Buying a Z4 to use on track - A few 'pre-purchase' questions...
- Thread starter DaveP
- Start date
Dave.. I found another si... 
very high miler, it wont be the best of the si's on the market and the wheels definitely need a refurb... but 265bhp for less than £4795... cheap fun!
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201609308306888?body-type=Convertible&minimum-badge-engine-size=3.0&radius=1500&year-to=2008&postcode=ip60ge&onesearchad=Used&onesearchad=Nearly%20New&onesearchad=New&model=Z4&make=BMW&year-from=2006&sort=price-asc&advertising-location=at_cars&page=1
EDIT: those M sport seats are relatively well sought after on here as well. If you were to swap them out for some buckets, I would guess selling them will pretty much cover the cost of bucket seats.
very high miler, it wont be the best of the si's on the market and the wheels definitely need a refurb... but 265bhp for less than £4795... cheap fun!
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201609308306888?body-type=Convertible&minimum-badge-engine-size=3.0&radius=1500&year-to=2008&postcode=ip60ge&onesearchad=Used&onesearchad=Nearly%20New&onesearchad=New&model=Z4&make=BMW&year-from=2006&sort=price-asc&advertising-location=at_cars&page=1
EDIT: those M sport seats are relatively well sought after on here as well. If you were to swap them out for some buckets, I would guess selling them will pretty much cover the cost of bucket seats.
Cheers Faz! To be honest, if I'm going to be using it on track I'd probably want something that had been to the moon and back a few less times! 
I'm happy to bide my time and try to find a bargain in Jan/Feb. Given that I'm not hunting out a car with loads of spec (I don't want nav, 18s or sport seats) and I'm open to colour combinations, I'm hoping that my ugly duckling will turn up.
Ed- The Grinspeed website is down, but I've just used the contact form to request a quote to supply/fit. Not sure we'll have much bargaining power as just two of us, but perhaps it's something we could spin off into a group-buy. Stay tuned!
I'm happy to bide my time and try to find a bargain in Jan/Feb. Given that I'm not hunting out a car with loads of spec (I don't want nav, 18s or sport seats) and I'm open to colour combinations, I'm hoping that my ugly duckling will turn up.
Ed- The Grinspeed website is down, but I've just used the contact form to request a quote to supply/fit. Not sure we'll have much bargaining power as just two of us, but perhaps it's something we could spin off into a group-buy. Stay tuned!
Ed Doe said:Speak to Grinspeed - they are the UK distributor for Mfactory. If you plan on doing it please drop me a pm as I'd love to be able to see if we can twist their arm for a bit of a discount
Stevie is a great guy, I drive all the way from Rotherham every April for a 4 wheel alignment
True to your word, Stevie comes across as a genuinely pleasant chap. The quotes he gave me were:
Supply: £854
Drive-in/drive-out: £1,401
He made the salient point that the pound's current state isn't helping when it comes to dealing with discounts, so I'd suspect there isn't significant movement in those.
To me, that feels pretty expensive - to the point where I probably wouldn't do it unless the car was absolutely crying out for it. Adding £1,500 to the purchase price of a Z4 buys you an equivalent S2000 or a Boxster with a rainy day fund.
Supply: £854
Drive-in/drive-out: £1,401
He made the salient point that the pound's current state isn't helping when it comes to dealing with discounts, so I'd suspect there isn't significant movement in those.
To me, that feels pretty expensive - to the point where I probably wouldn't do it unless the car was absolutely crying out for it. Adding £1,500 to the purchase price of a Z4 buys you an equivalent S2000 or a Boxster with a rainy day fund.
If it were me I'd be looking at faz's high miler for your usage. The engines in these are good for many more miles than that and I'd prefer to pay less buying a knackered car (assuming engine was good and no crash damage). I'd spend the money I've saved on then replacing all suspension bushes/arms/dampers etc, crucial imo to get the best out of the car on track. If the interior is knackered, all the better, should be cheaper? You will need to be careful installing buckets in these, clearance issues with top of the door card are your problem here.
