2011 Atacama Yellow Build

[fmorelli]

Just a few more photos, I'm dealing with small stuff as we work through the tuning issues. Here's a quick photo of the 6-pot calipers with the Forgestar F14's.


I went ahead and swapped the rear emblem, which is more in harmony with the carbon fiber bits and red details.


As you can see the front lip spoiler hasn't been installed yet. This is the US Mill Works front license plate bracket. It is very well made.


Folks have been asking about factory black kidney grills. Here's a close-up. The edge is gloss and the slats are matte. They look great. I originally had aftermarket sold for the E89 and they did not fit.


Here's an engine compartment shot. Racing Dynamics just came out with the carbon fiber cover. The oil cap is X1 plastic cap with X1 red billet aluminum sleeve. The strut bar is Luxon.




I don't like the turn markers at all on any Z4. Honestly I think the LCI chrome bits is a further huge gaffe, and don't understand why one would want to put even more crap on the side of the car. So with that said, I'm lucky my car is yellow. I removed the side markers (which is a complete pain in the butt without breaking them) and shot them with a "stained glass" translucent yellow finish. At least they blend more into the car.



While on lighting a few other details. I switched out the regular bulbs with cool white LEDs. As well the ground illumination is the BMW Motorsport ///M logo. The pedals (not a good photo) are aluminum and rubber ///M pedals, which slip on, instead of the traditional screw in kind (which are a pain in the butt). The slip-on pedals fit very well.


Back to dealing with the coding.

Filippo

[jts1981]

pics 2,3,4, and the last are not working...

[fmorelli]

Originally Posted by jts1981

pics 2,3,4, and the last are not working...

Google Photos has given me fits on getting reliable links to photos for forum embedding. I tested new links incognito and they seem work now

Thanks,

Filippo

[C.D.335xi]

I can see the pics.

Originally Posted by fmorelli

Google Photos has given me fits on getting reliable links to photos for forum embedding. I tested new links incognito and they seem work now

Thanks,

Filippo

[NoQuarter]

Thanks for the updates Filippo.

I am looking forward to see how the lip turns out for you.

[fmorelli]

Another quick shot to show the turn signal blend... I'm out driving the zoo for today, as the tuning work continues.

Filippo

[fifthdawn]

How do you have your rear plates mounted with the rear diffuser? Did you just drill into it?

[fmorelli]

Exactly. Just drill and install the plastic mounting plate. I am thinking of carbon fiber vinyl wrapping that mounting plate, though it is barely visible. I put a CF license plate bracket around it so everything kind of blends in.

Filippo

[35i-Nut]

Any issues with scraping with the H & R springs ? debating swapping my Eibachs for these

How much was the carbon engine cover ? looks excellent !

[NoQuarter]

Filippo, What are you thoughts on re-routing the hard vacuum line that goes over the intake filter for the brake booster?

It is an annoying hose in that location. I don't know that the hard line is the important part - it would have the same vacuum as everything else connected to it.

I am considering switching it out for a quality soft line and routing it down and out of the way.

[fmorelli]

I have looked at it and would like to. I'm not touching it right now, though, as I think I may be at an interim spot with the intake. BQ is working some interesting things on the N54 intake, which I may look at if he ever gets it done. Another consideration is running an airbox configuration. But yes, I have thought about redoing it. Would love to see someone else's DIY on it, as it has a few connections and requires a smart little bit of work.

If you do it, do a nice job ... lol ... and post pics! :-)

Filippo

[NoQuarter]

Originally Posted by fmorelli

I have looked at it and would like to. I'm not touching it right now, though, as I think I may be at an interim spot with the intake. BQ is working some interesting things on the N54 intake, which I may look at if he ever gets it done. Another consideration is running an airbox configuration. But yes, I have thought about redoing it. Would love to see someone else's DIY on it, as it has a few connections and requires a smart little bit of work.

If you do it, do a nice job ... lol ... and post pics! :-)

Filippo

Yep --- I tried to see what any others were doing with the E90 but only found some belittling of the idea. I will stay on it.

