nick496

A bit of an update since I've been using it a bit over the holidays.

1. It makes an excellent tow vehicle (towed a car trailer up to Auckland)

2. It pulls out sumps alright (Kinda doing burnouts in your driveway is a great way to meet all the neighbors it turns out)

3. It could do with an LSD (see marks left in second video)
4. It burns a lot of oil

I ended up replacing the CCV unit and hose with new ones, however hasn't affected the oil smoke that comes out the back.
So yep, my ill maintained engine isn't healthy, and uses oil. Who would have thought.
Plan is to just leave it until it finally dies, and then put in another.

Ended up going up to Auckland yesterday for a bit of a parts mission, grabbed an Mtech 2 kit from Ray, and also AC heater core, loom and pipes from an E30, and a compressor and lines from an M50.

The E30 touring is definitely the most practical E30, as it can fit all of it's parts individually inside itself with ease.

Waiting for summer to wrap up, and then start the long process of adding AC to the car.

I left just about everything in with mine, so I'm still rocking the ccv system. 

As for the 4 wires, just check what they pin out to. I think they're for traction control? But it's been a while since I've done it so I've forgotten. I'm pretty sure I ended up cutting them. 

Also, if you still have the ac pump floating around, I'll take it off your hands. 

I failed my cert test for the E30 with my standard brakes, as one of the hoses was bulging.
Replaced all the lines, and probably would have been fine with just that, but ended up putting Hawk HPS pads in also.

I would imagine you will be fine with 330i brakes and calipers providing you have some half decent pads. (And your hoses are fine)

Hmm, do you have a link? I'm struggling to find it.

Anyone got a genuine MTech 2 kit for a 4 door hiding around that they would sell?

Looking around 2k or so.

Where did you get that Gaitor from. I take it that it's the genuine BMW part?

E30 M325i in Red, bimmersport stickers on both side skirts, around central Hamilton.
See it parked near the office most days. 

Very nice.

Guys in the office poke fun of me asking why mine doesn't look as good.

So I might have missed it, but when you indicate left, the cluster light doesn't flash, but your indicators do? 

If so, would recommend you try swapping your cluster out. 

On 10/4/2016 at 8:19 PM, polley said:

That circuit board is repairable, and if you can get your AFR closer to 12.5ish you should pick up a bit more power. 11:1 is filthy rich, especially for a NA car.

It would be repairable, but I think I'll just do a replacement.

Yeah, I've got to replace the O2 sensor, then check over my intake when I do my CCV, as there will be a few things to plug up.

On 10/3/2016 at 11:35 PM, _BRS_ said:

Awesome, pleased to get the cert nailed! Who did your cert out of interest?

Yep, glad that's all done. 
It was done by Noel at Nostalgia motors.

Whats the sizing of the Hartges?

Brake lines all replaced with new rubber lines, that fixed my fade issue funnily enough, and managed to pass the WoF.
Hawk HPS pads also showed up, so put those on also along with new front rotors. Seem to stop faster, but will wait for things to wear in properly.

Put it all together, and took her in for the cert recheck, and I've passed. So now to wait a couple of weeks for the actual plate to show up.

The whole process took longer than I hoped, but about what I expected.
I think the main reason why things took a bit longer would be waiting for one part to be complete before moving onto the next for things like the driveshaft and exhaust. Then finding out about the brakes and waiting for parts to show up.

Now to replace the fuse box, and the heater core.

2 hours ago, gjm said:

Do the rear seats in an E46 coupe fold down for through-loading from the boot, or even just for more load space?

 

Can't speak for the coupe.
But it appears to be an option on the Sedans. Mate had a 318i that didn't have fold down rear seats. My 328i does fold down. (Both PFL)

Would imagine the same would go for the coupe?

Having done exactly that, will be able to help. 

Check to see if you have wiring for the Aux fan first, and if not, you end up running 3 cables to the fuse box, crimping some ends and plugging it into the relays. The E30 wiki has a good page for this. 

Then just running a ground line from the fan to the chassis. 

Can show you on mine if you want, flick me a Pm. 

For a laugh, I went to a local dyno day. Because I hadn't run my car on a dyno before, and was curious.

And just a reminder, we all know that every dyno is different blah blah, results aren't always that accurate....
But here they are:

So that's a generous reading of 136.5KW ATW, and 460Nm of torque.
So would suspect it reads high, as my motor wasn't well looked after prior to my ownership. 

But it does have quiet a nice line, and was able to confirm that my fuel mixture of 1 to 11 wasn't as bad as I thought, though I am burning oil at the higher RPMs.
Those with the keen eyes will spot that it was entered in that the test gear was 3rd, but did confirm the data entry error as 4th.

