E30 Zone

So after a little break from e30's ive brought another one!

this time I thought id save myself time and buy one with a m52 2.8 lump already installed- but it has its issues! so hoping the guru's can steer me in the right direction!

As soon as you connect the battery the dash lights come on- even without the key inserted, so its permanate live- the rad fan is on a separate switch and so is the fuel pump. engine starts (slight hesitation on first couple of secs, then seems to tick over nicely)
but you cant turn it off! switch the ignition off and it still runs! but the stereo switches off!!

Im new to lightened flywheels and this car has one- revs up and when you release the go peddle it seems to hang there for a while before settling down- is this normal with lightened flywheels?

on general looking around the engine bay and never seeing a m52 installed there seems to be a few pipes that lead to nothing-and connections that seem to go no where.

Id just like to leave the bloody battery connected and be able to turn it on and off the correct way- including knocking the switches for the fan and fuel pump on the head.

any suggestions or guidance would be greatly appreciated!

still feels great to have an e30 back on the drive!

Unplug the engine loom and see if the dash light operation changes, it could be a bodged up engine loom causing problems

Oh and get some pics posted

If it's live all the time and the fuel pump is on a switch, the E30 body loom might have been hacked about too. It baffles me that when it comes to doing an engine swap, the wiring is probably the cheapest bit to do 'properly' - yet it's almost invariably the one where the most corners are cut!

I'd suggest pouring over the E30 body loom so you can restore it to as OEM as possible and buy one of each of DanThe's tried and tested engine & fan looms

Been out running the car today- and a few more little horrors are starting to appear! the radiator is held in by zip ties and the fan attached to the rad with zip ties! genius!

already spoken with danthe, think the only way forward is to rip the current loom out and start again!

have taken some pictures of the bay so feel free to highlight some other problems you may see!!

I love buying cars blind! its like xmas day finding all these little problems!

jurassicwadey wrote:

already spoken with danthe, think the only way forward is to rip the current loom out and start again!

Having read your OP, I tend to agree! At the very least it will need to come out and be reworked by someone that has a bit more knowledge of electrics than whoever did the conversion.

Did you manage to sort these problems? I am literally in the same situation down to the switches, and cable tied fan lol