While You're In There... CA BAR Certified S52 OBD2 Swap

[2mAn]

I might have an extra OBD2 valve cover I can give you. My headache of a 24v swap should be driveable in the next few weeks and I'll be driving it down from Seattle. I will be stopping in the Bay Area since my parents live in San Jose. I can cruise by at that time if you still need it. Funny how these things blow up in your face... Also as far as the BAR goes, talk to KoKoSeVen, he's fairly local to you and got his swap legitimate, I plan to do the same. I converted to OBD1 though so I should have a slightly easier time than you. We'll see. props for making it a legal swap

[arch4ngel]

Sent you a pm 2man.
Glad to hear your car is finally running!
I was very close to following the same path and re-assembling my bottom end. Very very glad I didn't after reading through your experience.

I just looked through kokose7en's build thread, i wish I had that attention to detail!
I'll probably hit him up when I'm closer to completion for some bar tips.

MyE30, thanks. I feel like I'm missing more than half of what I've done, trying to fill in the cracks as I go. I'd love to see how your s52 rebuild ends up, been awesome watching it so far.

[dadooish]

Nice to see the progress. I bought your engine from the e30 and barely got around to installing it in my car. Runs very well and exhaust sounds good.

Best of luck on your install.

[arch4ngel]

Nice to see the progress. I bought your engine from the e30 and barely got around to installing it in my car. Runs very well and exhaust sounds good.

Best of luck on your install.

Glad to hear you got your car all situated!
The motor was going in a race car right?

[arch4ngel]

Made some decent progress over the last couple of weekends.

Got my e32 brake booster painted and installed.
Decided to install with the spacer and use a remote reservoir instead of screwing with shortening the push rod and all that other fun stuff.
Also pictured is the new e32 master with 2002 master grommets and nipples.
Not purchased yet is the e36 brake booster check valve. It's situated right on the booster so no need for extra length of hose, hose clamps etc.


Next tackled my leaky steering rack.
Rack is from rack doctor, nicely painted and fresh.
This was a much bigger pain in the ass with the motor installed, though it went in without too much trouble.


Lastly did a bit of wiring and clean up to wrap things up.
Nothing too exciting but I did start fitting the harness cover so I now know exactly where to wire my c101 and how to route everything.

Here's how she sits now.



Coming up next:
Power steering pump clean/rebuild/install.
Install all hoses under the intake.
Intake manifold.
C101 wiring, wire routing, podi.ca gauge install.
Start planning out emissions equipment installation.

[amcink]

Had the shop weld up the ccv tube to my e34 dipstick tube.



You only do this for OBDii correct? Since I have an OBDi and have not done it

[arch4ngel]

Yup, for obd2 only.
It connects to the ccv system.
Obd1 cars have a nipple on the intake boot iirc.

[arch4ngel]

Between a wedding, work and parting out the 535i I've had very little time for the e30.

Here's some of the meager progress I've made over the last month or so.

Rebuilt power steering pump and attached all lines.
Used e30 low pressure and e36 high pressure lines.
The high pressure line fits a bit weird but it should be fine.
I may get a new line custom made at some point.


Did some wiring work, including the e30 coolant temp sensor.
Just used one of the two unused wires from the obd2 combined temp sensor.
Started planning out where to put my diagnostic connector, decided it will most likely be run to the drivers side of the engine bay in the round port on the side of the m3 harness cover. Should be much cleaner then running it on the shock tower.
Also started routing the bundle of emissions wiring that needs to be run to the back of the car (ftps and carbon canister) along with the 16 pin obd2 connector and ews components.
Didn't get to finishing up the x20->c101 harness, waiting on some parts that should be here next week.


Test fitted the intake manifold to see what modifications might be needed.


Believe it or not the fins aren't touching the booster here.
There is less than 1mm clearance between the fin sides and the booster lip.
I'll be shaving them anyway to be on the safe side.


Last but not least picked these bad boys up for cheap.
Recaro lx-s in monza blue.
Never seen them with an armrest before, hoping it will fit nicely without blocking my elbow.
It will be a nice addition during trips.

