Problem Solving

Hello again!

Been a bit busy working on the car of late and realised I hadn't updated this for a while so this is a summary of progress over the last couple of weeks.

Had a few minor issues to resolve/re-engineer.

First up was the steering, again; but this time it didn't become apparent until I'd taken delivery of the seats and tried to fit them.

Once the standard-diameter BMW steering wheel was on (a variant of which I'll need to pass IVA) I couldn't physically get in or out of the car!! And then when you put the wheel on whilst you're already in it, there wasn't enough room for me to move my leg to operate the pedals. Bit of a catastrophe that...

First I took the runners off the seats which helped a bit, but really the steering wheel was in the wrong place. Plus it was still sort of fouling on the suspension tower. Pics below describe the problem - figure 1 shows where everything is, and 2/3 show the problems found with it fully one way or the other:

So, that was a nice conundrum to figure out. More on how I solved it shortly...

As mentioned, I took delivery of some nice shiny seats and a lovely tiny steering wheel - once IVA is passed I can use the small flat bottomed wheel as a much more comfortable way of getting in and out - plus I've got a quick-release boss for it as well.

 

Orange GRP seats complete with stick-on high density foam padding and 285mm steering wheel

 Of course, Emma pointed out they don't actually look that comfortable, but I urged her to try them out and she seemed a little happier having done it, if not a little bewildered:

Seat-modelling for beginners

 I'm not overly impressed with the standard of laminating I have to say. I managed a project building high-quality FRP boats and I suppose I was spoiled with the excellent craftsmanship of a world-class product... but even so, I wouldn't allow a first year apprentice to churn out something as poor as this. The front (orange) gel coat is OK, but the back has got bits of dry laminate, glass poking out, and a very poor washcoat of colour. I've got some black gelcoat I'm going to re-do them at some point. Still, from afar they look pretty good and the colour isn't a bad match. They do look pretty sweet in the car:

Note the backs of the seats which will have to be re-done

And once again that lovely model came to show us all how to sit in a car seat again:

And then some ugly bloke turned up as well, but he had a scuttle with him so we let him pose for a photo too:

And he'd also brought a nosecone as well - starting to take shape now!

 I do admit to several moments of just sticking panels loosely in-place and standing back and admiring, it's terrifically satisfying if not horrendously inefficient :)

I then had to interrupt the project and spent a whole weekend sorting out Emma's Morris minor for MoT

 So much welding :( and after all that time spent on it he went and found a load more on the test... so we may have to write the poor thing off and look for a slightly better one. Whilst I enjoy all these projects I just run out of time to do them, and still got the disco to look at before our big trip. 

Anyway, back to the legend!!

I scratched my head a bit and talked to a few people about the steering problem, and it occured to me that I'd need to move the steering column to the left of the car to help with the knee problem and clear the suspension tower, and to do that I'd somehow have to move the engine out of the way. Then it hit me - I can't move the engine left or right, but I can move it up and down! So I made up a spacer block out of 10mm steel:

10mm steel cut and shaped to the engine mount, drilled out the centre as clearance for M10 and painted satin black

Then installed it beneath the engine mount. Hey presto the engine moved up and left just enough for me to solve the conundrum. Brilliant. Only slight issue is that there's only a tiny bit of thread coming through the nyloc on the bottom of the mount - potential IVA issue there, might need to look at it later on.

Spacer in-place

I next would need to solve how I can move the upper(lower) steering column mount / BMW pillow block a bit left. Given that I'd already drilled the holes, moving half a hole wasn't going to be easy, plus it needed to be raised up a tad. The solution to this problem came from both of these constraints, in making a sandwhich plate. I looked at steel for this too, but it would have been heavy and unnecessary, so I elected to use Epoxy GRP strip, which is incredibly strong but very lightweight.

Cut out the rough shape:

Drilled the holes and painted to match the rest of the car:

And the finished article installed in-place. 

Looks practically original:

This then allowed me to re-jig the steering and hey-presto, no more fouling:

Lower steering column doesn't foul. Pic doesn't really show it that well, but there's about 3-5mm of clearance. Will have to touch up that scratch with paint so as not to arouse suspicion

 I was also able to find a place for the steering wheel to sit that would allow knee room, although at the sacrifice of having to bolt the seat directly to the floor - no seat runners. Unsure if you HAVE to have adjustable seats for IVA...? Have to check the regs. 

Next up - electrical string.

Finally, the greatly anticipated wiring loom was delivered:

 I wasted no time in getting it all laid out and ready to install:

The loom is simplicity istelf - all the connections are labelled, so it simply is "plug and play". My advice if you're considering a project such as this, is that this is not one area you should skimp on the project, especially with a modern car with ECU and anti-theft systems. This has really got to be right. And the GKD loom is well engineered and put together and tested.

When I unpacked everything I realised that I'd need to solder on the connections for the instrument cluster. This generally went OK, although there was one cable that didn't match up colour-wise to the GKD instructions. Not sure if it was important so I left it off. (thinking I might later regret that) There were a few more that just aren't connected (things like brake pad wear sensors, cruise control, SRS, airbag etc.) and a few I had to check with Peter on (M3 dash has oil pressure built-in, mine doesn't etc)

Good few hours hunched over with soldering iron

 Then, the big moment arrived - I connected all the bits up...

And, nervously... turned the key to position one.

Firstly... no bangs, smoke or fires. Which is a result...

At position 2 we have battery warning light, oil pressure light and fuel pump priming the injectors. Again, good news.

but then at position 3.... click. Click, click click. Nothing else. just a click from the starter motor solenoid. Bugger :(

Also noticed that I had no odometer/display, and the fuel gauge and temp gauge weren't working either.

I continued faffing for a little while and had a chat with Peter and a few other friends around, checked all the obvious things such as earth leads (good earths, 0ohms resistance on all of them) all power leads connected including the superflouous jump start terminal, battery charged (12.6V), good clean battery terminals (cleaned them again, still no change) and then gave up and went home, feeling a bit defeated..

Next day I attacked it with a fresh vigour. I re-made the connections to the battery (no change) and checked the earths. I also noted that I'd lost the oil pressure light on the instrument cluster, will have to look at that one at some point.


My initial worry was it was the anti-theft or ECU related, but it was fairly clear that the starter solenoid was clicking and the fuel pump was running - if the EWS wasn't activating, neither of those would be "allowed". This is some small victory because at least that side of it is OK.

So I resigned myself to it being the starter and set about taking it out - which is a right pig of a job...

I then bench tested it:

As you can see from the video it does engage the solenoid several times and then fail to turn - precisely what was happening in the car. BUT it then finally starts to turn.

With that I thought it was just sticky for having stood for 18months so re-installed it back in the car.

Same problem... just a single click when turning the key. When you turn the engine over by hand afterwards, you can hear the starter disengaging with another click, so it COULD be that it will turn freely under no load, but won't fight against the compression of the engine.

So... I took the spark plugs out... still no joy, click click etc.

I finally resigned myself to the fact that the problem must be with the starter motor and as a replacement is fairly reasonable £60-£80, probably best I pay a visit to my favourite shop, and he can test starter motors and alternators and at least prove to me that this one is a dud. For info the engine turns over lovely by hand - good compression, but smooth enough. In 5th gear you can push the car forward (just) and that too turns the engine over, so the engine itself isn't seized.

So that's where we are with it at the moment... My initial plan is to get the engine to turn over and then bring the oil pressure up, and once I'm happy it's got good lubrication is stick some petrol in and see what happens. But, need to find out why it won't turn at the moment!

Keep watching for further updates!! Any help gratefully received...