Lazlo's high mile 330Ci

[Karl Lazlo]

GSR oil pump is a work of art but if heard of at least one person that had the bolts come loose on it so you may want to get that safety wired. I didn't have the funds for that so I went with Achilles oil pump and the VAC oil pan baffle.
VAC also makes a sweet oil filter housing tapped for oil cooler lines... It a thing of beauty

What are you going to do with motor mounts?

Yeah, been on VAC site a little too often and saw their oil filter housing, will likely go that route.

As for mounts, will likely stay with the M3 motor/trans mounts.

Interesting about the GSR pump... I will make sure that no matter what route I go, it will be safety wired.

Thanks!

[Sockethead]

The want for that housing is strong but IDK if it will clear the supercharger on my car.

Also an S54 oil filter housing will fit too... That route might be a little cheaper that the VAC unit.
We used to live very close to VAC and were there several times and got the whole tour of the facility... First class stuff happening there

[Karl Lazlo]

Man... I fell down a few rat holes. Trying to keep this little project on budget. Between browsing VAC's site, looking at cams, headers, exhausts, LSDs... I may as well buy a new car and set fire to my 03 in true Viking manner.

[Sockethead]

You're preaching to the choir on this site hahaha! My car is a huge city rat size hole...

[slater]

OK, team - Here goes. I have $0.00 credit card balance, a head full of caffeine, and making plans for the 2003 ZSP. Wing Attack Plan R for the high mile beast starts in two weeks. Right now, the car has 287,500 miles and will be going to the doctor. Since I plan on doing some track time with it next year, my confidence with the age of the motor and trans is minimal. Motor is getting opened up to make sure everything is fresh (new bearings, valve job, etc) and here is to hoping that some new rings will solve my oil consumption issues. Thoughts on M52TU oil collector rings in lieu of the standard M54 oil collector rings?

gary @ G.A.S. said those rings are NLA... BMW now only sells the M54 rings. sorry.

speaking of G.A.S., what about their CCV?

Man... I fell down a few rat holes. Trying to keep this little project on budget. Between browsing VAC's site, looking at cams, headers, exhausts, LSDs... I may as well buy a new car and set fire to my 03 in true Viking manner.

i will make some solid suggestions:

- LSD
- chassis reinforcement (aka The Vince Program)
- poly diff mounts
- solid rear subframe mounts
- spherical RTABs (huge difference here)

these will all help with getting you more power to the ground.

You're preaching to the choir on this site hahaha! My car is a huge city rat size hole...

me too!!

[Karl Lazlo]

gary @ G.A.S. said those rings are NLA... BMW now only sells the M54 rings. sorry.

Oh man. I have an email into Totalseal to see if they can go a set for me...

speaking of G.A.S., what about their CCV?

Yes, but based on my seeing the thread, looks like they won't ship in quantity in time for my rebuild. But, it is a serious consideration.

- LSD - Yes. Phase 2
- chassis reinforcement (aka The Vince Program) - Yes. Phase 2
- poly diff mounts - Done
- solid rear subframe mounts - Done, Poly
- spherical RTABs (huge difference here) - Installed Rogue last summer

Thanks!

[slater]

Yes, but based on my seeing the thread, looks like they won't ship in quantity in time for my rebuild. But, it is a serious consideration.

- LSD - Yes. Phase 2
- chassis reinforcement (aka The Vince Program) - Yes. Phase 2
- poly diff mounts - Done
- solid rear subframe mounts - Done, Poly
- spherical RTABs (huge difference here) - Installed Rogue last summer

Thanks!

nice on all of that. you should change the subframe mounts to solid aluminum, though. and rogue doesn't make spherical RTABs? if you went poly, you'd be amazed at the difference of the spherical ones. night and day. no binding.

[Sailor]

OK, team - Here goes. I have $0.00 credit card balance, a head full of caffeine, and making plans for the 2003 ZSP. Wing Attack Plan R for the high mile beast starts in two weeks. Right now, the car has 287,500 miles and will be going to the doctor. Since I plan on doing some track time with it next year, my confidence with the age of the motor and trans is minimal. Motor is getting opened up to make sure everything is fresh (new bearings, valve job, etc) and here is to hoping that some new rings will solve my oil consumption issues. Thoughts on M52TU oil collector rings in lieu of the standard M54 oil collector rings?

Besides that, building a shopping list of "while we are in there" and wanted your thoughts:

- Oil pump (GSR Four Bolt Oil Pump Shaft)
- Oil pan baffle
- new sender
- Looking at oil coolers - any suggestions?

- CSF Radiator
- Stewart Water Pump
- Silicone upper and lower rad hoses
- Mechanical Thermostat
- Expansion tank and associated refresh parts

- New-to-me 5 speed trans
- Keeping my SMF and clutch (<40k miles on it)

I am not so concerned about making more power (already went down a rat hole of looking at cams, that resulted in looking at VAC State 2 and 3 heads...), mainly reliability considering this will see a few tracks days in 2018...

On the oil cooler question, I have some I salvaged from RX7's years ago when I was working on them and had some parts cars. You'd have to adapt lines/fittings to them, but they are pretty solid and the price is right (free if you pay shipping.) Let me know if you want to try one.

[Karl Lazlo]

nice on all of that. you should change the subframe mounts to solid aluminum, though. and rogue doesn't make spherical RTABs? if you went poly, you'd be amazed at the difference of the spherical ones. night and day. no binding.

Thanks, slater. I have the poly RE RTABs, but AKG poly subframe and diff mounts - they suck diddly uck. No sooner did you post that, I started hearing subframe noises on a recent commute. Already adding the aluminum mounts and looking at spherical RTABs.

On the oil cooler question, I have some I salvaged from RX7's years ago when I was working on them and had some parts cars. You'd have to adapt lines/fittings to them, but they are pretty solid and the price is right (free if you pay shipping.) Let me know if you want to try one.

Hmmm, a very intriguing offer. You wouldn't happen to know the dimensions? Thank you!

[Karl Lazlo]

Latest project halted on the '03. This thing will not die. It sat most of winter as I continued vacillating between engine rebuilt, S54, flash bang it to death, etc...

After the weather broke (finally) been tooling around in it, and with a new job, my trips to NYC will be less frequent (YAY!). With that, I have decided to do elective cosmetic surgery on my ZHP (more on that later), so I needed to get my 03 summer ready. But... I have been getting frequent thunk/bang from the rear suspension. Only exhibited when loading/unloading from a dead stop. Backing up and initial launch.

I had it up on a lift a few times and didn't find anything obviously amiss. I broke down and decided to have a local BMW shop look at it. These guys know their way around BMWs, as the two owners have been racing from the E30 days (BP has been there).

The car has been there a week. Initially, they couldn't recreate it and I cursed the sources of my bushings (incorrectly, I may add). To date, the car has 291,6xx miles on it, and the list of relevant parts below, all with about 40k miles/2 years on them:

Rogue RTABs and RSMs
OEM M3 control arm bushings (upper/lower)
Powerflex sway bar bushings
AKG Diff Mounts
OEM flex disc and CSB

Overall, the car got a very clean bill of health. To wit, one of the owners mentioned that the car drives better than similar with 90k on the clock. That made me smile.

Subframe is GTG, all the bushings and mounts are good (to the point of removing the trailing arm to inspect the RTABs), nothing *really* loose, though the RSM nuts and wheel bearing nuts were tightened up a few degrees. Still getting the thunk. Car is overnight as tomorrow they will install replacement rubber bushing for the Rogue RSMs. The set is 10 bucks, glad I ordered them two years ago along with the new RSMs.

So... The saga of the High Mile ZSP presses on.