Francois' long term v8 project (PIC HEAVY)

[ButteDorFrank]

I must of been doing something wrong then, cause there was just no way it would of squeezed through, it was against the seat, and on the swaybar ... but after I removed the bar I saw that I forgot to unplug one hose, so maybe that was my problem.

[kilian22]

i took my fuel tanks in and out no problem with rear sway bar, messing with the filler neck was the worst part.

[Tom D]

i took my fuel tanks in and out no problem with rear sway bar, messing with the filler neck was the worst part.

I'm not going to debate that you may have got them in with the bar in place, but to state that it was no problem is a huge exaggeration

[ButteDorFrank]

I got the other tank out today with verry little effort without removing the swaybar... so yesterday it was most likely the one hose I had forgot to unclip that was giving me a hard time ...

tomorrow I'm putting everything back together, hopefully quick enough, I'm tired of huffing gasoline ! and it gets pretty cold quick with the door open !

[ButteDorFrank]

i took my fuel tanks in and out no problem with rear sway bar, messing with the filler neck was the worst part.

I'm not going to debate that you may have got them in with the bar in place, but to state that it was no problem is a huge exaggeration

I got to say, Kilian22 is 100% right on this one .... I did this alone, and it took me about 2 minutes to put the tank back in WITH the sway bar in place.... absolutely no exaggeration there, the bigger issue was getting all the hoses at their right spot ...

the problem I'm having now is trying to start the car with empty fuel lines ! is there an easier way to prime the lines then just cranking it over ?

[bassboy3313]

you can jumper the 2 pins on the fuel pump relay in order to run the fuel pump without cranking. Someone here should be able to tell you which 2 pins as I have forgotten. Or its most likely in the sticky FAQ section.

[audioscience10]

is there an easier way to prime the lines then just cranking it over ?

Jumper the fuel pump relay... Should get most of the air out on its own.

[ButteDorFrank]

GOT IT , I jumped the fuel pump relay ...

Oh, thanks for the info guys, I had answered my own question by searching google lol, I didn't know I was gonna find it this quick

it's pin#15 and #87 that you need to jump

http://blog.bavauto.com/6136/bmw-320...mp-relay-test/

[Tom D]

I got to say, Kilian22 is 100% right on this one .... I did this alone, and it took me about 2 minutes to put the tank back in WITH the sway bar in place.... absolutely no exaggeration there, the bigger issue was getting all the hoses at their right spot ...

here's the thing, we're talking apples and oranges. I have never taken the tanks out or but them back in dry, without the hoses attached and one at a time. so what's more work, to drain the tanks, separate them, disconnect all fuel and vent hoses, put them in one at a time, reconnect everything with the tanks in place...... or to simple remove the swaybar and take them in and out as a unit with fuel still in tanks?

[ButteDorFrank]

here's the thing, we're talking apples and oranges. I have never taken the tanks out or but them back in dry, without the hoses attached and one at a time. so what's more work, to drain the tanks, separate them, disconnect all fuel and vent hoses, put them in one at a time, reconnect everything with the tanks in place...... or to simple remove the swaybar and take them in and out as a unit with fuel still in tanks?

I took em out as a unit with fuel in tank, when they were out I turned em upside down in a bucket , put em in and poured the gas back in ... easy as pie and never touched the sway bar

[midlifebmw]

Sway bar? I just did this....
Still got held up by that one venting hose on the top of both tanks. The section with the fuel tanks is waaay on the right.

[ButteDorFrank]

Sway bar? I just did this....
Still got held up by that one venting hose on the top of both tanks. The section with the fuel tanks is waaay on the right.

hahah wow ! , bye bye e21, yeah first one I took out got cought up on the same vent tube !


Now I got the car out and running, I just need to trouble shoot to see why the heater fan are not blowing !

[JBasham]

i took my fuel tanks in and out no problem with rear sway bar, messing with the filler neck was the worst part.

I had no such luck. But it turned out all I had to do was unbolt the brackets; I didn't have to pull it all the way off the car.

[jollE21]

LOL! How long term is this build? I went through several pages expecting awesomeness, instead it's full of lectures and arguments. There are no pics of a V8 in that nice looking car of yours!!

No more talk! Start wrenching, cutting, grinding, welding!!

