Ess - Z4m Vt1-445

[drbvac]

Started the install a couple of days ago in my garage and so far so good! The installation instructions come on a thumb drive and pics are in colour and pretty well done but there are some differences to what is said and what you have to do.

A lot of the fasteners and clips are a real pain to get at but I guess they would expect the installer to have an idea of how things are put together - also couldn't believe how rusty some of the bolts and clips were considering the car never sees salt or snow.

Had a couple questions - cleared up by Roman in Arizona and Hans in Norway, for example the directions for removing and relocating the Power steering fluid container are a little off and although they don't say to take off the plastic tray under the front end, it would be impossible to change the pulleys and belts without doing so. [ATTACH]



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NOw have to do the fuel rails and new injectors

[ZStig]

welcome to the FI club.

The Power Steering pump lines are really stretched at their limits, to move it up there. On the intercooled kit, its even worse because you have a pipe rubbing against it, from what I remember.

Good luck with the rest of the install. Don't lose any clips!

[Mirko]

Lookin' good. Good luck and please keep posting pictures

[drbvac]

Originally Posted by ZStig

welcome to the FI club.

The Power Steering pump lines are really stretched at their limits, to move it up there. On the intercooled kit, its even worse because you have a pipe rubbing against it, from what I remember.

Good luck with the rest of the install. Don't lose any clips!

The problem I had was that the instructions said to insert the new hose INTO the hose coming from the pump but that wasn't gonna work - so I took it off - the new hose in the kit goes up pretty well and you don't run it under the metal lines over the alternator. The front line is all curved but not too badly stretched if you unclip the two where they go under the radiator housing.

I guess it would be a lot easier if I had a hoist - hard to get to some stuff lying on your back and for example - the clips on the stock air intake - don't even bother undoing the plastic rivets - after you remove the rubber seal on the right side of the radiator - just pull the front part of the air intake off the back.

As well - UNLESS - you intend to put it back to stock - and I think even if you do I would cut the hole for the air filter hose as big as you want - if you put the stock one back on - seal it up with tape or something but to try and fit the 4" "flex" air hose that the K&N filter goes on through the stock opening is nuts. If you can - I'd cut it big enough to be able to clean and change the air filter by taking it off the supercharger rather than taking the whole front clip off @

Away for a week - will update when back and the ECU is in Arizona getting re-programmed anyway. I will see if I can open up that opening without cutting off my hand or anything more important like the headlight washer hoses

[Caddyshk]

I suspect you have the only Z4MC on Prince Edward Island? Get some pics in the spring please. Beautiful place to live

[Beedub]

Originally Posted by ZStig

welcome to the FI club.

The Power Steering pump lines are really stretched at their limits, to move it up there. On the intercooled kit, its even worse because you have a pipe rubbing against it, from what I remember.

Good luck with the rest of the install. Don't lose any clips!

i used a stock e46 power steering hose, its longer and the perfect shape to do what you need, its not stretched, kinked in anyway and your not having to have loads of joints uptop ;-)

[ZStig]

Originally Posted by Beedub

i used a stock e46 power steering hose, its longer and the perfect shape to do what you need, its not stretched, kinked in anyway and your not having to have loads of joints uptop ;-)

innnnnteresting

[Beedub]

Originally Posted by ZStig

innnnnteresting

one of the many many tweaks i made.....

i also used an angle grinder to cut the P/S bracket that connects to the s/c bracket, if you chop the Legs off the bracket, you can loosen the p/s tank and check the s.c oil without any bother at all ;-)

[mike519]

Originally Posted by Caddyshk

I suspect you have the only Z4MC on Prince Edward Island? Get some pics in the spring please. Beautiful place to live

Ah Charlottetown...home of the Gahan House, my favorite stout on the planet!

[drbvac]

Originally Posted by Beedub

i used a stock e46 power steering hose, its longer and the perfect shape to do what you need, its not stretched, kinked in anyway and your not having to have loads of joints uptop ;-)

Wouldn't happen to have a part number would you >>??

