Given @jyamona says it doesn't work, I'm assuming there is something I don't know. I suspect he knows the Fuel-It setup, as it is probably the most common ECA config seen on BMW's. This one has the raw output (50-150Hz).
Filippo
E89 3DM Motorsport E89 Z4 Atacama Yellow Build
- Thread starter fmorelli
- Start date
Filippo
Even though it has the raw output, there are other things happening electrically like voltage pull-up, etc. There are also error voltages outside the 50-150Hz range and "disconnected" / bad wiring logic that are handled a special way. The Motiv ECA was designed and developed to work with the output of the Continental ethanol sensor directly, no middle man. It should be hooked up directly to the sensor. You will be able to log ethanol % in MHD, so the fuel-it analyzer is pointless as well.
Ok time for a few posts. I've been busy and @barry@3DM had been out of town. We worked on the suspension but will finish that next Tuesday. I'm holding off posting on that until it is complete.
Aside from the suspension, we installed the Revshift 80a motor mounts. It was a PITA to do (and the Z4 has more space than the 135/335 cars). To remove the passenger motor mount we had to pull the heat shield, rear silicone outlet connection at the turbo, and the 02 sensor. Installation was smooth, except we discovered my factory mounts with only 30k miles had nonetheless compressed.
One small detail - we cinched the heat shield down with two stainless wire ties. Unnecessary but held everything in place during the install.
With the Revshift mounts installed, the motor lifted good 9-12mm. My strut brace has about 2-3mm clearance to the oil filter now - I detail I'll eventually address. Once the car is on the road I'll report back. There is a Revshift mount thread for those interested. Here are a few photos in the process.
Filippo
Aside from the suspension, we installed the Revshift 80a motor mounts. It was a PITA to do (and the Z4 has more space than the 135/335 cars). To remove the passenger motor mount we had to pull the heat shield, rear silicone outlet connection at the turbo, and the 02 sensor. Installation was smooth, except we discovered my factory mounts with only 30k miles had nonetheless compressed.
One small detail - we cinched the heat shield down with two stainless wire ties. Unnecessary but held everything in place during the install.
With the Revshift mounts installed, the motor lifted good 9-12mm. My strut brace has about 2-3mm clearance to the oil filter now - I detail I'll eventually address. Once the car is on the road I'll report back. There is a Revshift mount thread for those interested. Here are a few photos in the process.
Filippo
Last edited:
More stereo stuff. I need to get this piece wrapped up and put to bed. I decided that I wanted to add tweeters (along with the 4" midranges) at the rear. A bit of research and I decided the JBL GTO19T were a good choice.
The Z4 rear corner plates already have a spot for the tweeter. I suspect this is for the Professional 677A system. BMW even did the homework for the mounting angle, making this job pretty simple.
A simple installation, I drilled out a space for the wires to come through, along with the studs which stick out of the back of the tweeter. I mounted the tweeter with 3M VHB tape. All of this eventually gets covered by a grill.
Finally I decided to wire in parallel - simply for the tweeter it doesn't matter whether series or parallel. It only engages impedance / load in the high frequency (there is a passive crossover installed) and the power consumed is pretty negligible. Again VHB tape holds the passive crossover in place, and the leads are soldered to the 4" Bavsound posts.
Finally, I'm fed up with solving how to get streaming audio to this system, as the BMW Combox A2DP can't seem to get to the Professional HU - at least I've found no one that knows how to program this (if it is possible). So in my research I discovered APTX HD - a Qualcomm chipset that provides 48kHz/24 bit audio over bluetooth. My Google Pixel phone has the chipset. So I purchased a APTX HD bluetooth box that feeds the signal out via 3.5mm aux. I ran an 8' aux cable from the bimmertech amp/dsp to the passenger compartment. The bluetooth unit is a svelte 1" square, and has control buttons on it. It takes a USB micro cable for power. I'll mount it discretely in the center console area. As a bonus, the amp auto-senses signal on the aux channel, and switches to Aux when signal is present. I'm expecting that, when I stream from my phone to the bluetooth unit, the amp will switch to Aux. More on the audio installation as I wrap that up over the next few days.
Filippo
The Z4 rear corner plates already have a spot for the tweeter. I suspect this is for the Professional 677A system. BMW even did the homework for the mounting angle, making this job pretty simple.
A simple installation, I drilled out a space for the wires to come through, along with the studs which stick out of the back of the tweeter. I mounted the tweeter with 3M VHB tape. All of this eventually gets covered by a grill.
