my Z3 coupe

[Jon8710]

looks like a cracking motor !!

thats my car on your CSL register calendar on your wall, that photo was taken on the gottard pass not far from you !

[alexk]

Originally Posted by The Gorilla

Hi Alex,

All looking good.

At this rate the CSL will be redundant
soon.

Squeeze another 25/30 BHP out that
Alloy lump and it will be a good
match on any short tight circuit for its
Stable mate.

Regards,

The Gorilla.

Hi Danny,

Yes the small Z3 is getting there.
I found out a budget solution for an extra 15-20 HP.
I will keep you posted.
Once more thanks for your help.

Originally Posted by Jon8710

looks like a cracking motor !!

thats my car on your CSL register calendar on your wall, that photo was taken on the gottard pass not far from you !

Very nice photo
The calendar this year is amazing.
Next time you are in CH, let me know and we can do an Alpine CSL meeting.

[alexk]

A small update.

After a failed water pump that ripped of a few things in the engine bay, I repaired the Z3.
In the meantime, I installed the small radiator for the LSD cooling, change the gearbox oil and also install a gauge for the engine oil temp.



I also got a set of BBS RK wheels, which are very light.
They are 17 x 8J ET35. I no longer need to run spacers at the front and at the back I have 12mm spacers.
I fitted Federal RSR-595 tyres (225/45/17). These tyres are cheap, I read mixed reviews and I was curious to try them.

Yesterday I did a half day trackday at Anneau Du Rhin.
Unfortunately it was cold and the track was wet.
The car worked very good. The tyres performed very good and I didn't see a lack of performance compared to R888s.
The LSD cooling works very good. As soon as the LSD temp would hit 100+ C, I would start the pump and in 1-2 mins the temp would drop and remain at 70-75C.
The engine oil didn't reach more than 110C.
The short ratio LSD did give more speed in the straights.
Having said that, my top speed is only 210 (tacho). I need to increase the limiter





What failed completely was my Brembo brake pads.
The rear ones got completely fecked.
Very strange ! I have done only 6k road kilometers with them.

I was the fastest car yesterday.
There were 3 x 944 Turbo S or how they are called, very tuned.
Still the mighty Z3 was 2+ secs faster

[Mike R]

If you want some good track tyres that are better than the R888s, get the Khumo V70As in hard compound .

[alexk]

So, I now have a new set of wheels for the Z3.
These will be my new winter tyre set, as I got fed up with the tiny 16" Styling 32.

They are BMW Styling 19 wheels 17 x 8J ET20. They were made by BBS, 2-piece with forged rim. They are light and look very nice
Currently on 235/45/17 which look a bit fat, but I will fit 225/45/17 next winter.

[alexk]

A couple more pics with these wheels.

[alexk]

Not a lot to update really...

I bought new front/rear/side lights/indicators and now I have white.
Inside the favorite diadem OSRAM bulbs that give this blue color in the white indicators.





I also drilled some holes to have a 'bit' of extra air.





The project is ongoing and I have a few things lined up.

[alexk]

A few small changes on the mighty Z3.
I did an ECU remap, the rev limiter is now at 7000rpm.
The engine pulls much stronger above 4500.

Also, installed today Mintex M1144 front+rear pads as well as one coil pack that was not functioning very good.

More changes soon

[alexk]

A new update about the Z3.

As it is a budget track car (unlike the CSL ) I am using things that make sense and sometimes have zero cost.
Here are the anti-roll bar drop links of the CSL being fitted to my Z3.
All E36s and Z3s apart from the M versions connect the anti-roll bar to the front wishbone.
The M versions have them attached to the shock absorber, which is a more effective way to use the anti-roll bar.
Now, the Bilstein PSS suspension that I have is from the Z3 M coupe and it has the ARB drop links ears.
So I got the standard CSL front ARB drop links and fitted them.

Two interesting things.
- The CSL drop links are much longer than the Z3 M / E36 M3 ones, but my Z3 is much lower than stock which makes the CSL ones perfect size as now the ARB sits in the ideal position, parallel to the ground.
- The E36 M3 and Z3 M have a 23mm front ARB, as the drop link setup is more efficient.
My Z3 coupe has a 26mm ARB due to the inefficiency of the wishbone attachment. Which means now it's stiffer than the one on the M version.





Today I had a trackday with the Z3 and it was finally dry at Anneau Du Rhin.
I used the Federal RS-R tyres which gave me a good impression last time I used them, but it was raining.
All the upgrades paid off and my previous best laptime (with toyo R888s) of 1:32.19 dropped to 1:31.38 with ideal 1:29.68.
Also VMAX increased from 175.960 to 178.480.
I had a few consistent laps today ... (1:31.38, 1:31.95, 1:31.98, 1:32.24, 1:32.24, 1:32.36, 1:32.39, 1:32.47, 1:32.80, 1:32.88, 1:32.94, 1:32.98, 1:32.98 etc).

I can honestly say that I am driving the car very close to the limit that it has and just to put things into perspective, a stock CSL in this track does ~1:30. A CSL with schnitzer suspension had done 1:29.50.

What is cool is that I now lift the front inside wheel in the air.
Obviously it has to do with the stiffness of the front ARB and the driver giving it some love :P

A photo from today.

[alexk]

3 years and 2 months later, the Z3C has a new owner.
I hope he enjoys it as much as I did.
A very good car.