1995 e34 540i/6 *m60b44* - Return to Some Kind of Glory

[marshallnoise]

Nice work!

Trying!

[marshallnoise]

And she really looks like a motor now!

I was listening to the Padres on the radio and just got after it.

Installed the knock sensors. Woot.
IMG_20160809_182249852_zpsj54y1hqj by Paul Abbott, on Flickr

Then the coolant crossover pipes.
IMG_20160809_182356246_zpsr5qois9e by Paul Abbott, on Flickr

Then the crank position sensor.
IMG_20160809_183255647_zpskdvzspgd by Paul Abbott, on Flickr

Then to the upper left is the cam position sensor.
IMG_20160809_183740739_zpsvgxvqppe by Paul Abbott, on Flickr

Water pump cleaned up and put back on.
IMG_20160809_191012396_zpskvr1cjbe by Paul Abbott, on Flickr

Another higher shot.
IMG_20160809_191015186_zps7kv8vgcu by Paul Abbott, on Flickr

Thermostat and housing installed. I think its a 95c unit. IDGAF at this point.
IMG_20160809_191949806_zpsops6gycj by Paul Abbott, on Flickr

Crank pulley.
IMG_20160809_192650567_zpstou7cikj by Paul Abbott, on Flickr

NOTE: PAUL, YOU MUST USE AN IMPACT ON THE JESUS BOLT BEFORE STARTING THE ENGINE!!!

And the intake cleaned up and installed.
IMG_20160809_200030374_zpsk8qcbbqu by Paul Abbott, on Flickr

Another note: PAUL, SLIDE ON THE PCV TUBE!!!

[marshallnoise]

Got some work done over the past few days.

• Slid the PCV tube on
• Patched up wiring harness with fresh electrical tape and zip ties to make sure the crap doesn't unravel
• Re-routed the power cable between the starter and alternator from under the intake to around the intake
• Bounced the alternator cable up to the driver side valve cover like on e38s
• Spliced and added harness plug disconnect to small alternator wire
• Spliced and added harness plug (2 in, 2 out) for starter solenoid
• Banged out sheared off exhaust studs
• Alternator installed

Whats left...ummmm

• Re-rout or clean up power steering hoses
• Add power steering cooler
• Install power steering pump
• Get engine off stand and install pilot bearing, flywheel and clutch
• Install motor
• Wire it up
• Skids?

Oh and I got a new project.

[marshallnoise]

Inch by inch.

Couple days ago (Monday I think), I froze my new FAG pilot bearing and got it installed into the engine.

IMG_20160815_190411783_zpsey1wrev5 by Paul Abbott, on Flickr

IMG_20160815_190549546_zpsm2ltzssm by Paul Abbott, on Flickr

Then yesterday I went out and got rid of the remainder of the original power steering cooler lines to make room for my little radiator thing. Still not 100% sure where it is going to be mounted, but at least I cleared the area for lines when I am ready to plumb it up.

IMG_20160817_182725456_zpserkq9qf7 by Paul Abbott, on Flickr

Its clearly not going here:
IMG_20160817_182742123_zpsidmjpqoy by Paul Abbott, on Flickr

This crap got sawzalled out.
IMG_20160817_182922737_zpstm7cox9d by Paul Abbott, on Flickr

Removed plumbing and mess created.
IMG_20160817_183238019_zpsqtwzifnm by Paul Abbott, on Flickr

I cleaned that up a bit and decided to move my attention to the clutch. I some how managed to lose the pictures of the flywheel going on. But clearly it has to be installed before the clutch.
IMG_20160817_190608816_zpsuh53ajm0 by Paul Abbott, on Flickr

I grabbed my throw-out bearing off the input shaft and need to see how much it interfaces with the pressure plate. If the fingers are barely touching, I will probably spring for a new clutch and pressure plate. I am going reuse my flywheel though.

I need to get jamming on this though. Because this awaits:
IMG_20160821_162800402_zpsumvdcwlz by Paul Abbott, on Flickr

[TimKninja]

Love the progress, happy you decided to keep at it. sometimes I hate my E34 and sometimes I love it, right now I love it because its my only car with working A/C, lol.

