It’s been an extremely busy start to 2020 so getting to work on our own BMW Z4 V8 project has been difficult, so it’s been mostly evenings and weekends but with the UK weather the way it is at the moment we are not to upset that’s it’s not yet complete, and as they say perfection takes time, so what is new, and where are we at on the Z4 build.
Our main focus has been on getting the Gen 2 boot spoiler sorted, and we are pleased to say its with the dual blades mounted and the wing put in place we are extremely happy about how this beauty. most people that have seen the car in its almost complete state feel that the car should remain wingless and looking at the car from time to time we kind of agreed, that was until we seen the wing in situ, it’s a must, and now we have seen the car with both options the rear wing assembly stays, especially as its an authentic GT3 set up that fits right in with the authentic panels, next up is to get all of the bumper grills painted and fitted, set up the suspension, finish the exhaust and then fit the new GT3RR F1 forged wheel centres.
With any build especially when you have one that’s not finished and your sharing the build, you will always get mixed reviews, especially from the purists and the trolls of the world, and our build is no different, but from past builds we are used to it, but what amazes us the most is when you have people who have also built the same Z4 GT3 conversion but gone a different route to our own, but are negative of our build, and some of the comments are hilarious.
Why have we installed the LS3V8 and not the S65, we should of kept the N54 as its more tuneable, why have we fitted big wheels, why haven't we installed the race hardtop, but the best one of all, our car wont handle now we have installed the LS3 V8, even though it’s a much shorter block and sits further back in the chassis, but we ask is there a right or wrong way of building your own homage of the wonderful BMW Z4 GT3 race car, lets look in depth at why we took our own path.
Engine.
There is nothing wrong with the O.E.M N54 engine, the straight 6 twin turbo set up is a great choice, it’s the easiest and cheapest option to tune the original engine, but not the option we considered because we wanted a V8. We looked into the S65 swap, as we happen to know the best V8 installer in the business, Dynotorque, he is an LS specialist and gave us the pros and cons of fitting the S65 vs the LS3 / LS7, we listened to his vast experience and knowledge in this field, it was a no brainer and the people in the know will understand why we went this route.
To the tuners and purists who prefer to tune the N54 twin turbo engine set up, no problem it’s a great engine, but not the route we personally wanted to pursue, but anyone that wants to choose that route it’s still a great engine choice, but to say that our car wont handle because we have fitted an LSV8 is a really stupid statement to make, the LS3 is not only lighter but considerable shorter than the N54, which makes for a perfectly balanced car with where the engine sits in the chassis, we should know as we have had both configurations and we know which set up we prefer, we also have a wonderful sound track to go with our amazing looks, so it’s a win, win.
Wheels. We have read online that our wheels are too big and we should of fitted 18" wheels because the Z4 GT3 race car is on an 18" slick set up. Well ours is a road car not a race car and our Z4 came on 19" wheels, so apart from the extra width and tyre height we decided to stick with 19" albeit the wheels that currently sit on the car whilst its being built will be changed to our F1 GT3RR Forged wheel.
Aero kit. / Hardtop 99.9 % of people that have built a BMW Z4 GT3 globally have fitted a fibreglass equivalent of the GT3 kit, then titivated with either the original race mirrors or race hard top, which is fine, you put into the build what you can afford, we wanted an authentic dry carbon BMW Motorsport kit, they are available but expensive, but we appreciate you buy the panels in the material you can personally afford. On the Motorsport hard top roof, we considered it as we produce one, but as we purchased the car as a convertible steel top that's how we want our build to stay, it’s a road car that will do occasional track days, not a track or a race car, BMW already build those, so if we wanted a track car we would buy the real deal.
We could sit here all day and pick faults at some of the Z4 GT3 road builds that have been put together, but we applaud anyone that's taken this build on as it’s not the most straightforward, so whether you have the original tuned engine, or you purchased a fibre glass kit from Thailand with a hard top from Germany, 18" wheels or 20" wheels … in our eyes they are all great builds and we have nothing but respect for each and every one of them.
Suspension. Seems most people have an opinion in this area of most builds, our personal preference on our own Z4 build was to work with Bilstein UK, who have built us a fully bespoke set up specifically for this Z4 GT3 conversion, they have huge experience with the BMW touring cars and BMW race cars, sorry no air ride for this build, but we can see the appeal.
This Z4 GT3 is built for us, just how we wanted it using authentic race parts, now it’s time to push on and finish for spring, just need to fit the rear wing assembly, rear diffuser and bumper grill sets, and its brand new wheel set up... roll on the spring.
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