E30 Zone

Hey guys newbie here, ive read all the other write ups on these conversions and have figured out that the easiest way to sort the engine loom is to get an e30 one. But as I already have the e36 engine loom in the garage I would prefer to mod it and make it fit. Has anybody done this befor and if so what has to be done to make it work??

I cannot comment as to whether the E36 loom is different to the E30 loom (in regards as to how it connects to the rest of the car loom), but an E30 M42 loom wont be that expensive and will just save you bags of effort, time and agro.

Sell the E36 M42 loom and use the money to buy an E30 M42 loom.

Welcome to the zone btw

I forgot to mention, the other problem I have is that I cant seem to find an e30 loom !! if I could find 1 for a reasonable price I think atm in time i would buy it!! Are you the guy I bought the COP conversion from ebay the other day?? sure it was vision racing!!

Indeed I am, is everything ok with it?

There are a couple of guys breaking 318iS's in the 'for sale' section you might have some luck there maybe? Put up a wanted post in the 'wanted' section, some one might have one gathering dust

havnt recieved it yet im sure it will be though the instructions seem good! only one question though as ive had the car from a breaker and it didnt have the coil packs with it im not sure how to find out which cable is for which plug!! getting excited now though just about to go and fit the engine after food!

Hi guys newbie here, i also have an e30 316i on a G plate. not running ideal but came across an e36 318is so cheap off a friend which i used to own. thinking bout keeping the e30. but putting in the 318is engine and box to help my problem. good idea???? wont to no really how hard it will be having both cars next to each other? please.
will there be any extra bits to by to complete the conversion

Zimmer, Pharoah os breaking his 318iS in the for sale section, might be able to have his loom?


Hi Vince, welcome to the zone! Check out the sticky thread at the top of this section, it should asnwer a few of your questions

rix313 wrote:Zimmer, Pharoah os breaking his 318iS in the for sale section, might be able to have his loom?

Cheers for looking for me rix, I found a guy on flea bay who sorted me one for 35 quid! bit on the steep side I thought seen as warboughtons breakers only wanted 27 posted never mind though! COP conversion plate has come and looks

Ahh good oh! Give me a shout if toy need a hand with anything.

Good news on the loom, will save you so much ball ache.

Right so I got an e30 loom. The ECU plug did not have the provisions for knock sensors so I removed these from the Dirty-6 loom and fitted to the e30 loom.

That went ok, then I find because im using the dirty-6 inlet mani the wiring does not route right so had to extend the alternator and the starter wiring.

Then the injector rail was wired straight into the dirty-6 loom so had to put a plug on the rail so it will plug into e30 loom,

The guy who sent me the loom had cut the battery terminal off so had to solder the 1 off the old m40 loom on to the m42 loom.

At this point im getting really confused and get everything plugged in, when I finished it was half 2 this morning gonna go up later and try turning it over, if any one has any heads up for me before i start it please go ahead.
Turns out m40-m42 swap aint quite so straight forward!!

You seem to have made it quite hard for your self lol. Shoulda got an E30 manifold while you were at it

Before you start it check and double check all the plugs, hoses, connections, fluid levels and make sure the connections on the starter motor are tight.

If all goes well fill and bleed the coolant system. Once running nicely, be very vidulent for any signs of any leaks. Take the engine up to temperature; it's not normaly until things warm up they start falling off or leaking lol.

rix313 wrote:it's not normaly until things warm up they start falling off or leaking lol.

pmsl

I should have got 1 but im very quickly running outa money and constantley having to explain where another 100 squids av gone
anyhow im here as i type sitting on my tool box scratching my head turns over and trys to fire but no luck, could it be affected by me not having the exhaust manifold on yet? Gotta modify that as well because as wev established im now skint (but do have a rather lovely non starting zimmer) also got no airbox atm!!

vince316 wrote:Hi guys newbie here, i also have an e30 316i on a G plate. not running ideal but came across an e36 318is so cheap off a friend which i used to own. thinking bout keeping the e30. but putting in the 318is engine and box to help my problem. good idea???? wont to no really how hard it will be having both cars next to each other? please.
will there be any extra bits to by to complete the conversion

I needed to use and modify the e30 (m42 engine) wiring loom as the e36 engine has knock sensors and i can only presume that the e30 doesnt as iv had to add them to my loom.To make life easier you should defo get the e30 manifolds inlet and exhaust.
you also need to aquire the pulley off a e36 alternator to make the belt aline. good luck.

Another update!
Car still not starting have double and triple checked the wiring and everything seems fine, I got fuel and spark as it pops flames out of the exhaust but more worryingly when trying to start it with the top half of the inlet manifold removed it pops flames outa the inlet mani when trying to use easy start the inlet manifold spits it all back out again Im getting rather stressed with it now and need my car back!! checked the cam and crank sensors and they are reading 500 ohms and 1200 ohms which i think are close enough to the recomended resistance?? also checked the fuel pump and also checked it is squirting when the engine is turned over every thing seems to be fine but the bl**dy thing still wont start......

Only thing I can think of is that the starter motor isnt turning fast enough to fill the lifters and therefor the valves arent opening and closing fully? does this sound like a feasable idea?

