AggieBlake's '05 ZHP school bus + track car - Maintenance and Mod Log

[AggieBlake]

Time to consolidate my posts into a single thread so I can keep track of things. In November 2015 I purchased a 97k mile 2005 ZHP 330i 6-speed hoping that it could serve as an excellent daily driver, school bus to get my two kids to kindergarten, and occasional track/auto-cross weapon. I'd seen great things with the Spec e46 SCCA class, and was confident this chassis could meet those goals within my budget. I purchased a titanium silver over black alcantara from Supreme Auto Imports in Florida after an encouraging PPI.

The experience was painless and I've been very pleased with the car. The PPI indicated that the VCG and OFHG would need to be replaced soon which I took care of ASAP along with a preventative cooling system rebuild. Here's the full list of maintenance and mods I have done thus far...

Nov 2015 (97663 miles)... Vehicle recieved

Dec 2015 (97910 miles)... VCG replaced with OEM, new NKG plugs installed, braking system flushed with Motul RBF 600, replaced both sagging A-pillars, cleaned and shaved steering wheel

Dec 2015 (98100 miles)... OFHG replaced with OEM, full cooling system replaced with Turner Motorsports kit (Behr radiator, OEM expansion tank and level sensor, Stewart hi-flo water pump, UUC alum water pump pulley, Behr thermostat, upper and lower radiator hoses, expansion tank hose, temperature sensor, BMW coolant + water wetter), tensioner and idler pulleys, drive belt and AC belt, oil change with 0W-40 Mobil 1, Mann filter, new magnetic drain plug and washer, CDV delete and bled clutch (http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/showthread.php?17139-Comparison-of-suppliers-for-coolant-overhaul-kits&p=465281#post465281).

Dec 2015 (98300 miles)... Installed new AFE Stage 1 CAI

Jan 2016 (98400)... First track day in ZHP! Ran 4 sessions. Car ran flawlessly (http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/showthread.php?17351-First-Impressions-on-Track-My-2005-ZHP-takes-its-maiden-voyage-around-Texas-World-Speedway&p=467130#post467130)

Jan 2016 (99000)... Scoped inside of chassis near subframe mounts to confirm there are no cracks and to verify that BMW installed reinforcement blocks in post 10/2004 e46's (http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/showthread.php?17394-Foam-subframe-reinforcement-production-date-question-technical&p=468652#post468652)

Feb 2016 (99400)... Installed Lemforder M3 engine mounts, UUC black transmission bushings, used Corsa TSE3 exhaust, and flushed transmission with Redline MTL and differential with Redline (http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/showthread.php?17686-Difficulty-engaging-1st-and-reverse-fixed) - Video of sound with Corsa installed: https://www.dropbox.com/s/juhr1rw6m6f0d2m/File%20Feb%2018%2C%205%2040%2009%20PM.mov?dl=0

Feb 2016 (99500)... Installed AKG black differential bushings, Koni sport rear shocks, Rogue RSM's (http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/showthread.php?8698-What-did-you-do-for-your-ZHP-BMW-MINI-today-2&p=475350#post475350)

Feb 27 2016 (99600)... Replaced RTAB's with Z4M RTAB's and poly limiters (http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/showthread.php?17696-AggieBlake-s-05-ZHP-school-bus-track-car-Maintenance-and-Mod-Log&p=477292#post477292)

Mar 10-11 2016 (99800)... Installed Koni sport struts, lemforder strut mounts, strut reinforcement plates, and power flex black FCAB's (http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/showthread.php?17696-AggieBlake-s-05-ZHP-school-bus-track-car-Maintenance-and-Mod-Log&p=479480#post479480)

June 11-12 2016 (102000)... Second weekend at the track in the ZHP - just keeps getting better! (http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/showthread.php?18496-Second-Impressions-on-Track-the-ZHP-is-back-at-Texas-World-Speedway-after-a-lot-of-mods&p=494916#post494916)

January 2017 (105500)... replaced driver's window regulator, replaced steering guibo, lubricated clutch throw-out bearing, bypassed clutch interlock

Feb 2018... inspection II

May 2018 (112000)... rebuilt shifter, replaced driveshaft guibo, changed oil (http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/showthread.php?17696-AggieBlake-s-05-ZHP-school-bus-track-car-Maintenance-and-Mod-Log&p=562963#post562963)

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[AggieBlake]

Site admins, please let me know if you prefer this thread built differently than I've done above. For each item I linked to previous posts in other threads where I discussed the work. I don't know how to move those posts to this thread, or if that's even a good idea.

