Category Archives: Performance

Improving the performance and handling of your BMW Z3.

G Power Supercharger

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* g-power supercharger with 405 hp

* complete stainless steel exhaust system

* Porsche brake with 322mm brake discs

* KW-height and hardness adjustable suspension (very low)

* No Door Locks

* No rear Screen Wiper

* No antenna

* No BMW signs

* Rear spoiler in car colour

* Strut brace

* wheel spacers 5mm front, 20mm rear

* 265/40 on rear axis

* Plastic coated wheels (black)

* White indicator bulbs front and rear

* clutch stop

* 32cm diameter steering wheel with full size airbag

Coming Soon… More details and photos

Install VDO Oil Pressure Gauge in BMW Z3 M Coupe or M Roadster

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The BMW M coupe comes with a warning light for oil pressure, as well as an oil temperature gauge in the center console. I’d like to know if my oil pressure drops below normal without waiting for the oil warning light to come on at 7 PSI, so I decided to install a VDO oil pressure gauge. This project involves interior trim removal and modification, wiring, and replacement of the oil sender (this last one requires you to drain the oil, so you might as well schedule this project when it’s time for an oil/filter change). As usual, Ron Stygar was a big help on this project. Thanks, Ron! His original post in the bimmer.org archives is here.

Parts Selection

The oil pressure gauge that almost matches the existing coupe gauges is a VDO Vision gauge. I say “almost” because standard Vision gauges come in all black, but the gauges in the coupe’s center console are chrome ringed. If you don’t care about the chrome you can buy a Vision gauge anywhere, but to match the existing gauges I went to Jon Maddux at LeatherZ (www.leatherz.com). Jon sells the 0-80 PSI oil pressure gauge ($79.00) that you need for the coupe, and supplies various colored bulb covers. The orange cover makes the gauge light a very close color match to the existing gauges. For this job you’ll also replace the stock sender with a VDO dual sender with angled mounting adapter that provides both the warning light and pressure reading, and Jon offers these too ($67.00). You’ll be running four wires for the electrical connections – one for power, one for dimming power, one for ground, and one for the sender. I purchased four 10-foot lengths of stranded wire in various colors and this was more than enough length. You need #14 wire for the sender wire to give the circuit the correct impedance; the other wires can be smaller gauge. You’ll also need four crimp-on female wire connectors to make the connections to the gauge and two crimp-on O connectors for the sender connections.

Some coupe owners choose to put their oil pressure gauges in the center console, replacing the analog clock. I didn’t want to give up the clock so opted to put the gauge on the A-pillar. The gauge mounts to the A-pillar, or more accurately to the A-pillar trim cover, in a plastic housing called a “pod”. I bought a single gauge A-pillar pod from egauges (www.egauges.com), part # 240-347 ($31.13). They also sell a dual pod in case you want to add a second gauge such as outside temperature.

Getting Started

NOTE: all directions (forward/rear, left/right) are in reference to the driver’s seated position.

Place the pod on the A pillar trim cover and slide it up or down until you get it approximately where you want it. Mark the location of the pod on the trim cover, then remove the cover by wedging your fingertips between it and the windshield and pulling it away from the windshield. The trim cover is held onto the A-pillar with two snap-in connectors. Once the connectors pop loose, slide the bottom edge of the trim cover out from the crevice formed by the A-pillar and the dash.

Cut a hole (I used a Dremel tool with a carbide abrasive tip) in the A pillar trim cover corresponding to the opening in back of the pod.

This hole is used to route wires and to give you access to the back of the gauge for changing the bulb. If your gauge ended up right over one of the trim cover’s snap-in connectors, you may have to adjust the pod position slightly.

Insert the gauge into the pod, orient it so that it will be straight as viewed from the driver’s position, and secure it by screwing the gauge nut onto the back.

To mount the pod to the trim cover, I drilled pilot holes and used the supplied plastic ribbed pins (screws).

Wiring

For power, dimming power, and ground wires, you need a sufficient length of wire to run from the gauge to the footwell area. For the sender wire, you need enough wire to run from the gauge to the footwell area, through the firewall, and on to the front of the engine compartment. Leave plenty of extra length on the wires at this point. Terminate one end of the wires with the crimp-on female wire connectors and, using the instructions with the gauge, mount each wire to the proper connector on the back of the gauge. Tape the wires to the back of the A pillar trim cover to keep them in place. Note which color wire you used for each connection.

Disconnect the battery before proceeding!

You’ll need to remove the lower dash panel just above the pedals, loosen or remove the upper dash panel under the steering wheel, and remove the driver’s kick panel with dead pedal.

Run the wires from the back of the gauge through the crack at the bottom of the A-pillar.

