The 1986 325iX -3.0L Stroker - Now up and Running!

[downforce22]

Well I have been busy the last two days, I got the oil pressure sensor put back on, put in the cluster, the radiator, fan, oil lines/cooler, filter, ICV, AFM, Air Filter, CTS and finished hooking up the fuel rail/fpr and wiring. I got the stock exhaust and hung it today to the stock manifold and finally connected the coolant reservoir and filled it with brake fluid, coolant, oil, and atf. Took it off the jacks and put the wheels back on to get ready to fire it up. I hooked up the battery, and tried it. Nothing.. shoot. Battery was good so I went looking and found the starter ground had come off.

I hooked that up and was ready to fire it up. Cluster was good, showing 20 Liters, and only the coolant light was on on the check panel. I cranked it and it just kept spinning. It would not fire.

My first thought was check fuel and spark. Note I installed 24# injectors. Everything else is stock. Spark plugs are bosch platinum +4 and basically new. They were sparking. I opened the fpr return line and it is getting fuel as well. It let out a puff of air and some fuel so I assume it is at 3 bar.

I am either thinking:
-vacuum leak
-flooding (unlikely as the spark plugs are not covered in fuel)
-ECU not working right (supposedly worked for PO, it is motronic 1.0 073 ecu)
-checked all fuses, only lights on dash are oil for a second or two, brake lining, and inspection light


I made sure to tighten the valve cover, throttle body and the exhaust is on tight. The injectors should be good, but I did not test them. The CPS is the old style with smooth damper wheel and am not sure how to test that. I could swap the fpr, but I think it is good, and it is not leaking other fluids.

There is a line that used to go to the charcoal canister(it goes under and above the fuel tank) that was open to atmosphere so I plugged it, hoping that was it.

I am stumped right now as I have fuel, spark and assume I have air. Any ideas?

Thanks, here are a couple pictures of the status:








Thanks guys, it is so close and wants to start!

[Click]

finally connected the coolant reservoir and filled it with brake fluid

lol

Also I'm pretty sure 24lb injectors are way too big for an otherwise stock engine (and tune)

[downforce22]

It lives!!!

I incorrectly assumed that fuel was travelling through the rail and fpr and into the return line when in fact I cross the lines and it was just clogging on a one way check valve. I should have been smarter about that one and checked the supply or removed the fpr.

I got it running and it sounds a bit lumpy, there is a hole in the exhaust though. At first it was idling at 2000 RPM and I adjusted an idle stop and got it down to 750-800 RPM It blows smoke, looks like white smoke, smells lethal like CO2 so I am either thinking coolant or rings not quite seated. I am an amateur though. I had bought a wideband 02 sensor and since I didn't hook up the aftermarket 02 sensor, probably installed by the federalization company I hooked p the wideband. Under low load it went to 12.0 or so, meaning the injectors may be a bit big, but not too bad.

Here is the smoke screen after 30 seconds at 2000 rpm.



And idling ok

[ScHpAnKy]

congratulations! it's such a relief to finally turn over a build :)

[downforce22]

congratulations! it's such a relief to finally turn over a build :)

Thanks! Even though more of a BBQ than anything else yesterday was a success to get it going!


Did some work today. Tried to bleed the clutch, got it to at least push itself back up with a bit of resistance. Pumped the brakes, found passenger front was not tight and was leaking. I then refilled it with fluid and seemed ok, the brakes probably need to be bled. My buddy came over and I was contemplating putting in the stock injectors and decided against it for now. We started it up and I tried to get it into gear, but it wouldn't go. I then stepped out to check the smoke and felt something wet on my ankle. I flipped around to find fuel spewing out of the line under the car!! I turned it off and then my buddy and I replaced the line. I noted air fuel readings were at about 12 on idle. We fired it up again, this time it was not smoking too bad idling about 700 RPM and I had him rev it to check smoke/air fuel readings and it went down to a very rich 10 and filled the garage with more smoke. Fuel was not spilling out anymore so we are good there. I turned it off and we noticed oil seeping out of the exhaust manifolds. We cleaned it up and waited for the smoke to clear before again fired it up, this time idling. The idle seemed to go lower to about 600 RPM and oil was spattering/seeping out of the exhaust. I am assuming that must be the piston rings. The oil out the dip stick is nice, this oil out the back is black. No oil leak on intake side, so gasket must be good. Tomorrow I will swap injectors to the stock ones.