[AggieBlake]

A few choice pics...2446424465244662446724468

[BMWCurves]

Nice! I forget, why did you pick UUC trans mounts over say OEM M3 or other options?

[AggieBlake]

Because they were free :-)

I have a friend who wrenches for Bimmerworld and he had these lying around.

[Vas]

Good progress soo far. Thumbs up

[johnrando]

Nice

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[BMWCurves]

Because they were free :-)

I have a friend who wrenches for Bimmerworld and he had these lying around.

Roger, that's a nice perk!

[AggieBlake]

This was NOT the smoothest weekend of repairs on the ZHP. I made the mother of all blunders while replacing the RTAB’s - I got disoriented under the car with a breaker bar and, rather than loosen an RTAB carrier bolt, tightened it till it snapped. This was all that came out. The rest was stuck deep in the hole.

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After ordering a new bolt from my local dealership, I picked up a bolt removal kit. Unfortunately, I could not find a left-hand-thread 19/64” drill anywhere (the proper size for the removal tool for this bolt). So I took my chances with a right-hand-drill. My luck did not hold. The bit caught a few millimeters into the bolt and spun it out INTO THE CHASSIS. Rather than panic, I decided to go ahead and complete the RTAB job. Thank God BMW designed the bolts to fail before the welded-in nuts!! The threads on the nuts were fine. With new bolts in hand I installed my Z4M RTAB’s and poly limiters. Everything went fine, but now it was time to go fishing for that 1” long bolt shaft. I had taken the car for a test drive and confirmed that I could indeed hear it clanging inside the chassis on turns and bumps. So I spent two hours fishing through every chassis access hole with various implements that had strong magnets on the end. I tried everything, even removing the back seats to fish from there. Nothing worked. Despair was setting in. Fortunately, I had access to a borescope. The next day I sent the camera down the access hole that’s in the front side of the rear wheel well in our cars, and located the bolt deep in the “pocket” that’s just forward of the RTAB carrier. Without much hope, I stuck a magnet on the end of the camera, threaded the camera into the chassis and planted the magnet right on the bolt. To my surprise, the magnet held! The bolt came out. There was much rejoicing. Here’s the bolt shaft on the end of the borescope magnet, and a second pic with the broken bolt reunited. Thank God.

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As for the actual maintenance… the rear end is definitely more planted! I like the dynamic feel with these parts. My only complaint is that over low speed, large deflection (i.e. garage entrance, speed bump) the limiters squeak (kind of like a clicking sound). I know everything’s torqued properly (double checked with torque wrench), and from what I’ve read online, it seems to be the cheap poly limiters I went with. Should have sprung for Vorshlag. I’m going to try a Bimmerworld suggestion and lube them with dry teflon spray and see if that takes care of it. If not, I’ll eventually upgrade to the Vorshlag limiters. Fortunately, it only happens at low speed and large deflection - so it’s silent when driving at normal speeds.

[Vas]

Nice Job

[slater]

love the 'reunited' pic - that was some journey! nice work! :cheers

[BMWCurves]

Damn, I would have been so frustrated. Good job keeping it together! RTABs made me nervous so I just left it to my mechanic. Hope the lube works to solve your clicking/squeaking sound.

[AggieBlake]

Damn, I would have been so frustrated. Good job keeping it together! RTABs made me nervous so I just left it to my mechanic. Hope the lube works to solve your clicking/squeaking sound.

Me too! I'll post when I get it in and try it out. If it doesn't work, it really wouldn't be too hard to pull the poly limiters out and replace with Vorshlag. I know what I'm doing now!

[BMWCurves]

Me too! I'll post when I get it in and try it out. If it doesn't work, it really wouldn't be too hard to pull the poly limiters out and replace with Vorshlag. I know what I'm doing now!

If it's any help, my Vorshlag limiters haven't produced any sort of chatter from the rear since I've had them installed.

[AggieBlake]

Came home today to find these waiting for me. Sweet! 245/40/17 MPSS should arrive tomorrow and I should have it all on the car by this weekend. Pics to follow.

And look at how thoughtful Apex was! They sent one massive box for each of my kids!

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[ELCID86]

Glad you got the bolt! And congrats on the new rims.