They will come out at the left bottom of the dash.

Re-install the trim cover/pod assembly onto the A-pillar.

Editors Note: The silver metal part with the messy looking ends is an interesting safety feature. Somewhat like a pillow, it’s a soft/thin metal with foam filling. Designed to protect your knees in an accident.

Leave some wire slack under the upper dash panel in case you need to remove the trim cover at some later date. Continue routing the wires down into the footwell area. Locate a violet/any color wire for power, and a gray/red wire for dimming power, from the existing wires in the footwell. You will probably have to release wire bundles by cutting wire ties in order to locate the colors you need. The dimming power wire allows you to control the lighting level of your new gauge by twisting the headlight button, the same way you adjust the other instrumentation.

Cut off any excess on your power and dimming power wires and splice them into the selected wires. I soldered the splices and coated them with some Star Brite liquid electrical tape. Connect the ground wire to the grounding nut, forward of the kick panel speaker. (Ground wires are solid brown in the coupe.)

Resecure all wires with wire ties. You can do a power and dimming test at this point by reconnecting the battery; just don’t forget to disconnect it again!

OK, three wires down and one to go! Take the lid off the fuse box (left rear of engine compartment) then unscrew the four #10 torx screws that hold the fuse box onto the wiring box below it. The right rear screw is somewhat obscured by the hood release cable. Just push the cable out of the way enough to loosen the screw. Disconnect the two black wire junction pods, the large red wire, and the green connector that are fastened to the right side of the fuse box and lift up that side of the box.

This will give you sufficient access to wiring box so you can see and grab the sender wire as you feed it through. You’ll see where the main wiring bundle comes through the firewall and into the wiring box. You can try to get your sender wire through the same hole but it’s already pretty well jammed with wires, so I just drilled a small hole nearby and ran the sender wire through it. Drill another hole in the right side of the wiring box; the sender wire exits the wiring box through this hole. Put a dab of silicon sealer on the hole to keep nasties out of your wiring box, and then reassemble the fuse box.

Route the sender wire along the back of the engine compartment, underneath the intake manifold, and to the oil filter, attaching it to the existing wire looms with wire ties.

Sender Replacement

Now it’s time to drain your oil and remove the old filter insert. Remove the air intake box to allow room to reach the oil sender. Unscrew the old sender from just below the oil filter and cut the wire attached to it, leaving as much length as possible. Terminate it, and the new sender wire, with O-connectors.

Mount the new sender to the angle adapter. Hand-tighten the sender to the adapter until snug but don’t over-tighten. The sender has tapered threads that do not require excessive torque to achieve a good seal. Align the sender so that the connector posts on the top are perpendicular to the engine-mounting hole on the adapter. Install the adapter/sender assembly in place of the old sender. Caution – improper installation of the oil adapter can damage your engine and cause oil leaks. Tighten the adapter bolt to 35-40 NM.

Connect the old (alarm) wire and the new (pressure) wire to the correct posts as marked on the top of the sender.

Finishing Up

Replace your filter insert and oil, reconnect your battery, start your car, and check out your new gauge. Under normal operation you’ll see a range of around 15 PSI at idle to 58 PSI. Assuming everything works, replace your interior panels, and you’re done!

2.8 SuperTrapp Exhaust

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Subject: Muffler system upgrade for a 2000 2.8 Z3 Roadster
Cost: $150 for the exhaust plus installation (approx $75), I just checked the website and the price increased to $160.
Good: Customizable sound & performance, low cost AND lightweight
Bad: Non-that I am aware of at this time.

Why do this: As the immortal Tim Allen said “MORE POWER”. One of the first things I did to get more power out of my 2.8 was to Fogg the cold air intake (CAI). Even though Shawn never did a 2000 2.8, I took his ideas and suggestions from both his instruction on the 1.9 and from communications with the immortal himself and I was able to modify my CAI to work similar to his.

Of course this was not enough. So the hunt was on for a more affordable power upgrades. So I started looking into exhaust system replacements. I looked at every type possible, even asking about replacing the exhaust manifold and/or catalytic converter, not without screwing up my emissions & computer. So I concentrated my search to muffler replacement only. I looked at Bola, Dinan, Supersprint, etc. I searched for all types of information (horsepower increase, cost, material type, etc.) that would help me decide what muffler to purchase. I read all the articles from the MZ3 website on exhaust/muffler systems.

To my surprise, I found that all the stainless steel mufflers’ costs were in excess of $300 to $600!!!! Not including installation. Plus I was not convinced that the performance versus cost ratio was worth the money spent. I then remembered about the SuperTrapp system. They were primary an aftermarket motorcycle muffler. But, I saw them on cars in the past, about the late 70s. Plus I knew that they made systems that were stainless steel and lightweight. So the hunt was on.

