m30 conversion progress and questions

[beefy]

Ok i just bit stuck on the fan had a look on ebay and there is a few what am i looking for one that will fit in the hole and how will i know if it will blow through the rad.

Also do i leave the plastic shroud on the front of the car the one that has the opening at the kidney grills.

Sorry for all the questions or if i sound just dont have a clue about the fan bit.

[DRIFTBOY]

No worries.

There are probably many ways to go about it.

I'm not using any plastic shroud.
Not sure there is room to keep it or not anyway.

Aftermarket fans, if bought new, will say on packaging or somewhere -'blow through' / 'front mounted' or 'suck through' / 'rear mounted'.

If it's used you just have to trust the seller.
If it doesn't say on the advert ask if is front or rear mounted without saying which you want, then they can't fob you off by just saying what you want to hear!

If you look round scrapyards, make sure you find one that is in front of the radiator, not between the radiator and the engine.

[beefy]

ok cheers there is just so many on ebay maybe i shall check the scrappy.

[gareth]

pug 405 and 406 fans look good to me.

if you can find an e32 with aircon, nab the fan and the brass temperature sender from the rad. this will allow you to replicate the aircon wiring in the E30 and you'll have 2 fan speeds, which i nice. they're bloody noisy if you don't have a low speed setting

oh, i'd love 5-10mm clearance on the column! i have about 5mm and it only touches when i really give it some welly round a l/h bend.

a neat trick with the air inlet hose on the airbox is to cut a section out of the headlight trim plate thingy and poke the hose through. instant cold air feed

[beefy]

on the look out for a fan then thats gave me some ideas, if i use a pug one can i not have that with 2 fan speeds?

Gareth how did you get the clearance on the exhaust manifold?

Quick update on progress:

Fitted 325i shifting rods and a nice new z3 shifter.

And yeah it is just a clip thing holding the uppe shifting rod on.

Got the gear box mounts bolted up.

Cant remeber were the reverse light plug went thats in the car under the center console.

[DRIFTBOY]

Can't remember where the reverse light plug went that's in the car under the center console.

If it's the one I'm thinking of there is a corresponding plug coming from the reverse light switch up through the gear lever gaiter.

That reminds me, I lengthened the wires going to my switch by about six inches to make it easier to plug in when in situ.

[gareth]

on the look out for a fan then thats gave me some ideas, if i use a pug one can i not have that with 2 fan speeds?

Gareth how did you get the clearance on the exhaust manifold?

you can run low / high speeds with the pug fans. somewhere on the pug, there will be a resistor for this but i can't remember where! i used the E32 resistor off my siezed E32 aircon fan. with twin fans you can also wire it to have either one or both running instead of low/high speeds. it will then still be noisy on low blow setting as the one fan will be on full whack.

re the manifold clearance, it took some shuffling to get the engine over until there was about 4mm gap between the inlet fannymould and servo. then attack the exhaust fannymould fange and the corners of the joint on the steering column with a file / grinder for more room. still tight though and still touches occasionally more work needed for a few more mm.

[DRIFTBOY]

Last weekend I spaced the right hand side engine mounting bracket up with washers between it and the rubber mount by about 3mm, it seems to have made a noticable difference!

[gareth]

i've done that too. also some between the mount and block.

oh, forgot to mention that i've still got a totally standard manifold... that's the next target for the angle grinder of doom!

[beefy]

i found a fan today which i think will be suitable its from a vauxhal omega its one of the twin air con fans. Only a fiver from the scrapey so no big loss if its no good. It looks good and fits well in the gap in my e30. Its a blower too.

Now then how do i wire it up, and what does it take to have it two speed as i really want it to be.

[FlappySocks]

You could get two variable thermostats, to switch the two fans independently. Then you can set them at different temperatures.

[beefy]

i only have one fan. the car i took it off had two of them infront of the aircon rad.

Ok cheers going to do a bit off research into the wiring for it as i dont have a clue.

[beefy]

right after my bit off research.

The current thermostat on the m30 controls the amount of water flow through the rad.

