S50b30us - call the ooling questions

[lbreevesii]

The one part of the swap that I am either totally missing, or that isn't fully discussed is that of dealing with all the random cooling hoses.

What is the best way to simplify the system, what is the easiest and cleanest overflow setup to use?

Any tips on e-fans?

note: car is a 91' 318is.

realized i accidentally the thread title- Fail.

[jrdeamicis]

Simplify the system?

Delete the throttle body heater. Re-route the spider hose small hose to the cylinder head. (A bad idea, under high humidity cooler weather [50's,60's] you can develop frost on the throttle plate.)

Use an M42 radiator (which I think is silly, too small)

EFans? Keep your stock thermoswitch (or run a low temp thermo switch) and tie the efan you add to the control from the stock e-fan.

[butters]

if you haven't thought much about cooling and it's an M42 car, you're in luck. I'd say it's the easiest car to swap, you also have the plastic harness covers and the DME mount.

use your factory radiator (assuming it's in good shape), which is simple to bleed and eliminates the issue of an overflow setup, giving you a cleaner bay. run off-the-shelf hoses that you may need to get creative with from the radiator to the engine. use the e36 spider hose and honestly it's easier to just hook up the TB heater because it's how the car was designed. everything installs quite nicely with the S50us.

people debate about the "capacity" of the M42 radiator to cool the 3-liter S50, but it's worth trying. I've had zero issues, rarely need the 16" spal puller that's on it, needle sits left of center always, reliably.

[lbreevesii]

Thanks for the input, I suppose i'll keep my M42 rad for the time being.

Since this car only gets driven in the summer and i'm in the south east, Ive got no need for the extra crap of the tb heater.