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

[Mikey_Boy]

A pleasure jpeeters...

I have heard good and bad things about Stoptech so decided against them for no other reason than that. Should have considered Brembo a bit more, always hear good things from them. AP have always been the benchmark in my mind from several cars I've experienced with their hardware.

I'm struck down with a good case of OCD when it comes to my cars so wanted what I thought was the best - a good deal came up on the package I bought (this is all relative remember, AP are expensive!!) so in a moment of weakness, I bought them.

A little like the road tax we have to pay every year for the 'M', I tend to find a glass of scotch before sitting down at the computer before hitting 'Buy' always helps...!

Brakes are a subjective thing so please do take my ramblings above as such! :roll:

 

[jpeeters]

Friend of mine is running the AP's as well - and I just love them. Brake pedal on his Z4MR is much firmer than the OEM setup on mine, so I am a bit confused about you stating that pedal feel is equal to the stock setup.

Another benefit is that it's the only kit I am aware of which has enough clearance for the 18" rims and the CSLs. Brembo needs spacers...

They are indeed expensive, especially with the GBP-EUR rate at the moment . Is the deal you had still on? Could you point me towards it (PM is fine)?

 

[Mikey_Boy]

Is your friend running the rear calipers as well? That might explain the change in pedal feel, but then it could just be a bad calibration between my foot and my brain...

Definitely the pedal firmness remains there for longer with the AP set up.

Nothing secret about the supplier - I did a quick search and found this to be the best deal:

http://www.amber-performance.co.uk/section.php?xSec=605&xPage=1

I'm sure if you do some hunting you'll get a better price than me! :?

The biggest issue is waiting - I had to wait nearly 3 months for my kit to arrive, but it well worth the wait...

 

[jpeeters]

Thanks @Mikey_Boy, I'll have a look.

He's indeed running front and rear calipers. Great improvement compared to my setup - of which I have always complained about the soft brake pedal and long travel distance before the pads start to bite.

Long lead time is indeed an issue. All my front disks have cracks that go through the outer edges. For street use this is still fine, but 3 months means the end of the track season

 

[Mikey_Boy]

Ah - that's a shame that you might be in trouble for the lead time - I'd certainly ask before ordering - someone *might* have some stock somewhere!

Good luck with your hunting!

 

[TomK]

Always pays to be smooth in a Z4 because of the 'auto-prime' system - lift off the accelerator too quickly and the brake system primes itself so when you stand on the pedal (as it thinks you need an emergency stop), all the braking happens pretty much instantly!! Quite a shock when it happens, but easily managed just by being smoother with your inputs.

This^^^^ drives me up the wall. Does anyone know if it's possible to get rid of this 'safety feature'.

 

[Mikey_Boy]

Time for a very quick update and a big thumbs up for "Mr Vanos"....

He's just done a really fab job on my M Coupe - I hadn't busted anything, just trying to future proof the engine a bit after hearing a few rattles on cold start.

No nonsense and all done in my garage at home! The engine is now as quiet as a mouse...

More updates with pics coming soon - I've been shopping....! :evil:

 

[buzyg]

A darn good read. I don't really do track days, but I did take my Zed to Spa back in 2011. Nice little reminder. Enjoy

 

[Mikey_Boy]

Hi Folks,

I've got a bit of a problem that I'm hoping that you can please help me with - I'm off to Spa (again!) in a couple of weeks and as you've seen from the thread, I've been doing a few tweaks here and there - my latest project is installing these:



I've had them re-trimmed in BMW Nappa leather and I'm just waiting for the bottom mounts and seat belt mounts to arrive from VAC (this week I'm assured) and I should be good to go.

HOWEVER - this is where the problems start of course - I've realised that the seat belt and airbag lights will be on when I install these seats so this is where I'd like some help. I've looked at buying one of these from eBay:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Passenger-Seat-Occupancy-Mat-Emulator-BMW-Z4-Series-E85-E86-Airbag-Sensor-Bypass-/181890854253?hash=item2a598a2d6d:g:4sUAAOSwBLlU-iWx

And that's all fine, but that gizmo assumes you still have a BMW seat in the car and not a Recaro racing seat.....

