A Tale of 2 Sedans M42/S52

[eternal24k]

New alternator and no more codes, no more dash lights, car's running great.


I also started putting the interior back together, been driving with just a shift knob. One annoying thing was when I pulled to take the ZHP off (which took a crazy amount of force) the shifter pulled out of the carrier... I pushed it back in, and I shouldn't need worry as I never pull up on the shifter when driving, I still am bugged by it. I can see it from below the car, I may try punching the plastic carrier piece with a screw driver to rotate and lock in again...

I also got a harness cover on. Couldnt get the piece by the distribution block to fit, but I am happy with this:

[eternal24k]

Since you’re running an e39 fuel rail, what did you do about the 3/2 valve?

don't have a running losses valve

[Tisoc]

Since you’re running an e39 fuel rail, what did you do about the 3/2 valve?

[eternal24k]

Little update. I swapped coils 6 and 2 and injectors 6 and 1, to my surprise the car still ran the two codes for cylinder 6.

After taking another look, I saw that the red/white wire on the injector harness for cylinder 6 had backed out, it must have been barely touching for the first 100 miles


Put it back together, and cylinder 5 did the same thing... so fixed the tabs on that wire and it fired right up and ran great.

But the car was not charging. I pulled the black wire/exciter off the alternator and the battery light did not come on in the dash, so that seemed to point to the alternator itself and not the dash circuit. Pulled the Valeo alternator and the brushes looked fine. Got a rebuilt Bosch on the way.

[eternal24k]

:curse: Drove to work, ran great. Drove it home, and like ass as soon as I got on the interstate, felt like a cylinder was not firing. Got home and confirmed.

[eternal24k]

I swapped out the battery with a newer one from my other E30 to see if that changed anything. The (!), Parking Brake, and Battery Lights were dimly lit, if I pulled the E brake the Parking Brake light would be bright. The ABS light flickered a couple times and then came on steady when i turned on the headlights.

I do not even know what the green arrow light is as it's not the turn signals...

I haven't wired up the brake fluid reservoir, not sure if that's at play either, but it seems there's some connections I need to take a look at.


Link to swap tracker

[eternal24k]

Any issues with smoke on heavy deceleration? Mine smokes. Smart going obd2 and keeping the oil seperator.

Didn’t see any smoke. Had some smoke early on from the exhaust wrap and other oils burning off though

[ZekeTheSneak]

Any issues with smoke on heavy deceleration? Mine smokes. Smart going obd2 and keeping the oil seperator.

[eternal24k]

went for a nice 30 mile test drive
*crummy pics*



The Good:
Car fired right up, ran great, suspension was tight, no vibrations, smoooooth, and the temp was below half while moving and only went up to mid point when stopping for some quick pics

The Bad:
Exhaust was louder than I wanted, not bad sounding, just not as subtle as I had hoped, luckily not too droney but loud when you hit the gas

The Ugly:
Oil Temp on cluster is not working
I had 3 lights dimly lit (!), Parking Brake, and Battery Light. When I got close to ending my trip I had the ABS come on...

Bad alternator?



For record sake, the car was at 2700rpm in 5th gear going 65mph

Temp while on the move:

[eternal24k]

Can you tell me the name and brand of these? I live in Germany now and want a set of these SO badly!

MIM 1900s, i found them on some German Craigslist cheap and my buddy who was at Stuttgart picked them up, only cost him $140 to ship them back with tires on!
They're Italian, but easier to find over there...

[paynemw]

and my friend in Germany just picked up these wheels for me ;D



HOPING they will work with RX7 BBK....

Can you tell me the name and brand of these? I live in Germany now and want a set of these SO badly!

[eternal24k]

For those planning on doing the E34 throttle cable with an OBD2 throttle body, I found the easiest way to gain some length. I shortened the textured portion that you spin to thread and the casing that it covers to gain about 8-9mm of cable length, which gave me some slack and still allowed for the TB to fully open


And with a new AFe Dry Filter, found my temporary intake setup until I make or buy an air box


And picked up some Continental ExtremeContact Sports in 205/50R15


I may put the E90 drop hats on to bring the front down, but will probably wait until after I have a skid plate...






I took her for a VERY short drive down the road, registering her today and will go out tonight after I top off the coolant and put the interior together

[eternal24k]

Thanks, looking forward to getting back to wrap it up.

I ordered a vacuum coolant filler setup to help with the notorious PITA M42 radiator as I had a hard time bleeding before I left. Never had an issue with the M42 but struggled with this setup.

Otherwise I am on the fence on making a bracket to use the E34 cable or getting one of the many E36 cable options.

[Chilezen]

Congrats on the start-up!

[dude8383]

You can try bending the arm a bit on the throttle body to give the cable more room to close the flap.