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M M's BMW E28 525e


M M

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She's back on the road.

Had a few small issues today while getting it going. The rear calipers that I put on from the e34 were actually seized so I had to swap the e28 ones back on. While not a big deal, it's something I want to get sorted so will look for other e34 ones later. Might be luck to get some vented ones.

Other than that, everything was pretty straight forward. I had to make a temporary bracket for the accelerator cable as the e34 sleeve is not quite right so didn't reach with the factory mount. So I will try to find a cable that does work.

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Next jobs will be tidying up the wiring and finishing that off and wiring the fan in. Also need to install my new cluster. Also going to order a new heater core and redo flaps as I currently get no hot air. Does anyone know if they are RHD and LHD specific? Can't find any information on this.

Overall I am very happy with it, goes so much better then the eta ever dreamed of. It has a slight miss and a bit of a bog on take off, I think this motor needs a proper service such as new plugs etc. But even with this it goes very well. And does mean as burnouts.

And that concludes this weeks episode: How to do an M30 swap in 2 weeks (and a day if you want to be picky).

Up next: Conclusion is an illusion; nothing's ever 100% finished. Also might have a special live appearance from Highway Patrol.

They grow up so fast.

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I've been finishing off the last few jobs over the last couple of days. Most of the wiring is now tidied up. The electric fan is wired in and I got it working on the factory radiator switch.

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It's still not quite as tidy as I'd like but it will do for now. I also have a few small issues to sort. One being that the car doesn't really idle. It keeps dying if you let off the gas when coming to a stop and when I unplug the ICV, nothing changes. I think when it was in the e34, the throttle cable was just adjusted to not return the throttle fully, keeping it idling. I have also done this for now as a temporary solution until I figure out what's going on. I also have my suspicions that the TPS is not working. I get no readings on any of the pins at any point, so might swap it out for my one on the Eta which was new.

My other issue is 2 days ago the car wouldn't start without being jump started by another car. I charged the battery and my jumper pack but it only worked for the first 2 starts and then didn't again, and my jumper pack can't jump it either. I have a feeling my ground for the battery isn't good enough, will investigate this tonight. It kind of renders the car useless if I need another to go along with me everywhere, hahaha.

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Been fiddling with the e28 over the last few days to try and sort out the little things.

Firstly trying to sort the idle and TPS. Thinking that the TPS may not be working, I took the one from my eta motor and swapped that on. Didn't test drive it and went straight to the meet on Sunday, then to a friend's after. The car didn't feel quite right and then after driving for a bit when I hit WOT it would cut out completely. Then it just started randomly cutting out. Turns out that the ETA TPS actually reads the opposite way, so when I was hitting WOT it would register idle and obviously cut out. Then I did some retesting and it seems that the original TPS does infact register idle, it's just that the stopper on the throttle body was adjusted to the max (to compensate for the ICV), that even with the TPS adjusted all the way, it wouldn't click to idle mode. Anyway, that one is back in now and car runs much better, but I still suspect that it doesn't register WOT, due to the fact that one, it get no ohm reading between the two pins, and when driving it doesn't quite feel like it.

Secondly I discovered that the issue is not actually the ICV itself (thanks to Ben for testing it) but that all the pins are getting positive power. I don't imagine this is meant to be happening so there may be a wiring issue. Investigations to follow.

Another issue that just came up last night after driving a bit is the clutch pedal started to get vibrations. Then, coincidentally after I gave a friend to test drive it, a terribly loud squealing noise started coming from the clutch area. It only happens when the clutch is being depressed. But now the vibrations seem to be gone. I suspect this is the throwout bearing. And I can't blame my friend, I was with him in the car and he didn't do anything I wouldn't have. Haha.

Also, today I went from a hot air intake to a warm air intake. I will find a better solution later but it's better than before.

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Now, for some memorable moments from the swap:

Ben wasn't a big fan of my radiator fan. Hahaha ha. Ha.

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Some late night shenanigans.

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Unfortunately, something in the clutch system just failed on me. Went for a short drive to pick something up, halfway home, no clutch. Won't get a chance to investigate until the weekend probably.

