Sam's Project Clubsport/OEM+

[LemonConnoisseur]

On a high from the success so far, as the intake was off and a usually difficult to access torx bolt was now basked in glorious light and ease of removal, I decided that it would be a smart idea to change the oil filter housing and oil cooler gaskets as I had meant to do them before but couldn't due to tool limitations. This is where everything started to go wrong.

I'd read a couple of guides/watched a couple of YouTube videos beforehand to get an idea of what is involved. In videos, as is always the case, it doesn't look too difficult and everything comes off with ease! In reality, that really is not the case.

With the oil filter removed, it was time to begin.


After removing one of the, usually, difficult to access bolts, I was feeling smug. Very smug. "Phwoar, with the intake off, this is gonna be a piece of piss!"
How foolish of me.

I could remove both of the upper torx bolts on the filter housing with no problem, placed them to one side. Tried to tug it, it moved a bit but felt as though it was stuck. It was only then that I remembered the infamous third bolt, that sits right next to a coolant flange. Bollocks.

I tried to get a spanner on it, no luck. Then tried a socket, no luck. Ok, so that coolant flange is going to have to come out. No issue, two 10mm bolts, a slight pull, and...
For f**k sake.

Now, after doing some research in hindsight, I realise that these are a brittle piece of plastic that are known to fail. Lovely!
I was pretty deflated when this happened, but at least with it out I could now access the last bolt keeping the filter housing in place.
This proved to be a right little bastard to remove. I've never tried to remove a bolt with worse space than this, not a pleasant experience in the slightest!


But, with that removed, it was free! Sort of.
My new E-spanners, although the correct size for the stupid bobble bolts, couldn't get any purchase on the one situated underneath the oil cooler. The 2 coolant pipes that connect to both the cooler and filter housing needed to be removed, which caused coolant to go absolutely everywhere - great. I then lifted the filter housing out, and as I should have anticipated, oil then went everywhere to join the coolant in the undertray/all over the driveway. Much blue roll required to try and catch any last drops that hadn't evacuated from the system, it was not very successful.


With the filter housing and cooler now out, slight joy returned as I could now get to the last bolt! Also, judging by the state of both components, I'd say this has been leaking for a while.



Gaskets have seen better days, too!



New gaskets, Elring items. They came with the car which was handy.


Attempted to give both parts a clean with Aldi's finest kitchen cleaner 8)
Better than it was before anyway. Also cleaned up the mating surfaces and fitted the cooler back onto the housing with some new bolts I got from BMW.

 

[LemonConnoisseur]

Cleaned the mating surface up on the head, then popped the cooler back on. Even though they're aluminium bolts, there's no instruction that they need to be changed for new, so just reused those.



Went to attach the coolant pipes, and I came across an issue. If anyone can help with this, that would be wonderful...
Where the f**k is this O-ring meant to go?


I figure the plastic piece sits in the coolant pipe itself and goes onto the tapered metal part of the pipe, but the O-ring is nowhere near the right size?

I've popped the coolant pipe back on without the O-ring, but can revisit it if it turns out it's necessary, or I've broken the coolant pipe; the latter would not surprise me at this stage.

Also, whilst looking in the boot for the other gaskets, I came across a Victor Reinz packet with 6 O shaped gaskets. Intake manifold perhaps? Yes

They probably didn't need changing, but as they were there, and the intake was in the state it was, on they went!



And now that brings me up to date.

Next steps? Well, as I said, I've ordered the bolts to the local BMW dealer for Monday. I also managed to order a new coolant hose to replace the one with the broken flange. However... I have found an aluminium flange on Amazon. As the plastic version is a common fail point, and if I can avoid spending £60 on a new hose, I have ordered it. It should arrive tomorrow, so I will have a go at crushing the remainder of the plastic flange in the coolant pipe and pop the aluminium version in. Fingers crossed

Looking at the coolant that did fall out, I'd say it needs a change. I'm hoping I can get the starter buttoned up on Monday evening after work, Tuesday evening at the latest, then it should be all good to go! Famous last words.

