84 s52 e30 build - Page 5

Jon@Bimmersport · 11-03-2011, 05:42 PM

Hope you got a nice heater going on in your garage!!

Looks like good progress.

Axxe · 11-03-2011, 07:38 PM

I like your cam lock tool!

cormier · 11-04-2011, 12:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by new2bmw

I love the engine, so clean, looks amazing. I am such a perfectionist and would kill for the chance to do what your doing. I was thinking of using tremclad on some of my subframe parts and trany, sway bars etc. but I am not sure how it would hold up, if anyone knows let me know please, also, when you use the POR let me know how it goes, I have heard good things but never any long term results, just that it works. Where did you pick it up and how much was it? Great job, keep it going!

Ive heard nothing but great things about POR-15, I picked it up off their website because I didnt find any other places to buy it lol. a bit pricey, but I wasn't impressed with my make-shift painting job on the rear subframe and trailing arms. I'm sure POR will work a lot better

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jon@Bimmersport

Hope you got a nice heater going on in your garage!!

Looks like good progress.

Ha a stupid little wal-mart one thats NOT doing a good job with no insulation in the garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by Axxe

I like your cam lock tool!

Thats a picture from the machine shop actually, they got creative

BigD · 11-04-2011, 01:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cormier

Ha a stupid little wal-mart one thats NOT doing a good job with no insulation in the garage

I picked up one of these for 20 bucks off Kijiji, been using it for 2 winters now, works awesome! A forced air heater could be better if you don't want to give it some time to warm up the whole place cause the forced air ones will blow the heat right at you.

I was worried about choking myself, installed a CO detector in the garage but my garage doors have such large gaps around them that I get sufficient ventilation for the burner at full song with the doors closed :| Gonna fix that one of these days.

cormier · 11-09-2011, 02:33 PM

Wiring woes

So kinda pissed -- got an obd 1 harness, goin through labeling the connectors and I find this

Cut connector (VANOS? I believe it's red/wht and grn/blu the obd1 says cam actuator and the obd2 diagram says VANOS)

Random plug with one wire? No idea what this is, brn/grn

Going to get another harness I guess, I suck at wiring not sure if I want to try to put another connector on this one

There's also plugs I can't find on the diagram and vice versa -- I knew the electrical would suck but jeeeeez

Edit: example I can't for the life of me find any 4 prong plugs that would fit an hfm, all the diagrams say it is 4 wire connector?

BigD · 11-09-2011, 03:54 PM

Single wire sounds like the temp sender (for the cluster)

The MAF plug is indeed 4 prong but it's a round screw-on connector. Looks like an O2 sensor plug

BigD · 11-09-2011, 04:04 PM

By the way, I see what looks like Bentley type diagrams. Use an ETM. Instead of fishing for wire colors, drape the harness out, and just be logical. Some things will be obvious, there's just nothing else they reach. Anything ambiguous, think of what it could be, then go to the ETM's DME plug pinout explanation. Find the signal for what you think it could be, and ring it through with a multimeter. Shouldn't take more than a few minutes.

If you get stumped let me know, I can come by on the weekend sometime and we'll sort it out in no time.

cormier · 11-09-2011, 04:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigD

By the way, I see what looks like Bentley type diagrams. Use an ETM. Instead of fishing for wire colors, drape the harness out, and just be logical. Some things will be obvious, there's just nothing else they reach. Anything ambiguous, think of what it could be, then go to the ETM's DME plug pinout explanation. Find the signal for what you think it could be, and ring it through with a multimeter. Shouldn't take more than a few minutes.

If you get stumped let me know, I can come by on the weekend sometime and we'll sort it out in no time.

Thanks so much for the offer man, I may take you up -- but I still think I need anther harness

I still havent found the HFM, and that cut vanos worries me .. thanks for the tip of using ETMs, Ill have to get my meter out and take a go at it

Pics of the entire harness for reference

Close up of the O2 sensor, I re checked the colours again -- this is the only 4 wire plug

cormier · 11-09-2011, 05:02 PM

found the fu**in hfm

BigD · 11-10-2011, 08:17 AM

Yeah I'd get another harness man...

cormier · 11-10-2011, 11:41 AM

Will I kick myself later if I pull the connectors at the scrapyard and patch this one together :s?

BigD · 11-10-2011, 11:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cormier

Will I kick myself later if I pull the connectors at the scrapyard and patch this one together :s?

Probably not, as long as you're not reconnecting any shielded sensor signals like pulse generators (cam/crank/abs/speed). Those you don't want to solder - every joint is a source of noise unless done right.

cormier · 11-10-2011, 12:27 PM

Good to know! Shows how little I know about wiring I had no idea pulse generators were shielded --
Lol if VANOS and hfm should be ok I'll probably try that route, much easier than buying a new harness--
I'm thinking of following the ZA swap
Cd and cutting out some useless crap like auto and abs while I'm at it

On other notes, picking up larger strut tubes today to fit the konis I got

Still debating on painting the bay quickly

...

BigD · 11-10-2011, 12:36 PM

The ZA CD is invaluable as a starting point. But that crap about pulling wires, that's going too far. If you've got an auto harness, sure, get rid of that. But fishing wires through the whole thing is a bit obscene to me. I don't remember all the details now but there were other things I found that weren't right or incomplete. For instance, having an OBD2 motor you'll need to figure something out about the coolant signal for the dash (sorry if you've already covered that).

If you have any thoughts about painting the bay, do it. One day they will hit critical mass and you'll really want to but it'll be too late. At least take some mineral spirits and clean the whole thing as best as you reasonably can, take all rust areas to bare metal and paint with some rust paint (or even primer/body color).

cormier · 11-14-2011, 11:05 PM

Alright, alright, I'm painting the bay

So I stripped down the front end today

Cut and grinded down some unneeded brackets. Some didn't turn out as nicely as this as it was my first time trying any bodywork out

-- think they are a bit too deep for bondo so I'll have to see about filling it up with a weld using copper backing (?) will look into it

Question for someone with more e30 experience! Ive read that the seams can be dangerous to mess around with -- mine look like this:

Should I be worried? The other ones I have seen are more weld-shaped if that makes any sense

Still haven't quite decided on a colour for the bay yet either! On the table are: body matched, white, darker grey / charcoal, brown/bronze. Going to get some colour chits and weigh my options -- Also have to look into different types of paint theres way too many lol