Daimlerman's folly

[daimlerman]

Sorry Daimlerman - I should never have got us on to this topic Is the Z3 gearlever for sale then mate? - I want one for my 320i

Z3 gearlever is installed and feels very good,the Z3 gearlever mount and matching operating rod are up for grabs,I was talking Z3 bits to the zone stealer and he misinterpreted what I wanted!! My fault,not theirs!! Z3 bit is the long one in the photo,Z3 gearlever is the one with the plastic mount already fitted,you can see the extra length below the ball that reduces the throw.

[Jim78]

No worries - I didn't read it right first time did I?

[daimlerman]

Exhaust almost completed.The join to the centre box nearest to the camara will be converted to a sliding joint,coming toward the camara on the same pipe another sliding join will be incorporated,this will make the final fitting a little easier and give me a small section to work on to fit the lambda watsit.

[daimlerman]

Seen from above,bloody difficult to get a decent view,that shot is better than I can see myself with a lead lamp!!

[daimlerman]

From below,you can see the TCA on the right and one down pipe on the left,that's the ARB centre and the steering shaft at right angles to it.The yellow 'flying saucer' is a flouresent tube on the garage roof!!

[beemerbird]

Exhaust almost completed.The join to the centre box nearest to the camara will be converted to a sliding joint,coming toward the camara on the same pipe another sliding join will be incorporated,this will make the final fitting a little easier and give me a small section to work on to fit the lambda watsit.

How many cases of Quality Wine should one consume prior to such an undertaking?

[daimlerman]

Hic,hic,hic,two cases arrived yesterday,do'nt tell the wife!! Just the right size for an exhaust support though. If you PM me your address,I can get them to conntact you and I get free wine...hic.

[beemerbird]

Hic,hic,hic,two cases arrived yesterday,do'nt tell the wife!! Just the right size for an exhaust support though. If you PM me your address,I can get them to conntact you and I get free wine...hic.

[Jim78]

What you thought was a 'wine' from the gearbox turned out to be a little more serious.......

[beemerbird]

What you thought was a 'wine' from the gearbox turned out to be a little more serious.......

LOL

[daimlerman]

No photos this week,been too busy slotting the 'quality wine'.... managed half a day today and now have working wipers. I mentioned earlier that the LHD system mounts via one bolt to the scuttle and the wiper arm mounts,the motor,linkage and mounting bracket forming one unit.For RHD the linkage is a seperate item,being extended to the nearside by a link rod thet mounts to the top of the motor.I dicovered the hard way that the single mount into the scuttle is not in the correct place for RHD.By the time I found out,I had welded in one extra bracket and fitted a stud for the third.As,by this stage I had aquirred a second wiper motor and mounting bracket,I have modified one motor bracket to fit my mounts.Needed to move the motor about three quarters of an inch to the nearside. I then found that the linkage was rubbing on a strengthening rib at the rear centre of the scuttle,so that was partly flattened by the use of a steel bar and a large birmingham spanner.Unfortunately the inlet manifold had to come off to give access.So,in the usual way of conversions,two steps forward and one back... my main problems now all seem to stem from the wiring,so back to the soldering iron...

[daimlerman]

A few more piccies this week as I have made some progress.Those who read tech help will know that I struggled for almost all of December trying to get the thing started,zoner 'danthe' took pity on me and came over to Lincoln and found out what I had cocked up and we were able to get the engine running at last. This photo shows the electric fan that Dan brought with him,he also brought and installed the wiring loom for it,this makes a very neat job as he uses the feed supplied in the fusebox.Fan it's self is ex E32 aircon,I have bolted it down at the side and bottom,the lower bolt needed several attempts to start a nut on it as it is in a box section..at the top I have a hefty self tapper.

[daimlerman]

An electric fan needs a thermo switch to control it,this is best fitted in the side of the radiator,cars fitted with aircon have a suitable radiator but my donor was not so well equipped.So I made up this fitting to fit into the top hose.Used a bit of the exhaust pipe I bought for the manifold mods.Switch came from GSF,just over £10.

[daimlerman]

Finished job,another bit completed!! Unfortunately whilst bleeding the cooling system I managed to snap the bleeder plug...two steps foreward etc....

[E30BeemerLad]

fan looks the same as mine, not mounted mine properly yet but the wiring is all hooked up

[capri_rob]

Have been keeping an eye on this thread - sounds like its coming along nicely - is it going on bottletops when its finished Malcolm ?

