I guess it's about time I created my own thread for the development of my Z4M.
Anyway, I picked up a cheap 07 Coupe from a fellow forum member in Sept 2021 knowing I'd have a bit of work to do.
The pics below were the sellers:
Once I got the car home I set about working through some of the issues.
The car felt flat as a pancake, despite having proof of an Evolve tune with a dyno printout showing 347bhp so I backed up the current tune.
And then flashed the car back to stock whilst updating the software, cleared the adaptations and put a couple of tanks of vpower through it.
I also did a vanos test, and that passed with flying colours.
Next up was an engine bay clean.
Then fitting of an Eventuri
I really dislike the ride of the car so I knew I'd be changing the suspension sooner rather than later so up on the Quickjacks it went.
2 cracked springs, standard!
Knackered exhaust clamps, standard!
And of course, corroded rear brake lines.
I made up some new rear lines, and ordered some braided lines to go on at a later date.
And on went a B12 kit.
And some Atomic CSL reps, with PS4S from BM Autosport.
Next my attention turned to the exhaust tips. The stock tips were looking pretty sorry for themselves, so I ordered some slash cut tips Burkhart Engineering.
Off the bumper came, and on went the tips.
At this point, I was contemplating what to do with reagard to the front brakes, the discs were looking pretty tired so I thought I may as well upgrade.
I ordered a FreakyParts Brembo setup that utilises the larger E9x M3 front discs and Brembo calipers.
Unfortunately the offset of the discs meant that they'd hit the lower wishbone
I spoke to FreakyParts and they swapped the caliper carriers out for me so I could run the stock Z4M / CSL discs.
A week or so later the replacement carriers arrived so I threw the setup on with the old discs, knowing full well I'd be ordered new discs soon anyway.
My attention then turned back to the suspension, I was never overly happy with the B12 kit so I moved it on and purchased a set of BC coilovers.
These suit me a little better given that I can soften them up when needed.
As part of my software development I wanted to see how well the car would run on AlphaN, so I made myself an IAT bung that would sit in place of the MAF and tuned the ECU to suit. Using the IAT sensor in place of the bung meant I could easily switch back and forth between MAF and AlphaN whilst retaing the Eventuri.
I also used this setup whilst making a PNP loom for my MaxxECU standalone ECU
I tested the setup using Audi R8 coils, which work great, however they foul the crank case oil seperator so I had to wire in some IGBTs to run the stock coils
Here you can see the car idling on the MaxxECU setup.
https://www.ecuworx.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/IMG_0319.mp4
After getting the car dialled in nicely on both the stock ECU and the MaxxECU I picked up a GSR airbox.
It took a bit of modifying to fit the Z4 but nothing a hacksaw won't fix
On it goes
I wasn't entirely happy with how restricted the air feed was with the stock GSR snorkle, so I designed and 3d printed my own.
Whilst waiting for it to print I switched out the belts, front discs, fitted new plugs and coilpacks.
Before fitting the new plugs I gave the car a quick compression test.
The engine has great compression across all 6 which was nice.
My attention then turned to the exhaust, I wanted a set of decats for the car but refuse to pay silly money, so I made my own out of a set of Scorpion E46 M3 decats.
E46 M3 decats vs Z4M cats
After a bit of chopping, and welding I came up with this
Next up was carbon splitter to give the front a little more agression.
Then this arrived:
Part of a VF570 kit, from an E46 M3. I admit I paid over the odds considering how many bits were missing but its not like these kits come up every day.
I set about sourcing the missing parts and finally had everything I needed. I ditched the injectors it that came with the kit and opted for some new 997 turbo injectors. I also swapped out all the hoses, filter, clips and anything that looked tired, along with fitting a 2.62" pulley to the supercharger.
The only thing missing now was the charge cooler pre-rad mounts. I knocked up a design and 3d printed myself some in carbon fibre reinforced filament.
I checked it would work and test fitted the pre-rad to the car.
The rest of the kit went on over a series of evenings, I added a larger 3L tank to act as reservoir for the charge cooler circuit and to add a little more capacity and also sleeved the charge cooler lines with fire proof insulation to keep the water being heated by the exhaust manifold.
I also fitted a catch can, to keep the SC inlet nice and clean.
Next up, was fitting 2x new primary O2 sensors, as the original ones would be well passed their best now.
Thankfully they came out without too much drama.
The car pulls very well, making around 12.5psi at 8K. Hopefully I'll get it on the dyno soon!
