91 318is Field Rat

[captain awesome]

Nice! I need to do this soon as well. Where did you get the duct foam? Is there a part number?

Honestly I didn't plan ahead. I went to Lowe's and got some foam sealant roll that looked a similar size and cut pieces to fit. I think it was like $4, but from what I removed it looks like you may be able to buy one that is ready to go. I don't see one listed at realoem from a quick glance though.

[captain awesome]

Euro dashes DO NOT have a VIN tag. We also don't have a VIN number anywhere but the stamped cowl on the windshield and the compliance plates. No stickers with the VIN on parts.

That makes sense. I'll probably leave mine off. I assume it's not illegal to run without one?

[captain awesome]

Sunday was another local autocross meet. Nice and sunny weather, so I was able to actually see what kind of tweaks were needed for driving skills or otherwise without blaming it on rain.

Immediately it's obvious I have way too much oversteer on the first run. I adjust tire pressure a bit, and again it's just not wanting to stick for the second run.

It's been mentioned before that a considerable amount of people prefer no rear sway, so I figured it was worth a shot to see what happens. NIGHT and DAY with it disconnected. I start to feel in control with throttle and brake inputs and start to clip a little time out the next 4 runs. No cones or DNF to be seen.

I got last in class, which was out of 3 entrants. First was an FRS with a cage, full exhaust, e85 tune, 200tw tires, etc. Second was some Subaru wagon with full suspension, good tires, LSD front/rear, and some other stuff. I was closer in time to the Subaru, but I think my tires are holding me back quite a bit at this point. Honestly it's probably driver skill as well. I still had a blast though, and the new dash made the drive to and from the event awesome. Rattle free. For now. Also the new steering wheel is SOOOO much better. The other would flex with aggressive input and this one is solid.

What good is a thread without pics?

On grid with the FRS right behind me. Super nice guy.





My times for the day.



And some action shots.

[captain awesome]

With the cold weather showing up it was time to get my heater in good working order. A local board member sold me a used blower motor for a reasonable price otherwise it's $$$ for these. Install started off great, but then the metal strap that holds the motor in place broke. If you haven't ever priced one out, go ahead. It's silly. So I made a new one from some thin sheet metal I had laying around. So far so good.

So much crap stuffed in there by rodents and some foliage that grew into the box when parked in the field.







Home brew blower strap. Tin snips and a pair of pliers got the job done.



Installed. It's so nice having a good working heater. My e24 sucked balls, but it appears the e30 is a much better design.



Then I went to the last points event for the local SCCA autocross Sunday. Luckily my magnetic numbers showed up before heading out saving me time taping. I got them off Etsy for a super reasonable price from AutoRallyMotorsports.



On grid. It rained all morning before I pulled up, so it was fairly wet out in the first heat.



My time improvement from the first run was about 6 seconds. Honestly there are a few spots that I could have carried a considerable amount of speed and dipped into the 58-59 range. I'm still getting to know the car and learning to avoid throttle lift oversteer. The more I drive it, the less I want to put a turbo on it. I'm heavily considering a 4.44lsd, 15x8s with some Federal 595s, and a SSSquid chip. Selling off the turbo/manifold and wideband could help a ton, so it may be up for grabs soon and the Euroweaves could cover the rest. I'll post up a FS post before too long.



4.10 vs 4.44 gearing math for mental masturbation. If I hate the 4.44 I can always swap ring/pinion with the 4.10 I have already and do a full refresh.

[zwill23]

Oh man, all of this is way too familiar... your field rat would get along quite nicely with my trailer park queen I think :rofl:

I broke that god damn ignition switch and had to zip tie mine as well, how did you access the switch after you installed the dash? From what I can tell, I believe steering column needs to be dropped?

[captain awesome]

Oh man, all of this is way too familiar... your field rat would get along quite nicely with my trailer park queen I think :rofl:

I broke that god damn ignition switch and had to zip tie mine as well, how did you access the switch after you installed the dash? From what I can tell, I believe steering column needs to be dropped?

I had to remove the plastic column covers and cut one zip tie if I remember correctly. Getting the top plastic cover off was a bitch though. I did end up drilling the steering column bolts and replacing them with hex head when the dash was out, so if I "had" to drop everything it would be considerably easier now.

Edit: I'm not sure if it makes a difference or not, but my column is an airbag version.

[zwill23]

Yep, mine is an airbag version as well... I believe it is easier to drop the steering column on non-airbag cars. I'll have another go at removing that steering column upper panel, the zip-tied ignition switch nags at me.

Autocross looks like a blast btw! Can't wait to get involved myself.

Keep it up :up:

[captain awesome]

Yep, mine is an airbag version as well... I believe it is easier to drop the steering column on non-airbag cars. I'll have another go at removing that steering column upper panel, the zip-tied ignition switch nags at me.

Autocross looks like a blast btw! Can't wait to get involved myself.

Keep it up :up:

I'm not sure how the hell you drop an airbag column without a torch and a sawzall, but I'm sure there's a way.

It's fun for sure. I just wish they had more runs per event. Next one is a test and tune which should be more runs than usual. Pretty stoked on that, and hoping to get the 4.44 diff installed beforehand. I will say if you are just waiting to have your car ready for it, don't. Take your daily if you have to, it's a blast no matter what car you take.

