V8 conversion specialists - Gama Motorsport - on YouTube!!

Fri Dec 30, 2011 9:11 pm

well bit of a update, i have now completed the gearbox mount and the gear linkage for the 6 speed.
im just struggling with the exhaust manifolds now which is annoying.

Thu Jan 12, 2012 8:41 pm

done abit more today and finally got my pedal box.

acouple of questions on the rear waterway though. i am going to run without the heater matrix but i was abit unsure on what outlets to block?

Fri Jan 13, 2012 11:53 am

Lovely thanks will I shall have a look tomorrow, just a idea but could I move the reservoir bottle pipe to one of the end outlets so it's not so close to the firewall?

Fri Apr 06, 2012 10:28 am

thanks for that willnz, i just need to block the other outlets up now and sort the radiator hoses out and thats the coolant done.

bit of a update on getting past the brake booster issue........ give up and buy a pedal box with master cylinders on

and my E30 off to my new garage with lots of space....... oh and a new house

Mon Apr 09, 2012 10:27 am

That's great progress, I especially like the pedal box and master cylinders set up.

Congrats on the new house and spacious garage, I reckon you'll be up and running quite soon.

Your E30 looks great on the trailer, very purposeful. Hopefully we'll meet at some stage, once mine is done. Fingers crossed for being able to drive mine to Gaydon this August.........

Good luck with the rest of the build. Have you sorted out your exhaust manifolds, or are they still being difficult?

Tue Apr 10, 2012 10:15 am

Ahh thanks alot

Iv put more light in the garage now do its like daylight anytime of the day now

Well I'm hopping to be at gaydon this August too so we shall meet there somewhere and compare notes and experiences ;)

I'm hoping to be starting her this weekend if the rest of the fuelling parts turn up.
I am still yet to complete the manifolds though which I'm dreading.

Tue Apr 10, 2012 10:34 am

Driftben wrote:

That shock-top nut's not touching the chassis during steering lock is it? Only thinking in terms of it trying to undo itself which would lead to a bad day!

Tue Apr 10, 2012 1:03 pm

Well spotted keri

The camber is yet to be setup so it's not a final position

Tue Apr 10, 2012 1:19 pm

Sat Apr 14, 2012 8:42 pm

a couple more pics, while i sort out all the wiring

Sun Apr 15, 2012 7:02 pm

It would be great to meet you at Gaydon, although my money is on yours being ready and making its own way there, with mine being trailered for the second year in a row.......... Hopefully I'm wrong, because I REALLY want to drive mine asap!

Nice pictures by the way. Your engine bay looks tidy and nicely filled. Should I ask how the manifolds are coming along?

Sun Apr 15, 2012 8:57 pm

well im hoping to be finished for gaydon, when is it by the way?
i dont blame you for wanting to drive her in, mines been off the road for 3 years and gone through 3 engines

well a slight update, i managed to get the engine to turn over which is great but all i need to find out now is what colour are the wires that supplied the original fuel pump. im going to use these to energize a relay to bring both fuel pumps on i have in the wheel well.

still havent finished the manifolds yet though, iv put them to the side for the minute but ill be carrying on with them next week which im dreading

Sun Apr 15, 2012 9:49 pm

It is on Sunday 19th August this year, according to the guys on m3cutters.co.uk forum.

I bet it feels like quite a long 3 years to you. Mine will be 2 years in the making, IF it makes it to Gaydon!

I am hoping to hear mine turn over and start sometime soon, which is when I'll know how good the manifolds are. I know I like the look of them, but I what I really want is to hear the whole system.

Here's the link to my online album, which includes some photos of the various versions of my manifolds and the rest of the system:

http://s1189.photobucket.com/albums/z432/E30V8/

I don't know if this helps you out at all? If I can help you at all, (maybe unlikely, but I can only offer!) let me know. The exhaust system from the manifolds back still needs tweaking, but I wanted to have a slightly beefier version of a standard 325i look, to keep my sleeper style.

If you find out which colour wires supplied your original fuel pump, could you let me know?

Best of luck and I look forward to hearing more and seeing any other pictures of your progress. The next four months are going to fly by..........

Sun Apr 15, 2012 10:44 pm

oh right ok then now thats a date to go by

hopefully i get mine started tomorrow but ill see how i get on, the colours of the cores supplying the pump are Green/violet and Brown.

those are some good pictures there and that manifold looks brill, really need to get mine underway.
ill keep you updated

Sun Apr 15, 2012 10:54 pm

Cheers Ben, that's great to get confirmation of the wiring colours.

Glad you like the pictures and I hope all goes well for you in the meantime!

