Damo's E86 for road and track - New upgrades incoming!

[damocell]

Well.....the Volve part didn't work :thumbsdown:

Can you spot the difference? Volvo top, Z4 bottom

Untitled by Damien Bower, on Flickr

So, I managed to find one from a 3 Series using the part numbers in the thread i linked above, this one looks more promising

Untitled by Damien Bower, on Flickr

Just need to bleed the brakes now and give it death

 

[Nick W]

If you have curved brake cooling fins rather than radial it looks like your brake discs are on the wrong way around. If the vanes are curved then facing forwards will be trying to force air inwards which will not help cooling, rather the opposite. If they are radial then it makes no difference so I'll shut up.

 

[damocell]

If you have curved brake cooling fins rather than radial it looks like your brake discs are on the wrong way around. If the vanes are curved then facing forwards will be trying to force air inwards which will not help cooling, rather the opposite. If they are radial then it makes no difference so I'll shut up.

They are straight vanes, not curved

 

[damocell]

So far, so good. I've covered approx 170ish miles in the car and still have a firm brake pedal after doing a full and proper bleed.

Fingers crossed for Bedford in a weeks time

 

[Vanne]

man, very glad to hear you've sorted the ABS drama, that's awesome.

 

[damocell]

man, very glad to hear you've sorted the ABS drama, that's awesome.

Thanks mate, the true test will be Bedford Autodrome on Monday. It's a track that needs good brakes, so if they survive that, then I'll be a happy man

 

[3002 tii]

[

Thanks mate, the true test will be Bedford Autodrome on Monday. It's a track that needs good brakes, so if they survive that, then I'll be a happy man

I’m surprised your local tracks are even open! Earliest start date is around late March for the tracks local to me

 

[damocell]

[

Thanks mate, the true test will be Bedford Autodrome on Monday. It's a track that needs good brakes, so if they survive that, then I'll be a happy man

I’m surprised your local tracks are even open! Earliest start date is around late March for the tracks local to me

They're open all year so long as it doesn't snow, which is quite rare in the UK anyway, at least not for much more than a day or two or a week max, unless you are in Scotland. We were at Donington in December and 3 Sisters in November

Weather is looking good for Bedford, dry, low wind , low temps and a little bit of sun

 

[damocell]

Bedford was brilliant and my brake problems are a thing of the past, the ABS/DSC pump change defo worked

I'll do a full write up later, but here are a few shots anyway

0_02 by Javelin Trackdays, on Flickr

4_0379 by Javelin Trackdays, on Flickr

4_0415 by Javelin Trackdays, on Flickr

4_0664 by Javelin Trackdays, on Flickr

4_0705 by Javelin Trackdays, on Flickr

 

[Ed Doe]

Nice pics. I'm biased of course, but I just think the Coupe looks so bloody good in high-res track snaps 8)

Cracking effort getting a trackday in so early in the year too. I've not even got round to looking properly at what dates I want to do yet!!!

 

[damocell]

Nice pics. I'm biased of course, but I just think the Coupe looks so bloody good in high-res track snaps 8)

Cracking effort getting a trackday in so early in the year too. I've not even got round to looking properly at what dates I want to do yet!!!

Thanks

It was a great day, weather was good and nice to go along with some fellow Z4 owners. Will in the silver car had done Oulton 3 days previous to Bedford too. Don’t think I’ll be back on track till the end of April/May but I’m keen to get out again.

 

[TheDan]

Looks amazing! Love Bedford as it just inspires a lot of confidence and actually has a really good layout (GT).

I'm sad I missed it and really hope to join you on the next group Z4 track outing!

 

[Ed Doe]

I'm looking at getting a slot at Donington booked in April-time if anyone's keen?

 

[damocell]

I'm looking at getting a slot at Donington booked in April-time if anyone's keen?

I'm considering Oulton on the 25th April at the moment but haven't booked anything. Which TDO and date in April are you thinking?

 

[damocell]

Couple of weeks since the last track day but I've been crazy busy with work.

Great day at Bedford. The plan was to see if the brakes could hold up to a day on track and Bedford is the perfect place to test brakes with multiple high speed stops on the lap.

Early start and on the road for 4:45am, got there for about 8am to be told there were only 35 cars attending! Brilliant, crazily quiet day. Met up with a mate in his E92 M3 and a pal who bought a 480bhp 1 series 2 days prior and turned up on ditch finder rear tyres and no track prep

Untitled by Damien Bower, on Flickr

Untitled by Damien Bower, on Flickr

We were then joined by Jeff and Will in their 3.0 E85's which made for some fun chase laps in the morning before Wills rear pads wore to the metal. Will makes an appearance toward the end of the first lap in this video and Jeff is my passenger

[youtube]oEKjtyChgIw[/youtube]

It was cold but dry in the morning, I'm pleased to say my brakes held up perfectly and I was able to set some respectable laps. We saw a maximum front caliper temperature of 150ish degrees with the rears being hotter than the fronts thanks to the front brake ducts.

