JP's 2004 TiAg ZHP - OEM+ Build Thread and Maintenance Log

So I've been on this forum for over a year without a project thread so I figured I'll start now!

My name is JP and I drive a 2004 TiAg ZHP Slicktop with steptronic, Black leather/Black Cube and Cold Weather Package

Up to date maintenance log:
55304 - Oil filter, spark plugs, thrust bushings, left rear wheel bearings, rear tires, water pump
60005 - Oil change, air filter, microfilter
65010 - Oil change, oil filter housing gasket, valve cover gasket
70105 - Oil change, air filter, microfilter
73210 - Expansion tank, tank thermostat
75020 - Oil change
78108 - Belt tensioner system with both belts
80100 - Oil change, oil pan gasket
84958 - Oil change
89997 - Oil change, front pads and rotors
92500 - Intake air boot
95020 - Oil change
100020 - Oil change
105100 - Oil change, microfilter
(10/15/2016) - 106100 - Oil change, microfilter
(10/27/2016) - 108000- Spark plugs, Control Arm bushings, Idler and tensioner pulleys
(11/5/2016) - Battery replacement
(1/21/2017) - 113805 - Control Arm bushings, Sway bar end links, Fuel filter,
(8/27/17) - 123xxx - AT fluid with new filter and gasket. Differential fluid flush. Air Intake filter
(12/10/17) - 128xxx - Front tie rods, M3 RTABs with limiters, Secondary air pump replaced with used unit, radiator with coolant flush. Upper and lower radiator pipes replaced. Alignment. Valve cover gasket replaced. Oil change
(12/30/17) - 129xxx - DISA rebuild with German Auto Solutions kit. 1.4 bar coolant cap
3/2018 - 132xxx DISA replaced with used unit. Complete CCV System refresh. Low pressure power steering hoses replaced + filter.
(9/16/18) - 134403 - front and rear brake rotors and pads with brake fluid flush. Replace steering column linkages, replace dip stick o-ring and lower intake boot. Oil and filter change with Rotella.

10/25/18 - 136k Z4M front control arm bushings
143xxx - oil change with Mobil 1 0w40
144969 - new magnetti marelli headlight housings. AC recharged
151955 - 4/9/20 - suspension refresh with Bilstein B8, H&R sport springs, M3 rear trailing arm ball joints, m3 engine mounts, rogue engineering rear strut mounts, Lemforder tie rods and control arms.
156000 - 4 wheel alignment at BMW dealership
158xxx - oil change, driver side wheel bearing, fuel pump
1619xx - belts and tensioner pulleys , thermostat, water pump with pulley, expansion tank with sensors, radiator hoses,.coolant flush
166897- oil change with filter
174035 - spark plugs, PCV system, Rebuilt VANOS with oil line, VCG, New factory DISA with upgraded flapper from GAS, ambient temp sensor, core coolant pipes, oil change, brake booster vacuum line, F connector
174405 - starter, fuel injectors, fuel filter replaced
175712 - 9/25/23 - 11/5/23 - 6sp manual swap, new OEM clutch, flywheel, BMW performance short shift kit with refreshed bushings, diff bushings, rear and front right wheel bearing


Current Mods:
OEM Performance grills (courtesy of PO!)
OEM M3 strut bar
OEM M3 RTABs with limiters
OEM Z4M FCABs
GAS 1.4 coolant cap
OEM BMW performance short shifter kit
Bilstein B8 shocks/struts with H&R sport springs


A little backstory about myself, my first car was a 2004 Pheonix Red Mitsubishi Lancer OZ Rally Racing Edition. Its funny now but I LOVED that car back in HS, had the coolest car after the kid with the brand new STI. I did very little maintenance on it but I'll be damned if it wasn't the cleanest lancer you've ever seen! Never died on me though, my trusty Red Rocket.
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Well that got me through college and a year of graduate school before going off to Medical School in the Caribbean. Perfect opportunity to sell off the Lancer and get something new when I return to the US. Well that time came and I wanted a classy, sophisticated yet sporty sedan. Spent about a month looking for the perfect car while studying for my first board exam before ultimately landing on the ZHP.

I bought the car on Oct 2016 with 107xxx miles from a BMW mechanic who included a box of misc parts and a basic maintenance record. He was selling it because he had just had purchased an X3 after having a newborn and he did't need another car. His original asking price was $9000 but my father, who was helping me with the purchase stated "I am not paying that much for an old BMW thats gonna break." I just knew this was a car I didn't want to give up (thank you mafia for that) so I was able to talk him down to $7500.

