A Non-Intersting College Budget '91 Calypso Coupe

[Zreberlcoe]

yo your paint is too shiny.

True, but that picture/camera brings out every little damn chip on the hood.

[Zreberlcoe]

Hello R3v! The semester is almost over so I haven't really done much to her just been driving and enjoying it as much as possible!

I had to take a picture next to this massive truck just to remind myself how small these cars actually are.


And me and my roommate took the cars out on some canyon/mountain roads.






Powder Horn Slopes in the background




Then a little cruise up the monument the other day as well.



Accompanied by friends




But winter mode has commenced:( By the way, working in the dorm parking lot really makes you appreciate having a garage


While I had the front end up on jack stands I poked the underside for a minute. I had discovered my skid plate took a nice hit, saved my pan for sure. Kind of a shitty picture but the plate now touches the pan so I need to bend it back to undo the oil drain plug.


Then among more poking around I saw something I really didn't want to see. It looks like the whole motor is shifted to the driver side. I believe I'm gonna go condor on this one, as well as my transmission mounts that I found are fraying as well but don't have pics. Really scary and once I get her home saturday she's going to be sitting a lot for this reason.


And this is more than likely this is a nice cause of that^^^

https://www.flickr.com/photos/122073141@N02/15805879420/in/photostream/

That's all I have been up to! I come home this Saturday for Christmas break. I have yet to see snow so I am hoping I get to test the Viscous diff and studded tires for the first time! Oh and hopefully I can make some money to put into this thing. I post a lot of my pictures on instagram and tend to forget about R3v updates. Follow me @zrec_E30

[Zreberlcoe]

Update:
I came home that Saturday as I had planned. Snapped a picture leaving Junction.



As to the drive, the car handled well, no surprises on the way home. For having 2 wheels and tires tied on top, with 185 snow tires bolted on, it made the car a little tipsy around those mountain curves. As well as 4 hours by myself wasn't to fun but it was nice to be able to do what I wanted to on the drive. A friend caught me on the road back though



On the day of Christmas we got some snow here and I finally got to test the viscous and the studded tires. Last winter with this car I had some shitty non studded snows, open diff, and not much for suspension. Lets just say the rear wheels were packed because I was not drifting...



Also, I did get some stock motor mounts ordered from bavauto and they should be here this week.



Now onto an issue, an electrical issue

Around when the cold weather had started creeping in I stumbled across a weird problem with the blower fan. After every time I had shut off the car and had the blower fan on, and pulled out the key WITHOUT shutting the blower fan switch off, the fan would continue to operate. The blower fan/switch, AC switch, and the Re-Circulation switch still worked. So I'm gonna pull some info I have in another thread: http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=343225

Symptoms:
1. Blower Fan continues to work on settings 1,2,3,4 after key has been removed from ignition.

2. Recently with cold temperatures when I start the car and want to defrost the windshield while warming up at idle, the blower fan will come on and off.
Example: I will come out to the car to warm it up and switch the fan on to setting 4 to defrost the windshield, and the damn motor wont come on. A solution I have found is revving the motor to as high of a rpm needed for the fan motor to pop back on.

3. When driving before the engine is up to temperature, it seems, the window switch lights flicker also meaning power to the window motors will flicker on and off.

So I started out with reading the diagram that the Bentley book was giving me.



So here's my idea, this is the K7 relay I am suspecting that is letting power in at all times (if you read at the top of the diagram to the right of fuse 20 it says "battery voltage in run from relay K7")



Onto troubleshooting. My assumption is that the relay K7 is staying open after power had been supplied to it causing the blower fan/switch, AC switch, and re-circulation switch to stay operable after the key has been removed.

It happens that my K6 relay is identical, meaning same part number. To test if the relay is the issue I went and swapped K6 into the K7 spot and put K7 in the K6 spot. Remember that while the motor is running and K7 relay in it's original place the Fan switch, AC, and Re-circulation switch all worked. Upon starting the car up with the relays swapped I found that non of the three switches were operating.

This is very odd, with relays swapped that have 100% matching markings and physical shape, the three switches did not work. Next trouble shoot was to simply put the relays back into their original places, K7 in K7, K6 in K6 to make sure that when everything in it's original place is working like it had before. I started the car up again and to my surprise the three switches did not operate. I thought I had maybe blown fuse 20, and after checking, fuse 20 is still good.

