M20B25 conversion lives!!!!!!!!!! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay

varden · Post by **varden** » Mon Oct 05, 2009 7:01 am

progress report!

I picked my car up from the muffler place, the only ended up finishing the job I'd started by welding up all the holes i couldn't get to, so it was a nice cheap repair.

Stopped off at the servo for some fuel then came home to take some pics.

Front tyres get replaced on Wednesday, then its all pretty much sorted.

Tho i will start looking into bigger radiator options.

Thayat · Post by **Thayat** » Mon Oct 05, 2009 10:36 am

Bloody good Varden.

Must be a great sense of achievement.

I am still grappling with a few issues. I don't suppose you would mind taking some snaps of the engine bay. I'd really like to see how you have finished off your cable connections and pipes too.

It's some of these last items that are causing me the most grief.

And I am grappling with whether or not to take the opportunity to actually slam a cage in it and race it in the BMW open class...

Cheers

op6 · Post by **op6** » Mon Oct 05, 2009 11:03 am

Great work, you must be chuffed Varden, everyday I would sneak a quick look at your build thread to see how things were progressing.

Thayat: (quote) -
I am still grappling with a few issues. I don't suppose you would mind taking some snaps of the engine bay. I'd really like to see how you have finished off your cable connections and pipes too.

It's some of these last items that are causing me the most grief.

A friend has just finished doing the 323 to 325 swap in my 1978 323 and the result is awesome, donor was a 1990 E30. What pictures are you after?
PM your email if need be. Cheers

varden · Post by **varden** » Mon Oct 05, 2009 4:31 pm

Thayat wrote:
Bloody good Varden.

Must be a great sense of achievement.

I am still grappling with a few issues. I don't suppose you would mind taking some snaps of the engine bay. I'd really like to see how you have finished off your cable connections and pipes too.

It's some of these last items that are causing me the most grief.

And I am grappling with whether or not to take the opportunity to actually slam a cage in it and race it in the BMW open class...

Cheers

ta mate, it goes pretty well, but i think the busted off exhaust stud is going to give me the shits, i will be at my manifold with my socket set in the morning to see if i can minimise the pfft pfft pfft noise i can now hear.

What pics would you like? Wiring harness? Fuel rail to car? Vac lines?

If i were you I'd cage it, will it be road registered? Will it be a pain in the ass to get a WOF every 6 months with a cage in it?

Or will you be required to get one of those mod plates that require the 4 x 100 - 0kph brake tests to pass?

For years i used to unmod my car every 6 months for its WOF till i went to the point of no return and was forced to modplate my 1969 Mk1 escort with the shithouse brakes etc.

op6Great work, you must be chuffed Varden, everyday I would sneak a quick look at your build thread to see how things were progressing.

Thanks mate, another kiwi eh? the 2.5 upgrade makes a huge difference over the kjet 2.3.

Are there many donor 325i Bm's in NZ?? FA over here in Aus.

When i left NZ in 2000 the e30's were still pretty exxy

Thayat · Post by **Thayat** » Tue Oct 06, 2009 8:13 am

Hi mate, the lot really. Don't want to be a pain, but my attempts to get decent engine bay picks have failed. I want to see the wiring loom so I can see where you've hooked up the earths and run the wires. I also want to see the fuel lines as the E21 setup I had in my car with the old carbed 2 litre had some 'interesting' features...

I am the first to admit that my engineering knowledge is more civils than mechanicals, but am pretty keen to finish this conversion myself.

As for the racing. My brother has just put an M635 onto the track and his mate runs an E34 535. Looks to be great fun, and I am tempted to throw the e21 onto the track as they aren't exactly common over here (and we like to be different). Problem is, my other car isn't too practical either, and I want to sell my Range Rover as running costs are silly. I have seen an E30 touring on the web though...

I would need to get the car registered for motorsport use before I would be allowed on the road with a cage. That's a possibility though.

Just want to drive it with the new engine and brakes before I make the decision...

Cheers for your help

varden · Post by **varden** » Tue Oct 06, 2009 4:25 pm

No worries mate, i've got the day off to help my sister do some tiling tomorrow so i will takes some pics of my loom position inc earths and power wires etc and get some pics of the fuel lines.

