E30 Racecar Engine Swap.. with a difference..

[E30 325i Rag-Top 2956]

Finally!! All the bulk-head wiring is now sorted.

Previously mounted up the extra-relays needed for the S14, but then needed to move them into the correct position to make room for the battery terminal from the battery-to-boot conversion. I had put them in a slightly different position as there was an extra bolt welded to the bulkhead for clamping down the battery - this had to be removed which was a PITA.

Hole drilled, cut and filed for the battery-cable grommet and the new terminal mount, clamp and cover mounted up onto the bulk-head in a position where all the cables can reach!

Oh, yeah and a coat of paint to make it look nice to keep Hotwire happy!! Now I can finish off mounting up the header-tank which needs a couple of fixing brackets knocking up, then I can fill up the coolant at last.

[E30 325i Rag-Top 2956]

Once the wiring was all tidied up and out of the way, including the battery to boot conversion, I was able to put the header tank in where it is supposed to go.

Needed a couple of brackets made up to fix it to the bulkhead, which came out reasonably good. Not perfect, but can be removed for when I, hopefully, one day take the S14 out to put into an M3 shell and put the M20 back in to make this an E30 Series car again!

Filled the system up with liquid and checked for leaks, couple of small ones from the ends of hoses (I don't do them up too tight as this can distort the ends) and also noticed a real small drip from the radiator drain plug. Got the screwdriver to give the drain plug a minor tweak annnnd - ping snapped off the top! New one ordered (luckily a standard part) and arrived within a few days.

Edited April 15, 2014 by E30 325i Rag-Top

[E30 325i Rag-Top 2956]

Progress has been a bit slow recently due a lack of any spare cash, but I have just sold a few parts and got some cash for my birthday, so the next two few jobs will hopefully ticked off pretty soon:

1) Valve adjustment - valves were re-ground during the build so need to check the clearances are still in tolerance, if not, the shims will need to be changed.

2) get the E46 end of the hybrid propshaft lengthened to the correct size.

3) get the headers modified and the exhaust fabricated. Still can't decide whether to modify the rarer 50/50 headers I have got, or find a cheap set of "standard" headers for now (saving the 50/50 for when the engine goes back to LHD later on).

Then it will be time to turn the key...

Edited April 15, 2014 by E30 325i Rag-Top

[E30 325i Rag-Top 2956]

Updates from the last jobs list.

1) Valve adjustment - whipped off the valve cover and had a measure up of the clearances between the cam lobes and the shims to see what was needed. Of the 16 valves, 7 of them were out of tolerance, which was to be expected after the head had been skimmed and the valves ground and re-seated into the head.

I managed to swap a few shims around for the different valves and managed to get the list down to only 4 that I needed to replace, so got those ordered through BMW NZ.

Pic below to give you and idea of how much of a PITA this job can be, luckily I managed to get hold of the proper tool for depressing the valves and had a magnetic pick-up that worked well for pulling out the shims.

[westy 614]

Orsum. Ummm, keep doing what you're doing.

[rarerimresource 6]

Love it. Always wanted to do this swap to a 318iS.

[E30 325i Rag-Top 2956]

Thanks guys.

Number 2 on the list is now sorted. Made up a combination of E30 320i Manual back half with a lengthened E46 318i front half for the drive-shaft. The E46 had the right sized flange on it to fit the output from the 265/5 box, had the centre hanger on the same side of the joint as the E30 and the splines matched between the two halves. Only problem was it came up short, but got the Driveline guys in Penrose to put a new section in to lengthen it.

The fact that you can mix-and-match parts from different series models like that, and not just on driveshafts, is one of the things I do really like about working on the older BMWs. Good old German Engineers "zis is the size we haf alvays used, so that is the size we haf on ze new one!"

I even managed to get my measurements SPOT ON! Fitted straight in, and the centre hanger was smack in the middle of the slot as planned. I measured, and re-measured a dozen times but I still wasn't confident due to being upside down under the car with a tape measure trying to hold it straight across quite a distance in three dimensions. So was very chuffed when that worked, as it would have cost a bit if I'd got it wrong.

Starting to get excited now, getting so close to running. So, in typical Jon The Pom style I have now started buying bits for Stage 2, even though stage 1 isn't finished!

Edited June 13, 2014 by E30 325i Rag-Top
Photo added, for no real reason..

[E30 325i Rag-Top 2956]

After putting the exhaust gaskets in, and adding a few more nuts onto the studs I felt it was time to take the plunge and turn the key to see what would happen.

I tried plugging things in gradually (hook battery up - all good, unplug battery, plug in C101 engine loom, reconnect battery, etc..) to make sure I hadn't screwed all the wiring and nothing fried, all went well - no big sparks and no melting wires. So that was all good.

Turned the key all the way round to "start" and got a whirring from the starter motor but the engine not turning over. Bugger. As you can see from the photo I can't even get close enough to the starter motor to give it or the solenoid a gentle tickle with the hammer. Need to pull off the inlet manifold and AFM, etc. to see what's going on in there.. Double bugger!

Edited June 15, 2014 by E30 325i Rag-Top

[E30 325i Rag-Top 2956]

Pulling the starter motor out must have freed off what ever was stuck. Once it was out I hooked the connections up to the battery using jump leads and she was popping in and out like a good-'un. Stuck it back in and tried turning over and it was all good. Pipes and AFM back on and time to try firing up again..

Turning over great - but oil pressure light not going out, so didn't want to put the plugs in a try to run it without being 100% sure the oil had come through. Double checked my wiring diagrams and pin connections and was 99% the dash oil pressure warning is connected up to the engine correctly. Tried turning over the engine again, and just left it spinning for slightly longer and da-dah! the light went out - phew relief.

