Build progress - Page 5

Patrick · #81 29th June 2006, 21:05

We dug out the the exhaust from the donor from round the side of the house and bolted it on today. Ran the engine 4 times and let it warm up properly. The idle is a tad on the rough side but Im hoping that will only need it to run in a bit longer - the ECU needs 20mins of idle and a 10min drive after a complete reset to set itself up fully.

The oil light and battery light when out after the engine starts, the oil pressure came up nicely and so did the temprature so everything is looking quite good at the moment.

It only needs a few things bolting up and the clutch/brake filling up and in theory its good to drive. Going to inspect the tank properly over the week and check for leaks - it turns out one of the hose clips was broken so it could be replacing that will get rid of the leaks we've had so far.

Patrick · #82 2nd July 2006, 17:25

An interesting day today. It was one of those so close, yet so far moments when it came to seeing if it will drive.

The engine has been really rough on idle and we finally found out why today. After a lot of debugging with the help of E30Zone - leading to leaks in the vacuum system being the most obvious issue it turns out there is a giant leak between the break master cylinder and the servo. After plugging with insulating tape the engine start running normally and sounded great! Idle is still to high at 1000RPM but then the donor had this problem before i took it to bits. Going to try replacing a few vacuum hoses and see how it does. Also need to test the AF
M, TPS and ICV (airflow meter, throttle position sensor and idle control valve) electronics to make sure everything it working properly.

On to the second saga of the day! Brakes and clutch. Decided it was time to fill the system and make sure the brakes work and the clutch. Got one of those Ezybleed things you get use with tyre pressure. Very good except none of the supplied caps would fit the marlin reservoir - doh. Luckly with the help of a friend to hold the the cap in place it sort of worked - still ended up with brake fuild everywhere!! First thing some of the joints in the back started leaking so under the car very quickly to bolt those up. The bleed nipples were a bit of a bugger to open up, which became nice an easy after a trip to halfords for a 7mm ring spanner!

The big minus was the clutch master cylinder, this has completely siezed up after bleeding the system. It wont depress at all so Im going to have to order a new one. May as well get the slave cylinder at the same time.

If the clutch had of worked then I could have taken it for a quick run to the end of the drive way and back.

Petrol tank has a minor crack that needs fixing as well. I've found some one who's willing to give it a go, otherwise I've got some POR tank sealer.

peterux · #83 2nd July 2006, 21:40

What a frustrating day!

It must have been due to the hot weather (at least that's what the England football team put it down to!)

good luck!

Patrick · #84 3rd July 2006, 21:08

Ordered new clutch master/slave cylinder as well as various vacuum hoses to replace old and possibly rotton ones causing the high idle on the engine. II might try to get my hands on a second hand AFM if the new hoses wont fix the high idle. Once its back from the exhaust place and has a few panels on we'll take it down to the local garage for an MOT.

As I've not posted any piccys in a while here's a few:

"Ghetto" exhaust & fuel tank

and "Fuel tank holdery-me-jig"

All fine for testing, gave it a good run again today after silcone sealing the brake master cylinder to the servo. It runs much nicer now.

Stock exhaust header and down pipes from the donor car. Its all leaking a bit at the moment, but no worries, new exhaust soon!

Fuel box holder, a temp solution while the car is off to the exhaust place this week.

Patrick · #85 4th July 2006, 21:10

Spent some more time playing with the car today. Readjusted the rockers again to double check everything - soooo important on the M20 it runs much smoother now. Still not gotten around to testing the AFM / ICV yet.

Also spent some time with the clutch. Took the pipe off the front of the master cylinder expecting it to still be solid and ended up with my trousers covered in the brake fluid in all the wrong places

Anyway moving on! Now the pedal moves again it was time to bleed the clutch again. The pedal now worked but the clutch didnt seem to be working. Unbolted the slave cylinder and the pin does not move at all when you press on the pedal. It sounds like there is an air leak in there. No mater I definatly know what the problem is and the parts on on their way (along with some vacuum hoese and a water hose)

Rich · #86 22nd July 2006, 22:00

Back to the wiring jungle

After the success of getting the engine running the rest of the wiring needs to be completed. The headlight wiring was first on the list. We have decided to use the light switch from our donor. The switch works very well and has a dimmer function for the dash & instruments lights that we want to incorporate into our Sportster.

For the light switch testing a front light was mounted on the car, this made the testing much easier as the results were instantly visible and no need to hold a multimeter up to each connection.

As with the rest of the wiring the first part was to study the BMW wiring diagrams. It became clear that the wiring diagrams did not match the wiring from our donor. So to start with the diagrams were put to one side and the wiring from donor was used as a guide to wire the light switch. The result was that lights did not function correctly, when the light switch was moved to position 1 the low beam came on, this should only be the parking light. Low beam should only come on at position 2.