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So I believe the throw out bearing seized, then probably collapsed, this causing no clutch at all when the pedal is pressed. Still engages if you put the car in gear with the engine off. So it looks like gearbox will be coming off, a bit annoying after just finishing the work but it's partially my fault for not doing the clutch while it was all out. I was trying to save some money!

I'm now in the process of finding a single mass flywheel and clutch kit. Picked up a flywheel yesterday but it turns out that one is not ideal as it's essentially a remake of a dual mass in single mass form, if that makes sense. I have been offered another apparently standard one so I hope to get that this weekend. No one here has any clutch kits for this anywhere, cheapest I have found is a LUK on ebay which will be around $550 including delivery and import tax. Includes spigot bearing and throw out bearing so not too bad.Ironic really as the one time I wanted to actually buy something locally, no one can help.

Might pull the gearbox off next week since the car is just sitting now anyway.

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Today I made good use of nothing to do and pulled the gearbox off to see what disaster awaited me. What I came upon wasn't pleasant. Those with weak stomachs dare not read on.

This is what fell out as I separated the gearbox from the block:

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The remains in the bellhousing:

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Then I went back under the car to have a look at the pressure plate and remove that behemoth of an assembly. This is what awaited:

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I was not expecting that, and can't say I've seen that before. It must have been one hell of a party in there (which I funded by the way).

The total sum of the destruction:

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Luckily no damage was done to any other parts so I can just put on the new flywheel and clutch kit and hopefully carry on with skids.

I don't like to end on a down note, so here is a stance picture:

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Phwoar.

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While the car is not going I figured it would be a good time to replace the heater core and redo the foam flaps in the heater box.

Removed the heater box yesterday. Only took about 2 hours. Not sure why so many people make this out to be such a big deal. And I've never done it before on one of these.

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There's nothing I hate more than messy wiring, so that's all getting tidied up too.

The inside of the heater box as it came out:

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New foam flaps and heater core:

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I put it all back together and back in the car this morning. No photo as I'm sure most of you know what a complete interior looks like.

I've also removed the AC part of the heater box and sealed up the AC flap. Because who needs that? Just slows you down. All the rest of the AC system has already been removed. Look at the size of the thing:

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  • 2 weeks later...

Last weekend I picked up this slammin' parts car.

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Beneath the rough spots it is actually a decent car with minimal rust, and it has a full black interior including leather. So most of that including the carpet will be going into mine. I will be keeping my Mtech seats however.

Yesterday I started fitting my M5 replica front lip.

Test fit:

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Paint:

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On:

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I also swapped the good fender from the parts car onto mine. It's actually in better condition than the last one was before the hit and the color matches close enough for now. Nevermind the sagging bumper, I will be putting my new one on shortly too.

Started cleaning up some of the black interior parts from the parts car to go into mine:

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I'm going to be fitting the non AC center console from the parts car, just need to make a panel to fit my radio and I'm going to incorporate a space for some gauges while I'm at it:

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Also this arrived today:

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After a very long and tiresome search, I should have a single mass flywheel in the next couple days. So with any luck, the car will be going again by next week. Then I can cruise around and show off all my nice new parts.

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Finally the car is going again.

After spending a couple of hours on Sunday morning rolling around on the wet ground trying to get it done, I had it about 90% finished but couldn't get it done as the previous day a friend of mine was over and was kind enough to push the clutch pedal, dislodging the piston from the slave cylinder. I didn't realise this and spent a good 45 minutes in a lake trying to put it back in, with the rod not budging, only to realise what was going on. Luckily, my good friend Ben came to the rescue that night with a replacement one which I went to pick up. Yesterday afternoon I got back to it and got it back together. The improvement with this flywheel is drastic. I almost couldn't believe what a difference it made, but then it does make sense. The car takes off so much faster than it did before. Anybody with an M30, if you want your car to go faster, I seriously suggest you track down a single mass flywheel, no matter the cost. It's well worth it.

Over the next couple of days I have a few small jobs to do on it like replace the front bumper and some small engine related stuff. I'm just glad it's going.

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  • 4 weeks later...