So to wire the fan up i could take the 12v from thebattery through a fuse, through a relay to the thermostat to the fan then to earth.

Is this correct.

To have two speeds i need a resitor some were in the above circuit to have a slow setting. a second thermostat positioned in the top corner of the rad near the hose set higher.

This is as far as i can work out is right or am i a way off.

[gareth]

the thermostat for the rad is purely a mechanical means of controlling the flow of coolant through the rad and nothing to do with the fan at all! nothing needs changing here.

your best bet is to replicate the E30 aircon wiring. an aircon equipped E30 has a fan with 2 stage switch and the slow speed resistor.

the wiring details for it are all here in the fuse block sections:
http://www.autolib.diakom.ru/CAR/BMW/19 ... 0DIAGRAMS/

when i fitted mine i used the original fuse and relay locations in the fusebox as i'm a tart. if you're not fussed about having extra fuses and relays in the engine bay you can save some time in the wiring. you'll need to get a slow speed resistor and the two speed fan switch from another bmw. mine was from a E32 735i but i think it's the same on mist bmw's of this age if aircon is fitted. this screws either into the rad (if it's got a spare port) or in my case, into a spare port in the thermostat housing on the engine.

[beefy]

cheers for the info

Is there not some kind of thermostat that acts like a variable resistor that may screw into this spare port that the hotter it gets the more current is allowed to pass hence spining the fan quicker?

[gareth]

not that i know of.

the BMW one uses two temperature settings. 87 and 92°C iirc. between these two speeds and the 'off' setting, it works absulutely fine.

[beefy]

could you identify the required parts on the real oem site for me please.

[beefy]

i got the fan mounted today with some home made brakets for the top and a cable tie at the bottom it seems sturdy enough.

Also mounted the rad its the one from the e34 donar. Done away with the passanger side bottom mount as the rad is to big to sit on it properely so now its just sitting on the metal braket which is under the plastic mount all the other mountings i used were original it fits in nice and secure.

I had to cut off the alu overhang on the rad to get it in past the dizzy car so i cut it off right across the length of the rad so it looks neat. Came off really easy a few scribes with a stanley knife and bent it a few times and off it came nice and neat.

Now its all in place there is only a few mill maybe 3mm between the dizzy car and the rad but i think this should be fine.

Just need to source the parts to wise the fan up correctly and thats that bit done.

The end is insight.

[gareth]

i think item 5 is the dual speed fan switch
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do ... g=17&fg=05

the resistor is fitted on the fan frame (item 1)
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do ... fg=60&hl=1

if you have the fan on the donor car, you'll also have the switch!

the relays are the same as the rest in the E30 fuse/relay box.

[DRIFTBOY]

i got the fan mounted today with some home made brakets for the top and a cable tie at the bottom it seems sturdy enough.

Also mounted the rad its the one from the e34 donar. Done away with the passanger side bottom mount as the rad is to big to sit on it properely so now its just sitting on the metal braket which is under the plastic mount all the other mountings i used were original it fits in nice and secure.

Fan mounting sounds fine to me!

I'm also using an E34 535i radiator, I used another right hand E30 lower radiator mount on the left hand side (less than a pound from my local BMW dealer) riveted into place and the E34 radiator sits in it like it was made to measure!

My distributor cap is also very close to the top of the radiator but I'ts caused no problems yet.

[beefy]

cheers gareth ill be phoneing bm tomorrow.

Think ill just leave the rad mounted as is because it seems good enough. but if it fails ill be using to right hand mounts.

Just been getting coolant piping worked out so think i know were its all going now.

I cant get the larger banjo bolt on the power steering pump the bend in the pipe is wrong so stops the bolt going in. what have you guys done about this i though about swapping the resevoir for the 535i but the other pipe fitting will be wrong,

The only way i can see of sorting this out is to try harder and get the exsisting fitting on and have a bit off a kink in the pipe. Or swap the pipes over, from the 318is one to the 535i one, but the clips holding it to the resevoir are high pressure i think and not reusable, so could i just use a jubilee clip?

Will my 318is prop be ok for the joining to the 535i prop or do i need a m20 one?

