AWD E36 BMW

[Anonymous View build HERE Member since: January 1, 1970 Posts: 0]

That was all going well till it wasn’t…. Installed the Steering shaft, Quickener and Pedals then noticed..

Something had been on my mind since the engine went in, like something was missing/wrong, some silly simple moron (me) had forgotten to install the Fire Suppression pipes in the engine bay, this was bad enough till I realised I’d also forgotten the Windscreen Wiper motor… DOH

So one step forward ten back, out came everything, I’d cut the BMW connector off the Wiper motor and replaced it with a Deutsch connector, hadn’t thought about how I was going to plug it in with the engine in the way..

Cut the wiring further back inside the car and put another connector in where I can reach it.. main reason for this is if I ever need to remove the main harness it would mean pulling the engine out to unplug the Wipers…

Finished all the remedial work and called it a day, in my defence this is the first time putting it all back together, that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it..

[Anonymous View build HERE Member since: January 1, 1970 Posts: 0]

And I’m back to where I was with one huge bonus, everything is right this time, it actually comes out and back in with a minimum of fuss once you have a system in place.

[Anonymous View build HERE Member since: January 1, 1970 Posts: 0]

Had a fiddle before going to town for supplies, installed the Satin Black Drip rails, MUCH better than the old Rust coated ones!

[Judge1 FrazerParticipant new zealand1983 VB LSA MG9 6060 6 speed View build HERE Member since: February 5, 2016 Posts: 775]

mate this thing is going to sound and look good awesome work Ian

[Anonymous View build HERE Member since: January 1, 1970 Posts: 0]

It’ll be great from a social distance Frazer 

Thanks I’m looking forward to hearing how it sounds, the old system was split left/right of the car so was a bit of a PITA noise wise by the end of a weekend..

[Anonymous View build HERE Member since: January 1, 1970 Posts: 0]

Made a start on the Interior and Plumbing, all going well.

[Judge1 FrazerParticipant new zealand1983 VB LSA MG9 6060 6 speed View build HERE Member since: February 5, 2016 Posts: 775]

Hey Ian how is your (slide) hand brake plumbed up do you have two slaves one for each side and is it plumbed with the abs

[Anonymous View build HERE Member since: January 1, 1970 Posts: 0]

That’s it exactly Frazer, I still use the ABS/TRAC so needed the dual master set up to keep it functional.

————————————————-

And that’s another day done so another day closer to completion!

Main Harness in, only had one ground wire that was a bit tight after putting the convoluted tubing on, extended it so all good now, of course I’d forgotten to paint the Fuse Panel bracket so gave it a coat of Etch force dried it and blew some Satin Black on.

[Anonymous View build HERE Member since: January 1, 1970 Posts: 0]

Shot up to Bendigo early for a few things I needed to continue, back home and had another “fiddle”, installed the newly Black Fuse panel mount, Plugged in the taillight harness and Fuel pump wiring, the K.I.S.S version.

Spent hours removing the double sided tape from my Boot spoiler cleaning the glue and residue off then putting the new double sided tape on, I was of two minds what order to do it in,

sand and polish the bootlid first as this would make that part much easier or stick it down now while the paint is Virgin, I chose option#2 as it’ll be a much better bond, I can mask it off while I’m polishing later.

[Anonymous View build HERE Member since: January 1, 1970 Posts: 0]

Another perfect example of how a 2 hour job can blow out to a full day..

Plugging the centre control panel back in I noticed one of the big DTP 4 pin connectors wasn’t locking, ended up swapping it out for the 2 new 2 pin connectors I had “spare”.

Plumbed up the Intercooler reservoir then went to mod the overflow hose for something a bit more secure now it’s inside, DOH can’t undo the fill cap as it hits the sheet metal at the base of the screen… Space it out 15mm all good..

NUH now the hoses are 15mm too short, make new hoses, sorted, I shortened the battery kill cable and promptly forgot how I was going to route it, tried a bunch of different ways, all too short, finally got it right, plumbed the Accumulator!

Installed the Brake balance cable to the adjuster all ready to cut the cable down if needed as per the instructions, NUH found a routing that has no bind and uses it at full length..

Onto the Master Cylinder hoses, spent ages looking for 4 hose clamps the same… Bzzz 404 clamps not found, found 2 each of different style clamps near enough, install it all P clamp and cable tie it up all neat, start putting the tools away and notice THE CLAMP… DOH again missed one, sort that and call it a day.

[Anonymous View build HERE Member since: January 1, 1970 Posts: 0]

Another Day of “Fettling”, because the car was never fully mocked up with all the plugs and cables installed there have been a few “got-ya’s” along the way..

Installed the Steering Column and Dash, Trimmed up the Shifter cover to fit over the pipes and cables.

Painted and fitted the Passenger foot rest.. bzzz nuh, the Oil line to the Accumulator was a bit in the way, couldn’t put it where I had it due to the ECU connector in the way, CBF’d making a new longer hose so I dug out a M/F adaptor I knew I had, problem solved..

