nfbr's 2007 Ruby Black Z4 Coupé! Blog/Build-Thread

z4pilot · Post by **z4pilot** » Thu Mar 10, 2016 10:38 am

Just out of interest, where did you source the pump and thermostat from? Starting to think I should get one of these in, just in case!

nfbr · Post by **nfbr** » Thu Mar 10, 2016 10:54 am

z4pilot wrote:Just out of interest, where did you source the pump and thermostat from? Starting to think I should get one of these in, just in case!

I got the Waterpump and Aluminium bolts from Sam at BM Autoparts in Birmingham. Sam is a very helpful bloke and will even check the part number against your Chassis number to ensure correct fitment. Really good guy to deal with and even answered my e-mails at 6.30pm on a Sunday evening!
They trade on eBay and are the Cheapest in the UK for a Brand New Pierberg pump
- eBay Listing - N52 Pierberg Waterpump + Bolt set

The thermostat I bought from GSF car parts as they were the only place I could find a BEHR thermostat.
Sam at BM Autoparts also does a Pump + Bolts and Thermostat kit for £285.00 inc Delivery which is a cracking price!
- eBay Listing - N52 Pierberg Water Pump + Bolt set + Wahler Thermostat

The American N52 owners seem to swear by the Wahler Thermostats, but I went for a BEHR one on account of my local BMW dealer friend checking a brand new BMW one on the shelf and it having the BEHR logo on it

The Bluecol OE48 coolant I got from Andrew Page, but this can also be got cheapest from Motorworld's eBay Store
- eBay Listing - Bluecol OE48 Anti-Freeze - 5 Litres
Just don't forget to mix it 50:50 with De-Ionised water.

z4pilot · Post by **z4pilot** » Thu Mar 10, 2016 11:16 am

Excellent - thanks for the info!

kammy1975 · Post by **kammy1975** » Thu Mar 10, 2016 5:24 pm

nfbr wrote:
z4pilot wrote:Just out of interest, where did you source the pump and thermostat from? Starting to think I should get one of these in, just in case!
I got the Waterpump and Aluminium bolts from Sam at BM Autoparts in Birmingham. Sam is a very helpful bloke and will even check the part number against your Chassis number to ensure correct fitment. Really good guy to deal with and even answered my e-mails at 6.30pm on a Sunday evening!
They trade on eBay and are the Cheapest in the UK for a Brand New Pierberg pump
- eBay Listing - N52 Pierberg Waterpump + Bolt set

The thermostat I bought from GSF car parts as they were the only place I could find a BEHR thermostat.
Sam at BM Autoparts also does a Pump + Bolts and Thermostat kit for £285.00 inc Delivery which is a cracking price!
- eBay Listing - N52 Pierberg Water Pump + Bolt set + Wahler Thermostat

The American N52 owners seem to swear by the Wahler Thermostats, but I went for a BEHR one on account of my local BMW dealer friend checking a brand new BMW one on the shelf and it having the BEHR logo on it

The Bluecol OE48 coolant I got from Andrew Page, but this can also be got cheapest from Motorworld's eBay Store
- eBay Listing - Bluecol OE48 Anti-Freeze - 5 Litres
Just don't forget to mix it 50:50 with De-Ionised water.

Another great post fella, keep up the good work.

But am a little confused. Before I bought my Zed, there was a lot said about failed water pumps\thermostats and the high cost of replacement. I could have sworn I read something that the high cost was due to labour, as the water pump wasnt accessible without dropping the engine off its mounts. From your pics and post, that clearly isnt the case ! So what is all this scaremongering regarding water pumps about ? I appreciate they arent the cheapest, but still they are hardly the £1000+ repair bills that some Z4 sellers were claiming. (Unless of course we are talking main stealer prices, and then it would be less of a surprise.)

Cheers
Kam

nfbr · Post by **nfbr** » Thu Mar 10, 2016 5:34 pm

kammy1975 wrote:Another great post fella, keep up the good work.

But am a little confused. Before I bought my Zed, there was a lot said about failed water pumps\thermostats and the high cost of replacement. I could have sworn I read something that the high cost was due to labour, as the water pump wasnt accessible without dropping the engine off its mounts. From your pics and post, that clearly isnt the case ! So what is all this scaremongering regarding water pumps about ? I appreciate they arent the cheapest, but still they are hardly the £1000+ repair bills that some Z4 sellers were claiming. (Unless of course we are talking main stealer prices, and then it would be less of a surprise.)

Cheers
Kam

Thanks Kam

I aim to please.

I think the highest price I saw banded about on here was £700 ish.
That was with a quoted figure of £440.00 for the genuine BMW fuel pump, £100 ish for the Thermostat and then £12.00 or so per 1.5 Litres of Coolant before the book times of 1.2 Hours (waterpump) plus 0.7 Hours (thermostat) then 0.7 Hours (coolant change) in labour are slapped on top.

Something I've seen a lot of in the past though with main dealers is the prices falling heavily on parts that are a common issue.
If they see a lot of a particular item fail, they tend to bottom out the retail price on the item, so that it doesn't look back on the dealers for warranty comebacks.

