My (new to me) Z4M Roadster

[RBull]

Congrats. Nice colour combo and the car looks in fine condition.

I was looking at an S2000 when I decided to step it up to the Z4M, but the looks of the coupe won me over versus the roadie which we don't have much season for anyhow.

[krnnerdboy]

welcome to the german side....I was a JDM fanatic before I got my first ride in a porsche, and then I bought my first 997 and now my lovely e85m. Although there are certain aspects of the s2000 that are clearly better, such as shifter feel

[david_lm]

Awesome color combo!!

Another ex-S2000 here as well, sigh.

[JPWEraser]

Originally Posted by RBull

Congrats. Nice colour combo and the car looks in fine condition.

I was looking at an S2000 when I decided to step it up to the Z4M, but the looks of the coupe won me over versus the roadie which we don't have much season for anyhow.

I don't have anything negative to say about the S2000 in any way really. I had just modified mine so much that it wasn't practical any more. I WILL have a hardtop with this car though! It was lovely in the winter on my S2000.

Originally Posted by krnnerdboy

welcome to the german side....I was a JDM fanatic before I got my first ride in a porsche, and then I bought my first 997 and now my lovely e85m. Although there are certain aspects of the s2000 that are clearly better, such as shifter feel

The trans and shifter in the S2000 are amazing, but, the trans in the Z4M is amazing as well. The shifter is a little more sloppy than I am accustomed to, but that's nothing a new lever and some bushings can't fix.

Originally Posted by david_lm

Awesome color combo!!

Another ex-S2000 here as well, sigh.

Thanks! It seems that the S2000 is a great jumping point!

[Finnegan]

Originally Posted by JPWEraser

The trans and shifter in the S2000 are amazing, but, the trans in the Z4M is amazing as well. The shifter is a little more sloppy than I am accustomed to, but that's nothing a new lever and some bushings can't fix.

First, great color combo and the car is a beauty! Good luck with avoiding the mod bug! I'm probably not going to help with that with this post; but the mods are cheap and functional, and address the few key "weak spots" with this car....

RE: shifting, consider adding new transmission mounts and a CDV and possibly a transmission fluid swap. The mounts on this car are too soft for the engine/performance (they're marshmallows). About 55 bucks gets the job done DIY; about 150 or so for in indie shop to do it. The CDV really adds more control to the clutch engagement and is a big improvement as well. 35 bucks for that one if I recall correctly. This won't make the shifter as smooth and wonderful as the S2000, but it will improve things.

Mount/CDV/Fluid discussion

CDV from Zeckhausen

Mounts from LeatherZ (Warning, lots of other goodies too! )

[JPWEraser]

Originally Posted by Finnegan

First, great color combo and the car is a beauty! Good luck with avoiding the mod bug! I'm probably not going to help with that with this post; but the mods are cheap and functional, and address the few key "weak spots" with this car....

RE: shifting, consider adding new transmission mounts and a CDV and possibly a transmission fluid swap. The mounts on this car are too soft for the engine/performance (they're marshmallows). About 55 bucks gets the job done DIY; about 150 or so for in indie shop to do it. The CDV really adds more control to the clutch engagement and is a big improvement as well. 35 bucks for that one if I recall correctly. This won't make the shifter as smooth and wonderful as the S2000, but it will improve things.

Mount/CDV/Fluid discussion

CDV from Zeckhausen

Mounts from LeatherZ (Warning, lots of other goodies too! )

Hey thanks for the suggestions! I will consider those things. Now, the car is a BLAST to drive out of the box really. I am used to the S2000 and believe it or not, CDV delete is a very popular mod on those cars as well. My Z4M is still under warranty so I won't be making changes to void that right off - at least until it is no longer under warranty anyways.

[JPWEraser]

So, I've been researching a lot and I've come up with a list of things that I would like to do to the car:

Hardtop
Wheels/tires - probably OEM ZCPs (19") with some 10mm spacers up front
Worn steering wheel pieces fix
OEM aero side skirts

Any suggestions or thoughts?

[Finnegan]

Originally Posted by JPWEraser

Hey thanks for the suggestions! I will consider those things. Now, the car is a BLAST to drive out of the box really. I am used to the S2000 and believe it or not, CDV delete is a very popular mod on those cars as well. My Z4M is still under warranty so I won't be making changes to void that right off - at least until it is no longer under warranty anyways.

The CDV replacement is indistinguishable from stock (it's a specially modified stock one, they don't drill it either using some other method that retains the part's integrity and seal). Unless the dealer actually removed it they'd never know. And that's assuming the tech would know the difference (highly doubtful). It's a pretty safe mod. Folks go with the Zeckhausen for just this reason.

Same with the transmission mounts. Unlikely to attract attention, although they're obviously not stock since they actually have some beef to them.

Your car, your decisions of course! Comments offered as opinion for consideration.

RE: the other ideas:

Hardtop - can't comment
Wheels/tires - probably OEM ZCPs (19") with some 10mm spacers up front Hmm, car's ride is pretty intense on 18s, less rubber = more NVH? Need someone with 19s to comment.
Worn steering wheel pieces fix No brainer, yes
OEM aero side skirts Love these, totally non-functional but awesome looking. Tisher has a great deal. There's a thread on these around here somewhere, search.

[racerbruce]

Greetings -
BEAUTIFUL white/red roadster - stunning!! You'll never grow tired of the torque at such incredibly low rpms - MASSIVE breaking power - INCREDIBLE cornering.

Thoroughly enjoyed my 02 S2000 w/Comptech stainless steel performance exhaust - 18 in OZ Superleggeras - front air dam - stainless steel front grill - Sebring Silver w/Red Leather - really fun car.

