The Random E46/ZHP Question Thread

I don't have one but I've heard good things about them. They had a short run of a "bad batch" but corrected the problems. So, unless you have one of those, there is no reason not to install it if you want to tweak your performance. You just have to follow the instructions and make sure it's on a battery tender. There's always a chance any install can go wrong but the chances with the Shark are no different that other things if you follow instructions - which means it's low chance of error. If the question is that you can't do both, maintenance/correcting problems would be my first choice. I'm sure someone who has a Shark can chime in.

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Originally Posted by ClimRox

Would anyone who has a Shark Injector care to share their good/bad opinion on the product? I have one in my possession that I acquired from a friend who never took it out of the box before he sold his ZHP. In doing a search on this forum, it seems like people like them, but there may be a chance of the install going wrong?

For what its worth, I don't plan to do any performance mods to the car that would require a custom tune. I'm just torn between using it, or possibly selling it so I can more quickly address my ZKW lighting issue.

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Personally, I'd spend my money elsewhere. I have one and all I can say is "meh".
I bought it for the throttle response increase but realistically, it didn't really do jack for me.

I recommend don't sell it if you plan on using it. I think most you can get is $225 and they sell for $350 new, right?

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Originally Posted by ClimRox

Would anyone who has a Shark Injector care to share their good/bad opinion on the product? I have one in my possession that I acquired from a friend who never took it out of the box before he sold his ZHP. In doing a search on this forum, it seems like people like them, but there may be a chance of the install going wrong?

For what its worth, I don't plan to do any performance mods to the car that would require a custom tune. I'm just torn between using it, or possibly selling it so I can more quickly address my ZKW lighting issue.

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I might be interested in it if you decide to sell it. How old is it?

If you don't use supporting mods you won't see much benefit from it anyway. At minimum you'll want a drop in filter like an AFe or K&N


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Originally Posted by stephenkirsh

I recommend don't sell it if you plan on using it. I think most you can get is $225 and they sell for $350 new, right?

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I have seen the few that have been posted on a different forum go in the $250-$280 range (the ones that are BNIB, not the used ones that have to be sent to Turner for a reset that cost some $). Still, you are right that $350 + shipping is a fair amount more than the mid $200s.

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Originally Posted by BMWCurves

I might be interested in it if you decide to sell it. How old is it?

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I"m not sure how often they replace stock, but it is the version with the mini-usb port. From what I understand, this is the newer version. PM me if you decide you are interested.

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Originally Posted by UdubBadger

If you don't use supporting mods you won't see much benefit from it anyway. At minimum you'll want a drop in filter like an AFe or K&N

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Thank you, and the other members, who have shared their opinion on the product.

Did you run across my recent thread? http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/showt...7-SONOFABITCH!

I also have the BMW performance intake, and an Active Autoworks exhaust. I've not had the car tested, but guess that I've added 20-25 hp. That's enough to notice a difference vs. stock, but doesn't make the car a drag racer. Money well spent, IMO.

^ I did. I'm glad to see that TMS provided excellent customer service.

Is an M3 interior a direct swap with a 330ci interior? I'd like to swap my black interior for Natural Brown way down the road, but that seems like a pipe dream because so few people seem to sell theirs. On the other hand, Cinnamon leather from an M3 seems more attainable.

Seats are different in M3 and cinnamon is probably on higher demand than natural brown


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Originally Posted by UdubBadger

Seats are different in M3 and cinnamon is probably on higher demand than natural brown


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I thought so. But the M3 front seats would still fit on the same 330Ci rails, correct?

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Originally Posted by BMWCurves

I thought so. But the M3 front seats would still fit on the same 330Ci rails, correct?

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yeah, direct swap.

Awesome, thanks!

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Originally Posted by theothersawyer

My seatbelt never likes to retract, anyone have any ideas on how to help fix this or make it any better? I always have to help feed the belt to retract and its super annoying!

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+1

Guess I'll be taking that bad boy apart...

I swapped an M3 interior into my ZHP coupé. I prefer the look and feel of the smooth leather to the coarser grain of the stuff that was stock in my car, but the M3 seats are more stuffed, I guess, so I sit a little higher than I'd prefer. I have to recline the seat a little when wearing a helmet.

@ryankokesh is your airbag light on? I just hooked up PASoft to my car, hoping to reset the light after swapping my seats (see above) and the code it shows for that light is due to the driver's side tensioner. Which hasn't been right since I swapped the rest of the interior…*(see above)

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Originally Posted by ryankokesh

+1

Guess I'll be taking that bad boy apart...

