S52 Brilliantrot 318is from Australia

[QuiqueUy]

Nice updates on the car man ! long time i don't come in to peek this thread!

You still having those temp problems? you should try with a 80/88c temp switch with the 88c thermostat .

Car should work between 88 and 96c depending on how hard you going ! i think 100 its a bit onto the high's!

I wonder how the generic manifolds from eBay works RHD'S. I have equal lenghts , only downside on my side was that i had to do a custom downpipe because the front manifold would be very close from the engine mount!

[jsta1109]

Nice updates on the car man ! long time i don't come in to peek this thread!

You still having those temp problems? you should try with a 80/88c temp switch with the 88c thermostat .

Car should work between 88 and 96c depending on how hard you going ! i think 100 its a bit onto the high's!

I wonder how the generic manifolds from eBay works RHD'S. I have equal lenghts , only downside on my side was that i had to do a custom downpipe because the front manifold would be very close from the engine mount!

Thanks. I haven't really driven the car since the last update but temps are stable where they are albeit a bit higher than I expected. Worst case scenario I have a new 80c thermostat in a box. Generic headers for LHD fit worse, your best option on a RHD is custom.

[Tzantushka]

Good spot and fix on the ignition switch / lock.
I had similar issues tracking down a temperamental switch that was badly worn.
Best advice I received was checking & operating the starter via the diagnostic connector.
Started fine every time - it was the bloody switch that was worn.
Looks like were good to go for another few decades!

[QuiqueUy]

Thanks. I haven't really driven the car since the last update but temps are stable where they are albeit a bit higher than I expected. Worst case scenario I have a new 80c thermostat in a box. Generic headers for LHD fit worse, your best option on a RHD is custom.

okay fair enough ! i figured . if that what's worked best maybe its good to go back to old setup yeah! i been told 80c is way cool for the engine since it original thermostat is like 92c so the rings could be affected , but .. your country is way hotter than mine so its good i guess !

keep it coming :D

[jsta1109]

Well I went for a test drive with the new booster and initially I could sort of tell there was a vacuum leak. Pinching off the vac line to the booster made the car idle better. I purchased the booster and master from a wrecker and it came complete and assembled but for whatever reason the o-ring between the master and the booster was missing. Unfortunately for me that meant draining all the fluid and pulling the master off to get to it. I hate brake fluid... Anyway, I had a spare o-ring luckily, threw that on and went for a drive. These brakes are amazing. I highly recommend this over the 944/Clio booster.

[jsta1109]

Finally decided to tackle the headers. These were already chopped up when I purchased them but I would not recommend modifying S50 euro headers for RHD cars, it probably is easier if you start from scratch but I am happy with the end result. I was also disappointed with the volume with my previous 2.5" exhaust (stock headers > 100 cell cat > 14" hot dog > 4x9x14" muffler) and I've since purchased a 4x8x14" middle muffler and 6x10x16" rear muffler with dual 3 inch tips.

[jsta1109]

Well just about wrapped up the exhaust job, not thrilled with the muffler hangers so will probably revisit those shortly. The improvement on sound is astronomical for me - next to no drone and a much more refined inline six sound.

[e30davie]

You've been a busy bee. lots of work there! outcome looks very nice.

[jsta1109]

A bit unexpected but I rocked up at a dyno day and put down 234hp/300nm (~220ft lb). I'll probably head back for a proper tune, this is a roughed in Nissan MAF with stock timing and untouched vanos. Big torque dip between 4k-5k so there's a bit in it still.

https://youtube.com/shorts/dvaXL37x44U?feature=share

[QuiqueUy]

wow , what a work on those headers .

I do like the sound tbh , sounded great on the dyno pull !

[jsta1109]

wow , what a work on those headers .

I do like the sound tbh , sounded great on the dyno pull !

Thanks, I'm thrilled with the end result. I'm in no hurry to attempt headers like this again and I'd certainly start from scratch next time.


I ended up fixing the torque dip, the S52 (MS41.1/2/3) uses vehicle speed to control vanos and the e30 speed signal is 5.3x slower than the expected e36 signal so it was shutting vanos off about 1.5k rpm sooner than it should have (ecu saw 22km/h when I was doing ~110km/h). Did a pull with vanos off and another with vanos on and overlaid the logged load values and switched it on and off where the two intersect and it's all sorted. I also had to divide the x-axis (vehicle speed) by 5.3.

I also previously mentioned my exhaust hangers weren't great, specifically the rear muffler hangers. I purchased two BMW-18211707807 and I should have done this earlier. The rear factory hangers are now functional and dropping the muffler is really easy, just undo two nuts.

[jsta1109]

Long time no post. I've been really enjoying the functional AC up until the evaporator decided to spring a leak. For those in the know E30's are not really meant to be RHD so naturally the evaporator core will not come out without at the very least dropping the steering column and pedals or pulling the dash. I did the latter and removed the entire IHKS/HVAC box and went at restoring it.



I've learnt that this is a pretty common failure being broken recirculation flaps. I ended up purchasing a second hand unit with good flaps that I used.



The crusty old evaporator core vs. the brand new one.





And the complete box. Plenty of videos out there on how these come apart. The most time consuming part is cutting new gaskets, it isn't overly complicated though.

I haven't got the system re-gassed yet (one, I got sent the wrong expansion valve and two it's winter in upside-down land) but hopefully with functional recirculation, new blower motor, new evaporator core and a barely used parallel flow condenser I should finally see some ice cold vent temps.

I should add, I only just replaced my heater core and blower motor + resistor in situ within the last 6 months. I probably should have just done all this work at the same time but you know what they say about hindsight.

[e30davie]

Can you elaborate on the recirculation flaps failure? edit, was yours broken like this?

https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/forum/e30-technical-forums/general-technical/335450-broken-recirculation-door-pull-fitting

Recently ive noticed mine are stuck "open" as the diesel fumes in front of me are making it into the cabin.

Also I've seen your car a few times at the Coorparoo coffee and cars. car looks great in person. One day ill catch you and introduce myself!

good to get the AC sorted. makes for a useful car in queensland for the 11 months of the year its not winter.

[jsta1109]

Can you elaborate on the recirculation flaps failure? edit, was yours broken like this?

https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/forum/e30-technical-forums/general-technical/335450-broken-recirculation-door-pull-fitting

Recently ive noticed mine are stuck "open" as the diesel fumes in front of me are making it into the cabin.

Also I've seen your car a few times at the Coorparoo coffee and cars. car looks great in person. One day ill catch you and introduce myself!

good to get the AC sorted. makes for a useful car in queensland for the 11 months of the year its not winter.

Yeah bingo, snapped off at both of the ball head joints. It was really quite hard to find a used one that didn't have the same issue. Unfortunately both of mine were snapped off and the broken piece was missing on one. I was able to epoxy one back on, the JB-Weld plastic bonder worked really well for this and it's now a spare for me.

I try to get to at least a couple cars and coffees there, unless something pops up I'll be at the next one and you can't really miss me. I do try to park in the same area ~5:45am so feel free to bug me.

[jsta1109]

To wrap the HVAC build up I caught up with some friends at a skid pan event

https://youtube.com/shorts/WmHi-DMGghk?si=r89jGSaYE5QB9h-H