Project Armo "330i" M-tech 1

[rzerob]

Do a smoke test to pin point your vacuum leak. With your capabilities you should have no issues making a smoke tester.

[Skarpa]

Once again, I am impressed. I've fantasized about building a rig like this, never did it though. Well executed! Can't wait to see this in the e30 and ripping

Thanks! Running the engine in a test rig was a fun little project that I've been thinking about in the past and got a chance to try out now. And immediately the work paid off as I possibly need to remove the plenum from the engine to sort out the idle issue. Will be a lot easier than in a car.

[gnmzl]

Once again, I am impressed. I've fantasized about building a rig like this, never did it though. Well executed! Can't wait to see this in the e30 and ripping

[Skarpa]

I continued work on the motor. I made a bracket for the O2 sensor plugs. We'll seeif they fit there or foul with the firewall.




I didn't know that the O2 sensors have different plugs depending on the model year and of course all my O2 sensors had the wrong plugs but my brother went through his shop and found a couple of sensors with the right connector. I addition I have plenty of sensor with the wrong connector but the connectors should be interchangeable with the correct tool for separating the pins. The O2 sensors are a bit cramped because I wanted to locate the sensors, flexible joint and the exhaust system connections all in the "downpipe" portion of the headers to avoid having anything under the car that might catch rocks, curb edges etc. I made heat shields to protect the O2 sensor cables where they are closest to the other header.


This was the limit how much I could do with the engine in the engine stand. Installing the flywheel, clutch, gearbox and other stuff I needed to get the engine off the stand. I made a rig for the engine using a pallet.



I also needed to come up with a lifting beam that allows lifting the engine without taking off the ITBs.


My plan was to attach everything that I needed for test running the engine. In case I find something I need to work on it's a lot easier to do now than when the engine is in the car.




Gas tank:








All the classic luxury cars have hardwood veneer dashboards, dont they? I did the bare minimum of chassis electrics to run the engine properly. That included the ignition switch, start button, oil pressure light, charge trigger wire with the warning light and the fuel pump. I removed the spark plugs and disconnected the fuel pump to make it easier for the starter to turn the engine and ran it until I had oil pressure. Then I poured E85 in the tank and ran the fuel pump until I had pressure on the injectors and most of the air was rid of the injector manifold. The exciting moment dawned.

https://youtu.be/W_X9G-saGhE

The engine started at once and ran fairly smoothly but there's something wrong with the idle. It start's ok but then the revs start rising rapidly after a short moment. My laptop stopped working recently and I didn't find the correct driver for my inspection cable to use it on another laptop so I didn't have the access to fault codes or the live data. But I need to check them as soon as I'm able and also check the throttle flaps, possible leaks on the intake side and the operation of the ICV.

[Skarpa]

PS. Here's the deadline for the project:

[jeenyus]

Your welds still look fantastic and it was incredibly motivating to see the progression through the build. Thanks again for sharing. Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

[Skarpa]

That nervous feeling is a good feeling though! It means you're outside your comfort zone and probably learning something. This build has been extremely motivational and I appreciate you sharing it with the forum. I've been curious as well, some of your welds are FLUX welds, aren't they? they can't all be MIG with some of the splatter left behind on them.
'

This whole project has been all about stepping out of comfort zone and learning things since I had zero experience in bodywork, welding, machining, rebuilding diffs and engines etc. before starting. I like learning stuff and I enjoyed building the engine but it's a bit different than other work because pretty much everywhere else it's easy to assess your work as you go by and redo something if it doesn't pass the inspection. Of course I did the same when building the engine but still you don't get the final peace of mind until the car runs and drives. It's also the single most expensive part of the build even though my engine is fairly budget setup.

Bodywork is all mig welds with solid wire. Exhaust was tacked together with flux core stainless wire and then tig welded. Otherwise all the pipework is tig welded. My current mig isn't that great and I' ve had problems with it, especially when needing to weld overhead. Could be part of the reason. The mig I used earlier, when I was still sharing a shop with workmates in a different town was lightyears better (and more expensive) than my current one.

[jeenyus]

All in all I'm happy with how the engine turned out. I'm satisfied with the modifications I made both functionally and aesthetically. Time will tell how it actually works. I'm excited and slightly nervous to see that since this is the first engine I've built.

That nervous feeling is a good feeling though! It means you're outside your comfort zone and probably learning something. This build has been extremely motivational and I appreciate you sharing it with the forum. I've been curious as well, some of your welds are FLUX welds, aren't they? they can't all be MIG with some of the splatter left behind on them.
'

[Skarpa]

Great update. Chassis is really coming along and I bet you can't wait to get it into paint....and nice touch with the valve cover.


MJ

Thanks! I'm indeed anxious to get the body painted. I like sheetmetal work and I Iike assembly stuff but the various painting and prepping jobs are not my favorite. Although I quite like applying seam sealer. It's somehow relaxing and satisfying.

EDIT: Actually, why hide it - I really, really like applying seam sealer

If you know what I mean

All in all I'm happy with how the engine turned out. I'm satisfied with the modifications I made both functionally and aesthetically. Time will tell how it actually works. I'm excited and slightly nervous to see that since this is the first engine I've built.

[mjweimer]

Great update. Chassis is really coming along and I bet you can't wait to get it into paint....and nice touch with the valve cover.


MJ

[Skarpa]

A few months have passed since the last update. Progress has been somewhat slow but still there. I got the ITBs and the plenum finally installed. The breather hose connector on the plenum required some modification since I'm using a bit larger hose.





It starts to look like an engine. There wasn't room for the O2 sensor connectors in the original location so I cut open the rear end of the wire housing and brought out the connectors that way. I think I'll need to make a holder for those.



The body is almost ready with seam sealer. There's still a bit of work left in the engine bay and the trunk but not too much.

[Skarpa]

Now the body is primered in all the areas that I've worked on and is ready for seam sealer. It was surprisingly big job and I used a good chunk of my summer holiday on that even though I'd already primered most of the underside before. It would have made sense to media blast and primer the whole body in the beginning of the project.











Of course the shop has such great surroundings that it's not a bad place to spend your holiday:


Ps. Take care and mind the sharp edges while under the car.

[Skarpa]

I was going to run the valve cover breather hose straight down from the connector, behind the vanos solenoid but I came to conclusion that even though it would be possible, it's just too cramped up with the vanos hose and wiring. So I had to think of something else:





I turned a couple of other parts as well in lathe. I'm getting the hang of this.







However I didn't end up using the reducing double hose connector thingy. There just wasn't enough room for it. I pushed a short length of steel pipe inside the thinner hose to keep it from collapsing and tightened the bigger hose over it with a hose clamp. There's no fear if it wiggling lose since the oil separator or the hoses have absolutely zero room to wiggle. I threaded the wiring harness on the engine and swapped the coolant temperature connector for the instrument cluster to one suitable for E30 sensor. For the M52TU /M54 crank position sensor I got a factory-made mini wire loom from Pazi 88. You just plug it to existing connectors and it robs the 12V power from the vanos solenoid.

I got the ancillary belts in as well. Earlier I was missing the idler pulley at the alternator bracket and without it the belt was too long. I guess the early M52s came without that idler but it's better to have it.


There's not too much left to do before I can wire the engine to makeshift test rig and see if it starts.

[Skarpa]

Good work, man! You make it look like a breeze, but we know the work that hides behind those tweaks.
Thank you for sharing and keep going at it. Car is gonna be sweet!

Thanks!

[gnmzl]

Good work, man! You make it look like a breeze, but we know the work that hides behind those tweaks.
Thank you for sharing and keep going at it. Car is gonna be sweet!