With all of the confusion the multimeter came out and the switch was analysed, with the help of the wiring diagrams the switch was successfully wired. The light switch functions just like in the original car.

We will also wire up the spot lights to the high beam. Originally we planned to used the spot lights as front fog lights however in this part of the country front fog lights get very little use. With the spot lights on high beam will give us more light for driving in the dark (and help to blind rude drivers

)

Light Off

Parking Light

Low Beam

High Beam & Flasher

Rich · #87 22nd July 2006, 22:31

Max showing us how headlights are supposed to work!

click image for a larger version.

Rich · #88 28th July 2006, 21:06

Today the spot lights were mounted. Seemed like a simple task but took longer than expected. The first step was to grind the back edge of the brackets so that the mounts could be evenly spaced on the chassis. The following picture shows the before and after grinding. (left - before & right - after )

Click me

Next the holes were marked, drilled and tapped. When the bumpers are mounted the outer screws from the spot light brackets will go into the bumpers, this will hold them in place.

Below you can see a completed spot light bracket. The mounting holes were counter sunk so the screw heads do not stick up as high. The spot light mounting hole needed to be widened from 14mm to 16mm, this was done on a lathe.

The following pictures show the finished mounted bracket and spot light

This is how our Sportster looks with mounted spot lights and headlights.

Click me

Patrick · #89 30th July 2006, 18:13

It drives! Replaced the clutch slave and master cylinder today and bolted on the old E30 exhaust. There was nothing stopping us from taking it for a quick spin! (Literally as I found out with the rather sharp clutch on the first run or two

)

http://www.msportster.co.uk/sportster.avi (6.1 Mb DivX 5)

MartinClan · #90 30th July 2006, 18:46

Cool - can't wait to get to that stage. So what's next for you - I guess it must be the exhaust?

Patrick · #91 30th July 2006, 18:50

Yeah, exhaust & body work is next. I've got the 6 branch manifold on order but wont get that until middle of next month, then its time to pick mufflers and pipes. I think they will probably be magnaflow mufflers and jetex pipes. Nobody in the UK seems to have used Magnaflow on E30's so I thought that will be the most unusual!

Worked out today that it'll need 3cm spacers per side to bring the wheels flush with the rear arches so those need to be ordered too.

GreatOldOne · #92 31st July 2006, 14:52

Excellent work, Patrick. It sounded nice, even with the bodge-up exhaust.

Patrick · #93 31st July 2006, 15:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by GreatOldOne

Excellent work, Patrick. It sounded nice, even with the bodge-up exhaust.

Thanks

You can really hear the wail of the carbon airbox on the intake

I think its going to be a bit of a head turner when its done!

peterux · #94 31st July 2006, 17:44

Hi Patrick,
i'm missing all the fun becuse my PC thinks your video is an audio file?

Tried it at work today too and got the same result, just audio and no picture?

Got on tips on how to make it play properly?

thanks

Peter

JG · #95 31st July 2006, 19:12

Cool, what a great feeling that must have been. Loved the exhaust

John

Rich · #96 31st July 2006, 20:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by peterux

Hi Patrick,
i'm missing all the fun becuse my PC thinks your video is an audio file?

Tried it at work today too and got the same result, just audio and no picture?

Got on tips on how to make it play properly?

thanks

Peter

To get the video to work you need the divx 5 codec. You can download a codec pack from the following link. This pack includes all of the major codecs for videos.

http://www.codecguide.com/download_kl.htm

As an alternative you can use VLC player to play the video. VLC comes with many codecs built in.

http://www.videolan.org/

peterux · #97 31st July 2006, 20:34

Thanks Rich, the codec worked a treat.

And boy, what a treat to see your Sportster on the move.

Fantastic achievement!

Well done.

I'm afraid my build is temporarily on hold pending more funds and some serious house refurbishment. (Somehow my other half thinks the house is a higher priority than the Sportster? ) I should be back in the garage in about 2 months but great to see you guys getting on so well.

Will we all see you at Donnington? That gives you about 6 weeks to finish and SVA. Maybe a bit tight?

Peter

Patrick · #98 31st July 2006, 20:46

Thanks

6 weeks if we were to rush it, but I think we're going to take our time so its more likely to take another few months yet!

Patrick · #99 3rd August 2006, 20:09

The 30mm (per side) H&R spacers came from http://www.performancealloys.com/

The are very solid and not too heavy! Look the part too:

And on the car:

Patrick · #**100** 7th August 2006, 18:38

so yesterday i had a few hours to play with the exhaust, so I cut the back box off the rear section and bolted the remaining back up with one turned round, now it has a twin pipe exhaust splitting to either side of the car. Only minor issue no rear box

Tried it out today :drool: sounds like a race car. If only it were street legal to have it like that

I'll see if I can record some clips tomorrow! I spent enough time irritating the neighbours today