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Yeah, I don't really feel like taking the car apart, but I can't stand having to feed the seatbelt back in.

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Originally Posted by blalor

...but the M3 seats are more stuffed, I guess, so I sit a little higher than I'd prefer. I have to recline the seat a little when wearing a helmet.

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You know, I have a theory about this...
I had the cloth/alcantara seats when I bought my car. I've been looking for a few years for a Natural Brown leather set to swap it out with, and finally was successful after 4 years of searching. I put the interior in, and all of a sudden, I sit higher up than before. I was (and still am) quite perplexed by this, especially since I can't drive in my usual track memory seating position because the helmet doesn't clear the headliner anymore like it used to.

My seats have lumbar support. My theory is that this may be a trait specific to lumbar support cars, though I have absolutely zero evidence to back it up. I need to try sitting in a car that has leather but without lumbar, with my helmet on, to see what it's like.. Do your M3 seats have lumbar support?

Yeah, my seats are loaded. The old ones (standard leather, not alcantara) had neither neat nor lumbar. So there could be something to that. I notice the same thing between my MINI and my wife's MINI. Mine has cloth and leather seats, but hers has the English lounge leather. I sit much higher up in her car.

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Originally Posted by blalor

@ryankokesh is your airbag light on? I just hooked up PASoft to my car, hoping to reset the light after swapping my seats (see above) and the code it shows for that light is due to the driver's side tensioner. Which hasn't been right since I swapped the rest of the interior…*(see above)

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Nope... no light for me. It isn't too bad at retracting yet, though.

What front jacking point do you guys use to jack up the car to put in the jack stands?

I first jack up one side of the car about 4 inches using the jack stand point. Then I slide the second jack under the front and use the square thingy on the subframe to jack it up the rest of the way.

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Originally Posted by stephenkirsh

I first jack up one side of the car about 4 inches using the jack stand point. Then I slide the second jack under the front and use the square thingy on the subframe to jack it up the rest of the way.

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So you use two jacks?

Most use 2


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Originally Posted by NickZHP

So you use two jacks?

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Yup. Front is too low for most jacks. Alternative is to use ramps OR drive up onto 2x4s. Never done that one myself, though.

I normally can't get under my front but I can with my rears so I do those and get the fronts on stands that way


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I never thought about it... Where's a jack point on the rear?

On a lowered car, the rear jack point will actually raise both the rear and the front.

Buying a low profile jack is a requirement with these cars. Depending on where in my driveway I am, I occasionally have to drive up on to 2x4's just to get the low profile jack under the car...

If I'm raising the whole car, I do front then rear. I drive the front onto a pair of stacked and staggered 2x6 blocks (one per wheel; wheels stop on top of total thickness of 4", but they're staggered so you can drive up on them). Then I can get a floor jack onto the front subframe jacking point.

Just remember to put the 2x6 blocks back in place before lowering the car, or you'll trap your jack. And then make sure the tires have air in them, or you'll trap your jack even on the blocks. Yes, I did both of these yesterday with my MINI…

I hate this process... Anyone wanna donate a lift to me?


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Originally Posted by blalor

If I'm raising the whole car, I do front then rear. I drive the front onto a pair of stacked and staggered 2x6 blocks (one per wheel; wheels stop on top of total thickness of 4", but they're staggered so you can drive up on them). Then I can get a floor jack onto the front subframe jacking point.

Just remember to put the 2x6 blocks back in place before lowering the car, or you'll trap your jack. And then make sure the tires have air in them, or you'll trap your jack even on the blocks. Yes, I did both of these yesterday with my MINI…

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Does that bend the subframe at all?

I hope not. If I knew for sure, or even thought it was likely, I wouldn't do it. But there's a jack point in the under tray, the subframe looks solid, and this is one of the recommended jacking points I saw mentioned here and e46fanatics.

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Originally Posted by ryankokesh

I hate this process... Anyone wanna donate a lift to me?


Sent from my iPhone

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I asked that same question on my birthday back in January - surprisingly, no takers! Have a lift purchased that was supposed to ship on April 23rd, but got delayed. Hopefully soon, although I still have work to do to make the garage ready...

I've been through some of the threads here about brake fluid for our cars and there was a general consensus that our cars call for DOT4 low viscosity brake fluid. Have most of you switched over to it for those of you that ran normal DOT4 fluid before (ATE, Pentosin, etc)? And does it hurt our brake/clutch system to be using a higher viscosity fluid?

