Pitchblack Motorsports Rally e30 318i (now with M50) - and some Porsche 924S stuff.

[TimKninja]

Driveshaft bolts are grade 10.9. Not 8.8. Atleast they are on 6 cylinder cars.

Good luck!!

[irish44j]

The OEM-looking bolts that came off the car were 8.8 (not that that means much). Bentley manual references both 8.8 and 10.9 as DS bolts, with different torque settings for the different grades. RealOEM shows the part number for the 318i as an 8.8 bolt as well (and shows the 325i bolts as 10.9), so that's what I primarily went with. Not sure why BMW did that, but it looks like we're both right :D Thanks for looking out. I need some sanity checks sometimes!

Besides, my M10 has so little power I could probably use zip-ties ;)

[irish44j]

late-night while watching TV.....pulled the IACV and tested it...working perfectly. Resistance is correct, and it's opening and closing tight like it should.

Pulled the MAF assembly and tested the resistance as in Bentley manual. The resistance rises when opening the flap, but only about halfway and then it just stays about the same. I tested the parts-bin MAF assembly I have sitting aroudn and it does the same thing. So not entirely sure if I'm just testing wrong or if they're both bad or what. Hmm.

Also while in there noticed that the one of the two small blue wires from the alternator had broken off, and the second one (same post) was being held on by like two strands of wire. Diagram shows these as being to the ignition switch and the other one to "diagnostic," wherever that is. Anyhow, put a new fitting on and reattached, so that's good I guess, lol.

Also thinking about how on the last couple drives afterwards I've had a bit of antifreeze coming out of the overflow drain (dripping down on the front valence). I guess they didn't care about environmental stuff, lol. Thinking about installing a small overflow/expansion tank....pull one from a junkyard car of some sort. Thoughts?

[irish44j]

A few little things today, as I continue my quest to make sure the vac system is leak-free and other minor things in the engine bay.

First I pulled all the injectors to see how they look. They look pretty good, but one of the two bolts holding the fuel rail on was missing and the rail was loose, so I'm thinking air may be getting past an injector seal, perhaps, if the rail was moving around. Fixed that. Also replaced one of the electrical connectors for an injector, as it was cracked and broken. Luckily have a whole spare harness sitiing around that had one (out of four) good connector.



Also looking at the FPR. Interesting the one on the car is part number 0280160226, which my searches show as the FPR for a Volvo 740. Bentley says that's the part number for the e30, but then I searched for the new FPR siting in my parts box, which is 0280160249 and it is listed online as for the e30 (all models). The new one didn't click in well (different shape seal?), so I just put the old one back on. Both are 3.0 bar and otherwise identical in fitament, so will have to investigate a bit more.



Also cleaned up some wiring - the main engine loom was pretty shoddy, random wires going everywhere. Nothing big, but want to have those wrapped up good.



going to hit the pick-n-pull next monday, so started making a list...

[irish44j]

two words: Star Spec

[irish44j]

In other good news, just fired up the car for a few minutes before the daughter goes to bed. Looks like the small things I did with hoses/wiring last night worked to some extent. Previously the car was firing up at like 3k rpm and then the idle was hanging in the low 2k range.

This time, with the engine cold, the engine fired up to about 1500rpm and within 10 seconds dropped down to about 1100, though it was wavering a bit between 1000 and 1300.

Still not where I want it, but that makes me pretty confident that I've taken care of at least some of the problems by sealing the injectors, cleaning the AFM and IACV, cleaning the AFM seals, and other things. A few other things I want to do, and I still have the issue of the AFM/MAF not necessarily reading correctly.

Also may try the spare idle control module that I have in the parts bin, and see if it affects anything (positively or negatively)

[irish44j]

Spent some time in the cold garage tonight in misery, prepping and painting the last of the four Euroweaves. The wheels had a ton of baked-on super-thick brake dust and no type of solvent would get all of it off, especially as hard as it is to get into the little crevaces on these wheels. But I managed to get 95% of it off, do some prep sanding until I got frustrated/tired of it, and a few coats of paint. Tomorrow I'll do a final coat on all four wheels since it's supposed to be non-humid and around 60 degrees, and throw some clearcoat on.

All in all I'm not terribly impressed by my job on these (I've refinished 4 or 5 sets of wheels in the past that turned out much better), but they look ok from a couple feet away if you don't look too close, and that's good enough for a beater car in my book.

Also taking a closer look one of the wheels has a bent lip, but it doesn't look bad enough that it will affect anything other than appearance.

Friday I'll get the star specs mounted up :D

[Nick_S]

Awesome thread. I love reading low budget builds like this. Good luck with the rest! I'll be checking back.

[dnick]

ahhh i want starspecs..

[irish44j]

I've wanted them for a couple years, but some deal on other tires (RE01Rs, AD08s, etc) always came up around the time I was shopping so I never got them. Finally I could get them in a small size that was cheap, so I couldn't resist!

[FunfGan]

Star specs are absolutely amazing, you'll love them!

[irish44j]

tires mounted and wheels on. Took it for a quick spin and even in 195s at 30 degrees out they grip like a mofo (and throw tons of gravel up at the car, which is magnified by my lack of carpeting/soundproofing/rear seats, lol).

This would look so hot if the car sat 3" lower, lol. Oh well.

and yes, I have alot of wheel gap. But not as bad as it looks since this is right after the car came off jackstands!~





Also sold my pair of front OEM comfort seats to some young local guys. Sold them cheap, but it's some extra cash for the pick-n-pull yard on Monday, and they're not taking up space in my garage, so that's good enough.

[dnick]

they look good! how skinny are they?

[irish44j]

they look good! how skinny are they?

195s....They were $22 less per tire than the 205s on tirerack, and that's $100 I can't justify spending on tires to get me to events and tearing up at autocross. So I went with the skinnies. That said, Star Specs in 195 are about as wide as most all-season tires in 205...

I'd prefer the beefier look of the 205s though. On the 7" wide Euroweaves these have a mild "stretch" to them that I don't much like. But I'll survive

[dnick]

yeah i was asking because i want to get some euros too, i guess 205s would look a little more beefy?