E30 M52

[m42b32]

snap said:

Would you be able to get a measurement of the original hole size on the firewall plate sometime? I will have to make a plate like you did as a future project

I originally tried modifying the existing plate, but then the hole was too big and the boot wouldn't stay so I traced the pattern, cut the new one, and then threw the old one out. I might have the one from the sedan I took apart though, I will try and find it!

[B C]

Pedal assemblies are all back together and while I was at it I removed the cruise control clutch switch and used the bracket for a clutch pedal return spring.

The brakes are all bled. I usually bleed them again after driving for a bit so I will probably do it again after my first shakedown run. I couldn’t find my 7mm wrench in order to bleed the clutch so I still need to do that in order to drive the car.

The hood is installed.

The list is now:

-finish exhaust

-make oil dipstick mounting bracket

-mount ecu/make bracket

-bleed clutch

-change trans oil for good luck

-bleed coolant

-top off fluids

-install hvac panel

[KaiserRolls]

I’ve got ecu brackets, I’m assuming the MS3 won’t fit in them so I probs have no use for them. I can double check fitment tomorrow

[B C]

I bled the clutch and drove the car out of the garage under its own power for the first time. The clutch engagement is not normal. It grabs right off the floor and so I must have some more bleeding to do.

[B C]

Spent more time bleeding it and it feels great. I only drove it in reverse but the pedal definitely feels normal.

[P_Roloff]

snap said:

Spent more time bleeding it and it feels great. I only drove it in reverse but the pedal definitely feels normal.

 

Love it man, looks great!

[Jdesign]

DANG!! That's shiny. 

Successful completion burnout video?

[B C]

Nothing special to report on. I formed up an ECU mounting bracket. The length of wiring harness. Dashboard support brackets, and lack of any decent mounting points on the ECU makes this rather difficult to concoct but I have something that should work.

I finally got around to sawing the header tubes down and installing the y-pipe. This involved lengthening the stock O2 sensor wiring as well as the purchase of some adult diapers for all the brown pants days that lie ahead of me as I scrape the flex pipe all over town [emoji58]

I have about 3” of clearance between the skid plate and mother earth and about 2-1/4” on the flex pipe.

I had a 3” exhaust with the turbo setup too and scraped the flex pipe on some driveway entrances.

I really dont like it but I will run it, hope my exhaust doesn’t get torn off while driving an unfamiliar road, and start working on a new Y-pipe design with two smaller individual flex pipes that are staggered to allow them to fit side by side (doubtful this will fit).

According to something Cassell Performance wrote about S54 swaps and exhaust design you dont want to merge the headers right after the collectors like im doing or else you will lose significant low end power.

So apparently Im doing all sorts of things wrong by having 3” single exhaust with crap ground clearance, and merging it right after the collectors.

This Thursday I am supposed to be dropping the car off with a shop to get the last bits of the system fit and welded, so as long as no problems reveal themselves on the shakedown run, and the weather cooperates, I MAY be able to start driving this thing starting next week

[KaiserRolls]

You can have my brackets, I finally got the car home yesterday

let me know if you still want them

[B C]

KaiserRolls said:

You can have my brackets, I finally got the car home yesterday

let me know if you still want them

I think it would still sit too tall and pinch the harness a bit on the steel brackets under the dashboard so im going to play it safe and avoid that.

Thanks though.

[KaiserRolls]

snap said:

 
I think it would still sit too tall and pinch the harness a bit on the steel brackets under the dashboard so im going to play it safe and avoid that.
Thanks though. 

Hmmmmmmmmmm no problemo

[B C]

The harness ends up like this. jammed up against the sharp edge. This is not good for reliability. Im not trying to overcomplicate things, just trying to make things reliable and the simple fact is, I cant mount it with any of the factory do-dads without it being jammed up on that sharp edge

(not my photo)

[KaiserRolls]

snap said:

The harness ends up like this. jammed up against the sharp edge. This is not good for reliability. Im not trying to overcomplicate things, just trying to make things reliable and the simple fact is, I cant mount it with any of the factory do-dads without it being jammed up on that sharp edge
(not my photo)

I always mounted mine with the connector 180° of what the photo shows

[B C]

Theres not enough length for me to do that either.

[KaiserRolls]

snap said:

Theres not enough length for me to do that either. 

Pull harder

!

In all seriousness, that’s odd. Or maybe mine is odd

[B C]

I did give 'er a tug but everything seemed to be happy with the idea of not budging.

[KaiserRolls]

snap said:

I did give 'er a tug but everything seemed to be happy with the idea of not budging. 

Better to make new brackets than ending up with a fistful of wires not attached to anything anymore lol

[GunMetalGrey]

Is it an E34 harness or E36? 
E34 harnesses are shorter and usually just barely sneak into the glove box. 
E36 harnesses are longer and have slack to more easily maneuver in the glove box.

[B C]

Good to know. I am not sure what harness this is. It came from Sir Leadballius IV, which was fitted by the previous owner of his car. Probably an E34 harness though.

[B C]

Last night I pulled the car out into the street with the open headers disrupting suburbia. There were 2 ~10 year old boys walking down the road and they watched me pull the car out with some sort of curiosity and fear on their face as if my next move was going to be a full throttle charge right at them. Being less of a psychopath than that, I simply turned the car around and pulled it back in the driveway for some coolant bleeding. I didn't scrape my skid plate or exhaust on my driveway entry which is very surprising. The two boys then walked over after i shut the car off and said "HEY, NICE CAR!" .  Lesson of the day:  Loud=Nice. 

 I let the engine idle for 15 minutes or so and it got up to operating temperature for the first time to bleed the cooling system and top off the fluids. Everything is looking good so far and it has a rock solid idle. The lifters were a little noisy compared to the other times I have ran the car so perhaps they will pump up all the way once I start driving and build some more oil pressure and be nice and quiet again, regardless even if they don't, its still less racket than a certain previous engine I owned with solid lifters.

The fuel is very old and unfortunately I have a pretty full tank of it to burn through so once the exhaust is finished I will need to resist the urge to accelerate hard until I can get some fresh fuel in there since im sure the old gas wont jive well with the 93 octane tune.