Shantybeater's S54 M Roadster

shantybeater · Post by **shantybeater** » Fri 11 Feb, 2011 18:47

Hi ///More is yours one of the 75 s54's or a normal s50, if its an s50 I wouldn't worry too much, cases of bearing shell failure on that engine is rare (although not completely unheard of)

///More · Post by **///More** » Fri 11 Feb, 2011 18:55

Hi, not one of the 75 RHD's but one of the 283 LHD's with S54.

shantybeater · Post by **shantybeater** » Sat 12 Feb, 2011 12:57

Ah ok

the shells were changed from beneath the car engine in place, you drop the pan and remove the rod bolts. I'm no technician but all you need is the E46 M3 Bearing shell recall kit which contains all shells/parts etc..(the problem was so bad bmw recalled all M3's from 03 backwards - our engines are identical and come from the same batch but BMW blagged the lower redline as a reason to not recall the Z's - there are known cases of failures on our cars so thats rubbish)

There are two types of rod bolts, i'm pretty sure all of ours are the earlier version which must be placed back in EXACTLY the same place, same holes they came out of etc and torqued correctly at a certain degree, if you plan on doing this yourself i'd suggest getting a manual. Alot of people upgrade to ARP bolts but I was advised not to as BMW state the original bolts must be reused

///MRoops · Post by **///MRoops** » Sun 13 Feb, 2011 15:09

shantybeater wrote:ahh ok so you must have been the previous owner for the guy I bought it off, its strange because the car came up for sale before I bought my S50, unfortunately he beat me to it, two years later it comes up and I only find out its the same car once i'd put a deposit down!! - fate intervening?

I have to agree its a good balance, its my daily driver and I have no problems(although due to pump prices it may end up becoming a weekend toy)

One quick question, did you have an annoying rattle coming from the passenger side of the dash? I'm having a nightmare trying to track it down!!! It resonates as you go over bumps etc..

A CSL is a great choice, good luck on your hunt!

No didn't experience any rattles, most of the creaks were eliminated after installing the front strut.

///More · Post by **///More** » Sun 13 Feb, 2011 19:04

Thks Shanty.
After some time spent on it, managed to find a lot of discussions with well covering photos on this - just had to find myself to right place. Job done with engine in the bay will reduce costs and I'm asking a qoute from my dealer on Monday. While getting into this found that there's so called "blue" and "red" shells... Any idea what's the difference on these two, and which ones are preferred?

shantybeater · Post by **shantybeater** » Thu 17 Feb, 2011 22:54

Mroops - thanks for replying, I'll find it...eventually!

///More - I think this relates to shells before and after the recall so you don't put potentially unsafe shells back in, not entirely sure though i'd check at a dealership/specialist

shantybeater · Post by **shantybeater** » Fri 11 Mar, 2011 20:46

New wheels fitted! (Not the 19" LM's - decided against them because of their size), will get some pics up tomorrow once she's had a quick clean!

hornel Z3M · Post by **hornel Z3M** » Fri 11 Mar, 2011 21:15

Looking forward to seeing the wheels, may give me some inspiration.....

Jonttt · Post by **Jonttt** » Sat 12 Mar, 2011 00:06

Your a bigger tease than me, not even a tease pic

shantybeater · Post by **shantybeater** » Sun 13 Mar, 2011 17:19

Well my bro came down for the weekend and we ended up going for a little drive to hemstridge and back.

The new wheels are chippy's BBS LM's ordered straight from BBS for the Z3M in the only TUV approved sizes for our car 8.5" fronts 10" rears. The extra inch diameter has made quite a difference to the ride height so the car desperately needs to be lowered for the wheels to sit right. You can see the height difference in the pic below:

I'll be making my mark on the wheels with a full refurb with the centers in shadow chrome (i'll get withdrawl symptoms otherwise!) and reverse mounting the rear centers to acquire more dish and a lower offset (they currently have 10mm spacers). BBS themselves reverse mount some of the 19" LM's so its entirely safe etc..

Jonttt · Post by **Jonttt** » Sun 13 Mar, 2011 17:26

Very very nice, BBS LM's are not usully my cup of tea but these always looked awesome on chippy's Coupe as the are the correct offset to give the Z3m staggered look, so much so that I was even tempted by them.

ps the "extra inch" does not affect ride height as the tyres should be a lower profile to keep the overall rolling diameter the same (or else your gearing and speedo would be out)

Great buy, did you px your OEM wheels with him ?

ps I can't believe you've out a pistonheads sticker on

shantybeater · Post by **shantybeater** » Sun 13 Mar, 2011 17:33

Cheers Jon, it must be some suspension difference between the S50 & the S54 then?!? Anyway to pull off the chippy & jason look it still desperately needs lowering

Yes I did px my standard wheels, i'll be running these all year round so no need for them anymore

SpaceMonkey · Post by **SpaceMonkey** » Sun 13 Mar, 2011 21:26

They look fantastic mate

GazHyde · Post by **GazHyde** » Sun 13 Mar, 2011 21:36

"Thou shall not covet thy neighbors ass" - unless it's two ///M's parked together....

