JackBenny's 1991 318is Project

[Mtriple]

I placed the window switches in the factory knockout's on my last car. Worked well...

Nice build you have here, keep it up!

[jackbenny]

This week's frustration resulted ultimately in a no-start failure. When you are this close, it just kills you.

The wiring bracket was modified per Gnarles suggestion and came out nice. I'll try and post pictures later. All of the electrical connections are essentially made and ready to go.

What killed me this weekend was the emissions crap. And yes, I know many of you will suggest to dump it. I would like to keep it in case I ever have to have an inspection. The two parts of the equation were the crankcase breather and the evap emissions valve.

I must have researched those two items in the 24V forum for hours this weekend. I modified an OBD1 breather to work with the OBD2 valve cover. The large hose going to the elbow in front of the throttle body and the small hose going to the small nipple on the piece of the intake manifold where the ICV hose plugs in. The evap valve has a hose going to the charcoal canister and the other hose goes to the throttle body. And this is where the problem ensued. I have the OBD2 throttle body on the manifold and the only nipples on the throttle body are for the warming circuit...which is deleted on my car.

So I need to get an OBD1 throttle body. A bummer yes but still workable. The only other things I need are hoses. Most of my existing hoses are cracked or cut so I would prefer to get new hoses. What I need are:

radiator hose - upper and lower (e36 lower and a sharp 90 upper?)
hose from expansion tank to hard line spider hose assembly (routing from battery location on passenger side ala e30 m3)
hose from radiator back to expansion tank
hose from head to heater core
hose from heater core to spider hose hard line
fuel hose feed
Fuel hose return
fuel hose expansion tank.

and that's it. suggestions are welcome for all hoses. I figure I would put in an order to BluntTech for the lower radiator hose, fuel lines for sure. I'm curious if I should use M3/MZ3 hoses for the head to heater core to spider hose? I will need some custom lengths for the expansion tank hoses.

To complicate matters, I'm gone this weekend for my sister-in-law's wedding. <sigh> looks like the end of the month before I can try firing this bad boy up.

On the plus side, the master cylinder is fixed and the system has been re-bled. I've got a new fuel filter installed and various other little things have been taken care of. This weekend I was smart enough to walk away when I got frustrated.

I'll try and get some pictures up but there wasn't really anything taken earth shattering.

...and I continue solidiering on....

[jackbenny]

You can never ground an engine too much, strap that bitch up with some pretty braided copper. You have seen how all the JDM guys go nuts over the SUN system, which is just extra ground straps for everything at ~$200 price tag, right?

Nice. Of course then I would have to go to Carlise... ;)

[bejbis]

What I need to find is my engine ground strap. Either the S52 didn't come with one or I took it off, the latter being most likely. I have to lengthen two grounds to make it to the shock tower as well. I think paranoia is beginning to make me second guess myself too much. :p

i just made some new ground straps for the motor with some 4ga copper welding cable and some ring terminal lugs for the ends.

if you ever need some help just let me know.

-Dan

[Farbin Kaiber]

You can never ground an engine too much, strap that bitch up with some pretty braided copper. You have seen how all the JDM guys go nuts over the SUN system, which is just extra ground straps for everything at ~$200 price tag, right?

[jackbenny]

I was able to trim the OBD1 wiring harness bracket slightly to make it fit around the coolant pipe. They definitely will not work together unmodified but you can make them both fit.

Looks like I need to break out the dremel....

The first paragraph is epic, welcome to my life, with exception of the baby thing.

The only two grounds that are hooked up is a engine to chassis ground. I did mine on the drivers side frame rail to the drivers side engine mounting bracket, but either side firewall and bracket will have provisions for it. The other is up near the vanos solenoid. Its a small wire with a ring terminal, I grounded it through one of the valve cover bolts.

Also, as I said during the last chapter meeting, there really is no need for both the e36 and the e30 main power wire to the starter. Since the e30 power wire was already attached to the power block, I kept it. As long as your alt hooks up to your starter, and the starter goes to the power block, you are good to go.

Oh, and on the coolant res, that one from jegs that you showed a few posts up looks great. I looked into building a custom one, and just for the bung/cap and hose fittings its a good 50$ in just materials, not including labor. I have no problem building you a custom one, just let me know. Im cheap, but it would end up being more $$ than the jegs one.

I looked at removing the E36 and using the E30. Since the M42 will eventually go in the E21, I wanted to leave that harness unmolested. FredK has a bunch of posts showing how to use the e36 power wires. I just need to double check.

What I need to find is my engine ground strap. Either the S52 didn't come with one or I took it off, the latter being most likely. I have to lengthen two grounds to make it to the shock tower as well. I think paranoia is beginning to make me second guess myself too much. :p

I ordered a tank from summit which just showed up at the house. I did consider using your fuh raze mad weldin' skills but I came to the same conclusion you did.