Any ideas anybody??? Please help me before all my hair has been pulled out

Battery voltage good?? Does it crank strong? Is this with the factory coil OR the individual coils? If it the ind coils, maybe it's wired wrong, firing order perhaps. It sparks and spits fuel, maybe just not in the right order. Check, clean, sand, grind to bare metal all chassis grounds while you're at it. You'll have plenty of time to do so sleeping in the garage with the money and time spoent on the project....it's ok we all know what it's like

battery is a known good one mate! even charged it up to make sure! Got a COP conversion on it and have checked the wiring with the ECU pinout so thats gotta be right! gonna go through and go on overkill with the earths and put them onto every major componant to be sure and see if that works! if it does ill remove them 1 by 1 and hopefully source the problem! quickly running outa patience tho think i may start sleeping in my bed again soon

Crank position sensor ok?

Dave_M3 wrote:Crank position sensor ok?

have checked it with the multimeter and is reading 1200 ohms and have read it is supposed to be 1100, i thought that this was close enough but cant be sure now so got someone to come and scope the sensors on wednesday and hes also goingto run a diagnostic check! so will hopefully have it sorted soon

yey!! fixed it and it now runs means im a happy bunny mikidee you was right! had the coil plugs mixed up! was counting from the flywheel as 1 instead of from the pulley as cylinder 1!! feel quite stupid now but at least it runs just gota figure out why its missing now went up the road in her and she was fine when it got to high revs but getting up to high revs is a real struggle! misses and splutters and you have to really try to keep it running, if any body has any idea what this may be, any help or ideas would be appreciated as normal

Does anybody know if the m40 fuel pump is suitable for running the m42?? I presume it is but have never heard it confirmed!
Thanks

M40 fuel pump is exactly the same as the M42 pump and some of the 325 pumps with the only difference on some of those being the return pipe.

Only engines you need to change the fuel pump on an E30 is for the E36 M3 engines or other engines that run at more than 2.5bar fuel pressure.

cheers dave! this rules out another posibility! Had thought that the engine may be getting starved of fuel as it doesnt like being under load! Gonna go and change the temp sensors round so i can keep an eye on the temperature on the dashboard
If there was a vacum leak on the intake side of the engine would it make the car try and stall when under load? if so then it looks like this may be my problem which means i had might as well get an e30 intake manifold and fit it with new gaskets and hoses instead of replacing them on the 36 manifold i have atm!

yep. vacuum leak will make the engine run alittle lumpy and tend to stall when you blip the throttle or put it under load.

once again thanks dave! going up to the car in a minute and going to try and bodge the hoses with insulation tape as a quick fix so I can get the car to the exhaust place and have a stainless made for it!! Also think I have an e30 inlet manifold coming soon thanks to another zoner so in a couple of weeks it should be better than new!
Thanks for everybodys help

When your getting a system made for it. Make sure you keep the front center box (the resonator) as without it, the car will sound like a chaved up civic or something similar

had it booked in for tommorow but canceled as i thought that £200 was a little expensive for the exhuast from the manifold to the back box! so think ill be looking for a second hand one now! This car has cost me a fortune and it still isnt running right, im just hoping that the inlet manifold from an e30 will make it work properly

Can anybody tell me where the vacum hose on the left handside of the throttle body goes to and if the car will run correctly with it capped off? Think this maybe my problem!

Also I think I have checked all of the vacum hoses for leaks but I cant be sure how many there are!
Is it just the two hoses from the ICV, the crankcase breather, the FPR hose and the break valve to inlet vacum.
Im using an E36 inlet manifod BTW I cant see it having a different setup apart from the shape though!
Any help will be much appreciated!
Cheers

anyone??

Could you get a picture of it?

If I'm right in thinking which one you mean, then its blanked off in almost all iSes.

I have got a pic but iv been strugglin to upload it!! can I upload them straight from my computer or does it have to be a link from another website? Sorry for the retarded question!!

Best to upload them to photobucket or a similar website first and then copy the link to the picture over here.

Is it the one going to the fuel pressure regulator. If not it's the one going to the breather valve yoke on the fuel line. It's the black valve on the passenger side of the engine bay. I've only seen it on some cars.

Dave_M3 wrote: If I'm right in thinking which one you mean, then its blanked off in almost all iSes.

I found a couple of pics from other peoples posts and can see on most if not all of them that this pipe is blocked off! so this isnt my problem!

Realy am struggling with this car now, almost to the point where Im giving up! Actualy I have given up!!
Shame really as I love this car, but I need a car by monday and as it is now wednesday with no sign of any thing else to check I think im gonna just buy another car monday morning and have done with it so this e30 is now gonna be sitting still untill I can bring myself to terms with loosing all the money I have spent on it

Surely thwres a zoner close by that could have a look at it for a few beers at the weekend:)

Its been a while since i last posted, but after a lot of looking and searching on the car and the internet I had to leave the e30 to concentrate on my uni work!

With that out of the way I had a very good friend plug the car in on a diagnostics machine and the only fault was lambda sensor? Car doesnt have a lambda sensor

so we traced the wiring and such and it turns out all my troubles were created by a single wire across the bulkhead plugged in. Unplugged this wire and the car runs sweet as a nut so im selling the mk2 golf now and running the e30 again




Happy days
Thanks for all the help you guys gave me, it really did teach me a lot about these cars and engines!