 

[Vanne]

Build it up and take it to unzed with ya.. then flog it off there for 3 x the profit.

 

[Beesza]

I had to use lots of plumbers grease on that O-ring to get it back in. O-rings can swell over time.

 

[LemonConnoisseur]

Need to update this again properly now the starter has been replaced and I've done some other bits.

Did a Brands Hatch evening session last night. Car was faultless, but it's in need of some better brake pads and tyres for it to be quicker (not to mention the person behind the wheel :roll: ). Took some videos on a GoPro that I'll upload if they're any good.

What a track though! Paddock Hill and Clearways are pretty tricky to get right.

 

[Barty]

Nice job and great pics, I’ve got similar work planned shortly so your experiences have proven very helpful indeed!

 

[hopz121]

Great thread, I was very close to buying this car and planned to do exactly what you have done going down the OEM+ route so it’s great to see your progress. Nice one on the odd jobs and brake down fixing too. Should be a well sorted end by the time you have finished with it

 

[LemonConnoisseur]

So, in a slightly disjointed manner, I will now update this to where the car sits now!

Following on from fitting the intake manifold gaskets, BMW came through with the goods, in the form of 2 new starter bolts and a new top radiator hose as I had figured something was broken due to that mysterious O-ring that wouldn't go back in it's home.
Also, whilst I was there, I decided to fit a new auxilliary belt and belt tensioner, as I'd dropped some coolant and oil on the belt and didn't fancy it slipping. Turns out the tensioner had been replaced (would've known this if I had actually read through the service history/invoices properly, but alas), but I had a new INA one anyway, so popped that on.



I also replaced the brittle plastic coolant "Mickey-Mouse" flange with an aluminium version - some people would replace the whole hose, but it was in good condition with only the flange being broken, and on E36s a similar upgrade is carried out by replacing a plastic thermostat housing with an aluminium version meaning it doesn't crack.




Good thing I did buy a new hose, this is the O-ring that had swelled.


Popped the new bolts in the starter motor, then went through the process of reattaching everything. No real issues, and was very careful with the CCV pipes as I really didn't want them to break now.

Finished fitting everything up at about 10pm, then wanted to give it a start just to check that there was nothing wrong and I could go to bed happy.
Reconnected the battery terminals (loosely), went to start the car, ignition light on (good!), turn the key, complete darkness.

I'm there thinking "oh my God, what have I done? Have I wired the starter up wrong, shorted something and blown the ECU? Surely not..."
Cue me going to the engine bay, taking the fuse cover off, panicking that I'd blown something. Then I think, "maybe I should just check the terminals have a solid connection" - tighten up terminals, turn key, fires straight up
Lesson learnt!

Also, last mod of this session was fitting a new stubby aerial, as the last one had some strange metal/carbon fibre combo which I disliked.


Drove around for a couple of weeks with no issues, I was happy with the work I'd carried out

Had a weekend trip to Shropshire booked for the girlfriend's birthday, so swung by a mate's workshop on the way to pop some new oil in, and change the filter. I think it had only done about 6000 miles since the last change, but it was about 12 months ago, and I had the track day booked so wanted to do it in preparation for that. Also changed the brake fluid for some ATE TYP200 because I was getting brake fade on the road and I really didn't want to boil the fluid on track. Whilst it was up in the air I wanted to remove the CDV (I didn't experience any of the kangarooing, but wanted to check) - took the line off, turns out it doesn't have one anyway, result

Got to Shropshire, chilled for the first evening and went to dinner in Shrewsbury.

As we were so close to Wales, and I've been on some of the roads in the north, I wanted to venture across the border. Drove from the place we were staying to Devil's Bridge and enjoyed some of the roads on the way there! A lot of the limits are 50mph, and there are countless caravans, but managed to stretch the legs a couple of times anyway. The car is perfect for the Welsh countryside and made me extremely happy with my purchase.
Brake fluid was ideal too, no more fade!