Is there any way of plugging the airbag and seat belt emulator into the yellow plug that's in the car on the passenger side? I'm happy to do a bit of soldering if someone knows the pin numbers to connect to...

Is there a way of coding this as well through something like NCS Expert?

Any help is really appreciated!! 8)

 

[TomK]

Hi Mikey,

Pretty sure you'll be fine with that passenger occupancy sensor bypass thing, it should fit directly into the yellow connector. Having said that I haven't installed a bucket into my passenger seat side of the Z but did on my old m3 and there was no issue using the bypass.
Presumably you are running harnesses hence worrying about seat belt alarm/light? If so that can be easily coded out in NCS, I'll have a look on my laptop for the module needed, I did mine a while ago.
Out of interest who did the trimming on your bucket and rough cost?
Also, sure you have but have you checked your doors close with the buckets in situ? It's very tight with the top of the door card with most buckets.

I've had them re-trimmed in BMW Nappa leather and I'm just waiting for the bottom mounts and seat belt mounts to arrive from VAC (this week I'm assured) and I should be good to go.

HOWEVER - this is where the problems start of course - I've realised that the seat belt and airbag lights will be on when I install these seats so this is where I'd like some help. I've looked at buying one of these from eBay:

And that's all fine, but that gizmo assumes you still have a BMW seat in the car and not a Recaro racing seat.....

Is there any way of plugging the airbag and seat belt emulator into the yellow plug that's in the car on the passenger side? I'm happy to do a bit of soldering if someone knows the pin numbers to connect to...

Is there a way of coding this as well through something like NCS Expert?

Any help is really appreciated!! 8)

 

[Mikey_Boy]

Thanks Tom - I've been doing a bit of digging and I *think* both the seat belt alarm and passenger occupancy can be coded out via the ACS or ABG module? Shoot me down in flames if I'm on the wrong track - I had a quick look in NCS dummy for the modules so could be way off there. I'm going to buy the bypass widget anyway and see how that goes as well to have all bases covered.

I'm worried about the seat buckle alarm because I'm removing the seat belt pre tensioner mechanism as it probably won't fit the race seat without removing all the wiring from the existing seat?? I'm looking to sell the M seats as complete as I can... :wink: The widget kit comes with a seat belt connector as well so hopeful that will be good to sort the issues?

I definitely hear you on the width of the seat!! I'm using Recaro SPGs which are amongst the narrowest of the race seats so fingers crossed there will be room - I'm sure it's going to be tight!

I used a trimmer called Cheshire Auto Trim based in Warrington - I also had heated seat pads fitted - these are going to require some thought to get wired in and honestly they may not work, but I'm determined to find a solution for that one - it's about a bag of sand to get the seats retrimmer with the heated seats on top of that. I got a couple of quotes and that seems to be the going rate - race seats a tricky to do it seems for a variety of reasons...

If Tom or any other NCS wizards out there can point me in the right direction, it would be much appreciated!!

 

[TomK]

Thanks for the info about trimming mikey, seems like they've done a decent job too.
I never used the heated seats option so not fussed about that, but now you mention it.... let me know how you get on!
As for the coding, I'm no 'expert' but I think you're entirely correct that those features can be coded out. If you're going to get stuck in doing the seat belt you might as well do the lot, it's really not hard. On the other hand that gizmo will probably do both on the passenger side but you'll need another for the driver side seatbelt right? I've used the pre-tensioners off the oem seat affixed to my bucket as I run without harnesses on the road, I suggest you just find another of those to use perhaps?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-X5-E53-Z4-E85-FRONT-SEAT-BELT-TENSIONER-BUCKLE-N-S-LEFT-SIDE-FRONT-7078041-/221816350125?hash=item33a548e5ad:g:evYAAOSw3ydVllYk
Good luck with the fitting :-o

 

[Mikey_Boy]

Thanks again Tom

The emulator unit is on the way - let's see what options that brings me - fingers crossed! I'll keep digging on the NCS Expert side - learning as I go, expert I am not....! :?

