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My 325e <3 Part 2

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    #16
    You know that feeling when you think you have all the parts and you realize you're missing the one part you need?

    Throwout Bearing is missing. Been waiting all weekend for FCPEuro's "overnight delivery" which still hasn't arrived. Fuck FedEX.
    sigpic
    1987 325e Lachssilber w/ MarkD chip and late bumpers, Zender EVO spoiler, s3.25 LSD

    Originally posted by nando
    I don't think there's really strong evidence that ZDDP harms cats.

    Comment


      #17
      Motor is in! No pics of install but here she sits! At this point I stayed up for 24hrs hooking everything up before I finally passed out. I had an apt at the the exhaust shop that I was attempting to make and I was hoping to get the drive shaft installed. The subframe/diff had other ideas.




      Bimmerworld intake coming together! All the hoses are hooked up and vacuum lines done. I had to remove the intake manifold a few times to save for clearance to the 944 booster. Its still touching a tiny bit but I am afraid to shave more since it feel like the plastic is getting thin in that one spot.


      Core support is back on and test fitting radiator. I chose to use an e28 535i radiator that I have to gain some more clearance. It mounts right up to the frame and bolts on in the stock position! I had to come up with some custom rubber bushing to get it level.


      The Bimmerworld silicon hoses don't fit! They are just a bit short! Not really surprised as the e28 radiator is thinner and larger than its e36 counterpart.


      The lower hose fits on the upper connection. I ededup going to Advanced Auto and picking up a $20 hose with a 90 degree bend and cutting it to length.

      I extended the stock wiring to the e30 sensors and installed them as they were. The e28 radiator had two blocked up hold and both sensors threaded right in! I just have to figure out how to wire in the hacked up e36 aircon fan.

      Took me a while to figure out the power distribution block. I hooked up the main relays to the fuse-able link. Hope it works. I've been told the fuse can get finicky after 30 years and could lead to hard starts. If thats the case Ill move it back the the main block. I ended up cutting the e30 harness apart for wires and I cut off the rubber grommet. It wouldn't fit over the e36 harness, so I cut it. I hope it keeps some moisture out.


      I also wired up the AC signal wire, the MPG/Econobox fix and the c104 VSS/TACH wires. I tapped into the glove light box, but it is not switched power so I am hoping that it wont drain the battery this winter.

      I also changed the cluster out with an later model one. The one I got was a Motometer unit and my old one is a VDO. I swapper the fuel/temp gauges and my speedo since it already had new odometer gears. I hope it all works!





      Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
      Last edited by itsonlygeorge; 11-11-2019, 06:46 AM.
      sigpic
      1987 325e Lachssilber w/ MarkD chip and late bumpers, Zender EVO spoiler, s3.25 LSD

      Originally posted by nando
      I don't think there's really strong evidence that ZDDP harms cats.

      Comment


        #18
        My Garagistic subframe nightmare:

        Pictures tell a wonderful story

        It all started out one summer day, when I got an email from garagistic about their famed reinforced adjustable subframe being on sale. I had been chasing an odd steering/alignment issue and thought that the solution was an adjustable subframe to help me straighten up the rear and take care of any alignment issue from a bent arm or 30 years of abuse.What a mistake I made! I got the whole thing together on the ground and jacked up the subframe without the diff. It was tight but went up easy. I had already installed their new shim kit and hoped that it would toe out the wheels a bit and I left camber stock. Everything looked good before installing the diff. This is when the fun started.

        As soon as I got the diff up i noticed that all 4 bolt holes seemed to be about 10mm offset. I got the diff bushing in place and all 4 bolts were off. I got one bolt on and the whole diff was twisted sideways. So I called garagistic and they told me everything was fine. I was doing the install wrong, and it will line up. I tried a few more times wrestling the diff into place with no luck.

        After another phone call, they told me that I would need to bend the diff mount bracket a bit out of the way to help just like you bend the subframe tabs to install an e36 rack. I though this was all wrong as I never bent the subframe tabs for the rack, but I did it anyway as I was out of options. I ended up dropping the subframe 2 inches to get the 4 bolts lined up, and even that was a pain. I had to use 2 giant c-clamps to flex the subframe to line up the last bolt hole. After all this, we jacked up the subframe and this was the result:


        Notice the small gap and the mangled diff bracket.