 

[HGoward]

Fantastic write up, and its nice to see your giving it the treatment it deserves. It's unfortunate about the starter motor, I had never had any inkling that it was going just maybe one lumpy cold start a long time ago. The next thing on the list has surely got to be Scotland now, the roads are similar to Wales but instead of the roads only being say a couple miles you'll get 12 miles are driving heaven.
I have to say I extremely miss this car now as the M240 is just not the same. Very fast but it doesn't handle the same in the corners at all. But that's what I get for moving away from a designated sports car.

 

[LemonConnoisseur]

Fantastic write up, and its nice to see your giving it the treatment it deserves. It's unfortunate about the starter motor, I had never had any inkling that it was going just maybe one lumpy cold start a long time ago. The next thing on the list has surely got to be Scotland now, the roads are similar to Wales but instead of the roads only being say a couple miles you'll get 12 miles are driving heaven.
I have to say I extremely miss this car now as the M240 is just not the same. Very fast but it doesn't handle the same in the corners at all. But that's what I get for moving away from a designated sports car.

Thanks Harry. Yeah, the starter came out of the blue, was fine one day, dead the next. But now happy another common failure is fixed

Scotland is on the list, probably going to be next year though. Don't particularly want to do it when the roads are wet (although this could always be the case being Scotland :roll: ), as I'd like to enjoy them properly.

They're very different cars, the driving experience of the Z4 is awesome - low, direct, enough power to have fun but not kill yourself.

If you decide the M240 isn't enough, I'm sure you could swap it for a Z4M :evil: :evil:

 

[HGoward]

[ref]LemonConnoisseur[/ref], Yeah when I went In April got very lucky since it wasn't quite peak season for caravans so you had some long bits of open road with no traffic, and out of the 5 days there was only rain on one day. So I'd say look for April time.

Yeah I know they are pretty much equal price now which is crazy but shows how the M variants are still valued today. I also had my car mates trying to get me to get a e92 M3 but I can't quite justify the maintenance costs that come with a full blown M car.

 

[LemonConnoisseur]

[ref]LemonConnoisseur[/ref], Yeah when I went In April got very lucky since it wasn't quite peak season for caravans so you had some long bits of open road with no traffic, and out of the 5 days there was only rain on one day. So I'd say look for April time.

Yeah I know they are pretty much equal price now which is crazy but shows how the M variants are still valued today. I also had my car mates trying to get me to get a e92 M3 but I can't quite justify the maintenance costs that come with a full blown M car.

Cheers for the tip! It's definitely on the lsit.

An E92 M3 would be awesome too, different beast though. A lot more power, but a lot more weight too.
I'd agree with the running costs of M cars, but then the older ones don't really depreciate anymore, so it probably offsets itself.

 

[LemonConnoisseur]

Last part of the update!

Forgot to mention in the last one, I found the source of the "clunk" when changing gear - rear diff bush has some movement, so that will be replaced with a Powerflex jobby at some point, when I get round to the rear end (oooh matron!).

Here's a better picture from the Welsh mountains...


Now on the Monday we were due to return from Shropshire, I had booked onto a last minute track evening at Brands Hatch. It was £89 with Opentrack as it was a bike evening that they couldn't fill.
I've always wanted to do Brands, as I've been there a few times to watch racing, but couldn't justify the £160 evening session costs that they typically charge.

So a 4 hour journey, followed by a quick pitstop at home to grab a few tools, led me on another 1 hour jaunt down the M11 and M25 to the track.
Got there in plenty of time, so just wandered around having a look at the other cars and watching the last couple of sessions of the bike day that was preceding the car evening.

