1983 Henna Red 323i

[kdevitt]

Electric fan and some tidying done today -

There was a spare relay base in the fuse box so decided to use that instead of having an untidy relay in behind the headlights.



Got an old fuse box to rob the connectors for the relay and fuse 18 that is going to be used for fan power





Made up a loom to connect to fuse box,fan and temp switch in rad, this was wired into the fuse box.



Fan connection from loom



New relay in place, fuse 18 is for fan power





Reused some old engine connectors to keep it factory looking



Fan in place and is working fine. Used a 91 deg temp sensor though, so the temp gauge is at 3/4 before it kicks in, so am going to replace with an 80 deg one.



Made up a bracket for the airbox - will be tidied up when the car is in for its respray



Bit of cleaning done - not sure I need that new airbox after all.

[ThatOneEuroE30]

This thing is amazing. What is that bottle for that sits in front of the valve cover?

[kdevitt]

This thing is amazing. What is that bottle for that sits in front of the valve cover?

Do you mean the one at the top of this pic?

[ThatOneEuroE30]

Do you mean the one at the top of this pic?

Yea that one never seen one before

[kdevitt]

Ah ok - its the expansion bottle for the clutch fluid.

[ThatOneEuroE30]

Ah ok - its the expansion bottle for the clutch fluid.

say what I didnt know there was an expansion bottle is it aftermarket? is it on all motors?

[kronus]

it's on right hand drive e30s

[ThatOneEuroE30]

it's on right hand drive e30s

lol good that confused the shit out of me I though i had more parts to buy

[kdevitt]

Most of the big work is done now - so lots of small bits to do.

Dave flushed out the brake fluid and refilled. It appears someone had put cider in there -



Extended the wiring to exp tank level sensor as mine was on the other side



New clutch pipe collected - its the small bits like this that drive the cost up. Small bits like this, and EUR500 oil pumps.



Finally, the engine wiring as tidied up and the diagnostics plug was mounted.

[kdevitt]

Fitted up the ecu and tidied all the wiring under the dash



All back in place -



Centre console all back in - expecting a drive next week.

[kdevitt]

That leather, wow!

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

As requested :)

First up is the side by side of a finished seat and the seat I'm about to do -



Seat was generally ok - very shiny and with lots of cracking though.



First step is to fill the cracks - this filler feels like pva glue. I'd imagine they're similar in chemical makeup, they both remain pretty flexible once dry, however this stuff sands back nicely.



Not too much required on this seat - mainly the bolsters and thigh support. There were some deep scratches as well though.



You need to remove as much excess as possible while making sure the filler goes into the cracks.



This is then all sanded back and I cleaned the seat thoroughly at this stage, you don't want any silicon type products left on the seat or the paint will react.





Have skipped the part where I took the seat apart - you probably all know how to do that at this stage.

This is the dye I've been using - its waterbased. Needs some very slight dilution when its being sprayed.



Air brush is the weapon of choice these days.



Seat ready for first coat -



Two coats in - I dry the dye with a hair drier after spraying it which speeds up the process nicely.



Six coats! Lighting wasn't great but you get the idea. This still needs three coats of sealant. Will update once done - sealants are available from matt to gloss. This will get matt.



And thats its really - plenty of time required. I do find black to be the most hassle to do - it tends to show blemishes more than other colours (especially lighter ones).

[kdevitt]

It really is becoming a case of tidying up some bits and wrapping the whole thing up now -

A new centre bearing and guibo arrived during the week - more expensive than expected but that's par for the course at this stage. I managed to get an E36 328i prop second hand a week or two back, as luck would have it, the seller lives close to Dave and was able to drop it in.

Centre bearing fitted to the prop -



New pilot bearing fitted. Shows you how things are with this build - have absolutely no recollection of buying that part.



Guibo in place - same part is used on a number of models. Exact same between E34 535i and E36 328i - works out nicely given the box / prop combo.



Prop was fitted up and is perfect. Dave also did some tidying on the headlight wiring - some of this is unfortunately my handywork. In my defence... ok theres no defence.



All soldered up and tesa taped -



Last bits now is to get an exhaust in place. I do plan on going for some BTB kit at a later stage, so the exhaust solution isn't a final one. Using a standard M20 downpipe to mate to the M30 bits, a scorpion stainless steel centre silence, and retaining my Eisenmann rear silencer.

Also need to pick up a medium case diff - preferably 3,46 although looks like a 3,25 is more common. Diff on it is rare enough - small case 3,25 LSD, but it won't last long with the M30 torque.

[kingston]

Soooo close now!!

[kdevitt]

Getting very close now - needed to reduce a pipe down to allow the M20 exhaust my my car to sleeve snugly into the M30 downpipe section -



Exhaust was clamped and welded into place -



Turns out theres a blow from cylinder 4 at the manifold though. So it will all need to come off again to plane the manifold - we're hoping its just sightly warped.

Washer bottle in place. This is an OEM part from an E30 324td. Its secured over a grounding point on the offside turret - which most E30's have. Naturally it was missing on my car. Dave welded in a bolt to replicate the grounding point.



And voila - one washer bottle in place. This has dual pumps, so will allow the headlight washers to still work.

[kdevitt]

I was meant to pop down to see the car today, but had too many meetings on and couldn't. In the meantime, Dave sent me the money shot -



Naturally I haven't driven it - Dave seems happy though. Said gearbox is excellent, perfect throw on the shift, unbelievable torque in 5th too. And thankfully the brakes are working nicely.

He took it out for a spin - ended up meeting this at the dealers by pure chance



What are the odds!!