First: I found their limited website http://www.supertrapp.com/default/atv_splash.htm not a great site to see what was available. But it did explain on how their system works.

Second: I found a supplier (there were not many in my area): http://www.racesearch.com, Part number: 543-2519, http://www.racesearch.com/CGI/mhp?mode=sbpn&pn=543-2519

Third: I found the one I wanted Stainless steel 5″, now granted if you called SuperTrapp & view the Z3 Coupe message board, they recommend that I use a 4″ system for horsepower up to 250 Hp. The 5″ system is rated up to 400 Hp. The reasons for the 5″ is simple with the wider inner diameter, the exhaust gasses would flow easier, less noisy and the 5″ outer diameter fills the factory muffler exhaust cutout nicer.

Arrow points to the location where the stock exhaust tube was cutWhen I had my muffler installed I had the installer hack off the original muffler and it’s supply piping back to the rear axle. If you look at the picture, you will see that the bend to the muffler has been reduced. He then made some custom hangers to hang the muffler at the stock points. Due to the heat generated from the exhaust gasses and the many discussions on the message board on melted bumper fascias due to the muffler. I instructed the installer to have the muffler hang a little lower and poke out more than normal. Giving it less of a chance of the muffler from melting the bumper fascia.

What is with the metal disks and cover???? The SuperTrapp muffler is basically a “glass pack”, where you have an inner tube that has holes and an outer tube that has insulation between the two tubes. Since there is no bends or baffles within the muffler, the gasses are unrestricted to flow toward the end of the pipe. Now the glass pack system has been around for a long time, if you had a hotrod or muscle car, you will know what I mean. Now for the metal disks and cover. The disks that you see on the side of the muffler are really spacers that have been stamped to allow the exhaust gasses to pass between two spacers. The metal cap is to help tune the performance of the muffler and car. Now the easiest way to explain this is to imagine that you have a large bucket with some holes in it. Now fill the bucket up with water, you will see that the water takes a long time to empty out. Now add more holes to the bucket and add water, you will now see that the water will empty out quicker than before. So the more holes you add the faster the water exits. Now there is more to the SuperTrapp system, which deals with vanturies that help pull the exhaust gases from the car. View the SuperTrapp website for more information.

Basically this is how this works with the car: The less spacers you install on the muffler, will produce more backpressure on to the system. Thus, increasing your torque, decreasing overall horsepower and a more quiet sound. With (6) spacers, the noise was a similar to my stock system. The more spacers you install on the muffler, it will reduce backpressure. Thus, decreasing your torque, increasing overall horsepower and a more robust sound. I ran both (12), (18) & (24-max) spacers. I normally run (24) spacers as a daily driver. Which is has a nice growl during idle and a cool roar during hard acceleration plus, I have had no complaints from my neighbors. I did try the system with NO spacers and it was too loud for normal driving.

I have raced my new exhaust with only (12) and no spacers, only to find that no spacers worked best. I will try my (24) spacer setup to see how it fares. Since the installation, I have not conducted a horsepower comparison, my fault. It will be hard to see if my new muffler has done anything, because I have done a ton of things to get this car quicker than stock. Check out my website for details: http://www.z3power.net

Summery: I am happy with the purchase of this muffler and I would do it again. In addition, if I did not have any performance gains in torque or horsepower, I have reduced the overall weight of the car. Which is always a good thing for our heavy cars.

Dinan ///M Air Intake

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The ///M engine can benefit from additional air (mass) intake, however the Dinan design (specifically for the M roadster and M coupe) concerns me. Look at the picture below, the air filter is exposed in the lower air intake (front bumper). While this may provide additional performance I really question the long term effects. The K&N filter is rather durable, but what happens when it gets wet. I’ve heard a report of a check engine light coming on after a car wash. I also look at the amount of rock chips this section of my bumper has picked up and wonder how long a paper filter could last against this kind of impact abuse.

For these reasons I would not recommend the Dinan intake unless it was only for Autocrossing or Track use, even under those circumstances I question if the Dinan design has any advantage over the ECIS or Jim C design.

Update: I have been informed “Dinan is now shipping (for free) filter covers, a la K&N condoms, which are supposed to solve these issues”. I think this shows great customer service and reminds everyone why Dinan is such a popular company to do business with.