Untitled by Damien Bower, on Flickr

All in all, a good day, I'm not a massive fan of these NS2R tyres though, not as much grip on the brakes as I'd have liked and not as good in hbte wet as the Zestino's either. I think i'll be changing to a different tyre fairly soon if I'm honest.

Best lap of the day was a 2:57.2 with a passenger and time left on the table for sure. Pretty pleased with that considering.

[youtube]pOscub_Mxf4[/youtube]

After lunch, there was more moisture in the air and whilst it wasn't raining the track was damp....time to fire up the 480bhp 750Nm E82 1 series on ditch finder rear tyres and an open diff What a riot that was, wheel spinning in 4th on the straights and being a hooligan elsewhere. amazing engine, stock chassis! Wish I'd got some in-car footage to show as it was crazy.

Had a fun little afternoon session following it once the track had dried

[youtube]8s7SoJvJ4YE[/youtube]

Finished the day as the last three in the pits then made our ways home

Untitled by Damien Bower, on Flickr

Untitled by Damien Bower, on Flickr

Untitled by Damien Bower, on Flickr

On the way home I started to get a squal from the rear passenger brakes on application....turns out I've done a set of rear pads in two track days!

Untitled by Damien Bower, on Flickr

And the fronts aren't far behind

Untitled by Damien Bower, on Flickr

All in all a top day, now on to some preventative maintneance and diff fitting before the next track day.

 

[damocell]

Got round to changing my rather used rear pads!

Replaced them with the same spec EBC Bluestuff. The ones coming out lasted 2 and a bit track days, have worn quicker than the front (no i don't use TCS/DSC on track) and at Bedford have turned colour from a lovely blue to a black and grey. Oh well. It feels much better with the new ones in place.

Untitled by Damien Bower, on Flickr

Also, an order from Autodoc turned up yesterday. Got a busy few weekends ahead of me with preventative maintenance:

FAG rear wheel bearings with RIDEX hubs
Delphi MAF
Delphi inner tie rods and outer track rods with TRW gaiters
Budweg caliper rebuild kits for front and rear drivers calipers
FAG guibo and Febi centre diff support
Elring valve cover gasket and febi bolts
FAG upper arm outer rear bushes on the hub

Untitled by Damien Bower, on Flickr

That is all to go on with the following upgrades:

Coolerworx style shifter
FAG upper out rear arm bushes fitted to the lower arm at the hub to remove more rubber from the suspension
ZF plated LSD with 3.73 FD and powerflex diff bushes

Untitled by Damien Bower, on Flickr

Untitled by Damien Bower, on Flickr

 

[Mr Tidy]

Wow, some serious upgrades there!

 

[1536Z4]

Good stuff

 

[damocell]

So, bit of an update....

Managed to find a garage near me that rents out their 2 post lift for £75 for the day.

Untitled by Damien Bower, on Flickr

I had a massive list of things to do, but the blinking exhaust bolts took me 1.5 hours to sort on their own

Untitled by Damien Bower, on Flickr

That and the fact I'm not a great mechanic slowed me down considerably.

But I managed to remove the propshaft, fit my new gear shifter and my LSD

Untitled by Damien Bower, on Flickr

The BMW specific plate bolted up perfectly to the predrilled holes from factory

Untitled by Damien Bower, on Flickr

Untitled by Damien Bower, on Flickr

Had to remove much more trim than I thought I would to fit it though

Untitled by Damien Bower, on Flickr

On to the diff

Untitled by Damien Bower, on Flickr

I had planned to fit poly diff bushes too but my subframe looks like its lived underwater at some stage so bravely decided not to just yet.

Untitled by Damien Bower, on Flickr

I also changed the guibo whilst in there.

6 hours later and lots of swearing later I was back on the road.

LSD instantly made itself felt, it was super tight being brand new but has since settled down and is brilliant. Gearshift is good and adds to the theater but if I'm honest I'm to sure I'd do this mod again. Don't get me wrong of £175 its worth it but I'd be upset if it cost loads more.

Next day I trimmed the centre console to fit the new shifter

Untitled by Damien Bower, on Flickr

Then bought a replacement subframe.

Unfortunately, on arrival it was clearly damaged....

Untitled by Damien Bower, on Flickr

Untitled by Damien Bower, on Flickr

The place I bought it from were really good and sent a replacement which is perfect.

Did some back to back testing of my homemade intake and sold it.

Untitled by Damien Bower, on Flickr

The tests were performed on the same day about an hour apart on similar roads. Althought the intkae showed less G/s at the MAF, the car is about 1.5 seconds quicker over the 100-200kph standard with the homemade intake fitted even thought the temp was a little higher when testing my intake vs the stock one.

Stock intake:

Untitled by Damien Bower, on Flickr

Homemade intake
Untitled by Damien Bower, on Flickr

Over the 60-100mph its averaging 0.75 seconds quicker with the intake.

Unfortunately I agreed to sell it but had an accident involving the dog and the foam filter :thumbsdown: back o the drawing board on that one.

I've been getting a little knocking for the rear, on inspection it is clear my coils are binding over large movements...