Does your 320 have a fuel return pipe to the tank? i would guess it wouldn't as none of the carbied cars I've owned had a fuel return pipe.

I would LOVE to go racing in my e21 but the most track action it will see will focussing on getting it to hold up to a track day or two, honestly if i was to go racing I'd prolly build up an e30 as they are much easier to replace.

Check out that touring, i'd have one of those just because they are unique.

It wouldn't tow a car trailer as well as your rangie tho.

Thayat · Post by **Thayat** » Wed Oct 07, 2009 10:44 am

Hi Varden,

My 320/6 seems to have the return pipe. Its an 81 model so maybe something changed when they did the minor update...maybe an attempt to make it more efficient? They failed mortally obviously

Well, the E30 touring looks good. Its 600km away but I'm getting an inspection done and may head down on Saturday. Here's hoping.

The Open class over here is a pretty good competition. Everything from a vicious 2002 turbo replica with anywhere over 400hp, to E30 M3s, E36 M3s, E46s with V8s, E30 318s. So with my brother involved too its looking an interesting option. My E21 is never going to be a show winner, but with a solid 2.7 and running it light, it should be able hold its own with at least a handful of them!

Just need to sell the Rangie to finance all of this of course.

op6 · Post by **op6** » Wed Oct 07, 2009 11:15 am

Thanks mate, another kiwi eh? the 2.5 upgrade makes a huge difference over the kjet 2.3.

Are there many donor 325i Bm's in NZ?? FA over here in Aus.

When i left NZ in 2000 the e30's were still pretty exxy[/quote]

When it was going the 323 was pretty good, not too much slower than with the 2.5 but it had K-Jet issues that seemed too difficult to solve, one option was to have twin or triple carbs and the other to replace the engine with a 325. Chose the 325 route as it would be the cheaper option and in this case I bought a written off 325, ( ran over a manhole cover which ripped up the rear footwell like a can opener, surgically removed the exhaust which in turn destroyed both the fuel tanks ( South African version). I was able to part out the car to help defray costs, keeping the leather sports seats which will make their way into the E21.

Donor cars are around, and quite cheap up north, but a fortune down here. The local BMW wrecker has not had a 325 for over a year and reckoned he would get over $2000 for a reasonable engine. Privately a good 325 motor will fetch $1000 +

There are still quite a few E30 325,s in NZ, most are autos and in the North Island. 325s fetch good money here, a manual with 200,000kms onboard will sell for around $5000 and a genuine Motorsport for double that. Here in the South few 325s but plenty of 320s and nearly as many 318s. Tourings are rare.

Thayat · Post by **Thayat** » Wed Oct 07, 2009 11:53 am

op6 wrote:
Donor cars are around, and quite cheap up north, but a fortune down here. The local BMW wrecker has not had a 325 for over a year and reckoned he would get over $2000 for a reasonable engine. Privately a good 325 motor will fetch $1000 +

There are still quite a few E30 325,s in NZ, most are autos and in the North Island. 325s fetch good money here, a manual with 200,000kms onboard will sell for around $5000 and a genuine Motorsport for double that. Here in the South few 325s but plenty of 320s and nearly as many 318s. Tourings are rare.

My two pennies worth. Second hand wrecked parts in NZ generally are obscene. I found getting new parts out of Walloth and Nesch in some cases was only fractionally dearer than the local breakers.

My 2.7 (standard old bottom end, new bearings 18 months ago, standard 731 head, Motronic) cost me about 1600. This needed stripping down, new rings, hone, head skim, valve seat cleanup etc. So $3k all up. And I am too scared to sum up all of the incidental parts now and it still isn't running

Another example. Vented 323 front brake disks. I was quoted $387 per disk. I ended up picking them up from Walloth and Nesch while in the UK, and hauled them back in the suitcase. Much cheaper. THough did get some looks through customs.

It's a challenge for e21 stuff, but with the E30 race series, parts aren't too bad. All adds to the E21 owning experience

varden · Post by **varden** » Wed Oct 07, 2009 2:23 pm

Hmmmm.... i think the rule of thumb with Bmw's is to pick stuff up privately.

I've purchased 3 e30's since june privately, ebayed some parts with good results as others dodge wreckers, but I'm working my way up to an e30 race/trackday toy and selling bits from the cars to offset the cost.