BMW Strong-Strut Tower Brace

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Pros: Price, quality, strength, breathtaking finish
Cons: Careless installation could “ding” your hood
Cost: $315 and up from Strong Strut

Not surprisingly, my M Roadster displays a subtle cacophony of assorted squeaks and rattles which seem to be standard equipment on even the stoutest of convertibles. MZ3 Netmeister Robert Leidy’s review of the Dinan Strut Brace suggested that a tower brace could provide help. Meantime, I had been seeing quite a few posts on the z3 message board discussing the new Strong-Strut tower brace. Strong-Strut’s own web page made their strut seem particularly attractive so, as I’m always eager to try out the latest wrinkle, I ordered a Strong-Strut for my car.

The Strong-Strut arrived in a long triangular USPS Priority Mail box. Weighing in at 12 1/2 pounds, the all steel structure is clearly up to restraining errant movements of the strut towers. More, the Strong-Strut is absolutely beautiful to see. The flawless powder coat and deep chrome will look wonderful under my hood. I chose black powder coated tower rings with a chrome strut, but Strong-Strut offers a wide choice of attractive sounding finishes with prices ranging from $315 for an all black powder coated assembly to $365 for all chrome finish. Other, more expensive, special finishes are also available and Strong-Strut is even prepared to provide custom finishes to the buyer’s specs. How about candy-apple purple rings with a gold plated strut?

Strong-Strut provides six pages of instructions, most of which are concerned with insuring adequate under hood clearance. The penalty for failing to carefully follow these instructions would be two dings in your hood when you slam it closed on the Strong-Strut. Happily, the procedure is clearly explained, and Strong-Strut even includes two cubes of modeling clay to check under hood clearance. Once proper clearance is insured, the installation is a matter of ten minutes or so, using common hand tools. Take your time as you bolt it in and admire the lovely weld beads and precision stainless steel hardware. Note, too, how the tower rings are contoured to exactly mate with the complex curvature of the top of the strut tower.

Not only does the Strong-Strut look great under my hood, it works! I don’t track or autocross my car so I can’t comment on its handling benefits, but I noticed immediately on my road test that a persistent rattle from the dash area was gone. Problem is that some rattles from the back are now more obvious, but Strong-Strut is working on a rear brace and I’ve told them to put me first on their waiting list. I had thoroughly surveyed the list of available strut braces before I bought my Strong-Strut and I’m convinced that it provides an unbeatable combination of price,strength, quality, and under hood good looks. So, whether you’re looking for useful strengthening of the front end, or just eye candy, the Strong-Strut is hard to beat.

Conforti/Shark Air Intake System

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Pros: Factory appearance,improved performance,great sound
Cons: Slightly tricky installation
Cost: $449 plus shipping from Eurosport High Performance

Shark Intake

Publishing product reviews on the MZ3.Net is beginning to take on a life of its own! After I posted a complimentary article on Jim Conforti’s OBDII Performance Reprogram I received an e-mail from Josh MacMurray, head man at Eurosport High Performance in Salt Lake City. Eurosport is one of Conforti’s two national distributors, and Josh invited me to review Jim’s new Shark Air Intake System. I don’t need much prompting to try out the latest wrinkle on my M Roadster, and since I had already reviewed the ECIS Evolution Air Intake System I was anxious to see if the Shark Intake lives up to the great comments which have been appearing on the BMW bulletin boards. Eurosport arranged to ship me the appropriate system for my M Roadster, and the system arrived several days later carefully packed in styrofoam pellets with individual components of the system sealed in foil or plastic envelopes. Very neat!

The intake system consists of a molded plastic shield, an intake pipe with O-ring and clamps, an ITG Maxogen foam intake filter with a spray can of retention oil, plus all of the clamps, seals and fasteners required to complete the installation. The included instruction sheet is a model of clarity and features photos of critical steps in the removal of the stock air box and the installation of the Shark system. My first installation attempt ended almost before it began when I got too muscular with one of the intake pipe clamps and broke it off of the pipe. I e-mailed Eurosport and they responded immediately, overnighting a replacement intake pipe assembly. Comforting to know they’re ready to help out even the most ham handed! Josh MacMurray tells me that they have experienced about a three percent breakage rate for this part, a rate which they consider much too high, and have redesigned the clamp attachment point. The redesigned intake pipe should be available by the time this article is posted.

Given the new pipe, I completed the installation. Casual mechanics should have no problem with this 30-45 minute procedure as long as they pay attention to step 10 of the instructions which says in part; “Install the shield. Sounds simple, but it will require a little patience and wiggle technique.” Indeed!! If I hadn’t been forewarned, I might well have thought they sent me the wrong shield. But by applying “a little patience and wiggle technique” the shield did slip into place as promised. Once in place, the shield is fastened to existing mounting points, no drilling or fabrication required. I got a little nervous when the install was complete and I discovered that I had a few small parts left over, but a quick review of the instructions revealed that Conforti includes parts necessary for all versions of the six cylinder Z3, which vary in detail model to model.