[bejbis]

Well today was today was a pleasant day visiting the baby doctor capped off with an evening of disappointment and frustration.

I have two grounds that I need to hook up somewhere on the engine so further research is required for that. A couple of wires need some lengthening as well. I also need to check my starter wiring. I am still using the E36 power cable so I have 2 powers to the starter and 1 wire from the starter to the alternator. I just want to check that I hooked it up right.

The first paragraph is epic, welcome to my life, with exception of the baby thing.

The only two grounds that are hooked up is a engine to chassis ground. I did mine on the drivers side frame rail to the drivers side engine mounting bracket, but either side firewall and bracket will have provisions for it. The other is up near the vanos solenoid. Its a small wire with a ring terminal, I grounded it through one of the valve cover bolts.

Also, as I said during the last chapter meeting, there really is no need for both the e36 and the e30 main power wire to the starter. Since the e30 power wire was already attached to the power block, I kept it. As long as your alt hooks up to your starter, and the starter goes to the power block, you are good to go.

Oh, and on the coolant res, that one from jegs that you showed a few posts up looks great. I looked into building a custom one, and just for the bung/cap and hose fittings its a good 50$ in just materials, not including labor. I have no problem building you a custom one, just let me know. Im cheap, but it would end up being more $$ than the jegs one.

[Gnarles]

I was able to trim the OBD1 wiring harness bracket slightly to make it fit around the coolant pipe. They definitely will not work together unmodified but you can make them both fit.

[jackbenny]

Well today was today was a pleasant day visiting the baby doctor capped off with an evening of disappointment and frustration.

The plus side showed a healthy baby that is predicted to be ...big. 8+ pounds. Given my wife is planning on doing this naturally, you can imagine how thrilled she is. But the cool things was during the exam, the midwife showed me where the head was and I could feel it. Damn that was cool. It was so little!

I had been waiting on an engine bracket from Blunt that finally showed up today. It will hold the harness to the engine block under the manifold. I gave my OBD2 harness to Matt from TRM in exchange for a chip discount and neglected to remove the original harness. Given that I was backdating everything to OBD1, I ordered the OBD1 bracket. Yeah, not compatible with the metal coolant pipe. So now I need to figure out another solution. It will most likely involve making my own brackets. I should have really looked at RealOEM more carefully but when you want to get an engine running, things get over looked. I've got to stop that and concentrate, you know?

I made all the connections to see how I will need to route the wires and while there is some bulk, I think I can make it look halfway decent. I decided to put the intake manifold on to check for clearances and then my night went to hell. My harness routing looked good before but simply wasn't compatible with the intake. So there was much wire tie cutting and wire wrapping removing. It looks like I will need to move the relays to the fusebox because they hit the manifold pretty hard. This isn't a big deal as there are plenty of wire but it won't be as clean as before. The fuel injection harness bellow didn't seem to work either because the injector harness is too close. So I cut the bellow and will need to route that group of wires underneath the main harness. Pictures will detail this better later.

I have two grounds that I need to hook up somewhere on the engine so further research is required for that. A couple of wires need some lengthening as well. I also need to check my starter wiring. I am still using the E36 power cable so I have 2 powers to the starter and 1 wire from the starter to the alternator. I just want to check that I hooked it up right.

Work continues on the gauge cluster for the center stack. ideas are flowing between myself and colleagues at work. I'm not sure having engineers be creative is a good thing. I'm having to employ CAD for some of my studies. Probably good to keep my CATIA skills sharp.

This is mainly a rant to make me feel better. I've got one sensor coming in and then all I need are hoses to get this thing started. I need to make a checklist to ensure I don't screw anything up. Probably do that Friday after the dentist mauls my mouth.

[DREWHALL]

I know it has been said a million times but, this build is amazing. I can't wait to see it finished. Keep up the work!

[s_ribs]

I hear ya on that one! Will be fun to see what ideas you have in the works.

[jackbenny]

I found a place that had, what seemed like, reasonably priced cf panels. It's bookmarked at home - if you want the link let me know and I'll dig it up next time I'm at that computer.

I actually have something in work that is a bit...different. I'm going to keep it close to the vest for now but hopefully will have something soon.

[s_ribs]

I am deleting the OBC and will fabricate a panel for the two window switches and the breaker to go. I am contemplating carbon fiber to match the doors.

I found a place that had, what seemed like, reasonably priced cf panels. It's bookmarked at home - if you want the link let me know and I'll dig it up next time I'm at that computer.

[iwantspeed]

nice progress

[Huff]

You could use the 318is smaller piece and go with an IX washer reservoir (and keep the your windshield cleaner)... I'm just sayin!