Das Beast: My E30 track / street build

[dvallis]

Finally got around to building these boogers: Warning light control modules. See post 758 for details on how they work. I was procrastinating because my pick & place and reflow gear is not set up. Even with medium pitch stuff like this, SMT hand soldering is a pain in the neck. (Literally. Owwww) Anyway, they're done and get installed tomorrow.

[dvallis]

Lots of progress today. We started with the clutch slave.

Fabbed the hard line first. Inverted flare for the master side. We ended up cutting off the slave side and replacing it with a bubble flare nut to match the IE braided clutch line. Got lucky and found a 10MM bubble flare nut for 3/16" tube at Auto Zone. FYI, they do have a real selection of hard line fittings but its hidden in back. You have to ask to go see them.



Here's the completed clutch slave assembly before installation.



We installed everything and set up to bench bleed the clutch slave. This thing is great. Made it a 5 minute job. No pumping the pedal or messing with the bleed screw.



We fabbed a keeper and bolted it to the slave piston for testing under pressure. (The half circle thing) No leaks and we have good pedal feel. Job done.



Fabbed and installed the wiper motor harness. Got to love the E30 ETM.



Next step towards buttoning everything up is installing this defogger. It needs to penetrate the firewall, so we spent time planning the fittings and hose runs. Picked everything up at Lowes but shelved this one for next time.



I continued on with the warning light electronics install. First thing was to fab this mounting fin. There's a lot going on since its got to clear fittings on the bulkhead, stand off from the back plate, allow wires to pass through etc. Also, modules have to be insulated so they don't short on the aluminum backing.



Started creating the wiring harness for it.



Just when I thought the soldering was over. More wires to extend and terminate.



But eventually it really was the end of soldering. Can't believe it. The damn electronics bulkhead is FINALLY done.



End result is really functional. All modules are easily accessible from the passenger seat. To calibrate them we just dial the pot resistors up or down as desired. Water temp is set to alarm when signal is over a threshold. Oil pressure, fuel pressure and fuel level alarm when below a set point. Low pressure fuel (surge tank) has its own sensor that drives an LED on the dash directly.



Dash cover buttons up in a few seconds with knurled knobs.



Next is finish the defogger, boost/map hose, coil packs then on to engine install.

[ForcedFirebird]

I've been working in BMW's as a profession for 1/4 of my life. Never once bled a slave cyl. Very simple way is just push the push rod on the slave several times until you hear the "squishing" noise go away and the rod is stiff. Plug it in the gearbox, and you have PLENTY if pedal to pump the rest out.

[dvallis]

Thanks for the tip Bird. I've been working on BMWs for exactly 946 posts. Still have lots to learn apparently. LoL

[ForcedFirebird]

Just sucks when I'm a day late and a doller short. :(

[MrScuba]

Wiring, wiring, wiring!

I have been following this for over a year with admiration for the plans and envy of the skills.

Now for the smart ass part.

Is it possible you have put more wire in the car than you took out?;)

Amazing work!

[dvallis]

Too funny Scuba. It just seems like we put more wire in because you got to see all the gory details of it being built. I swear we hauled out 100 lbs of stock wiring. Ah well. At least we know where every single wire is and what it does. :devil:

[Digitalwave]

Too funny Scuba. It just seems like we put more wire in because you got to see all the gory details of it being built. I swear we hauled out 100 lbs of stock wiring. Ah well. At least we know where every single wire is and what it does. :devil:

You knew what every single OEM wire was and what it did thanks to that trusty ETM you have printed out

[dvallis]

DigitalWave had it right in post 832. Easier to diagnose this harness than chase electrical gremlins with the ETM.

[dvallis]

We thought today was test the wipers and install the defogger day. Wrong. It turned into:

INVOLUNTARY SINGLE WIPER CONVERSION DAY!

So, I'll explain. We hooked up the bulkhead for a wiper test. Threw the switch and nothing happened. Our wiring is really well documented, so that was eliminated pretty quickly. We took the firewall sheet metal cover off and here's what we saw. The cage fabricator did a great job of getting bars from the internal frame to front shock towers. Did it without a fraction of an inch to spare. However ..... the front left bar runs right up against the wiper motor. In fact, it was exactly placed to lock up the rotor linkage completely. Bar placement also prevented removal of the wiper motor assembly. Oh joy.



Nothing that can't be solved with an angle grinder or saws-all. Rob doesn't get to use this on the car. He nearly chopped the irreplaceable IS air dam in half at one point. :devil:



Now the damn thing was out of the car. We decided to keep it, instead of buying an aftermarket, and do a single wiper conversion. You make the motor arm pivot point 12mm shorter to get the right wiper throw. Been covered in many other posts.



We finally got to test the motor and linkage. Works fine, Even the park feature. (Click picture below for video)



A note about the motor park feature. If you look carefully at the ETM, it shows PARK connected to the same control electronics input as SLOW. The park wire (black/red) is really an output from the motor. It is grounded for most of motor rotation and "floats" for a short period of time during park. I confirmed this on a scope.

What this means is we had to slightly change the wiper relay wiring. Instead of powering PARK with 12V, it gets paralleled into the wiper main power relay coil pin. When the DPDT wiper switch is set to off, the PARK output keeps the relay coil grounded until it reaches the park position. Needs a bit of resistance (the wiper arm) to work right due to response time of the relay.



If you look at the wiper assembly, it's still too big to fit between the roll cage tubes. Cutting the arms shorter makes angles on the ball joints very acute. Basically it just would not work. Rob had the Ah Ha moment. We just removed the existing mounting bracket. Now we're free to play with any orientation of motor and swing arm.



Makes more sense up under the dash. We are turning the motor 180 degrees from OEM position and mounting it higher up under the dash. Swing arms clear the roll bar and give us lots of sweep for single wiper. Will fabricate a new bracket out of plate steel, instead of relying on the body shell.



Pulled that one out of the fire. :devil: To be continued.

[dvallis]

Fabbed the new wiper assembly. Strong as heck and light too. Needs a bit of tweaking to clear the roll cage but the basic concept works.

[dvallis]

Finished reworking the wiper drive arm. It's welded together with a piece of 1/8" steel angle.



We have clearance! Spent the rest of the time adjusting park and sweep. Works great. I'm getting about a 120 degree throw.



On to the next thing.

[dvallis]

Coil packs mounted. Went with Delphi OEM per 'Bird's recommendation.



Defogger heater core mounted. Lots of clearance for the hoses, valve and wiper assembly.


Blower hoses and vents are working out Ok.



Will be finishing the coolant hoses tomorrow.

[ForcedFirebird]

Looking good! You will appreciate having a defrost. So many guys don't and carry a squeegee lol. Our car has a simple boat bilge pump mounted to the roll cage and pointed at the windscreen. Nothing like trying to see through a cloudy window.

One time at Road Atlanata a car blew an engine in front of one of the drivers. Put oil all over the window. He was going to come in and accidently hit the wiper switch, so it got wose and he missed the pit in, had to do another lap with super-limited visibility. I've had the windscreen covered in "love bugs" and had to pit for a wipe down, but couldn't imagine smered oil....

[dvallis]

Too funny 'Bird. Definitely did not want the "rag on a stick solution". We're using a bilge blower for our fan as well. Cheap and lots of CFM.