Finally I decided to wire in parallel - simply for the tweeter it doesn't matter whether series or parallel. It only engages impedance / load in the high frequency (there is a passive crossover installed) and the power consumed is pretty negligible. Again VHB tape holds the passive crossover in place, and the leads are soldered to the 4" Bavsound posts.
Finally, I'm fed up with solving how to get streaming audio to this system, as the BMW Combox A2DP can't seem to get to the Professional HU - at least I've found no one that knows how to program this (if it is possible). So in my research I discovered APTX HD - a Qualcomm chipset that provides 48kHz/24 bit audio over bluetooth. My Google Pixel phone has the chipset. So I purchased a APTX HD bluetooth box that feeds the signal out via 3.5mm aux. I ran an 8' aux cable from the bimmertech amp/dsp to the passenger compartment. The bluetooth unit is a svelte 1" square, and has control buttons on it. It takes a USB micro cable for power. I'll mount it discretely in the center console area. As a bonus, the amp auto-senses signal on the aux channel, and switches to Aux when signal is present. I'm expecting that, when I stream from my phone to the bluetooth unit, the amp will switch to Aux. More on the audio installation as I wrap that up over the next few days.
Filippo
I'm doubtful. Not a problem though, as I'll either shim the strut brace a bit higher, or maybe those new VTT oil caps are thin enough that my problem gets solved with a purchase.
@barry@3DM and I were actually discussing how to shorten the Revshift mount ... but I don't want to go back in there. I like the idea of the motor sitting 3/8" lower in the chassis ...
Filippo
One more quick post - I also installed the CTS Turbo oil filter cover. I wrote a tongue and cheek review in the N54 sub-forum.
Filippo
Filippo
"my problem gets solved with a purchase..."
Any problem you can solve with money - is not that big of a problem.
Any problem you can solve with money - is not that big of a problem.
I'm actually going to start a thread on motor mounts in the n54 Forum. The setup already have shims so I could certainly raise it but I have some other suspicions about how the factory motor mounts work.
Filippo
John has been emailing info to me. They've done a bunch of measurements, including loaded. We're trying to figure out what's going on. When we know I'll post it on the N54 forum as this likely has more to do with the OEM mount behavior than anything else.
Filippo
We finally wrapped up the suspension on this car. There is no more left to do in that department. We had some issues with the rear Ohlins springs - the supplied spec was not desirable. @barry@3DM worked with Ohlins and ended up specifying a different rear spring. For any Z4 Ohlins kits ordered out of 3DM Motorsport, Barry will supply the alternate rear springs at no extra charge.
With everything installed, I found that my wheel and tire setup rubbed ever-so-slightly on the passenger side from perch. For reference that a 19x9 ET35 with 245/35-19 tire. We moved to a 5mm spacer which provides sufficient room for things to move around (as suspensions will do under load) and not rub. The rub is barely evident in the photo below (look at the bit of paint worn away from the bottom of the yellow spring).
We then set about getting the ride height to a reasonable place. We then corner weighted the car. Amazingly the car was near perfectly weighted. We made minor adjustments to the passenger front perch and called it all close enough.
Finally with everything set, we did the alignment. This had been performed recently before the switch to coilovers. We ended up on these numbers for now: Toe: 0mm front, -4mm rear. Camber: -1.3° front, rear R -3.1°, L -3.5°. ... we'll see how things go for a while.
There are some final tweeks to make on the shock valving, but the car's handling and steering are really quite good. I've not pushed the car to the limit yet, working its way there. But it is like driving a gumball.
Filippo
With everything installed, I found that my wheel and tire setup rubbed ever-so-slightly on the passenger side from perch. For reference that a 19x9 ET35 with 245/35-19 tire. We moved to a 5mm spacer which provides sufficient room for things to move around (as suspensions will do under load) and not rub. The rub is barely evident in the photo below (look at the bit of paint worn away from the bottom of the yellow spring).
We then set about getting the ride height to a reasonable place. We then corner weighted the car. Amazingly the car was near perfectly weighted. We made minor adjustments to the passenger front perch and called it all close enough.
Finally with everything set, we did the alignment. This had been performed recently before the switch to coilovers. We ended up on these numbers for now: Toe: 0mm front, -4mm rear. Camber: -1.3° front, rear R -3.1°, L -3.5°. ... we'll see how things go for a while.