[captain awesome]

Wednesday night I pulled my stock diff in preparation for a 318ti 4.44 lsd to show up Thursday. Luckily it showed up around 11, so on my lunch break I ran to Napa for a quart of gear oil and started prepping to swap over the diff cover and do a good inspection.

Immediately it was obvious the flanges were different between the two. The e30 flanges overall width was ~11 1/8" while the 318ti was ~10 1/8". I kinda panicked as it was mentioned in a few posts as a "direct swap". Do the CV axles stretch 1/2" per side? Swap flanges? WTF?









So then I search the old internet to see what it requires for swapping flanges. I stumbled onto this awesome video that shows a quick and easy way pop them out. Immediately my blood pressure is restored and I know everything is going to be okay.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FymJmCbtEk

With the flanges swapped, diff cover bolted down, and topped off with fluid it was bolted back in to the car. It's probably mentioned plenty of places in any diff swap post, but attach the driveshaft loosely before starting to bolt up the subframe bolts.

So after everything was tightened up, it was time for a test drive. I did a quick chirp of the tires leaving the garage in celebration. NIGHT and DAY difference in grip. Obviously that's supposed to happen, but the whole open diff thing is for the birds. I took it through a couple tight bends and grinned from ear to ear. Unfortunately this morning my speedometer decided not to work anymore. I assume it's a loose connection at the speed sensor, but haven't dug into it yet. All I know is I'm super stoked for Sunday's autocross.

You can barely see it in this pic, but proof of dual skid chirp.

[Dgerry]

Great work, glad you got it, should be a great improvement for you on Sunday.....try to leave a little tread on those tires. LOL!

[Echo30V]

Great read, love that you saved it. Got me thinking about searching one out to restore.

[captain awesome]

Great work, glad you got it, should be a great improvement for you on Sunday.....try to leave a little tread on those tires. LOL!

Thanks Gerry. I'll do my best!

Great read, love that you saved it. Got me thinking about searching one out to restore.

Do it! Just expect to replace EVERYTHING rubber. Everything. Or get one that's already pretty much sorted and enjoy it. Honestly I could have bought one in better shape with most of the work done for me for less. For example here's one for $3800 local to me and it has quite a few good upgrades and best of all good paint.

https://joplin.craigslist.org/cto/d/1991-bmw-e30-318is/6346349959.html

[captain awesome]

Just checked the speed sensor in the diff and it's in the same shape as it was previously. The connector has good contact and I see no signs of damaged wires. The chances of the cluster suddenly having issues after the diff swap seems less plausible than user error. I looked at all of the fuses and see nothing out of the ordinary. I'm going to replace all the 7.5 fuses as soon as I get my 25 pack in but I highly doubt it's the source of the problem.

[captain awesome]

Today was test/tune day for autocross, so it was loosely organized to get as much seat time as possible. The first half of the day had two split short courses and you could chose to run whichever one as many times possible in the allotted 45 minutes. I didn't shut the ignition off until our full session was over. Well over 20 runs betwix the two were had and the 4.44 LSD has transformed the car. I'm now fighting some oversteer, but until I put the new tires on, camber plates, and a good alignment I'm not touching anything. I was hitting the rev limiter in one straight, but right at the tail end of it. Time wise I did well compared to my competition with far more tire and power.

The second half was the split courses connected and some of it flipped backwards. I was 2 seconds off my nearest competitor, but I scrubbed too much speed in a couple areas I need to work on. We only ran 6 total but all in all I felt more confident in the car. Unfortunately as I was finished up the 5th my check engine light came on. After throttle was open past idle it ran fine, but sputtered at idle and if the throttle was stabbed it would surge. 6th run it stayed on and the symptoms remained. When moving the TPS harness at the plug the idle would change as if it was a bad connection.

I got the car home easily as any throttle above idle appeared to be normal, and only at lights would I have to apply some throttle to ease idle surge. Google told me to do the stomp test and no matter how I did the test it wouldn't trip the light flash. It seemed obvious at this point the TPS was suspect, so I removed the one on the car. Looks brand new, so I swapped it with a used one on the field motor just to see if it would make a difference. Same. No light flash after 5 pedal stomps. At this point I decided to check the harness. Stripping back the rubber boot shows a broken wire on the #2 pin. BINGO! I stripped the wire casing back a little and jammed it tight against the pin. Stomp test code shows up now and it's a 1216.

1216 Throttle Position Switch Fault The later model Motronic systems used a potentiometer to measure throttle position and adjust fuel levels appropriately. If the 'pot' is not giving off the proper values, it will produce this code.

I've got a spare motor harness, so I'll just wire in a different plug after checking to make sure it's not tearing at the crimp like this one. Anyone know how to just replace the pin on the plug?



Also, the speedo is still not working. After seeing all of the plastic disintegrate on the plug I'm going to guess the pins are more corroded or loose than it appears.

[captain awesome]

Picked up some used IE street/track camber plates from a forum member for a good price. I'll probably throw them on sometime in the next week or so. A new fuel sender should show up tomorrow and hopefully it will fix the fuel gauge.