I have no pics on purchase day sadly but we picked it up at BMW South Atlanta where the PO had gotten a fresh oil change and replaced all the filters while he was work. I spent that entire first weekend decontaminating with clay and iron remover, then polished with my super cheap turtle wax polisher + meguiars ultimate compound that I had laying around, before topping with Collinite 845. Interior was treated with the Leather Masters kit from Detailers domain and Einzett cockpit premium.


After a couple of 12 hour days:
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Drove down to FL to start my clinical rotations
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Moved to Laurel, MD for a year to continue clinical rotations and met the guys at Rennwelt, thanks to the mafia again! Done quite a bit of work with them.
Here are the beautiful views out in Frederick, MD
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A look inside during a VCG replacement and finally got my M3 strut bar put in! Really wish I had thought to do the Vanos rebuild while it was open.
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Replaced my burnt bowls with the refurbished bowls from Clemsone46. Clear to see which was original and which was the replacement.
Attachment 34033

Light output: HUUUUUGE difference. Went ahead and put some Osram CBIs and enjoyed ridiculous light output
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Cool, which med school in the caribean did you attend.?, nice car..!

Welcome.

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Originally Posted by Oli77

Cool, which med school in the caribean did you attend.?, nice car..!

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Thank you! I go to Ross University, finishing up in Dec!

Grt start to your project thread!

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Originally Posted by JPMo

Thank you! I go to Ross University, finishing up in Dec!

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Great! Specialty you like?

I'm applying to Family medicine and a few psychiatry programs. It was a hard decision for me

Finally, one of the things that was bothering me the most! Got rid of those horribly oxidized tails and replaced with some in better condition!

Refreshed on Left, Old and crusty on the right. Terrible pic but the sun was directly behind me

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Winter prep and photos coming soon


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Nice.

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Z4M bushings finally in. Waiting for the alignment before giving a review but the car feels solid so far https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...d8835a9af6.jpg

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:thumbsup

Welp driving back down to Ga for the holidays and I hit yet another pothole right outside of Manassas, Va. The tire didn't stand a chance and left me frustrated with a cracked rear wheel, a blown front strut and a bent front wheel.

Stay tuned for the suspension refresh... Coming sooner than later smdh. As I mentioned in another post elsewhere, I was pretty certain about going Koni, which is highly recommended here, but several people have asked me to reconsider Bilstein so now I'm conflicted. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...ce2a9a035b.jpg

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If your lowered or planning to lower, I wouldn’t recommend the bilstiens. The internal bumpstops bottom out pretty quick

SUX to hear that. At least a good excuse to mod.

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So these finally came in and they're in pretty good shape! Beyond excited to get these installed in the spring

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I love those door sills!

Finally got them installed and they look great
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But discovered done minor surface rust hidden underneath the old sills. Always something on the ZHP
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Def look great! What are you gonna do re: rust?

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Those ///M sills should have come on the ZHP from the factory.

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Originally Posted by johnrando

Def look great! What are you gonna do re: rust?

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Um for now I'm going to ignore it haha seems like it's just minor surface rust from water collecting beneath the sills. I did spray some quick sealant there before installing the M door sills so hopefully water won't continue to collect there. Eventually, in a year or so, I want to get some new bumpers and some paint/body work done so the rust will be addressed then.

I just hope OEM bumpers and other parts will continue to be available. I'm sorta pressed because I feel like support for the e46 isn't going to last forever

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Originally Posted by danewilson77

Those ///M sills should have come on the ZHP from the factory.

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Agreed. Not sure why they wouldn't

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Yup. Kinda wonder about that re parts. But hey, I can still get parts for my 1980 Truimph TR8 and they went out of business the next year, so you never know.

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Originally Posted by johnrando

Yup. Kinda wonder about that re parts. But hey, I can still get parts for my 1980 Truimph TR8 and they went out of business the next year, so you never know.

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Thats comforting. Lets keep our fingers crossed

New update! New headlights!!

Ive been keeping my eye on a new set of Magnetti Marelli headlights because I didn't want to go the retrofit route. Well I checked eBay and found this set for $815 BRAND NEW! I instantly purchased and just received them. Packaging was excellent and the headlights seem to check out. They have the yellow AL sticker on the top and AL stamped on the lens cover.

I'll probably swap over the zkw lens from my originals tomorrow morning before putting those up for sale.

For anyone who may know, I posted a picture of the bottom of the headlight assembly. Do they include the mounting brackets? My suspicions tell me no, so I'll have to modify the existing or purchase new.

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Nice update!

Well done. I believe each side goes for $750 approx.

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Originally Posted by Oli77

Nice update!

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Originally Posted by fredo

Well done. I believe each side goes for $750 approx.