Also went off to the local WoF man, and he failed me on...
My front left brake line, having a bubble in it.
Which annoys me a touch because
-I didn't look well enough when bleeding my brakes
-My certifier didn't look at my brake lines while saying my brakes were fading

So will get that replaced, and see if that fixes my fade issue.
Still waiting on brake pads, and they won't be in until later on in the month.

On 9/4/2016 at 0:14 PM, 1BMF said:

Can you remove the circut board, if it's just the one line you will be able to solder in a bit of normal wire to replace the burnt section. 

Fair point, though I'm pretty sure that's one of the main power distribution lines...

Figured I'd update this while I'm waiting on parts.

I think I've gotten to the bottom of my window issue. I think my fuse box is my issue, I have a nice burnt out line on my circuit board.
Now I'm not certain that it isn't my fault, but I can only assume that due to the window setup, that it was an issue prior to my ownership.
So a fuse box swap is on the cards in the future.

Exhaust got welded up, so have been driving it since, lots more power than the M20B20 that was in there before, and faster still than my old 325i
Have noticed that when downshifting from high rpm, I shoot out a lot of smoke, so suspect the CCV needs replacing, as when I've taken the intake manifold off, there has been a lot of oil around the inlets on the engine.

Wiring has been tidied up, and I re-pinned the M52 engine look into the C101 connector, so it's looking very tidy in there.

Now for some engine bay shots

So she went in for a cert a couple of weeks back, and failed on a couple of things
-No accelerator stop (I removed this when taking out the carpet)
-Driveshaft hoop brackets not rounded off (to prevent just cutting through the floor)
-No nylock nuts, or alternatively spring washers on the driveshaft hoop brackets
-Improve brakes

Also, during the testing phase, my heater core burst... But that's not a requirement for cert/wof, so that has been bypassed for now.

Now the improve brakes is an interesting one, for the braking test, you need to stop several times from 100-0 with no significant increase in brake fade.
I was getting the first 2 stops without much fade, then on the 3rd and 4th was experiencing fade.

I've checked out my brakes, the front disks had some nice grooves on them, and some Fargo pads.
So I've ordered some new front rotors, and Hawk HPS pads for all round (probably overkill), so just waiting on those to show up so I can fit them, test and take in for a recheck.
Fluid had been bleed 2 weeks prior to the testing, so don't think that was the issue.

Now have a bunch of things to sort out once I've finally passed the cert process
-Replace radiator temp sensor with 80/88C one (starts to heat up sitting in traffic)
-Fix heater core
-Replace radiator (have spotted a pinhole leak)
-New o2 sensor (scan reveals heating on one of the probes is broken)
-Replace CCV
-Swap fuse box

Hopefully the pads show within the couple of weeks so I can get the cert all sorted before the E30 meet in October.

I'm pretty sure I've got a factory box that will be binned shortly, it's off a 320i, so the only difference would be the afm if that's of any use. 

Having done this recently, I just cut the auto loom out, and didn't touch the brwn/blk wire you're talking about.

I had issues with mine cranking but not starting, and it turned out to be the crank sensor, even though the engine was working fine in the donor car before I pulled it out.
If you've got a scanner, run a scan on it.

Excellent, cheers John.

Hey John, I'm also keen to find out where you got that hoop from.

Just need to get one for my E30 so I can get mine certed.

Havent had any issues using the e36 radiator and m20 tank on my swap. Just have to cut the hose coming out of the expansion tank to suit. My issue currently is trying to get the E36 airbox go fit around it haha.

Good progress, interesting seeing how it's all going, as I have to do all of this to my touring also.

So the headlining wasn't too much of a hassle? Looking at mine, and it will need to be done soonish.

Are you sure the shift lever isnt back to front? IIRC they can be installed around the wrong way and it pushes the shift position off to the side.

I did try it in the reverse position, and it is straight, but points all the way to the rear of the car, so probably need a longer rod.

My M coupe shifter does the same thing (tilt). Supposedly a fault with some of the pins that hold the shifter and is fairly common - I like it personally as the shifter is closer, also doesn't seem to have any negative effect whatsoever, the shifter in my car is the tightest one with I've ever felt, also has a ridiculously short throw.

But like Rubix, I don't think I'll mind too much, since it points closer.

Sadly still have a lot of slop in the shifter, most which seems to all be coming from the gearbox pin itself, as the play in the bushing themselves is minimal, but the overall play is massive.

Currently waiting for a friend to weld up my exhaust so I can go for a drive that's more than just up and down the street.

So I spent the weekend wrestling with my wiring, making that all tidy.

While I was at it, I decided to track down why my electric windows wouldn't work with the doors open, and the key off.

All my fuses were fine, and had good power. Ended up going through and cutting out my immobilizer, just to be sure that wasn't the issue.

But no, it turned out that someone had plugged the power input for the blue relay under the glovebox into pin S of the accessory connector, so the window switches only got power with the key in the ignition.

I swapped it into pin Z, and everything worked as expected.

Finally have that feature I'll use twice a year working.