Worlds longest Resto, my C2 2.7 19/3/18 Vent guage action

[winx]

definitely go with the original I think

[gareth]

Ah the joys of old car ownership. An alpina badge sadly doesn't protect them from every owner before you and a lot of miles

The chances of picking up a used TD crank in better condition are pretty slim though. If it's lived in a diesel donk for eayrs, all getting fill of carbon shite, i guess there's a good cahnce of getting another bad one.

Regrind, flog the other shells and move on.

If it was easy, it wouldn't be so fun now would it?

[e30topless]

Took some pics today of the vent loom, they didn't turn out too well

the display plugs into the box thing ,




here's the loom plug into the box of tricks,


which in turn leads to this junction, it is the Radio Loom Si !



this bit goes to the radio,



and the whole lot plugs in the accessory socket into what the radio normally plugs into..




I will get better pics coz these are shite

[Simon13]

No no Steve thats a million dollars to me, looks like the ECU as such is screwed to where the OBC ecu sits above the engine ecu on that bracket which is drivers side above the speaker?!

Thats a complete bollock as i'm intending on using the radio socket for its intended purpose regarding how they've wired that in. I guess theres plenty of ways of sorting the radio out else where on the car. Thanks for this, food for thought i think

[e30topless]

yes it's above the ECU , if your using an OBC then I would have this unit at the very top so the heatsink isn't covered ?

what wiring did you get with yours Si ? you maybe able to make something similar if it's different ?

[Simon13]

i've got the whole loom, it was removed by alot of cutting though! the only plugs left were the ones for the the display unit and ECU so. So i'm going to have to do quite a few solder joints back up to the sensors and where its going to tap into somewhere for its power

[e30topless]

I will get better pics and a wire description when I pull the entire loom from my car, something I am not looking forward to

in total there are 6 wires that feed the loom... I dunno why, it only needs power ? and poss something to dim the display when the headlights are on ?

[Simon13]

thats all mine has. Green,Brown and grey wires. When i looked at pacers B6 ages ago the green and brown were wired into the brake light switch above the pedal and the grey ran into the dash loom for dimming the display up and down i think

[Simon13]

Managed to sneek to the machine shop after work today. £120 to regrind the mains and bigs. Thats plus vat and plus the cost of the shells which they can supply either mahle or Karl schimdt. I thought that cheap £120 to regrind 13 journals. He said its basic work, bread and butter.

I bet they're cheaper than BMW charge for the shells even with the shops cut ontop is my guess so let the saving commence. Mean while at the ranch we can continue with the free jobs! Like checking previous jobs done.

[Speedtouch]

May be of interest?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BMW-2-7-ETA-ENGIN ... 2a0d33d3db

[B7]

May be of interest?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BMW-2-7-ETA-ENGIN ... 2a0d33d3db

That looks to be just a 525e block. If Si were to go for another crank he'd need the 2.4TD crank.

[Simon13]

eta crank, nothing wrong with it but not for this engine!

[Speedtouch]

Aren't they readily available on German E-bay?

[Simon13]

whats readily available? TD cranks? no way. Anything E30 in europe seems to be rarer than here. but theres more chance of getting on over there as the cars were actually sold there new which would help! Eta's will in europe but again not many left now

Anyhow, whilst being a bit skint is annoying. There is always something to be done thats sort of free as such.



i painted the edges of these ages ago, the cat p!ssed on 1 and they went rusty! not impressed



Cleaned up




This is the same paint as i used on the block, i'm hoping its a bit more up to job



Dried with 2 coats



Don't look bad, everything else is bloody black so whats a bit more lol

[Andyboy]

I would rather use a nice 525e crank than some old bone that needs a regrind. A nice Eta crank that's tuftrided and given a polish would be more than good enough - the td crank was overkill really. Have you enquired as to the cost of a new TD crank? If it's £4-500, it would be worth it (almost). And new BMW cranks come with shells!

