JOURNAL: 1998 BMW Z3 2.8 Roadster [UPDATED: 6th May 2011]

[trackdaywidow]

Looking lovely with the hardtop on. Also, liking the nice shiney wheels

[pangster]

Looking lovely with the hardtop on. Also, liking the nice shiney wheels

Thanks mate!! I'll get some better pics up soon!!

[pangster]

a quick shot taken when we were at Cloncaird Castle for our anniversary:

[pangster]

the weather was decent today (for a change) and it was the first chance I've had this year to get out and give the car a proper clean.. unfortunately my camera's battery was dead so pics were taken with my iPhone..





















Pretty happy with todays efforts!! if it's good weather next weekend then I'll give it a clay, polish and wax!

[NeRo]

Looking good - I need to get out and get mine sorted now

[pangster]

Next round of mods/maintenance waiting to go on the car:

- Full service (all fluids: PAS, brake/clutch, oil, coolant plus spark plugs, water pump, air filter, thermostat, thermostat housing and thermostat gaskets etc)
- Earls stainless steel clutch line
- Goodridge stainless steel brake lines
- ///M mirrors
- ///M side gills

And today I just added these to the above list:

Brushed stainless steel Storm Motorwerks V1 gearknob and Storm Motorwerks handbrake handle:



And an ITG panel filter:



Good news is that the paint for the ///M mirrors and ///M gills also arrived today!!

The only other interior bits I want to do now is get the steering wheel recovered (not decided on final design though - can't decide between all black with beige stitching or 3/4 black with beige bottom and beige stitching) as well as beige gear and handbrake gaitors.

The only other parts/maintenance bit I need to do relatively soon is decide what I'm going to do with the brakes.

[pangster]

My ITG panel filter just arrived this morning:









I had thought long and hard about either going down the induction kit route or getting a panel filter. Other cars I've fitted induction kits to have benefited from this primarily because of restricted and confiluted air intake systems - having looked at the intake system on the 2.8 and with it being fairly direct then I thought I'd go down the panel route first. After all its the same design that's used in the Z3M so a quick calculation tells me that the flow rate is good enough for north of >450 CFM - which is more than enough for my needs.

The ITG panel filter build quality/construction is top notch. It also took all of 5 minutes to fit and I'm very impressed with it - I've taken it for a proper drive and have noticed the following differences compared to stock:

[*] NOISE: it seems quieter on tick over (almost muffled) but when accelerating/stepping on it a bit then it is a fair bit louder than stock - which surprised me as when I've fitted panel filters to previous cars, I didn't really notice that much of a difference. It now sounds like how a 6 cylinder car should.

[*] PERFORMANCE: again I wasn't expecting huge performance gains from this (in line with expectations from previous cars) - but it does seem a little more peppier and more free revving (my stock air filter was due for renewal anyway) - so I'm under no illusion that a similar improvement might have been seen with a stock filter.

Overall then - I'm very happy - £'s per smiles this is one of the better mods I've done to the car.

[NeRo]

Never heard of this brand

Does it affect fuel consumption - good or bad?

[pangster]

Never heard of this brand

Does it affect fuel consumption - good or bad?

ITG are a massive brand - particularly in motorsport WRC to F1.. you can find a list of their clients here:

http://www.itgairfilters.com/clients.as ... clientlist

some of the other links will explain a bit more about the company. FWIW I bought mine from Camskill yesterday and it arrived this morning! Great service!

Too early to say if it affects fuel consumption - will probably have a false negative effect as the sound is quite good! LOL!.. once it settles and the novely wears off I would imagine it would slighty improve fuel economy as it seems to breath a fair bit easier..

[pangster]

Just had a knock at my door (working from home today ) - my Storm Motorwerks gear has now arrived!:













I can't believe the weight of the gearknob!.. in fact saying that - I can't believe the weight of the cigarette lighter blank!! - looks like quality pieces - can't 'weight' to get them fitted!..

To finish off the interior a bit - I've also just bought a Chrome gear surround:



And I'll add the chrome HVAC dial surrounds - my car already came with the factory chromeline interior pack so should finish it off nicely!