Ruby's Thread

[Mwishlist]

If you ever need to bleed the M42 again, do this:

-Remove top hose from the Radiator (do not detach it from the engine side)
-using that hose, fill the cooling system until coolant begins to spill out. (this method fills the cooling passages in the engine prior to any other area of the cooling system.)
-carefully reconnect that hose to the radiator.
-begin filling expansion tank and bleeding process
-while the car is running, massage the upper and lower hoses to help get coolant moving thru the motor. This essentially helps push coolant to the thermostat and speeds up the process).

This also works for 24V swaps when using M42 radiators/ M20 radiators, since they dont have an external bleed screw on the thermostat housing.

This is gold here. Totally fixed the air pockets in my 24v swap using this method.

[Levy3Poop]

If you ever need to bleed the M42 again, do this:

-Remove top hose from the Radiator (do not detach it from the engine side)
-using that hose, fill the cooling system until coolant begins to spill out. (this method fills the cooling passages in the engine prior to any other area of the cooling system.)
-carefully reconnect that hose to the radiator.
-begin filling expansion tank and bleeding process
-while the car is running, massage the upper and lower hoses to help get coolant moving thru the motor. This essentially helps push coolant to the thermostat and speeds up the process).

This also works for 24V swaps when using M42 radiators/ M20 radiators, since they dont have an external bleed screw on the thermostat housing.

Thanks for the tip there. I filled it up that way, but not until it spilled from the hose, so I'll try that next time before taking it to a radiator shop. Maybe it'll save me $60 to use on new shift/ebrake boots!

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[spiDmang]

If you ever need to bleed the M42 again, do this:

-Remove top hose from the Radiator (do not detach it from the engine side)
-using that hose, fill the cooling system until coolant begins to spill out. (this method fills the cooling passages in the engine prior to any other area of the cooling system.)
-carefully reconnect that hose to the radiator.
-begin filling expansion tank and bleeding process
-while the car is running, massage the upper and lower hoses to help get coolant moving thru the motor. This essentially helps push coolant to the thermostat and speeds up the process).

This also works for 24V swaps when using M42 radiators/ M20 radiators, since they dont have an external bleed screw on the thermostat housing.

[jeenyus]

ah ok. well if they stay orange then that's cool.

[Levy3Poop]

I think I would like them if they just decided on one color. Your wife nailed it.

They don't flash all the time, and I have them set to orange all the time. I included the pics and gif with different colors just to show what they look like. It's more of an "if I want to change colors, I have the option" deal

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[jeenyus]

I think I would like them if they just decided on one color. Your wife nailed it.

[Levy3Poop]

I got the Euro smileys a while back, and I finally got around to wiring the city lights up!
This is kind of a simple write up, but if you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer.
Electricity is a black magic voodoo bullshit type concept to me, so if I can do this, anyone can.

My goal with the city lights was to have them illuminate with the running lights (AKA front turn signals, but not blink like them)

First step is to remove the side markers, and just tuck this little guy into the hole on the inside of the bumper so you can freely remove the bumper without the side marker light holding you up.

One option for wiring up the city lights, if you intend to do euro trim (or just run black side markers like myself), is to just snip the bulb connector off, and wire the positive and negative wires from the side marker up to the city lights.
I thought about this after I had already completed one, and this would have been much simpler than identifying the running light and making a new ground cable for the city lights, but fuck it, right?



Second step is to remove these two big sons of bitch T55 bolts on the bottom of the front bumper.
They're both right in line with the inside of the air scoop for the brakes, so they should be super easy to find.



Next step is to not get any wires crossed, so doodle out your wire order in the connector.

You don't have to take the connectors out of the housing, but the guide on YT I watched did, so "monkey see monkey do" for the first side.

Get a test light from AutoZone (Lowes doesn't have them. You'll look like an idiot asking for one in there. Personal experience.), and ground it to...something. I used the front strut brace base that's on top of the shock tower.

With a ground test light, pull out the light switch one click (or turn your hazards on if you want the city lights to blink), and stick the test light into the connectors. The one that stays solid is the running light, and the connector that makes the test light blink as if it were your turn signal is....That's right! It's your turn signal!

Be sure to note which one is which because you'll forget.

Side note: I tried ordering a new connector because these ones outdate me by a year, and I got the wrong ones. Not sure they make these same connectors that group the wires together anymore. Oh well.



My driver side running light was the yellow/blue wire. The wire colors were different on the passenger side, so you'll have to do the test light thing again, but it's easy enough.



Well the pigtails I ordered from a buddy on instagram fell apart after I plugged them in for a test fit and pulled them back out.
The grey connector just fuckin' fell apart and everything.
I ain't mad though. It's my fault for not asking if a 25+ year old plastic connector was brittle lol.



Make lemonade, I say! I ordered some brand new 90° connectors and 90° cables to serve as my positive and ground.
Everything hooked up is all brand new, so I don't have to worry about crumbling them if I need to take my headlights out lol.
Words of wisdom: Don't put the cables in the connector coupler just yet and click it shut, securing them in place.
I did that, plugged them in, wired them up, and my positive and negatives were switched.
Just plug the wires into the spot where they'll go, without the grey connector coupler. That way you can change sides easy.



