Materials to Maintain Your ZHP IIIII Hand Protection IIIII Tools to Maintain Your ZHP
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  1. #101
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    Independence KY
    Posts
    2,832
    I feel bad that the owner paid the price he did for that car and the shoddy ass work was found. Owner just dumped a ton of good money into that car, no doubt its a night and day difference. Love that car/the interior on it
    2005 BMW 330i ZHP - BMWP brakes/intake/strut bar/shifter, Coby wraps interior, BBS CHs, Eagle Eye LED tails, LED fog lights, GC coilovers, Sprint Booster/sport button mod, 4.5 LCM w/ programming, Xtrons 9inch HU, BSW stg1, dynamat, M3 sedan dead pedal, oCarbon CF interior trim, CF seat backs, 2x2 CF MTECH2 diffuser, CF cabin filter cover



  2. #102
    Join Date
    Sep 2018
    Location
    Austin, Tx
    Posts
    295
    Ok, been a little while. We've had a bunch of big projects come into the shop and quite a few little jobs that aren't that "interesting" so this is the reason for the extended update as you all know I usually don't like to present a car until it's done, we just have a few of those going now.

    The V10 wagon is "done." It got delivered back around the beginning of December. Last I recall we had changed up the oil cooling system and think we have a handle on that. The next step was getting the AC operating. We wanted to have an OE look inside the cabin and as it is the AC system is a bit of a standalone in that it doesn't interact with the DME or IHKA at all. We had been controlling it with an external on/off switch but it was just out of place. So I had seen where the E39 LS guys were using the LED from the AC button to control the compressor relay. We attempted to mimic that setup, but I don't know if the E39 system is different or they just get lucky because it was much much more complicated to make it work. Believe it or not but the LED for the snowflake button is actually pulse width modulated over a small voltage window and is even influenced by the photocell for the instrument cluster auto dimming. Luckily I have a buddy who is a retired electrical engineer and he came over and helped us build a circuit off the LED to control the compressor relay.




    With that sorted out I spent a bit of time driving it around and shaking it down and it was fabulous. So the "last" item before giving it back to @RyanS was to address some cosmetics. We had fitted a "ZHP" bumper to the car but needed to address the fog light/brake duct openings. The wagon is originally a no fog light car and with the oil filter housing on the RH side and the oil cooler on the LH side there was no space for brake ducts. I wanted something OE so we took another center grille and chopped it up to fill out the brake duct openings. BUT with the OFH on the RH side it was a bit unsightly so we add a solid panel behind the grill and it gave us the exact look I was after and hid all the unsightly items.








    And then we added a grill to the backside of the porkchop to exhaust the air from the oil cooler.




    Ryan has been driving it now daily and enjoying the car a ton, I think I might have to build one of these for myself some day....



    @TangerineDream sent us his 3.0 swapped and ESS TS supercharged touring all the way from West Virginia because it was having some drivability issues and we were

    thinking about swapping the auto trans to a DCT. After arriving we drove the car a ton and made a to do list for it which we started chipping away at.




    A bunch of warning lights were on due to aftermarket lights and components installed, those were all corrected with coding.






    The DCT project was shelved because the aftermarket software to control it is just not where it should be at this point so the decision was made to swap a S6-37 6MT from a ZHP in it. Marc got a complete kit shipped in and we replaced a bunch of wear items and converted his wagon to 3 pedals.














    Next, a long time customer sent a S54 for us to go through and have ready for a back-up to his endurance race car M3. It had been sitting awhile and generally what we do for him is tear it down to a long block. Go through all of the Vanos, replace the rod bearings and address any other minor things that need to be done so he can just throw it in the car and go when the time comes.

    As we started taking it apart we found a little creature had been living in the coolant passages of the engine. I didn't get a pic of everything we removed but it filled a plastic solo cup up about 2". We ended up pulling the head off to clean everything out.






    Someone had already been into this engine before as there were head studs installed, which made pulling the head a much quicker option. But they had also left behind some shoddy work. Instead of replacing this coolant pipe o-ring they just slathered on a bunch of black rtv which severely restricted the coolant flow.






