KatoKid

BA/BF should be fine. Lots of guys (not Z's) favour AU set up for the effectiveness of the fans so I'm assuming BA/BF will be as good but they do suck amp's. Having said that your alternator should be up to the task. Mine is a 130 amp to run all the BMW lecy bits so yours should be pretty similar?

Fantastic read and execution Graham. Well done. Keen to know who did your dogbone for the R32 front calipers and which Benz disc you used? David

Went for a ride in the Jamomobile today........... many levels of awesomeness happening here! Engine bay looks very factory apart from the pod filter...no blingy cop bait stuff here. Starts and idles like you would expect a late model EFI car. Power steering is awesome....silent, well weighted and good ratio. Had a drive around a carpark and in my mind its perfect. Engine is well mannered, tractable and as torquey as you would expect a 2.5 litre to be..........and then it comes on boost with a beautiful rush. On cold tyres I wasn't ready for the snap sideways but once the tyres got some heat and grip it just accelerated like a train. Car has a killer Porsche front and Comondore rear combo....overkill for the street but would be perfect for track days. I was very close to doing this swap but with an RB30/25 combo. After going for a ride in this car I don't see the point in the bigger combo. The 25 has more than enough for the street.......you just couldn't use anymore. Well done Jamo, a very refined and effective end product.

Respect to you John for not taking the easy route! This will truly be a technical "tour de force" but I am glad you didnt go the Mazda EPS route as I could see too many potential issues to overcome that may take the shine off the whole project. Keep at it mate!

Looks good but struggling to understand why you wouldn't go with CV joints a both ends of the drive shaft? Uni joint may/will be your weakest link and not sure that Cv's and uni's play happily together http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_joint due to variable output speed?

Fricken hilarious....... I said couldnt be " f a g ed" ..... web site changes it to couldnt be "nancy boyed"! Love the logic there..... is that yours Gav? One of my best mates calls me nancy boy ....but then again he rides a Gas Gas.

^^^^^what he said. Why reinvent the wheel?

Thought about it but couldnt be faged!

Thanks guys. I live at the foot of the Dandenongs, there are plenty of tracks but there not really MTB tacks but a good start anyway.

Good day in the shed, got the engine back together and installed on the test stand. I wanted to run it again after fitting the big end bearings, rod bolts, oil pump drive and Vanos rebuild just to make sure its all good. Wound it over without plugs on the starter motor and got 50 psi pretty quickly. Surprisingly took a while to start and sound like it had little compression but apparently thats pretty normal after a Vanos rebuild, instructions are to fully advance the exhaust camshaft for easier starting. Once it caught it run fine and settled down to a good idle pretty well straight away. No abnormal noises, good oil pressure and the Vanos is definitely quieter, wasnt bad previously but can barely be heard now. Tick that box.

Pretty yellow.....you know youre soaking in it! Jeeze, showing my age now.

Hey Gordo sounds like you may be able to help me out........ My knees are stuffed and I cant run anymore so Im looking at cycling as an alternative. Used to do a bit of training with a mate who was a pro road rider years ago but Im not keen on road riding due to the dickheads that we have to share the road with so somehing like what you describe is appealing. Are there any clubs or unoficial groups that do regular rides? Cheers. David

Too right, my gearbox is just as bad as the sump was so Im going to do that as well!

Hare & Forbes had a discounted offer on these https://www.machineryhouse.com.au/S302 in the last issue of Street Machine........ My poor misguided brother has a thing for FX-FJ Holdens and has two restos on the go at the moment, a ute and a sedan so between the two of us he needs one of these more than I do! He also has a big ass compressor at his factory so we struck a deal and will share the blaster at his factory. I figure it wont take long to recoup what it cost and the convenience of having one to use at any time will be brilliant as I start prepping and reassembling the drive train and suspension parts. The sump and oil filter housing I had Hydroblasted, came up fantastically but it wasn't a cheap option and the guy is a long drive from my place so I bought some glass beads for the blaster and gave it its first run on my badly coroded thermostat housing and the serpentine belt tensioner. Very, very happy with the outcome. It was easy to use and very controlled and the end result was nearly as good as the Hydroblasting, not as shiny but a more factory finish anyway.

