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

[Royalratch]

I fitted new vents all round to my car - not that pricey and they are stiff and smooth as fook.

A must!

[B7]

Trouble is Ratch, it's not a vent thats loose. It's the vent gauge. Not that cheap to replace.

[e30topless]

Simon,

the wire is in wrong here,



this is why it is pointing wrong,

the loom should pass through the bottom of the duct before the flap which takes the weight of the wiring and keeps it pointing straight, also the vent can be open and closed properly then

[Simon13]

i see, well it does all work as it should and the flap will open and shut behind the guage. So i'm not sure i can be bothered!

Show me some pics steve!!!

[Speedtouch]

Did you get any pics of the circuit board to see what type of chips they used?

[Simon13]

just having it work will be enough for me, no intention of chipping my vent guage gov!

[Speedtouch]

I was just interested to see what sort of technology they used back then!

[e30topless]

i see, well it does all work as it should and the flap will open and shut behind the guage. So i'm not sure i can be bothered!

Show me some pics steve!!!

sorry for the delay, I lost my Vents
anyway Pics as promised , the loom can be pulled up and down in the grommet here si, this makes it point where you need it, I adjusted the last one so it was flat faced, looked much better,
the back,


and the front,

[Simon13]

WEll well, thanks for those Steve but all is not well with this, i've wired it up this week and it doesn't seem to work. Great. So the plan is to go up to pacers and test my ECU and display on his B6 which has a working system. Then we can go from there. Hopefully it won't be anything too bad, might be a trip to Phil Crouch as he loves this sort of thing.

Anyhow its been a while but plenty of action to keep it on the boil. Only 2 months now with the crank i'm running out of things to do!


So where we left off was with a saggy vent guage that kept flopping


Looking at this inspired me to sacrifice it to the cause!



Get me?!



Glued on either side




Job jobbied, now its a touch stiff but it certainly doesn't flap about as before



Then i had the lead plug hanging out of there which seemed not very good



So all back apart and then like this. Which seems like its ok but as we know now its not 100% working i may aswell re do it again as its all coming apart. So the continued theme of everything is done about 3 times until we are happy with it!!




So building the dash up complete, we've got several looms here, cruise,OBC and lighting, Alarm too.



Ready to for action





ta da!



Look at this chocka block accesory socket, shes full! 1 spare plug hole left i'm not sure what goes here



Found this old stereo loom, so i just re soldered it up and its ready to go in. My head unit only works with an amp hence no speaker connections on this



Theres a surpise none working OBC bulbs with the RS components replacement bulbs to go in





Quite tricky this i think, and f**k 60 plus VAT bmw want for a new unit.




Now fuse 21 kept blowing............... how i found it was pure luck. Fuse 21 controls interior and boot lights, OBC display and radio in its tally. So very annoying. By chance i shut the boot and herd the fuse pop and which led me to this... i had routed the boot light wires incorretly and it had been rubbing through to short it i guess! So redone this after the red 2door showed me, and repaired this wire and everything seems ok touch wood! pleased me no end to sort this. As electrics aren't my strong point as we know





So on to the climate bit of the A/C climate control, as you can see here its not going to fit together as it is. I enquired about a climate only facia as such but there isn't so some dismantling was required





In bits to see if the penny was going to drop




penny landed! so......


]
That like this, bin the black part off



getting there



cooking on gas, not sure if this is 100% but seems the only way to me so i'm happy



On to the ICE side, nothing mega here but a steep learning curve for me on this one. Please not shouts about OE head units and all that crap, i'm not interested. So this is me adding a blob of solder to the amp connections. Can't be a bad thing i thought




Here is the chosen head unit. CD 400. top draw and looks the part. Plus its working here! The CD player bit seems to have broken now So i need to get it fixed but apart from that i like it. You can change the lighting to green from amber! i thought that was cool.




