The Journey of Linda and Friends - the M20b31 Lives

[sampayne]

Mine was a lost cause. I'm going to take pics and reach out to them this week.

The whole scraper hung off the back of the motor so far it hit the flywheel. And the oil pump wouldn't bolt on over it because they didn't leave enough space for it. For a crank scraper, a part inside your engine that will be a PITA to remove once your motor is in, I expected a lot more.

That's a bummer. You would think they would test fit something like that. Good luck.

[zwill23]

Man, I had the exact same problem with my scraper from garagistic. Fitment was very poor, I attempted to install it with the engine still in the car... needless to say, I opted to not use mine as well.

Your car is coming along great!!

[AWDBOB]

That's a bummer. You would think they would test fit something like that. Good luck.

Man, I had the exact same problem with my scraper from garagistic. Fitment was very poor, I attempted to install it with the engine still in the car... needless to say, I opted to not use mine as well.

Your car is coming along great!!

Yeah, I imagined others had issues as well- did you return yours?

And thanks man!




Spoiler alert...........did someone say E30M3 Superlite big brake kit? I wonder if there are E30M3 strut housings in the mail too...?

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr

[wworm]

whaaat! does this mean 5 lug swap is under way? You just got those wheels filled and drilled though!

[AWDBOB]

whaaat! does this mean 5 lug swap is under way? You just got those wheels filled and drilled though!

I'm not going to swap to the M3 setup for a while, I'm just going to build it on the side and throw it at some point. Two deals popped up in the same week for things that I likely won't have the chance to buy again so I jumped on it!


In other news, I have:

spark
fuel

but still....

NO START


I've checked everything i can think to check, swapped ECUs, etc. The car wants to start but won't catch. Spark is very strong. Good pressure at the rail, regulator working properly.

So, I pulled the plugs and only cylinders 3 and 5 are getting fuel. 1,2,4,6 are bone dry. Cyl 3,5 are soaked.

I've never heard of something like that outside of an ECU related incident. Swapping ECU produced the same results. I'm mildly stumped. Would a relay randomly go bad and cause only injectors 3 and 5 to fire?

[wworm]

bunk fuel injectors? its rare but its happened

[mjweimer]

Hello Bobbie,

Catching up on your thread, awesome progress so far and the engine build turned out really well. Looks at home in that clean engine bay.

I think wworm is onto something here....

I'm going to dig deep into my brain here.... From what I remember Motronic 1.3 (and I believe 1.1) will pulse all 6 injectors during cold start and then once engine speed is over 600rpm and and the ECU "see's" an ignition pulse from the #6 plug wire the car will then batch pulse the injectors in groups; 1,3 & 5, and 2,4 & 6.

The ECU gets its signal from the #6 plug wire where a small coil is wrapped around the plug wire near the distributor. If it never see's the signal, it will continue to pulse all 6 injectors together (a fail-safe so the car still runs).

If you have good fuel pressure all the injectors should be wet from trying to pulse at cold start.

I have had experience with injectors freezing up during storage - even freshly cleaned and serviced parts.

If it were me, I would pull the injectors and pulse each of them individually with a 9V battery. They should click as the solenoid opens. I have had success tapping on the side of the injectors lightly, then applying voltage to get them working again. The 9V battery has a low current capability and there is low risk of damaging the injectors - do not use a bigger battery with high current capability.



I also have to ask whether you have grounded the engine block to the chassis? Weird things happen when there is not a good ground path.

This may or may not help but it would at least allow you to eliminate one failure mode. Since you have swapped DME's, verified fuel pressure and spark, this work seems like a logical next step.

MJ

I'm not going to swap to the M3 setup for a while, I'm just going to build it on the side and throw it at some point. Two deals popped up in the same week for things that I likely won't have the chance to buy again so I jumped on it!


In other news, I have:

spark
fuel

but still....

NO START


I've checked everything i can think to check, swapped ECUs, etc. The car wants to start but won't catch. Spark is very strong. Good pressure at the rail, regulator working properly.

So, I pulled the plugs and only cylinders 3 and 5 are getting fuel. 1,2,4,6 are bone dry. Cyl 3,5 are soaked.

I've never heard of something like that outside of an ECU related incident. Swapping ECU produced the same results. I'm mildly stumped. Would a relay randomly go bad and cause only injectors 3 and 5 to fire?

[AWDBOB]

bunk fuel injectors? its rare but its happened

Hello Bobbie,

Catching up on your thread, awesome progress so far and the engine build turned out really well. Looks at home in that clean engine bay.

I think wworm is onto something here....

I'm going to dig deep into my brain here.... From what I remember Motronic 1.3 (and I believe 1.1) will pulse all 6 injectors during cold start and then once engine speed is over 600rpm and and the ECU "see's" an ignition pulse from the #6 plug wire the car will then batch pulse the injectors in groups; 1,3 & 5, and 2,4 & 6.

The ECU gets its signal from the #6 plug wire where a small coil is wrapped around the plug wire near the distributor. If it never see's the signal, it will continue to pulse all 6 injectors together (a fail-safe so the car still runs).

If you have good fuel pressure all the injectors should be wet from trying to pulse at cold start.