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Thank you, it’s definitely the deal of the week! Just managed to take the old headlight assembly out and I’m REALLY debating swapping the zkw lenses in. I was never the guy to completely take apart a brand new, perfectly functioning set of headlights lol feels weird. Is it really worth it?

Yes it is.

What could be the benefit of swapping the zkw lenses ? Better light output ... or just cosmetic ?

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Originally Posted by fredo

What could be the benefit of swapping the zkw lenses ? Better light output ... or just cosmetic ?

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My understanding is a better cutoff which is and slightly improved brightness. I’m currently stuck rotating the adjustments knobs to get the projector housing out. I know these two take forever but I’ve been working on this step for well over an hour and my hands are getting raw. Getting closer to giving up haha

I couldn't take it anymore. After spending 10+ hours swapping the lenses over I had to give up for the day.

I managed to get the lenses swapped and discovered that the high beam socket had a broken tab, which isn’t a big deal. Unfortunately, I just couldn't get the driver side assembly to mount properly and the passenger side doesn't seem right. I decided to walk away and try again in the morning or take it to a body shop since I'd need the headlights aligned anyways [emoji55] I swear I hate working on this car. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...0917631cd6.jpg

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Nice score on the headlights, especially considering it came with ballasts and all the other components.

Progress soon come...

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LIKE

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Last view of the ZHP as she gets the suspension refresh completed. Turns out I had some rubbing with the Z4M FCABs which I'm attributing to a bad alignment so I'm hoping a fresh alignment will get things back into spec. Also getting my front passenger wheel straightened and repainted. Absolutely cannot wait to see what the refreshed e46 chassis is capable of.

Parts list as follows:

Bilstein B8 struts and shocks

H&R sport springs

Lemforder ZHP front Control Arms

Tie rods with dust boots

Z4M front control arm bushings

Strut tower reinforcement plates

Lemforder M3 rear trailing arm ball joints in place of upper and lower rear trailing arm bushings

Rogue engineering rear shock mount

M3 engine mounts

Replacement front and rear away bar bushingshttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...438ded1504.jpg

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Nice werk, that shld make a difference!

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This may be a good time to replace the steering coupler. I refreshed the suspension last month at 150k miles and included the steering coupler.

Awesome work! Makes a huge difference. Did you ever get your headlight situation sorted out well?

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Originally Posted by Thatguy_JZ

Awesome work! Makes a huge difference. Did you ever get your headlight situation sorted out well?

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Yes I did, took it to the shop doing my suspension work and they got everything ligne up perfectly. Turns out I should have kept the mounting brackets loose to allow proper placement of the headlight housings then tighten everything down. Such a common sense solution that evaded me during the frustration of the install.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by fredo

This may be a good time to replace the steering coupler. I refreshed the suspension last month at 150k miles and included the steering coupler.

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You are absolutely right, I did the guibo and the lower steering shaft joint a year or so ago and steering is tight.

It's done! The ZHP is slightly lowered on Bilstein B8s with H&R sport springs with all new supporting bushings.

Since the front passenger wheel was noticably bent, the shop had a guy they send wheels to straighten and refurb them for about $100. More on this later.

First impression: she's tight! Steering feels great, firm and precise. My goodness the Bilsteins are stiff. I had heard from multiple people that was going to be the case but I wanted to go with them anyway. Car feels almost what I'd imagine a 911 or similar sports car feels like suspension wise.

Unfortunately there's some issues.

1. I have been dealing with passenger side bent wheels for over a year now after a series of potholes impacts causing tire punctures on I-95. I had the rear wheel repaired and was still experiencing slight vibration at interstate speeds and horrible wheel wobble at about 85+ mph. After noticing an obviously bent front wheel, I was expecting a perfectly smooth ride after this recent repair. Unfortunately, that was not the case. Vibrations are definitely improves however I still get slight vibration at interstate speeds with worsening at 85+ mph. I can only assume that both attempts at straightening where done by eye and are not completely straight. At this point, I'm over these style 135s and plan on getting some Apex Arc 8s in the near future with replacement style 135s at a later date.

2. The suspension is absolutely wonderful when I'm around my parent's house in N. Georgia, where the roads are nice and curvy. Unfortunately, on my trip back down to Macon via I-75, I had to deal with poor interstate/road conditions in and around Atlanta and Macon. Here the Bilsteins are less than ideal and road imperfections are quite jarring. Honestly feels equal to or maybe even slightly worse than traveling on my original blown suspension.
Ultimately, I was looking to transition the ZHP out of daily driver duties in about a year or 2 so I think this is just going to accelerate that process.
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:thumbsup here's to smoother roads

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