[Simon13]

Here is the selected Cylinder head for the mighty task in hand. The orignal Alpina head was missing by the time i bought the car. It was running a stock 2.5 head with a standard 2.5 cam. With the alpina bottom end and ecu. It made 190bhp and 190lbs on the rollers.

This head is from the long departed PYF, which although covered epic milege had a very nice head. When it snapped a rocker and i rebuilt the top end it needed 3 thou to clean the surface up. No corrosion to the waterways. Its done big milege 240,000 so in my eyes would be a good choice as its a settled head. Might be a load of boll8cks but its too late now.

This head started off standard, but when the alpina touring engine was in bits i took its head and this one down to SPC in Horsham to a nice chap called Ike Flak. I tasked him with copying the Alpina head work onto PYF's head. So this is it, in his words hes done a bit more which should help. My main thoughts have been over which camshaft to run on this. I've used the 284/272 schrick on the touring with a good result. I'm thinking really that the schrick 272/272 would be the closest off the shelf cam to alpina spec to use. I have got an original alpina 268/268 cam that could be copied as its no good use. But i'm not sure its worth the extra outlay and hassle, when the schrick i think will give a good result with less drama.









Fettled posts, hes gone abit more severe here than alpina did especially around the valve guides




the chamber work looks to be very close to Alpina spec. I need to get the valve guides checked again with the old main. BMW state play of upto 0.8mm which seems alot! If i'm honest i dropped a boll8ck here as i'm almost certain that the exhaust guides will be worn. So i'll need to take it back to Ike to fit 6 new guides and port them up to suit the previous work if he can. Also means the 6 valves can be machined lapped in. Although i did all this already when i rebuilt it years ago. So the valves aren't caked in carbon as they've only done 15k since the last clean up. The seats are still all nice too.



I need to sift through these 18 rockers. 6 are brand new BMW bought years ago cheap, the other 12 came from a 325 broken for spares. This car had had a top end rebuild. These look like they have done about 200 miles and are mint so i will pick out the best 6. Not sure on new eccentrics yet until i have a good look at what i have here. Saying this they can't be that expensive from BMW?!



Cleaned this lot up, now the coolant studs are secondhand from PYF's head. Again the new ones i bought are now the same as the exhaust studs and black, not passivated like they used to be. not impressed again bmw. But i have some spare exhaust studs now



All ready to go



thought i'd clean this lot up while i was on a roll



i think i'll repaint the front pulley, i'll leave big damper wheel. the other thing is a big washer for the 8 bolts for the flywheel.



Now don't flame me! BUT* again taken from a breaker car. I've long since thrown the original oil pump away. So i thought i'd strip and clean this one to see if its anygood



Just how does oil get into the threads?!



All clean ish



Its dragged a few bits of sh!t through it at some point



Cogs don't look worn, a bit scratched but ok.

Its not really good enough is it?! Good spare or for a lesser rebuild. So i think i'll just cough again and buy a new one. Last time i checked/bought they are abit more than £100 for the whole lot. The gear wheels on their own are £30.03 each.

Lots more sh!te like this to be getting on with.

[glenn]

you dont do update's by half, do you si?
they make my 'couple of sentances' look feeble

[Simon13]

Now i've been putting this off for months! We are going Air con here now. do keep up




Whats this? well the 2 plugs on the left are supposed to fit with the one on the right. Confused? so was i, then highly unamused at what was unfolding before my eyes!

The later dryers are R134a. Well the 134a dryer uses a different bloody plug. The old R12 type ones must be long sold out. Now so i'm told you can bodge up the R12 loom to make it work. BUT..............the 13's parts stash was consulted in the A/C section



Here's one i did earlier! well its a later factory 134a loom, with you guessed it just the one plug for the dryer. Cool, but not as its not on the car! This one was taped up weeks ago and cleaned before i decided i was up for doing this all over again. Today was that day



i pencil marked anthing that had been lined up previously to help up refit, front valance also. It took me some time to get the shut lines looking spot on.