Next step (don't want to rush this and screw the motor) plugs in and turn over again - got compression as the turn over is slower and there are pulses of air coming out of the exhaust manifold, you can tell this when there are only headers on and no centre section!

No leaks, or funny noises spotted so far. Time for the big moment, connect up the plugs and turn the key..

And, nothing! Bugger. Time to check spark and fuel, my first guess is fuel as I can't hear the fuel pump priming or the relay buzzing - will have a poke around the relays with the old volt meter and see what is happening.

[2052NV 43]

No matter how many engine ive fitted / rebuilt that worrying feeling never goes away!! haha

[E30 325i Rag-Top 2956]

I have rushed a couple in the past and made a silly mistake which has cost a lot more time and effort to fix in the long run. Lesson learned, plus this is "my baby" and a special engine which I can't just throw away and start again.

Tracked down the electrical issue to a break in the engine loom, not powering up those bloody bulkhead relays!! Pulling the loom apart now, fun!!

[E30 325i Rag-Top 2956]

I have rushed a couple in the past and made a silly mistake which has cost a lot more time and effort to fix in the long run. Lesson learned, plus this is "my baby" and a special engine which I can't just throw away and start again.

Tracked down the electrical issue to a break in the engine loom, not powering up those bloody bulkhead relays!! Pulling the loom apart now, fun!!

[2052NV 43]

oh nice that you found it quickly! those faults can make you go mental.

When i put the twin cam in my 205 i had a problem with it not starting and it took me a month (very sporadic attempts) to figure out the crank angle sensor and the tps plugs were the same and plugged in the wrong way round hahaha i was doing individual wire pin out and colour checking..... yawwwwn

[E30 325i Rag-Top 2956]

I was quite chuffed with my efforts, luckily I guessed right and found the relay issue straight away, didn't even have to phone Hotwire this time!!. Still trying to find where the problem is though, according to the wiring diagram there is a splice on the wire somewhere between the C101 connector and the relays, but I haven't managed to find it yet and I have unravelled a lot of that stick cloth covering stuff - ugh!

Was your 205 a Peugeot, putting the Mi-16 motor in it? if so there's a few more wires on those than an E30 so I can see your problem. Not a swap I did myself, but a mate had a 205 with the Mi-16 in it, mental car, and then another guy had a 205 with the Turbo Technics kit - that was another world of silliness.

[E30 325i Rag-Top 2956]

Jerry-rigged up another feed to the relay to triple-check I am in the right area, and everything powered up as expected and I got fuel and a spark.

Cranking over with the temporary feed still hooked up got it going "pop-pop-pop" so it is trying to start. Sounds very much like it's only firing on one cylinder though??

[hotwire 352]

Ign Timing correct?

[BM WORLD 1283]

also did you replace the big ar$e m10 starter motor with a newer, smaller ,faster e34 535i e32 735i type

[E30 325i Rag-Top 2956]

The dizzy runs off the end of the exhaust camshaft- so pretty sure that would be set right.

I was thinking more sticking injectors, they were cleaned before going back in, so after sitting for a while and dry possibly stuck.

Whipped the injector rail off, put some cloth under the injectors and cranked it. Sure enough only one damp patch, three stuck injectors.

[harvgray 12]

Way to go Jon. Sounds like you are having a lot of fun!! Give the stuck injectors a tap as you are cranking the motor (can take some hitting to free them). If that doesn't work go and have a beer!

Edited June 29, 2014 by harvgray

[ashmill 68]

What Harv said! I did exactly that with mine Jon - it worked so I had a beer anyway -

[E30 325i Rag-Top 2956]

Maybe that's where I'm going wrong.. not drinking enough beers during this project?

Before I whipped the fuel rail off I tried to give them a tickle up with the hammer, but with all the extra pipes and stuff on an S14 there's not enough room to swing a mouse in there let alone a hammer! The old M20 was a lot easier and simpler from that point of view.

Easy enough to give them a squirt of WD40 and a wiggle when you've got the fuel rail off (which is no major), I did notice one of the vacuum hoses under the rail was well past it's best so I will have to replace that while I'm there as well.

Brent, when I took the starter out it was the smaller type I have on the M20, not the big ass M10 type one. Not sure if that is the same as the E34 one you mentioned, but I did find out the ring-gear is different from an M20 to an S14 when I tried to fit that one in there :banghead:

[yng_750 247]

So is stuck injectors common place with an engine that has been storesld for a while?.

Not saying giving them a tap will hurt them but wouldnt you be better off replacing them seeing as losing an injector mid race can ruin a whole weekends racing? Or will they be good once abit of fuel has flowed?

[hotwire 352]

Jon, If you manage to get them freed up to flow again by the "gentle persuasion" then I would still get them properly serviced - leak/ flow/ pattern tested & a soak in the ultra sonic bath.

Having one not squirting correctly runs a risk of a lean mixture - not something you want in that engine under duress

[E30 325i Rag-Top 2956]

Yeah, I know what you mean, certainly not something you would want to risk. Injectors sticking on an engine that's been sat for a while, particularly without any fuel in the rail, is pretty common. The injector is held in the shut position, so it is sitting in place for a long time.

The guy that sold me the engine did a full clean and adjustment on the injectors just before he shipped me the motor, and I think that added to the problem, they would have been squeaky clean when they went back in, and never had any fuel run through them.

Seem to be all good now and squirting nicely! Fired up first time once I put the rail back on and cranked her over, sh!t its loud with just the headers on, even at idle.

[_BRS_ 209]

Awesome that you got it going! Any vids?