I booked onto this with the car in it's current form, because I wanted to know where the weak points are before going down the rabbit hole of modifying

The car performed faultlessly for the 3 sessions that I did, with the only real issue being the brakes. They're standard pads and discs, so work fine on the road (just), but on track they just can't cope with the heat. I think changing the fluid paid off, but maybe braided hoses are needed if the pads don't fix the long term performance.
The staggered wheel set-up also didn't really help with understeer. I've got the Z4M Front ARB fitted, and on the road you don't really notice any understeer, but when pushed nearer the limit, it is definitely present.
Stickier tyres are in the garden, and once my new wheels arrive, it should help with that weak point a little bit

There was some very fast machinery there, but it was definitely a way to get the adrenaline pumping again after about 2 years with no track time. If anyone wants to watch it going round at a reasonably sedate pace, here's the video
[youtube]h5ykiv6nCi8[/youtube]

A few pictures too, as they come included for free with Opentrack




Returned home with no issues, other than getting through about half of the brake pads.


Last weekend I got round to removing the rear bumper and Eisenmann exhaust - all went to plan other than when I was lowering the car down with the new bumper, and the jack dropped suddenly and punched the handle through the bottom of my new bumper, brilliant.
To be honest, it's in pretty poor condition, so will need painting anyway. When I do get round to this I'll ask them to repair the hole too.

A little care package also arrived, which gives an idea of the next course of action with the car.

This large box contains:

- Brake discs (front and rear)
- Outer track rod ends
- 4 new wheel bearings
- 4 rear control arm bushes (they're all ball joints so you can replace the upper/lower bushes with them, instead of the bottom bush being rubber)
- rocker cover gasket
- CCV kit
- Eccentric shaft sensor and new gasket - I have a slightly fluttering idle, so I'm hoping this will rectify that. There's also no evidence of it being done, so worth doing from a preventative perspective anyway.

Now we are up to date, just need to find the budget for some new pads.
I plan to do Snetterton in September, and fancy trying out the EBC RP-1 pads. If anyone has experience with them, your opinion would be greatly appreciated

 

[Mr Tidy]

Great update Sam and I enjoyed the video - good to see you finally got passed the Blue Leon! But those Caterhams are just ballistic.

Back in the 90s I did several track days at Brands and always enjoyed them, especially the one time it was on the full GP circuit! Even passed my ARDS test there but then Mrs Tidy came on the scene so my racing plans didn't get any further.

 

[Joycey]

Great read keep the content coming. I'm on Brands again later this month been there way too many times this year. Will be 8 zeds playing the evening on the 24th.

 

[LemonConnoisseur]

Great update Sam and I enjoyed the video - good to see you finally got passed the Blue Leon! But those Caterhams are just ballistic.

Back in the 90s I did several track days at Brands and always enjoyed them, especially the one time it was on the full GP circuit! Even passed my ARDS test there but then Mrs Tidy came on the scene so my racing plans didn't get any further.

Thanks Mr Tidy! Yes, the blue ST was a slight annoyance as I wasn't quick enough to overtake him on the straight, but I think he was relatively new. The Caterhams are extremely quick, but because they're so fast, they were overtaking in some pretty terrible spots on occasion.

The GP circuit is meant to be something else, but at £485 for a day, I shall be giving it a miss Sad to hear that your racing career was cut short though!

 

[LemonConnoisseur]

Great read keep the content coming. I'm on Brands again later this month been there way too many times this year. Will be 8 zeds playing the evening on the 24th.

Thanks mate Ah, very nice! Wish I could join, but don't think the car will be in a suitable state by then.

Do you track anywhere else, or just Brands?

 

[1536Z4]

and once my new wheels arrive

Another interesting update Looking forward to seeing the new wheels but probably not as much as you are

 

[LemonConnoisseur]

Another interesting update Looking forward to seeing the new wheels but probably not as much as you are

Yeah I'm hoping they'll suit! Also, keen to see whether they fit :roll:

 

[Joycey]

Great read keep the content coming. I'm on Brands again later this month been there way too many times this year. Will be 8 zeds playing the evening on the 24th.

Thanks mate Ah, very nice! Wish I could join, but don't think the car will be in a suitable state by then.

Do you track anywhere else, or just Brands?

Yeah I do most tracks around the UK with the occasional trip to the Ring or Spa. I've had quite a few friends wanting to do track days for the first time, Brands is a nice track for beginners to learn on so often go there.