---
"ZHP is a garbage option anyway- just some cosmetic upgrades with a different cam and diff to claw back some of the performance lost fitting those hideous and heavy wheels. Any 330 with a 3.46 diff will smoke a ZHP every time. The whole Mafia thing reeks of childish behavior." - anonymous

[BMWCurves]

Came home today to find these waiting for me. Sweet! 245/40/17 MPSS should arrive tomorrow and I should have it all on the car by this weekend. Pics to follow.

And look at how thoughtful Apex was! They sent one massive box for each of my kids!

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Nice! I've never bought wheels before these, but I was impressed with how APEX packaged theirs. I really like the Hyper Black on my car so far, but haven't driven all that much on them yet. I'm sure they'll look great on your TiAg.

[AggieBlake]

I too was impressed by the packaging. I like the plastic rubber ring that form fits the rim :-) But I sure do envy my kids. They are as excited about one dollar cardboard boxes as I am about $800 wheels.

[johnrando]

Sweet

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[derbo]

Can't wait to see the installed pics :)

[slater]

I too was impressed by the packaging. I like the plastic rubber ring that form fits the rim :-) But I sure do envy my kids. They are as excited about one dollar cardboard boxes as I am about $800 wheels.

i've experienced the same with my kids. i love it! they are so creative. makes me feel like an old lump. :)

congrats on the wheels, if the USD>CAD exchange rate wasn't in the toilet i would've seriously considered a set... can't wait to see them on your car!

:cheers

[AggieBlake]

Apex Arc8's and MPSS Installed

This weekend was the perfect opportunity to install my new Apex Arc 8's I picked up in the recent group-buy. They're hyper black 17 x 8.5 ET40. I had Discount Tire install 245/40/17 Mich Pilot Super Sports and metal valve stems. Great price, and they have a dynamic balancer instead of a simple spin balancer, which matters when you plan on high speed use.

While I had the car up, I dropped the RTAB's, removed the poly limiters, and coated them multiple times in DuPont dry teflon spray. Reinstalled and went for a test drive, and confirmed the squeak/rattle sound is totally gone. If I had it to do over again, I'd go with the Vorshlag's. But I'm glad I was able to make these work.

I mounted the new wheels, set pressures at 32psi dry, and gave her a good wash (no fun taking pics when she's dirty!)

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I then took her for a drive down my favorite local road. I love these wheels! They shed about 10# each, and going with 17's instead of 18's definitely increases compliance over rough pavement. I can confirm a very noticeable improvement in the ride over broken sections of roadway. With the stock 135's, there's a section of the road I drove today (and drive often) that's so rough, the car would become unsettled across it. It would lose grip momentarily. No more. Now she stays planted and absorbs the worst of it much better. I'm sure the car is a tad faster with the loss of unsprung, rotating weight, but I don't have a calibrated way to quantify the improvement in acceleration. I would doubt it's much. I plan to get the car on track in April, and am excited to see if the square 245 setup helps mitigate understeer like some have said. I'm also convinced that the greater compliance over rough pavement will help my cornering speeds in a few crux turns that are getting rough on my local track.

Alright... here's obligatory pics of her on that local back road. Perfect day for a drive.

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[derbo]

Car looks great on these! Good work Blake.

[san]

Nice choice on the wheel color...


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[BMWCurves]

Glad to hear you're enjoying them. As I said elsewhere, I think the Hyper Blacks look good on TiAg. I agree with the improved ride and grip even though I haven't really pushed the car that hard (waiting for it to dry out a bit and the rubber to get a few hundred miles on them).

[Ssparrow]

Man those wheels look great! Makes me wish i got in on that GB... Love the color too!

[johnrando]

Very cool

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[fw_fw]

Those look great!!!

[slater]

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nice work, blake! they look great, and i'm glad to hear your positive comments. more grip and better ride quality is definitely half tires, half less unsprung weight. they are a very nice-riding tire, even in 18" sizes.

great pic above, too - the wheels look fantastic.

:cheers

[AggieBlake]

Got a couple more pics back from when I used the borescope to find the broken bolt shaft stuck inside my chassis. These make me laugh. I literally went from despair to elation in the course of 10 seconds.