At the moment, my plan is to replace the connectors that are there. no reason to have a quick disconnect if the line is ran in such a way as to not need to be disconnected frequently.

My only apprehension is the hard line. Is it important for some reason or just another overly complicated piece that is just in the way?

After my catch cans, I will move on to this over the winter.

[fmorelli]

I'm watching the dual catch can thread. I don't think there is anything about the hard line, beyond it provides clear routing.

Filippo

[fmorelli]

Okay BQ (http://www.*************) is knee deep doing tunes, while I send back pulls. The car is starting to dial in nicely, and we're doing WOT pulls now. You can see maps here, for anyone that cares: http://www.datazap.me/u/fmorelli

We're on 93 octane gas. I have to say that at 50 degrees or so ambient temp, the car is simply ludicrous. I've driven a lot of fast cars—from Ferraris to Cobras—but this car accelerates so fast, with such force, that one is intimidated by the rate of increase on covering sheer ground ahead. It's like opening a Costco Family Pack of WhoopAss.

Filippo

[jts1981]

Gotta love all the N54 torque!

[fmorelli]

Yup ... thanks jts1981 for all your continued insight and assistance :-). Muy helpful. Once everything is sorted out we'll get some virtual dyno info up. I'm going to look at pulling the injector flow rate stamps so we can get those coded in over the next few days. We'll do that with the Foxwell NT510 (ECS Tuning Schwaben). BTW the NT510 is a very nice tool for the money.

Filippo

[alexthejew]

Do you have the limited slip installed yet? If possible, I would like some information on that. It is something I have been considering for a while.

Thanks

[fmorelli]

Yep. I have the MFactory Helical LSD. It's great. They run sales from time to time. You have to MAKE SURE they send you the right diff. At least two people (me included) had the wrong diff sent to us). They were great and getting the right diff out, but what a pain. Thankfully my car was apart so it wasn't a big issue. If you decide to order, PM me first and I'll give you some contact info to smooth out the order.

Also, rather than the $600 specialty tool to pull the driveshaft nut apart, you can buy the Tusk 50mm wrench (comes with 2!) for $25 ...

Filippo

[fmorelli]

Today we pulled the exhaust down and retrofitted the post-cat 02 sensors from the down pipes to the high-flow cats mounted mid-pipe. Note I have no downpipe cats. Deutsch conncertors were used and a custom wiring harness made to extend the harnesses about 2 1/2 feet. The 02 sensor mounts are from Vibrant. No check engine light thus far.

So this allows me to run with no DP fix, legally, pass emissions, et cetera and still have a fully custom exhaust. Hopefully the CEL will stay off. Here are a few photos of the 02 sensor installation.

Filippo

The 02 sensor harness is hung off the heat shield and run behind it along the trans tunnel:



Here's a close-up of the bungs:



Sorry this photo is blurry, but so you see where the 02 sensors live:



Here is are the Deutsch connectors used to extend the harness.

[jts1981]

Very curious if you'll get lean codes after a certain time. Did you drive long enough for the dme to complete the tests? I think its something like steady throttle @60mph for a 5 miles, something like that...

[fmorelli]

jts1981, give me the week to get reasonable miles on the car, and we'll see what happens. Post-cat 02 sensors are simply catalyst efficiency monitors. They are 4-wire, which means they are also heated, so the issue of their not being right on the downpipe is irrelevant. Furthermore, the way these are installed, they receive exhaust gas but are slightly out of the flow which, if anything, improves the efficiency reading. To the last point, an analog with old cars with post-cat 02 sensors where the catalyst is failing, is to screw in "anti-foulers" (an old-school spark plug solution) and then the 02 sensor. This backs the 02 sensor out of the direct exhaust flow and often solves a CEL issue with a less than optimal catalyst. More than you care to know, I'm sure.

But we'll see where we are end of this week.

Filippo

[35i-Nut]

thanks for the updates , keep them coming

A few of the pics dont show of the 02 sensors , could you repair the links please thanks