Here is my chosen amp, those who remember placey and his ice. Well he told me this was the amp to buy oldskool alpine V12. its 600amp i think but its 5 way so you can run a sub off it too if you wish. i'm not planning on it but its there if i wanted it later on. This was just a rough mock up to see if it works. Which it does!




Aerial wired in, brand new. This pleased me immensely. easily pleased i am. I've never done it before. Its also leaning rather to one side here, i've got it upright now too with a fiddle. When you fit it first you don't know where its going to point when you first fit it!




repainted the end bits on the amp, now this lot is about 3 evenings after work of head scratching and p!ssing about to mount this bloody thing. Its the best i can do!



Here is a ply plate i've made up for the amp to screw to and then this is bolted to the rear bulk head



but i wanted this trim panel in, they are NLA so no pressure. This looked a bit kack, plus there are extra holes in it for the alpina fuel tank. You won't see much of it either but it needs to be there!




this looks a bit better to me




pulled the pina tank out so i've got to mount above this




Plus with the tank in i couldn't get the side trims in or the rear bulkhead panel. So all in and ready then



Fuel tank in and my "custom" amp plate bolted on too. I sunk the bolt heads in so they are below the top if you get me, so its still flat for the amp to mount to



The other side, it ain't going no where!!



Amp in, not too bad with the wires, or not a large kebab type of wiring mess. Its out the way here and won't fall off! Where the fuel tank it where alot of people place amps and then subs on top etc. Looking at other peoples ICE installs. So that seemed to not help me for ideas either. I'm pleased with it and the boot is now done in my eyes. Note the Special alpina carpet to cover the tank! Alpinas way to making this fit is double sided stick tape!



So thats how that is going to fit. I've 7j pina rim as a spare instead of the bloody 14 inch steel sytners let you roll out with when new. A steel rim won't fit over the ALpina big brakes on the front so this is a must. Along with my ultra rare morsel fuel can. Its a 9 litre not the usual 6 tat everyone else has! You need a 15inch BBS minimum for the big can




Then because of the fuel tank the boot carpet doesn't fit! So this has to be cut down, and also if you run a big width spare wheel ie a 7j rim, you need the extra carpet bit underneath so i've cut that also which you can see in the last pic



So we end up with this! I'll take some more pics later of minty jack chock tools etc


Wow now that might not look much but it seemed a marathon to me. Huge step closer to the finish line though. You wouldn't believe how much time i spent actually in the boot. Was hard work i tell thee




This is the last remains of the old cobra alarm. Nice job to sort and one that had me a bit worried to sort out properly




Borrowed this special tool from Barry to remove the pins from the C101. scrap one to play with. So this is a proper to the rescure tool this!



you gotta click it round to this to get them pins out



Pin out, but the other end of the wire sheething has split to i'll use the other one from the scrap plug



Had to be the thickest wire on the plug! And a bit of black on the car side of it great for soldering not.



Good dollop of flux helped



Heat shrink on FTW, some of it went off as you'd expect so i had to cut the shrunk bit off!



sorted another mighty pain in the arse job. So we can crack on with the engine loom, heater panel etc getting that all in and looking good now. I was even worried about the length being right other wise the ubber boot wouldn't fit over the top again. Had sweaty hands doing all this!




The offending item, you gotta love the alarm fitters It was a cobra by the way, i've end the reciept for it being fitted in about 1995 in Farnborough which is just up the road. Should i go round there and complain?!

And the end of this rather long update, all fiddly head thinking sh!t

[bss325i]

Nice progress Simon.

The climate control unit doesn't need the black part removing, infact its a channel to the temp sensor.

I have used an EIS condensor from eurocar parts which is german made.

Anyhow, heres the process of building up the HVAC panel.

The E30 climate system uses a regulated temp control system that has a temp sensor for inside the car so when you set the temp on the dial, the system regulates itself to the temp you set it to and maintains it with electronic control of the heater valve as oposed to a mechanical flap that a standard E30 system has.