There are some final tweeks to make on the shock valving, but the car's handling and steering are really quite good. I've not pushed the car to the limit yet, working its way there. But it is like driving a gumball.
Filippo
Last edited:
Alright, got everything installed and Dimitri (BQTuning) shot me an initial map. Everything is running smoothly. I wanted to share some install information, though I'll also post to my build thread.
First off, there was some question about whether two ECA's could be run. I have the Continental ethanol sensor with the Fuel-It! bluetooth ECA which tells an app on my phone the current E content. This set has a raw feed wire coming out, which is then feeding the Motiv Flexfuel ECA. Works great.
For our installation, we wanted it to be clean and reversible. @barry@3DM put together a wiring scheme with Deutsche connectors. We ran the grey wire bundle through one of the rubber sleeves, and the ground correspondingly through the rear ground sleeve. No holes. It's easier to run through the rubber sleeves by disconnecting the sleeve from the electrical box. Photos are self-explanatory.
To switch back to stock and remove Motiv flex fuel, the male connector marked OE gets plugged in to its corresponding female connection.
Filippo
First off, there was some question about whether two ECA's could be run. I have the Continental ethanol sensor with the Fuel-It! bluetooth ECA which tells an app on my phone the current E content. This set has a raw feed wire coming out, which is then feeding the Motiv Flexfuel ECA. Works great.
For our installation, we wanted it to be clean and reversible. @barry@3DM put together a wiring scheme with Deutsche connectors. We ran the grey wire bundle through one of the rubber sleeves, and the ground correspondingly through the rear ground sleeve. No holes. It's easier to run through the rubber sleeves by disconnecting the sleeve from the electrical box. Photos are self-explanatory.
To switch back to stock and remove Motiv flex fuel, the male connector marked OE gets plugged in to its corresponding female connection.
Filippo
I was also able to run two ethanol content analyzers. The Fuel-It! bluetooth ECA has the option of a raw output. So we're running that (for convenient bluetooth app readings on the E content), and the raw feed to the Motive flex fuel hardware that's doing the heavy lifting for the DME integration.
Filippo
Filippo
Just a few sunset glam shots. Haven't posted photos of the car in a while. Note the interior is still going back together, so the hoops are bare.
Filippo
Filippo
Okay just a few updates on the build. We're still tuning. 95770s are at 0.022". I had a misfire issues with the BL harness. Swapped plugs and coils, still have a #2 misfire. Also got a 2DED which means something is electronically unhappy from the DME's perspective. I checked power and ground at #2 and all seems fine (voltage wise, who knows amperage wise). Anyway I pulled the BL kit and reinstalled the Eldor coils, turned off BL in MHD and everything is good.
That is ... until the MMP silicone outlet blew when @barry@3DM and I were pulling some log runs. Blew a 4" wide hole in the rear side of the outlet, not close to a heat source. Sounded like a large balloon popping. I got 7,500 miles out of the outlet before I joined the MMP Outlet Blues Club.
So this kind of sucks as I was hoping the outlet would last until Barry and I did the Garrett turbos. Oh well. So I ordered up the PSP aluminum outlet. I'm also going to swap in the N55 coolant tank made by Rein, courtesy of sleuthing by @BQTuning who determined it is a straight bolt-in providing more room for the outlet.
Filippo
That is ... until the MMP silicone outlet blew when @barry@3DM and I were pulling some log runs. Blew a 4" wide hole in the rear side of the outlet, not close to a heat source. Sounded like a large balloon popping. I got 7,500 miles out of the outlet before I joined the MMP Outlet Blues Club.
So this kind of sucks as I was hoping the outlet would last until Barry and I did the Garrett turbos. Oh well. So I ordered up the PSP aluminum outlet. I'm also going to swap in the N55 coolant tank made by Rein, courtesy of sleuthing by @BQTuning who determined it is a straight bolt-in providing more room for the outlet.
Filippo
Seems odd that this continues to occur, MMP doesn't offer a replacement or refund considering how widespread this is?
I'm also having some off acceleration issues: when the coming off throttle at full boost, the car will continue briefly as if I've not come off full throttle. I suspicious of the vacuum line to the Tial. I ordered a Vader Solution BOV adapter - very clean, right off the TMAP. Tial specs a 1/4" line.
Filippo
Filippo
I suspect, just from what we've seen reported on Spoolstreet, that failure seems common - we've seen burn-throughs and blow-outs posted here. Honestly I didn't even consider contacting @MMP.
Filippo