Jim C has obviously gone to a lot of trouble to design a system which maintains a factory appearance under the hood. The black plastic intake pipe attaches to the mass air sensor with factory-like spring clamps and the black shield, with its seal, looks very much like the electronics bay next to the firewall on the right side of the engine compartment. The hose clamp which secures the ITG filter to the intake pipe appears to be identical to the BMW clamp which secures the rubber air duct to the back of the mass air sensor, and the ITG filter itself has a really businesslike look with black foam filter and aluminum trumpet. Very attractive! Not to enter into any ITG vs. K&N controversies, but a non-automotive friend of mine thought my own K&N looked like a pink lampshade. I’ve been reading posts on the BMW bulletin boards from lots of K&N owners who are switching to ITG just to improve under hood cosmetics. Additionally, the ITG is claimed to provide superior filtration ability, especially of harmful particles in the 10 to 20 micron range, and exceptional dust load up tolerance; the ability to absorb large amounts of dust without reducing air flow capacity

Road test time! On a brisk run on local farm roads my butt dyno senses a definite performance improvement, particularly at higher RPMs, accompanied by a subtle shriek approaching redline. Though I don’t have access to a dyno, several dyno runs on late model M3s equipped with the Shark Intake have appeared on the net. Eurosport provides a dyno sheet in Adobe Acrobat format, but to save time here’s the Eurosport Dyno Run as a .jpg file. Boston Performance Group, Inc. has also posted a comprehensive E36 Intake Shootout on their web site, including dyno runs, and both sources validate my butt dyno impressions (Editors Note: Web link removed, web page was no longer valid). If you’re buying the Shark Intake, seriously consider getting Jim C’s OBDII Performance Reprogram at the same time. The Conforti reprogram is great value and is optimized for use with the Shark Intake. The combination is my candidate for leading bang-for-the-buck performance enhancement for your Z3.

The FOGG/FONG’ed 2.8 Cold Air Intake

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Pros: Increased performance, low cost, keeps stock air filter
Cons: Do not screw up cutting the plastic cover for the headlamp
Cost: $30 and 2 to 3 hours of your time

First I want to thank Shawn Fogg for the original idea to supply cold air to the intake, WITHOUT spending up to $500, and labor. His instruction and basic concept to modify the air intake helped me to modify the 2.8′s airbox & intake delivery system.

* Tools needed: 10-mm open/boxed end wrench.

* Metal File

* 8-mm ¼-inch socket wrench.

* 6″ long ¼-inch socket extension.

* Flat head screw driver-med.

* Philip head screw driver-med.

* Dremel & cutting wheel OR a keyhole saw.

* Magic marker.

* Hot glue gun with heavy-duty glue sticks.

* Hair dryer

* Things to Buy: Go to the nearest Home Depot or the like and in the ventilation section get an aluminum 5″ to 4″ duct adapter. This is a tubular piece to allow a 5″ hose to plug into a 4″ hose.

* Buy a 4-inch aluminum flexible duct tube. This will be the new air supply tube.

* Buy a 5-inch stainless steel hose clamp.

* Hot glue gun and heavy-duty glue sticks, if you do not have any.

** NOTE THAT ANY DIRECTIONS I MENTION IS IN BODY POSITION **

PLEASE READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS. You will notice that the pictures show the completed product and not before modification.

1. Basic design of the 2.8 (00) airbox and air supply route: The stock unit’s air supply comes from the driver side of the radiator. It funnels through a 3.5 X 4.5-inch triangular opening.

2. That opening then feeds into a semi-enclosed space that surrounds the rear of the headlamp assembly and wire harness.

3. From there, the air funnels once more through a 3-inch tube that goes into the airbox.

4. The air passes through the filter then into another funnel (3-inches diameter) that leads to the air-mass sensor.

1. Making the Intake: First thing you need to do is to make the 4″ inlet out of the adapter you bought at Home Depot.

2. To do this on the expansion funnel (between the 4″ and 5″ tubes) you need to drill out the two rivets. This lets you separate the adapter into 3 pieces, the 4″ tube, the expansion funnel and the 5″ tube.

3. We only need the 4″ tube with the ‘rib’ on the side that was connected to the expansion funnel which opened up to the 5″ piece.

4. Using the hack saw, take the 4×36″ diameter tube and cut it down to 6 to 8-inches. Make sure that the tube IS NOT EXPANDED when you are measuring and cutting. This will become your inlet into the airbox.

5. Now dry fit the adapter and tube together. It will be a very tight fit. You might need to cut a 2″ slice, either on the tube or adapter, to make the tube slide onto the adapter correctly.