I have had experience with injectors freezing up during storage - even freshly cleaned and serviced parts.

If it were me, I would pull the injectors and pulse each of them individually with a 9V battery. They should click as the solenoid opens. I have had success tapping on the side of the injectors lightly, then applying voltage to get them working again. The 9V battery has a low current capability and there is low risk of damaging the injectors - do not use a bigger battery with high current capability.

I also have to ask whether you have grounded the engine block to the chassis? Weird things happen when there is not a good ground path.

This may or may not help but it would at least allow you to eliminate one failure mode. Since you have swapped DME's, verified fuel pressure and spark, this work seems like a logical next step.

MJ

Matt-

Thank you!

I think you guys are onto something! My research led me to the same bank of knowledge, which is why it was so odd to see only two wet plugs out of the bunch.

Every ground is in place except for the hood ground, and I even tested grounding the ECU by bolting it in place vs letting it hang.


I pulled the injector harness off to check voltage and figured, "why not swap this harness with one off of an iX".

Sure enough, swapped injector harnesses and it fired over after a few cranks!

Not sure how my old harness got damaged, but it was clearly not functioning properly.

Thanks for all the help/ideas- I'm going to start putting things back together now!

[ForcedFirebird]

Matt-

Thank you!

I think you guys are onto something! My research led me to the same bank of knowledge, which is why it was so odd to see only two wet plugs out of the bunch.

Every ground is in place except for the hood ground, and I even tested grounding the ECU by bolting it in place vs letting it hang.


I pulled the injector harness off to check voltage and figured, "why not swap this harness with one off of an iX".

Sure enough, swapped injector harnesses and it fired over after a few cranks!

Not sure how my old harness got damaged, but it was clearly not functioning properly.

Thanks for all the help/ideas- I'm going to start putting things back together now!

Recently had a car in the shop that had a similar issue. After peeling the boot back off the round connector, the wires were broken right where they are crimped in the pins. Everything appeared to be ok, but wasn't passing continuity tests.

[AWDBOB]

Recently had a car in the shop that had a similar issue. After peeling the boot back off the round connector, the wires were broken right where they are crimped in the pins. Everything appeared to be ok, but wasn't passing continuity tests.

So odd- this harness was pulled from the car running and just sat on a shelf for two years. Perhaps there was some corrosion above the plug. I'm glad it's fixed though!

Also, if anyone has any leads on potential rotors for this BBK, let me know. I've done a ton of research on the brake kit I purchased and found out that it was a one off done for someone, and the rotors don't have any part numbers that generate any leads.

Four piston Wilwood Superlite calipers front and rear.

Front rotor: 314x27mm
Rear rotor: 311x25mm

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr

[fight4life28]

The things I've gotten garagistic in past have been a bust. Not even worth the savings or missing or badly cut outs of steel. steel reinforcements, Not even matching bolts with diff lowering kit, Dssr had to trim to make it fit... Not worth it if I am looking for something to work right outside of box. Don't mean to trash talk there business but that's all I've gotten in past few orders. The shifter bushings and shifting bushing and hold made together were good but everything else needed alittle love and care made by them. Glad your getting this car closer to being on the road.

[wworm]

^The only issue I've had with them was with their diff studs having non standard/non consistent allen head sockets...ended up rounding one of them out trying to torque it to spec in the diff. Had to use a mix of SAE and metric wrenches to get them all in. But it was enough to question a few things...

Bob, are you going to be using e30 m3 hubs for this bbk?

[AWDBOB]

The things I've gotten garagistic in past have been a bust. Not even worth the savings or missing or badly cut outs of steel. steel reinforcements, Not even matching bolts with diff lowering kit, Dssr had to trim to make it fit... Not worth it if I am looking for something to work right outside of box. Don't mean to trash talk there business but that's all I've gotten in past few orders. The shifter bushings and shifting bushing and hold made together were good but everything else needed alittle love and care made by them. Glad your getting this car closer to being on the road.

^The only issue I've had with them was with their diff studs having non standard/non consistent allen head sockets...ended up rounding one of them out trying to torque it to spec in the diff. Had to use a mix of SAE and metric wrenches to get them all in. But it was enough to question a few things...

Bob, are you going to be using e30 m3 hubs for this bbk?

I sent them an email, I'll see what they say. I've ordered so many things from them in the past, this is the first fitment issue I've had. I'm sure they'll take care of it.

And yes! I have E30M3 front strut housings/knuckles/hubs, as well as E30M3 rear hubs/bearings. I bought the set that just popped up last week in the classifieds. The one housing is going to need a lot of work but for all the parts it came with it was more than worth what I paid.

[wworm]

weird that that front rotor is only 1mm off e36m3 specs....might still work?

back rotors significantly thicker though at +7mm. Those rear ones are some thiccbois.

[AWDBOB]

weird that that front rotor is only 1mm off e36m3 specs....might still work?

back rotors significantly thicker though at +7mm. Those rear ones are some thiccbois.

Yeah I know it- I got excited when I saw E36M3 rotor sizes, but the offset is what makes them different. "They thicc in the back" - some rapper