Lira (euro DS mtech II 318is reshelled, 24v swapped, also now BAR'd)

[kronus]

I've been busy.

Temporarily put the front end together to get all the fragile bits off the shop floor




Got the clips for the sunroof headliner piece, reassembled that whole business. Still hate it.






Got the sideskirts and pods off the donor. Note to everyone who may some day put an mtech 2 kit on - DON'T FUCKING USE ALUMINUM RIVETS SHITKNUCKLE




The actual hardware you need comes from BMW, not Home Depot. This is courtesy of Mr. Timeless Hair at Blunttech:




Anyway, the sideskirts have some damage so I've got a bit of restoration work ahead of me.

missing dogleg clips:



end of sideskirt destroyed and held on by zip ties:




also I painted the swaybar that came on the donor



and refoamed the toolkit



and got some stuff!

OE drilling template for one of the sideskirts:




new exhaust heatshield:




finally, I've been prepping the dogleg to go onto the M50. Here is the sucker:




here's the crazy ass linkage that it had in the donor car:





how about that "short shifter"?

[Jordan]

Enjoying this build.

[2mAn]

some wonderful surprises that car is giving you!!!

[kronus]

So, the crank had a big-hole pilot bearing in it already. I am putting in a transmission that requires a small-hole pilot, so I had to switch them out.

The grease trick is stupid. It just blew the seal out of the sealed bearing and wasted a good amount of nice grease. I ended up modifying my slide hammer attachment to fit in the hole, and everything was done in about 30 seconds.





next up, trying to torque the flywheel without a second person!

[TimeMachinE30]

OE sideskirt template???!!?? Specs, details?

[kronus]

OE sideskirt template???!!?? Specs, details?

part #s 51712239845 51712239846 but only the left one is still available.

51712239843, 51712239844 are the front pieces, which are both NLA.


I made some progress in preparing the wiring harness. I started with a 318is wiring cover, a '95 325i auto engine harness and a engine-side C101 clipped from a '89 635csi, and ended with this.





Auto wires cut, harness rearranged, X20 connector cut off, C101 merged in, crimped, heat shrunk and taped.

Everything fit neatly, I left some extra wire on the X20/C101 connector so that I can move it around if needed, and removing the auto wiring cut down a ton of bulk.

Unexpectedly and conveniently, the colors of the wires you need from the E24 engine harness matched the E36 one 100%, besides the ABS power, but that's going to switched power anyway.

This diagram was a huge help, and this post will be invaluable in the future when I do the second harness for the white car.

I also used stuff called friction tape to bundle up the relay wires and C101 wires into sub-harnesses and cut down on vibration. It's very similar to OE BMW harness wrap, I'm pretty happy with it.

[Petebee]

So, the crank had a big-hole pilot bearing in it already. I am putting in a transmission that requires a small-hole pilot, so I had to switch them out.

The grease trick is stupid. It just blew the seal out of the sealed bearing and wasted a good amount of nice grease. I ended up modifying my slide hammer attachment to fit in the hole, and everything was done in about 30 seconds.

I've used the stuff bread in trick and it actually worked for removing pilot bearings (once in E30, once in Volvo). Just shove pieces of bread into the center of the bearing while hitting with a 3/8 socket extension and sledge. It actually works and no flying grease...but a nice compact piece of bread.

[Cabriolet]

Nice work Dmitriy!

What flywheel is that?
I blue loctite them and hit them with my big impact gun until they ring tight. no issues so far doing that. or you can rent the tool that holds the teeth of the ring gear but im way too lazy for that.

[kronus]

FX racing ebay special with a Sachs pressure plate and clutch disc.

I actually have an S52 one and an M20 one, going to use the S52 one on this motor because I have 3x S52 starters.

I've also decided to go with a regular Getrag 260 for now, mostly because I already have the fw/clutch which is 240mm diameter. It'll be a bit weird with a 3.46LSD but the car's not being set up for autox.

[kronus]

drilled holes in my perfectly good fenders. I really should have done this before paint.





sealed the hole edges with a paintbrush and bolted them back up. looks more like a car now!

[AwakenNoMore]

It's really coming along great!

[kronus]

thanks! I'm hoping to have it running this week.

got the insulation and heatshield buttoned up



as well as the clutch



aaaand the transmission




also I ran into a weird issue with the AKG swap mounts - it seems that the lower one in the picture is bent in the opposite direction from what is needed. thoughts?

[kronus]

first there was this



then I sweated a lot and i cursed a bunch and matteo came over and then there was this




now i'm buying radiator hoses.

[CorvallisBMW]

Looks great dude!

[kronus]

yeah, as it gets more together I'm getting more excited


put some engine bay stuff together to figure out if it all clears





grabbed and fit up some random hoses to figure out what I need to order. ended up going with a trimmed M42 upper and a trimmed M50 lower hose. also checked radiator clearance - guess I'll need an e-fan, probably.



did a shitty job grinding away the M50 manifold ribs to get it to fit with the iX booster. it'll be cleaned up and painted today. also adjusted the harness cover to fit over the manifold. Good news, everything fits and clears as it should, I have about a cm of clearance from manifold to booster.




the thing that fits the least well is the TPS connector.