        I took some shots of the subframe bushings and posted on the FB r3v page and it confirmed my fear: The subframe I got sent was either bent way the hell out of whack, or someone sent in a subframe that was not from an e30.






        ​Here is my old e30 subframe next to the one i received. As you can see the top of the diff mount is way different! It is significantly longer! You can also see that there is a completely different arch to the subframe and it is taller by about 10mm. I am genuinely curious what the fuck car this came out of or how this subframe got so bent. And more importantly, how the fuck garagistic fucked up so bad and didn't verify the subframe being true! They should have a paper trail of the exact model of the car the subframe came from and who sent it in! I wonder if someone got an e30 subframe back and couldn't fit their diff!

        You can see the different arc of the subframes here.



        I had to go and find a replacement e30 subframe since my tabs got bent in removing the RTABs. Here is everything installed again. New subframe came with AKG red 75d bushings. I decided to leave them in and run it. The whole rear end is now AKG 75d and I am somewhat worried about nvh and handling. Not enough to drop it again tho. I'll be keeping my old AKG blue 80a bushings just in c


        The steering/tracking issue I was having came from torn shock mounts and blown out shocks. The shock mounts had torn probably last year when I was driving through Chicago and hit a massive 3 lane wide pothole on one of their many shitty concrete highways. I am really hoping that was the issue as I don't want to drop the subframe ever again.

        Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
        Last edited by itsonlygeorge; 11-11-2019, 07:15 AM.
        sigpic
        1987 325e Lachssilber w/ MarkD chip and late bumpers, Zender EVO spoiler, s3.25 LSD

        Originally posted by nando
        I don't think there's really strong evidence that ZDDP harms cats.

        Comment


          #19
          I got everything bolted together early Tuesday morning and could not get the car to start! I spent the rest of the day checking grounds, fuel, spark, sensors with no luck. I tried a different ECU, nothing worked! I posted on FB and got replies to remove valve cover and check timing, CPS and CamPS being switched or bad, washout from over cranking and loosing oil seal and compression, thought the ECU was no good or that the sensors were fried. I had fuel from pump, power at relays, grounds were good, injectors fired when car cranked, had spark at plugs when grounded to strut tower. I could not figure it out!

          It ended up being the injector ground. The vanos bolt it was sandwiched to was isolated from the block by thread sealant or the bracket. I could not get continuity from one side to the other reliably. I moved the ground wire to the block side if the engine bracket and she fired right up!

          Now all she needs is an alignment and exhaust.

          sigpic
          1987 325e Lachssilber w/ MarkD chip and late bumpers, Zender EVO spoiler, s3.25 LSD

          Originally posted by nando
          I don't think there's really strong evidence that ZDDP harms cats.

          Comment


            #20
            Happy to read it started in the end! Can't wrap my head around the subframe issue though ... it is an embarrassment for Garagistic for sure.
            Enjoy the car now, that you sorted it all out, wish you many many happy miles and only oil and tire changes.
            '85 Alpine Weiß 2-door with m20b30 ground up build

            Comment


              #21
              Originally posted by gnmzl View Post
              Happy to read it started in the end! Can't wrap my head around the subframe issue though ... it is an embarrassment for Garagistic for sure.
              Enjoy the car now, that you sorted it all out, wish you many many happy miles and only oil and tire changes.
              Me neither. I spoke to garagistic and they will issue a refund. I am taking pictures and measurements today. Ill post some up here. I am still pretty pissed off since this all put me so far behind on this project and I am pretty sure either one of my trailing arms is tweaked or the replacement subframe is tweaked a bit since the toe is off. I think my original subframe/trailing arm combo was straighter.

              Getting an alignment/exhaust Monday/Tuesday.
              sigpic
              1987 325e Lachssilber w/ MarkD chip and late bumpers, Zender EVO spoiler, s3.25 LSD

              Originally posted by nando
              I don't think there's really strong evidence that ZDDP harms cats.

              Comment


                #22
                Im struggling a bit with the electric fan setup at the moment. I am using the original 2 radiator fan sensors so I don't have to modify the wiring. I ordered a 82C aux fan switch, but I can only get the high speed to work when jumping the blk/grn wires fro the lower switch. I don't have a fan resistor since the previous owner removed AC. I am hoping to fit the euro fan/clutch but there really isn't a ton of clearance. With the stock e30 fan clutch and fan there was ~1/4 in of clearance to the radiator. I haven't been able to test the euro fan since it needs a different fan clutch, which none of the threads I read mentioned.

