1983 Henna Red 323i

[kdevitt]

Very quick update - managed to pick up the drivers seat from Dave yesterday, so gives a chance for a good comparison with the completed passenger seat.



Also got the rocker cover collected from Tallaght Powder Coating yesterday. They weren't able to sand down the raised sections cleanly because some of the mounts got in the way, so the whole thing was done in one colour. I don't have pics - but it does look great. If I decide I really want the highlighted sections redone I'll probably paint them by hand and clear coat over them.

Not much left on the swap itself now at this stage otherwise.

[Court M3]

This is coming out great. Can't wait to see it finished.

[Ray Smoodiver]

That leather, wow!

Any chance you'd share a step-by-step?

[kdevitt]

That leather, wow!

Any chance you'd share a step-by-step?

Will do one up when I do the drivers seat!

[CorvallisBMW]

Cool! Those seats look great.

[kdevitt]

Few more minor updates from today - engine is back out again to get a few bits finished off.

New OEM brake and clutch lines fitted -



Steering linkage ground down slightly for some additional clearance -



Bit of grinding on the inlet manifold too -



New ATE clutch slave cylinder added -



Shaved the exhaust manifold flange for more clearance over the steering linkage -



Dave also spent some time working out some of the wiring. Lots of tricky stuff with the early body loom and the auto gearbox has to be bypassed also and get tach signal and fuel cons to the clocks. Lots of trawling through wiring diagrams.

[kdevitt]

Oil filter housing now fitted - looks amazing.



And more wiring...



The tach signal and the mpg cons goes straight to the clocks in the early car and not through the c101 plug. So had to find the correct pins from the ecu to connect up



C103 plug soldered on...

[kdevitt]

Good progress today. Loom adapter sorted and soldered -





Auto gearbox bypass -



Coolant bottle bracket removed to fit airbox -



Engine back in - now complete with airbox and oil filter housing.



Bit of room to spare with the servo -



And loads of space between the steering linkage and exhaust manifold - approx 12mm which mightn't be obvious from the photos

[kdevitt]

New loom is complete and passed through the bulkhead - Dave had to die grind it a bit to get everything through





Started on the hoses to the heater matrix. Changed of plan from using a tee piece and instead he is going to use a facelift M20 hose at the back and an M30 at the front. Ordered a joiner from ebay that will hopefully work.



Here are the bits -



Everything that goes back on needs a thorough cleaning - fresh rocker cover will finish it off nicely



This photo gives a good idea of the steering link clearance -



New gearbox mount and rubbers in place -



Collection of mostly new and used gear linkage parts ready to go in -



And now I'm all ready for a knob - shift lever is an E46 M3 one



Power steering pump cleaned up -



Couldn't wait any longer - Dave wanted to know if we had oil pressure!



50psi when cranking on the starter is very impressive (so I've been told! :D)



Spark plug leads cleaned up and back on -



Test drive won't be too far off at this rate!

[CorvallisBMW]

Nice work!

[kdevitt]

Nice to have a pretty major update today -

Few more parts ordered, thankfully most of the parts ordering is complete now. Needed a new temp sender for clocks - single pin as opposed to double pin used in E34.





Dave wasn't totally happy with the positioning of the gear lever -



So a bit of cutting and welding required - took about 15mm out -



Sitting much more central now -



Dave also shortened the rod to have the lever sitting in the right place in neutral



Had to wire up a plug for the reverse lights. Back to the wiring diagrams again -



Looks great now - and also means the new lever and gaiter are in place. Bought this from BMW a while back - its the single piece lever and gaiter.



Had a problem where my shell had no tangs for the back gear linkage mount. Dave cut a lump out of a shell he had -



Fitted in place with some rivets -





Powersteering pump fitted -



Got a clutch reservoir bracket



Cleaned up and painted -



New bottle in place -



Coil has been relocated now too



Servo vacuum pipes made up and fitted -



Ran a new cable in to power the relays which are normally in the engine bay in an E30 but I put them under the dash for tidiness





Not a whole lot left to do now - even turned over at the first attempt

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DWKeN_UsT0

[lukeADE335i]

Not a whole lot left to do now - even turned over at the first attempt

Great work! It's funny how when you wire them up properly they just fire up right away. When I did my swap, I resisted turning the motor over until everything was done - then hit the key with open headers & it started first kick (even though the engine had sat for 3 years prior to fitting it to the car!)

Very satisfying. I thought there was no way it was going to start.

[badnerd]

dude...this thing is as sexy as Fuuuuuuuuuuukkkkkkkk... love all that you have done from start....and this thing just keeps getting better and better...

any update on wheels? with the torque of that motor ure gonna need a wider tire to get traction. if it stays as is... i guarantee you 1st thru 4th gears will be of no use once u mash that hammer pedal

[kdevitt]

Am looking at putting in a 3,25 diff, so hoping it shouldn't be too bad with that. Ideally want to keep the 15s, would consider genuine 16 inch alpinas but the staggered sets are rare - and expensive!

[kdevitt]

Pipe joiner arrived from eBay -



All the water pipes were made up and fitted -



Temperature switch for the electric fan was fitted -



Engine was then started up and run up to operating temperature - all gauges working fine now too



Angle torqued the head bolts -



New rocker cover fitted up -



Airbox back on then - Dave still needs to make up a bracket for this.



Turns out a brand new airbox from BMW is reasonable enough - so thats gone onto the shopping list.