Here's what I'm talking about with test fitting the cables without the grey connector coupler.
Just put them in, mark one to be your ground/negative with some tape, and figure out which side is which.




Anyways, my running light on the passenger side was the...purple and white cable...I think. Idk man there's a lot of dirt in there lol.



I marked which side is which on the coupler just so I didn't mix it up, and for future use if I have to ever fix anything.



This was with the old pigtails, but you can see i Just used some butt connectors, which I later wrapped with electrical tape.
I totally forgot to use the shrink wrap I bought JUST FOR THIS, but oh well.
If one of them goes out, I'll know water got in my super tight tape job somewhere.



I ran the ground cable on both sides up under the fender, along with the OEM wiring harness, to ground it on the hinge mechanism (or whatever this is).
Like I said, electricity is devil magic to me, and the YouTube guy who made the guide grounded them here, so it works.



Test! They both work!
HELL YES THEY BOTH WORK!!!
And yes, I'm not running OEM orange bulbs.
I like the OEM orange look, but RGB LEDs are more fun in my opinion!



Here's the driver side with the light cover back on.
It doesn't even look like an amateur like me was hacking around in there!



And the passenger side. You can see the negative cable underneath the hood strut, but that's it.



And here it is!
OEM Orange look on top (which I can even make more reddish for a darker orange)
Green in the middle, just to be funky and weird.
And red on the bottom for lookin' mean!
Also, it's illegal to drive with red/blue lights (although these have a mode to just flash red and blue lmao) in most areas.
In my area, you can have red and blue flashing if you're just parked though.
So that's just for funsies.



And here's a gif of the RGB shitshow in full swing!

https://giphy.com/gifs/20NM2P0ss1UD78nKwp/html5

I know RBG LEDs aren't everyone's cup of tea. My wife was sure to let me know she thinks they tacky...which yeah I guess they are, but they're still fun!

If you have any questions about how I wired anything up or anything just hit me up!

[Codym42]

That's what I thought, but I was confused because people kepts saying "fill it up" lol. Thanks for the clarification

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No problem. Yeah, if you fill it all the way, you're more likely to have the coolant fountain when you rev the engine lol

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[Levy3Poop]

I usually keep it filled just above the cold line.

That's what I thought, but I was confused because people kepts saying "fill it up" lol. Thanks for the clarification

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[Codym42]

Yeah, I've heard the eBay lips are pretty bad. If you look at the product pics, they're totally straight instead of curved for the front valance lol. I'm gonna get an OEM lip after I sell me Ellipsoids for sure.

So when you're pouring new coolant in, you fill it past the cold line to bleed the air?

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I usually keep it filled just above the cold line.

[Levy3Poop]

Bummer about the lip! I actually just reinstalled my lip and splitter today. Now I'm worried about ripping it off lol. The BMW lips have gotten much more expensive over the years. Ebay has them for around $50 but I'm not sure how good they are.

Here are some general guidelines on how to bleed the cooling system (for future use). Basically just jack the car up in the front, set heat to full blast and crack open the bleed screw while making sure coolant is topped off. It can be a bitch to get all the air out.
https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/sho...62&postcount=5

Yeah, I've heard the eBay lips are pretty bad. If you look at the product pics, they're totally straight instead of curved for the front valance lol. I'm gonna get an OEM lip after I sell me Ellipsoids for sure.

So when you're pouring new coolant in, you fill it past the cold line to bleed the air?

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[Codym42]

Bummer about the lip! I actually just reinstalled my lip and splitter today. Now I'm worried about ripping it off lol. The BMW lips have gotten much more expensive over the years. Ebay has them for around $50 but I'm not sure how good they are.

Here are some general guidelines on how to bleed the cooling system (for future use). Basically just jack the car up in the front, set heat to full blast and crack open the bleed screw while making sure coolant is topped off. It can be a bitch to get all the air out.

https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showpost.php?p=1654762&postcount=5

[Levy3Poop]

OH! Also, I caved in a took my car to a radiator shop. They got it all flushed out and Ruby's running great!

[Levy3Poop]

I never posted this update, but my IS lip got ripped off when leaving Torchy's here in Waco, so if you see a deal on one let me know! It looks like I neglect the Rube without the IS lip :(

[Levy3Poop]

In regards to your temp issue, how confident are you in the bleed you completed? That could be your culprit there, if enough air is still in the system.

I too worked on cars in a parking lot for years and years. I got pretty good at fitting almost every tool I needed into a single box, which I could get to the car in one trip, even though it was heavy.

The ground was a great 'table' for me.

I'm not confident in my bleeding ability on the M42 at all. The bleed was the hardest part of the engine swap last year and took a hell of a long time to get complete. Do you have any tips on bleeding the radiator? Just FYI it's the radiator with the attached expansion tank.

Also, the heater works above 1800RPM or so. I read on some Z3 M forums that people were having this issue, and their heater worked above 2k, so I tried it while at a light and sure enough the heat came back and the temp gauge started creeping down.