6. Once you are satisfied with the fit, take apart the tube and adapter and place it aside for later

1. Removing the 2.8 (00) airbox from the engine compartment: Remove the stock paper filter and holder from the airbox.

2. Use the flat head screwdriver to unfasten the (2) snap clips that holds the rubber hose & air mass sensor. Slide off the hose from the airbox. When removing the unit, there will be a rubber O-ring between the airbox & runner hose. Its purpose is to maintain a good seal between the plastic & rubber.

Tech Tip: When reinstalling the O-ring, install the O-ring, then wet your CLEAN finger and run it along the inside diameter of the O-ring. This will allow you to slide the rubber hose together with the plastic airbox when you are ready to reassemble the components.

3. Snap off the overfill hose from the radiator. It is located on top to the passenger side of the airbox.

4. To unbolt the airbox, you only need to unbolt (1) 10-mm nut, located on the driver side, plus the rubber hose to the engine. You do not need to undo the nut all the way.

5. Now this will take some fannagling, the small overfill hose to the radiator will be in the way during the removal of the airbox. To remove the airbox, you will need to pull & stretch the tubing around the airbox, as you are pulling the air box out of the engine compartment. The easiest way I was able to remove the air box is by stretching the tubing towards the passenger side of the airbox.

6. Once the airbox is out, you will want to clean out all the little bugs, dust and rocks the filter has trapped. It is also a good time to replace the filter – - mine had almost 18,000 miles.

1. Removing & modifying the air restrictions within the airbox for the 2.8 (00) When looking inside the airbox, you will see a plastic funnel that is attached to the driver side of the airbox. The funnel can be unattached by unscrewing the Phillips head screw on the outside wall of the airbox. The funnel can be pulled straight out of the airbox.

2. Now is time to put on your SAFETY GLASSES. You will be cutting the funnel in half. Starting at the widest portion of the funnel, (the side that empties into the airbox).

* Take the hacksaw and saw from the widest portion of the funnel towards the inlet of the funnel.

Tech Tip: There is a line that you can see that is called a parting line. The term is used for injection molded components. You can use the parting line as a guide.

* Now stop short of cutting into the ribbed area.

* Take the hacksaw and start cutting on the side that DOES NOT have the screw boss that attaches the funnel to the airbox. (You need to be able to remount this in the airbox).

* Use a file to smooth the edges. Then use a damp cloth to clean the surface. Once that is done, you may reinstall the modified funnel. Do not forget to use the screw to hold it back in place.

1. Removing the 2.8 (00) headlamp and fog lamp assemblies First, we will remove the fog lights (the easier of the two).

2. Using a medium sized flat head screw driver, remove the plastic cover that is towards the passenger side of the fog lamp.

3. You will see (2) 8-mm hex head bolts that hold the lamp in place. Remove them.

4. To remove the lamp assembly, just pivot the lamp from the passenger side edge and pull towards you (front of the car).

5. To remove the wiring, it is located behind the lamp. There are (2) pressure clips on either side of the wire harness. You might need to employ someone with small hands (your wife, girlfriend, your young son or me… LOL) to be able to reach behind the lamp and squeeze the clips together.

6. Once the wire harness has been released, remove the fog lamp and place in a safe spot.

7. Second is the headlamp assembly.

8. Located behind the lamp and in front of the airbox location. You will see a plastic housing that has the wiring for the headlamp going into through rubber grommets.

9. Those grommets are on plastic doors, that are removable from the plastic housing.

10. You will need to reach inside the housing to twist and remove the individual light bulbs from the headlamp.

Tech Tip: Do not touch the surfaces of the bulbs with your fingers (the oils from the skin will help DECREASE the life of the bulb).

11. Now is the fun part of unscrewing the headlamp from the car.

12. There are (4) 8-mm hex head bolts. You will need to use the 6-inch extension arm with the 8-mm socket.

Tech Tip: Use a magnet to magnetize your sockets. This will help you REMOVE and not loose the screws down within the car body.

* (2) are easy to see – they are located on top portion of the headlamp.

* (1) is on the passenger side, accessible through a steel hole.

* (1) is on the driver side accessible through a steel hole.

13. Once all the screw bolts are free, remove the headlamp and place in a safe location.

1. New Air Supply Tube You will notice once you have removed the headlamp, you will notice on the bottom portion of the plastic headlamp housing, there is a 2 ½-inch hole that appears to be plugged. How ever, you will be able to remove that plug by pressing in the (3) plastic clips towards the center of the hole. It will just fall down towards the fog lamp.

2. Now you get to cut things up. You will now follow the instructions of Shawn Fogg (with the necessary modifications to make it work for the 2.8 (MY00) Z3.