[marshallnoise]

Love the progress, happy you decided to keep at it. sometimes I hate my E34 and sometimes I love it, right now I love it because its my only car with working A/C, lol.

Thanks for the encouragement. It is appreciated.

FYI, I did tighten the Jesus Bolt and the flywheel bolts with the impact gun. So those are good to go.

I am trying to get a friend to come over on Monday evening and see if we can stab the bastard in. The only thing I have left to do is to put on one of the power steering lines that bolt to the block. Took a day to find the big ass banjo bolt that secured it. So far, I am only missing one bolt on the whole thing. Pretty proud of that.

[marshallnoise]

The stupidity of previous owners knows no end.

IMG_20160821_162803789_zps10ana4zj by Paul Abbott, on Flickr

But with the help of this guy (Mike):
IMG_20160821_180140409_zpsugao1ait by Paul Abbott, on Flickr

The motor is in.
IMG_20160821_180134559_HDR_zpsgetkmyz4 by Paul Abbott, on Flickr

I need to hook up a lot of stuff. Biggest thing I am worried about is no clutch pedal. Goes straight to the floor. Off to google.

[marshallnoise]

Alright. Googling the clutch to the floor condition was inconclusive due to the preceding events. But all of them pointed to a slave cylinder failure. That being said, I got home and was pleasantly surprised to see the clutch was up in the normal position. I pumped it about 20 times and it was getting better and better with the ferocity it would return. No way to tell if it is actually good until it runs.

I ran to Walmart to pick up another car cover for the 540i because the one I bought just a few months earlier got killed by UV. It was literally tearing apart. Whatever.

When I got back, I decided to attach the hood back on so I could shut it properly. Spent about 15 minutes hooking up various wires and stuff. I still need to put on the remaining bell-housing bolts, starter bolts and run the harness the remainder of the way. Biggest issue is that I don't fit under the car anymore. And spiders have returned.

/first world problems

[marshallnoise]

Got the AC compressor bolted up. Installed the ground strap too. And I finished installing the bell house bolts and the starter. Also plugged in some more junk. Going to dormant for the next week on the project though. Other stuff on the agenda.

In automotive related news, a friend of mine is giving me an Ls1 block complete with crank, caps, pistons and stuff. Catch is that it threw one of the rods. But he is a master aluminum welder and he is going to fix it for me. Not the foggiest idea what I am going to do with it. But, rad!

Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk

[unrulygrace]

So close! Excited for you brother!

[marshallnoise]

So close! Excited for you brother!

Thanks Jason! I did a bit more yesterday too. Thursday I should be able to get oil in it, pull fuses for the fuel pump and crank it over to get oil pressure up before I run it for the first time.

[marshallnoise]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OK4hdg_O2HA

Awe yeah!!! It's alive!

[efficient]

Cool. Nice update

[marshallnoise]

Oh. It's fucking fast now. Holy crap.

[marshallnoise]

I spent all day yesterday getting the remainder of the car put together enough for a test run.

Here is what I did:

• Installed exhaust from headers back with new m8x25 bolts and nuts
• Wired up O2 sensors and reverse switch.
• Ran new power steering low pressure hoses to a little radiator I have from the rear heat of my 4Runner
• Install the cooling hoses and radiator
• Top up power steering fluid and coolant
• Get up to operating temp (never went over and bled very easy)
• Flogged the shit out of it on a test drive. Freaking wow.

Initial problems to solve after test drive:

• Power steering box and pump are whining like crazy; pretty sure the radiator is too restrictive. I am going to bypass the power steering radiator to see if that solves the issue.
• I have an oil leak around the oil pan. I need an OEM gasket for the lower oil pan. Everything else is bone dry.

Things I have to do before daily driving it:

• Solve the above
• Get it registered in my name completely
• Get it insured
• Get muffler installed
• Smog it
• Finish putting back the front bumper and fogs

Funny thing about the exhaust situation. So if you remember a while back, I cut off the muffler because the mount had broken anyway and it was just dangling and bouncing everywhere. I commented that the bastard was stupid loud. Well, it had never occurred to me, but it turns out that one of the previous owners replaced the resonators with straight pipe. When I cut off the muffler, I effectively had no exhaust except the catalytic converters. That explains it.