The Drivers side foot rest was painted ages ago and was a bit crap and bubbly, striped it bare and repainted it, while it was drying a made a couple of flaps to stop mud and crap getting into the engine bay, for some reason it’s open stock..

Went to fit the foot rest bzzzz.. fuck off, stop light switch, throttle pedal connector and brake bias cable ALL in the way, cutting and trimming and a bit of hammer work sorted that, repaint and good to go!

[Anonymous View build HERE Member since: January 1, 1970 Posts: 0]

I need a break from this, roll on 3 days of Bathurst coverage, wired in my GoPro charger then more tweaking to convince the Drivers seat it can fit in there.. Passenger seat went in no probs, first electrical error showed up, right and left indicators were switched, easy fix but had to squeeze into the boot to do it.

[Judge1 FrazerParticipant new zealand1983 VB LSA MG9 6060 6 speed View build HERE Member since: February 5, 2016 Posts: 775]

Dam Ian this BMW  Ls charger thing is awesome , mate if i ever come over that way I would like a ride

great work and it’s inspiration to all who are building or tinkering with cars

[VRSenator065Participant Adelaide SAVR Senator LSx454 1960 Kombi (project) 1921 Nash Hot Rod (future project) View build HERE Member since: February 17, 2015 Posts: 5 777]

Couldn’t agree more, maybe the best build in literally years, so awesome.

[Anonymous View build HERE Member since: January 1, 1970 Posts: 0]

Thanks Guys, if you’re ever over here more than welcome to come visit and go for a ride Frazer, it’s the most comprehensive build I’ve done since the 240z, not a single bolt unturned in it…

The Throttle works so apart from a bunch of errors that may not resolve until the first fire up it’s all going well.

 

[Anonymous View build HERE Member since: January 1, 1970 Posts: 0]

Had a fiddle this morning, plugged the Scanner into the BMW and checked Codes, only two one is the Fuel Gauge as I couldn’t fit a sender in the Tank I wired in a couple of resistors, I may have got the Values wrong, the other cleared and didn’t come back.

There’s still an ABS fault on the dash but that more than likely will go away after Bleeding and a few rotations of the wheels as I’ve seen it before on both cars, Starter isn’t spinning up so need to check that as well.

[Anonymous View build HERE Member since: January 1, 1970 Posts: 0]

Made a start fitting out the engine bay, got a bit done then ran into a hose routing issue, 30mm too short and too close to the headers, off to Bendigo again for a longer piece of Teflon hose and some firesleeve.

[Anonymous View build HERE Member since: January 1, 1970 Posts: 0]

Interesting day, got the engine bay finished, I addressed a Lexcen legacy that annoyed me but I was too lazy to fix, the power cable for the light bar used to just float around when not in use, drilled a hole in an old 4 pin connector and bolted it to the inner guard, now I just plug the cable into that!

Got a bit OCD with the hoses and routing, lengthened the one off the intercooler pump and shortened the other side to get the joiner out from under the strut brace to make life easier.

Made a longer return hose from the steering rack so all the hoses follow a common path, one of the Trans cooler hoses was too long and looked a bit arse so stupidly I shortened it in the car, anyone that’s ever worked with 100 series hose knows what a massive PITA it is to do on the bench… Got there in the end.

I’ve had the little battery on the charger for a day and tried the Starter again… bzzzz NUH no joy, put it up in the air to see if the idiot that built this thing left enough room to drop it from underneath… NUH, that guy’s a tool at times..

Was looking like EVERYTHING had to come back out again and I figured that’s a problem for another day, after putting the tools away and cleaning up I had an idea, a bit of percussive maintenance maybe.. NUH bugger.

Checked on the shift light volt meter, 11.2v.. hmmm I wonder, hooked my big jump battery up, BINGO we have Starter Motor action, whoo hoo

[Anonymous View build HERE Member since: January 1, 1970 Posts: 0]

Up and down sort of day, Down was my Oddesy PC 950 battery looks like it has a dead cell, tried a full discharge/recharge cycle, still the same, big clunk from the starter but no rotation, went through all the cables and connections, all good and it cranks on my old Blue top Optima..

An Up was my driver’s side door handle arrived from South Australia so I can start rebuilding the doors, the frame on mine is broken in 3 places, while it still worked it was only a matter of time till it didn’t.

An Up/Down with mild panic came after putting the front panels back on and closing the Bonnet and it NOT opening…. A lot of fiddling I got it open, readjusted the strikers so all good now.

Another Up was doing a Gumby alignment then setting a ride height I’m happy with and putting it on the ground, the Down was discovering it weighs a Lot more now and my feeble old body was struggling to move it on the go jacks, rideon mower to the rescue!

[Judge1 FrazerParticipant new zealand1983 VB LSA MG9 6060 6 speed View build HERE Member since: February 5, 2016 Posts: 775]

I try not to swear on the written word  but!!!!! Ian that looks fucking awesome         

[Author]

Posts