When i got my 325e i started scouting for efi and 323i head and the wrecker wanted $750 of the full motronic 1.3 set up and another $750 for a good 731 head. Yikes! I later got an almost entire 1985 323i for $500 privately ffs!

Now to the pics.

This pic is of the fuel lines as they connect to the car. Orange is to the rail and black is from the fuel pressure regulator. The black plugged hose is from the inlet manifold to the charcoal cannister in the 325i, not needed.

Fuel lines at the fuel rail.

All the earths were mounted to the firewall/heater shroud with a an M10 nut and bolt.

I used connector blocks :oops to connect the power feeds to the extra wires i added to connect to the positive feed from the boot that terminates at the 325i starter solenoid. Given that there were 4 power wires i doubled up the wire i used as i didn't have any heavier guage wire for the job.

This is an overall view of the wiring layout, i ended up soldering some of the car wires to the motronic loom and using connector blocks for the rest as they weren't cooperating with my crappy solderer.

I also extended the coil wires for the motronic loom so i could locate the coil on the drivers side whilst still getting the ecu into the glove box, i didn't fancy installing it on the drivers side. I extended the wires for the O2 sensor too but in hindsight i should have extended the harness to move the plug closer to the o2 sensor lead.

While i was fitting my tyres this afternoon i noticed that my cars oil cooler was leaking where it fitted up to the filter housing.........bloodly hell...

murran · Post by **murran** » Wed Oct 07, 2009 11:58 pm

youve done pretty much what ive done wiring and fuel wise.
did you fit a fuel filter in it anywhere?

jesus prices for s/h bits!

to think i gutted an 89 320i for every motronic 1.3 part, all for £40!
my engine was £225!

Thayat · Post by **Thayat** » Thu Oct 08, 2009 8:22 am

Hi Varden,

thanks for that. It's brilliant. I am a little intrigued. My fuel rail connection is located on the rear end of the engine. Not a major I guess, but it does mean another fuel hose strapped around the engine bay.

THanks again mate. Had an inspection on the touring done this afternoon. Looks like rust in the sills. Might have to give it a miss. With the E21 and Lotus, I really don't need another car that needs constant attention.

Its a real shame. I've always preferred the touring to the standard E30. Ah well, back to the drawing board.

varden · Post by **varden** » Thu Oct 08, 2009 4:36 pm

murran wrote:youve done pretty much what ive done wiring and fuel wise.
did you fit a fuel filter in it anywhere?

Yup, no sense in moving away from a winning formula.

I'm 90% certain that there is a fuel filter tucked up next to the secondary fuel pump under the car, the fuel lines go into it and its about the right size so fingers crossed its the filter.

Man parts for bmw's are cheap in the UK, if i was there i'd have M20B25 powered 3 series bm's too. So thrashable.

Thayat wrote:thanks for that. It's brilliant. I am a little intrigued. My fuel rail connection is located on the rear end of the engine. Not a major I guess, but it does mean another fuel hose strapped around the engine bay.

THanks again mate. Had an inspection on the touring done this afternoon. Looks like rust in the sills. Might have to give it a miss. With the E21 and Lotus, I really don't need another car that needs constant attention.

Its a real shame. I've always preferred the touring to the standard E30. Ah well, back to the drawing board.

No worries, be sure to post some pics and vids when you get your 320 running!

Now that you mention it i only found the return pipe on the front of the 323i inlet manifold i was attempting to remove from an e30 this afternoon, it must be the same as yours.

This car:

Yeah it's good to have ONE dependable set of wheels, its a shame about the touring, they are one of the sexier wagons around. I'd get my wife into one if she didn't balk at the prospect of owning an "old" car. She's prolly better off with her 06 corolla anyway...

varden · Post by **varden** » Sat Nov 07, 2009 3:29 pm

progress report, well kinda....

I finished stripping this car out and it can be seen here leaving, allowing me to park my e21 back in the shed so i can fix that oil leak and fit a relay into the fan circuit.

Hooray!

I just need some garage time now......

murran · Post by **murran** » Sat Nov 07, 2009 3:48 pm

well youve picked that pretty clean of bits! i take it you were a piranha in your last life?