85 525e First car

[_ethrty-Andy_ 2132]

Technically should have a cert for the manual conversion anyway...

No cert required if using all unmodified BMW parts, this has been discussed umpteen times on here

[WYZEUP 283]

swap the whole lot from the e34 and get that running, if your going to do it you may as well just muck around with it once

[eliongater 718]

Bit of an update.

Sticking with the m20 (for now...). Have got the gearbox mounted to the engine, I just need the rubber guibo/flexdisc to suit my gearbox and driveshaft and a better shift linkage.

Picked up some goodies from Brent at BM World. Coarse spline mtech 1 wheel, headlight chrome trim and a large case diff (that I can swap the e34 LSD into).

Before

After

Before

After. It's now the shiniest thing on my car

And the diffs. From the left, e34 535i large case LSD, e24 large case, e28 medium case

Edited December 8, 2015 by eliongater

[eliongater 718]

So I got it all assembled today to test that everything is all good before sorting the shift linkage.

But I've got a bit of a problem it's not running properly (either lean or rich, haven't figured it out yet, too dark now). The exhaust manifold is getting red hot very soon after a cold start and there is no power of any kind, WOT does almost nothing (after about a minuter sitting at WOT it starts to rev) and is almost required to keep the car running.

Apart from this is sounds like it is running fine, bearing in mind I've never heard an m20 in person before.

The timing belt was changed by the PO when they started the manual conversion so it has never been run with this belt/timing before.

Any ideas?

EDIT: Forgot to mention that it "idles" at about 1k rpm at WOT and after about a minute will slowly get to about 1.5k rpm and then rev normally to 2k+ rpm. I didn't want to go over 2k much because it was cold (first start in many months lol) and in neutral

EDIT 2: It also constantly shot flames with the exhaust off...

EDIT 3: Would the bellhousing sensors and the flywheel have any bearing on it?

Edited December 13, 2015 by eliongater

[eliongater 718]

This seems familiar, but without the driving part.

http://bimmersport.co.nz/topic/50268-glowing-red-exhaust-manifold-e30-no-power/

EDIT: The distributor has also been off in the past

Edited December 13, 2015 by eliongater

[eliongater 718]

Started taking out the plugs. According to my Haynes manual the engine is over fuelling based on the plugs

[eliongater 718]

Drove it halfway up the drive after much (at least an hour) fiddling about. Has a serious lack of power (stalled at WOT going up a slight hill in first lol), however it is a bit intermittent. I'm going to test a bunch of sensors tomorrow.

[kulgan 1042]

With the glowing exhaust and the way it's running I wonder if the timings out.

Might pay to put a timing light on it and make sure the PO got it right when they changed the belt.

[BM WORLD 1283]

did you put the flywheel on the correct way , timing trigger etc ??

[eliongater 718]

Ok, attempted to check the timing and it appears to be off (and the more I think about it the more reasonable it sounds). I think the problem is that the flywheel has had the reference pin welded on, so it could easily be in the wrong place. If anyone has a motronic 1.0 flywheel in Wellington I can compare with that would be great, I just have to get it off first (I might check the timing belt first).

I would do more research but r3v is down for maintenance

Edited December 15, 2015 by eliongater

[BM WORLD 1283]

Ok, attempted to check the timing and it appears to be off (and the more I think about it the more reasonable it sounds). I think the problem is that the flywheel has had the reference pin welded on, so it could easily be in the wrong place. If anyone has a motronic 1.0 flywheel in Wellington I can compare with that would be great, I just have to get it off first (I might check the timing belt first).

I would do more research but r3v is down for maintenance

a mate of mine had the same issue once

reference lug put on 180deg out , would sort of start etc but not run very well

[eliongater 718]

a mate of mine had the same issue once

reference lug put on 180deg out , would sort of start etc but not run very well

Found a course of action (now that r3v isn't down lol)

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=359355

[eliongater 718]

Found a course of action (now that r3v isn't down lol)

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=359355

After following the advice in the thread above I rotated the engine till the reference pin was visible through the sensor hole in the bellhousing, and the white mark indicating the cranks position was underneath the fan pulley. Time to get the flywheel rewelded or find a replacement.