    And then they had re-drilled the vanos pump disc, but it was still much to large. The stock holes were in excellent shape and the redrilled were starting to wear ironically. The customer had a turbo toy hub in his pile of parts so we installed that and re-used the original tab holes.

    Current Garage... '00 R11S, '09 HP2S, '12 R12GSA, '00 Black 323iT (wife's), '02 Alpine 325iT (Eileen, Track Wagon), '02 Japan Rot 325iT

    Instagram @ HillPerformanceBimmers
    Email to George@HillPerformance.com

  3. #103
    Join Date
    Sep 2018
    Location
    Austin, Tx
    Posts
    295
    Pt2
    We've also started on a ZHP/S54 conversion, we've just been disassembling, assessing and cleaning parts so far. This is going to be a really extensive build. New everything in the suspension, all the maintenance, euro exhaust, CAI, tune, etc. It should be a real nice driving hot rod.

    Disassembly of the M3 donor, you'll note almost everything under the car is removed as there are a bunch of small items that are M3 specific that often get overlooked with these swaps.






    And the donor car was a SMG that had some intermittent gear position sensor faults so the preivous owner had bypassed the all the failsafes and was directly hotwiring the starter to get it started. LOL, but it worked.






    I met up with some guys who a starting a company to offer some more products for the E46 platform. One of these is a new take on replacement shifters, I can't go into any more detail than that, but it looks like it could be a very cool product. During our conversations I found out they were wanting to 3d scan a S6-53 6MT transmission (what would come behind a E9x N54) and I had one loose for another project so I offered to let them scan mine. I've never seen the process in person and it is so cool to see this technology in work. They used a Faro ARM and it was so precise you could read all of the casting information in the model, very cool tech!






    This is a video....




    I bought a new (used) trailer for the shop. We had been borrowing a buddies, but I was borrowing it more and more and then I stumbled upon this one and I jumped on it.




    My truck with the trailer. This is "Ron Burgundy," he was purchsed by my GrandPa new in '95 and was passed down to me when he stopped driving about 9-10 years ago now. It's funny to see how things have changed and all of these new 1/2 ton+ trucks (and even the ranger/s10/etc) trucks blow this thing out of the water on paper. But it's such a good truck and pulls well as long as you are mindful of the load, it just can't be replaced.




    Then new tires for RB and the trailer (along with some for a buddys SBF swapped Volvo wagon).




    Along with mobile mounting and balancing.




    Machined another batch of SMG conversion bell housings.




    A friend of the shop happened to be at the junkyard and posted a pic of a ZHP, I saw it still had a shifter and... the complete transmission. It was to late in the day, but we were there first thing in the morning the next day and scored big. Almost everything was there that made it a ZHP. It was a bit precarious as the car had been pillaged a bit already, but we made it happen without incident.











    Current Garage... '00 R11S, '09 HP2S, '12 R12GSA, '00 Black 323iT (wife's), '02 Alpine 325iT (Eileen, Track Wagon), '02 Japan Rot 325iT

    Instagram @ HillPerformanceBimmers
    Email to George@HillPerformance.com

  4. #104
    Join Date
    Sep 2018
    Location
    Austin, Tx
    Posts
    295
    Pt3

    I needed to change the oil level sensor on one of my own wagons. It had recently had an oil change so I didn't want to drain and refill so I used this trick that I was taught a long time ago. First, you have to make sure there are no vacuum leaks, if you so you are about to have a mess. You insert the suction line of a shop vac into the oil fill hole and seal it tightly. Next turn on the vacuum and you can unbolt AND remove the oil level sensor without draining the oil.







    This is a video....




    I've been hoarding M3 donor cars, but ended up finding two of them a forever home. I pulled the parts I needed and sent them on their way to a new life.

    Car#1, 10yrs ago vs when I got it vs now. It is getting a Ford Coyote engine and going to become a dedicated track car.


















    Car#2 is getting a LS and will be a street car.








    And to wrap up this update, I got Eileen over to the dyno to see what her little 2.5L makes. I was pleasantly surprised at 171whp.








    This is a video...

