How about a build thread thread? Let's call it my Final Chapter and my Nephews first

[NordmanMg]

So an introduction.

I have 1997 740iL which has been my passion and hobby for over 10 years. I have done many things to it over the years; some maintenance, some repairs, some mods and have enjoyed the ride. About 2 years+ ago, I decided that it was time for a change and at the same time my nephew, who was 18, was really interested in the car. We put together a deal and it consisted of making it a project where we'd work together and I could teach him a little about the car and mechanics. Things started out strong, next thing you know the car was on blocks and stripped, but then.........my life got in the way and I wasn't able to work on the vehicle any more. As the project collected dust, my nephew had no choice but to move on.

In the meantime, my life has calmed down a bit making it possible to resume the project. Great timing, my younger Nephew, who is now 17 wants the car. So it's GO TIME!

Unfortunately, he is working and attending high school so he won't be available to join me on the build. I started the project last week and have been keeping him posted with a text message now and then. I thought this website, particularly this forum would be an excellent way to document the project and share it with him and others.

What do you guys say?

I figured, I'd start with some historical photos of when I bought it. Mostly some pictures of things done while working with "first" Nephew. And then get started laying out the project now, which I call my final chapter and my Nephew's first. Once I direct him to this website, hopefully he will join us and learn from your comments and watch the car's virtual progress.

I estimate there is a month of work ahead which will be followed by several weeks at shops getting all the finishing touches wrapped up. It is great to be back on board. I am working on it with my mechanic where the car has been essentially in storage the past 7 months.

So let's get going. I took this car apart a long time ago. I will need your help. Lots of mods too so would like your feedback as well.

Looking forward to joining Bimmerforums. Thanks in advance.


Here is a picture when I bought it in late 2004:




and here is a picture as it sits in my mechanics home garage:

It came a long way,
and Yaaaaaaaaay that is soooooo great

[cyclops2]

She looks great!

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Thanks very much. Feels so good to get it on the road. We have to iron out the kinks now.

Nice work guys!

Thanks very much and special thanks to Danny, I couldn't have done it without him.

Great to see!

Did you reset adaptations?

Thanks, yes, it feels great to get it on the road at long last....nearly 5 years. Can't wait to enjoy. working out the kinks and final details now. Now what are those adaptations you are talking about?

[cyclops2]

It came a long way,
and Yaaaaaaaaay that is soooooo great

Thanks so much! You've shared my first post where I started this project on this forum; February 2015..... 2 years and 8 months old...

By then the project had already been underway for over 2 years.

I am not done, but starting it and last night getting it on the road again felt very good. Plus, the car feels very good; so much different, so much better.


So stay tuned, still a lot to go....

[Hueristic]

... Now what are those adaptations you are talking about?

You have a 98 so you can just uplug the battery for a day or you can use inpa. Good idea to run inpa anyway and clear out any old codes and see if they come back. BTW, Don't reset them with the engine running.

[cyclops2]

You have a 98 so you can just uplug the battery for a day or you can use inpa. Good idea to run inpa anyway and clear out any old codes and see if they come back. BTW, Don't reset them with the engine running.

OK, so these adaptations are they hard coded in and a special procedure required to erase them? My battery has been out for years during this project. I bought a new one and installed it last week when we started it. So my assumption was that all old programming erased itself. But do I need to go through the process with INPA?

I came across this list of e38 adaptations does this apply to my 1997 (5/96 build)?

http://www.meeknet.co.uk/E38/E38_Adaptation.pdf

Note: the next time Danny and I get together we'll be hooking up INPA and going through everything; so we could address the adaptation resets then if appropriate. Let me know.

Thanks.

[purplecty]

On my 98 740iL, i would reset the adaptations with the engine running and you can hear the difference right away. Then turn off engine and then ignition on check the DME for any errors and clear if necessary and fire it back up and done

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[purplecty]

https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...et-(-NON-V12-)

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[kulgan]

Seriously cool to see this running at last. Well done.
Lots of work gone into this so now you can enjoy the ride at last. Huge thumbs up.

[Hueristic]

OK, so I've always cleared adaptations with engine off but apparently people are doing it with engine running. I'm not sure which way is correct so look that up, I can't trust my memory these days.


Found this for what it's worth.

https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...2#post26436742

[cyclops2]

ALIGNMENT COMPLETED:


Today, I picked up my car after alignment at a BMW Indy. I did a night drop so wasn't at the shop at all during the work. I had them verify proper assembly, loosen and retorque all suspension components and align to sport specifications. Note that nearly all suspension components replaced as well as adding Bilstein sport struts and lowering Vogtland springs with 20 inch wheels. Reason I had them check everything was because I disassembled the suspension in 9/2013 and rebuilt it in 3/2015 and didn't drive it until the "first start" in 10/2017. I recalled correctly that I had left all control arms loose so they could be tightened while under load. Other than the lose control arms they found no problems and noted that the components used all seemed good quality (I only used the best parts for this).