[eliongater 718]

Have been trying to decide what to do about the timing issue. Flywheel fix or upgrade electrics. I'm pretty sure I'm going to go the electrics route as I end up with a better system and more gearbox and flywheel choice that way. I've recently started looking at using the m50 electrics as I'm able to source them cheaper than the m20 gear.

In-between thinking about the engine I've started giving the stereo some thought ( see here http://bimmersport.co.nz/topic/54883-e28-stereo-advice/ ), diagnosed the non starting issue as a faulty ignition switch ( yay ), messed around with different wheels (style 32s, 16" t-star replicas, will do basket weaves and my 18s soon), swapped the steering wheel to an early coarse spline m tech 1, test fitted an e34 leather seat (looks good and is comfy, but my family and neighbours don't like it cause it's not original ), I also did some more cutting and polishing (it's going to need a lot more ) and messed around with the e34.

I've yet to start looking at swapping my LSD into the e28 case.

This has turned into way more of a project than I thought it would be when I brought it

[kulgan 1042]

This has turned into way more of a project than I thought it would be when I brought it

lol. Always the way with projects. One thing leads to another and then another and the list of things to do seems to keep growing..

Keep on with it. And post up some more pics when you progress.

Edited January 6, 2016 by kulgan

[eliongater 718]

Bought a dead m50 off Andy. Finished de looming it today.

The crank timing wheel off the m50 had the wrong belt pattern, so I've sorted one off an m20 and a crank position sensor bracket as well.

I can reuse the existing HT leads for coil near plug as they plug straight onto the coils.

I've also been messing around with the interior a bit, so it's a mess (testing different seats and doing wiring).

And a picture of the car, because I haven't really posted many of them

[eliongater 718]

Removed the engine loom from the car.

Test fitted COP.

Started removing the fuel rail, but I haven't figured out how to get the injectors out yet (Pull really hard?), I have removed the cables and clips.

[eliongater 718]

Changed the injectors to the m50 ones. Beat my hands up on the plenum in the process.

Picked up the crank wheel and crank position sensor (and bracket). Also got a new thermostat housing thanks to Stephen (Skidz). I've now got all of the parts to start assembling properly and get on to testing. Unfortunately I'm busy until thursday so I'll have to wait until then before really getting stuck in

[eliongater 718]

I've realised I haven't quite made it clear what I'm actually doing lol. Instead of fixing the flywheel like a normal person I decided to upgrade the motronic version. This quickly turned into go big or go home and I ended up buying a motronic 3.1 (m50 non vanos) loom and ECU/DME for the same price as a motronic 1.1/1.3 loom. This gives me a MAF instead of an AFM, sequential fuel injection, COP and a much better system overall. Just a bit harder to install.

[M M 250]

That's quite an interesting thing you are doing. What are you going to do about the tune? Surely the m50 DME won't run the M20 correctly, or am I missing something?.

[eliongater 718]

That's quite an interesting thing you are doing. What are you going to do about the tune? Surely the m50 DME won't run the M20 correctly, or am I missing something?.

Supposedly it will run without a remap (but that is on a b25), but I think they had better results with an O2 sensor plugged in (my exhaust doesn't have one yet).

It will most likely need a remap though, but the base m50 tune will be good enough for testing.

I read through this entire thread:

http://e30tech.com/forum/showthread.php?t=63504

Edited February 8, 2016 by eliongater

[BM WORLD 1283]

Supposedly it will run without a remap (but that is on a b25), but I think they had better results with an O2 sensor plugged in (my exhaust doesn't have one yet).

It will most likely need a remap though, but the base m50 tune will be good enough for testing.

I read through this entire thread:

you fitting the knock sensors too??

timing will be a way off too ,

[eliongater 718]

you fitting the knock sensors too??

timing will be a way off too ,

m50nv so no knock sensors and it uses the same timing wheel as the m20

[BM WORLD 1283]

m50nv so no knock sensors and it uses the same timing wheel as the m20

yes but doesn't match the style of engine , different piston speed etc

[eliongater 718]

yes but doesn't match the style of engine , different piston speed etc

You're right, I forgot about the displacement difference. I plan on putting a 731 head with 325i cam on in the near future so I would need a retune then anyway.