Nice wheels, looking forward to some side on pictures!

shantybeater wrote:

shantybeater · Post by **shantybeater** » Mon 14 Mar, 2011 14:26

Thanks for the comments

Now on a desperate hunt for some form of suspension setup to get her lowered. As you can see from the photos the rear arch gap is far worse than the front!

JohnSmith · Post by **JohnSmith** » Mon 14 Mar, 2011 16:09

I love those wheels.

TitanTim · Post by **TitanTim** » Mon 14 Mar, 2011 16:35

Alloys look

Shanty, the ride height doesn't look that bad to me

A side on pic would be better

Tim.

g8jka · Post by **g8jka** » Mon 14 Mar, 2011 17:33

They look great! Are the centres silver at the moment or a grey colour as they look in the first picture? They will look awesome when fully refurbed and the car is lowered

hornel Z3M · Post by **hornel Z3M** » Mon 14 Mar, 2011 17:39

Nice wheels shantybeater, are you going to replace the wheel centres as i didnt like the bbs on my first Z`s wheels and when i put the bmw centres in they looked fab, just a thought you can get M wheel centres as well

Brian H · Post by **Brian H** » Mon 14 Mar, 2011 17:59

Great look Shanty

shantybeater wrote:I'll be making my mark on the wheels with a full refurb with the centers in shadow chrome (i'll get withdrawl symptoms otherwise!) and reverse mounting the rear centers to acquire more dish and a lower offset (they currently have 10mm spacers). BBS themselves reverse mount some of the 19" LM's so its entirely safe etc..

Just curious (and maybe a really dumb question), if you reverse mount the rims, would this not give you problems with the valve? i.e. on the wrong side of the wheel?

Jewell · Post by **Jewell** » Mon 14 Mar, 2011 18:48

Super dooper! Must cruise by and see you one day, my car is in Boscombe at the mo

shantybeater · Post by **shantybeater** » Mon 14 Mar, 2011 20:13

Ardchyle - its the center of the wheel which is mounted differently so has no effect on the valve. Here is a before (right) and after (left). Obviously the bolts havent been refitted in these pics:

Jewell - drop me a PM and we'll arrange something!

hornel - I see what you are saying some aftermarket rims especially the cheaper type do look better with BMW badges giving off a more OEM look, I have always thought with BBS splits they deserve the right to keep their stamp and I don't think they'd look right without!

Jonttt · Post by **Jonttt** » Mon 14 Mar, 2011 20:20

Lol I thought I'd lost it but you've linked before pics to both before and after links

GazHyde · Post by **GazHyde** » Mon 14 Mar, 2011 20:33

shantybeater wrote:hornel - I see what you are saying some aftermarket rims especially the cheaper type do look better with BMW badges giving off a more OEM look, I have always thought with BBS splits they deserve the right to keep their stamp and I don't think they'd look right without!

I agree with this... my rims have got the Breyton logo in the centre, and I don't think they would look quite the same with BMW logos. Didn't even occur to change them when I bought them. Really does depend on the wheels though, and Shanty's look pretty

so no need to change.

Jonttt · Post by **Jonttt** » Mon 14 Mar, 2011 20:38

I think its pretty easy, reps fit "rep" BMW badges, the real thing leave the makers badge.

Its the cheap reps pretending to be the real thing thats

(and I think illegal which is why they don't have the "makers" badge eg BBS/AC Schnitzer fitted at point of sale

)

hornel Z3M · Post by **hornel Z3M** » Mon 14 Mar, 2011 20:47

My BBS wheels were the real thing, but i thought the logo didnt look right on the car, so i changed it as i bought the wheels not the manufacturer.

SpaceMonkey · Post by **SpaceMonkey** » Tue 15 Mar, 2011 10:22

If you don't mind me asking, are just going to change the springs or you going for spring/shock combo or coilovers?

Just been thinking mine sits a bit too high at times & intrigued to see what people go with. I've had Eibach Sportlines on my previous 2 cars & had nice results with those.

TaffZee · Post by **TaffZee** » Tue 15 Mar, 2011 10:25

Nice Wheels, they would look better with flush fit valves though?

k10rgr · Post by **k10rgr** » Tue 15 Mar, 2011 12:07

Did you get your old wheels refurbished prior to p/x for the LM''s.
What tyres were fitted to them and how much tread was left.
Reason for questions.
I've made contact with chippy with a view to buying.

