Rolf's SBF -> 318iS e36 Swap

[MvnTgt]

Finally, I have defeated the power steering leaks that have been plaguing me. I bought new stat-o-seal style sealing washers (Hypower) to replace the leaky BMW crush washers at the rack and another steel 3/8" JIC to M14 straight thread adapter (Princess Auto) to replace the aluminum AN fitting at the power steering pump. And while I was back under there, I noticed the water pump gasket is leaking. <shakes head>. Kill me now. :-/

[MvnTgt]

I pulled the header panel off the car so I could squirt some primer and paint on it (winter IS coming) and since I had the front of the car off (again), yanked the water pump and replaced
the gaskets. I need to see where I can pop a hole in the passenger side footwell area to route the wires for the MS box and wideband controller. I'm not crazy about using the stock
DME location for the Megasquirt and I for sure want the wideband controller inside the passenger compartment.

[Burgerho]

Nice progress, looking forward to the driving vids. I am way behind you, just got the 5.0/t5 bolted into my e30 last weekend.
Where are you in Canada? I'm in Comox, BC.

[MvnTgt]

No man's land aka S'toon SK.

This fiddly detail stuff is annoying. I'm more of a "Hey, it runs! Good enough." and completely ignore things like paint and
making sure body panels stay on the vehicle. I'm forcing myself to do a better job this time so I don't regret
taking major shortcuts here later on.

I plan on taking this thing out to some autocrosses in the future just to see the other BMW owners jaws drop.

I've been watching one other guy's progress on an e30 5.0 swap but he seems to have stopped updating at the moment. Screenname of gunmetalgreen I believe.

[MvnTgt]

I started reassembling the front end. Again.

Installed:

Header panel
Frame horn cross brace and electric fan
Rad support
Grille and it appears that one of the kidneys is loose (probably a broken clip)
Bumper
Headlights on and hooked up (need to ziptie or wire clamp the harness in place)

Need to do:
Install rad and fill cooling system
Set toe after I replaced the ripped tie rod boots last year
Stick a couple of holes in the firewall to route the harnesses for the wideband and Megasquirt
Non ghetto-fy my wiring for the cooling fan
Start tuning

Blow engine up. J/k

[MvnTgt]

Yesterday, I reinstalled the rad and filled the cooling system.. <drumroll> and it's leaking worse than before.

I ordered a replacement water pump but it won't be here until later today or more likely tomorrow. Seriously
though, a SBF water pump isn't a rare item to have stocked.

If someone or something is trying to tell me something. La La La. I can't hear you. This thing is going to hit the streets even if I have to push it.

[MvnTgt]

I got annoyed waiting for the replacement water pump and took the old one back off to inspect it. The only major thing I could see was the backing plate was very slightly warped. So,
I stuck it in the vice and attempted to flatten it out. As well, I did a little draw filing across the mating surface on the pump casting in case there were any high spots. Gasket paper, pen and some scissors to trace out another gasket and I reassembled it.

No leaks this time so that issue is struck off the list. I'll keep the water pump I ordered "just in case".

[douglee25]

When are the burn outs coming?

[MvnTgt]

It's back on jackstands temporarily. The exhaust has been hitting the pavement and I figured I ought to do something about it before I rip something off. I can say that this engine/transmission in this chassis is AWESOME!
Holy Balls, does this thing scoot! Unintentionally getting the car sideways is very, very easy.

[douglee25]

Sweet man! Get some videos up too when you have some time.

Doug

[MvnTgt]

One boring (me not breaking any traffic laws ) video coming up!


Just turning on to an on-ramp, punching it and then hitting cruising speed. Yep, boring.

I'll do something a little more exciting later but the exhaust note is fantastic for the 8 seconds I'm on it.

I'm going to be playing with the tune on this thing for a while but it's slowly getting there.

ps: This car is going to seriously test my impulse control.

[Burgerho]

Congrats, it sounds great! Listening to your video is a good motivator for my swap, I have to go out to the shop.

How does it steer now? Does it feel heavier?

[MvnTgt]

Congrats, it sounds great! Listening to your video is a good motivator for my swap, I have to go out to the shop.

How does it steer now? Does it feel heavier?

Two things I'm noticing:

1) The steering is slower than I'm used to. Case in point; I have an '86 Mustang with a "quick ratio" 15:1 powered rack and the E36 reminds me
of the Mustang when it had the (slow ratio) 20:1 rack. I'll have to see about a different rack for this car.

2) The car does exhibit some understeer but I attribute most of that to the big TMS front bar and my right foot mid-turn. Once I have the
matching rear bar on, I expect it to be much better balanced. 1st gear launches, you better have the car pointed in a straight line or
be prepared to rapidly countersteer.

