While You're In There... CA BAR Certified S52 OBD2 Swap

[Sh3rpak!ng]

Great progress!! You beat me on the AC install. I still need to get my lines modded. Did you just bring them to a shop?

Also agreed on the brake booster fiasco. I wound up doing A LOT of modifications to get everything fitting properly. Much more of a pita than it's made out to be.

How are you / what are you using to flash your DME to remove ews etc?
Is your schrick intake manifold for sale?

[arch4ngel]

Great progress!! You beat me on the AC install. I still need to get my lines modded. Did you just bring them to a shop?

Also agreed on the brake booster fiasco. I wound up doing A LOT of modifications to get everything fitting properly. Much more of a pita than it's made out to be.

How are you / what are you using to flash your DME to remove ews etc?
Is your schrick intake manifold for sale?

Thanks! I was just reading through your build thread and marveling at all the work you've done.

For the AC lines I purchased the compressor to condensor and compressor to drier lines from zionsville autosport. Pricey but worth not having to worry about fitment. The rest of the hoses were purchased new from BMW or rebuilt by a local shop (iirc one of them was NLA).

I did all the dme flashing myself. I just used a cheapo galletto cable and software I purchased on eBay. I have a better setup using the chipster.no software using the ftdi cable but haven't been able to get it to work yet. Changing emissions and rpm/speed limit settings are actually quite easy. Tuning naturally is more difficult. I can send you some resources if you're interested.

Sorry the schrick manifold is long gone.

[Sh3rpak!ng]

Thanks! I was just reading through your build thread and marveling at all the work you've done.

For the AC lines I purchased the compressor to condensor and compressor to drier lines from zionsville autosport. Pricey but worth not having to worry about fitment. The rest of the hoses were purchased new from BMW or rebuilt by a local shop (iirc one of them was NLA).

I did all the dme flashing myself. I just used a cheapo galletto cable and software I purchased on eBay. I have a better setup using the chipster.no software using the ftdi cable but haven't been able to get it to work yet. Changing emissions and rpm/speed limit settings are actually quite easy. Tuning naturally is more difficult. I can send you some resources if you're interested.

Sorry the schrick manifold is long gone.

Hahaha yea I'm a glutton for punishment when it comes to working on my cars. I'll probably just have my lines rebuilt/modded.

Hell yes please send me resources. I am interested in changing the emissions/rpm limit/ews delete etc. If I can do that stuff myself it would save some headache.

Figured the schrick IM would be gone. Oh well.

[arch4ngel]

Test Drive

Break in run was a success!

The car runs beautifully for the most part. There were a few hiccups but nothing major.

I drove up to a remote local mountain road.
The starting point was close to my exhaust shop which was an added bonus.
Started off relatively easy until I got to open road then proceeded to beat the hell out of the car.
The road is very twisty but the car accelerates quickly enough I was able to apply full throttle then engine break every time I found a short straight.
Beginning with sweeps from 3-5k, I worked my way up to 5-7k.

After about 20 of these sweeps I decided the engine was ready for some 'regular' spirited driving.
I took the rest of the drive relatively quickly while still taking my time and listening for signs of trouble.
After 30 or 40 miles I ran into some construction. This gave me a chance to let the car idle for awhile and make sure the fan came on as expected, etc.
After the construction zone I encountered some beautiful new pavement and tore my way down the mountain.

I've got to say this engine is perfect for the car. In any gear even up steep hills the car never felt like it was lacking or running out of steam.
I can see myself eventually wanting to squeeze out a bit more power but the current setup should keep me happy for awhile.

The exhaust note is pure sex. I wasn't quite sold on the giganto tips at first but they're starting to grow on me and the remus cat back was free so I really can't complain. The tone is great, has a nice growl but doesn't drone at all and is fairly quiet until you open it up. When on throttle the sound is fantastic but isn't loud enough to attract unwanted attention.

On the down side, I found a few bugs that will need to be ironed out before my bar appointment next week.

Peak Codes:
Fuel Injector #1 - This code appears to be re-occurring, so I had my injector rebuilder send me a couple spares for testing. Should be in on Thursday.
A/C relay - Didn't realize this would be a problem, a small modification to my .bin and a reflash should solve this one.
MAF - This one is a bit disconcerting. I seem to have MAF related issues (stalls occasionally on startup and idle is a bit off) so I ordered a brand new one. Not cheap but worth the peace of mind. If this for some reason doesn't clear the code I may be up shit creek as I won't have time to take it in for a smoke test until after the appointment.
Vehicle speed signal not present - See below.