I had asked them to align it to sport model specifications (I asked if it could be done and they said sure). I don't know if this is sport specifications. There isn't a lot of adjustment they can do; toe on the front and toe and camber on the rear.

On the receipt it noted that the camber on the front was way out and may need camber plates to bring in. I also notice the results for the rear camber are unchanged (pictured below); perhaps not adjusted? or is the "out-of-spec" value reported actually the sport spec?

I did take it for a very brief test run that was city driving for a couple miles, so was hard to make much of an assessment. I will drive it a bit more tonight. I did note that I may need to investigate the Servotronic since it seems to steer a little hard at low speed.


Anyway, anyone have any thoughts?


Alignment Results, after 5 year build, 12-7-2017.jpg


I need to post more on what the heck has been going on the past 2 months since it was first started. stay tuned!

[cyclops2]

Big milestone:

PASSED EMISSIONS AND NOW REGISTERED WITH PLATES!!!

More updates to follow. Disclaimer: not my daily driver quite yet though. Getting there...

[dannyzabolotny]

Congratulations! I'm happy to see our work finally seeing the light of day

[cyclops2]

Congratulations! I'm happy to see our work finally seeing the light of day

Thanks for all your help Danny! exciting and a little scary. can't wait to just drive it and have fun. but now the scary is that unknown "something" biting me in the butt. So I continue to take it slow and easy.

I have put about 90 miles on it since we started it 2 months ago. There are no codes, no faults, no idiot lights.. well ok, the airbag light, but I think that is related to the new/used steering wheel I installed. But when checking the emissions monitors, even all of them were active and OK.

sweet! Thanks again.

See you soon as we work on other outstanding things from the "list". getting close; my goal is daily driver by years end. Not perfect, not 100%, but safe and tight then... it's GO TIME.

more updates to follow...

[Sabreslight]

Big milestone:

PASSED EMISSIONS AND NOW REGISTERED WITH PLATES!!!

More updates to follow. Disclaimer: not my daily driver quite yet though. Getting there...

Congrats man! you guys have been my inspiration for keeping my project going, hopefully i'll have this same good news sometime in january.

[Hueristic]

Congrats

[cyclops2]

Congrats man! you guys have been my inspiration for keeping my project going, hopefully i'll have this same good news sometime in january.

Congrats

Thanks a lot guys! still not my daily driver. as always just very hard for me to have time. Stay after the project Sabre, if I can do it....anyone can!

I still have to post updates of things done and found over the past couple of months. Hope to make some more progress this week.

stay tuned!

[cyclops2]

m.aliexpress.com/item/32699151113.html#autostay

Note: although I haven't quite put 100 miles on car since getting it running nearly 3 months ago, I have confirmed that hub-centric rings are mandatory to compensate for the slight different from BMW hub (72.56mm) and the 20 inch aftermarket wheels I have (76mm).

I suspected this to be the case and had ordered hub-centric rings that didn't work out (didn't fit the wheel properly). So the little driving I have done have been without having the wheels aligned hub-centrically. Relying on just the lugs to pull it into center isn't adequate (lug centric). This hasn't been very noticeable in city driving, but is prominent in highway driving (like bad balancing).


A few months ago, Chief referred me to a link at aliexpress.com (China) that had aluminum hub-centric rings. I opted for some plastic ones in the USA for a quicker delivery. The plastic didn't work, not just because made of plastic, but how they fit the wheel.

So I ordered these just over 2 weeks ago from aliexpress.com (link above) and they just arrived. First opinion; impressive and far superior to the plastic ones I previously bought.

These happen to be 72.56mm (BMW hub) to 76mm (aftermarket wheels)

Price: $13.00 shipped.

I will follow-up with pictures of fitment and comment on test drive results. I hope they will fit and solve the "balance" issue.


20171228_230521.jpg

20171228_230428.jpg

[cyclops2]

Well I checked out the fit of my new hub-centric rings. They won't work without modification. The ID, OD measurements are current, but the cone/bevel/flare on the inside face (toward hub) won't fit flush in the wheel centerbore. The aftermarket wheel doesn't have much of a beveled edge to accommodate a hub-centric ring.

Here are some pics.


This picture shows the shows the area where a hub-centric ring would be placed. Note there is nearly no bevel so the ring sits up off the wheel face.

20171231_000218.jpg


Here you can see the wheel with the hub-centric ring removed and installed (on right). The straight edge illustrates that the ring protrudes above the surface of the wheel.