The tires on the car are Toyo Proxes TPT 205/60/15 400 TW (turds) so that's not helping the grip situation.

[MvnTgt]

Since I've been DD'ing the car to work lately and having morning frost on the windshield, I worked on hooking up the heater control valve a couple of days ago. I had moved it over to the passenger side close to where the factory DME cover is so it was easier to get at then jammed against the back of the drivers' side cylinder head. This required me to extend the control wires. After hooking it back up, I still wasn't getting warm air. After doing some investigation, it turns out I routed the hoses backwards and due to the way the tapered valve works inside, the coolant flow was causing the valve to slam shut.

I'm going to have to mess with the exhaust one more time since it's rapping against the car somewhere.

The car is running fine but I'm still playing with the warm-up enrichment and the low speed/just off idle part of the fuel map. It's got an annoying bucking that I'm attempting
to cure.

A little tech:

I have the hose nipple of the water pump connected to the top nipple of the temp control valve and the righthand most nipple at the firewall connected to the lower
nipple on the temp control valve.




- - - Updated - - -

The (dusty) car

I swear I took it to the car wash but driving on gravel back roads takes it's toll.

[MvnTgt]

Coolant reservoir from 90's Toyota Corolla
P1030836_medium.jpg

I had to delete the windshield washer reservoir to make room for the cone air cleaner and the original BMW radiator had a built-in coolant reservoir so I've been meaning to install something to replace them. The washer reservoir might be a little tricky unless
I get rid of the BBK warm air intake (still might, it's a little boy racer-like and doesn't really look "right"). I'm thinking of mounting the coolant reservoir to near the drivers' side strut tower, maybe a little angle bracket on the inner fender
liner...

[MvnTgt]

Coolant bottle installed:
P1030838_medium.jpg
P1030837_medium.jpg

[MvnTgt]

I brought the car out of hibernation a couple of weeks ago and have restarted my attempts to tune the Megasquirt. I had a nasty bog right off idle that I've
gotten rid of by reducing the accel enrichment pump shot drastically (reading the datalogs helped a lot - I'm a total noob still with the whole DIY tuning). I've still
got an intermittent bucking problem ~2000 rpm and steady throttle and a sometimes steady, sometimes rolling (mostly rolling) idle that I'm trying to get
to the bottom off. The car is still lots of fun (more so now that I've improved the drivability issues).

I machined up a square nut with a M8 x 1.25 thread to make it easier to tension the belt and tighten the nut without resorting to growing a third arm. It wasn't worth
taking a picture of but I thought I'd mention it in any case.

[MvnTgt]

So, I decided to head down to Lumsden with some like-minded fellows with the Bimmer for some autocross. It turns-in like a greased turd and I'm unaccustomed to
so much power.

http://youtu.be/dVDUY0DcFCc

The car drove down flawlessly but I ran into some problems on the way back. Long story short, I'm pretty sure I had a bad solder joint on one of the injector
current limiting circuits which caused one bank of injectors to stop injecting. It's all better now though.

Anyone have some suggestions for suspension mods? I have the TMS front bar (30mm) installed but haven't installed the rear bar yet. The front ride height is in the weeds which isn't doing me any favors so springs/dampeners are on the to-do list.

[douglee25]

How about some good tires?

[MvnTgt]

Wheels and tires are on the "to-do" list but I'd really like to raise the front ride height up a couple of inches. The car is so low it's scary going over speed bumps and this
car is first and foremost a street daily driver. I figured I'd deal the most immediate things first.

[douglee25]

You may want to also check your suspension to see if the struts or shocks are worn or leaking. If you're front struts are blow, during braking the front is transitioning way too far and taking weight off the rear end.

Doug

[Laminar]

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!

Great thread and great project! Not sure if you're still active here, but I was wondering if you had more information on your power steering setup - I'll probably end up doing something similar and was hoping for any suggestions or advice. Thanks!

[MvnTgt]

I'm in hibernation mode but I check this forum once in a while...

The pressure hose was a piece of 3/8" 2-wire bulk hydraulic hose from a place here called Princess Auto that I had ends crimped on. After some seat time, I found the hose was a couple of inches too long ( it was dragging on speed bumps ) so I
shortened it and installed a field installable 2 piece thread-together straight end and I was a happy camper. The suction hose was something I bought at NAPA to connect the homemade pump fitting and steering rack to the BMW reservoir. It was specifically
labeled for power steering systems so that's what I went with.

One thing I'm planning on modifying, when the weather gets nicer, is increasing the belt wrap on the alternator. It loves to squeal when the car is cold and it's driving me (and probably the neighbors) crazy.

Edit: Pictures may make it clearer (or not..)

[Laminar]

That's perfect, thanks!

[MvnTgt]

It's one way of doing it.