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2003 Status
2002 Status
Miscellaneous
This month I continued with the final engine assembly. I began by working on putting on the new seals for the plastic intake runners. These are necessary to prevent any leaks coming from the intake system.
Next, I began putting on the new nylon injection lines on the Kugelfischer pump. The new lines are all contoured specifically to fit each cylinder and simply bolt on to the injectors and pump by using a 14mm open wrench. You have to use another wrench to hold the injectors in place while tightening.
However, there was a problem with the new lines. They sat too high and were catching on the throttle body return valve. Despite my efforts I could not flex the lines below it so I came up with a simple solution - I ziptied them down to hold them in place where the fuel line from the rear normally goes in. See the 2nd pic below.
After making the necessary adjustments, the lines were free and clear. The new hose I used for the fuel return from the rear would not fit onto the throttle body brace anyway and the clip is currently missing in action....
With the fuel lines finally secured in place, I proceeded to put in the plastic intake runners. They are a bit tough to pop in so I lubed the seals a bit to help them slide easier. Once I slicked them up, they pretty much went right in. Then I secured them with the hose clamps. When I start the car I will have to check for leaks and adjust accordingly......
Next, I gathered up the pieces for the air filter assembly. I had previously painted the parts and was waiting on the hardware order to arrive so that I can assemble it. Now that I have all the pieces I can put it in.
Here's a pic of the engine bay now with all of the fuel lines in, the plastic intake runners in place and clamped down and the first two of the air filter assembly pieces. They simply bolt on using nuts and bolts onto the side of the car. They are all 10mm.
After having all the intake stuff in place I decided to install some of the coolant hoses up front and put the radiator in the car. This is a straight forward procedure. There are simply 4 points for which to mount the radiator in. Just simply secure it in place...
Leaving the engine bay for now, my "ebay ordered" set of 320i halfshafts came in today (April 18th). Since I will be using a 3.9 diff from a 320is, the halfshafts from my tii will not reach far enough as the output shafts on the diff are thinner than my stock 02 diff's. It leaves a small gap between the inner CV joint and the diff. Some folks replace the output shafts on the diffs with a wider one from a 76 or get spacers, I simply opted to get the 320is halfshafts.
To be able to do this I had to take the 320is axle halfshafts and take off one end of the 320is CV's and put on a CV end from my old 02 one. The shaft itself is longer on the 320is and makes up for the difference in length allowing the CV to meet up with the diff perfectly. In the picture above you can see one end of the CV on the shaft from the 320is and the other end from the 02 (the flat, thicker one).
The new differential itself was mounted with a combination of 17mm and 19mm nuts and bolts. You can see where the diff's output shaft has a concave surface to it on the pic in the left above and where the tii wheel hub for the CV is flat (on the right).
In the next 2 pictures you can see the "new" 320is halfshaft on the car with one end using the stock 02 CV towards the wheels and the other 320is CV end on the diff.
The CV's are secured with hex bolts. I double checked all my nuts and bolts to make sure everything was nice and tight and moved on to another area.
It is important to note here that it is extremely important to make sure the driveshaft is lined up properly. If the driveshaft is not aligned, you will experience alot of vibration while driving and you will also prematurely wear out your guibos. I will double check my setup once the car is up and running....
The driveshaft now in place, I began to prepare for the exhaust. I bolted the downpipe onto the exhaust manifold on the engine previously so I was able to get down under the car and bolt on the 3 nuts that go onto the studs off of the exh manifold. Then, I hooked up the exh hanger clamp as part of the MM 5 spd kit. Here's what it looks like on the left picture above.
I left it loose for the time being until I get all of my exhaust pieces on the car. The resonator clamps onto the downpipe with 3 nuts/bolts as well. There is a metal ring washer that goes between the downpipe and resonator. Place the ring washer in between and bind the 3 nuts and bolts to secure the resonator to the downpipe. The Tii resonator then actually mounts across the driveshaft over onto the rear driver side where it will meet with the Tii muffler.
I took a break from crawling under the car and began to work on routing some of the wiring for the front and rear fogs. I bought an orange fog light switch from BavAuto for a 320i and trimmed my 02 console a bit to fit it in. I then simply routed a 12v+ lead to the fogs by using an existing hole in the firewall.
The rear fog light will be powered using this small switch I bought at my local auto parts store. I reluctantly drilled a small hole in my console face-plate and placed it in. There weren't many options. The front fogs are wired through a relay. The rear since it will be seldom used is just straight switched ACC power to it. Later on I will tie a relay into that as well...
The last thing I did for the month of April was to take off the rear drums and sand them down, prime and paint them with some paint I found similar to the car. Just for looks :)
