MadaboutKitcars

Looks good Mike. Must be nice having all that room in the garage...

Double garage? Luxury! We used t' dream of 'aving a double garage. We had to make do with t' shoebox...

Plenty of people on the forum that have already done their electrics so I am sure you will always get an answer if you have a problem. My best tips would be:

Take it one step at a time
Use the proper tools and materials (Don't use sticky electricians tape!)
Write down what you have done for future reference.

Robin

Hey Mike, you need to get an action shot like this one..........

http://www.msportster.co.uk/data/londonbrighton09_008.jpg



Keep the updates comming, we all like reading the updates....

Grille Surround

Since it has taken me two full days to make a partially finished grille surround I feel entitled to post my efforts for all to see!! Two whole days....crazy or what?!!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikes_bmw_marlin_cabrio/

Mike

that looks like a lot of work, nice results

Grille Surround

Some pics of my grille surround in the making
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3405/3625758691_4aa863070d.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3350/3625740659_c4b7dbfcbd.jpg

Radiator Grille Surround



One day I'll understand how to use this site......



[IMG][/IMG]

I had forgotten I started this thread -so having found it again it deserves an update with some of the key milestones!
The finished grille:

I had forgotten about this thread, so having re-discovered it, I feel I had better bring it up to date with key milestones (if you would like to see the whole history try this site:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikes_bmw_marlin_cabrio/

A few more key updates:

Mike,
great progress and looking really smart. I like your 'original looking' traditional dashboard.

Time to get that engine fired up again?

Here are a couple of useful links.....(which you may have already?)

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/info/wiring/Understanding_Euro_Wiring_Diagrams_Motor_Magazine_April_2003.pdf

http://wedophones.com/Manuals/BMW/1996%20BMW%20318is-c%20-%20320i%20-%20325i-c%20-%20328i-c%20%20Electrical%20Troubleshooting%20Manual.pdf



cheers, Peter

Hi Mike,

I'm still cogitating on the inlet ducting. I like your solution and I hadn't thought of seperating the AFM from the inlet elbow. That may provide a few more options but I don't think I have room to take the ducting into the nose cone as you have done. At the moment I'm thinking of a canister type air filter mounted low down and aft of the throttle body with an air intake cut into the engine bay side panel. But it will probably need some sort of scoop to ensure that Mr. Bernoulli's principle doesn't give me any power sucking negative air pressure in the inlet manifold!!.

I like the wooden dash. I plan to have an oak or cherry dash with a dark mahogoney stain that should work well with my white faced instruments. My worry has been the need to create a 19mm radius on the bottom edge to meet IVA requirements. How are you planning to overcome that. Have you got a seperate IVA dashboard as a tempoary fit..............!!

How are the electrics coming along. I have found it a lot less of a problem than I thought. (But I may change my mind when I connect a battery). I have left the ECU loom untouched except for a change in a couple of cable to accomodate the new position for the alternator. I have sussed the pin out for the X20 connector ( the interface between the ECU loom and the main vehicle loom) and I have made up the vehicle loom wire by wire from basic principles - supply - switch - load - earth. I needed to sort out a few relays and provide some permanent live and swithced live power supplies, but it has been fairly straight forward. I hope to connect a battery in the next few weeks. I'll make sure that all the fuses are removed and then put them back one by one. (with one hand on a fire extinguisher.................!!)Then I'll really find out how straight forward it's been!!

But it's looking like a really nice car with some great progress. Any thoughs about an IVA booking yet??

Cheers

Nigel

The IVA manual says...(and was very similar on the old SVA)

7. The instrument panel lower edge within the “specified zone” must have a
radius of curvature not less than 19mm or 5mm and covered with a nonrigid material.

I used some soft rubber 'u' channel stuck to the bottom edge.


Passenger foot well by marlinpeter, on Flickr

But I guess this might not look to pretty on a wooden dashboard?

I used some cheap pipe insulation stuff made from foam and covered in vinyl, glued to bottom of dash. No questions asked at IVA. But as Peter says, it would look odd with a wooden dash. Guess it might accidentally fall off later though??

