Vintage Fail

After bleeding the coolant system for the fourth time, quickly installing a small amplifier and some speakers and retightening the exhaust, we set out for Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where the Vintage would take place. Around town, the temperature seemed to stay at a steady and comfortable place on the temperature scale. We made one stop and then fought our way through the tourists to leave the city. Once on the highway, the car really showed me what a good idea the M42 was.

It hummed along for about 30 miles before I noticed the temperature slowly increasing in a way that might suggest that it was hotter outside now than it was a few minutes ago and the engine's temperature increased in turn. But it kept rising. Eventually, it was close enough to the red to demand a roadside stop. So, we stopped. After a quick cool down, we were on the road again, only to stop 5 more miles down the road, and again in another few miles. By now, I had posted a message on www.m42club.com and made a few calls to Jake, who pioneered the swap and fabricated my mounts. The consensus was that I still just didn't have all of the air out of the system.

So we located an Autozone about 10 miles away in Warrenton, VA (isn't technology grand?) and inched there, a mile or two at a time. In the parking lot, I spent the next few hours attempting to rebleed the system and swapping out the 12" electric fan for a 16" unit. After a test drive, I returned to the Autozone parking lot a broken man. I had no idea what was wrong but I knew that I wasn't going to make it to Vintage.

After a few phonecalls, the Ivy Street Red Car Gang braintrust concluded that the only thing left to do was replace the water pump and thermostat. Steve from Blunt Tech overnighted me a new water pump and thermostat to the Hampton Inn in Warrenton, where Dana and I decided to stay. That night, I tore the engine apart in the parking lot. We also blew a small hose on the way over that was conveniently located under the intake manifold and required its removal. 

Here is the carnage:

Blown hose under the intake:

Working through the grille:

...I was able to remove the water pump:

I bent up the impeller while trying to remove it and I might have broken the casing, but the important thing to note here is the scorched shaft. I imagine that the impeller slipped a little at low speeds, but then began to really slip (and burn) when things warmed up, expanding the metal of the impeller. 

So, after a full day of reinstallation and slow, tedious coolant bleeding, we stayed an extra night in Warrenton to make the best of things and babied the car for the 40 miles home.

Maybe next year.

Since I didn't have them loaded up for the last post, here are some shots of the exhaust manifold:

I had a rusty equal-length 2002 header welded to an M42 flange. It took an extra trip to the muffler shop to get it to fit, since I couldn't ge the car there, but Jay at the Meineke on Richmond Highway in Arlington, VA deserves any business teh locals can give him. The clamped-together section will get welded together soon and I'll probably wrap the whole thing in header wrap.

And say "Hello" to Dudley:

Like a Banshee

Dudley and I bolted the exhaust up, tightened the suspension up and aligned the steering last night before easing it out of the garage for a test run at midnight. The exhaust note is decidedly different than the M10.

The 1600 howled down the Beltway, pausing only for quick-throw gear shifts.The new suspension feels wonderful.

Then, the plastic to which the top radiator hose crumbled and emptied the coolant at a stoplight. We let it cool and nursed it to a gas station, where we filled the unsealed system with water and babied the car home.

Last weekend, I put a gallon of water into the coolant system to see if a slightly bent part of the aluminum one the salvage yard radiator was leaking. A slow but steady drip told me that it was. I immediately ordered a replacement, but, not knowing if I would get it in time, we sealed the radiator with some epoxy-like radiator sealant, which worked. So, had the salvage yard radiator not leaked to begin with, I would never have ordered the new radiator, which arrived yesterday. Enjoy the irony.

Still to do:
Replace radiator
Install switch to override the fan relay
Secure ECU cabling
Readjust rear brakes
Wire and calibrate speedometer (which looks awesome, by the way)

Electronic Speedometer

One of the reasons that 2002/1600 guys tend to stay away from the M42 swap is that it necessitates the use of a transmission that doesn't have an output for a mechanical speedometer. The only option with an M42 is to fit an electronic speedometer. Of course, many 02ers aren't crazy about the addition of a universal speedometer in their vintage looking cluster. 

So, with some help from Tom at 02 Again, I came up with this:

I still need to test it, but it's looking good.

Otherwise, I'm just waiting on my exhaust guy to finish a header modification. After that, I can align the steering and torque down the suspension.

Details

I tackled some smaller things today. First, the hall effect driveshaft sensor for the electronic speedometer, that I may or may not be finished with in time for the trip to Vintage. VDO universal electronic speedometers can operate on either hall effect sensors or variable resistance (VR) sensors. This one was cheap.

Still no exhaust until tomorrow, but I cleaned everything up. I filled the radiator with 50/50 distilled water and coolant and made a new bracket for the AFM box to hold it in place.

