Evo magazine this month.

VvrooomM said:
I was well aware of the issue having owned an e46 that was built just after the affected cars fortunately - a mates M3 was not as lucky, lunching its engine on first lap of the ring one year.
My Z3MC (2002) also suffered catastrophic bearing shell failure around the Nurburgring (F1 track) in 2009. BMW gave me a new engine FOC.

I think the S54 engine in the Z4M is much stronger than those earlier "Engine of Damocles" versions.
 
Beedub said:
Interestingly ill be pulling my rod bearing caps soon just to upgrade them, I look forward to reporting on how they look...
It seems the US members are reporting worn rod bearing CAPS.... I will be uprating them shortly.....

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

What are "rod bearing caps"?
 
carl said:
Damn, if the one from traditionally well overpriced Munich Legends is £18,950 then mine must be worth £2.10.

not sure i see the sense in allowing your low mileage example be photographed going sideways round a damp welsh corner. there's free publicity but...

and i know it's how they're supposed to be driven!
 
tertius said:
Beedub said:
Interestingly ill be pulling my rod bearing caps soon just to upgrade them, I look forward to reporting on how they look...
It seems the US members are reporting worn rod bearing CAPS.... I will be uprating them shortly.....

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

What are "rod bearing caps"?

the shells that surround the rod bearings.....

a1al0.jpg


Heres one set that are "worn"....
 
Beedub said:
tertius said:
Beedub said:
Interestingly ill be pulling my rod bearing caps soon just to upgrade them, I look forward to reporting on how they look...
It seems the US members are reporting worn rod bearing CAPS.... I will be uprating them shortly.....

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

What are "rod bearing caps"?

the shells that surround the rod bearings.....

a1al0.jpg


Heres one set that are "worn"....

Hmm, changing those doesn't sound like a cheap treat ...
 
exdos said:
sammyz said:
Issues with the S54 engine go back to the early examples where VANOS issues were common(ish). I guess that's what the writer is alluding to.
VvrooomM said:
Current and late 987 do not suffer from shaft failure much like ZM's don't have the vanos issues the e46 m3 did.
The problem with the early S54 was not the VANOS; it was bearing shell failure and BMW did a recall for the E46 M3, see here: http://members.roadfly.org/kmurph/BearingsSB.pdf but refused to include the S54 Z3M.

Worse of all p142 (sorry only just got mine shipped to Bordeaux) Harry Metcalfe banging on how "just watch the history, as these engines have a habit of letting go". What a complete :headbang: scaremongering is not clever and he doen't know what he's on about. I'll write to them to get his facts roight! :evil:
 
ChawenHalo said:
exdos said:
sammyz said:
Issues with the S54 engine go back to the early examples where VANOS issues were common(ish). I guess that's what the writer is alluding to.
VvrooomM said:
Current and late 987 do not suffer from shaft failure much like ZM's don't have the vanos issues the e46 m3 did.
The problem with the early S54 was not the VANOS; it was bearing shell failure and BMW did a recall for the E46 M3, see here: http://members.roadfly.org/kmurph/BearingsSB.pdf but refused to include the S54 Z3M.

Worse of all p142 (sorry only just got mine shipped to Bordeaux) Harry Metcalfe banging on how "just watch the history, as these engines have a habit of letting go". What a complete :headbang: scaremongering is not clever and he doen't know what he's on about. I'll write to them to get his facts roight! :evil:
I thought this too, it was a pretty silly comment to make as its a very proven powerplant & you don't win engine of the year six times in a row if its a poor engine!
 
If the engines have a problem with 'letting go', why no mention of this in the main Coupe feature? Looks like the old timer is thinking back to early E46 issues. That happens with age, the years blend together.
 
Mini-Inkey$ didn't think much of the winner results either, but enjoyed the write up overall.

abysepeb.jpg
 
inkey$ :thumbsup:

I had an email dialogue with Harry about Press Cars & the Z4M recently, he said he really liked the MR :driving:

Might buy that mag, have a few now in the Car's History box. Does anyone else keep the old ones, like the launch reviews?
 
Andy said:
inkey$ :thumbsup:

I had an email dialogue with Harry about Press Cars & the Z4M recently, he said he really liked the MR :driving:

Might buy that mag, have a few now in the Car's History box. Does anyone else keep the old ones, like the launch reviews?
I am terrible for collecting magazine reviews & tests on cars I own, I also always order the original sales brochure aswell if I haven't already got it!

I have a nice collection of mags on my old cars & it's also nice if autocar have done a full review on it so you can get to know all the specs, I am clearly a sad head case :)
 
Have to agree with the articles in Evo 180. Apart form Harry's daft engine comment.

If I had bought a coupe it would probably have been a Cayman S. As I wanted a roadster, my first but not last, I bough a Z4MR. Life's much more fun with the roof down:D
 
tertius said:
Beedub said:
tertius said:
What are "rod bearing caps"?

the shells that surround the rod bearings.....

a1al0.jpg


Heres one set that are "worn"....

Hmm, changing those doesn't sound like a cheap treat ...

Ill let you know shortly :-) no mind... The car is worth it :-) thiers a Motorsport upgrade for these parts :-)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
buzyg said:
If I had bought a coupe it would probably have been a Cayman S. As I wanted a roadster, my first but not last, I bough a Z4MR. Life's much more fun with the roof down:D

That makes no sense at all. Using that logic you could've bought the Boxster S and still been able to be roofless. According to the journos it's a better car than the Z4MR in the same way they reckon the Cayman S is better than the Z4MC.
 
I love it's sister publication octane.. My favourite car mag by a country mile, totally bored with Car at the moment.
 
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