* When I cut my new air supply hole, I did not remove the plastic cover from the car. I believe that it is possible to remove it, but it would be a problem to remove and reinstall. BMW used a something similar to a drywall expander nail system. It is easy to remove the nail, but not too easy to remove the expander part that is in the wall. To remove either part, you would need to use flat head screw driver and needle nose pliers. You would have a greater chance of scratching the paint, during the removal of the units. That is why I left the plastic cover in.

* Now comes the fun part, you need to cut a 4″ hole where the stock hole is. Put the 4″ side of the inlet over the hole and draw a new circle on it with the marker. Do not center the new hole over the old one. You want the new hole to be as far to the passenger side of the box as you can make it. There is limited real estate to enlarge the hole. In addition, the surface of the area is not flat.

Tech Tip: INITIALLY CUT THE HOLE SMALL AND WORK YOUR WAY TO THE CORRECT SIZE. YOU ONLY GET TO CUT THE PLASTIC ONCE!

* If you have kept the plastic cover installed, I HIGHLY SUGGEST covering any exposed areas that hot plastic bits might fly to.

* Now PUT ON YOUR EYE PROTECTION!!!!! – Using whatever method you decided on, cut out that 4″ circle. This is the most time consuming part of the project. If you use a Dremel, you will experience hot, nearly liquid plastic flying around, so be careful!

* When I cut my hole, I had to make sure I had some land area to allow the new air supply funnel to be mounted on a semi-flat surface. This way it would be easy to apply the hot glue.

3. After you cut the hole, test fit the inlet into it. The inlet should fit through the hole but stop at the ‘rib’ on the inlet. For the test, it is easier if you just put the 4″ side through the top of the plastic cover. If you cannot get it to fit use the Dremel’s grinding wheel or a file to smooth and enlarge the hole. The fit needs to be tight as possible, WITHOUT distorting the inlet.

4. After you are satisfied with the fit, you may dry fit the aluminum tubing. This way you can determine if you need to resize the length of the tube.

5. Now is the time to clean the inside of the box.

6. Scrub out the inside of the air box with a brillo pad or something similar to remove all the plastic bits that got thrown around when you cut the hole.

7. Also, use a damp cloth to wipe down & remove any particles remaining.

8. After you get it all cleaned out, dry it.

9. Now put the inlet into the airbox for real.

10. Attach the aluminum tubing to the 4-inch adapter. Keep the aluminum tube UNSTRECHED and UNBENT. Do not attach the hose clamp at this time.

11. You will install the assembly from the TOP of the plastic cover (over the fog lamp). The side with the rib goes inside of the box with the 4″ tube & aluminum tube will be pointing down towards the fog lamp. The rib will keep the inlet from pulling through the box if you cut the hole properly.

12. Now slide the hose clamp from the bottom of the aluminum tube and tighten. Make sure to have it snug up against the bottom of the plastic cover. Do not overtighten the hose clamp as you could deform the inlet.

13. Now the top of the plastic cover, you will be applying hot glue between the rib and the floor of the plastic cover.

14. A slight air leak here isn’t critical, as it’s still before the air filter, but do the best you can. Do NOT use silicone glue as it could cause problems with your O2 sensors.

15. Let the glue cure for a hour, good time for a beer break – - if you are of legal age =:o

16. After the glue has cured, you will now need to stretch and bend the aluminum tube down and towards the front of the fog lamp assembly.

17. You will notice that my aluminum tube is bent slightly towards the plastic cover for the fog lamp. I am leaving that cover off to have a semi-ram-air effect to the air box. However, as Shawn said in his discoveries, he did not notice any difference when he place a scoop below the fog lamp. In addition, there was enough air movement going around the complete fog lamp to allow plenty of cold air to enter the tube.

18. The use of aluminum helps keep the tube in position and is easy to relocate, if you are not satisfied of its current placement.

19. You will need to use the fog lamp to determine good placement.

20. Once you are satisfied, reinstall everything like before.

21. One thing that I did before I drove my car with the modifications, was to disconnect the power from the battery for at least 24 hours. During the workweek is the best time.

22. Please note that I have NO modified computer chip. Therefore, I expect better results with persons who have the modified chip

* After thoughts: I did notice an increase of torque using my butt-seat-sensor. I sold my old G-tech unit, so I cannot verify any decrease of 0-60 times.

* The sound is deeper than stock.

* I still have the stock exhaust. I am looking at a Supersprint unit.

* I do not have a modified computer chip. I am debating between a Land Shark or a Dinan chip.

