Z3 Heater Core and Under Hood Control Valve

[hubcapboy]

An e30 heater control valve and heater core are around $400 right now... and the control valve is showing out of stock a lot of places.

This is the E30 heater box where the core is stuffed in:



and this is a similar angle of the Z3:



These seem almost guaranteed to be interchangable... and the Z3 design lets you run hose to the engine compartment and use any heater control valve you want (they're almost all just normally-open solenoids). The one from the Z3 would work, but the inlet and outlet face the same direction. There's a Mercedes W124 valve that puts the barbs in-line so you could splice it anywhere in the hose:



This seems like an obvious retrofit... what am I missing?

[twright]

Will the tubes for the Z3 fit in the holes in the firewall of the E30? Is the tubing diameter the same?

[TobyB]

what am I missing?

doing it?

Do it! Tell us how it goes!

Next time there's a z3 in the cheap u-pullets I'll grab the core and try.
They don't show up often, so it'll be a while.

t
also gets wet feet.

[reelizmpro]

If it's a worthwhile conversion then cool. The box looks like it's E30 based so the core should fit unless it's phyically longer or something. Does the Z3 use rubber hoses through the firewall to the core? Seems to me this would be risky.

[efficient]

what year z3?

[hubcapboy]

As far as I know... All Z3's.

I have a Z3 core in a box here, and I believe that they use rubber hose to a bulkhead fitting (a plastic piece that clips into the firewall with hose connections on both sides)

I have almost everything I need to mock this up, and I'll take a crack at it shortly.

[efficient]

any word?
my e30 has a new heater core but the damn valve popped.

[hubcapboy]

I’ll update before the end of the weekend!

I won’t have it running because I don’t have an engine under the hood, but it should be obvious if it’ll work or not.

[efficient]

update?

[efficient]

ever figure this out?