What. The. Fuck. Is. Going. ON.

My previous assumption was that the relay K7 was staying open after power had been supplied to it causing the blower fan/switch, AC switch, and re-circulation switch to stay operable after the key has been removed. After switching identical relays, and motor running, non of the three switches work. Previous to my relay swap, even with the original K7 relay in it's original spot, and the motor on, the three switches had worked! Now when I had put everything back to the way it was before I started troubleshooting the three switches will not operate!

I don't know where to take this from here. Where should I trouble shoot next? If the relay isn't the issue than what is before the relay that I need to troubleshoot? I am going to keep digging in the bentley for an answer but it's very cold outside tonight so anymore poking at the car is going to have to wait until tomorrow.

EDIT I have maybe found a clue as to why the windows seemed to be buggering up along with the heater fan (refer to number 3 of my symptoms). The window circuit as well as the blower motor circuit share the same ground, "G200". I'm going to check this as well as any other components the two circuits share, just to check my bases.

Thanks, Zack.

[efficient]

But winter mode has commenced:( By the way, working in the dorm parking lot really makes you appreciate having a garage


ugh I'm already feeling this. my family is moving and having a garage was nice.

[Zreberlcoe]

But winter mode has commenced:( By the way, working in the dorm parking lot really makes you appreciate having a garage


ugh I'm already feeling this. my family is moving and having a garage was nice.

The feels. It makes you realize what a covered space, 4 walls, benches, and plenty of tools, will do for you.

[Zreberlcoe]

So I went out to the car today and poked around for the "G200" ground. I found it just above the brake pedal mounting point.



I wasn't sure what I was looking for other than a loose ground or what not but they all seemed to be in there quite tightly.



Deeming this to not be the problem and checking that off, I got my next mission from ADOPEWITASCOPE and jeepster666. In the bottom right is the diagram of the ignition switch.



A hypothesis I went on was the ignition switch was leaking power through terminal 15l (labeled on the diagram). 15l is the only terminal that will flow power in the "on" position, and the windows and blower fan will only work while in the "on" position. So if this terminal was to be staying open at all times I could test it and verify that. So I took out my handy dandy tester light and grounded it to the knee bolster mounts, pulled the key out of the ignition, and poked into the 2.5mm Violet wired coming out of terminal 15l, and what do you know:


Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner! The violet wire is coming out of the switch, looks about 2.5mm's thick, and is violet! Unless I'm mistaken this is obviously a problem in itself and needs to be fixed.

[Zreberlcoe]

Sooooo I'm looking for a couple of things to buy.

1. A KNOWN WORKING, late model (airbag cars) ignition switch.

2. 4"-5", Progressive or barrel, 600lb/in-680lb/in, 2.25" or 2.5" Inside Diameter, Rear springs.

3. And a euroclock pigtail if very cheap.

[stonea]

OMFG!!!!!!!! I'm speechless, I literally love everything about this car!

[lambo]

OMFG!!!!!!!! I'm speechless, I literally love everything about this car!

Except that it's super lame.

[Zreberlcoe]

Except that it's super lame.

Except that this is super true.

[Zreberlcoe]

I went to the dealer a couple of days ago to get a ignition switch, which soon led to getting a lock cylinder and key matched to the VIN. I don't know if I had said before but when I had bought this car the previous-previous owner had snapped off the key in the ignition. Upon replacement that owner must not have gotten the ignition and key matched to the VIN, therefore I am now left with a key for the ignition and no key to the doors. I don't know where else down that road that the trunk lock had been replaced, but it had, and I have a mismatched key for that as well.

So I'm rolling the dice with matching the key and ignition lock cylinder to the VIN in hopes that it will match the doors and glove box. It's going to be a week or two before I hear about these parts because the dealer has to call BMW Engineering to get the secret key code that matches my VIN and then track down which lock cylinder to buy, as well as special order a ignition switch.

So parts I have coming in this upcoming week:
-Engine Mounts (Taking forever, BavAuto :hitler:)
-Euro Clock (Need a pigtail)
-Ignition Switch and Lock Cylinder/with Key
-Paint for all red tails ;D

[Zreberlcoe]

The Popped Cherry - Updated 12/29/2014

I've been posting a lot, I don't know whats gotten to me.

But in hopes to find a key code in my Manual, my dad and I perused through the different booklets in my glove box and stumbled across something cool. There is a sticker on the front of my service manual that isn't on his E30's service manual.



