Z3M Roadster

[buccal]

Hi Guys,

There seems to be quite a few of these appearing well under the £10k mark. I remember them getting pretty poor reviews when new but its a lot of oomph for the money now.

What do you reckon? good value for weekend toy or money pit?

[dan101smith]

Good VFM. Buy one. End of.

[belleair302]

Once you add a strut brace, sort out the suspension geometry and put on some decent pads they do make great toys. Not really a serious drivers car but great fun for the cash.

[buccal]

Thanks for replies.

What do you need to do to the geo?

If i remember correctly some of owners upgraded to AC Schnitzer components when new.

[off your marks]

fantastic value, awesome cars and a real experience to drive and own. like others have said, not scalpel sharp to drive but a great great toy. love mine to bits!

[belleair302]

Replace the lsd with one from an old E30 325i, 3.64:1 vs 3.15:1. Cheap but amazing swap. Reinforce the sub frame on the car and look at an H&R coilover kit plus new rollbars and drop links / rear top mounts.

The guys at Evolve near Luton do top work on these for reasonable money.

[Philrose]

Are you talking S54 or S50 engined cars. They are totally different engines. The later S54s ( only 79 rhd ever made) have traction control, the earlier S50s can be a handful in the wet as they dont have the traction control system. The S50s had vanos issues but I think this was somewhat overstated - worth checking out with the car you are considering.
Have a look at

http://www.bmwmregistry.com/model_faq.php?id=16

Should answer a few of your questions.
I've got an S54 version and think its great fun, reliable and not that expensive to run.

[podman]

Id noticed these come down to within budget as well and with low mileage in most cases,thanks for the post as I didnt know zip about them,handling isnt the best out of the crate then?

Thanks for that website link as well Philrose,added that to my favourites.

[belleair302]

Like any roadster, handling is OK for 7/10th of drivers at 7/10th speeds. To really enjoy the engine you need to look at a few choice modifications to really enjoy the power.

[zmrjason]

Hi Mate,

I have one with a fair number of mods (see below).

Certainly the handling is the first thing to address then brakes then power. In my opinion of course.

Mine now makes over a genuine 350bhp all day long, allied to the short ratio 3.64 diff as mentioned allready (a very cheap but very good mod) plus handling sorted it makes for a very very interesting ride indeed.

They are fantastic value and can with a little fettling be made to handle well.
As far as traction control is concerned (or lack of it on the S50) you can always retro fit an adjustable Racelogic setup which gives massively adjustable control. This will cost you much less than shelling out for the later S54 model. Though the newer S54 engine gives a bit more power etc.....
Depends on budget.

Evolve in Luton have carried out all of the below for me and the results are amazing!

Schrick 284 Cams
MAC Motoren Airbox + MAF deletion
Alpha N
Underdrive Pulleys
Lightweight Flywheel and clutch
ARP Bolts
Propseed race cats & Full system
Full Dyno setup and live remap

Handling:
18" BBS LM's + Pilot Sports
H&R Coilovers
H&R ARB + White line droplinks
Weichers Carbon Strut Brace
Tarox "6" Big break kit
Upgraded rear discs + upgraded pads
Digital Racelgogic TC
3.64 LSD

The point is you do not have to go this far but as a package they are rare, fast, reliable, relatively cheap to insure, built like tanks........the list goes on!

Could not recommend one high enough!!! If you are anywhere near Sussex I would gladly take you for a blast and make your own mind up!

Good luck
Cheers Jason

[Badapple]

Make sure the spot welds are not coming away in the boot!

[Mroad]

If you need convincing on the handling then just watch this:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=sPC1ZAPo09Y
His comment about the best handling car in the business should be taken with a pinch of salt but if you want hooligan fun it is ideal.
Just slap a strut brace on the front and it improves it no end. Great on track too.
A performance sports car bargain.

[buccal]

Brilliant replies guys, thanks a lot.

Would need to be a S50 model as the £8k ish budget is pretty fixed. I was going to go for a chimaera

Jason i'm in central london but thanks for the offer mate.

[belleair302]

I would look for a straight car , ie no accident damage, not wory about mileage, but look for recent bills and service history. Then get to work modifying the car to get what you want out of it, ie handling and torque, not cosmetics and fancy wheels.

[buccal]

belleair302 said:

I would look for a straight car , ie no accident damage, not wory about mileage, but look for recent bills and service history. Then get to work modifying the car to get what you want out of it, ie handling and torque, not cosmetics and fancy wheels.

excuse the ignorance but which mods improve the torque?

[dan101smith]

buccal said:

belleair302 said:

I would look for a straight car , ie no accident damage, not wory about mileage, but look for recent bills and service history. Then get to work modifying the car to get what you want out of it, ie handling and torque, not cosmetics and fancy wheels.

excuse the ignorance but which mods improve the torque?

The ruddy great supercharger that everyone was too polite to mention.