Suspension & General improvement overhaul

E

Easty-5

Member
 Aberdeen
I know I have asked these questions before but bare with me. I was all set for selling the Z and buying a VX220. That deal fell through and then another offer came up for the Z so I sourced a Honda K20 engined Lotus Elise to replace it with. That deal also fell through at the last hurdle so the Z is 100% staying with me. I am not upset in the slightest about it - although I do feel a prize prick for letting the buyer of my Z down. :thumbsdown:

Anyway, incase you didn't realise going by my choice of cars to replace the Z with, I'm wanting to make it a little bit more driver focused and a sharper handling car. After driving the Elise and VX it's evident that in standard form, it's a rather blunt instrument.

Current shopping list is;

KW Clubsports + any worn out items replaced
Vibratech engine & trans mounts
Pagid RS29's all round (although I may have a brembo front only upgrade sourced)
Wheel stud conversion
Royal steering wheel refurb in Alcantara

Is there anything else I should be considering? Does anybody have any experience with the UUC short shift kit? Worth the cash? What about H&R or Whiteline ARBs. Does the Z need these?
 
Bucket (Tillets/Recaro Pole Position) seats so you can make the most of the new suspension?

Budget allowing, I'm looking at (finally) getting my Alcon calipers on the front of mine, but going for a more endurance pad - such as the new Pagid RSL pads.
 
RTAB upgrade or limiting kit. Polly bushes all round and more manly arbs? Or adjustable ones so you can fine tune it.
 
RTAB's have already been done. Poly bushes are a good shout. I have already been looking into ARBs but I'm not convinced the Z needs them.

Tony - I may have a set of Brembo's lined up for the front. Will find out early next week.
 
Definitely poly bush it, and if you really want to feel involved go for the powerflex black series which are harder than the standard purple. I have these in my E36 track car and they do make a difference, where i didn't really feel a great deal of difference between purple and OEM.

A well set up coilover kit often will not need stiffer ARB's. Dial in a good geo and it should totally transform the car. You could even go so far as making it a clubsport type event by removing as much weight as you can. It will be a toss up between comfort and feel i guess. Things like aircon, speaker systems, sound deadening, door cards can all come out.
 
To improve the handling of the Z4M you've got to considerably reduce/eliminate the pitching under braking and lifting under acceleration at the front of the car. An aftermarket adjustable suspension will do that by using more equal sized springs F/R than OEM. To get the best out of adjustable suspension you need to be prepared to make adjustments to suit the different types of use that you give the car rather than hope to find a general purpose one-size-suits-all setting.

Having spent a lot of time adjusting KW and AC Schnitzer suspensions on the Z3MC and Z4MC, the best 'fast-road" settings are not those recommended by the manufacturers, because our roads are much worse than the roads used to develop those suspensions. You will find that the optimum fast road settings are with the rear dampers set pretty soft both for bump and particularly for rebound. I know both BMWZ4MC and Beedub say that their KW Clubsports are very stiff for road use, but they primarily use their cars for track and I'm not sure if they bother swapping between track settings and fast road settings. Unless I could be absolutely assured that the Clubsports could be adjusted soft enough for road use, then I would opt for KW V3. At the track you can adjust the dampers all round to be at near-maximum stiffness and they will be great then revert to your fast road settings for usual use.

At the same time as fitting adjustable suspension, I'd also fit the VT engine mounts so that any damper settings you try will also account for the presence of the engine mounts, which will make it easier to find your optimum settings.

I've been a passenger in 2 different Elises driven around The Ring and although they handle well, the noise from the engine behind my head, even wearing a helmet, was extremely irritating and I don't know how anyone could live with one!

I also have the uprated H&R ARBs and they do make a noticeable difference, which can be clearly seen in photographs, but the best bang for buck on the Z4M is the VT engine mounts. :thumbsup:
 
Easty-5, I have the UUC short shift kit. Had it installed very early on, going on for 4 or 5 years now. It was an improvement, it shortens the throw a bit, makes the action a bit less "soft", doesnt do anything for the "free play" of the gear shifter though which bothers me. For that UUC does the Double Shear Selector Rod (http://www.nexternal.com/uuc/articles/SSK-DSSR.htm). They made one for our cars but it appears that at some stage during the Z4M's manufacture they changed the design of the stock DSSR and so the one that UUC made doesn't fit all cars as reported by members on ZPost.
 
Easty-5, for what it's worth I have moved the other way from an Elise with Audi conversion to a Z4M and am very happy I did. No question that the Elise is faster, but the pain of removing the clams for meaningful access, drone of the 4 cylinder engine, build quality, marginal standard brakes and snappy handling added up to the biggest disappointment of any car yet owned. A good friend owns a 330bhp VX220T and is similarly underwhelmed except for the astonishing straight line poke.
I'm not pretending that the Z4M is the best thing ever but it makes for a better all rounder IMO. :)
 
Fishy Dave said:
Easty-5, for what it's worth I have moved the other way from an Elise with Audi conversion to a Z4M and am very happy I did. No question that the Elise is faster, but the pain of removing the clams for meaningful access, drone of the 4 cylinder engine, build quality, marginal standard brakes and snappy handling added up to the biggest disappointment of any car yet owned. A good friend owns a 330bhp VX220T and is similarly underwhelmed except for the astonishing straight line poke.
I'm not pretending that the Z4M is the best thing ever but it makes for a better all rounder IMO. :)
Click to expand...

thats a very interesting reply for you OP.....
 
It's always good to hear the views of people who have went the other way. There is no doubting at all that the Elise/VX would make a far better trackday toy. I think the novelty would wear off very quickly if I bought one though. I'm not upset at all that I'm keeping the Z. Infact I'm stupidly excited to get all the mods done on the Z. It will be like driving a completely different car :-)
 
Easty-5 said:
It's always good to hear the views of people who have went the other way. There is no doubting at all that the Elise/VX would make a far better trackday toy. I think the novelty would wear off very quickly if I bought one though. I'm not upset at all that I'm keeping the Z. Infact I'm stupidly excited to get all the mods done on the Z. It will be like driving a completely different car :-)
Click to expand...

it will change more than you can imagine.
 
Easty-5 said:
I'm wanting to make it a little bit more driver focused and a sharper handling car. After driving the Elise and VX it's evident that in standard form, it's a rather blunt instrument.
Click to expand...

Fully agree.
I bought the Z4MC as a replacement for my S1 Elise, truth of the matter is that 3 years down the line I still own both...

I wanted more comfort/usability etc and got that from the Z but the Elise is so much more pure, I wish I could get that same feeling in the ///M. So I really like your strategy :thumbsup:
Keep us informed about your progress and who knows it might bring me to selling the Lotus :P

Cheers,
René
 
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