* Some people might be thinking why not just, run the new air supply from the fog lamp area to the air box directly. After talking with Shawn about Hydro-lock, I felt that connecting the tube all the way might up the possibility of it actually happening. Having the tube not connected will almost eliminate that chance.

Conforti OBDII Performance Reprogram

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Pros: Smoother, quicker, new hard-edged sound
Cons: So-so documentation, four days downtime
Cost: $399 from Turner Motorsport

There may be little that the participants in the web’s BMW bulletin boards agree on, but one product which seems to receive almost unanimous approval is Jim Conforti’s line of Landshark chips and OBDII programs, so I decided to give Jim’s reprogram a try on my M Roadster. Jim’s Bonneville Motor Werkes doesn’t deal directly with the public, but he has appointed several national retailers to handle his products. Because of their excellent web page, I decided to order from Turner Motorsport. Though I could have ordered on line, I chose to call their 800 number so I could ask some questions about the process. The idea of sending my expensive DME off to be tinkered with filled me with dread! The customer representative I spoke to was very helpful and I was happy with the answers I received, so I placed my order. Two days later I received my shipping kit; DME removal instructions, an upgrade checklist, a shipping label and a static-free bag. Note that the DME is shipped direct to Jim in Utah not to Turner Motorsport in Massachusetts. When I placed my order, I was told to insure my shipment for the replacement value of the DME, $1200, but the shipping documents made no mention of this. Also, Turner’s web site says that shipments must arrive in Utah on Tuesday so that Jim can reprogram Tuesday night and return ship on Wednesday. This restriction was not mentioned either. Considering that your car won’t run until you get the DME back, I think that both these considerations should be clearly stated in the documents which accompany the shipping kit.

The removal instructions provided were, frankly, not very impressive; a simple line drawing and three brief steps of instruction. Fortunately, the job is relatively easy and I was able to remove the DME in minutes. The only hangup was a two prong plug just behind the DME, not mentioned in the instruction sheet, which needed to be unplugged before I could get enough slack in the wiring harness to fully remove the DME from it’s enclosure. The process is as follows:

Locate DME enclosure just in front of the passenger side fire wall Loosen cover by unscrewing three cross point screws.

Remove cover, then unplug small two prong connector behind DME Carefully lift wiring harness high enough to lift DME

Remove DME completely from enclosure Extend metal lock tab and remove connector

Once the connector is removed from the side of the DME, place the DME in the provided static free bag and prepare for shipment. The DME should be accompanied by your copy of the sales receipt and the completed upgrade checklist. The DME is well protected by it’s metal enclosure so only minimal padding is required for safe shipment. I sent my overnight shipment out on Monday and, as promised, received it back on Thursday. Installation is just the opposite of the removal, and the car fired up at the first turn if the key. Whew!! My first brief drive, down to the corner and back, immediately impressed me with the new hard-edged authority of the engine sound. After rechecking that the wiring harness was properly installed, I replaced and tightened the cover on the DME enclosure, then took the car out for a longer run.

Once the engine was thoroughly warmed up, I let it fly on a local back road. Response was immediate, almost as if the accelerator pedal was wired direct to the tach. Crisp, clean response with no flat spots or hesitations right up to the new 7000 rpm limit. In deference to my life and my license I didn’t check the top speed limiter, but I’m sure the M-ster will now come close to pegging its 160 mph speedometer. Popping smooth shifts is child’s play because the revs drop off more readily when the accelerator is released and, if you indulge, heel and toeing is much easier because the engine revs up so much more freely with the clutch disengaged. And all the while this electric wail from engine! I can’t swear it’s really quicker, but who cares? It feels positively supercharged. The car is so much more fun to drive that it’s hard to understand why BMW doesn’t tune it this way to begin with. After all of my fears, the process turned out to be quite painless and the result is worth far more than the cost. The only downside I can see is the incomplete documentation…and, of course, you can’t drive your bimmer for four days. Do it!!

UPDATE: April 15, 2000

Just two days after this article was first published on the MZ3.Net, I received an e-mail from a reader, Tom Leath, to let me know that Turner Motorsport is now performing the reprogramming at their facility and are promising that your DME will be returned on the same day it is received. The result is a three day turnaround rather than the four days I mentioned in my original article. Tom later let me know that he had sent his DME to Turner and that it was returned in three days, as promised. More recently, Turner has announced the May release of Jim Conforti’s “Shark Injector,” a handheld reprogramming device which will permit late model Bimmer owners to reprogram their own cars without removing the DME, and may be used again later to reload the performance reprogram if your dealer should return your DME to the factory program. Amazingly, this device will cost the same as the reprogram, $399. This thing sounds like the real deal! Check the Turner Motorsport web page for information and ordering instructions.