing the correct answer to this problem; a stroked s65

I believe TomK has schrick cams and an airbox on his and a map took it to something in the region of 385bhp?

It's probably something like 370 (numbers came in at 383 but who knows). Imho you're never really going to have enough power, so for me what is more important is how the power I do have is delivered. The cams make the last 1000 rpm even more exciting than stock and of course the airbox adds the (all important) noise (and is the reason why I would never supercharge an S54).

Yeah dyno numbers are never truly reliable unless you hoik the engine out and whack that on an engine dyno, but certainly from the vids of yours I've watched it looks pretty strong!
Absolutely agree with what you've said - airbox is on my eventual list - but for me cams first!

Also a Stroked S65 would be an epic idea - I assume you've seen a chap on youtube called 'jangobipbip' who does a lot of Ring lap videos - he has a Schirmer M3 with a stroked 4.4 S65 - I believe it makes something in the region of 560bhp? Sounds incredible, plus being a v8 it's effectively a shorter block than the S54, so could be mounted further back in the engine bay, potentially improving weight distribution and handling. Sticking an S65 into my Z4M is one definitely of my 'if I won the lottery' projects !

I’ve seen some bad engine dynos spurting out garbage in my time…..

Isn’t the S65 a bit tall for a Z4 engine bay? Sounds like an epic conversion if it’s possible… Someone I know is shoehorning one into an E30…

I’m just a sucker for a V10 as a favourite engine noise, but a carbon airbox’d S54 at 8000rpm is a close second - like Tom, my S54 is going to stay NA - wilder cams are an aspiration for sure.

[TomK]

Isn’t the S65 a bit tall for a Z4 engine bay? Sounds like an epic conversion if it’s possible… Someone I know is shoehorning one into an E30…

I’m just a sucker for a V10 as a favourite engine noise, but a carbon airbox’d S54 at 8000rpm is a close second - like Tom, my S54 is going to stay NA - wilder cams are an aspiration for sure.

I think height wise the V8 and V10 would be very similar (isn't the S65 just an S85 with 2 cylinders lopped off)? Either way both have been done a number of times, for me it would be the V8 as it would be the same weight as the s54 but shorter. There was quite a good build thread on here but not sure it ever got finished sadly viewtopic.php?t=96046
Supersprint have a whole section for S65 converted Z4M (albeit probably for LHD, I imagine the headers and steering column will be tricky) where you can spend even more money
https://www.supersprint.com/ww-en/super ... m-gt3.aspx

[Beedub]

Between these plates and the Strut Brace ( doing the same from top ) i'm certain you wont see an issue.... Gt4s have been known to complete break this piece out lol which is bonkers.

The strut brace from the top will do little to nothing to prevent vertical forces from underneath damaging the tower metal.
Gt4 & GT3 suffer a different issue as their strut towers are aluminium, so yeah they fail completely rather than mushrooming. Neither is ideal, but at least you'll have some kind of 'warning' with our steel towers.

It’s either cams or a V10…..

You're missing the correct answer to this problem; a stroked s65

I believe TomK has schrick cams and an airbox on his and a map took it to something in the region of 385bhp?

It's probably something like 370 (numbers came in at 383 but who knows). Imho you're never really going to have enough power, so for me what is more important is how the power I do have is delivered. The cams make the last 1000 rpm even more exciting than stock and of course the airbox adds the (all important) noise (and is the reason why I would never supercharge an S54).

agree to disagree on that one, from a engineering point of view the strut brace is transfering the loads, so a vertical shock should in theory still travel along the bar and displace, that's why accidents with a SB are not good, they transfer the shock to the other side and will cause damage if the impact is big enough, i know thats a different load direction but the theory is still the same. most of all, its cheap insurance.

i get what you all say R.E supercharging, its not for everyone and has some Cons.... but personally i love the sound it creates with the s54 metallic thrash, i love it.... i totally understand why one would not want to add a blower.

always great to see threads from the OGs of the forum , this is a great post and one i'm really enjoying reading, well done mikey .

[Mikey_Boy]

I think height wise the V8 and V10 would be very similar (isn't the S65 just an S85 with 2 cylinders lopped off)? Either way both have been done a number of times, for me it would be the V8 as it would be the same weight as the s54 but shorter. There was quite a good build thread on here but not sure it ever got finished sadly viewtopic.php?t=96046
Supersprint have a whole section for S65 converted Z4M (albeit probably for LHD, I imagine the headers and steering column will be tricky) where you can spend even more money
https://www.supersprint.com/ww-en/super ... m-gt3.aspx

Wowsers - don’t give me ideas Tom….! Makes sense on the S65 dimensions and weights… Now stop it and let me save up for cams rather than diverting off onto dangerous tangents!!

[Ed Doe]

Can we all please stoppp talking about s65 swaps, it's making me lust after one

Tom that's what I'd heard - s65 is essentially an s85 with two cylinders lopped off - iirc it has the same issues with Rod bearing tolerances being very fine hence the issues both engines have with rod bearings.

A 4.4 or 4.5 stroked s65 on a set of naughty cams would just be absolute porn in a z4 I reckon.

Alternatively another route I'd fancied going down is a stroked s54 - vac motorsport, hack engineering (and I think schirmer) do stroker kits out to 3.5l - with a set of naughty cams to suit I believe a reliable 450bhp is achievable which is nuts, and they sound amazing too