There it is, deep inside a pocket that was inaccessible (no drain plugs)...
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Sticking the magnet and praying it holds...
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Laughing maniacally whilst holding the spoils of my victory...
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[AggieBlake]

Front suspension refresh - Koni struts, OEM mounts, tower reinforcements, powerflex black FCAB's

I had a couple days off of work (spring break is starting here - everything shuts down) and made the most of it. I installed new Koni front sport struts with new lemforder strut mounts and strut tower reinforcement plates. I went ahead and replaced the FCAB's as well since they looked worn, and chose power flex blacks on the recommendation of a friend who's driven, fixed, and tracked many BMW's. This was a challenging job since it was my first time doing a front suspension refresh. There's reasonably good DIY's online, but here's a few tips I learned along the way. Feel free to critique/correct in the comments if there was a better way to tackle these challenges.

1) You need a very unusual, thin 18mm wrench to remove/install the sway bar end links. I got lucky - I found one in the back of a tool drawer (pic below). But without it, I would have been up a creek. There's flats on the sway bar housing, but they are very thin and bounded, so you can not get a normal open wrench on them. This was one of those moments when I felt like BMW engineers must have a competition with one another over who could design a part that required the most obscure tools.
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2) Spring compressors take some trial and error. The stock springs on stock struts require a LOT of compression. Below is a picture of the setup that finally worked for me. I did, unfortunately, have to clamp the lower seat on the stock strut to get enough travel with the particular spring compressors I borrowed. That meant I couldn't remove the spring while compressed. I had to release it, move it to the new strut, and recompress. A power drill makes this go a LOT faster (or air tools if you have them).
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3) Be very careful to make sure you get all the washers moved over to the new strut and top mount. As you'll see in the pics below, I missed one. I didn't realize it till I was cleaning up and saw that the old mounts didn't match! I had to remove the passenger side strut and add the washer. The good news was that by this point in time, my technique was much improved and the job only took about a quarter of the time.
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4) It's difficult to loosen or tighten the top nut on both the stock and Koni struts. In both cases, the interface that allows you to hold the piston while turning the nut (a hex socket on the OEM units; external flats on the Koni's) is on the top of the piston... exactly where you need to get your socket to turn the top nut. There's a variety of specialty tools described online, which I did not have. Instead, I used vice grips with a 3" piece of old engine belt. It worked perfect. I was able to clamp the piston shaft with sufficient force to break the old nut free and torque the new nut, and there were no marks left on the shaft.
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5) I will never again try to press old FCAB's out of their housings! That was incredibly hard. I ended up ruining my 3-jaw pullers (stripped threads). Just buy new lollipops with OEM bushings preinstalled - or get empty ones if you're doing poly like me. Here it is with the job done and new power flex bushes installed... finally!
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Alright... so here's my first impressions after going for a spirited drive and impromptu autocross in an empty parking lot. The new Koni's are superb. They are soft at the moment since Koni wants you to do 500 miles at full soft. But the ride is so much improved. It's smoother, quite, and there's less jounce. I'm very pleased, and look forward to stiffening them up. The new FCAB's are also excellent. I expected them to be a bit harsh. They are not. Turn in is quicker and the car feels more responsive and planted. Overall, the front suspension is now tighter and I'm hearing less of the clunks and pops that I heard before. Now one caveat... I was replacing stock struts with 100k miles on them. So ANY suspension would be an improvement :)

[BMWCurves]

Sounds good :thumbsup

[danewilson77]

Awesome work.

Sent from an S6 Edge

[Vas]

Tomorrow should be fun. Thanks for the tips on the front Springs.

[AggieBlake]

Tomorrow should be fun. Thanks for the tips on the front Springs.

Good luck Vas! I hope it goes well for you.

[AggieBlake]

Refinish OEM M3 Strut Brace

I recently bought a used OEM M3 strut tower brace for my ZHP off e46fanatics. Unfortunately the seller was not totally honest in regards to the condition of the bar. When I received it, I noticed a large gash on the top/middle of the bar. Looked like a hacksaw went at it. Fortunately, it wasn't very deep and was oriented longitudinally instead of transverse. So I wasn't worried about it compromising the strength of the bar. But it looked crappy. So I chose to use this as an opportunity to improve my refinishing skills :)

Here's the bar as received, with a nice gash in the most visible spot.
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First, I filled the gash with JB Weld. It's much stronger and more heat resistant than bondo and is easy to sand.
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After drying overnight, I sanded the patch down with 300 grit on a block, then sanded and prepped the whole bar with 800 grit. Finally, I hung the bar, taped up the studs, and painted the bar and braces with Rustoleum high-temp engine bay spray paint. 2 light coats, another 800 grit sanding, and then 5 light finish coats.
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She'll be ready to install tomorrow... if only I had those hard to find collar nuts! I may have to shell out $60 to ecstuning, which kills me. $10 a nut is crazy. Oh well. Lesson learned.