A good example of this is VW / Audi's 2.0CR TDI Engines. The injectors used to be around £600.00 each, but when a shed load of them started failing, they came down to as little at £180.00 a piece!

enzed4 · Post by **enzed4** » Thu Mar 10, 2016 8:21 pm

kammy1975 wrote: But am a little confused. Before I bought my Zed, there was a lot said about failed water pumps\thermostats and the high cost of replacement. I could have sworn I read something that the high cost was due to labour, as the water pump wasnt accessible without dropping the engine off its mounts. From your pics and post, that clearly isnt the case ! So what is all this scaremongering regarding water pumps about ? I appreciate they arent the cheapest, but still they are hardly the £1000+ repair bills that some Z4 sellers were claiming. (Unless of course we are talking main stealer prices, and then it would be less of a surprise.)

Cheers
Kam

Perhaps they weren't talking about the Si N52 engine? Could be difficult to access on the older M54's.
Just a thought.

kammy1975 · Post by **kammy1975** » Thu Mar 10, 2016 11:43 pm

enzed4 wrote:
kammy1975 wrote: But am a little confused. Before I bought my Zed, there was a lot said about failed water pumps\thermostats and the high cost of replacement. I could have sworn I read something that the high cost was due to labour, as the water pump wasnt accessible without dropping the engine off its mounts. From your pics and post, that clearly isnt the case ! So what is all this scaremongering regarding water pumps about ? I appreciate they arent the cheapest, but still they are hardly the £1000+ repair bills that some Z4 sellers were claiming. (Unless of course we are talking main stealer prices, and then it would be less of a surprise.)

Cheers
Kam
Perhaps they weren't talking about the Si N52 engine? Could be difficult to access on the older M54's.
Just a thought.

Nope, was defo the N52, as I only looked at Z4 coupes.

Plus, there's a lot been said about the damage that could be done to the magnesium alloy head should the car overheat. Plus, I don't think the M54 engines had the electric water pump, but could be wrong on that.

kammy1975 · Post by **kammy1975** » Thu Mar 10, 2016 11:47 pm

nfbr wrote: Thanks Kam I aim to please.

I think the highest price I saw banded about on here was £700 ish.
That was with a quoted figure of £440.00 for the genuine BMW fuel pump, £100 ish for the Thermostat and then £12.00 or so per 1.5 Litres of Coolant before the book times of 1.2 Hours (waterpump) plus 0.7 Hours (thermostat) then 0.7 Hours (coolant change) in labour are slapped on top.

Something I've seen a lot of in the past though with main dealers is the prices falling heavily on parts that are a common issue.
If they see a lot of a particular item fail, they tend to bottom out the retail price on the item, so that it doesn't look back on the dealers for warranty comebacks.

A good example of this is VW / Audi's 2.0CR TDI Engines. The injectors used to be around £600.00 each, but when a shed load of them started failing, they came down to as little at £180.00 a piece!

I think you are spot on with that explanation/breakdown of costs. Still doesn't explain why one seller claimed £1100 spent on replacement water pump! But that's enough of me hijacking your thread/blog...

nfbr · Post by **nfbr** » Fri Mar 11, 2016 8:32 am

kammy1975 wrote: I think you are spot on with that explanation/breakdown of costs. Still doesn't explain why one seller claimed £1100 spent on replacement water pump! But that's enough of me hijacking your thread/blog...

Inner City London labour rates could tip it over a grand easily I suppose.
I know Audi Dealers inside the M25 charge £240+VAT per hour as opposed to the £105+VAT per hour they charge local to me.

biojo · Post by **biojo** » Wed Mar 16, 2016 5:47 pm

nfbr wrote:So, As I was saying, I swapped out all my interior bulbs for white LED ones the other day. I took some pictures during the install but haven't managed to get photos of the car all lit up at night yet.

First up was the boot light... Yep, that's right... Since I went for a Coupé, I actually get a good amount of luggage space

So, to summarise - I used
1x '264' 40-44mm Festoon Bulb
7x '501' Wedge Bulbs

Will be back with a photo of the interior all nicely illuminated when the weather is better again

Silly question but why do you seem to have a different light fitting, mines like the bellow and part numbers on-line suggest they all have same

part number 63316962013

thanks

nfbr · Post by **nfbr** » Wed Mar 16, 2016 5:51 pm

That's a little strange. All the ones I looked at had a regular lens like the one in my image.
Mine doesn't seem to have that tab in the middle sticking out of the back either.

biojo · Post by **biojo** » Wed Mar 16, 2016 6:16 pm

that tabs where the wire plugs in,

I thought before i got the LED mine looked different.

Doesn't look like part number changed on any of coupe`s 2005 - 2008 so it is a bit of a odd one lol.

I did see some like mine but with built in leds built in and you can also get the bellow

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-X5-E70-SM ... SwDNdVk-Ej

nfbr · Post by **nfbr** » Sun Mar 20, 2016 9:19 pm

Dropped my Coupé off at Scorpion Exhausts today for the up coming 3.0si cat back exhaust system development work

I miss the car already, and can't wait to see/hear the finished product.

GedS · Post by **GedS** » Mon Mar 21, 2016 1:00 pm

Really kean to see/hear the results of this. I'm torn between a new exhaust or the suspension next. Money is too tight for both at the moment.

nfbr · Post by **nfbr** » Mon Mar 21, 2016 1:02 pm

Once it's done, feel free to nip over to my works and have a listen

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