So, in a effort to fix all the small odd running issues this motor had, I managed to break the car again. The story goes like this:

 

When the motor was in the E34, the fuel pump was jumped between the ignition 12v pin and the pump power wire to get it to work. I tried a relay (which was unknown condition) to see if it would work but it did not. The car also developed a very bad miss just before I pulled the motor out until the day I drove it to the place I was working at to pull the motor out. What would happen is the car would start ok but missed and backfired under throttle, the more you pressed the worse it was. It was driveable cold but got worse as it warmed up and became pretty much undriveable when warmed up.

 

The day I was driving to pull the motor, it stalled on me a block from the place. I tried to start it but it wouldn't fire and the battery went completely flat. So we towed it. Once there, I jump started it to see if it would start and it started a bit rough, then came to life and ran perfectly. Drove it up and down the road a bit and it ran without a single issue. So I took it inside and pulled the motor.

 

Once the engine was in my E28, when we first started it, it ran rough like it did in the E34 when it was missing. I fiddle around a bit, left it for a day with the battery disconnected and then the next day it started up fine. Ever since then the car was running fine, except for a slight miss at low revs, until I pulled my gearbox off to change the clutch. When I put it back on, it did the same thing. It ran rough and missed, so I let is sit for a couple hours with the battery disconnected. What do you know, started up and ran perfectly fine.

 

Last weekend I decided to swap the loom and DME with one I bought to see if it would solve the fuel relay issue and other issues like the ICV not working at all. The fuel pump relay gets 12v to all pins when key is in except ground which is grounded, yet the relay (tried 2, one was definitely good) does not work. Anyway, so I swapped the loom and DME, turned ignition on. ICV buzzed as it should. Then I tried to start the car. Nothing. It cranked but would not fire. I triple checked everything and even tried my old ECU, still nothing. ICV no longer buzzes but gets 12v at all pins. Grounds test at 12v, however the coil only got 9v. I ran a relay for it to test but that only gave it 10v, even though the power wire was a completely new one. Also tried different coil, still nothing. Took my crank sensor out and tested it on my friend's M30 and it worked perfectly fine on his car. All issues the same as with old loom. So I swapped my old loom back on and still had the same issues and wouldn't start.

 

Since then, I tested the ECUs/DMEs on my friend's car, the crank position sensor pinout voltage which is correct (5v at the correct pin), charged the battery so the coil now has 12v etc. Everything I could possibly think of. Got pinouts of the ECU and checked every wire that could effect starting and everything is working as it should. On Friday it came to me that maybe the lead from the coil was bad, so I tested that. The lead turned out to be fine but the plastic on the post of the distributor cap just broke off. This left me slightly hopeful but not really, and I swapped it with a spare I had. Put the battery on charge and tried it the next morning. Nothing.

 

The last test I have to do is this afternoon I will try to put a plug straight on the coil lead and see if it sparks. Then I will put the new loom back in as a final resort, just in case. If that doesn't produce any results, I really don't know what to do next short of converting to Megasquirt or something. I don't like fixing things that way but I see no other option.

 

For some reason I don't seem to be having much luck with this motor.

 

TL;DR: Tried to fix/improve it, broke it again. Now have no idea what to do.

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  • 5 months later...

After months of the car sitting and months of me being away, on Sunday I finally managed to find the issue. The coil negative wire (which goes to the ecu, the ecu grounds it to create spark) joins up and splits of at one point to go to the ecu and to the diagnostic connector. There is a ground wire from factory at the split off, grounding the coil. So this means the coil is constantly grounded, and was causing a short. I have no idea why it's done like this and how the car was running before, but as soon as we cut the wire the car fired right up. I checked my other wiring harness and it had the same thing. And now with my new ECU, everything is working including the fuel pump relay and ICV. Even fixed the slight miss it had.

Drove the car home on Sunday night, yesterday afternoon the v-belt for the waterpump and alternator snapped. Luckily I noticed something was going on and pulled into a side street. Opened the hood to find the snapped belt (which looked to have also flipped beforehand) sitting there. So called up a friend who arranged one to get to me and I changed it then and there. While waiting I took the opportunity to take some new photos. Should have some more updates for this car coming up soon.

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