As for the diff, I'd say it's worth it, but then it's something you can do at a later date or not at all. I'd get the basics of the car sorted first.
I'd also definitely be looking for a car with the fabled 'sticky' electric power steering issue. Again you should get some decent money off and you then have a perfect reason to install an e46 hydraulic steering rack which by all accounts is a huge improvement over the rather dated eps system the car came with.
Enjoy!
As for the diff, I'd say it's worth it, but then it's something you can do at a later date or not at all. I'd get the basics of the car sorted first.
I'd also definitely be looking for a car with the fabled 'sticky' electric power steering issue. Again you should get some decent money off and you then have a perfect reason to install an e46 hydraulic steering rack which by all accounts is a huge improvement over the rather dated eps system the car came with.
Enjoy!
The seat I have is a Sparco Corsa, look up the dimensions for it as I wouldn't want to buy anything bigger than this. There's probably 1mm clearance 8) . Further to my last post look for a car with the undesirable standard seats rather than the m-sport ones perhaps? Again that should be cheaper. Alternatively as probably mentioned you can sell the m-sport seats for decent money if you buy a car with them. For track driving though I'd absolutely 100% recommend a bucket.
To echo a couple of the above points - I'm sure theres a coupe with more than 200k for sale on the forum at the moment - but the point should be made - the extra power I would say is worth it, and it's a much lighter engine too so you get excellent turn-in, which you will certainly see the benefit in on track.
The diff is expensive, whereabouts do you live? I believe if you know of a competent mechanic local to you Grinspeed will do an exchange where they send you a pre-installed diff in a housing all set up ready to go and all you'd have to do is get the complete unit swapped out and send them back your old one.... Worth an ask, I think this worked out as the most cost effective option for me.
I know you're looking for thrills on a more modest budget but I would honestly recommend plumping for a bigger engined high miler - a 3.0si if you can stretch to it. Mine definitely moves around plenty on the 18s - feels delightful balanced and definitely rear driven, but with the power it should still be exciting enough on track (I'll know weds next week!)
The diff is expensive, whereabouts do you live? I believe if you know of a competent mechanic local to you Grinspeed will do an exchange where they send you a pre-installed diff in a housing all set up ready to go and all you'd have to do is get the complete unit swapped out and send them back your old one.... Worth an ask, I think this worked out as the most cost effective option for me.
I know you're looking for thrills on a more modest budget but I would honestly recommend plumping for a bigger engined high miler - a 3.0si if you can stretch to it. Mine definitely moves around plenty on the 18s - feels delightful balanced and definitely rear driven, but with the power it should still be exciting enough on track (I'll know weds next week!)
Tom - thanks so much for the feedback, particularly on the seat fitment.
Internet wisdom suggests that your 'shoulder' width is 600mm, which gives me an excellent steer here.
It looks like the base width is 480mm, so do you have any view on what sort of space there is around the base (i.e. could it accommodate more)?
Have you used a fixed sidemount, or fabbed up sidemounts to work with a forward/backward slider?
Ed - cheers kindly.
I'm in Central London, and while I've got an ace BMW mechanic (based in Tottenham, if anyone is interested) I just don't have the time to mess around with getting things sent/shipped etc.. If I were to do it, I'd be using a drive-in/-out service.
What wheel/tyre setup (size and tyre) are you using? How does it feel at 90%+ on track?
Regarding the 3.0/3.0si argument, I'm going to stick to my guns for the sake of 25bhp. The 3.0 is plenty quick enough, and I'm much more likely to get a bit of choice and a reliable engine/gearbox for my budget (as close to £4k as possible). I'd love to stretch my budget a little, but I'm handing over a King's ransom to the taxman next year, so I need to be sensible (an M3 was originally on the cards).