[johnrando]

Good werk

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[fredo]

Pics after install pls ! I'm considering one for my car, too.

[AggieBlake]

Pics after install pls ! I'm considering one for my car, too.

Will do! Just got to get those nuts.

Actually, I'd have to wait anyways. This high-temp engine paint says it won't fully cure for 7 days. But I'll post pics when done. I don't think it's going to be the best looking bar by any means, but it's one of the better bars functionally since it has no pivots.

[BMWCurves]

Nice work, in for pics as well on the finished product.

[AggieBlake]

Peter,
You'd asked about how much the wheels stick out. Here's a profile pic. I tried to send this as a private message, but couldn't attach a picture. I must be doing something wrong. But I know how to insert pics here. These are 245/40 17's on 8.5x17 et40 arc-8's. No spacers. Stock ride height.

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[AggieBlake]

Repainted front grill and popped out alignment pins

Nothing big today - I just had a little time after work. First, I repainted the front grill that had faded into a black/silver mess. I checked on removing it, but it looked like a pain. And I had a bunch of painters' tape, so why bother?! Here it is prepped.
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Here it is finished.
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Then, at Derek's suggestion, I popped out my front alignment pins so I can get closer to my target -1.5 degrees of front camber. I've seen people online mention drilling them out. I'm not sure why. A punch and ball-peen hammer make very fast work of it.
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Finally, pulled out my redneck camber gauge (made it for the track miata I used to have - looks like crap but works surprisingly well). I'm around -.8 on passenger side; -1 on driver's side. I've still got half the slot left on the strut tower bolts, so hopefully I can get to my targets.
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[slater]

nice work, blake! thanks for the wheel pics. that's pretty aggressive for the fronts, maybe i not sure i can go 18x8.5 ET38 up front if i end up going to stock springs - but maybe!

[BMWCurves]

Good stuff. I resprayed my lower grille a couple of months ago and it's held up fine so far. Granted it's been cold, out of the sun, and parked in a garage for the most part.

[johnrando]

Yup, good stuff

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[Vas]

Nice job

[theothersawyer]

Car looks great! Keep up the good work!

[derbo]

Nice Blake! FWIW,

this is my setup with -2.5 camber and a small 3mm spacer to clear the stoptechs comfortably.

http://i.imgur.com/AJnjEnXl.jpg

I think this is with a 10mm Spacer or 12.5mm I forgot..

http://i.imgur.com/XTrhr6Ll.jpg

[AggieBlake]

Nice Blake! FWIW,

this is my setup with -2.5 camber and a small 3mm spacer to clear the stoptechs comfortably.



I like the looks of that Derek! The spacers are also getting you a bit extra track width, though it's probably insignificant. But anything helps! I'll have to add that to the list.

I think I'll do the brakes first though since that seems to determine what spacers should be run. I've got good fluid, but need to upgrade front rotors and pads sometime soon. That was a weakness during my track sessions. Not a "I'm going to hit the wall!" kind of weakness. But still left me feeling less than fully confident in the car. When that's done, I'll know more about what I should do with spacers.

[AggieBlake]

First alignment

Alright, I finally got the car in for an alignment with a really quality local shop. Here's the before and after. Car had ~140# ballast in the driver's seat and a full tank of gas. Turns out I didn't need much adjustment! I got the -1.5 degrees negative camber I wanted up front by popping the pins (I set the camber myself before going to the shop to validate my spec sheet). I set rear camber to -1 based on Peter and Derek's advice that it should be a little less negative than front (thanks guys!). Caster's a little less than I wanted, but not adjustable and really not that big a deal. Zero toe front for more aggressive handling. 1/16" toe in per side in the rear. I don't know why the sheet is saying 1/16 toe in per side and also 1/16 total... should be 1/8 total. Rounding error perhaps.

The car feels great on the street. Not twitchy, but very direct and responsive. It tracks well at all speeds. I'll keep an eye on tire wear. The real test will come on track next month.

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[BMWCurves]

Good stuff! If you want more caster down the road, maybe consider the Z4M FCABs. They're rubber so you'll have that to consider over your poly ones, but I think they bump caster by about one degree.

