The One That Didn't Get Away [100K Mile E30 325is]
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Has anyone done an SI battery replacement on their cluster before? Never soldered anything before and would prefer this to not be first go around at it. I am going to check the fuses first, but my guess is the batteries are dead or partially dead and is causing half my cluster to not work(tach, fuel economy, and temp). Temp is the most important one to get back.
Car has been driving great. I know theres a love and hate relationship with the M20, but so far I'm really enjoying it. First and second gear are snappy enough to have a little fun with and it's a pretty smooth motor at cruising speeds. Maybe in the future would consider doing a 2.7 stroker with a cam or something for a little more punch. Who knows, my first swap didn't go exactly to plan.
I do have a buddies garage welded exhaust from his S52 car with a Vibrant muffler and resonator. Sent a message to the shop that did my exhaust for the Calypso E30 to see if they could cut the res and muffler off that exhaust to use for the new one.
Just random pic from yesterday.
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Someone please stop me.
no
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Repainted faded rocker panels. Makes a big difference. Still have to do the rear valence. I put a car cover over the whole car and taped it to the paper so there was no chance of overspray. Wheels were also covered further. And no, I did not put the jack-stands on the pinch welds, someone must have done it before my ownership(have to make disclaimer due to previous jack placement miscues).
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Much better. What paint did you use?
Just some metal specific spray paint. Was debating using bed lines for the texture and toughness, maybe the next time I do it.
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Took some pics with @suspenceful today.
Jake also rolled the front fenders, seems to have taken care of the majority of the issue. Will have to see with some more steep inclines.
@suspenceful as always with the fire behind the lens.
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You forgot to paint the lower rear bumper
I will be taking care of it tomorrow hopefully. Didn't have enough time to finish it last week.
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@suspenceful can sure do some nice stuff with cameras.
Those seats look mint!
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@suspenceful can sure do some nice stuff with cameras.
Those seats look mint!
I try my best to be as gentle as possible getting in and out of them. Probably should do another leather treatment on them.
Real nice day out today. Got the rear valence painted and swapped the rear stud conversion from the Calypso car to the red one.
Then vs. now, miss the E46
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Maybe it’s from the cold the past couple of days, and not driving it due to the rain, but my clutch and throttle pedal have a small squeak like the Top Gear brake pedal on the old people car.
Might be time to replace the bushings on the pedal or break out the L U B E
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Probably EAA as well...It's incredibly depressing.
F
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Got the cluster working fully.
After some reading around, figured the problem was the batteries on the SI board giving me the issue. With the Calypso car currently sitting in a state of disarray(which I feel bad about), I thought I remembered the whole cluster from that car working. Reviewed a video that @GunMetalGrey sent me a year or so back of the first start and confirmed it did work. Pulled the clusters from both cars and just swapped the SI board from the Calypso car to the red one. Batteries from the SI board on the red car looked rough, very crusty at the ends, safe to assume that was causing the issue.
The batteries on the SI board of the Calypso car looked like the new, smaller lithium ion ones. Almost as if they were replaced at one point? @YoungCR? Don't know if between 89 and 90 they changed battery styles. Regardless, cluster works, have tach, temp gauge, and fuel economy now. Temp was sitting a little shy of center, could be off calibration, or maybe thermostat isn't opening all of the way? Want to do the full "tune up" accessory/hose replacement anyway.
Link to video, not sure the correct way to share through here without uploading to youtube.
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Had the big dent on the hood pulled and the majority of them on the doors and quarter panels. Had it taken care of this morning. Wanted to get this taken care of before I had the paint corrected.
I know most people would opt for a different motor than the M20, but I’ve really been enjoying it. Really great for the casual cruising and still comes alive above 5k. I also have the weird dichotomy of loving fast cars, but don't really have the need for speed much.
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car looks great! jealous of your fully working cluster.
i loved my m20, so smooth! its the right amount of power that you can wring it out without really going too fast. they also sound better than 24v, imho.
Dan
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car looks great! jealous of your fully working cluster.
i loved my m20, so smooth! its the right amount of power that you can wring it out without really going too fast. they also sound better than 24v, imho.
My plan is to get this motor refreshed so that it’s in good operational order for the time being. But I would like to do a mild striker build down the road. I know the cost to performance is not great, but an M20 with a little more punch and grunt would be fun.
Also, this:
I realize this is a fully built motor, sounds amazing though.
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