Here is the control unit removed from the HVAC panel. The temp sensor is very prone to getting blocked up with dust and this is not exclusive to E30's. Here is before and after clearing the dust.

The control unit


Before


After


The complete HVAC panel stripped


New temp foil

[E30BeemerLad]

So much paedo action

But well worth it. Top drawer

[oguz327]

Awesome work Si, you must be well chuffed the wiring is all comming together!

[darren_mk]

Excellent work as usual.

I can totally appreciate how time consuming this sort of work is, but so well worth it, and satisfying when done.

[B7]

Top draw that man. Proper good stuff!

[tonybtonyb]

There is only one word and that is you are'Hardcore'a super job

[Felix79]

You never cease to amaze me with your diversity with the restro and again a bloody good write up of the work done! I bet it must be a great feeling with the end of the tunnel in sight!

[Gortour]

That's not the light at the end of the tunnel, Dan... That's the guy from the Spares department at BMW with a torch, bringing some more invoices for Simon...

Seriously though, this is epic Simon. Brilliant effort, and equally brilliant write-up.

[Simon]

Hey Si, saw this and thought of you..

http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default ... ryId=23738

[Simon13]

why cos of the number plate?

[Simon]

Yes lol!

Saw it on pistonheads (SOTW) and knew the reg was familiar from somewhere..

[Simon13]

a classic nottingham reg the CH giving the game away

[Blitz]

Just found pics of a B3 2.7 identical to yours apart from being Allrad.

[oguz327]

Nice find Mo, liking the Black, Red and Gold stripe combo

[Speedtouch]

What's the difference between the B3 2.7 and the C2 2.7?

[e30topless]

What's the difference between the B3 2.7 and the C2 2.7?

Germany, france spain ect got the B3, Uk got the C2 ?

red leatherzz with gold warpaint Si

[Simon13]

What's the difference between the B3 2.7 and the C2 2.7?

nothing, if anything we got the better deal as we had non cat engines which made a bit more power.

The real reason is the german customers felt the C designation was inferior to the B, they changed the C2's to B3's when the E30 was facelifted to plastic bumpers

So the LHD chrome bumper 2.7s are C2's like ours.

Mo i've got the old article of that very car in BMW car mag from a long time ago, 2004 ish. Never thought mine would end up like that! Silver stripes chaps.

[Andyboy]

The B3 2.7 Katalysator and C2 with the catalyst use the standard 325i camshaft.

[goosiegander]

What's the difference between the B3 2.7 and the C2 2.7?

nothing, if anything we got the better deal as we had non cat engines which made a bit more power.

The real reason is the german customers felt the C designation was inferior to the B, they changed the C2's to B3's when the E30 was facelifted to plastic bumpers

So the LHD chrome bumper 2.7s are C2's like ours.

Mo i've got the old article of that very car in BMW car mag from a long time ago, 2004 ish. Never thought mine would end up like that! Silver stripes chaps.

Not ruled out the fine wood trim then Simon?

[Simon13]

no f**king chance, looks kack this and headlamp wash wipe won't be going near it!

[bss325i]

The B3 2.7 Katalysator and C2 with the catalyst use the standard 325i camshaft.

The DME is a different part number for cat cars as well.

[suchy]

The red/black combo is obviously loaded with win, but think silver looks better than gold for the stripes. That wood trim looks dreadful!! But it was made a few years ago!!
What did you decide on for the rear shelf in the end?

[B7]

The red/black combo is obviously loaded with win, but think silver looks better than gold for the stripes. That wood trim looks dreadful!! But it was made a few years ago!!
What did you decide on for the rear shelf in the end?

Spot on Such on the stripes!!!

[Simon13]

Black shelf, just need to buy some dye for it, and some speakers.

[Speedtouch]

What's that knobbly thing sticking out of the centre console, behind the gearstick?

[Dezzy]

Its a 90's sony caontrol stick