Sun Apr 22, 2012 6:39 pm

i managed to start and run the engine today which was unreal. i had no manifolds on so it was alittle loud in my garage even with ear defenders on! it even turned my phone off.

my only problem is i had to link the fuel pump relay out to get the pump to work, i just cant get the relay to energize? starts and runs fine though?
anyone seen this before?

Sun Apr 22, 2012 10:23 pm

Because I haven't even been doing most of my conversion, I haven't actually seen my fuel pump relay, is it a 4 or 5 pin one?

Are you saying that you can't hear or feel it 'clicking' with the ignition on or when it's cranking over? I assume it's switched by the ecu, so other than having a good earth it should be working for you.

I bet it was really exciting hearing it run! Did you have flames spitting out of the ports?

How are your neighbours ears?!

Mon Apr 23, 2012 1:11 pm

The relay is a blue 4 pin relay. I just can't get it to energise which is a pain in the rectom. It has 12v across both sides of the coil? Insted of 12v one side and ground the other.

Yea flames were coming out of the exhaust ports which was cool and both neighbours came out to see what the hell it was haha

Mon Apr 23, 2012 8:55 pm

What are the pin numbers on the relay?

Mon Apr 23, 2012 9:31 pm

well 85 and 86 are the coil numbers and 87 and 30 are the terminal numbers.
hope that helps

Tue Apr 24, 2012 9:34 am

It's been a while since I've done wiring, but am I right in thinking it's like this; the power to 86 comes from the ecu and 85 is earth? The 30 pin has power from your fusebox/ battery, so that when 86 gets the 12v it energises the relay and 12v comes out of pin 87.

Could it be that the ecu is not feeding 12v to pin 86, but only 5v? I'll shut up now, because I doubt I'm helping!

By the way, I am very very interested to see the figures from the next M62B44 dyno run by Gunni.....

Wed Apr 25, 2012 12:28 pm

Well by the looks of the wiring diagrams it's a relay that energizes when both sides of the coil have voltage? So no need to ground?
The ecu is sending a complete 12v to the relay so no problems there?
Im going to spend all weekend on the car so I'll see what I can come up with.
Yea it looks like gunnis maps produce very healthy figures so I'll be watching out for that too

Wed Apr 25, 2012 4:12 pm

Have you got pin 85 earthed? I believe that pins 30 and 86 each get a 12v feed in, with 87 sending power to the pump, which is earthed itself, leaving pin 85 to be earthed also. That way, both 'sides' of the relay have power and earth connections.

I hadn't seen any of Gunni's posts before now. What does he do? Being in Oxford could be very handy for me.........

Wed Apr 25, 2012 8:47 pm

Now that's what I call good information!

Wed Apr 25, 2012 9:46 pm

cheers will, ill have a peek when i get the chance over the weekend.

im getting confused here as for some reason i have 12v coming from pin 1 from the ecu to the coil of the fuel pump relay.
also the fuel pump relay should energize before the ecu gets a signal from the crank sensor otherwise the fuel pump wouldn't prime the engine before it starts?
i can hear the main relay pulling in so thats ok

Thu Apr 26, 2012 11:35 am

That's what I thought? But for some reason the ecu isn't grounding at all? So it's not energising the relay.
My god what a pain!
I must admit will, we should be approaching our summer but the weather is shocking at the minute.

Sat Apr 28, 2012 9:06 am

oh right, so i shouldnt be looking for the relay to pull in until you turn the engine over?
so no priming before you turn it over? weird. it may have been working all along then as i have 12v across both sides of the relay but haven't checked that one side switches to ground just to pull the bugger in. ill have a check once im dressed as the neighbors are old next door and might get a fright

Sat Apr 28, 2012 4:53 pm

I wonder if it does not prime with the ignition on in case it floods the engine? Jag V8s used to be good at flooding when I was at the AA........

Sat Apr 28, 2012 7:19 pm

im not sure why it doesnt prime the engine? it shouldnt flood it because the injectors arnt firing?

who knows, it works so thats what matters

well i have almost one side of the manifolds done thank god, with cut knuckles and fingers. bastard manifolds.

all i need to do is put a flange on and thats one side done

Sat Apr 28, 2012 7:43 pm

No, I know what you mean, the injectors aren't 'open' on engines which prime with the ignition on. I just noticed that it was nearly always the cars which did prime with the igniton on which flooded!

Well done with the n/s manifold. What are you doing for the rest of the system? Are you going for V8 bass rumble, or Nascar howl?!

By the way, it's the law that you must bleed when working on your car, but you must feel better for making such progress!