20171231_183859.jpg 20171231_183951.jpg


So I am going to need to remove about 1.5 to 2.0mm of the beveled lip of the ring; that will essentially be all of the lip/bevel of the ring (facing my palm).

20171228_230521.jpg

[Chief Jimbo]

Sorry about the bum advice, the wheels I had fit the rings nicely. Hope you can make them work for you. Can you have the shop machine the wheel so the lip goes into the wheel instead of taking the lip off? If you take the lip off the ring might slide into the barrel of the wheel. (slip off the hub)

[cyclops2]

Catch-Up POST

I haven't been able to make any progress on the project so it still is not my daily driver.

I wanted to share a few posts (catch ups) on some things done a while back.

This one is an important tip/reminder of a potential problem which is easy to prevent.

When Danny and I first started the car on October 7, there were a few issues that would require attention. I'll list those later, but it was very late (or I should say early morning) so we only had time to start it, basic bleed coolant and quick test drive. it was starting to overheat (needed further bleeding) when we stopped for the night.

Anyway, here was one condition and very easy to happen to others.

CONDITION: ASC Warning on and ABS lights off

Solution: reversed throttle and secondary throttle position sensor connectors


I came across a post from Timm on 12-25-2016, yes on Christmas day a year ago, he provided me with the answer. Apparently it is very easy to have a 2 connectors switched leading to the condition I've noted above. Additionally, correcting this problems solved several problems we had observed.

Here is Timm's post................THANKS Timm!!!

https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...sc+light+is+on

Attachment 620302

Here is a picture of the connectors. They are identical and so close that without labeling (when disassembled) it is easy to reverse them (as Timm notes).

20171130_000506_LI.jpg


On 11/27, I checked this out and switched my connectors. Yep, they were reversed. Swapping them solved several issues; ASC light, idling behavior, missing/running rough, even shifting (it wasn't shifting during the first test drive on 10/7 or 10/20 test drive). Due to rough running I also got O2 sensor related codes, but after connector swap, I cleared the codes and they did not return.



Next I will post about my fuel pump replacement.

[dannyzabolotny]

Oh yeah, I remember that fuel pump. It whined so loud that I heard it more than the engine, haha.

[cyclops2]

Oh yeah, I remember that fuel pump. It whined so loud that I heard it more than the engine, haha.

It sure was loud.


Say, everyone, I want to be clear about the swapped throttle position connectors. That was my bad not Danny! He did an excellent job on the engine build which you can tell from previous posts was extensive. The wiring, well, that was me...


The wiring was removed in 10/2013 by me and not labeled.

DSC01742.jpg

Then the wiring was reconnected after Danny assembled the engine (TCG, etc, etc.) in 10/2016..........by Me.........3 years after the disassembly.

20161015_015928.jpg


The reversed connection was found after finally starting and test driving the car on 10/2017..............BOY TIME FLIES!!.

[cyclops2]

CATCH-UP POST

This was done 12/7/17

ok, so another project done after starting the car on 10/7 was replacing the fuel pump and the check valve. When we first started the car, I didn't notice the fuel pump noise and in fact, we had used the fuel pump to pump out the old fuel and then to pump new fuel to the fuel rail and there was no noise. But that was some old gas, pump was old and all had sat for a long time....replacing was in order.

So keep in mind that the gas in the tank, the little there was, was there for nearly 5 years. are you kidding me??!!! well when the project started, I was supposed to be only weeks.. lol I did start with the fuel low in tank AND had drained off a lot when replacing the inlet hose (from cap to tank). But quite a bit still remains in tank due to its odd shape.

So when we started it and test drove it, it was then we found that the fuel pump (or something) was squealing. We figured it was the fuel pump. Some reading I did on the forum also suggested that it could be a check valve in the tank that should be replaced regardless. I had already purchased the fuel pump (VDO) and had planned on replacing it after putting a 1000 miles on the care after the build.

But this loud squeal demanded attention and I didn't want to get stranded for that after all we had done on this project at that point.

Well sure enough, as could be imagined it was a nasty mess! Enjoy the pics.

Here are the goodies: VDO/OEM fuel pump with gasket and clamps and the check valve (the clamps shown are ones I had and set aside for this project, but they were too big so I used the factory crimp style clamp.

20171207_234147.jpg



Now how does that screen look? It wasn't even fastened to the fuel pump. just laying in the tank.
20171208_001331.jpg


















































Found the insulation of the power supply wiring brittle, cracked and exposed bare wires. So made new. Looking close you can see old on top of black and red sets.


20171209_150014.jpg


Finished; new pump, screen, hose, wiring. I even used one of the factory style clamps for the first time. Tightened it with a pair of dykes. Also used a heat gun to warm up the white flex fuel hose so it would fit on the tank cover outlet elbow.