[derbo]

I like the looks of that Derek! The spacers are also getting you a bit extra track width, though it's probably insignificant. But anything helps! I'll have to add that to the list.

I think I'll do the brakes first though since that seems to determine what spacers should be run. I've got good fluid, but need to upgrade front rotors and pads sometime soon. That was a weakness during my track sessions. Not a "I'm going to hit the wall!" kind of weakness. But still left me feeling less than fully confident in the car. When that's done, I'll know more about what I should do with spacers.


First alignment

Alright, I finally got the car in for an alignment with a really quality local shop. Here's the before and after. Car had ~140# ballast in the driver's seat and a full tank of gas. Turns out I didn't need much adjustment! I got the -1.5 degrees negative camber I wanted up front by popping the pins (I set the camber myself before going to the shop to validate my spec sheet). I set rear camber to -1 based on Peter and Derek's advice that it should be a little less negative than front (thanks guys!). Caster's a little less than I wanted, but not adjustable and really not that big a deal. Zero toe front for more aggressive handling. 1/16" toe in per side in the rear. I don't know why the sheet is saying 1/16 toe in per side and also 1/16 total... should be 1/8 total. Rounding error perhaps.

The car feels great on the street. Not twitchy, but very direct and responsive. It tracks well at all speeds. I'll keep an eye on tire wear. The real test will come on track next month.




Good stuff! If you want more caster down the road, maybe consider the Z4M FCABs. They're rubber so you'll have that to consider over your poly ones, but I think they bump caster by about one degree.


Z4M FCAB is solid rubber vs liquid-filled rubber of the OE Factory ones. It also will give you about 1 degree of Caster. I'm currently at 6.0 IIRC.


Also good idea on the brakes.

I've gone through an interesting history with brakes.

1st setup: OE brakes
2nd setup: OE rotors/CoolCarbon Brakes
3rd Setup: Carbotech XP10/XP8 (front/rear) track pads
4th setup: BMWP 135i Front calipers Carbotech XP10/XP8 track pads. BMWPerf front rotors.
4.5 setup : Cooling ducts from Bimmerworld, titanium brake shims, BMWP 135i Front calipers Carbotech XP10/XP8 track pads. BMWPerf front rotors.
Current Setup: Bimmerworld Ducts,Stoptech ST40 front calipers/Slotted Front Stoptech rotors, XP12/XP8 brake pads, M3 rear calipers + Rotors.

All used ATE Type 200 Brake fluid.


My recommendations (whether you want it or not hahah)

Stick a solid track pad + SS lines and you will be golden for awhile. I didn't have issues with my 3rd setup but I just wanted prettier calipers from the 135i. Turns out it was a bad idea for a track oriented vehicle and I eventually gave up on salvaging the calipers to go to a proper setup. If SPEC E46 guys can run stock calipers you can too. I think if you are cooking them at that point, some cooling ducts will help aid in that area.

[slater]

great stuff, blake! glad you are liking the alignment. i need to revisit my toe settings.

derek's right about the SPEC E46 guys - i think the stock calipers are OK, the rotor size is definitely good especially compared to cars of similar weight. good pads, fluid, ducting will help a ton.... and perhaps those brass caliper bushings would be a good idea - i've been wondering about those.

[derbo]

great stuff, blake! glad you are liking the alignment. i need to revisit my toe settings.

derek's right about the SPEC E46 guys - i think the stock calipers are OK, the rotor size is definitely good especially compared to cars of similar weight. good pads, fluid, ducting will help a ton.... and perhaps those brass caliper bushings would be a good idea - i've been wondering about those.

Brass guides would be great for pedal feel. There is a bit of maintenance on the guides that will require some lube. If you are doing track days with pad swaps, this guide maintenance is negligible.

I have brass guides in my TDI because the stock pedal is utter garbage so the upgrade was a welcome addition.

[johnrando]

Yup, good stuff

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[AggieBlake]

Installed refinished OEM M# strut bar

The special collared nuts I needed for this job finally arrived. For those of you looking for these in the future, don't buy them new! They're at least $10 + shipping. I found a set of 6 used on eBay for $13.50 shipped, and they were in great condition. Install is easy. Leave the car on the ground so the struts won't move on you when you remove the nuts (friction holds the strut in place). The passenger side brace requires a good bit of "massaging" to get it under the positive jumper terminal. The special collared nuts, as you can see below, serve two purposes: they engage the strut mount studs below the level of the strut bar brace, allowing you to get plenty of thread engagement; they locate the braces accurately on the studs (there's a good bit of play without them).
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Added blue loctite and torqued 6 brace bolts and 4 cross-bar bolts to 18ft-lbs with the help of this friendly mechanic.
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Here's the finished product. Not a fancy bar, but very functional. And it certainly looks much better refinished than when I received it. The car feels marginally tighter in street driving, but the true test will be on track. Overall, well worth it.
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[danewilson77]

Very nice AB.

