Not much of an update but it's something.
New aluminum radiator w/ correct inlet & outlet orientation. I use to have a Behr 535i radiator but they were reversed. Plus it had plastic end takes that are known to crack prematurely).
The fuel injectors themselves were able to creep down the port to where the lower injector o-ring almost sticks out a bit. Glad I checked that!
I figured it was a potential vacuum leak so an order to McMaster was made. I fitted some square o-rings to raise it up a bit and it all fits perfect now.
Injector Dynamics Bosch EV14 725cc injectors and a new Bosch 5.0 bar FPR installed.
C.O.P conversion is done and ready to be wired up.
and as always, a current engine bay shot.
As these cars get older, there are certain items that like to go bad. The heater core cracks, the wiper motors go bad and the blower motors fail. So i replaced those with new ones so I don't have to deal with them in the future.
Wiper Motor installed:
Windshield wiper motor installed:
When doing the heater core, i decided to shorten the aluminum coolant tubes so I can run hoses to them. This would eliminate any potential intake manifold clearance issues in the future. I also put in a new firewall grommet for the hoses.
Started putting in the smoked Hellas.
Nice and clean!
Had to shorten the shifter carrier and shifter rod about 16mm each.
Got it all installed along with the shortened and rebuilt drive shaft. Yeah, I can shift gears! A little notchy, but hopefully once run it will clear up. If not, I might have to revisit this one.
Supposed stronger and replaceable u-joints.
For the exhaust, I wanted to build my own. So I order a bunch of stainless components and went to town.
The exhaust manifolds are from the Euro E28 M5. I chopped off the secondary pipes and put in larger 2.5" pipes. That allowed me to position the downpipes in a better position. Here they are tacked up.
I ordered a y pipe from Columbia River ($75) and one from Vibrant ($95). The Columbia River one had some rough insides that overlapped and looked like crap frankly. The vibrant on the other hand was very well made. Equal to any Burns y-pipe I've seen for half the cost.
Vibrant on the left, Columbia River on the right
Inside of Vibrant was pretty much perfect. That is a small weld bead, done from the inside, there in the middle. Pretty amazing quality for the price!
I used 2 Vibrant v-bands to piece it together. The cat will be easy to swap with a track-pipe or resonator this way.
I really liked the Vibrant V-bands because they have interlocking male and female flanges. This keeps them in the correct position when clamping.
They also have a recessed lip that fits perfectly on the 3" pipe.
Here is the y-pipe and cat sections done. I put an extra 02 bung just in case it's needed.
The rear muffler and pipe section. I used a couple of oval to round transitions to get it up as close to the rear subframe as possible.
Rear muffler is a 22" Magnaflow. You can see a couple hangers I whipped up with some stainless bar stock and square tube. There are 3 hangers of similar design.
Hangers tacked up.
Front main hanger.
Rear Main hanger.
Rear stability hanger.
Today with the beautiful Sacramento weather we had, I hung the exhaust and finished bolting in the front sway bar and setting the sway bar links.
Here it is all hung after welding. I still have to make the track pipe/resonator section and put in a 4" stainless flex pipe since it's pretty rigid now. I also need to make a nice tip for it. Not sure what to do on that.
I was happy the way it turned out. Fits nice and tight against the body. The lowest part on the car is the front sway bar.
Main rear hanger. They all were sanded and painted with some exhaust paint since the rubber hangers were mild steel.
This side hanger has almost no load on it. Just there to help keep straight.
So...flex pipe and some y-pipe retaining springs and the exhaust will be done.
Next step is wrap up the heater core hoses, run lines for the oil cooler and start wiring up the EMS.
Stay tuned.
Not much of an update but a little progress.
A common issue with engine swaps is the clearance for the heater core hoses and the intake manifold. I shortened the heater core tubes and used the coolant lines from a random BMW that had what turned out to be the perfect bends in them. They tuck nicely against the firewall padding leaving plenty of clearance. I also put in a new firewall grommet.
I replaced the brake booster vacuum lines with new ones. I originally ordered just bulk hose but instantly realized you need the preformed ones from BMW as the bends are just to tight to use bulk hose. I put everything together with new hose clamps and every day I would look at it and get mad at how ugly all those clamps are so I ordered the Oetiker clamps and tool. Any excuse to buy another tool I guess.
Next was the oil cooler. I'm using the slightly larger E28 M5 oil cooler. When mounted it sits at an angle so I modified the flanges a little to it's a bit more level. Then with a hack saw I cut off the original fittings so I could weld on some AN fittings instead. If It ever needs to be serviced, it's much easier to source them. I had good expericances in the past with the Aeroquip Push-Loc hose so I used that again. Sure makes things easy and tidy. I still have to put a sheath over the hoses and make a mount where they pass under the radiator support to prevent abrasion.
Original fitting:
Original fitting removed. I just put my air compressor in the other end to blow out any shavings as I was cutting it.
New -10 AN bung welded in.
Quick coat of high temp black paint and it looks almost original again.
TMS sells a -10 AN oil cooler fitting for the E36/E46 which looked like it would fit the E34 M5 oil filter housing. Ordered it up and sure ****, fits perfectly. So that and a couple of 90 degree fittings made an easy job of that side.
180 degree fitting for the passenger side.
And a straight fitting for the driver side.
Then I welded in the 4" stainless flex pipe with interlocking liner (ask Anri about using a weave liner!) and put in a new heat shield for the exhaust since the sticky back **** I had in it wasn't to sticky.
I am currently starting to wire in the Vipec V88. I swear, its always something...you think you ordered everything and you get held back by the smallest things. I'm currently waiting on some sockets for the Vipec connectors and some relay kits from Apex Speed Technology, once those arrive I can finally start that.
Big kudos to
Apex Speed Technology and
Pegasus Auto Racing. Probably the two best companies I ever ordered parts from.
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