On idle the smoke wouldn't be too bad, unfortunately I can't get it into gear. He said he replaced the clutch and made sure it went on right. That must be either:
master/slave cylinder leak
throw out bearing on wrong
clutch backward??

I would not put it past him. If I could get the car in gear I could take it for a spin and try to see if maybe i still need to seat the pistons. I'll get a video up soon.

[wh00sh]

Do you get any resistance at all when you push the clutch in now? Could be the something wrong with the fork...

[ScHpAnKy]

Thanks! Even though more of a BBQ than anything else yesterday was a success to get it going!


Did some work today. Tried to bleed the clutch, got it to at least push itself back up with a bit of resistance. Pumped the brakes, found passenger front was not tight and was leaking. I then refilled it with fluid and seemed ok, the brakes probably need to be bled. My buddy came over and I was contemplating putting in the stock injectors and decided against it for now. We started it up and I tried to get it into gear, but it wouldn't go. I then stepped out to check the smoke and felt something wet on my ankle. I flipped around to find fuel spewing out of the line under the car!! I turned it off and then my buddy and I replaced the line. I noted air fuel readings were at about 12 on idle. We fired it up again, this time it was not smoking too bad idling about 700 RPM and I had him rev it to check smoke/air fuel readings and it went down to a very rich 10 and filled the garage with more smoke. Fuel was not spilling out anymore so we are good there. I turned it off and we noticed oil seeping out of the exhaust manifolds. We cleaned it up and waited for the smoke to clear before again fired it up, this time idling. The idle seemed to go lower to about 600 RPM and oil was spattering/seeping out of the exhaust. I am assuming that must be the piston rings. The oil out the dip stick is nice, this oil out the back is black. No oil leak on intake side, so gasket must be good. Tomorrow I will swap injectors to the stock ones.

On idle the smoke wouldn't be too bad, unfortunately I can't get it into gear. He said he replaced the clutch and made sure it went on right. That must be either:
master/slave cylinder leak
throw out bearing on wrong
clutch backward??

I would not put it past him. If I could get the car in gear I could take it for a spin and try to see if maybe i still need to seat the pistons. I'll get a video up soon.

im inclined to believe that the throw bearing is backwards, it's an easy and common mistake, you can prolly verify this by a "pulsing feeling" and a really stiff clutch pedal when he puts some pressure on it.

if he's positive it's in correct and the spring on the opposite side of the slave is correct, it's possible that something is properly forked up.

[downforce22]

im inclined to believe that the throw bearing is backwards, it's an easy and common mistake, you can prolly verify this by a "pulsing feeling" and a really stiff clutch pedal when he puts some pressure on it.

if he's positive it's in correct and the spring on the opposite side of the slave is correct, it's possible that something is properly forked up.

Thanks Schpanky.

I do not feel a stiff clutch pedal and no more pulsing feeling after I topped off the fluid and bled the system. I am not sure about the spring. Here is my write up on the problem.

I bought this car as a project after the previous owner couldn't figure it out right. It is a 1986 325iX and I am trying to determine if something in the clutch was put together wrong. I can find the gears when the car is off, with a little bit of noise, but the clutch will not work right. The previous owner replaced the clutch and I am not sure if he did it wrong, or it is something like the slave, master cylinder, or linkage.

When I try to put it in gear with the car running it has a larger resistance like I am trying to put it in 6th or something where there is no gear. The only time I felt anything was when I first started it and pushed it all the way to the floor. I felt a vibration and some noise like something spinning or catching. After that I added more fluid, found a leak in my brake lines, bled the master on the side of the tranny. Lots of black fluid came out and now its clean. I topped off the fluid and it has the same problem, not going into gear. Pumping clutch does not change much, it comes back up but does not have very much resistance.

Do you have any suggestions or ideas to try? This is my first project car and have not had much experience with some of this stuff.

Here are my ideas.
Bad Master Cylinder or Slave cylinder.
Fork/Linkage between the pedal and the clutch
Throw out bearing backward
Air bubbles in the system, need to bleed some more since complete transmission came out and PO said he never bled the clutch


I am prepared to do anything to avoid removing the transmission since it is an iX and I can't drive it anywhere right now and would prefer not to pull the driveline out (Absolute last resort!).

Do you have any ideas or checks I could do? Supposedly the PO checked to make sure the clutch was on the correct way and would assume the throw out bearing is good because it was a daily in july.

