Panici's '87 325is E30 - Boosted In Bronze

[Panici]

This deserves a car of the month feature

Wow, that's high praise! Thank you.

There's a LOT to like here. Nice work!

Love the progress, the engine bay looks great! Keep it up. Must be awesome to actually be driving it for the first time in awhile

Thanks guys!

Yeah it has been awesome driving it the last few days. Learning how to tune the MS3X has been a blast!

[Albie325]

Love the progress, the engine bay looks great! Keep it up. Must be awesome to actually be driving it for the first time in awhile

[mike.bmw]

There's a LOT to like here. Nice work!

[econti]

This deserves a car of the month feature

[Panici]

Finishing Up Motor Swap

• Partial wire tuck on the front harness.
  • Tucked HID ballasts as well.
  • Will need to cut & splice to tuck completely. This will be a good winter project.
• Installed iS Airdam

Now that the car is on the road, I am going to be learning to tune the Standalone MS3X engine management.
Could also use an alignment in the near future.

Here is a few final garage pictures from this afternoon. I'll be washing the car and taking some beauties this weekend!

[Panici]

How did you make the cruise control throttle cable?

Same way I shortened the throttle cable.

I cut the outer cover carefully in half, shortened, and sleeved. Then I trimmed the inner cable to length, added the end pieces for the E36 throttle body, and welded a small nut to the end of the cable as an end stop.

[rzerob]

How did you make the cruise control throttle cable?

[Panici]

Reassembly, Test Drive

• Made a dash gauge panel out of wood as a temporary measure ( BMW radio delete panel in the mail).
• Installed Chase Bays windshield washer reservoir.
• Installed BMW 2002 brake reservoir.
• Made and installed cruise control throttle cable.
• Bled the brakes & clutch
  • Good reference to get the last bit of air out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uj1dMdYgRK4
• Went for a test drive around the block with the radiator just hanging out by the hoses.
  • Brakes, clutch, steering all work great!
• Reinstalled the center console, floor mats.
• Reattached the front core support.
• Installed and rewired the SPAL fan.
• Installed the front valance, fenders, headlights, grilles
• Partially tucked the front wiring harness.

Went for a 15 minute drive, starting on the basics of tuning the MS3X.
Hope to have the rest of the front end together by the weekend!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_C1jlGFlDEQ

[Panici]

Motor is Running!

• Installed heater hoses (heat not blowing hot now, will need to investigate)
• Added heatsink to LED flasher resistors.
• Sorted out vacuum lines from intake manifold. (Dedicated vac line to ECU)
  • Ran vacuum line to ECU through grommet on driver's side.
• Deleted throttle body coolant loop
• Cleaned/degreased/painted removable core support
• Cleaned & mounted intake manifold.
• Test fit M42 radiator & made radiator hoses. (Is there a better/OEM option for these hoses?)
• Heat wrapped custom harness & tucked behind motor.
• Wired and plumbed engine.
• Calibrated Wideband O2 sensor.
• Started. Tuned idle fueling and ICV duty, bled coolant, filled power steering res.
• Fixed coolant leak inside car at heater core.

I found my idle fueling to be quite different then when the motor was on the wood blocks. I'm sure now that the 3/2 way valve (E36 FPR) was not working previously, and needs the +12v I've now supplied to function properly.
Would like to get a fuel pressure gauge mounted on the rail for reference.

Also, I had to give the brake booster a few love taps with a hammer to clear the intake manifold. Hopefully I didn't damage anything. STILL waiting on my 2002 brake resovoir, so I can't bleed/test the brakes.

[Panici]

Good job on the exhaust. Don't be too hard on yourself about the welds, I have seen a lot worse. As long as they don't leak you are golden for a NA setup.

I tested them out today, and no leaks that I could hear!

Nobody can see them when you blow past at 140mph

Pretty sure they aren't visible unless you shine a flashlight down beside the motor. Good luck doing that at 140mph!

[econti]

Nobody can see them when you blow past at 140mph

[rzerob]

Good job on the exhaust. Don't be too hard on yourself about the welds, I have seen a lot worse. As long as they don't leak you are golden for a NA setup.

[Panici]

Exhaust Fabricated, Power Steering Installed


Cut up both the E30 and E36 exhaust, and made it work with the stainless OBD2 manifolds.
This was my first time doing extensive exhaust fab. It isn't pretty, but it is functional and free!
Could have made it look nicer if I prepped the surface and wasn't filling large gaps in my pieces.


Also knocked out one stud on the front manifold for clearance. Had to settle for trimming the other two, as my vice broke in half!
Finished the exhaust by installing a bung for the wideband O2 sensor.


Installed the Power Steering lines & Reservoir. Front line is touching the oil pan.
Installed VDO oil pressure sender (waiting on fittings to improve that AN line), engine bay VDO gauge wiring.

[Panici]

Cruise Control Relocate, Motor Mounts, Nixed DSSR

• Removed the ABS computer under the dash.
• Relocated the cruise control actuator under the dash. Ran the cable through the old cruise wiring grommet.
  • Will shorten this cable and use the new throttle body compatible end from the E36 cruise control.
• Made a new mounting plate for the LED signal bulb resistors under the dash.
  • These previously used the ABS case as a heatsink.
  • I'll likely add a PC heatsink to the backside of the mounting plate, as these resistors dump a lot of heat with the hazards running!

Upon trying to mount up the shifter linkage, I found the trans sitting significantly to one side of the tunnel.
Realized I put the E28 motor mounts in backwards (used the inside holes to mount).
I was able to lift one side of the motor at a time with the engine crane, and rotate the mounts.
I had to also slightly trim the garagastic G260 crossmember to get proper fclearance.

I found the garagastic 10 degree twist DSSR doesn't work with the selector joint I have on the car. Easy enough to cut and weld the original selector rod.
Finished up the day by installing the driveshaft, underbody panels, and clutch slave hose.

[Panici]

Hidden Wonders Under The Intake Manifold Pt. 1

• Shortened the throttle cable.
  • Thought I had the correct cable for the swap, but I bought it over a year ago and didn't keep the documentation.
  • This cable was long enough to reach the alternator before it was modified!
• Figured out how the E34 oil level sensor works, and added wiring to my harness to accommodate.
  • This fixes the "Oil Level" Check Panel light!
• Relocated the relay box to the driver's side frame rail.
• Installed a falkmfg.com A/C delete plug. (Cleaned up the extra sealant after the picture)
• Modified the power steering reservoir bracket to fit better in the reduced space.
• Installed the Chase Bays Brake Line Relocation Kit.
  • Used thread adapters from "Brake Hoses Unlimited" on eBay. Details in image attached to this post.
  • Happy to report it looks like it will work with the X3 booster & master cyl.
  • Waiting to tighten up the connections at the booster until after everything else in that area is sorted.
• Installed the charcoal canister.
• Made a bracket for the E36 3/2-way valve (FPR).
  • Turns out this also needs +12v to activate the solenoid valve. Explains why my fuel pump sounded mad when I test fired the other day.
  • Added this wiring to my harness to power up with the Fuel Injectors.