I've gone from 114 ftl lb torque to 262 ft lb torque....WOW!!!!

Don't speak so soon re mods....(: I installed an RPi Ram Air Intake (+8 hp) and RE Diablo Exhaust (+12 hp) and OZ Ultralegerra rims....total weight savings of 52 lbs!! and 350 hp!! = 8.98 lbs per hp!!!!

The VentureShield front clear protection helps immesaurably -

It's a really fun roadster.


Enjoy!!!!



Racerbruce

[pokeybritches]

Hahaha, one of my best friends was looking at this car, and was pissed someone bought it before he had a chance to get out to Memphis to check it out. Congrats on the car!

[JPWEraser]

Originally Posted by Finnegan

The CDV replacement is indistinguishable from stock (it's a specially modified stock one, they don't drill it either using some other method that retains the part's integrity and seal). Unless the dealer actually removed it they'd never know. And that's assuming the tech would know the difference (highly doubtful). It's a pretty safe mod. Folks go with the Zeckhausen for just this reason.

Same with the transmission mounts. Unlikely to attract attention, although they're obviously not stock since they actually have some beef to them.

Your car, your decisions of course! Comments offered as opinion for consideration.

RE: the other ideas:

Hardtop - can't comment
Wheels/tires - probably OEM ZCPs (19") with some 10mm spacers up front Hmm, car's ride is pretty intense on 18s, less rubber = more NVH? Need someone with 19s to comment.
Worn steering wheel pieces fix No brainer, yes
OEM aero side skirts Love these, totally non-functional but awesome looking. Tisher has a great deal. There's a thread on these around here somewhere, search.

Thanks for all your help - stay tuned to this thread to see updates.

Originally Posted by racerbruce

Greetings -
BEAUTIFUL white/red roadster - stunning!! You'll never grow tired of the torque at such incredibly low rpms - MASSIVE breaking power - INCREDIBLE cornering.

Thoroughly enjoyed my 02 S2000 w/Comptech stainless steel performance exhaust - 18 in OZ Superleggeras - front air dam - stainless steel front grill - Sebring Silver w/Red Leather - really fun car.

I've gone from 114 ftl lb torque to 262 ft lb torque....WOW!!!!

Don't speak so soon re mods....(: I installed an RPi Ram Air Intake (+8 hp) and RE Diablo Exhaust (+12 hp) and OZ Ultralegerra rims....total weight savings of 52 lbs!! and 350 hp!! = 8.98 lbs per hp!!!!

The VentureShield front clear protection helps immesaurably -

It's a really fun roadster.


Enjoy!!!!



Racerbruce

Absolutely! My S2000 had 270 ft/lb of tq, but it was all up top at high boost - the M is very different (in a good way). I love the car and I expect to only grow fonder of it as time goes on. Thanks for the warm welcome!

Originally Posted by pokeybritches

Hahaha, one of my best friends was looking at this car, and was pissed someone bought it before he had a chance to get out to Memphis to check it out. Congrats on the car!

Ha! I have been that guy several times over the years - thanks for the welcome!

[JPWEraser]

First mod - done. This one is simple but an essential one to me. I bought the OEM aux input from Bavauto.com - SUPER service, reasonable price, and very quick shipping. This one took me about 15 minutes to finish:




More to come...

[JPWEraser]

Mod number 2 done...

Mangowalk 3" stubby:


Also washed her up - wish she stayed this way:

[JPWEraser]

Mod number 3 done. Up this time is a LED conversion for the license plate lights. These were a very simple install. I am impressed with the speed of shipping from E92-Lighting. The box came well packaged and complete with easy instructions:




And here is a before picture with the OEM bulbs:


And after installing the LEDs:


These pictures aren't the greatest, but they'll have to do for now since I started pouring rain right when I was taking the after-mod shot. More to come...

[Thisisdudewhoru]

Looking good john. I have the license plate bulbs and all interior lights to leds and my antennae done as well. I also changed my headlight bulbs to phillips ultinon 6k's. We need to get together and do the trans mounts.

[JPWEraser]

After a little bit of hybernation, the mod bug struck me again. This time it's not so bad I suppose. First up, I nabbed a set of BMS mufflers from a member here (thanks, Nate!). The install was really easy. Luckily I had enough spare hardware around that I could get them put on last night as Lowe's was closed when I got around to putting them on. I will get pictures when the car is clean and the sun is out, but for now, a short video clip taken with my phone of the car idling and a little rev action. Nothing too serious as I was in my driveway at like 10-11pm.

Up next (when they arrive) - wheels! Stay tuned for updates.

[Nate2046]

Cool! Couldn't wait to get them on could you? Hope you enjoy them, I think they'll probably sound even better on the roadster than they did on the coupe. Enjoy

[JPWEraser]

Originally Posted by Nate2046

Cool! Couldn't wait to get them on could you? Hope you enjoy them, I think they'll probably sound even better on the roadster than they did on the coupe. Enjoy

Heck no I couldn't! So far they're great. The drone zone is kinda bad with the top up but it is 100% fine with the top down. Time will tell.

[DR Z4]

I normally don't like white cars at all, but that colour combo is incredible!

[JPWEraser]

Originally Posted by DR Z4

I normally don't like white cars at all, but that colour combo is incredible!

Thanks!

[JPWEraser]

Here are a couple pictures of the mufflers installed and now adjusted:

[MIKe86]

Careful they're not TOO close to the valence. Pretty sure I remember seeing another member posting a pic of a melted valence to the tips..