Unknown parts in engine and found in boot

[e30Ambitions]

Hi All,

I recently bought a 316 baur TC.

There were these parts in the boot, also some buts in the engine i dont recognise. one i think has something to do with the heater?

Please could you help me identify them?

[Speedtouch]

First photo is the ignition coil, bottom photo shows a windscreen wiper motor. Suspect the other stuff in the middle is probably aftermarket air-con or auxiliary heating valves, etc.

[Brianmoooore]

Do you have a manual choke control for cold starting?

[e30Ambitions]

Do you have a manual choke control for cold starting?

yes i do

[Brianmoooore]

In that case, the original carburetor will have been discarded and replaced by an aftermarket one, almost certainly a Weber. The various unused and disconnected bits around the engine bay are parts of the automatic control systems for the original - a system that was fine when the car was new, but hopelessly unreliable after ten years, when I owned a 316 E30, and I doubt if a further twenty years has improved things.

Pic. 4 is an electric heater valve. Quite valuable if in good order, and there's no obvious sign yours has failed. You will have another one fitted to the car - one of the heater hoses connects to the black pipe where it pokes through into the engine bay.

[e30Ambitions]

In that case, the original carburetor will have been discarded and replaced by an aftermarket one, almost certainly a Weber. The various unused and disconnected bits around the engine bay are parts of the automatic control systems for the original - a system that was fine when the car was new, but hopelessly unreliable after ten years, when I owned a 316 E30, and I doubt if a further twenty years has improved things.

Pic. 4 is an electric heater valve. Quite valuable if in good order, and there's no obvious sign yours has failed. You will have another one fitted to the car - one of the heater hoses connects to the black pipe where it pokes through into the engine bay.

Thanks for the reply Brian, yes it is indeed a Weber carb in there now. Is it best practice for me to remove the tubes and wires seen in pic 3? Not sure if it'll be causing a vacuum leak or something.

Also do you think that pic 2 is related to the carb as well?

[Brianmoooore]

All the relevant bits can be removed to tidy things up if you're so inclined. The vacuum source is the inlet manifold, so any connections to this that are left open as a result of the tidy up must be blocked off.
Can't remember exactly what the part in pic. 2 is for, but it is part of the carb. control system.
The original carb. was very sophisticated, with automatic cold start enrichment and automatic idle speed control, whereas the Weber is as basic as you an get - technically a big step backwards, and totally out of place in something as sophisticated as an E30, but it does have the massive advantage of being 100% reliable and doing its job well enough, if not perfectly.
It was very strange with the original carb. to physically feel the throttle pedal moving itself downwards under your foot, if you started climbing a hill in a gear that was too high.
Some of the pipework and a valve (the one in pic. 3 ?) was originally concerned with a changeover flap inside the air filter that drew warm air into the engine from a pipe near the exhaust manifold (can be seen in pic.1) rather than cold air from behind the RH headlamp, in cold weather, to prevent the carb. icing up.
This may be semi intact, and worth reconnecting, but if not, it's best to make sure the flap in the air filter (assuming you still have the OE one) is fixed to supply cold air.