    Current Garage... '00 R11S, '09 HP2S, '12 R12GSA, '00 Black 323iT (wife's), '02 Alpine 325iT (Eileen, Track Wagon), '02 Japan Rot 325iT

    Instagram @ HillPerformanceBimmers
    Email to George@HillPerformance.com

  5. #105
    Join Date
    May 2020
    Location
    SF Bay, CA
    Posts
    1,266
    Quote Originally Posted by GeorgeH View Post
    The V10 wagon is "done." It got delivered back around the beginning of December. Last I recall we had changed up the oil cooling system and think we have a handle on that. The next step was getting the AC operating. We wanted to have an OE look inside the cabin and as it is the AC system is a bit of a standalone in that it doesn't interact with the DME or IHKA at all. We had been controlling it with an external on/off switch but it was just out of place. So I had seen where the E39 LS guys were using the LED from the AC button to control the compressor relay. We attempted to mimic that setup, but I don't know if the E39 system is different or they just get lucky because it was much much more complicated to make it work. Believe it or not but the LED for the snowflake button is actually pulse width modulated over a small voltage window and is even influenced by the photocell for the instrument cluster auto dimming. Luckily I have a buddy who is a retired electrical engineer and he came over and helped us build a circuit off the LED to control the compressor relay.
    Why, BMW, why... I guess it probably works though. If it wasn't there I bet I'd be complaining about never being able to see those green lights on a bright sunny day, or having having a bunch of little green beacon distractions that are brighter than the orange when driving in the pitch black

    Quote Originally Posted by GeorgeH View Post
    Pt3

    I needed to change the oil level sensor on one of my own wagons. It had recently had an oil change so I didn't want to drain and refill so I used this trick that I was taught a long time ago. First, you have to make sure there are no vacuum leaks, if you so you are about to have a mess. You insert the suction line of a shop vac into the oil fill hole and seal it tightly. Next turn on the vacuum and you can unbolt AND remove the oil level sensor without draining the oil.

    This is a video....


    Oh damn that's pretty nifty! Today I learn...
    2004 BMW 330CI ZHP (well, technically ZAM)


  6. #106
    Join Date
    Sep 2018
    Location
    Austin, Tx
    Posts
    295
    Quote Originally Posted by t.er View Post
    Why, BMW, why... I guess it probably works though. If it wasn't there I bet I'd be complaining about never being able to see those green lights on a bright sunny day, or having having a bunch of little green beacon distractions that are brighter than the orange when driving in the pitch black
    Ya, we thought it was going to be simple and then we hooked up the oscilloscope and realized it was going to be a challenge.


    Quote Originally Posted by t.er View Post
    Oh damn that's pretty nifty! Today I learn...
    It's a fun party trick for sure.
    Current Garage... '00 R11S, '09 HP2S, '12 R12GSA, '00 Black 323iT (wife's), '02 Alpine 325iT (Eileen, Track Wagon), '02 Japan Rot 325iT

    Instagram @ HillPerformanceBimmers
    Email to George@HillPerformance.com

  7. #107
    Join Date
    Nov 2017
    Location
    Irvine, CA
    Posts
    818
    Awesome updates, George.

    How long before we start seeing horror stories online as people try your oil level replacement trick?

  8. #108
    Join Date
    Sep 2018
    Location
    Austin, Tx
    Posts
    295
    Quote Originally Posted by Will View Post
    Awesome updates, George.

    How long before we start seeing horror stories online as people try your oil level replacement trick?
    Years ago one of my coworkers at the dealer tried to swap the sensors without draining the oil by going real fast, you can imagine how that turned out lol
    Current Garage... '00 R11S, '09 HP2S, '12 R12GSA, '00 Black 323iT (wife's), '02 Alpine 325iT (Eileen, Track Wagon), '02 Japan Rot 325iT

    Instagram @ HillPerformanceBimmers
    Email to George@HillPerformance.com

  9. #109
    As always, awesome updates! I wonder what some of the details are on some future projects.

    Hopefully the weather there in Texas isn’t impacting you guys too much!


    Sent from my iPhone 11 Pro using Tapatalk

  10. #110
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    Austin TX
    Posts
    7,606
    Congrats on the trailer, it looks very nice. Many good ZHP parts found at the junk yard, well done.

    We will wait for updates on the ZHP/S54 conversion.
    Last edited by fredo; 02-18-2021 at 09:46 PM. Reason: Typo
    2005 IR / black / 6MT
    157,000 miles

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