 

[Mikey_Boy]

Time for another update…

So, here goes – I’ve managed to get my Recaro SPGs in the car!

I do like the M seats, but I am a real fan of Recaro SPG seats having used them in other cars both on the road and on track and I really wanted them in the Z as I felt after all the other mods that I was just hanging in there rather than concentrating on lines..
So, old seat out and good chance to have clean up under the seat after close to 10 years, with some VAC seat mounts shipped over fresh from Uncle Sam:



Now, of course, the issue with removing BMW seats is that they have an occupancy sensor and sensors for the seatbelt buckle as well. Here, ebay was my friend and so I bought a couple of gizmo’s to fool the car into thinking that everything was good:





Trouble is, that didn’t quite work out…

When I fitted the seats, the airbag light stayed on so I decided to investigate further – using INPA, I could see that 5 error codes were coming up that would not clear:

Driver seat belt buckle
Passenger seat belt buckle
Driver seat pretensioner
Passenger seat pretensioner
Passenger seat occupancy

Looking a bit deeper and using NCS Expert, I downloaded the file from the airbag ECU and using my (patchy) German and a bit of help from t’interweb, I *thought* I could code out these by changing a few parameters.

Bottom line? No joy.

I joined the BMW Coders forum and got no replies back to my problem. Quite understandably, I’m guessing no-one wants to put their neck on the line for what is a safety critical system…

So, time to think laterally – could I put the existing seat belt pre-tensioners onto the Recaro set up? I started by buying an M10 threaded bung and hole cutter:



And this was duly welded up and painted:



The holes are for holding the pre-tensioner body in place with a stainless steel tie wrap and a channel underneath for the wiring from the pretensioner. Here it is installed in the car:



And some shots of the final installation of the seats:





The eagle eyed amongst you will also spot I have installed the carbon trim I bought a while ago to replace the piano trim..



And as stated before, the seats are indeed a tight fit!!



And so, with the seats fitted in this configuration, the airbag light fault code could be cleared - fantastic!

I took the car to Spa with this set up and I have to say the seats are FANTASTIC…………! I really like this shot from Eau Rouge:



So what’s next?

Well, I *do* have 2 M seats to sell………! Expect an advert soon…

Plus, I need to work out how to wire in the heater elements I had fitted as part of the retrim

 

[Beedub]

gorgeous seats man.... really nice,

 

[NeilP]

They look stunning.

Love the fact they're so factory looking. :wub:

 

[beanie]

They look really nice in leather, much more in keeping with the car and considerably nicer than the standard fabric.

How do you find the fit of the belt by the seat buckles? I've got a similar situation with the pole positions in my old golf (belt going over the seat by the buckle rather than my leg/hip) and I've always thought it to be less than ideal. To get the belt to be snug over the hip I'm going to try and fit some buckles with a strap so I can route it through the seat holes-i don't know if this will work with the pretensioner system but it might be worth looking at if you're at all concerned with the fit of the belts as they are.

 

[Vanne]

Mikey, thanks for a great read. love your progress with the car. Some really nice and well thought out mods, esp the brakes and the seats.

I gotta ask though why the pax occupancy emulator and the seatbelt emulator didn't work? that worries me a little as its what i am working on when i get my car back from the roll bar installers.. was it wired up correctly? :? there are a couple of dip switches on the pax occupancy emulator, did that have any effect at all? the drivers seat pre tensioner and pax seat pre tensioner, are there any way to code those out? :|

love the seats mate

 

[Viren]

Those are some crazy cool looking seats! Excellent job, they look like luxury supercar type seats. Can I ask how much these would cost fitted?

 

[maxman]

When and if you sell your old seats I would be very interested in buying them.