Front stripped, now before people start i had to drop the valance down because i'd run the loom factory style and couldn't get the old one out. The plugs where too big to get through the hole in the plastic strip which channels the air to the rads. Plus i have big hands that can't get in all the small holes and straps which the loom.



Mess.




Before i could start the refit with the new loom i had to get 2 new connections. The ones i got were a bit small i think so a dab of solder can't hurt i thought. When i removed the old loom i had had to do this job to that loom but i just crimped it factory style. Well the wire came out but not the connection when i removed the old loom! So hence the solder this time round.



Heres me made up tool........except it won't get the connectors out like the ones above! but it does work a treat on the different ones as demostrated below



Theres a lip on the connections and you push this nail in and then the connector slides out the fuse box without breaking the lip on the connection. So it can be used again and will fit snug like it should. It doesn't seem to work on the fuse type connections like its not quite long enough. hey ho



Theres 3 wires that need to be plugged in to activate 2 relays. I've marked where they go in pencil from last time i did this lol "B" is for the solid brown wire. "BB" is the black and brown wire. And the line on the top one is for the double black wires. The other pencil line ignore. i don't know why its there



New loom poked back into the box, you need to connect these 2 up. Ones on the car the loom the other on the loom your adding



All back that wasn't so bad?!



Quick check that when the relays are refitted and fuses that the new connections don't get pushed out the bottom. Check, all ok there so lets screw the fuse box back together. The 2 fuses to be activated are the 3rd in from the left top and bottom. Both need a 7.5amp fuse. On the loom the Blue and black wire fits the bottom and the black and green fit the top.



Now we re run the new loom, it earths here behind the passenger headlamp next to the ABS unit. Its hard to get it from above.



re plug in the electric fan



Re clip the loom along the front valance and refit it all.......easy only took me about 5 hours to do the whole job lol. It did rain so i had to get the car in anyhow. Weyhey! 2 matching plugs and its much tidyier down here now. So its all good i hope.



the coolant temp sensor for the A/C cleaned up a treat! The bit in the side of the radiator



Bit sh!t photo but all back together and looking much nicer down this area. Most E30's are a mess here these days!



Front all back together just like nothing ever happened.

What a huge relief to finally sort that out i'd let it build a mental "oh no not that" blockage in my mind for some reason. Hopefully this will help anyone in some way who wants to do an A/C refit. For me i think the loom is the worst bit imo.

[gareth]

Nicely done

[B7]

A brave man this! Epic.

You are right on the oil pump si. Not worth the risk. Mine was fairly new and had virtually no scoring., Thats why I went the cogs route. That one on your bench has seen better days my friend.

[Theo]

Non-BMW fuses?

[Simon13]

MC hammer?

[Theo]

Isaac Hunt?

[Simon13]

Andrew Everett has not had a bunk up with a former owner of my car! (i think)

Theo?

[Theo]

[fowler]

si i think you can still get hold of td cranks but they are about £700 quid mark from memory.
BMW where down to the last 10 last ti,me i checked and that was about 9 months ago.
Marc can get hold of them from the continent if you require. I think Ant may have an ETA crank around or know the whereabouts of one. but from my limited experience an eta will serve you well in this application, but its possible i might be wrong.
HTH
Cheers
Ben

[Simon13]

eta will be just fine, but i don't want to use one.

[blitz877]

gonna try and collect that flywheel today, can you pm me your address so i can get the cost of delivery for you

ta muchly much

[fowler]

eta will be just fine, but i don't want to use one.

fair enough !
Oem hero is coming out

[B7]

Non-BMW fuses?

+1

Come on Si. you are letting standards slip. Get some originals in there.

[Simon13]

i like those fuses

[beardymat]

i like those fuses

you might like em, but theyre still wrong

A-

[e30topless]

easier to tell if one is blown with the BMW fuses, IMO

[bss325i]

Forget the fuses! The 60/40 cup kit springs are a bigger crime!

[Simon13]

Scorpion center box and Racing Dynamics manifold too

you do all this work and all people point out is the bloody fuses! i don't know