6 Years Since Dismantling The Car She Runs...

[e21Keith]

Today was the day we started the engine, 6 years since the car was dismantled for restoration.

Some small errors along the way. First the starter motor didn't turn because I had plugged the wire to the wrong terminal for the solenoid, then the fuel pump relay was faulty, a small fuel leaf from the banjo on the pump etc. Pretty soon we had fuel at the injectors and there was a nice strong spark. Several hours of checking the timing, we could get the engine to fire occasionally and quite a few backfires, we checked the timing again and again before giving up and installing my spare distributor. First turn of the key after installing the spare distributor and she was running with a surprisingly even idle. We played with the timing and mixture and everything seems happy, temperature in the middle of the gauge etc. Success.

Couple of minor issues to sort.

1. My spare distributor has some play in it and it's very noisy so I don't think I want to run with that for very long, I've tried adding a little oil but it hasn't really helped. I have the original (faulty) distributor which seems mechanically fine, also another spare spare distributor from a 1982 320 (carb). Interested to know if I can strip both of these and build a good distributor. Does anyone have experience?

2. The front right side light is on all the time, can't switch it off unless I disconnect the battery?

3. Brake lights staying on. Seems the pedal doesn't return properly but stays down slightly when I take my foot off the pedal.

I am planning to MOT the car on Friday this coming and to pay for road tax on 1st April.

[Jeroen]

Congrats! Really glad you got this far mate!

1. As for the dizzy's: if it is the right model it could be the pulse sender is defective
2. That's weird, perhaps relay or switch stuck?
3. No idea I'm sorry, can't be too complex imo

[uwbuurman]

#2 must be a wiring issue or the switch like J suggests.

#3 is a spring between the pedal and pedalbox. Is that still there? Take off the coverplate underneath the steering column and take a look. Did you take it off at one time? If so, is it hooked in the right hole?

[shadyracer01]

Happy days! Congratulations!

Pretty sure if all distributors are for 6cyl with electronic ignition and twin vacuum connections the internals are same, if you give body part numbers I might get a parts list breakdown to help me confirm.

Had same issue with brake pedal, fixed by spraying every pivot point in brake rod and pedal assembly with duckoil and also the pushrod from pedal to mast cyl body and pump pedal to work it 20 or so times, think thats where mine was sticking most.

Not sure about sidelight issue, id check earthings near brake pedal and battery and see if unplugging lighting pull switch changes things.

[e21Keith]

Thanks for all the advice.

I think I may be missing that spring somewhere on the brake pedal or linkage as I seem to remember something on one of the donor cars, can't be too difficult to resolve!

Side light, it's an odd one wondering about the relay that puts the sidelight on when you switch the engine off with the indicators, I have a spare somewhere.

Distributor, think I'm going to swap the pulse unit form the 320 unit into the good 323i body. According to the ETK the 320/323i distributors are different and they do indeed have different Bosch part numbers as well. Really I'd like to get a new pulse unit. The Bosch numbers on the distributor are:

323i 0 237 302 032
320 0 237 302 031

[shadyracer01]

Referenced bosch numbers, all internals same part no's only difference is with vacuum cell numbers. So you might get by with swapping only pulse sensor, I cant say if baseplate with weights and springs the same, only cap/rotor and pulse sensor are.

[shadyracer01]

The pulse sensor part number is 1 237 031 044 if you need to buy new one

[e21Keith]

Update.

The problem with the brake lights seems to have resolved itself after oiling the linkage.

Running OK on the spare distributor but I'd like to rebuild or get the original rebuilt, I can get a new pulse unit for it but dismantling is more difficult than the online videos would suggest. There is also some end float as in this FaceTube video.



Everything else seems fine except the issue with the sidelights, in fact with all the headlights/sidelights, this may be something to do with the fusebox being from a 318. Does anyone have experience of running quad headlights with a 316 fusebox?

[shadyracer01]

Ive had both my distributors apart and reassembled myself, only tricky part was refitting the tiny woodruff key, otherwise not too difficult to do. I suspected seized weights and springs with sitting so long so had to strip to check, was all in good shape it turned out.
Im not convinced about lift on dizzy shaft being a problem,especially if thrust washers on oil pump drive below dizzy are intact, would be more concerned with sideways movement inside body.
Strange about sidelight issue,
did you have to change the front part of the loom going to lights etc inside fusebox ? I did this with mine because previously it looked a mess of extra wires and scotchloks, but both 323's. I have a spare fusebox with main loom still connected if any referencing help needed.
That brake pedal fix got worse for me on roadtests and with servo assistance, ive since serviced and turned all clevis pins, and spray greased the pushrod in mast cyl servo end, seems much better. (my car sat 10years dry stored before its resto completed).
Youre getting on well though, good luck readying it for friday!

[mr edd]

single headlight fuse box has a five pin relay for headlights. if a standard four pin relay is used in a single headlight fuse box i imagine either main or dip beam would not work.(i think the five pin relay switches dip off when main is on as both filaments are in the same bulb)

[e21Keith]

I have a front side light that’s stuck on, I get high beam when I turn on the main beam and when I switch to high beam I get nothing.
I dugbthtough my bits last night and there are differences in the fusebox, should have installed the 323 one instead of the 316, but it looked better. Oh well, a job for tomorrow!

[e21Keith]

After some playing with the car over the last few days I went for MOT today and received a pass with no advisories.

I changed the fuse box with the expectation that everything would come right, however id didn't work straight away, some cleaning of the contacts in the fuse boxes and the fuses was required, followed by a couple of new bulbs and at last the lights were working. After this I found the fuel pump fuse getting hot, but cleaning the fuse and contacts had it working fine again.

There was a small fuel leak which needed a banjo to be tightened, the windscreen washer reservoir was leaking but just needed a couple of new pipes, the new vacuum hose I bought for the brake servo collapsed so I put the original back on and there was a leak from the banjo on the PAS rack. The NOT station aligned the headlights and finally got the exhaust to sit right as I'd spent enough time on my back trying to get it to look right.

Having completed 12 miles (6 miles to the MOT station and 6 miles back again) I have 2 jobs left to do. 1. Get the tracking set up, this I will do on Monday when I buy road tax. 2. It doesn't run that great, probably partly because it needs a while to settle down but also because I need to set the timing and mixture accurately, my timing light is dead and the one I borrowed is dead also so I have ordered a new one.

A proper photo shoot of the finished car to follow, maybe when the leather comes back from retrim in blue leather to match the carpet and door cards with genuine Recaro LS.

I'd like to thank everyone on the forum who has helped with advice over the last 5 years or so for helping make this a successful project. I don't ever intend to sell the car.

[Jeroen]

Great, not a bad result at all! Now it may most of all need a tank full of fresh high octane fuel and a loooong drive!

[uwbuurman]

Congrats!!! And indeed, long drive will help!!

[e21Keith]

I'd still like to resolve the issue with the distributor.

The Hall/Pulse sensor 1237031044 has been replaced with 1237031129 but I can find only a handful of stockists with most of them showing it as out of stock or unavailable.