Z4M arriving on Wednesday

E

ed80

Member
 Bristol
Hi All,

I inherited a bit of money from a car loving uncle, so decided that the only way to spend it is on an E86 Z4M. It arrives on Wednesday and I will try to get photos then, here is a picture from the seller:

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I have almost exclusively owned fun RWD cars, but have been running a MG ZF EV for the past couple of years. It's actually a decent car for the price, and it costs pennies to run (a main dealer service is £70), but decided it was time for a second car on the drive. Previous fun cars include an E46 325ti, a RX-8, and 986 and 981 Boxster Ss.
 
Hi and welcome to the forum. :thumbsup:

It was an inheritance from an aunt that allowed me to upgrade from a 3.0Si Coupe to my MC, and I did have an E46 325ti for a few years too. Never had an RX8 or Boxster though!

Have a great day on Wednesday anyway. :driving:
 
Thanks all, it's going to be a little while before I can drive it in anger. It arrives on Wednesday first thing, but in the evening I am heading to Plymouth for two days (in the other car). On Friday it's going into Redish Motorsport for a thorough check up, and on Saturday I am off to NYC to visit my brand-new Nephew.

It's arriving on mismatched tyres (the dealer put a cheapie on the front to pass its MOT, and it otherwise has bridgestones on the rear and a continental on the front :headbang: ) so next week when I get back it's booked into Costco for new Goodyear F1s all round. By the middle of the month it should be perfect, and ready for a :driving:
 
Exciting stuff. I used Redish when I had my MR. Very professional outfit.
 
Just had a quick call from Redish following (most of) the post-purchase inspection. Seems like the only problem they found was a disintegrating coil pack. They replaced it during the compression check, but mechanically everything else seems sound. It might still might show some bearing wear in the oil analysis, but compression and vanos were both ok.
 
Bearing shells are a hard one to call when you don't know the history of the car.

Mine had 7 previous keepers when I bought it so for peace of mind I got new shells fitted at 78K miles and 6 of them were showing copper so I was glad I did. Had new engine mounts fitted too - the old ones were in a sorry state!
 
Mr Tidy said:
Mine had 7 previous keepers when I bought it so for peace of mind I got new shells fitted at 78K miles and 6 of them were showing copper so I was glad I did. Had new engine mounts fitted too - the old ones were in a sorry state!
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I will hold off on bearings for a year or so if the oil looks ok. I'll do engine mounts soon, planning on refreshing some suspension parts when I can get the car up on a ramp. There is a garage about an hour from me that rents out lifts for the day, so i'll do it there.
 
ed80 said:
I will hold off on bearings for a year or so if the oil looks ok.
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If the oil has been changed there will be no contamination to show up in oil tests as it has just been drained and put in the bin

If there is no copper in the test is that because it has all worn off or it is all still under the next layer

I did mine and was pleased I did 85K miles
 
That was part of my thinking about not knowing previous history. Ross at RBM said you'd really need to get a few samples analysed to see how things were developing over time, so I just bit the bullet and got them replaced knowing they probably won't need doing again.
 
Good idea as by all accounts Redish have plenty of knowledge of S54 engines.

I bought mine privately and got the impression the previous owner was probably sympathetic to get it up to temperature before gunning it as he had an R8 in the garage, but he'd had it less than a year so I was more concerned about the other 6 keepers!

Especially as the first one seems to have been BMW UK as they did the 1,000 mile service. I thought anyone given it as a company car for a few months might have been less bothered about caning it from cold. :roll:
 
The only sure way is to get your shells done and pop in new mounts while your'e down there. If you think there's a problem then you will never drive it without worrying. Could save you lots of money in the end :driving:
 
Engine oil analysis came back, Redish are happy that there is nothing to be concerned about at the moment. I'll repeat this every few months and keep an eye on it.

Oil analysis.jpg
 
The oil analysis is a bit of a waste of money unless its done at the end of a service interval as it only gives you the health since the last oil change.
 
ed80 said:
I'll repeat this every few months and keep an eye on it.
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At £40 a pop every few months you'd be better saving it and just putting it towards new bearings if you're concerned. Coincide it with an oil change to save yourself a few quid, in my experience you'll have it in the back of your mind nagging you until you get them changed anyway :wink:
 
AndyBeech said:
At £40 a pop every few months you'd be better saving it and just putting it towards new bearings if you're concerned. Coincide it with an oil change to save yourself a few quid, in my experience you'll have it in the back of your mind nagging you until you get them changed anyway
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Ross took a sample from my car when I had an Inspection 2 done at RBM, but that was in early 2020 and the analysis labs weren't open. :(

So as Andy says it was nagging me for a few months and I bit the bullet and got the shells replaced. Should have got them done at the same time as the Inspection 2 though. :roll:

But there is no mention of the mileage of the car which has a bearing. Mine had done 78K miles so I figured it was probably time to get them done and as six were showing copper I was glad I'd had them replaced. The engine mounts were in a really sorry state too!
 
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