Untitled by Damien Bower, on Flickr

Tegiwa have been great in supporting me to find a solution so that will get sorted soon.

Something I'm really excited about (but probably shouldn't be) turned up......a N54 oil cooler adaptor

Untitled by Damien Bower, on Flickr

This will allow me to run a dedicated front mounted oil cooler such as this:

Untitled by Damien Bower, on Flickr

And also has ports for oil temp and pressure gauges, one of the guys on FB has 3D printed me a gauge pod for the ashtray :thumbs-up:

Untitled by Damien Bower, on Flickr

This should allow me to comfortably lap tracks without worrying about oil temps as I hear they easily get to 140 degrees in summer.

So....jobs to do:

Polybush the diff mounts in the subframe
Fit solid subframe mounts
Refresh back end with new wheel bearings and outer/inner bushes
Swap subframe
Fit new track rods/tie rods
Fit new driveshaft
Fit oil cooler
Alignment
Fit OMP drivers seat

Also, I've decided to move to 17 inch wheels and tyres. Settled on some very strong 3 series rear wheels allround at 8.5j allowing me to run a square setup.....here is a photoshop of how it'll look

Untitled by Damien Bower, on Flickr

I nipped to a local scrap yard the other day and had the car weighed, came out at 1320-1340kg without me in it which is a great starting weight. Should be able to get that down to below 1300kg fairly easily.

 

[damocell]

Why do I do it to myself!!

Next track day is booked for the 30th of April, with one week to go I decided to change the drivers driveshaft as there was a split in the boot and most of the grease had exited stage left.

Untitled by Damien Bower, on Flickr

Unfortunately, we ran into issues straightaway. It would appear that wheel bearings had been changed at some point. Whoever did it, did a fantastic job of punching the nut onto the driveshaft, so we had to drill the tabs off....no way back now. The driveshaft simply would not come out of the hub, we had pullers and pushers on it, and a bloody big hammer, but it wouldn't move. So, now with a runied driveshaft we were further back than we started

Now, I'll start by saying I am no mechanic, more a have-a-go hero with some tools and a great copy of YouTube! So tackling this on my own was daunting, I'd never pressed a bush before this week and learnt a hell of a lot.

Luckily, I'd already amassed all the parts to replace the entire outer sides of the rear of the car. So I jumped online and found a trailing arm, then set about dismantling the old one. I had issues with the handbrake cable being more or less welded into the hub, yanked it a few times which did nothing (remember this bit) and eventually got it out with a punch

Untitled by Damien Bower, on Flickr

The outer lower camber bush had defo seen better days and is a rubbish rubber filled bush.

Untitled by Damien Bower, on Flickr

I'd already worked out that the upper rear uniball bush was also used in the lower position on the Z4M, E46 M3 and CSL....if its good enough for the CSL its good enough for me. This route offers benefits over polybushing them too and is by far the best solution in my mind for these bushes

Untitled by Damien Bower, on Flickr

So now my drivers rear has brand new uniballs from FAG and Borg & Beck along with a poly RTAB

Untitled by Damien Bower, on Flickr

After transferring my poly RTAB bush over I was ready to tackle the hub and wheelbearing. A slide hammer took the hub off

Untitled by Damien Bower, on Flickr

Untitled by Damien Bower, on Flickr

And then the new FAG wheel bearing was pressed in place

Untitled by Damien Bower, on Flickr

Followed by a new dust shield and hub and gave the arm a lick of hammerite after wire wheeling it a bit

Untitled by Damien Bower, on Flickr

Managed to fit my new driveshaft after much swearing and many cuts. The bolts supplied with it were too long, I only realised this after they had pushed the dust cover off the output flange so they had to all come out and be done again.

The handbrake shoes were a PITA and for some reason I didn't have any handbrake, so I assumed I'd stretched the cable with all the yanking. Luckily, I'd simply engaged service mode with my furious tugging. Once I'd messed with the adjusters and set it up correctly, I now have a perfectly working handbrake!

New wheel studs were also used along with green loctite. So now, I have a new driveshaft, wheel bearing, hub, studs, dust shield and better bushes on the drivers rear of the car.

Also, I'd had trouble sourcing some RP-X pads for the 3.0si, after much research, it appeared that E46 M3/Z4M pads were very very similar shape, so I took the plunge and ordered some. They fit perfectly. However, the lack of clip on the piston side means the pad rattle in normal driving is unbearable!! It really sounds like the car is actually broken! So I'll use some road pads for normal driving from now on and swap to the RP-X if they are as good as I remember.

Untitled by Damien Bower, on Flickr

Managed to source some 17 inch wheels too, along with a full set of 235/45r17 Direzza's. Very excited to try these tyres and a square setup.

Untitled by Damien Bower, on Flickr

Untitled by Damien Bower, on Flickr

Weather is looking good for Anglesey so hopefully I'll get to do some back to back laps on the Conti CS7's and the Direzza's

Then the obligatory clean after all that work

Untitled by Damien Bower, on Flickr

So now, I need to do similar to the passenger side, but that can wait until after the trackday, it's only really the camber bush that's an issue but I can live with that for now.