[daimlerman]

Have been keeping an eye on this thread - sounds like its coming along nicely - is it going on bottletops when its finished Malcolm ?

Still have a small collection of bottletops,but it came with four 15's on it,ditchfinder tyres though!! Probably start it of on botletops until I have used up the stockpile,then buy them both some decent 15's.

[daimlerman]

Erm,this little beauty arrived last Wednesday....

[daimlerman]

Comparision to my effort..touring looks worried...

[daimlerman]

The 2.7 looks jealous,that's only got a mere hottuning manifold...

[daimlerman]

Ohhhhhh,just look at the curves on that.....

[daimlerman]

View from the top,this is the most expensive purchase yet for this project,but I was'nt at all happy with my effort,my fabrication and welding skills were clearly no where near good enough.

[daimlerman]

Just compare this photo with the earlier one to see what I mean...

[daimlerman]

Also this last week I have swapped the lower front panel for a less battered one,added a s/h rubber lip and removed the foglights,well,one was bust anyway.I have plans to feed cold air to the air filter from the n/s new grille.

[Cloud]

What kind of power increase does the new manifold theoretically create? Or is it all about sound?

[Jim78]

Have been keeping an eye on this thread - sounds like its coming along nicely - is it going on bottletops when its finished Malcolm ?

Still have a small collection of bottletops,but it came with four 15's on it,ditchfinder tyres though!! Probably start it of on botletops until I have used up the stockpile,then buy them both some decent 15's.

Does that mean that you will have a set of 15' BBS floating around then malcolm?

[daimlerman]

What kind of power increase does the new manifold theoretically create? Or is it all about sound?

Most of the 'home brewed' M50 swaps are using modified E36 steel manifolds modified in a similar way to my first attempt.As each one is made by a different bod,they are all going to flow in a diferent way.My attempt was blowing from every 'weld' join that I had made,I kidded myself that it was a'sporting' noise and it would be OK once the bonnet was on etc. The other weekend I needed the garage to swap the cambelt on the 2.7,so put the 'folly' briefly on the road whilst I shuffled cars round.The racket it made not only had curtains twitching but pedestrians running for cover! So I knew that I had to do something about it.Fritzbits (www.fritzbits.co.uk) had five of these manifolds made to their spec.,this one is the fifth... I exchanged PM's with a zoner I had heard had one and got a positive,indipendent view regarding fit and quality.I also discovered that I had been paying far too much income tax and was due a large,4 figure refund. That was all the incentive that I needed to place my order... the exhaust(from cylinder head to rear bumper) has probably cost in the region of £1300 or about a third of the project cost. Oh,and it sounds good too! Richard at Fritzs claims that it adds power over the standard fit,but as I have explained,there is no standard fit.

[320Touring]

nice work Malcolm- looking fantastic!

is it this or the 2.7 for the roam?

[daimlerman]

nice work Malcolm- looking fantastic!

is it this or the 2.7 for the roam?

We are not sure yet,the 2.7 is in good fettle with it's re-built suspension and a new cambelt the folly still needs a bit of wiring sorting,interior re-building,spacer made/fitted to the brake master(I did'nt know about that ),new front strut inserts,front wing repeaters before MoT.Looking to MoT early next month,then use it for work a few times to check for gremlins,then get it regestered properly.So it could be game on for the roam.

[E30BeemerLad]

How close does it come to the front ARB?

That's one thing I have to do with my S50 manifold, lower the front ARB by a few mm

Good work though

[hoshy]

You know Malc, it doesn't matter which one you bring

[daimlerman]

You know Malc, it doesn't matter which one you bring

Yup,I'll get my arse served by that bloody supercharged peashooter of yours!!

[daimlerman]

How close does it come to the front ARB?

That's one thing I have to do with my S50 manifold, lower the front ARB by a few mm

Good work though

Loads more room! This was another concern with the home brewed attempt,I had around 1mm clearance,so a thicker ARB would have been tricky.There is also clearance for an E36 rack....

[Morat]

Nice going daimlerman! I'm looking forward to seeing this beast one day

[hoshy]

You know Malc, it doesn't matter which one you bring

Yup,I'll get my arse served by that bloody supercharged peashooter of yours!!

Lol. We'll see.

Maybe a year down the line Cath will have soothed my "competitive" nature...

Naa