20171210_002403.jpg


Here is a little video showing the check valve. The fuel pump needs to be removed first and is not covered in this video. I had never heard of or seen this check valve before. Not too expensive and easy to do so makes sense to do it when replacing the fuel pump.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1d_X...ew?usp=sharing


So this fixed the very loud squeal. Although I replaced the fuel filter during the project, it will need to be replaced as well shortly. I have one ready to go. I am hoping to put some miles on the filter to catch some of this junk in the tank, so maybe 1,000 miles. I have included Seafoam and will continue to that and/or similar for a while to clean things up. I will also be running 91 Octane top tier fuel from here on (have DUDMD DME tune).

[cyclops2]

UPDATE: NO PROGRESS!

I am so close, but just haven't had the time to work on the project. So it sits. Danny and I first got it running late September and it immediately blew injector orings (3rd gen), a week or 2 later we hit it again and got it started and took the first short test drive. It wasn't until late November when I had a chance to look at some issues we had identified on the first test drive. With a few fixes that day, the first test drive of any distance occurred. There have been a few "test" drives since all to facilitate work on the car (alignment, AC, emissions). At most, I have put 100 miles on the car.

I can't believe it, but it has been nearly 2 months since I last drove it.

....................................WHY CAN'T I FINISH??

A project that takes 5 years will have MANY things that get in the way of completion and I experienced them all. But the major reason it has taken so long AND that I haven't been able to finish it, is because my wife is disabled, very sick and bedbound; I am her caregiver. I have been taking care of her for years, starting before this project. She has been getting worse making it even more difficult to work on the car. After the car was no longer going to be for my nephews, I decided to keep it and use it as my hobby, my distraction (I bought it late '04). It has been nice to get away to work on it when I can. I have no regrets that the project has taken so long, that it cost so much and that it didn't work out with my nephews, because I have been able to be with my wife during this difficult time. I will get the car done. My new goal is by my birthday the end of March. That will basically be the 5 year mark for the project. I can't wait to be driving it and just having fun... now that will be real therapy; needed therapy. I have enjoyed posting my build here - even though it has often been like watching paint dry.

So what is left?......

I went through all my notes and tried to make a complete list of everything that is left. It is pretty comprehensive, probably not everything, but most of it. Importantly, I broke the list into categories of priority as follows:

1. Drivable (what needed to be able to drive it safely, but not for daily driver)

2. Daily Driver (finishes enough items where I feel I can confidently drive it on a daily basis - I will reveal the car to nephews after this list completed)

3. Near Term (items to complete during the first 4,000 miles)

4. Long Term (after 4,000 miles and some if ever)

5. 4,000 mile service (things to repeat after a period of "break-in")

6. Future Service Schedule (PM list based on mileage and/or time)

7. Wish List (always have to dream)


My next post I will share my Driver and Daily Driver List and then post progress on those items as I continue to slowly move forward.


Dan (Cyclops2)

[cyclops2]

So how about that list I mentioned? ............


Well, after going over my notes and stack of old lists, I have come up with this list with 2 categories that I will focus on to get car to daily driver status. I am sure this list will grow a bit, that is my nature. So in no particular order...

Drivable
· Hub-centric rings (need machining first)
· Bleed brakes
· Pressure tests coolant system/Coolant bleed
· Adjust cables (this order), throttle, cc, secondary throttle, install adjuster lock nut
· Reclean ICV
· Taillight socket/bulb replacement – will clear fault
· Test auxiliary fan
· Test fan clutch
· Adjust parking brake
· Check for brake dust shield rubbing
· Tire pressure including spare
· Investigate/fix noisy part in front of engine bay (alternator?)
· Replace fog light connector – to clear fault

Daily Drivable (after completed show nephews)
· Program key fob
· Fix window seal leak rear passenger side
· Run fuel system cleaner first 1000 miles (4 tanks)
· Replace damage ABS sensor connector
· Install cable/hose routing clips and hangers – rear suspension area
· Replace brake booster vacuum hose
· Amplifier/subwoofer
· Muffler delete/Magnaflow cats/Tanaka tips w/bumper cutouts, hangers, O2 sensor adapters
· Wash exterior
· Buff/wax
· Detail interior
· Seat trim install
· License plate frame (black)
· Trunk trim (painted black)
· Install engine acoustic cover and coil covers
· Install strut caps (paint blue)
· Install strut bar
· Detail engine bay
· Install new BMW floor mats
· Install new wipers
· Paint center console storage bin tray (undercoating)
· Airbag light (related to new/used steering wheel install?)
· INPA
o Check codes/clear
o Reset adaptations
· AC

o Flush system
o Add fresh PAG oil

o Replace all orings
o Replace Schrader valves
o Replace dryer
o Recharge 134a


The difficulty remains.... getting time to work on it!