Other problems:
Check panel weirdness - This one I'm actually a bit concerned about. The check panel now lights up almost completely (5 out of 9 lights stay illuminated) and pushing the check control reset button doesn't do anything. The check light on the cluster stays lit whether or not the button is pushed. No idea how I"ll go about troubleshooting this one yet but at least it shouldn't prevent me from being BAR certified.
Speedometer/ODO - No idea what the problem is here yet. I re-used my 325i diff cover when I swapped to the 3.15 and the sensor was working fine before. I also had my cluster completely rebuilt by BavRest so the speedo should be fine but I'll probably have to take it apart to figure out what's up.

Obligatory glamour shot.

[arch4ngel]

BAR Appointment

Last week I brought the car into my local BAR referee.
The ref was actually pretty interested in cars and told me has several BMWs in the family.
Apparently they mostly get folks doing smog retests so engine swaps are a nice change from the usual for them.
The kids working for the ref loved the car, especially the podi.ca gauge cluster haha.

The inspection went fairly well, as all of my obd2 emissions equipment passed visual.
However I knew I was going to fail because I have a check engine light for a fuel injector code.

What I didn't expect was to fail because of my exhaust.
Apparently modifying the downpipes before the catalytic converters is a no-no.
This is very annoying because I have no idea how to get the stock midpipe to fit without modifying the subframe, or possibly by lifting the engine significantly to allow room for the down pipes.
Another option is getting a modified subframe from a seller here who makes them fit around rear sump pans. Not cheap but should give me enough room to clear the exhaust.

The other items I failed on should be easier to fix I hope.
The carbon canister mount in the trunk needs to be secured and I failed smog (not sure if due to the injector code causing a rich condition or bad cats).

To add insult to injury I found a new code when I got back home, vanos mechanically stuck.
Odd because this never occurred before so I don't think my vanos was installed incorrectly.
I do hear some vanos rattle though so I'm thinking the solenoid may have failed. Argh. I really don't want to have to open the motor up again.

TLDR I now need to fix the following so I can pass the BAR inspection:
New midpipe (already purchased)
Modify subframe/find way to install cats without modifying
Fix injector code
Fix vanos code
Remount carbon canister

In other news I got the car aligned.
Camber - -2.5 degrees front -1.5 degrees rear
Toe - 0 front and rear
Caster - I forget the number and the machine crashed before the tech could give me a spec sheet but he basically just evened them out. They sit more towards the middle of the wheel well now which is perfect.

This has got to be someone here (spotted in the BAR office)


Air pump installed


Pic I found of a cleaned up adjuster. Did them all when I installed my hid retrofit kit.


Latest pics of the engine bay

[MrGreen]

How did they know you modified your down pipes?

[arch4ngel]

They looked under the car to get the cat eo numbers.

[Northern]

Unfortunately the iX booster's vacuum port was now very close to the shock tower.
This meant it would be nearly impossible to remove the check valve if that was necessary. Good thing the 735i booster has the port on the other side!

The booster is the same part, just rotate it 180 degrees and bolt on the MC & spacer.


I am not jealous of the BAR inspection. Around here, cars made before 1991 can ditch cats when they go bad (only visual inspection anyway) so all the emissions systems except evap are gone from my car, just for simplicity/cost. I have to mess around with the catalyst heating fuel/timing/vanos settings now to stop it from trying to warm the cats up, but I think those tables are mapped out in RR anyway.

You need to run 100% stock downpipes? Could you re-bend a stock set or notch your DP in anyway? The Arc Asylum rear sump setup is worth extra internet points, but it's a lot of money just for DP clearance (FWIW, OBD1 downpipes fit pretty flawlessly with that setup and THR eyeball CABs. I'm not sure about how they fit beyond the merge, because mine transitions to 3" at that point.)

[arch4ngel]

The booster is the same part, just rotate it 180 degrees and bolt on the MC & spacer.


I am not jealous of the BAR inspection. Around here, cars made before 1991 can ditch cats when they go bad (only visual inspection anyway) so all the emissions systems except evap are gone from my car, just for simplicity/cost. I have to mess around with the catalyst heating fuel/timing/vanos settings now to stop it from trying to warm the cats up, but I think those tables are mapped out in RR anyway.