Sent from an S6 Edge

[derbo]

Looks great Blake! :) You are on a fast pace on new mods :D

[johnrando]

Nice

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[AggieBlake]

CRRRAAAAAPPPPPPPP. Vase shattered and fell on my foot two weeks ago. 9-stitches and superglue held things together, but it turns out the tendon to my big toe was severed clean through. Surgery's scheduled for Tuesday morning, and then I'll be in a stiff boot for 6 weeks which means... no driving a manual. I took my wife out tonight to teach her to drive the ZHP so I can drive her minivan... for the next 6 weeks :crying

Worst part: I had finally finished all my mods and maintenance and was signed up for an HPDE weekend May 21-22. Had to cancel it.

Such is life. The good news: I've got a great surgeon and should have no problems getting movement back into my foot. Lord willing I'll be able to make a late June HPDE instead.

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[fredo]

Man ! Best wishes for a quick recovery.

[san]

That looks quite bad, hope you recover soon


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[derbo]

GG Blake. Wish you a speedy recovery.

[theothersawyer]

Gross! Good luck on your recovery!

[BMWCurves]

Ooof, that looks uncomfortable. Wishing you a successful surgery and a speedy recovery!

[AggieBlake]

Thanks for the kind words, guys. Always appreciated!

[Jconlin16]

Ouch, that looks brutal. Hoping for a speedy recovery sir!

[AggieBlake]

Surgery went well, but was more involved than expected. I'll be laid up and off the road for a while. On the plus side, I'm getting lots of time for online research on my goal for the summer: learn to MIG in preparation for a go-kart build for my kids and a new track car build for myself. My budget says, "Miata TTE," but my heart says, "E36M3 TTC" or "SpecE46." But first, learn to weld.

[derbo]

SPECE46!!!

[AggieBlake]

Been way too long since I updated this thread! We're at 105,500 and the ZHP is running stellar. Other than an oil change, I've only needed to do a few things in the last 6 months:

Replace driver's window regulator
Nothing remarkable here, other than how cheap this was on Amazon. Install was easy. It took a couple days before the new regulator slid up and down as easy as it should. It was overly stiff at first. I guess it took some time for the new mechanism to break in. Anyways, it's nice to not have to open the door at a drive through!

Replace steering guibo
Good God this helped!! There was about 5 degrees of slop left to right in the steering wheel. Now there's none. If you have any slop and haven't ever replaced that bushing it is SO worth it. Easy. Cheap. You don't have to remove the under tray, contrary to some of the online instructions. Just hit the two fasteners with PB blaster and have an assortment of gimbal socket attachments and you're golden.

Fixed clutch squeak
I had that horrid violin sounding clutch squeak that others have properly identified as the throwout bearing sliding forward and backwards. I read on e46fanatics that very carefully applied lithium grease sprayed through the clutch slave hole could fix it, but I was reticent to try. Screw up and you could end up with grease on your clutch! Annoyance is a powerful motivator though. So I very carefully tried a little at a time, testing after each application. Viola! Nothing on the clutch and the squeak is completely gone. Happy day!

Bypassed clutch interlock
I don't like clutch interlock switches since I don't like starting an engine with a thrust load on the crank. There's 0 oil pressure when you first start, meaning that adds wear. Fortunately, it was easy to bypass the clutch switch. Now I can start with the clutch out and no load on the crank.

[johnrando]

Nice werk.

[ZHPizza]

Wait, so the foot works? There was a large gap there.

[AggieBlake]

For those who are interested, here's why I haven't posted lately on the ZHP... I've been working hard on the track whip. It's an '01 Miata LS (LSD and sport brakes). Hard dog roll bar, race seats and harnesses, XIDA fully adjustable coilovers, FM adjustable sways and 949 end links, Hawk brake pads and SS lines, RB intake and muffler, FM mid pipe, CSF fully ducted radiator, MSPNP engine control (about to be installed) with Innovate wideband, riding on 949 6UL's and RE71r's. I'm preparing it for forced induction later this spring or early summer, and aiming to break below 2 minutes at Texas World Speedway. She's fast, light, and fun. And as she's not my daily, I'm much more comfortable pushing her hard than the ZHP. The ZHP is just a little too precious to me :-)

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[AggieBlake]

Wait, so the foot works? There was a large gap there.