[drbvac]

Originally Posted by mike519

Ah Charlottetown...home of the Gahan House, my favorite stout on the planet!

My fishing crew eat there once a month - they sell the stout in the gallon jugs now >>!

[drbvac]

Well back from a holiday and I cut the framing around the front air filter space so I could remove the ESS filter and hose and lubricate and clean the K&N without taking off the front bumper of the car. I could have cut the hose but I did want to put the filter intake as far into cooler air as possible. It is right in the area where some of the air comes through the inlet from the air vents going over to the brake pads as they are slotted - If I had to I could cut the top out of the inlet as I rarely autocross the car or race it and if it would get additional air to the filter - that would suit me fine

[drbvac]

Took off the fuel rail - injectors come off fairly easily - the metal clips that hold them in just slide out but put them somewhere so you don't lose them and don't drop them into the engine. Took me 1/2 an hour to find the one I dropped.

The clips that hold the electrical connectors to the injectors are not like many where you lift a tab and pull or push on the wire and it lets go. The wire shaped like shown in the picture catches the injector flange in 3 places and has to be pulled off completely. Get a small hooked thingy ant pull off the top on one side and pull it down then grab the middle with pliers or something similar and do the same thing on the other side,

Changing the injectors is easy but make sure you don't use the wrong O rings when you switch cause they are different sizes and the ones that are on the bottom are 9 bucks each from the dealer according to OEM.

[ZStig]

make sure you get a good seal. don't want those bastards leaking on your engine

[Beedub]

mine came with new seals on the new injectors already??
I see the reasoning behind cutting the front section for the air filter BUT..... it looks alittle messy :-( im abit of a clean freak maybe you can neated it slightly???? however, im happy to remove the bumper i think..... annoying but, you dont do it too often ;-) Looking at the filter it looks like it could be gotten to if the grill was removed??? maybe be wrong tho....

[drbvac]

Nope think I am good - more worried about aluminum drill filing in my cylinders but 6=8000 rpm ought to fix that >??

[drbvac]

Originally Posted by Beedub

mine came with new seals on the new injectors already??
I see the reasoning behind cutting the front section for the air filter BUT..... it looks alittle messy :-( im abit of a clean freak maybe you can neated it slightly???? however, im happy to remove the bumper i think..... annoying but, you dont do it too often ;-) Looking at the filter it looks like it could be gotten to if the grill was removed??? maybe be wrong tho....

New O -rings on the top of them - re-useable on the bottom ones which are the expensive ones.

Doesn't help I am equidistant from Norway and Arizona so a long drive if it arses up!!

I am stalled waiting for the one piece hose from an E 46 to replace the one with 4 clamps on it = will let everyone know how it fits

[3point0]

sorry if the question sounds stupid but what's all the aluminum foil for? To stop stuff falling into places it shouldn't?

[drbvac]

Exactly - don't want any dirt or even worst a piece of metal or a screw in the cylinders

[3point0]

good to know. I'm hoping to self-install a G-power supercharger in the spring, so any tips/tricks i get from here will help

[drbvac]

Good on you -not that difficult but like everything else take your time and anywhere it says CUT - be damn sure before you do. Other thing I find it the directions while pretty good assume you know a lot more than one would think they should. Also need a pretty complete toolkit with socket alan wrenches and extensions etc.

Be prepared to banging knuckles and for sure check around every new hose and clamp to make sure they are not rubbing or interfering with some other piece of equipment

For example in the directions they skip the part where you put the hose from the supercharger to the intake manifold and it can be a bugger unless ALL the clamps and connections are loose and you can wiggle them in all different directions until it lines up. At the same time there was a mounting screw on the frame right underneath it that I had to grind off and smooth so it didn't wear a hole in the hose when the engine torqued on its mounts.

[3point0]

thanks for the heads up