I have been using ate 200 brake fluid. Just bought some actually

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Originally Posted by Vas

I have been using ate 200 brake fluid. Just bought some actually

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I was thinking of using that with ECS' brake flush kit, but while I was looking through the brake forums I saw the thread on low viscosity (LV) brake fluid that should be used in our cars so I'm still not sure. You've never had any problems with ATE 200?

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Originally Posted by BMWCurves

I was thinking of using that with ECS' brake flush kit, but while I was looking through the brake forums I saw the thread on low viscosity (LV) brake fluid that should be used in our cars so I'm still not sure. You've never had any problems with ATE 200?

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Nope. No issues

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Originally Posted by BMWCurves

I've been through some of the threads here about brake fluid for our cars and there was a general consensus that our cars call for DOT4 low viscosity brake fluid. Have most of you switched over to it for those of you that ran normal DOT4 fluid before (ATE, Pentosin, etc)? And does it hurt our brake/clutch system to be using a higher viscosity fluid?

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We discussed this in another thread and no one has ever come up with an official explanation from BMW on why our cars call for DOT4LV. Most people just use DOT4 and report that it works just fine. I have no doubt that it feels the same however, we do know 2 facts:

DOT4LV is roughly 30% thinner

BMW calls for it in all models that use our DSC unit.

The DSC unit controls the Dynamic Stability Control system and Antilock Braking System. This leads ME to believe that the internal valving requires the thinner fluid to operate properly. This would also mean that the effect on the systems of using DOT4 would not be readily apparent.

I don't have any direct evidence to back that up but it was enough for me to flush out my system and go back to DOT4LV. I drive in the snow periodically and I don't want to wonder if my ABS is working optimally.

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Originally Posted by wsmeyer

We discussed this in another thread and no one has ever come up with an official explanation from BMW on why our cars call for DOT4LV. Most people just use DOT4 and report that it works just fine. I have no doubt that it feels the same however, we do know 2 facts:

DOT4LV is roughly 30% thinner

BMW calls for it in all models that use our DSC unit.

The DSC unit controls the Dynamic Stability Control system and Antilock Braking System. This leads ME to believe that the internal valving requires the thinner fluid to operate properly. This would also mean that the effect on the systems of using DOT4 would not be readily apparent.

I don't have any direct evidence to back that up but it was enough for me to flush out my system and go back to DOT4LV. I drive in the snow periodically and I don't want to wonder if my ABS is working optimally.

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Perfect, thank you. That's a similar conclusion I came to from reading the old thread in the brake section. I just wanted to see if anyone had any actual known failures from higher viscosity brake fluid or other issues.

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Originally Posted by wsmeyer

We discussed this in another thread and no one has ever come up with an official explanation from BMW on why our cars call for DOT4LV. Most people just use DOT4 and report that it works just fine. I have no doubt that it feels the same however, we do know 2 facts:

DOT4LV is roughly 30% thinner

BMW calls for it in all models that use our DSC unit.

The DSC unit controls the Dynamic Stability Control system and Antilock Braking System. This leads ME to believe that the internal valving requires the thinner fluid to operate properly. This would also mean that the effect on the systems of using DOT4 would not be readily apparent.

I don't have any direct evidence to back that up but it was enough for me to flush out my system and go back to DOT4LV. I drive in the snow periodically and I don't want to wonder if my ABS is working optimally.

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I think this is most important in cold weather. I found my ABS to not work well in sub zero temperatures with normal DOT4 fluid. I switched to DOT5.1 (which is about as thin as DOT4LV w/ higher boiling points), and found everything to work much better. I think it's especially important for functions that control the brakes even when the brake pedal isn't depressed (namely DSC). The MK20 cars had a precharge pump to help push the thicker fluid through.

For cars that are driven exclusively in warm weather, it probably doesn't matter much. A normal DOT4 fluid at 60ºF is going to be thinner than a DOT4LV at 0ºF

I've probably flushed my system more times throughout the nearly 5 years of ownership than a lot of the cars here put together (with the exception of those who do track). I've always used either ATE Super Blue (when it was still "legal") or ATE Type 200. Zero problems on the street. Zero problems on the track. Zero problems in the winter and extreme cold. 221k miles. Zero DSC and ABS malfunctions. Never heard of problems from others using the same fluids. Personally I feel this is just nitpicking at this point. There are zero repercussions to be had from using regular DOT4 based on the lack of evidence to suggest otherwise.