New to me car with M50 Swap

[89_325i]

I've decided to move this to the project forum. I'll post in here if I have some M50 questions.

[89_325i]

Anyone got a part number for this guy? I broke a couple where the wiring goes under the rear seat and I've scoured the internet and come up short.



Any Binky fans? Got my BOM mug and little garage kettle so tea is on offer in the shop now.

[89_325i]

Got my sunroof out and headliner down. Cassette looks to be in ok condition, the passenger side rear drain hose looks to have some junk in it. I also have to split the sunroof itself to deal with some internal rust. Looks like the glue BMW used for the headliner foam also was a little corrosive, the overspray that hit the rood has caused some surface rust.

Second pic shows the only significant rust I can see on the roof itself. My current plan is to stick the sandblaster in through the various holes in the sunroof cassette and get it mostly cleaned up, then I will neutralize the rust and coat with por15, which should stop anything from occurring in the future.

Headliner foam ripped while being removed, so I'll have to replace it. I think I'll stick dynapad to the cassette and trim around the sunroof hole with an exacto knife.

[89_325i]

I was curious about my wiring loom. So I started tracing all the connectors to their corresponding ECU pin. Everything looks good, corresponds to the DME 3.1 diagrams, to match the 403 DME I have. I labeled everything, and I pulled out the auto trans cables. Will be easy to splice my E30 engine side connector onto this now. But that's a story for another day long in the future. For now if goes in the box and I can rest a bit easier knowing my loom is correct.
I also took a peek in the 403 DME I got for $40. There's a Turner chip inside already. So that was a good deal.

The bottom pic is my little setup for testing the E36 climate module. I wanted to see exactly what signals were coming out. Looks like pin 85 and 86 on the 403 DME both get 12V when AC is off, and 0V when AC is on. Then pin 48 grounds to activate the AC compressor. I will use the pin 48 output to flip mu compressor relay, this way the engine should run smoothly.

[89_325i]

You've got an awesome build going, I'm excited to watch you progress!
Also, sneak in some details on that Ducati! Was that the bike project?

I've recently started my 90 coupe build, and my last build was a 2006 VROD big bore with nitrous. I live in St Louis MO, and sold it in the Netherlands.

Thanks guys! It's really exciting for me, I absolutely love E30s and I'm finally able to get into this one. I've had it parked in my garage for 4 years.

That's a really cool vrod. I've always wanted to try one.

The bike project was a 1974 Kawasaki H1, complete restoration back to stock. It was a nice bike. I think it's in France now. My ducati is a bog standard 2018 desert sled. It was really nice here Christmas day and boxing day so the sled got out for its last runs until spring. It was nice because my last day out was Nov 1, we had a really cold November this year.

I have a 1977 Kawasaki KZ650 as well, it's bored out with a full head porting job, bigger intake valves and bigger cams. That's apart right now getting fuel injection installed. I have a 2008 ZX6R fuel pump in the tank now and 2003 Z1000 throttle bodies mounted using flanged I designed and had cut on a CNC. Plan for that is to use a Link standalone.

[bmdubya1198]

Eh, the carpet looks better than mine. I’m in the process of tearing down the interior in my 84 coupe in preparation for rust repair and an M50 swap. Looks like this is coming along nicely!

[HawkHammer]

You've got an awesome build going, I'm excited to watch you progress!
Also, sneak in some details on that Ducati! Was that the bike project?

I've recently started my 90 coupe build, and my last build was a 2006 VROD big bore with nitrous. I live in St Louis MO, and sold it in the Netherlands.

[89_325i]

Is there anything really wrong with that carpet? all I see is the rust and that small tear by the ebrake. looks like it would clean up decently?

I guess theres not much "wrong" with it. But if I'm not totally happy with it I wont be putting it back in. Some of the backing foam came off because it was stuck to the sound deadening. My only real fear as long as it cleans up is the smell. Old carpet plus old foam seems to me like it's never going to smell very good.

My intention for this car is basically an as-new condition after the rebuild. I'm going to get into all the time and expense to completely refurb the running gear and body shell, buy new seats, re-cover the back seats, etc. After all that this carpet will likely be the odd man out, and I don't have much interest in stripping the interior again a year after the project is finished to swap it for a new one.

I'll probably give cleaning a go over the winter, see how it turns out. For the sake of $1600 its worth a day trying to clean it up. Maybe once its cleaned it will be useful to someone else, if I dont use it.

[Northern]

Is there anything really wrong with that carpet? all I see is the rust and that small tear by the ebrake. looks like it would clean up decently?

[89_325i]

Finally got another day at the car. Took me a while to wrestle the steering column and heater box out, then I pulled the carpet to really see whats what.

I found one hole I didn't already know about, and the bit of floor around the throttle pedal mount is a bit scabby. Pretty pleased with the condition overall.

The carpet is pretty bad. I'm strongly considering a new carpet. They aren't cheap I know, but after getting this one out, I never want to do it again on the finished car.

[89_325i]

And after a long day's work, the engine is out. This crusty M50 will need some love to get it back to where it needs to be, but thats for much later. I just want to keep going with stripping the shell, gotta get everything out so I can build my rotisserie and address the rot.



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[89_325i]

Thanks! I'm already getting a breather cover from BMW, the parts manager down here gives me good prices. I already looked at Valcas, definitely going to get the jacking point panel they make and maybe others.

[Northern]

Nice!

Also, in case you're not aware, Valcas Garage and E30 Garage Norway have a lot of small repro sheet metal for common rust spots, like fender bottoms and fuel breather cover (which afaik has jumped in price for the OE part)

[89_325i]

Correct on all counts haha!

[Northern]

I saw that Sanborn compressor and thought it was a little weird to see that from someone in the US, but then I checked your profile and you're a Newfie? Always nice to see a local(ish) E30 pop up.

also, Desert Sled?