Rolf's SBF -> 318iS e36 Swap

[MvnTgt]

Make a bracket to bolt to your pedal and not cut the cables up...I tried and failed with the clamp junk. I spent like 20 minutes on this, and it will never leave me without a go pedal..

But, but, but, I already chopped up the cable! NOOOOoooooo!

Ehh, I'm not too worried.

[rprbeantown]

I took the BMW cable out of the sheath and used a bicycle shifter cable (http://www.walmart.com/ip/Bell-Delux...p-Kit/17619556) and an electrical ground clamp (http://www.homedepot.com/p/Blackburn...1-25/202907602) which I cut off the thru hole portion of as a cable stop. It has held now for 12k and 15months of daily driving.

[MvnTgt]

I took the BMW cable out of the sheath and used a bicycle shifter cable (http://www.walmart.com/ip/Bell-Delux...p-Kit/17619556) and an electrical ground clamp (http://www.homedepot.com/p/Blackburn...1-25/202907602) which I cut off the thru hole portion of as a cable stop. It has held now for 12k and 15months of daily driving.

I was thinking about using a bike cable somehow but the tricky part isn't the BMW side (throttle pedal), it's the Ford side with the ball swivel and spring. I wanted to keep that arrangement. I did remove the plastic firewall clip from
the BMW cable and open it up so I could use it with my install. The cable sheath is bigger on the Ford cable compared to the BMW.

[rprbeantown]

The shifter cable end was big enough to fit where the stock Ford ball was in the throttle assembly. My 95 throttle might be different. I then I cut the other end off for the pedal, wrapped it in tape, and shoved it thru the BMW sheath and attached it to the pedal and cut the excess. I tried to modify a Ford cable and I ruined a couple before trying the bike cable. Oh and I lubed the hell out of the sheath with spray lithium grease.

[MvnTgt]

Throttle cable made and consisting of most of an '89 E150 throttle cable for the throttle body side, a BMW firewall clip, a small piece of 3/16" brake line crimped on the pedal side
cable and an aluminum clevis from a Lokar universal cable assembly I didn't feel like adapting to work. I adjusted the pedal stop (thank you BMW engineers!) so the cable had a
tiny bit of slack at WFO and less danger of breaking the cable when I mash it.

[MvnTgt]

A few items checked off the list:

- I've hacked up a couple of lower rad hoses and grafted them together with a short section of exhaust tubing.

- I made up some 1/8" spacers to lift up the engine a little bit. The oil pan was resting on the steering rack.

- I've got the passenger side exhaust down pipe fabbed and welded to the factory catback and am currently working on the drivers' side.

I hate exhaust work as much as I hate bodywork. So fiddly and time consuming.

A couple pictures of the throttle cable thingie:

[MvnTgt]

The passenger side exhaust is done and I'm 90% done the drivers' side. I just need to install the v-band clamps and double-check the bolt holes on the header
flanges will line up with the heads. I had worked them over with a small round file but I'm not sure if I got all of them. I only installed a couple of bolts per side
so it's another thing to check.

I LOVE weld spatter when welding under a car. Its FABULOUS!!1 not.

[gunmetalgreen]

Excited to see how your exhaust turned out man. I also love getting showered by sparks.

[MvnTgt]

Excited to see how your exhaust turned out man. I also love getting showered by sparks.

I used the bends I had and made up some pie cuts to graft the whole mess together. I had to get ready for work so I never took pictures but
I'll snap some when I get another chance. It's not great but it's not awful either.

[MvnTgt]

Front view



Passenger side view (need to put a hanger on; it is a little too much overhang for my comfort)



Another view of passenger side routing



Passenger side header and down pipe



Relative view of ground clearance

[MvnTgt]

I'm currently working on the radiator bracket. I am definitely over-engineering the lower mount points but I want to be sure the radiator
won't move front to back, side to side or up and down. You know, secure it but again, without modifying the rad ( no means of welding
aluminum currently). The upper corner where the fill neck gave me the idea of using a chunk of angle iron with a cutout die-grindered so
the piece would fit snugly.I'll do the same thing on the passenger side but won't have to clearance it like the drivers' side. I'll post pictures
when I'm satisfied with my design so it's clearer what I'm attempting to do.

I am planning on using rubber isolators aka rubber heater hose so there is no chance of cathodic corrosion and I want a little protection
from vibration. I'm a little weird that way...

[MvnTgt]

I haven't updated this in a little while but I've gotten a couple of things done on the heap.

First off, I've done some sheetmetal work on the header panel adding back sheetmetal where I removed it which will allow me to reattach the grille piece. I've drilled and filed a
hole on the drivers' side downpipe for an 02 bung which was then welded into place. I've also done the plumbing for the heater hoses (what a mess behind the engine) and just
need to extend the wires for the heater control valve. I decided that leaving the heater control valve in it's stock location was a bad idea and moved it over to the passenger side next to the hole
for the DME. I built a bracket for the power steering reservoir on the drivers' side just behind the headlight and painted it with some black appliance epoxy paint. The power steering
hoses are done and connected up. Lastly, I stopped by a local paint supply place and ordered a custom tinted rattle can of calypso rot metallic paint so I can touch up the places
where I'd removed old brackets and replaced some sheet metal I'd removed earlier.

[douglee25]

Sounds good. When is this thing going to be driveable?