Anyway, I picked up a cheap 07 Coupe from a fellow forum member in Sept 2021 knowing I'd have a bit of work to do.
The pics below were the sellers:
Once I got the car home I set about working through some of the issues.
The car felt flat as a pancake, despite having proof of an Evolve tune with a dyno printout showing 347bhp so I backed up the current tune.
And then flashed the car back to stock whilst updating the software, cleared the adaptations and put a couple of tanks of vpower through it.
I also did a vanos test, and that passed with flying colours.
Next up was an engine bay clean.
Then fitting of an Eventuri
I really dislike the ride of the car so I knew I'd be changing the suspension sooner rather than later so up on the Quickjacks it went.
2 cracked springs, standard!
Knackered exhaust clamps, standard!
And of course, corroded rear brake lines.
I made up some new rear lines, and ordered some braided lines to go on at a later date.
And on went a B12 kit.
And some Atomic CSL reps, with PS4S from BM Autosport.
Next my attention turned to the exhaust tips. The stock tips were looking pretty sorry for themselves, so I ordered some slash cut tips Burkhart Engineering.
Off the bumper came, and on went the tips.
At this point, I was contemplating what to do with reagard to the front brakes, the discs were looking pretty tired so I thought I may as well upgrade.
I ordered a FreakyParts Brembo setup that utilises the larger E9x M3 front discs and Brembo calipers.
Unfortunately the offset of the discs meant that they'd hit the lower wishbone
I spoke to FreakyParts and they swapped the caliper carriers out for me so I could run the stock Z4M / CSL discs.
A week or so later the replacement carriers arrived so I threw the setup on with the old discs, knowing full well I'd be ordered new discs soon anyway.
My attention then turned back to the suspension, I was never overly happy with the B12 kit so I moved it on and purchased a set of BC coilovers.
These suit me a little better given that I can soften them up when needed.
As part of my software development I wanted to see how well the car would run on AlphaN, so I made myself an IAT bung that would sit in place of the MAF and tuned the ECU to suit. Using the IAT sensor in place of the bung meant I could easily switch back and forth between MAF and AlphaN whilst retaing the Eventuri.
I also used this setup whilst making a PNP loom for my MaxxECU standalone ECU
I tested the setup using Audi R8 coils, which work great, however they foul the crank case oil seperator so I had to wire in some IGBTs to run the stock coils
Here you can see the car idling on the MaxxECU setup.
https://www.ecuworx.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/IMG_0319.mp4
After getting the car dialled in nicely on both the stock ECU and the MaxxECU I picked up a GSR airbox.
It took a bit of modifying to fit the Z4 but nothing a hacksaw won't fix
On it goes
I wasn't entirely happy with how restricted the air feed was with the stock GSR snorkle, so I designed and 3d printed my own.
Whilst waiting for it to print I switched out the belts, front discs, fitted new plugs and coilpacks.
Before fitting the new plugs I gave the car a quick compression test.
The engine has great compression across all 6 which was nice.
My attention then turned to the exhaust, I wanted a set of decats for the car but refuse to pay silly money, so I made my own out of a set of Scorpion E46 M3 decats.
E46 M3 decats vs Z4M cats
After a bit of chopping, and welding I came up with this
Next up was carbon splitter to give the front a little more agression.
Then this arrived:
Part of a VF570 kit, from an E46 M3. I admit I paid over the odds considering how many bits were missing but its not like these kits come up every day.
I set about sourcing the missing parts and finally had everything I needed. I ditched the injectors it that came with the kit and opted for some new 997 turbo injectors. I also swapped out all the hoses, filter, clips and anything that looked tired, along with fitting a 2.62" pulley to the supercharger.
The only thing missing now was the charge cooler pre-rad mounts. I knocked up a design and 3d printed myself some in carbon fibre reinforced filament.
I checked it would work and test fitted the pre-rad to the car.
The rest of the kit went on over a series of evenings, I added a larger 3L tank to act as reservoir for the charge cooler circuit and to add a little more capacity and also sleeved the charge cooler lines with fire proof insulation to keep the water being heated by the exhaust manifold.
I also fitted a catch can, to keep the SC inlet nice and clean.
Next up, was fitting 2x new primary O2 sensors, as the original ones would be well passed their best now.
Thankfully they came out without too much drama.
The car pulls very well, making around 12.5psi at 8K. Hopefully I'll get it on the dyno soon!