You need to run 100% stock downpipes? Could you re-bend a stock set or notch your DP in anyway? The Arc Asylum rear sump setup is worth extra internet points, but it's a lot of money just for DP clearance (FWIW, OBD1 downpipes fit pretty flawlessly with that setup and THR eyeball CABs. I'm not sure about how they fit beyond the merge, because mine transitions to 3" at that point.)

Genius, can't believe I never thought to flip it over. Oh well, I needed the iX booster for the spacer anyhow.

I could be wrong but my impression is that the downpipes can't be modified at all. I'll call the ref next week for clarification but not sure bending will work.
I already have offset cabs (from bimmerworld, should be same dimensions as treehouse) and I need the obd2 pipes to pass BAR.
The arc asylum setup isn't cheap but it does have the added benefit of more ground clearance and with selling my baffled e34 pan and not having to buy a skid plate the cost shouldn't be too bad.
That said, I may try the garagistic sway bar spacers to see if they'll give me the clearance I need. I'll know more about the needed dimensions once I mock everything up in the garage.

[MrGreen]

Have you figured out what you are going to do about the subframe/down pipe situation? Sounds like there is no EO number on the down pipes themselves, only on the cats. Talked to a CA Ref today and he said that you are not allowed to modify the down pipes...just like you mentioned above.

[arch4ngel]

I decided to go with the rear sump pan.

My original plan was to try the garagistic sway bar spacer but they never bothered to return my call asking for details

I'm pretty sure the rear sump option will work better for me anyway.
I scrape the e34 pan daily leaving my driveway and I just have a bad feeling that a nasty unseen bump will leave me stranded at some point.
After I sell my baffled e34 pan and with funds saved from not having to buy a skid plate I'm not spending much more over my original budget.
An added bonus is the reinforced engine and sway bar mounts, something I was planning to pay someone else to do in the future.

In other news, I got the car running much better over the weekend.
I finally obtained the cable needed to use the chipster.no software for flashing my ecu.
I had a feeilng my old ms41.2 ecu was having problems as the idle was hanging badly when running it. I flashed a clean ms41.2 file along with a modified 24k partial and it still idled very poorly. The weird thing was my ms41.1 ecu idled fine but didn't run as well and was throwing a vanos code.
I ended up flashing the ms41.1 with the same ms41.2 + modified partial and no more idle problems or vanos code! So it turns out the original ecu that came with the car was faulty. Oh well.

I also figured out the fuel injector code.
I probably should have read the peake code manual more closely as I found out the second digit display on the fcx-3 displays a 'b' that looks suspiciously like a '6'.
In other words my '06' fuel injector code is actually a '0b' fuel tank pressure sensor code.
You live and learn I guess.

Now I'm off to troubleshoot the code, hopefully I just mixed up some wires and don't need another $200 sensor.

I also sent off a spare subframe to arc asylum, hopefully I'll have the modified subframe back in a couple weeks.

Almost ready for my next bar appointment!

[arch4ngel]

Had another BAR inspection last week.
I had successfully swapped the front subframe and oil pan, secured the carbon canister and gotten rid of the check engine light.
However I went into the appointment with two unset readiness monitors (evap and sap) and was expecting to fail.

Now I'm not sure exactly what the details are, but the ref told me because the car (as opposed to the motor) is older than '96 the readiness monitors don't matter as long as they reset properly

Anyway, despite the unset monitors everything else was fine and I passed!!!

I'm still kind of in shock that this long journey is finally concluded.

There are still a ton of small things that need to be wrapped up but I'm no longer have any deadlines to worry about.

Feels a bit weird driving the car around legally now, no more temporary tags or smog coupons for me.

I'll circle back and post pics of the subframe and oil pan after I put the car up on stands again next weekend.

[MrGreen]

That is so amazing!! Congrats! How did you get the fuel tank pressure sensor fixed?

Seriously, you are my inspiration! I am finally believing I can finish this!


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[arch4ngel]

Thanks!
Unfortunately i have no answers regarding the ftps.
I ended up taking it to a shop for some diagnosis help.
When hooking it up to their computer they noticed some weird values until resetting the codes.
Since the code the code hasnt come back so I'm not too worried about it.

[MrGreen]

That's great news! The only real "fear" I have now is the downpipe mod situation.


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