Materials to Maintain Your ZHP IIIII Hand Protection IIIII Tools to Maintain Your ZHP
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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Location
    Boston
    Posts
    242

    Downshift's Daily/Track Build

    Hey guys,

    I bought a 2004 ZHP sedan two weeks ago in CA (where i'm from) and drove it to Boston where I live and work (MIT). The trip was 3500 miles and my friend and I completed it in two days, but that's another story.

    The story behind the car is: I have wanted a ZHP for the past 8 years, since I was 14. Something about the sedan, 6MT, refined look and no crazy flashy features. Just a solid car..

    So I found a good looking car in CA, had a friend (BMW tech) inspect it, and bought it within hours of him posting it on CL. $8k, 110k miles. We then overhauled the cooling system (which had an expansion tank from 2003!) right before the cross-country drive). I also replaced the FCAB, which were literally severed upon inspection.


    My plan for the car is to build a streetable track car, with a strong emphasis toward track. I don't like compromising, but I do need to drive this to work (10 miles) when I can't ride my motorcycle. In the immediate future I want to stiffen the frame, source track wheels/tires, install a full coilover kit (pss vs KW vs ...?) and possibly a big brake kit, but I am unsure of that yet.

    I replaced the headlight lenses, tail lights, side markers and shift knob.

    I'll leave a few photos for now, an hopefully will have something more exciting to show soon.


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  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Location
    Boston
    Posts
    242
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    Old front CAB
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    Expansion tank from 2003, 110k miles on it...
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  3. #3
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    22841
    Posts
    9,921
    Subscribed.

    Overall good cross country trip?

    His - 2004 Imola Red / Alcantara 330i | 6MT | ZHP |

    Her's - 2005 Black Sapphire Metallic / Black Leather 330i | 6MT | ZHP |

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Location
    Boston
    Posts
    242
    Ya the trip was great. Nice to have my buddy come along too. I went from SF to SLO, to ABQ (to pick him up) then we made a straight shot to Memphis, stopped at Central BBQ for some dinner and drove straight thru NYC to Boston from there. ABQ to BOS was straight through only stopped for food and gas.

    Made very good time from ABQ to Memphis, we didn't see many cops and cruised 120-140 for about 900 miles. Surprisingly, no tickets over the whole trip.

    Worst part was driving through blizzards in Tennessee and New Jersey on Bridgestone S-04..

    Josh

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Sep 2014
    Location
    Dallas, TX
    Posts
    2
    Beautiful ZHP. I'm sure you will be happy with this awesome car.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jul 2014
    Location
    Sterling, VA 20165
    Posts
    431
    Wow two days to cross the country is impressive. And 120-140mph for 900 miles is downright scary - wow! I guess you had good long straight away highways to cruise on. How did it feel at those speeds?

    2004 ZHP Acquired: February 5, 2017
    Lorenzo's Project Thread

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Location
    Boston
    Posts
    242
    Quote Originally Posted by Lorenzo View Post
    Wow two days to cross the country is impressive. And 120-140mph for 900 miles is downright scary - wow! I guess you had good long straight away highways to cruise on. How did it feel at those speeds?
    The car felt planted and safe, but another 10 mph would have changed that. I've noticed this on the W212 E63 as well; 140-170 feels pretty safe but anything above, even by 10 mph is a whole different story. Maybe something about the air starting to lift the front end in a different manner. Anyway, the car felt great and was less twitchy than I thought it would be, so we decided to make good time and go for it.

    Driving on summers in thin layers of snow with black ice under every overpass was very scary, even at 35 mph. I hit a large patch of ice on a turn and must have rotated the car 30 degrees, thankfully TC was off and it actually let me correct, otherwise it may have tried to brake and made the situation even worse.

    Got my D4 and 75W90 and I'll be doing my trans/diff service this Saturday when I have access to my lift.

    Also started peeling my pillar felt off...

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Location
    San Francisco, CA
    Posts
    6,847
    I like your thought process. Sounds like something I would do.. oh wait.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Location
    Boston
    Posts
    242
    Any short shift kit recommendations guys? Not planning on splurging for the evo3

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Location
    Boston
    Posts
    242
    My matte black kidney grilles finally came in and installation was very easy. My OEM grilles were looking pretty beat up, so I was very happy with the change.

    I also got around to my differential and transmission fluid change. The difference in feel in the 6MT before/after D4 ATF was not as noticeable as I had expected, bit was in fact noticeable. The car shifts into first much smoother than before. The work was pretty effortless since I had a full lift. Didnt have to remove a single cover plate or obstructing part, which I was kind of expecting, so that was nice.

    Having the car up on the lift also showed me that I have a big screw embedded in my rear right sidewall...not sure what to do about that. It is tangent to the tire, not sticking directly into it. Forgot to take photo.

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    75W90 Differential oil, D4 ATF Transmission oil, pump for both of those, and my new kidney grilles

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    New kidney grilles, ended up being a perfect fit

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    Grilles before

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    One grille installed for comparison

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    Both grilles installed

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    Got the car up on the lift

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    Filling the transmission with D4

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    Service is done


    I went to a drift event later that day and the consensus is...my first big mod will definitely be a LSD. The open diff is just awful for the type of driving I do. Looking into Turner and other alternatives. Shoot some info my way if you have recommendations.

    Josh
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