Well, after the last track day, and seeing the 290 degree oil temps, I knew I needed to do something, esp. with the warmer weather coming up down here in TX. I will outline the whole process I have gone through thus far, but the impt questions about part #'s and such are at the end. I ordered the BMW LWT oil filter housing with its built-in thermostat. The directions on Scott Galaba's page,(link at bottom), show the part numbers, and many aftermarket parts to complete this install. Well, I was looking to make this as stock looking as possible. The oil filter housing came in last week, and on the front,(well, non-engine side), the two holes are slightly different. On our filter, one hole is capped with a bolt, and one is has a line to the vanos gear. On the LWT filter, that area is machined smooth for a gasket setup. Well I thought, that means there is a line that BMW had for the LWT and maybe I could use it vice putting red or blue anodized AN fittings to aftermarket lines. Now comes the interesting part. I asked them to look up the line and cooler to see the price and fitament possibilites,(I can turn a wrench better than I can spell!). The cooler itself is $350, or $300 with my discount. ouch, looks unlikely, but not out of the question yet. The line is $110 for me I figured I would spend about 3/4 that in lines and fittings anyways but now I have the stock look. Of course I don't know how this will interact with my accessories vs. the 95 LWT, but it appears it will clear. The line I ordered goes down the block and behind the alt. then under the radiator to the oil cooler. Now, the interesting part # questions. As I was having the parts guys look up to find the line and cooler #'s, they would enter the LWT oil cooler number I had provided them, then they would select which applications it would fit, then go to that and do a search for oil cooler. Well, I have been telling them all along this was for a M3 LWT, but nonetheless they would choose the Z3 application and supprisingly would find an oil cooler listing for it! I have the picture, but no part #'s,(could get it if needed). The lines come in from the pass side vice the drivers side for the LWT oil cooler. I know my M doesn't have an oil cooler, and I am fairly sure the Z3 doesn't. My only thought is this listing was for a European motor Z3? Those of you guru's with parts CD's, can you shed any insight? The oil cooler part number for the LWT is 17-21-2-228-942 I wasn't thinking and didn't ask him to get the Z3 oil cooler number. The interesting part is I may be able to order that oil cooler,(the Z3 one), which would obviously have parts to bolt directly in, and adapt it to my line I ordered.....for the fitting appears the same. On a similar note, the dealer just received their M3 demo. Avus blue. I don't like the color, but the car is neat. As I was looking in the engine compartment, I noticed it has a built in oil cooler as well, and the lines look identical to what I ordered, and as a matter of fact, the oil filter housing looks the same as ours, actually it looked just like the LWT filter I ordered....which makes me wonder if it is indeed the same one! So, maybe I will find a way to make this conversion with nearly all stock parts,(still have the vanos line to deal with). Any thoughts on the whole process? -Bob Hanvey
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