Z Marks The Spot

18 Jul Z Marks The Spot

Since it’s been quite a while, we figured we’d give you a little update on Eric’s Z4M, which is moving through fabrication quite nicely.

Currently, the Z4M is hanging out in fabrication for a few upgrades, such as an all-new custom exhaust, oil and power steering cooler upgrades, airbox fitment and more. Today we’ll show off the cooler upgrades and a little bit of the airbox fitment. First off, we’ve went ahead and fabricated Eric a totally new power steering cooler that utilizes the old PS cooler lines as hangers for the new model. Here are the pieces we fabricated to mount the new cooler to the old lines:

A little bit of sandblasted self-promotion never hurt anybody, either.

And now, very quickly, we’ll address the mounts for the new oil cooler. The new oil cooler was definitely a size upgrade from the OEM piece, so we needed to fabricate some new mounts. Some quick CNC work and black paint produced these two triangular mounts, which look about as OEM as everything else sandwiched between the bumper and the radiator.

Now that we’ve shown you the mounts, let’s see how everything looks without the bumper in place. The power steering cooler is the aluminum tank above the bumper support, and the oil cooler is the larger black cooler at the bottom of the front fascia.

Here’s a quick close-up of the piece we fabricated to allow for A/N fittings to connect to the OEM oil hard lines:

You might notice that the cooler doesn’t have any connections to it. Good eye! This was put in place to ensure that all fittings (that are being welded on currently) would clear the gaps; fitment is key when it comes to behind-the-bumper placement, and we never cut any corners in that regard.

The FMU logos are a bit harder to see when they’re hidden behind various supports, and when they have a bolt going through them, but it’s still there for those with very discerning eyes.

Let’s take a quick skip up the bumper and into the engine bay, where fitment work on the airbox is still in progress. The actual airbox itself is a Bimmerworld CSL-style carbon-fiber airbox, complete with MAF housing and internal trumpets for optimal airflow. They fit just fine on the E46 M3 (the most typical home for the S54 motor), but the Z4M will require a bit of fitment work, as its engine bay is quite different from the E46 M3. That, and the box doesn’t exactly match up with Eric’s Dinan throttle bodies. We’re the kings of fitment, though, so we made it work. Here’s a shot of the clamp we fabricated, connected to the Dinan TB:

Here’s a more defined shot of the clamp itself; it has an internal lip designed to match the Bimmerworld airbox to the Dinan TBs:

Finally, here’s one last clamp shot, with the airbox in place against the throttle bodies:

The other area that’s a bit problematic in terms of fitment is where the airbox exits. On the Z4M, it points towards the area that Eric’s RPI intake scoop is diverting air, but it’s not perfect. Needless to say, we’ve got a few ideas that should keep the air flowing as best as it can:

Finally, we reattached the bumper for the Zed, just to ensure the coolers would fit. Long story short, they fit and also happen to look great. Things are coming up Milhouse with this build!

One final note, Motor Union is rapidly approaching! Go to our store via the Products tab at the top of the page to find the link for signing up for the event!