Black 316 still here

[joe14]

Lots of progress recently,
Before putting the engine in, the rear main was changed for good measure, the type of jobs that add time to a swap like this.


The engine mounts are finally done, this was difficult to get everything lined up and straight.
we managed to use the 318is arms and mounts by modifying the e21 subframe.

N/S:

O/S:




the engine is finally in!

[joe14]

Now that the engine is in we've started looking into the wiring, plumbing etc.

First off is the exhaust manifold, It seems to go exactly where the steering linkage wants to be,
That'll be a job for the exhaust shop i think.



We've also put the wiring loom in, trying to find a home for this mess


Battery has been relocated to the boot and the E30 batter cable run up the passenger side.
Still to decide how to connect it to the engine, I have an E30 connector bracket that I think I'll mount on the fire wall.


Next up is fuel,
anyone have any pictures of how they mounted a return line?
Making one form steel and using the gap in the existing brackets looks the most straight forward, but I've got some 8mm rubber hose that I was planning on using to replace the feed line as well?
Anyone done this before? I'm unsure how to attach it to the car??

[uwbuurman]

Great progress!

[joe14]

The radiator is now mounted,
we went for quite a simple mounting system that I though might be useful to share.

It sits on a couple of rubber 'feet' which we had lying about, these could easily be made up though.


The top is then help across the top lip with a couple of bobbins using existing holes in the rad.


The rad itself is one from a z3 i think, may be the same as an E36 rad too.
It's got an M14 hold in the side for the temp switch which we'll use for the fan control.

[Jeroen]

Snug fit!

[Gavin Martin]

Hi Joe, that's starting to come together nicely! With my return pipe I used 8mm copper pipe, I took the original one off the car then using the original as a template I ran the return pipe in the additional brackets. Once we had that how we wanted it it we removed the old one and repeated the process

[uwbuurman]

That's what I did on the e30 also, and I will put the copper lines also on my e21. Looks great, never rusts.

[joe14]

Thanks Gavin, that's what I went for in the end.
Looking good too, I'm envious of your freshly painted bay!

[Gavin Martin]

No worries mate, I have relied on so many people's advice on here to get my car built- always nice to help out others if possible.
I have to admit to getting a bit carried away with the bay, and found it hard to draw a line under what should and shouldn't get done. My dad is a retired panel beater/sprayer so couldn't of done it with out him. Just the rest of the car to do now lol

[joe14]

Yeah I know the feeling, my friend Dave has been helping me out massively with everything we've on this car,
between him and advice from people like Nas on this forum I wouldn't have gotten this far.

[joe14]

Update time, making good progress towards the first start.
The battery cable is now finished, I used an E30 cable and got hold of an E30 power distribution bracket to attach to the fire wall.
I think this was a straight forward way of using the original post style connectors on the E30 loom.

I also like the little cover that comes with it.


The power supply for the chassis loom connects straight on too so minimal fuss




Although i really didn't want to loose the HT lead cover with the nice silver BMW writing, we've decived to do a coil on plug conversion to avoid having to mount the coils remotely.
The E30 doesn't have the silly long brake booster so they're mounted quite close to the engine so the HT leads weren't long enough to mount them on the E21 wing.
Maybe I'll get around to finding a way to neatly cover the coils one day.




Wiring will be tidied up once the engine is running

[uwbuurman]

Nice step forward, mate!!

[joe14]

Nice step forward, mate!!

Cheers!

[joe14]

So we've connected up the wiring from the C101 plug on the M42 harness to the E21 engine connector that goes into the fuse box.

We've no power at the green and black wire going to the fuel pump at the minute.

I think this is because we've connected the fuel pump power wire (from the M42 harness) to pin 8 on the E21 engine plug which I think is the fuel pump relay?
My research tells me it should be connected to pin 3 which powers the fuel pump?

Is this right? There's no pin in that plug currently so that'll have to be done to connect it up properly if so.

[joe14]

So I think we've sorted the wiring, we've powered pin 3 which has made the green and black fuel pump feed live.
We've not connected pin 6 in the E21 engine plug any more, according to a diagram I have this is the fuel pump relay?

For anyone wondering, the pins in the diagnostic plug of a 316 loom are the same as those in the engine connector,
these came in handy for providing power to the fuel pump both through the engine connector and the plug under the back seats.





Oh and she lives!! Starts and stops on the button, very loud and very excited to take it for a spin.