Doug

[MvnTgt]

By next week, I'm guessing. Today, I mounted an electric cooling fan (still not happy with it but it'll do, hopefully ) to the frame horn cross brace. I just need to tie in the wiring and that part is ticked off the list. There's
not much left to do.

[MvnTgt]

Exhaust hanger for the drivers' side tube:


Power steering reservoir bracket:

Top view of power steering reservoir bracket:


I'm currently pulling my hair out chasing a leak from the pressure port of the steering rack. Ugh.

[MvnTgt]

Piddling around in the garage yesterday and got the rad kinda sorta mounted and filled the cooling system. I hooked up the laptop and after failing to get
the bluetooth dongle to talk to the bluetooth to serial adapter, I switched to the USB to RS232 adapter and idled the engine up to operating
temperature. Still a bunch of little shit to do before I can roll it out of the garage but the engine didn't overheat, didn't make any bad noises (other than
a loose water pump pulley that I had to tighten up) so so far so good! Hell even the charging system works!

I'm going to be reviewing all the MS2 tuning info so I have something of a clue when I start road tuning this heap.

I rummaged around in my electrical junk and found some relays that should work for controlling the rad fan so I'll tackle that after I get off work this afternoon.
I'll also take another stab at stopping the power steering leak.

[douglee25]

Congrats!

[MvnTgt]

Merci. Like the saying goes, "The devil is in the details."

I underestimated how much current draw the Taurus fan would require (~45A on high speed) so I'm having to re-engineer what I was going to use for controlling the fan.
I have an old Ford starter relay that looks like it will fit the bill nicely. Yesterday I cut up some 3/16" flat stock for spacers between the transmission mount and frame rail (3 per side so 9/16" drop). The transmission was up against the tunnel and I didn't think that was a groovy idea. Which reminds me, I ought to check the driveline angles...

[unnatrl]

Merci. Like the saying goes, "The devil is in the details."

I underestimated how much current draw the Taurus fan would require (~45A on high speed) so I'm having to re-engineer what I was going to use for controlling the fan.
I have an old Ford starter relay that looks like it will fit the bill nicely. Yesterday I cut up some 3/16" flat stock for spacers between the transmission mount and frame rail (3 per side so 9/16" drop). The transmission was up against the tunnel and I didn't think that was a groovy idea. Which reminds me, I ought to check the driveline angles...

Look into the Volvo 2 speed fan relay. They are inexpensive and will switch from low to high speed the "correct" way. This should alleviate some of the high amp draw you are experiencing. You can use a BMW temp sender to control the high/ low speeds- if I remember right it's from a Z3 (lower temps on high and low vs. standard e36 temp switch).

[MvnTgt]

Thanks for the tip, I've looked into the Volvo relay solution and it looks nice. I'll have to see what's available locally and for how much. My original intention was to use
a programmable output on the Megasquirt 2 to trigger the fan relay at a predetermined coolant temperature and off when a predetermined hysteresis point
was reached. The only issue with this is once the ignition is off, the Megasquirt is also off and so no fan control.

I will also have to do something to box the fan in. Right now a significant amount of air is escaping around the core . Clearly, this is not good.

[masat03]

Use your stock bmw pusher? It has been plenty sufficent for me on 90+ degree days here.

[MvnTgt]

The gebusted M42 engine used a belt driven cooling fan so unless a BMW electric pusher fan falls out of the sky ( ) and gently lands in my hands, I'm going to make this fan work.

[MvnTgt]

I spent a little quality time yesterday playing with the Megasquirt so the engine would idle at a reasonable speed and not keep surging excessively once it was warmed up.

- - - Updated - - -

Look into the Volvo 2 speed fan relay. They are inexpensive and will switch from low to high speed the "correct" way. This should alleviate some of the high amp draw you are experiencing. You can use a BMW temp sender to control the high/ low speeds- if I remember right it's from a Z3 (lower temps on high and low vs. standard e36 temp switch).

Well, I did learn that a stock Ford starter relay is only for intermittant duty only (smoked the coil - RIP little relay). That's what I get for believing the internet! So, Internet, I suppose I'm ordering some cooling system parts (). The Z3 thermo switch I want has a 91°C/99°C or 80°C/88°C low limit/high limit cut-in? Probably the 80°C/88°C version?

[MvnTgt]

I've been chasing a power steering leak for a while and was thinking it was the pressure fitting at the rack. Well, no.

I can say honestly that I'm a victim of gravity. The power steering fluid was seeping out of the 90° fitting at the pump
and running down the SS braid, I am dumb sometimes but at least I noticed it tonight. .

I've also been noticing a gasoline smell when running the car and while I was underneath connecting the reverse light
wires, noticed a slow drip off the engine block plate. Gas. Shit. It turns out the drivers' side hose nipple was
leaking where it screws into the fuel rail. I wound up having to replumb it but it's nice and dry now. I ghetto
connected the NGK wideband to the MS2 and tweaked the mixture on warmup and hot idle. With the idle valve
disconnected, it's sitting about 900 with a tiny bit of surge.

I want to drive this thing finally and these issues are killing me!

Video evidence of where the car is currently at:


Yea, I'm slow but I'm ok with it.

[MvnTgt]

I chucked the SS braided hose that was recommended in the manual and got a 36" hose with one straight 3/8" JIC and one 45° 3/8" JIC. Add one male 3/8" JIC / female 3/8" JIC 90° elbow
and hose problems go away. I was confident enough to take it off the jack stands for the first time in 2 years and gently drive it around the block a couple of times.

Whoo Whoo, milestone passed!