Also i guess ill be needing a m20 coding plug?

[gareth]

don;t you have the sensor on your donor car (that gave you the rad?)

the banjos all went of fine for me. my car had a M20 in though. these should be easy enough to source on the zone if yours are different. a jubilee clep won't hold though, the pumps are rated at over 100 bar!

afaik, the rear of the 'is' prop should be fine mated to the front of the M30 one

m20 coding plug is the one to use

[beefy]

assuming the sensor would be screwed into the rad then nor just some brass blanking plugs.

Ill have to see what i can do about that banjo bolt.

[beefy]

phoned bmw and the parts needed to wire the fan are a bit expensive for me so what scrap yard donar cars can i get the temp switch and resistor from is basicly any bmw of that age with air con.

Also is there anyway of testing they work ok if i find one.

[ric325i]

dont know if you have the fan working yet but here is the pic i made for my fan.

one switch etc



in the middle is the relay from any car and it has all the numbers just keep the wires to teh relay short to help lessen the load.

all info from boys and girls on here and good info as mine works a treat but how to wire it up with a thermo ??????????

im up north this weekend so pm me your mobile and post code and i may pop round? if you offer me a cuppa? see what Gall is doing too

[DRIFTBOY]

If your's works like that, and I don't see why it shouldn't, then fine but mine is wired quite differently!

I would definately put a 20A or so fuse between the live feed and number 30 on the relay though!

If you want a manual over-ride switch inside the car just wire it in parallel to the thermo-switch.

[gareth]

to test the switch, use a multimeter (set to continuity test or ohms setting) and heat the end up in a kettle while the mrs isn't looking! it'll make the contact on one terminal then the other at 2 different temperatures

if you make sure it's a bmw one, you can screw it straight into the rad or the thermostat housing as the threads are right.

[johnl320]

Heres my set up,

E32 air con fan with the resistor for slow speed mounted on the side of it.



I then used the relay mount for the origional M10 relays ( now unused on the M30) to mount two relays one fast speed and one slow



Using a 1995 525 radiator switch which screws straight into my E34 535 rad both relays have a signal wire running to the switch. This earths the slow speed relay at 87 degrees and high speed at about 95 degrees.



The main power feed to the relays is a sperate wire straight from the battery with a 30 amp fuse .


HTH

john

[Brianmoooore]

but the clips holding it to the resevoir are high pressure i think and not reusable, so could i just use a jubilee clip?

Clips (or pipes) to the resevoir don't need to be high pressure!
Out of the three pipes associated with the steering, only one carries any appreciable pressure.

[beefy]

cheers for the info should be able to get it wired up once i source the bits needed.

So for the power steering i guess the only pipe with the pressure is the one going from the pump to the rack. So a jubilee clip will be fine yeah?

Ive chopped the flange and about an inch of pipe of the manifold. Marked it up to be welded back together giving me the most clerance. I rotated it about 90 degrees.

[beefy]

list of parts needed goin to see what i can find at the scrap yard.

1. Temp switch and resistor for fan.

2. Coolant pipe from tank to thermo housing.

3. Blue m20 temp sensor were will this be on the engine and is there any way to check it works?

4. M20 coding plug were on car is this?

5. Reverse light switch. Mines got no socket on it.

Ill pm you ric

[gooner1]

Beefy, re No 3 , is it not the brown m20 temp sesor you need?. Think it replaces the black m30 one.

[beefy]

hmmm not sure mate just from ive read its a brown one on the m30 but you need to fit a blue one from a m20

[gooner1]

quote="SPADGE"]

Thanks for that Ed, they were just a couple of the many things that I was unsure of. Am I right in thinking that I need an M20 gear linkage and temp sensor?

It comes with the gear linkage the right length.
And you will need the blue temp sensor.

The blue temp sensor is the M30 one
The temp gauge sensor (brown)needs to be an M20 one![/quote]

Here you are Beefy. Hth.

[beefy]

cheers mate do you know were it is on the engine is on the thermostat housing.

Is it possible to use the first silencer from the 535i?