DASC Supercharged M44 - DISA Valve Issue

[stevenwrichards]

So I'm driving around the old Packard Plant here in Detroit and took a railroad crossing a little too fast... Came down and felt my steering wheel rattling with certain combinations of throttle / speed (got real bad around 3250-3500 RPM). I had the original steering rack swapped out for a remanned Z3 unit just last week and was deathly afraid that I had already busted it. Stopped by the gas station to have a look and noticed that my Dad had gotten my strut bar painted black. A nice surprise, but didn't exactly help explain my rattle.

As I'm heading to Waterford Hills for a track day on Thursday, I was pretty keen to get this figured out. Pulled into the garage and after searching high and low for a problem with the rack, tie rods, suspension, wheels / tires, or anything that I had just had adjusted, I noticed the noise I had been hearing was coming from closer to the firewall than anywhere down low on the car. After a bit of searching we noticed a rather odd looking part sitting directly on the steering shaft. After some more searching via Google images and a quick read through of the DASC installation guide forwarded to me by the great Mr. Jim Goodroe, we figured out it's the old DISA valve that had been removed from the intake system but left in the car.

From the DASC installation guide: "Get the DISA valve from your earlier disassembly and connect it to its electrical connector in the engine harness. Using one or two zip ties provided, secure the valve to the dipstick tube below the elbow so that the valve does not interfere with any engine components and so that the valve flapper still is free to operate. This is to keep your ECU happy (And your “Check Engine” light off)."

Long story short, I think I broke a zip tie and not my new rack. Track day saved.