2003 BMW Z4
The Purchase
I've been a fan of the M-Roadster ever since I saw one back in '98, but Lisa never liked the Z3 style much, however she fell in love with the Z4 as soon as it was released. In October of 2004, Lisa started eyeballing a 2003 Z4 that Midwestern Auto Group had on their used BMW lot. She stopped by the lot one evening to take a look at a used VW R32 and the Z4. The used car sales guy reluctantly let her drive the R32, but scoffed at her driving the Z4... mind you we're at the dealership 2-3 times buying parts. She was disappointed with the R32 and was loosing interested in the Z4, since she couldn't even get a test drive. I told her to stop wasting time with the used car guys and deal with one of the friendlier new BMW sales guys. We stopped by the dealership on October 30th and spoke to Louis Smith, who we've known for years, he immediately grabbed the keys to the Z4 and sent us on our way. Lisa was REALLY happy with the car and Louis worked up a a great price, but we wanted to mull the purchase over a bit. On Monday Lisa spoke to folks at the dealership again and got them to come down another $1000, now it's getting interesting! Lisa decided that we'd make up our mind on the Z4 the next night, if Bush were reelected we'd buy the car, if not we'd stock up on "no-ban" AR-15s (before another assault weapons ban drove the price through the roof) as an investment... we picked up the Z4 on Saturday November 6th with 5555 miles on the clock :)
The Mods
After the first test drive, I already had a few modifications in mind, but Lisa wanted to keep it stock for a while. That lasted exactly four days after we picked up the Z4. On Wednesday night, H&R Sport springs were installed which dropped the ride height 1.75" at all four corners. Thanks to UPS misrouting one of the rear wheels to Springfield, the wheels didn't go on until Friday night. Ahhh, much better! Hawk HPS brake pads replaced the dust-o-rama stock pads, reducing fade and cutting down on the dust on the GT3s' polished lips. An Apexcone 4500K HID set in the foglights keeps them from looking yellow in comparison to the stock bi-xenon headlights, especially after swapping the factory 4100K D2S bulbs for new Apexcone 4500K D2S bulbs. Until UUC or Stromung starts producing a Z4 exhaust, BMW chrome tip covers dress up the boring stock tips a bit.
A couple months later, I installed a UUC Evo3 shift lever kit (~25% shorter throw than stock), a stainless steel UUC RK5 knob and a UUC clutch stop. Driving feels much sportier with quicker shifts and the shorter clutch pedal throw, the weight of the knob keeps the shifts smooth. In addition, I picked up a new BMW clutch delay valve from BMW and knocked out the internal valve plate and spring with a small punch. Its installtion got rid of the jerky first to second shifts that are common with CDV equiped BWMs.
More recently I've replaced the factory shocks with Koni Sport shocks, they're a much better match for the H&R Sport springs. A BMW strut brace went in to place when installing the Koni struts, it's non-hinged design helps stiffen up the front suspension.
After the first year of driving with the annoying traction control system kicking in everytime the road started getting fun, I yanked the factory 3.07 open differential. In its place went a Jim Blanton built 3.46 LSD. Acceleration is much improved due to both the more agressive gear ratio and the fact that both rear tires can now put power to the ground. I'd HIGHLY recommend the diff upgrade!
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