I also needed to plug an unused port in the rubber intake elbow. I couldn't find a bolt big enough, but I did find the perfect plug. For now, I'll just pretend that it's a super-high-tech performance measure.

Here's another gratuitous shot of the engine bay.

For more ridiculously loud engine revving, here you go:

It's ALIVE!

No exhaust, but it runs!

I'm still working on the exhaust, but here is what the tailpipe looks like from the ANSA muffler.

I also added the necessary fuel filter and cleaned up the fuel pump wiring, and clearly nothing else.

Left to to:

Wire up reverse lights

Finish exhaust manifold

Torque down axle nuts

Align the front wheels

Speedometer?

Fuel Pump and Coils-On-Plug Kit

I dropped an E30 318is fuel pump in the tank and wired it up. The fuel pump fits nicely, uses the same range of resistance for the fuel level gauge and was engineered to work perfectly with the M42, so it's a good choice with one disadvantage; it's just a little short. This means that it leaves a gallon or so of gas in the bottom of the tank. I will probably re-engineer a, external pump solution later, but, for now, I'm happy with this pump's simplicity.

I'll have to tidy up the wiring and mount the fuel filter back there, but it's close to being done.

I received an M42 Coil-On-Plug kit int eh mail today. The stock E30 318is uses four individual coils, one per cylinder, that are mounted in the fender. Spark plug wires originally ran from each coil to a boot on each plug. Since the replacement cost for a set of OEM wires cost around $175, some innovative soul designed a mounting plate and hardware solution that utilizes coils from another BMW, negating the need for spark plug wires. The kit costs less than a new set of wires.

First, mounting studs replace the center valve cover bolts.

Then the mounting plate goes on.

Then the coils get bolted in place. The coils are Bremi 11860 units, for anyone playing at home.

The great part about this kit is that no custom wiring was necessary; it's just plug and play.

EDIT: The above wiring is not correct. In order to ensure proper spark plug wiring, one needs to do a continuity test per the following:

Coil 1 = Pin 25 at the ECU plug

Coil 2 = Pin 52 at the ECU plug

Coil 3 = Pin 24 at the ECU plug

Coil 4 = Pin 51 at the ECU plug

Engine Wiring Done

I spent quite a few hours redoing part of the electrical system and wiring up the M42's connectors. First, I replaced the battery cable with an E30 cable. It works with the M42's wiring harness and the E30s had a really cool positive power distribution block. I mounted it where it was in the E30; on the passenger's side of the firewall. If I were to guess, I'd say that BMW's engineers calculated the necessary size of cable to handle the voltage load with a healthy margin of error, and then they doubled it. It's gauge "00". I've seen lightning protection systems with smaller gauge wire.

Here it is mounted in the neat little E30 holder.

The cable has a post on the end of it, and the engine wiring harness attaches to it with a standard battery terminal. The copper eye and cable supply the chassis positive circuit. Here it is with the cover.

Tidy and protected from the random grounding through and errant wrench.

Now, on to the less than tidy wiring in the car. I installed the positive power distribution block from a fourth generation Volkswagen Jetta. This thing is pretty great for safely and easily powering to everything that you need to power and leaving you with the option for future expansion. There are even three fused outputs with a built-in waterproof connector.

It too has a neat little cover.

I did have to drill two holes in it with some spacers and bolts to mount it. Overall, it is definitely worth pulling out of a salvage yard, though I got mine on eBay.

And, lastly, I wired up the C101 connector, which neatly houses all of the connections from the M42 to the chassis. Only six or seven connections need to be made here, and it was a lot easier than I thought it would be. The connectors between the chassis and engine harnesses also have a nice little firewall mount. The big round one on the right with the cap is the diagnostic port. You can also see that I connected the fuel feed and return lines to the engine. 

Left to do:

Wire the electric fan

Wire and install the fuel pump

Install the fuel filter

Bleed brakes

Install and adjust emergency brake

Torque down axle nuts

Add coolant, transmission fluid and engine oil to the appropriate places

Install AFM box and air filter

Finish and install electronic speedometer

Install driveshaft speed sensor

Install Coil-On-Plug kit

Drive like the wind

One more thing: I was and am determined not to modify or grind down the steering center link, though there is  an interference with the M42's transmission. I decided (on Marshall's advice) to do all the clearancing on the transmission, so Dudley grinded away a section of the transmission's ribs and I documented it in an earlier post. As it turns out, Dudley and I needed to take out a bit more once the transmission and engine were mounted properly. Here is the proper amount of clearancing that is needed. Just be careful not to grind yourself a new drain.