Its a note about this car being delivered under the "European Delivery Program". We knew the first owner was a mechanic for the US air force but that's all we were told.

Then flipping down some pages are some stamps from the dealer:



The top one is the pre-delivery inspection, but the bottom one is a 1200 mile inspection stamp. That means this car spent some time in Germany, which we were certainly not aware of. The second stamp is by a dealer in Munich called Peter Bach. Curious as to the past of this car, sure as shit, we flip the page to the Oil Service and there's 4 stamps by Peter Bach:


Up until 14,677 miles that I can barely read, the car was serviced at Peter Bach in Munich. This car after all has kind of a cool history, apparently the car lived 2 years of it's life in Munich! The car must have been shipped to the U.S by the original owner, and the other two stamps are from Winslow BMW down in Colorado Springs where we were told the original owner was a mechanic for the Air Force base in the springs. Although the records stop and I believe that's when he gave the car to his son. In which his son treated the car like trash and that's most likely where all my problems have developed. I was told mostly of the first owners history by the third owner in which I bought the car from, and he had only had the car for 8 months and I e-mailed him to see if I can get any way to contact the original owner. Thought this was kind of a cool piece of information about the car!

[Zreberlcoe]

Alright, finally an update!

I received my motor mounts, taillight paint, euro clock, and ignition switch this week.

Thanks to Max399 for the clock


Disassembling Euro clock to paint needles so they can match my cluster. I thought while I had most the dash apart, might as well take out the cluster and paint the vacuum needle I forgot to do a long time ago





Prepped the taillights also



started tearing into the interior Friday night as well



For the Euro clock I didn't receive a pigtail so I clipped off one of the door chime plugs to be used.


Soo I also got the ignition switch installed, kinda. I broke the tab on the steering wheel side putting it in so I wrapped wire around the column very tightly and lathered on epoxy to dry all night. I think it should hold


I practiced my soldering wires skill since my last jobs sucked ass and looked fire worthy. They got better than this, but not too bad.



Saturday started off with soldering the door chime wires in with the previous 6 button wires
[img]https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7576/16072905037_39996671b8_b.jpg[/img

Next was motor mounts, f*** did I need to replace these. The damn motor was resting on the steering rack :(



Passenger side was peeling like an orange :ohsnap:


Between doing the mounts and what ever else, I laid on the paint for the tail lights. Here's first coat


Here's my McGeyver extensions for the top nut on the passenger side mounts. I didn't snap too many pictures throughout the process because it was quite tedious of a job.


Not sure if this was the best spot being the break between the motor and trans


Got it off:up:


Both mounts out, passenger side is on the right.


Brackets cleaned up! It's not like they'll stay clean for long.


thinking of spacing the motor this high for lows :dot:


Intermission, second coat on taillights. I think I should have stopped here but later pictures looks fine.



Back to the motor mounts, got them both in place. The motor doesn't sit on the steering rack now!



Such a scary difference


Yeahhhh I think I went one coat too many, it doesn't look so dense in person or from a difference



Since the motor was shifted to the drivers side about 1" or more, the guibo took a beating, definitely up for replacing as well as trans mounts


Artsy Wish we had more garage space for air tools, oh and money.



This is where I left the car Saturday night after I couldn't figure out why my instrument lights wouldn't come on i.e: HVAC bulbs, Cluster bulbs, Ashtray bulbs, Hazard switch, defogger switch, etc. Eventually tracked it down to the 58k terminal on the lights switch. Pretty irritating that the light switch just decides to quit when I'm fixing/replacing other parts.



Picked up the next day with making sure the light switch is the culprit, turns out it is! So I decided I'll need a replacement but for now I'll have the car back together and drive with no instrument lights.





Winter has turned this car into a turd cake, but



That's all for now! It's much smoother without the vibration of the engine going throughout the cabin. Also there's not so much transmission whine. Follow me on instagram, it's easier to post progress. @zrec_e30

[Codym42]

Looking good man. Those needles came out great.

That's crazy that the light switch went out while you did all of that.

[Zreberlcoe]

Looking good man. Those needles came out great.

That's crazy that the light switch went out while you did all of that.

Thanks! Also that's all I can find the problem to be. I'm going to hold off on the light switch and try other troubleshooting unless I can get a used light switch for cheap on here or craigs.