                I'd like to try wiring the AC switch as an override as well but I am not sure how to do that.

                I also cannot get a code reader to connect to the ECU. I have a Creator C310 scanner with the 20pin round adapter, but it doesn't seem to be able to connect to the ECU. I guess it's not really an OBD1 scanner as it claims.

                Need to finish:
                -wire O2 sensor (ordered Bosch 15729 universal O2 sensor and have long wiring cable w/ plug)
                -finish bleeding coolant system (no bleed screw)
                -Aux Fan wiring and testing for fan delete
                -Test fit euro diesel fan/clutch (if I can't get the aux fan to cool sufficiently)
                -drive and fire ABS, re-bleed clutch and brakes
                -oil change w Mobil1 10w30 (filled with cheap-o walmart synthetic to flush out assembly lube and any moisture from when the oil pan was off)
                -check/adjust parking brake
                -check fluids (brake fluid, trans fluid, diff fluid)
                -exhaust (fitting stock e36 exhaust to m52 headers, duplicating the AKG m50 swap setup, muffler is gna be a pain since its so goddamned big)
                -alignment (only on the front, :)
                -test drive (and hope it doesn't over heat, has 82C thermostat as well)
                sigpic
                1987 325e Lachssilber w/ MarkD chip and late bumpers, Zender EVO spoiler, s3.25 LSD

                Originally posted by nando
                I don't think there's really strong evidence that ZDDP harms cats.

                Comment


                  #23
                  A tale of 2 clutch fans:


                  Same height! Wtf?

                  Why did I spend all this money on a "euro" diesel fan and matching clutch if they are the same height? I read that this setup would leave more room between the radiator but the fan clutch is flush with the top of the fan blades. And it doesn't fit on the stock e30 fan clutch since that is 4 bolt and a smaller diameter. Grr. More shit to return to ECS/FCP.

                  E36 cruise cable also doesn't appear to fit and has a different connector. E30 cable has 1 clip, e36 has 2 clips. Luckily I was able to modify the e30 cable to fit using the plastic adjuster bits of an old e36 cable.

                  ECS also sent me the wrong fan switch, stamped 90-95 but they claim 80C. Tested with hot water and opens at about 92C. Ordered a actual 80C (?) sensor from FCP. No stamp on it. Will have to test.

                  The car is in the shop right now getting an exhaust. I had the whole setup from the e36 donor car, downpipes, cats, muffler. I'm using AKG's m50 build as a template and gave instructions/pictures to the shop. Hopefully its all good.

                  US M50 Motor into e30 Chassis Exhaust. Two brackets welded onto it for hooking into the e30 original rear muffler hangers.


                  I don't like how low the oil pan is with the sport springs/shocks, I may swap back to stock. I know I will fit my 215/45r17 snow tires on the stock ride height.

                  I'm still afraid she won't start when I go pick it up from the shop tmr. I have a new OEM crank sensor to try, however it seemed like it was related to grounds or compression loss from fuel wash out?


                  Last edited by itsonlygeorge; 11-17-2019, 07:54 AM. Reason: Tapatalk sucks for editing
                  sigpic
                  1987 325e Lachssilber w/ MarkD chip and late bumpers, Zender EVO spoiler, s3.25 LSD

                  Originally posted by nando
                  I don't think there's really strong evidence that ZDDP harms cats.

                  Comment


                    #24
                    Updates:
                    -Car has exhaust! The shop didn't really do a great job at recreating the AKG/stock exhaust. They made their own downpipe and collector and it still hits the sway bar. :( I had wanted them to use the stock e36 downpipe that I provided.

                    -Car runs! Was dead battery and slow crank. Idk why shop couldn't get it started. Neither could a jump pack from the tow truck.

                    -944 booster rod is too long and I can't really adjust it more in the car since there is nothing to put a wrench on. Looks like I'm taking the booster off and shortening the rod... more bullshit and I have to take the fucking intake off again. Grr... Brakes drag bad once bled and pressure has to be relieved to move the car in neutral.

                    -The sport springs up front are way low. I am going to swap back the stock springs to gain some clearance. Exhaust is pretty low as well.
                    sigpic
                    1987 325e Lachssilber w/ MarkD chip and late bumpers, Zender EVO spoiler, s3.25 LSD

                    Originally posted by nando
                    I don't think there's really strong evidence that ZDDP harms cats.

                    Comment

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