One of the other issues the BMW engines have is that the nut that holds the sprocket on the oil pump shaft comes loose with catastrophic results, this can easily be fixed by lock wiring or welding the nut however under extreme use they can also break the nose off the shaft off. While I'm not intending to race this thing I will use it for some track days and other events so I'm keen to do the most to ensure its as bullet proof as possible so I'm going with a VAC Motorsport oil pump drive which uses a keyed drive verses a tapered spline which solves both issues of the nut coming loose and the nose of the shaft snapping off. While I was ordering the VAC Motorsport oil pump drive I also ordered one of their -10 AN oil cooler line adapters which is required if you cant use the factory oil cooler lines. The top end is back together as is the bottom end with new front and rear main seals so I'm now reassembling with new gaskets and O rings where ever possible. I was putting the ITB's back on and thought I would share a photo of the inlet port....pretty nice for a production engine.

Z less but will be there!

I like it. Venetian rear window shade really sets it off.

Probably a tough call Lurchos because your passion for the forum was clearly evident and it wouldn't be what it is today without your input. Well done mate! Also appreciate how much time it must take to keep the boys in line, more time to spend on the Early Girl now. Enjoy your retirement.

Good buy! Who's shed is going to?

When I first read this I thought you meant a hydraulic rack with an electric pump.....electric rack though is the next step up. Not half ambitious are you John! Any more info on the engine and vehicle speed inputs the control module sees? Just thinking about the type of signal and how you will generate the signal more than the actual range (low to high). Of course it may not need these inputs to function but whether it delivers the intended feel and weight may change.

The rattle kit was pretty straight forward but like the seal kit took a fair bit of time to get the clearances just right and the tools that Besian sell are a must have. It takes a few assemblies and disassemblies to get the clearances spot on. The aim is to have a slight amount of preload on the torrington bearings once the end cap is torqued down so you have to keep taking small amounts off the ring to sneak up on it. I'm going to run the engine on my test stand again just to be sure its all good. My engine definitely had some Vanos rattle, not too bad but it will be intersting to compare with the rattle kit fitted.

Yep, that's how I did it too! Hoist is installed, just waiting on electrikery. The M3 engine ran fine when it was on the test stand but they do have issues with the Vanos (variable cam timing) system. The Vanos system has solenoids controlled by the ECU that directs high pressure oil (there is an additional oil pump inside the Vanos housing to boost pressure over what the main engine oil pump provides) to cylinders either side of a piston that is connected to helical splined gears on the camshaft, as the piston moves back and forward the helical gears then either advance or retard the cams. First issue is the seals inside the cylinders are underspeced for the application and they degrade and then leak internally which results in the cams being in the wrong place at the wrong time so poor performance. The second issue is noise. The 'diesel rattle' that is heard can be attributed to the helical splined gears that fit at the back of the vanos. Each splined gear has a bearing assembly inside which allows it to spin freely with the camshaft. These bearing assemblies are designed with a very loose tolerance from the manufacturer causing them to rattle or resonate at certain RPM's. Besian Systems markets both seal kits and rattle kits, which cost $200 all up delivered from the US . Figured I would have to do this eventually and its better do the job with the engine out of the car. The job isn't particularly difficult but takes a long time (second time would be much quicker) and its easy to miss time the cams if your not careful. The procedure instructions on the website http://www.beisansystems.com/procedu..._procedure.htm http://www.beisansystems.com/procedu..._procedure.htm are very detailed and accurate and if you take your time and double check everything you wont go wrong. Hardest part was installing the Teflon seals....stretching them without breaking or damaging them. The reason why Vanos units are problematic.......Rolls Royce is involved! Like many things RR build its over complicated and quirky. I work in the aviation industry and their large turbofan engines are more complicated than everyone elses, when they work they work very well but they aren't the most reliable either. The inlet cam piston seal which normally gives the most problems was definitely shot on mine so I'm glad I did the seal kit.

Well the Z's back home, all back together and looking like a car again. Ive still got some rust repairs to do but they're the easy ones that didn't make sense to pay the panel shop to do. Bought myself an early Christmas present......I'm tired of rolling around on the floor to service cars and the price is just too good to ignore, less than half of what it was only a few years ago. Will make working on the Z a breeze!

I,m in!

How did I guess he was a Queenslander!