K10 RGR

shantybeater · Post by **shantybeater** » Tue 15 Mar, 2011 15:29

Spacemonkey - I'll probably be on the look out for schnitzer springs and shocks or will go all out on some KW coilies, both seem very popular and tried and tested on the coupe forum, let me know what you choose and how you get on. I have no experience of eibachs myself so would be interested to see the results

Taffzee - Good idea ill look into it, they really aren't as noticeable in the flesh though

K10rgr - the tyre treads were low but I know Chippy has purchased 4 new falkens to go on all corners, I think he also plans to refurbish the rims, fact is to put anything other than mint wheels on will detract from how well looked after and good a condition the rest of the car is in

J1SUA · Post by **J1SUA** » Tue 15 Mar, 2011 22:50

Favourite wheels. Very nice!

shantybeater · Post by **shantybeater** » Sun 27 Mar, 2011 14:49

A couple more whoring pics

Jonttt · Post by **Jonttt** » Sun 27 Mar, 2011 14:55

They look great

and the plus of originals is they will always be worth good money

TitanTim · Post by **TitanTim** » Sun 27 Mar, 2011 14:55

Looking great as always,

but how come the gap between the tyre and arch is greater at the rear if it wasn't a problem with the previous alloys

Tim.

shantybeater · Post by **shantybeater** » Sun 27 Mar, 2011 15:02

thanks guys, tim it was always higher the larger rims just seem to exaggurate the gaps more

TitanTim · Post by **TitanTim** » Sun 27 Mar, 2011 15:29

shantybeater wrote:thanks guys, tim it was always higher the larger rims just seem to exaggurate the gaps more

Ahhh OK, good excuse to lower then

Tim.

shantybeater · Post by **shantybeater** » Mon 25 Apr, 2011 14:44

Well I've decided to get the AC Schnitzer flippers sorted (genuine parts - nothing but the best

), I've attempted similar jobs with good effect so will attempt it myself. At some point i'm planning to get the stone chipped front bumper re-sprayed so it's more a temporary finish.

So far I sanded down the flippers with 800 grit to give a nice grippy surface, then I sprayed on several light layers of plastic primer.

I'll be ordering some Titanium silver paint from BMW tomorrow when the parts department is open.

Jonttt · Post by **Jonttt** » Mon 25 Apr, 2011 18:33

Your going to beat me to it, mine are still sat in the box next to a bag of goodies to prep and spray them

shantybeater · Post by **shantybeater** » Mon 25 Apr, 2011 19:17

I wouldnt bet on it!! at the moment they don't fit flush so will require alot of sanding down etc...

Daz3 · Post by **Daz3** » Mon 25 Apr, 2011 19:22

Wow love the wheels shanty and i agree with lowering should look good when its done!

shantybeater · Post by **shantybeater** » Wed 27 Apr, 2011 19:38

well after a bit of sanding and 4 coats of titanium silver they are looking pretty good!! Just need to get a few layers of laquer on once they are dry

Jonttt · Post by **Jonttt** » Wed 27 Apr, 2011 19:59

Have you fitted fully (ie drilled and screwed in) to determine adjustments needed ?

(just trying to get tips when I do mine

)

shantybeater · Post by **shantybeater** » Wed 27 Apr, 2011 20:12

Nope not yet, I matched them up with the bumper and I'm not convinced they will hold without gaps appearing either end :s

Naeem.m · Post by **Naeem.m** » Wed 27 Apr, 2011 23:27

They look awesome mate. Looking forward to seeing them fitted. I'm not a huge fan of them on a standard front bumper but have seen pictures of them fitted to z3m's and think they look really good.

Z3cade · Post by **Z3cade** » Thu 28 Apr, 2011 08:16

your M looks awsome shanty... love the wheels.. its great to see a well looked after zed..

shantybeater · Post by **shantybeater** » Mon 02 May, 2011 13:28

Thanks for the comments

Well I managed to get the flippers fitted with a bit of help from my bro. It was a massive palaver and i'm not entirely happy with their fit at the moment. On the plus side the color match is pretty good

I'm very happy with their appearance, in photos i've always thought they were a little too aggressive but in person they look great!

Daz3 · Post by **Daz3** » Mon 02 May, 2011 15:17

They look to fit ok from the pics. Makes the car look alot more aggressive i like them.

shantybeater · Post by **shantybeater** » Mon 02 May, 2011 16:02

yeah the fitment isnt bad its just up close the gap between the bumper and the flipper doesnt match the whole way round. I'll either look into getting them smoothed into the bumper when I have it resprayed or just tidied up by the body shop

Jewell · Post by **Jewell** » Mon 02 May, 2011 16:33

Yep, they get the thumbs up from me but how about investing in a couple of white screw caps for the number plate

shantybeater · Post by **shantybeater** » Mon 02 May, 2011 17:56

Good idea

i'll order some now! a new front plate is also on the list!