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

[silence]

Looking good!

[keefy6]

that engine looks familiar..

[Dj Syco]

so baller

[irish44j]

that engine looks familiar..

lol.....here's hoping it actually works ;)

[irish44j]

da da da da ..... and slowly we move on. Searching around for some minor parts.

1. 02 sensor and the 4-wire plug (looks like Spencer has one for me) since the M10 o2 won't work.

2. rear shift console mount (also getting from Spencer, the OTHER rallycross local who has 2 M42s sitting around, lol).

3. throttle cable (the M10 one won't work, I don't think).

4. other small random stuff.

I went ahead and got a cheap HP power steering hose from rockauto rather than continuing to dig around for a used one or improv with the M10 one. Not a part I want to fail...so whatever.

Thinking about how I'm going to mount up the M42 radiator, and I may be able to use the M10 mounts and fab up a lower bracket to let them work. We'll see.

In the meantime, working on mounting up the Spal fan to the M42 radiator shroud (previously on the M10 shroud)



Also got in some delrin bushings for the shifter console where it mounts to the tranny. Rid of the mushy/worn rubber piece.



found some 4-gauge marine wire leftover from my trunk battery setup on the subaru, which will be good to make a few ground wires for the engine to chassis.



Also some guys are coming to buy all my M10 stuff tomorrow for their 2002 LeMons car, so it will get a new life in racing, which is nice. I'm basically throwing in a ton of stuff since I really won't need any of this M10 stuff anymore and am always short on space...



in good news, with one engine in the car, and one waiting to be picked up, I'm now down to 1 engine left in my garage and actually have some room to work again. Good, since I'll want the e30 inside soon ..... it's starting to get a bit chilly to work outside.

[kts]

Also some guys are coming to buy all my M10 stuff tomorrow for their 2002 LeMons car, so it will get a new life in racing, which is nice. I'm basically throwing in a ton of stuff since I really won't need any of this M10 stuff anymore and am always short on space...

I was over at my friends compression testing the M10 in that car last night, that engine is shot.

My friend was mentioning that he was picking up an M10 from "some irish-something-j" guy tomorrow. I had to laugh. I was going to forward your ad to him for their car but didn't since I thought he had a line on an M20.

[irish44j]

Yeah, he said so today.....always a small world around here. Hopefully one of my engines will do the job for him :)

[irish44j]

Tonight's little project: try to install the M42 radiator.

Problems:

1. The M10 radiator sits on two rubber mounts that attach to the lower radiator support bar. However, the M42 lower mounts are on the sides, halfway down. They mount into side-brackets on M42 cars that are welded on. Here's a photo of SImon's M42 car. You can see the mounts at the corner next to the frame rails.



Well, the M10 car has no such brackets. I have no welder. I was going to improvise by bolting on some L-brackets and mount the rubber mount cups there, but I didn't see a good way to do this offhand.

Instead, the M42 radiator has the same "channel" on the bottom as the M10 does. So will use that with the stock M10 lower mounts.





That brings up problem #2: the radiator sits about 1" too low for the upper M42 bracket. The M10 radiator has a single bolt-on bracket (with rubber grommet) to secure it to the car. M42 has no such bracket.

So....after digging around random parts drawers, came up with a pair of poly bushings from the Triumph. No idea what they're for, but they just happen to fit on the "pegs" from the M42 upper mount. And they happen to be about an inch longer than the stock rubber bushings. Excellent:



so, with a bit of fitting, and a few zip-ties for extra security, we now have an installed, secured M42 radiator that is isolated from the chassis metal by rubber and poly bushings. And honestly, it's more secure than the M10 one was (which made it through the full rallycross season), so that's good.



While I like trying to improvise fixes like this (figuring them out is a nice challenge sometimes), this kind of thing once again drives home the point that I need to get a freaking welder one of these days, so I can do things like this "less ghetto." Oh well...

[kts]

Welders/welding is fun. Do it!

