nick496

At the same time as doing the heater core, I thought I might as well do an electric sunroof conversion.
I ended up cocking this up quite substantially. I drilled through the holes in not quite the right places, so the motor would only be held in with 2 bolts. 
I'll be doing this properly later on, but for now you can review my cock ups.

So you need the electric motor mount. These are riveted into the copper bracket that houses the wires.
I just drilled out the rivet heads.
Electric on left, manual on right.

I found pretty quickly that the electric motor needs a bit more space, so cut a section out of the copper to match. 

Now in theory, you are supposed to be able to just bolt the black mount back onto the copper plate, and then just screw in the motor.
For whatever reason, this didn't quite work for me.
But I thought I had done rather well considering I had the front of the touring headlining hanging down so far during all the work.
Ended up just dropping the headlining and removing it.

It now lives on my back wall

I continued to struggle with this. Ended up rounding out the electric motor gears as I didn't disengage them properly when manually winding it to test the sunroof opened and closed.

This is the unit mostly apart

And of course some classic sunroof rust.


After this I just left the sunroof in place, and there is nothing connected to move it currently.
Will come back to this hopefully later this year.

Since I had the car back together, there was no better time to take it apart pretty much the following weekend.

I figured coming into winter (2017), I should probably have a heater again.
I pulled the dash, and swapped the HVAC system for an AC one in preparation for an AC retrofit, and replaced the heater core with a new unit.
I had a PFL and a FL AC HVAC cores. The PFL had a different connector loom, but I was able to use it for spares.

Old system looking pretty grotty

Took everything apart and gave it a clean

Found a few of the flaps had had their tabs broken off. Apparently this is rather common. But fortunately I had some spares

Used some draft stopper stuff to replace the old foam. This has actually held up very poorly, so if anyone has some recommendations that would be awesome.

Looking nice and clean

And back in the car with a new seal

Gosh, it's been 2 years since I last updated this, so there will be a few updates coming in.

Since no one ever chimed in to my previous post, I ended up doing a lot of my own guesswork and have made some assumptions since, which will come through in updates over the rest of the year.

I finished swapping in the 2nd engine, and vanos was definitely not kicking in properly, as I felt I had lost low down torque, and when holding the accelerator steady, I could feel the car surging just while cruising at 50km/h

To celebrate the car being back together, I put some weaves on and took some photos.

No, mine popped in directly into my chassis, and the rad sat nicely.
Maybe I don't have an E36 radiator (It's been a while).

Hopefully the car will be in a more assembled state by the end of next weekend and I can get some photos.

I can confirm a second one of those is what you're after for an e36 radiator. I've done that in mine. 

After an E36 M3 in Christchurch to test fit some wheels over the E36 M3 brakes. (Or if you have an E30 with the brakes even better)
Wheels in question: https://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=2028330607

Looking to go 5 stud on my touring in the near future, and given I currently have ACS wheels, these tickled my fancy.
Information on the net is a bit iffy on 16in wheels over E36 M3 brakes, some wheels do fit, but others don't. So looking to test fit before purchasing and getting them up here.

I've had a chat to Paul, and as per the comments on TM he's on here to, so hopefully can sort some bimmersport magic and I'll pay for a box of beers to share

Most similar cars are listing around the $18-20k mark. (And is around what I'm insuring my touring for) 

I'd wager they'd be selling around the $12-15k. 

What wheels are you certed for? 

I'd say hit up your certified and ask. 

Or you could email lvvta directly, which I have done in the past also. 

I'd suggest a Mazda 323 like this 

https://www.trademe.co.nz/1906062000

Nice and zippy in a 2l manual. Plenty enough fun to drive around, and still practical. 

Doesn't quite meet the cool criteria. But that one I've linked is yellow, which adds some points for being different. 

Is this out of a pre or face-lift? 

Was it working prior to removal? 

What conditions are the lines in? 

On 11/18/2018 at 11:29 PM, zero said:

 

Heres an update on this car at Manukau Zebra;

 

Seeing this in person was hilarious.

And another update.

Looks like someone was keen on the $100

I left mine to gravity bleed for 30 minutes into a tray. Then finished it off with a 2 person bleed. This was after replacing master, slave, line. 

I believe the mysterious third line is a breather line that runs from the tank, through the line, to a charcoal canister, into the intake. 

9 hours ago, Driftit said:

Oh god.  It is very basic.  Be very very sure it works.  Mine wouldn't turn off a couple of times.

Thanks for the heads up.

I'm also after a kit in case there is an abundance of them.

I already have enough on my hands... But does it still start with a push? 

Do you know when the clutch was replaced? 

From memory Ray sold his tastefully modified one recently for around 18k (I'm sure someone else has a better memory) which was stroked. That was on there for only a few days. 

If they're not sold within a week. I'll be in touch. 

16 minutes ago, Kepes said:

E30 - I've got a new sunroof seal. Being a pre-facelift it comes from the factory with a 2 piece seal. I'm replacing it with the 1 piece seal from the facelift.  Where should the 2 ends of the seal meet? Is there a spot that's better than others? Or if anyone with a facelift could please tell me where they join from the factory, I would really appreciate it.

Thanks :~)

I'm not sure if it's the correct spot, but I had mine meet in the middle at the rear. 

6 hours ago, gjm said:

1990 E30 318i - rear disc or drum brakes? (Or could they have either...?)
Car is about 120km away so I can't pop out and have a look, and RealOEM doesn't suggest one way or the other.

I believe either is possible.

My old 318i was a 1990 and had rear disk brakes though. 

Surely it's not a hard question to ask? 

52 minutes ago, Palazzo said:

Does anyone know the correct oil filter internal diameter for an M52B28? I got two suggested, one is a 27 (or 28mm) and the other 40 (or 43, can't remember now).

 

'96 E36.

It will depend on if you have a plastic cap or metal cap on your oil filter housing.

I'm not 100%, but I think the plastic housing is the larger internal diameter. 

I take it you're wanting to sell complete as opposed to parting? 

Right, so I ended up getting around to comparing these with e30 15in basketweaves.
In short they don't fit.

E30 waffle in Black. E34 waffle in silver.
E30 waffle on E34 rim, larger than the hole

E34 waffle on E30 rim, center bore of E34 waffle larger, and won't press in.

See differences here:
E30 on Left with twist to lock, E34 on Right with just a push in

See difference in centre widths here

10 minutes ago, adz said:

Did you just make a plate and bolt that down with some gasket seal?

Yep that's the one.

The oil level sensor I blanked off as my sump didn't come with one either. Ended up just grounding out the wire with a resistor to stop the oil level light on the check panel. 

$95 each new is pretty good. I think I spent not too much less than that getting second hand ones off ebay in the UK, shipping them over here, and getting new stickers for them.
I was pretty new to the game at that point, and should have checked with the dealer.

I'd say rep centers wouldn't work, as most of them don't do the whole locking thing, and tend to have a hex screw to attach it to the wheel so it doesn't fall off.