I really want to keep them but I can't figure out how to make them work with my interior and the blue monza cloth has long been NLA.
The fabric is in great condition and would be a shame to recover them. We'll see.



Dirty dirty armrest.

[arch4ngel]

Haven't had much time for the car lately but I have a few updates to share.

Finished up c101 -> x20 wiring.


Wired up my oil level sensor.


Installed a new parallel flow condenser and mishimoto e36 radiator.


Then installed and wired up a new 2048 spal fan with brackets modified similar to bimmertecks setup. Wiring not hooked up in this pic.


Found this little gem while removing my gauge cluster. The foglights in this car were wired strangely when I got it and I disconnected them early on. Never realized how bad the wiring was fubared until I saw the back of the headlight plug.

I tested the harness c103 harness plug (where this harness ultimately leads) and found continuity between several pins. I'm going to have to remove the interior to get any further with this so I"m holding off till everything else in the project is more or less done.

Also wrapped up some loose ends and performed various other tasks.
- Installed dme brackets, dme and hooked up to harness.
- Ordered and started installing new ac components including condenser, compressor, evaporator, hoses (oe and zionsville orca hoses), orings and drier.
- Wired up the podi.ca gauages.
- Installed water hoses below the intake manifold.
- Put the dipstick into place, still needs a bracket to hold it steady.

[arch4ngel]

Made good progress this month.

Finished up the remaining engine bay wiring.
Figured out how to take apart the aux fuse box and added a couple circuits for the carbon canister and diagnostic port.
Extended brake fluid sensor and cleaned up a bunch of loose ends.

Made brackets for the dipstick and brake fluid reservoir out of a spare spal bracket.

Replaced most of the ac system, just waiting for a few parts to wrap everything up.
Evaporator condenser and most lines are installed.
Compressor and drier will be installed this weekend.

Intake manifold was prepped and installed.
It received all new gaskets and hoses, a cleaned out icv and rebuilt injectors.
Despite my early attempts at measurement I ended up having to shim the motor mounts for everything to fit.
Three s52 head washers did the trick.
I shimmed the passenger side as well to make the engine more or less horizontal.

I found a local shop that can make me some an-10 hoses for the oil cooler.
I left them my high pressure power steering line and both interior ac hoses for rebuilding as well.

Next up I'll be wrapping up the ac system and engine bay then adding fluids.
Diff seals then driveshaft are up after that.
Then carbon canister, fuel tank pressure sensor, fuel pump and fuel pressure losses valve.
Finally the task I've been procrastinating on for months, the dreaded interior wiring project before a trip to the exhaust shop.


Have some pics.

I figured out how to disassemble the aux fuse box.
This will supply fused power to the carbon canister and diagnostic connector.
I may move the obd2 connector here to clean up the battery terminal wiring.


Intake manifold, ready for installation.


Zionsville compressor lines and new oem evap/condensor lines.


New and old evaporator.


Fan to valance clearance.


Grinding down the engine mount bolts. They were long enough to touch the bottom of the subframe.


Current engine bay status.

[D-rock]

Awesome!!! looks very clean!

[george graves]

Looking great! BTW - that fan is HUGE!!!!!

[2mAn]

how hard was the vanos rebuild? I wish I had done it while I had everything apart. Now its rattling...

Getting close though! I think you can use the E30 charcoal canister instead of the E36

[arch4ngel]

Looking great! BTW - that fan is HUGE!!!!!

Go big or go home!
I nearly bought their bigger badder 30102113 fan but after buttoning everything up I don't think there's any way it would fit.
It's a half inch taller and almost a quarter inch deeper!

Here's another pic of the tight clearance.

[arch4ngel]

how hard was the vanos rebuild? I wish I had done it while I had everything apart. Now its rattling...

Getting close though! I think you can use the E30 charcoal canister instead of the E36

I don't think I can pass bar without an obd2 carbon canister.
Even I could pass it wouldn't work with the rest of the evap system which requires an operational shut off valve at the can.

The vanos rebuild was cake.
The rebuild itself can easily be done within an hour if the bearings don't need to be ground down.
Just make sure to buy the vinyl vice pads and the socket, both are needed for the job.