My air intake is in the passenger footwell - solution courtesy of Mark. Does give out a few sucking noises when you put your foot down, which can be a surprise to your passenger

Tim

Mike - looking good. One thing to note though - it looks as if your instruments have a non IVA friendly ring on them:



They need to be radiused, and it looks as if yours have a V profile.

Hi Goo

I have a gash dash template to go over the instruments.
I do not want to put a lot of work into the template, but I guess its too obviously a temporary IVA fix at the moment!


Nigel
Once the centre console is complete I will only have the passenger edge to deal with, and plan to do something like Tim has suggested with a foam collar trimmed in black vinyl and attached to the underside of the dash. And yes I fully expect it remain only until its passes the test.

Nigel
I plan to use something like Simon used along the straight edge, covered in vinyl.

More progress

Column Out


I have removed the main light switch, and hazard warning button to allow the column to be pushed in closer to the dash, and be adjusted higher to give more lap room.
I had to make an additional column support bracket for the Marlin support to hold the standard angles in a fixed location: this then allowed the standard Sierra column adjuster to work both for and aft, and up/down.

Column In

Engine Started!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

With many many thanks to Nigel I have wired up and started my engine First Time after lying dormant for 5 years.

I have taken a video of it spluttering in to life (rather noisily) at the first attempt: it does get quieter honestly!

It was with mixed feelings when it struck up. I had primed the oil filter housing, but it still took an age for the oil pressure to build up. Even then it sounded like a bag of nails, which was really disappointing given that I heard it run the day before it was removed and it was silky smooth. It was so noisy I thought it was not running on all 6 cylinders. There was a horrible mechanical ticking sound - more than tappets? So I was quite concerned.
However, letting it tick over for a few minutes and get hot obviously helped and noticably quietened down.
I've now run it several times just for a few minutes each time, as the electric fan has not been wired in, and it soon starts to boil. Each time it has become quieter, so now it seems to purr just like I hoped it would. 6 cylinder engines are so silky smooth.


Whooopppppeee! - another M50 engine brought back to life.

Special thanks must go to Nigel for the guidance and directions on the wiring.
And thanks to you all for the support and general knowledge and ideas that I have cribbed along the way. It is greatly appreciated.



Yours,
Happy Boy Mike

Fantastic! Well done Mike - a great milestone! It sounds really smooth in the last section of the video

Waaaaahhheeeyyyy!

I'm guessing it sounded bad on first startup as the ECU was re-learning everything... But like Mash said, it's sounds great by the end.

Another M50 running

Yes, it is interesting.
I was aware the ECU had to re-learn its settings and that I would have to run the engine up to temperature before it would settle down, but I was not ready for how rough it sounded until it had re-set itself.

What's interesting is that I removed the battery Earth over night as my temporary wiring loom has so many exposed potentially live wires I didn't want to run any unnecessary risks.

I couldn't resisit going out this morning and re-connecting it again and firing it up. This time it ran sweetly straight away. So does the ECU hold memory for a period even without being powered up, but loses it over a longer period?
I don't fully understand, but it runs sweetly now and that's what matters.

"On the road this year", is now looking possible!

Mike

Another M50 running

Yes, it is interesting.
I was aware the ECU had to re-learn its settings and that I would have to run the engine up to temperature before it would settle down, but I was not ready for how rough it sounded until it had re-set itself.

What's interesting is that I removed the battery Earth over night as my temporary wiring loom has so many exposed potentially live wires I didn't want to run any unnecessary risks.

I couldn't resist going out this morning and re-connecting it again and firing it up. This time it ran sweetly straight away. So does the ECU hold memory for a period even without being powered up, but loses it over a longer period?
I don't fully understand, but it runs sweetly now and that's what matters.

"On the road this year", is now looking possible!

Mike

Well done Mike!! It's great milestone when you get the engine back to life!

I'm sure now with the confidence in your engine wiring you can get the rest finished.

When's the IVA, then ??

Mike,

Let me add my congratulations! That is real progress. Having seen your build so far I can tell everyone that it is superb with everything done to a really high standard. Let me know when it gets rolling, I would love to take another look!
John