Next update we expect pictures of the build

Looking forward to this, just DON'T DISAPPOINT US!!! =)

[audioscience10]

^^^ This. Francois you should probably just start a new thread to document the build. That way ppl don't have to go through 5 pages of discussion/argument before they get to the good stuff... Lmao

[ButteDorFrank]

I'll update the topic with the page number when things starts to be interesting lol ....

well, I have a little update right now that's kind of interesting / a step forward.

I got an e36 for free, and it even got delivered to my house ! no engine no tranny no seats but the rest of the car seems to be there, I didn't look through it yet tho, just wanted it to get the front subframe/ suspension / brakes and everything.



Sorry to disappoint you guys haha, I've been trying to get the girlfriends car road worthy, then I can start taking mine appart.

and this is the only picture of the v8 that I have ! hahah

[ButteDorFrank]

ok so not an update on my project but an update on the girlfriends car which kept me busy the last little while ... I changed the whole front end , aligned it, swapped interior, swapped fuel tank and changed the lines.

Alternator belt was squeaking and when I went to loosen the bracket the bolt broke in it, thankfully I had another one laying around so I swapped that real quick. then I also noticed the big ground wire that goes from the frame to the engine and alternator was torn so I replaced it too. took the car for a drive and battery died on me. so I looked under again and the power wire was almost all broken too so I fixed that. I think it's working alright now.

I couldn't figure out why the heater blower wasn't working so I jumped it to the battery and it turned on, so I plugged it back up and now it works ... then I started playing in the fuse box to see why nothing was working, I just turned the fuses and played with em and everything works for now, but when I'll hit some bumps the connections might get shitty again ...

What's the best way / product to clean the fuse box with ?

then I'll need to fix the hazard switch ... for now this does the trick



here's the new interior, color doesn't match perfect but it's quite more comfy then the broken seat she had.




there it is, almost ready to stay out of my garage permanently so I can work on other stuff...



...like this one just sitting there waiting ...



or any of these 3 waiting outside for their turn to come in ...

[benjaminfrankln]

[dups]

what kind of seats are these? Any mods to get them in?

[ButteDorFrank]

the seats are called FLOFIT ... I have a brochure here with no website ... I think it's an old company that might not be in service anymore ? ... here's a review I found haha http://scrye.com/~loki/flofit.html

they were already fitted into an e21, I see that the seat brackets were a little different so I'm assuming the previous owner had to custom make his brackets.
here's the information about the company he got the seats from ... that website was last updated in 1995 tho lol http://www.businessconsumeralliance....stems-13025022

[HipMF]

Turns out there's someone up here doing something similar. Thought you might find this to be of interest:
http://www.wibimmers.com/board/index...project/page-4

[audioscience10]

Turns out there's someone up here doing something similar. Thought you might find this to be of interest:
http://www.wibimmers.com/board/index...project/page-4

Kyle's car is nothing similar to any e21 other than the body. He is putting a v8 in but the car is a tube frame with a e21 shell resting on it...

[HipMF]

Kyle's car is nothing similar to any e21 other than the body. He is putting a v8 in but the car is a tube frame with a e21 shell resting on it...

That's a valid point I guess, but by the time you change the engine, transmission, differential, front suspension, brakes and put a cage in, there's not much original e21 left. Cutting out the floor and the firewall just makes everything easier to work on.

[Tom D]

^ the car above is the right way to do a small V8 320i and a pretty impressive build, just shoving a large engine into the bay is not.

frank, I'm counting on you to do this even though I think it's a really stupid idea. in the end you'll think it's stupid as well, but the engineering and fabercation skills you'll pick up along the way will be priceless. there has been many posers here that have set off on these ridiculous builds only to crash and burn, you're not going to be one of them, right?

now how about letting this tread die and getting started with an actual build tread. then take it to completion and show us how stupidly brilliant you can be!

[bassboy3313]

Seeing that pic I posted on Wibimmers.com of my buddy's (Kyle) car doesnt do it justice. This thing is mad engineered and put together amazingly. Unbelievable to see in person! And yes, everything is built and contained as if the e21 shell wasnt even part of the car. The front end (front valance and fenders) is a complete clip that slides onto the chassis in one piece and the body slips over the tube chassis like a glove.