Internet wisdom suggests that your 'shoulder' width is 600mm, which gives me an excellent steer here.
It looks like the base width is 480mm, so do you have any view on what sort of space there is around the base (i.e. could it accommodate more)?
Have you used a fixed sidemount, or fabbed up sidemounts to work with a forward/backward slider?
Ed - cheers kindly.
I'm in Central London, and while I've got an ace BMW mechanic (based in Tottenham, if anyone is interested) I just don't have the time to mess around with getting things sent/shipped etc.. If I were to do it, I'd be using a drive-in/-out service.
What wheel/tyre setup (size and tyre) are you using? How does it feel at 90%+ on track?
Regarding the 3.0/3.0si argument, I'm going to stick to my guns for the sake of 25bhp. The 3.0 is plenty quick enough, and I'm much more likely to get a bit of choice and a reliable engine/gearbox for my budget (as close to £4k as possible). I'd love to stretch my budget a little, but I'm handing over a King's ransom to the taxman next year, so I need to be sensible (an M3 was originally on the cards).
I'm using the Z4M oem wheels (M224s) with 225/40/R18 supersports on the front and 255/35/R18 goodyear eagle ft Assymetric 2s on the rear (planning to change the rears after my trackday next weds)
Re 90% on track, I've not tracked it yet, but have Goodwood booked on 19th October so will have feedback and some gopro videos for you after!
Re 90% on track, I've not tracked it yet, but have Goodwood booked on 19th October so will have feedback and some gopro videos for you after!
DaveP said:
No problem at all Dave, happy to help.
I would say the base would have no issue accommodating more, the only issue I can see is that if you are short the front left of the seat might hit the transmission tunnel, but I think that's unlikely.
We fabricated some mounts from box section and I have used some runners. To be honest without the runners I think the seat almost might be too low!
Some not particularly helpful pictures here, I'm away from the car at the moment so can drop you some more via pm if you like when I'm back?
DaveP said:
It'll be my third time on track, although the first time was a terrifying 20minute slot at Combe during an action day - way too many cars on track and the etiquette went down the pan so it was actually just 20minutes of collision avoidance!
Last time I was fortunate enough to be thrown the keys to a 997 gt3rs 4.0 by the owner at Goodwood in August - I suspect the zed may struggle by comparison to how incredible that car was! :lol:
I'll definitely video my day and let you know how the car fares
I chose Goodwood as I have had the recent experience there which I really enjoyed, and also because unlike other tracks, Goodwood only let a maximum of 6 cars out at once, so you get a lot more space to just focus on your lines and build your confidence in the car. And it's my closest track, and I just love Goodwood haha 
Apologies for slightly hijacking the thread here, but for anyone interested in Quaife lsds, I've approached birds who are putting together some pricing for a group buy. I'll be posting up as soon as I have more info, but if anyone is interested please speak up! Cheers
Hi guys,
sorry, missed your responses. I'll be chasing Birds up in a sec - will start a separate thread as soon as I've got some figures I'll do my best on yours too Steve :lol:
Dave, I can't really comment on alignment setting comparisons on track, but I'd had mine set to standard until a few weeks ago when I had it changed to E46 CSL alignment. It's hard to be sure as I don't push it hard on the public road, but turn in feels far more immediate, and it feels more neutral/oversteery on corner exit. I'll report back later in the week - only two more sleeps 'till Goodwood!!!! :driving:
sorry, missed your responses. I'll be chasing Birds up in a sec - will start a separate thread as soon as I've got some figures
I'll do my best on yours too Steve :lol:Dave, I can't really comment on alignment setting comparisons on track, but I'd had mine set to standard until a few weeks ago when I had it changed to E46 CSL alignment. It's hard to be sure as I don't push it hard on the public road, but turn in feels far more immediate, and it feels more neutral/oversteery on corner exit. I'll report back later in the week - only two more sleeps 'till Goodwood!!!! :driving: