E89 3DM Motorsport E89 Z4 Atacama Yellow Build

[fmorelli]

Posted originally on 10-22-2017:

Quote:

Originally Posted by AudiophileMD Filippo, thanks for all the pictures and write up. New E89 owner here and one of the first things I noticed in my E89 with the idrive audio system is really good music reproduction. I have had the HK BMW audio in the past and enjoyed it but I thought the E89's system was better. The center channel is nice to have in a car due to the poor acoustics and helps with stereo imaging. The foot well mid-bass driver set up is strange. If the system is crossovered over at say 300hz and lower to the footwell area it should not be a big deal. If higher frequencies are involved than you are correct about the strange bridge set up BMW did with the system. Anyhow, everyone enjoy your E89. The best looking car under $100k.

Interesting thought. Once I get the rest of my system in, I will likely have it professionally tuned. What I may do is pull the center cover and the right mid-bass footwell cover so the tuner can switch connections easily and decide if center channel is better versus taking it out of the mix. Since I have the wiring in place, it is easy to plug the right mid-bass speaker in bridged with center channel versus unbridged without center channel.

I understand there is a C&C at BMW of Sterling in November. You might consider attending.

Thanks for the post!

Filippo

 

[fmorelli]

Posted originally on 10-22-2017:

Adding a few Fall photos ...

Filippo

 

[fmorelli]

Posted originally on 02-03-2018:

The car is back under development, and I will be posting on this thread over the next couple months.

As a quick recap, we had done much FBO and much of the suspension in then first phase (V1) of this car, along with bodywork, I had also begun work on changing out the stereo system (along with some sound deadening). To date, work on the car has been done by Barry Battle (3DMMotorsport, tuning by Dimitri BQ), and of course work by myself.

The car is about to head over to Barry Battle's shop for a months work. He and I will be working together, as we have in the past.

I have decided to share my ongoing build sheet, since it largely consolidates modifications in one succinct place and may be of value to others:
Google Build Sheet.

To summarise the V2 phase of work being done. I am looking to prepare the car for a reliable 600whp - by that I mean I expect the car to support 100k miles of moderate to sometimes full use at that power level:

• Complete suspension upgrades - coilovers, few remaining joints have spherical or ball joints.
• Upgrade ignition system to reliably spark at new power levels.
• Upgrade fuel system (direct injection only) to run at target power levels.
• Prepare for an hopefully add flex fuel implementation.
• Stiffen transmission and rear subframe to handle power levels, without significant NVH increases.
• Upgrade clutch/flywheel to support power level.
• Finish the stereo and sound deadening work I did over the summer.
• We are discussing upgrading the turbos (without we're closer to the 500whp target). This is still up for discussion, and we've not completed committed to V2, or whether its a next phase (V3) project.

By continuing to post here, I hope some of this information is useful to others. The E89 Z4 is similar to other BMWs yet has many many nuances that are a pain to deal with along the way to making changes. It's always the little things - like the bimmerlife smart coil setup going into the car: one would think N54, it is the same as the E90 which shares the same motor, but Alex had to make the wiring loom a bit longer for the Z4. And so it goes.

I hope the above build sheet is helpful to others. If I or Barry can answer any questions, if we know the answers we are glad to share. Barry has, for better or worse, become a bit of an expert on the E89 by school of hard knox. The car sent him into the machine shop to mill new parts or modify existing parts many times. I doubt this go-around will be much different.

Filippo

 

[fmorelli]

Damn dude, your car is sick!

Thanks. I just finished uploading a few threads. I'm bugging a few other folks to bring over what they are doing. There are some cool Z4's out there, and I hope we can get some build threads going here. Thanks for the hosting @doublespaces!

Filippo

 

[fmorelli]

Alright, I'm all caught up moving this build thread from E89post to Spoolstreet. Mucho props to @doublespaces for creating a reasonable place do this stuff in community. I'm working on getting others to post their build threads and maybe get some E89-specific dialog going on here.

As a side note, I posted my Build Sheet in the first post, which I maintain on Google Sheets, and Spoolstreet shows the spreadsheet in-line on the post, so one can browse and manipulate it - how freaking cool is that?!

So tentatively my car goes to Barry Battle this week at http://www.3dmmotorsport.com. He and I will be working on the car the rest of this month. Barry's a suspension and chassis wizard, and I'm excited to work with him. Here's what we are and aren't doing.

Spring 2018:

• Finishing suspension updates. Most M3 parts already installed, along with some further upgraded parts like spherical bearings for the tension strut. We are moving to Ohlin coilovers with Vorshlag camber/caster plates. Barry is doing development work with Ohlins (he's a suspension guy) and he's looking to machine some changes to the existing Ohlins front strut assemblies for this Z4. We are also going to spherical bearings on the rear inner control arm, and changing the rear camber arms to AKG with inner spherical bearing, and rear hold-down hooks for the dyno.
• We are moving to ethanol. So Motiv flexfuel, a complete Fuel-It LPFP, lines, ECA, and S63 injectors.
• bimmerlife coils and we are going to stick to the 95770 NGK plugs gapped out closer to 0.030"
• The rear bulkhead is coming apart, for sound deadening, installation of woofers, and bimmertech amp and DSP - this will complete the stereo upgrade (all other speakers and sound deadening already in). We will need to tune the DSP, which I may do or we may send it out.
• We are installing Rogue rubber transmissions mounts which are rubber but a stiffer design, within AKG cups to prevent deflection. Unlike polyurethane, this will maintain NVH while keeping the transmission where it belongs.
• Aluminum guibo, but we plan to machine our own and install BMW rubber-sleeved bushings to maintain the factory NVH while mitigating the risk of the factory cast aluminum from shattering.
• We are going to look at making some underbody stiffeners to reduce torsional twist.

What we aren't doing:

• New twin turbos: originally were going to do the twin turbos, but I'm unconvinced of what will have longevity. New twin turbos and new singles continue to come out so I thought it best to wait and see where the platform goes this year. So we pushed turbos off to a winter consideration.
• VTT Single Barrel: I have it, but Jake@Motiv doesn't think the car needs it with ethanol and stock turbos. We'll wait to do this until we do turbos.
• Motiv Clutch/Flywheel: I have a twin disk and flywheel sitting around, but we don't feel we need it until the turbos go in. So we are holding off on that. I'm not hard on the clutch and the OE has 30k miles on it, so it is like new.
• Aluminum outlets: will happen with turbos.
• BQ Tuning 740i inlet/vacuum system: Super development by @BQTuning. He's still flushing out production of the custom inlets, and we are waiting for A/B dyno results that show the benefits of what he's designed.

Hardly a big trunk, it doesn't take much to load up the back with all the parts ...

Filippo

 

[doublespaces]

As a side note, I posted my Build Sheet in the first post, which I maintain on Google Sheets, and Spoolstreet shows the spreadsheet in-line on the post, so one can browse and manipulate it - how freaking cool is that?!

The forum will automatically embed a lot of things. Some of them I even have disabled because I didn't see a particular use for them but the functionality is there.

 

[fmorelli]

We are finally underway, albeit a bit delayed. Barry Battle at 3DMMotorsport picked up the Z4 last week. Today I headed over to the shop to spend the day working with Barry. I have two posts I'll do. This one that kicks off changes and covers some small ground, and a second post that is more involved around the woofer/amp/dsp replacement and sound deadening, just because information on that is scarce and the work is a bit messy.

So our general plan is to work over the next two weeks. Next week is suspension and under-car fueling, and a few reinforcements to the chassis if we have the time. Ultimately we expect to install flexfuel and head to the dyno, though that has yet to be finalized.

It was a pretty straightforward day in the engine compartment. Barry swapped out the Index 8 plugs for the latest Index 12s.

He installed the bimmerlife coils. They fit great. The 3D-printed connectors unfortunately crumble in our hands, but we hope to build a new wiring harness to combat several shortcomings with the one that was supplied. For the Z4 Barry had to extend the ground as the wire was not long enough to reach a ground. For now I decided to stick with the NGK 95770 which I gapped at 0.028" for stock turbos and E85.

Awaiting injectors and new coils

Most of the bits back in place

We reset adaptations, and set MHD to push the bin with the BL coil option. The car fired right up.

Filippo

 

[fmorelli]

This post is mostly about taking apart the rear bulkhead on the Z4. It's going to be boring to anyone except someone with a Z4 wondering how to do this. I'm posting this information as there is precious little on how to do this. I'm thankful for this British post on a european Z4 forum (whose image hosting failed, so I've now moved here), which is what helped guide the way. But there is missing information, so hopefully some of my photos and comments might help someone else along. My suggestion, for anyone trying to do this, is to follow the instructions in the British post, and just be familiar with my post so when you get confused you might remember I provided fill-in hints.

So as I said, a bit boring, but here are some crib notes:

First few photos we we going to talk about removing the upper rear side trim:

Please note, while you need to remove the speaker covers, YOU DO NOT need to remove the speakers. There is a 10mm bolt that needs to be removed (its obvious). Leave the speakers in and simply unplug them and the courtesy light when you have the panel off.

Remove the seat belt (18mm) ... just easier to get it out of the way.

Small piece of trim that actually locks in the rear cargo net rod. To remove the cargo net, there is a little black clip at the top of where the rod inserts. The clip simply pops with a screwdriver.

Once the small trim piece is off, simply lift up the rod and it slides out. Note there are four or so clips along the carpet that hold the rod. The rod simply snaps out of those clips with little effort. Finally note, those same clips also have a round cover molded in - pop those with a thin screwdriver to reveal 10mm screws that hold down the carpet (for later removal)

On top of the rear upper trim piece are two plastic rivets (one in front of the seatbelt and one behind it). Rather than trying to slide them out, use a pry tool to pop the rivets out of the body. (Note the holes that look like you are supposed to slide the panel back to remove it are actually for sliding the rivet in before pressing the panel down to install it.)

Notes on removing the lower carpet:

• It's a pain in the ass, be forewarned, but not intimidated! I don't have pictures as I don't think they help.
• There are two hold down "U" that go through the carpet. It is surrounded by plastic trim. Underneath the steel U the plastic trim has a small door you need to lift. Use a screwdriver from above, and pry the lower half forward. Once you have that plastic door pried completely open, the plastic trim piece lifts up and out.
• That's not the pain in the butt part. Once everything is loosened up, you will find it impossible to remove the carpet, where it slides under the center console. It looks like 2 inches of carpet sliding under there but you will not get it out. I loosened the two 10mm nuts under the rear center console cover, then lifted the 3 rubber pads under the console door storage area to loosen the 4 torx screws. Loosening the console helped some but the only way to properly remove that carpet is to remove the whole center console.
• I was not in the mood to remove the center console. With some hefty tugging, the carpet broke loose - there are two plastic tabs that bolt to the tunnel, holding the carpet. Ridiculous, and I didn't care - the carpet will slide back in and has nowhere to go. If you wish to do it right, remove the complete center console.

Here are some additional photos once things were apart:

Here are some photos of the sound deadening:

Remember it is not sound insulation but deadening. I tapped on panels and looked to cover areas that resonate. I used Noico 80mil sound deadening PSA sheets.

On the left is the factory bracket. Middle is the factory amp, and to the right is the larger Bimmertech Audio Fischer dsp/amp. On the Z4 the right-side tab on the bracket that sticks up in the middle needs to be cut off. Otherwise it fits perfectly.

Inside of the woofer box, I placed some sound deadening for good measure.

Here's a photo of replacement Rainbow Intelligence IL-S8F versus stock on the right. I ordered them from a German audio store that was willing to ship to the USA. Note the Rainbows come with a new trim ring and correct wiring harness connectors. The wiring harness comes with 4 wires, but only the center pair (red/black) are needed, so I removed the outer two (which are no longer visible in the photos)

Starting to go back together. One can see the sound deadening strips.

More to come next week ...

Filippo

 

[fmorelli]

After reading through this discussion, I decided to go ahead and put a high micron count filter in the fuel system. Since we are already replacing the fuel line and installing an ECA, this is a good time to get this taken care of, and remove the HPFP plastic filter. I ordered the Fuelab 81831-1 and two -6AN to 3/8 barb connectors from JEGS.

I also decided to order the in-tank fuel filter (p/n 16117168284). The Z4 is unique and has the fuel filter assembly attached to the LPFP in the tank. So since we're pulling the LPFP it seemed like replacing a 7 year-old fuel filter with 30k miles was prudent. As an irony, the traditional recommended service interval for BMW fuel filters (the silver log style used for 20 years) was every 30k miles. The new in-tank filters have no service interval - BMW considers them lifetime, and the replacement is actually called a "repair kit". Hard to believe a fuel filter lasts the lifetime of a car, much like lifetime transmission fluid.

Filippo

 

[Rogue_Fitment]

Love the spreadsheet and the details you provide with this build. Very well done. Like you mentioned in your initial post. Those before sharing their experience with the E89 has helped along the way. Yourself and jts1981 were the two main builds that guided me thru my own build. And I love my car every time I look at it and more when I drive it. So kudos to you both for sharing your journey in the process cuz it definitely helped my build.

 

[fmorelli]

Love the spreadsheet and the details you provide with this build. Very well done. Like you mentioned in your initial post. Those before sharing their experience with the E89 has helped along the way. Yourself and jts1981 were the two main builds that guided me thru my own build. And I love my car every time I look at it and more when I drive it. So kudos to you both for sharing your journey in the process cuz it definitely helped my build.

Glad you are here and I encourage you to post on the forum here. Several of us Z4 guys are recruiting people to come over here. If we can get enough critical mass, it's invaluable to all of us. I think more and more of these cars (though only 10k are in the USA) are now starting to fall in the hands of BMW enthusiasts, so there is hope!

Filippo

 

[wuX2]

Nice build! What oil cap is that? Broke mine recently and I was looking for a replacement.

 

[fmorelli]

Nice build! What oil cap is that? Broke mine recently and I was looking for a replacement.

It's actually an oil cap cover. I've been unable to find an oil cap that is metal-based.

Filippo

 

[Rogue_Fitment]

Glad you are here and I encourage you to post on the forum here. Several of us Z4 guys are recruiting people to come over here. If we can get enough critical mass, it's invaluable to all of us. I think more and more of these cars (though only 10k are in the USA) are now starting to fall in the hands of BMW enthusiasts, so there is hope!

Filippo

Thanks. Unfortunately I am in the process of selling my beloved baby. I love the ride but unexpected events has me needing to free up resources for other investments. I definitely plan on buying another down the road and my imaginative build already has a long list on top of what I already have on my spreadsheet. I thought about a Porsche but I’ve had too much fun with this car and love the hard top. I guess I’m sprung and will be running back to her

 

[doublespaces]

Well you can still lurk/participate

 

[fmorelli]

I've been really slammed working in the shop with Barry Battle. Then my spare time has been doing research and ordering parts as we figure out various issues or needs. I have a bunch of photos, but just have not had time to write up what I need to. I'll be doing that over the next few weeks.

In this post, I'd like to cover a little bit about the Ohlins R&T installation in flight, along with some other suspension bits going in. The car already is full M3, along with AKG Motorsport spherical bearings in the tension struts. Here are the remaining suspension items we are addressing the past few days.

I originally had a set of KW V3s to go in the car, but after talking with Barry decided we really wanted to go with the Ohlins R&T, as the Dual-Flow Valve technology is excellent. Barry is working directly with Ohlins USA to develop BMW capabilities for gaps in their offering, like the E36. But Barry's also doing a lot of work with their products on modern BMWs. Barry's a suspension guy - co-founder of both bimmerworld and RRT, he's now running 3DMMotorsport. Barry's set up an Ohlins-configured 1M running One Lap this year that turns 2 minute flat laps at VIR - not bad for a street car!

Anyway on to the work on the Z4. This go-around we are installing Ohlins R&T coil-overs, using Vorshlag camber/caster plates (for Ohlins R&T, 2.5" spring perch). In the rear we are using Rogue Engineering upper inner control arm bearings (remember the E89 rear is nearly identical to the E46 rear), and we're swapping out the rear camber arms for AKG Motorsport units. The car will get ride height set, aligned, and corner weighted by Barry. We will be finished with the suspension of this car - the only remaining rubber is the M3 RTABs we installed with limiters - everything else is either ball joint or spherical bearing.

So first a few photos of the Ohlins with the Vorshlag plates.

So all was going fine ... but of course this is a Z4 which means trouble always lurks around the corner. In this case, the Vorshlag camber plates did not match the Z4 strut tower. Even though the Z4 runs an E90 front suspension (sort of), for some unfathomable reason the strut tower mounts are drilled differently. So Barry took some measurements, produced a CAD drawing, and went about rectifying the situation. New holes were punched, pilot drilled, then step-drilled to 3/16". We chamfered the holes and painted them. Now the Vorshlag plates lined up perfectly.

Unfortunately the Luxon strut brace no longer can be used, given the shift in strut mount holes. But as luck would have it, the width of the Z4 towers is identical to the E90. Given we now oriented the Z4 strut mount holes to match the E90, I ordered up an E90 strut brace from ECS Tuning.

Below are photos of the strut mount changes.

Filippo

 

[NoQuarter]

Very nice. I like the e90 option for strut tower braces. Be sure to post how that fits.

 

[fmorelli]

Just a quick update on the remaining suspension pieces I mentioned. The Rogue Engineering upper inner control arm bearings (remember the E89 rear is nearly identical to the E46 rear), and t the rear AKG Motorsport camber arms.

The upper inner control arm bearings are a bit of a PITA to do, as removing the E89 Z4 rear control arm requires dropping the rear exhaust and mucking with the diff if I recall. The E89 Z4 rear control is nearly identical to the E46, yet different in a few ways - first of all they went from cast aluminum to a stamp steel arm. Second the sway bar mounts are done somewhat differently - the tabs are now part of the bent steel assembly, versus a bolted steel carrier to the E46 aluminum arm. Anyway I digress.

When we went to install the rear inner control arm bushings, we discovered they were about 0.030"-0.040" wider than the stock bushings we removed. This is not a Z4 specific issue, since the bushing part number crosses to all E46 cars. Anyway, Barry milled the difference off the new bushings and we got a nice and accurate fit. Barry has a small mill/lathe at his garage, and then full access to a modern shop with every imaginable piece of equipment, so he's able to fabricate just about anything. Given the oddities of the Z4, I've been fortunate as Barry has spent countless hours making or modifying parts for this car.

We left off in the evening with lower control arms needing to be installed. Barry decided to modify the chassis and create a half-moon access area for the lower rear camber arms, so that one can easily access the adjustment nuts for setting caster. If one does not wish to do so, unlike the AKG Motorsport camber arms, the Rogue camber arms afford all hub-side adjustment. This adds more weight to the outside of the suspension, though - everything is a trade-off.

Finally, one other weird Z4-ism. To my knowledge the Z4 is the only BMW to ever receive a 3-point rear shock tower mount. This is why no aftermarket upgrade exists! Even though we only had 30k miles on the car, we went ahead and replaced the rear shock mounts with new ones. I've included a photo below. I intend to cut the inside trunk carpet to allow access to the rear shock adjuster.

Soon all will be back together. My next post, suspension-wise, will cover when Barry sets ride height, corner weights, and aligns the suspension.

Filippo

 

[mips4000]

Posted originally on 08-01-2017:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lurcher Putting this amp in with zero configuration drove me nuts, as I tried it . It actually sounds worse than stock (as expected). Obviously Bavsound does not have a file for our cars, and they have only sold 2 of these amps, so they are probably not too concerned about any of this. I'd dare say 75% of the people getting this amp will never tune it farther than the stock configuration, regardless.

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Drove you nuts, eh? So just to be clear, Bavsound won't sell this for the Z4. They actually sent me to bimmertech directly. Who sold two of these (at least that I know) and are rectifying a cabling issue.

Filippo

.... Now 3 sold. Just received my bimmertech amp today for a Z4 install. Looking forward to the custom harness in a week. Had a long conversation with Maceij and he provided great advice which seems in line with your discussions here.

 

[fmorelli]

.... Now 3 sold. Just received my bimmertech amp today for a Z4 install. Looking forward to the custom harness in a week. Had a long conversation with Maceij and he provided great advice which seems in line with your discussions here.

Yes Maceij is very helpful. Just this week bimmertech supplied two Z4 configuration files. Are you on the newer PP86DSP?

Filippo