[irish44j]

So a bit more little things today. I managed to run around and find some minor things, but still need a few parts before I can give the new engine a go.

Anyhow..

First to rig up the Spal fan off the other engine onto the M42 radiator. To do this, I used the OEM shroud, but cut it down to a lower profile (which leaves more room to work in the engine bay too). Then I mounted the fan the same way as I had on the other shroud - four bolts in the "tabs" through the shroud. Holds it very securely.





Fits nicely....everything is secure.




Then I needed to enlarge the hole for the ECU harness, since the grommet on the M42 harness is thicker than the M10 one. Was kind of a pain, but all done..




Also wanted to set up some ground wires for the engine and stuff, while I have some time to kill. For the main engine ground used some 4ga stuff I had sitting around. Bolted to a chassis tab (where the M10 ground was) and to the hole where the rear starter bracket goes (but which isn't there on any of my engines, oddly).








oh, and in case anyone wants a part number for the driver's side upper radiator hose...



one last thing: got a new shipment of decals for the team, for next season. I got a bunch of extras because I've been trading them with other e30 rallycrossers across the country (and in Germany) for stickers from their local team/club, just for fun.

[irish44j]

minor setback today. Got in the PS pressure hose I ordered from RockAuto. And it doesn't fit. In fact, it has a wierd "S" curve in hardline.

After some investigation, found that on RockAuto it's listed as for a 318i 1984-1985 AND 1991. But 1992 has a different part number. Cross-checked it with the manufacturer (Edelmann) and they list it the same way. Clearly a screw-up on their catalog. I did a quick check and it actually does fit the M10 engine setup (kind of), but definitely not an M42.

Anyhow, called RockAuto and they're sending me the right one and covering return shipping on the old one. It was a 5-minute wait on the phone, but the customer service rep was friendly and helpful.....so props to RockAuto. Also the guy said he'd call Edelmann and make sure they knew that their catalog was wrong.

From now on I'll look up stuff based on a 1992 318is, not a 1991. Maybe there was a '91 sold in Mexico or something with an M10, lol.

Kids are sick, so I'm chilling in tonight watching TV...

....and making some grounding wires out of leftover home audio stuff (GOLD PLATED!!!!!! lol) and some AWG8 braided wire that I bought long ago for some other project.

Yeah, white and red and gold. SO PIMP! Will use these for a head ground, and probably a secondary alternator ground, and whatever else I can ground, since we all know e30s can never have too many solid grounds to replace the stock ones!

[irish44j]

Today offloaded all the M10 stuff on some guys doing a LeMons build who plan to boost it. ALmost recouped my price on the M42 by selling the M10 stuff (of course, not counting all the refresh costs)

Managed to fit 2 engines, 2 transmissions, and a ton of other parts into a medium Hyundai SUV....impressive :)



Back to projects, did some wiring work on various things (including extending the wiring for the water temp switch/fan switch, since they're on the passenger side on the M42 rad, versus driver's side on the M10 rad)

Also finally got around to moving the charcoal canister. the original spot is annoying as hell....in the way of getting to steering rack, linkage, motor mounts, fuel filter, and various other things.

Here, next to the fuel filter:


I moved it to someplace where it won't always be in the way of everything....more or less where the OEM cruise control module (and ABS pump on later cars) is. I have to extend the hoses, but this should be a good logistical move I think..

[irish44j]

today got the spark plugs in. Yup, they're spark plugs



then the challenge of getting the plug-to-coil wires oriented right, and then figuring out the ECU-to-coil wires. The first ones are easy, since they're labeled...



the other ones all have the same color wires, and are not numbered. So basically i had to try to figure out by the lengths and curves in the wires where they went. Hoping I got it right, guess we'll see if the engine starts, lol

[Lof8]

Lookin good!

[unevolved]

Sorry if you already covered this, but did you consider going to the COP conversion? It's cheaper than a new set of plugs, wires, and coils.