And here is the video of the exhaust. It is definately oil, but I am hoping, just the pistons rings needing to be seated correctly.

[A Sucked Orange]

Holy hell. Does it have new rings? Did you check compression? Nothing like trying to sort out the work of another jackass on an old iX.

[downforce22]

Holy hell. Does it have new rings? Did you check compression? Nothing like trying to sort out the work of another jackass on an old iX.

Yes new pistons and rings. They have never been driven on so maybe they just need to be seated. If I could get the clutch to work I could check that and get it up to operating temperature.

[downforce22]

Thanks, I have been busy with school now, but will be trying to swap the clutch slave and possible master to trouble shoot. I found out the PO installed an 'F1' Clutch, probably from ebay. I asked him if he replaced the pressure plate and he did not.

Assuming he bought the correct clutch for the transmission on ebay, only one result showed up that did not include the pressure plate. If he did install this one, is there any way it is stiffer etc?

F1 RACING® 6 puck ceramic disc is for the serious enthusiasts with considerable modification. F1 RACING® disc features 12 high-coefficient ceramic pads for extreme duty friction and quick engagement. F1 RACING® specifically designed high torque disc delivers maximum holding capacity without compromise. The sprung retainer assembly boasts heat treated 6 dual springs and severe duty retainer rivets, ensuring power and reliability.

The advantages of F1 RACING® 6 puck ceramic disc:
Chromoly disc hub is heat treated for strength and durability
Quicker shifting due to reduced weight
Higher torque and heat capacity than organic discs with fade free characteristics
Spring center construction properly dampens torsional vibration for quieter operation
Reduced driveline shock and spline life due to torsional dampeners

Original Link

http://www.ebay.com/itm/F1-STAGE-3-SPRUNG-6PUCK-RACE-CLUTCH-DISC-BMW-325-e-es-ix-524td-528e-525i-M3-/150744637162?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr&hash=item2319149eea

[downforce22]

It has been a while, due to school and just being overwhelmed with nothing going right I didnt touch the car for over a month.

The weather has warmed up and I ventured back into the garage with a new slave cylinder. I wrestled with the old one but it didn't want to come out. I gave up because I was sick at the time but came back today with some free time and a determination that I would get the thing out once and for all (the clutch hose was not coming out and I was stripping the hex bolt off of it.)

I finally got the dang thing out by removing the other side of the line and using some vice grips to get the stubborn thing out. I'm not sure if the slave was the problem, the old one had some slop in its action but had good spring tension. The new fluid I had put in was slightly brown though after just sitting. I need to order a new clutch hose and a throttle body gasket. Thanks to blunttech that should cost me only about $50 shipped to my door.

In the mean time I had picked up a rare clock cluster for $20


I swapped the speedo (in km) into this car. I took the carbon fiber overlay off too. Looks genuine now!


Any other ideas for the clutch?

[Dirtsquirt]

For the tach?

Red needles, maybe an Alpina tach strip. Not much you can do..

FYI: The oil adapter that was originally installed was put on wrong. You're supposed to remove the stock oil cooler adapter and run the aftermarket adapter directly off the block... I bet you would have enough room if you did that.

-Dan

[Isostar13]

I love this thread and wish you the best of luck with the build. Sorry I can't help, and I know this comment is random and off topic, but what rims are you running on your 91 ix in your sig? Size/specs? They look great.

[downforce22]

For the tach?

Red needles, maybe an Alpina tach strip. Not much you can do..

FYI: The oil adapter that was originally installed was put on wrong. You're supposed to remove the stock oil cooler adapter and run the aftermarket adapter directly off the block... I bet you would have enough room if you did that.

-Dan

I was thinking of painting the needles red already.

I'm not sure what you mean about the oil cooler adapter? I thought I installed it directly to the block? It might look like it wasn't because it wasn't tightened down.

I love this thread and wish you the best of luck with the build. Sorry I can't help, and I know this comment is random and off topic, but what rims are you running on your 91 ix in your sig? Size/specs? They look great.

Thanks, glad you like it! The wheels are some sort of BBS LM replicas. They are 17x7.5 et40 with 235/45s on them. They are pretty big and I may get a lower profile when I get new tires for them. The car is lowered on H&Rs and Bilsteins to begin with.

Right now I actually have those wheels on the euro iX haha. I may roll it out of the garage to get a picture haha!