Ha! Yes. Surgery went well and 6 weeks of physical therapy got me back on my feet (pun intended). I'm heal-toeing with the best of them again.

[johnrando]

Su-wheet!

[slater]

welcome back man!! good to see the blessings coming down on ya. :) (the praises must have been going UP! :))

[AggieBlake]

welcome back man!! good to see the blessings coming down on ya. :) (the praises must have been going UP! :))

Yes, I am very blessed and grateful for it. At the same time, this is proof of the advantage of buying older cars and doing the maintenance yourself. I sold a nearly new Accord and used the money to buy both the ZHP and Miata. I can't believe I ever bothered with a new Accord :-) What a waste.

[derbo]

Nice man! Good to see you are doing well.

[BMWCurves]

Any updates?

[AggieBlake]

Finally time to update. Honestly, there's been very little to do on the ZHP. It just runs and runs! I've changed the oil a couple times, and done an Inspection II on my own. But it's had very few needs. So finally, out of boredom and desire to wrench, I decided to rebuild the shifter linkage and replace the drive guibo since both showed signs of slop.

Replace the Shifter Linkages
The shifter was getting a bit lose for my taste. I considered upgrading to a short shifter, but I've really never felt like the stock unit was too long. Note, I do have the BMW performance knob, which I love. It makes everything feel a bit smaller. So I ordered all the rebuild parts from Turner and got to work. The hardest part of this job by far is that you have to remove a ton of stuff to get easy access to the linkages: exhaust, exhaust shields, driveshaft. It took longer than I expected because I ran in to some stuck fasteners that required extra PB Blaster soaking time. With everything off, it was just a matter of replacing bushings. Here's the old vs. the new on the bench.
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I was able to leave the shifter in place and simply pop the ball out. That made interior disassembly unnecessary. The hardest bushing to replace was this piece. You have to press it onto the transmission shift selector hard enough to insert a pin while compressing the foam inside it. Not easy.
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With it all done and tested, I can definitely say it was worth it! I love a tight shifter! The difference is noticeable, and that's even without any of the stock bushings being broken or overly worn. They were in decent shape for 112k miles. But tolerances can't help grow over time. In total these parts cost me around $50 and were definitely worth it!

Replace driveshaft guibo
Since I was already dropping the driveshaft to replace the shifter linkages, it made sense to replace this guibo. The car has suffered from a slight "knock" in the driveline when shifting gears ever since I bought it at 97k miles. I had already changed out engine, transmission, and diff bushings, so it made sense to try this. Surprisingly, though, when I removed the old guibo, it appeared in good condition. There were no visible cracks or deformation. I went ahead and installed the new guibo, assuming the knock would still be there since the old one wasn't in bad shape. But I was wrong! Once back out on the road, the difference was immediately noticeable. The knock was gone and power delivery was much smoother. I went back and looked closer at the old guibo. Sure enough, when you try hard to twist it, numerous very small cracks show up in the rubber. They're not failure-level cracks. But obviously they make a difference in performance. So the lesson is: even if that rubber bushing looks good, it's worth replacing after 100k miles! Rubber is rubber. No matter how good it looks, it still gets brittle with age and heat cycles.

[cornercarver]

The hardest bushing to replace was this piece. You have to press it onto the transmission shift selector hard enough to insert a pin while compressing the foam inside it. Not easy.
I did this a few months ago...probably spent a solid 30 minutes just on this one part. (I think I spent the last 10 minutes cursing the design.) There's just no way to get leverage on it, especially when lying on your back.

Doing the shifter bushing refresh made it tighter, but there's still some play...which is to be expected on a car w/over 100k miles I guess, but it still makes it difficult to execute a fast 1-3 shift.

[slater]

Doing the shifter bushing refresh made it tighter, but there's still some play...which is to be expected on a car w/over 100k miles I guess, but it still makes it difficult to execute a fast 1-3 shift.

after doing the delrin front shift fork bushings, stiffening the rear-most bushing on the fork will improve shift feel greatly - there is a ton of lateral play in the stock bushing (especially an old, tired one ;)).