saveacs
Member
Howdy folks,
Thought I'd relay what is the beginning of hopefully a happy story.
I was wandering through a junkyard the other day, and spotted something that made my heart leap. A silver 1973 3.0CS!!
They'd had the smarts to move it to the "don't touch" section. I inquired about it, and was told that it was in limbo as there were no keys.
He went on to say that they had actually acquired a key blank for it, but two locksmiths ended up just scratching their heads over it before finally giving up.
I left, and over the following several days, I couldn't get the car out of my head!
I asked a local dealership about getting keys cut via the VIN number only to find that according to their system, this car's VIN number comes up as a 1990 325IS.
No dice.
Key blanks from the dealer were $30 with an unknown delivery time from Germany.
I found a couple key blanks on Ebay and ordered them up.
With permission, I removed the trunk lock cylinder and took it home. After careful disassembly, cleaning and inspection, I figured it all out. In the space of an AA battery, this lock cylinder had 20 parts!
The key blanks showed up and I set about carefully cutting the blanks.
It worked first try!!
I immediately jumped in the car and headed to the junkyard. My home made key opened the doors no problem, but didn't turn the ignition.
Again, with permission, I removed the ignition lock. This required some fairly major disassembly, but was straight forward enough.
Unfortunately, the ignition switch was missing, and bypassed with some crappy switches drilled into the lower aluminum cover of the steering column. (irritating!) (already I'm feeling possessive of this car, and it's not even mine yet!)
Back at home, more disassembly, (somewhat more complicated than the trunk lock) cleaning and inspection. It turns out that the ignition lock cylinder has one more tumbler added to the same pattern that the trunk/door locks use. Piece of cake! I cut one more dimple and put the lock back together.
Success again!
Next step is to return to the junkyard and negotiate purchase. Hopefully, they're reasonable, I'm just a blue collar guy.
If they're unreasonable, but still want the key, they can have it for $5000!!!
*update*
The dealer wants over $300 for the ignition switch, with an unknown delivery time from Germany.
:lol:
*update*
Went back to the wreckers today, grabbed a battery and hooked it up.
I flicked the mickey mouse homebrew ignition switch and pushed it's cousin, the mickey mouse homebrew starter button. The horn honked. Oops. Wrong mickey mouse homebrew button. Found the other mickey mouse homebrew button and pushed it. The engine turned over willingly. It felt as though one cylinder was trying to fire. I stabbed the gas pedal a couple times (twin carb) and noticed it had only about an inch of travel. I reached down and found that it was stuck at about 75%, and the plastic link to the metal rod was broken. I pulled the metal accelerator rod back to idle position and tried again. It fired up instantly, albeit with three bangs that sounded like two hammers being hit together. It settled into a relatively smooth idle.
The red light, which I believe had an "L" in it didn't go out. I'm not sure if that means charging or oil pressure. The light would come on with the "key" in the "on" position. I did have the driver door open at the time.
Anyone know what the red light is for?
I spoke with the yard owner and was asked for an offer. I said $2000. He said he'd sleep on it. I'll go back tomorrow, following the counter guy's advice, with cash in hand. Perhaps a nice fan of 50's waved under his nose might help persuade!
What is this light? Low oil pressure, low/no charging, something else?
Update!
When I arrived home yesterday morning, I was greeted by a really pretty face. The CS had arrived!
It was clouding over rapidly (Toronto has broken it's previous July rainfall record set back in 1980 this year!) so I set about getting it into the garage as fast as possible. I fired it up (starts sooo easily! what a beaut!) and depressed the clutch pedal. Wow, that feels smooth.... Too smooth. A quick check proved the clutch master cylinder to be bone dry.
With help from a pal, we shoved the car into the garage.
I peeled back the damp carpets and set a powerful fan blowing through the interior.
Good news: There aren't any huge holes in the foot wells
Bad news: There is some rust at the forward end of the driver rocker panel. Doesn't look too bad though.
Pics soon!
Update:
Today I tackled the sticky throttle linkage. After removing some pushrods, I found it was the bellcrank that's attached to the left hand engine mount bracket. I supported the engine with a padded jack and removed the bracket entirely. I the pivot was quite rusty, but luckily the bushings were in good shape. With some cleaning and greasing, it's now slick as-- er... Well, slick as grease!
I also filled the empty clutch master reservoir with DOT 3. I hope that's the right stuff. The cap didn't indicate. The slave cylinder looks as though it was recently replaced. The bleeder screw was new and shiny, and loosened off very easily! I allowed fluid to drain through until nice and clear, and slowly pumped the pedal and drained more fluid before finally closing the bleeder. The clutch still doesn't feel like it's working. I didn't have a helper to assist in bleeding, but now that I think of it, the pressure bleeding rig I made for VW brakes will probably fit. I'll maybe give it another shot tomorrow.
Does anyone know if the clutch master cylinder piston is directly connected to the pedal pushrod, so that when the pedal returns to resting position, it draws the piston out with it? OR does the piston rely solely on an internal return spring?
I fired it up again. Boy, it starts so nicely! Even with a couple cylinders misfiring! I'll yank the plugs and have a look. I have a gut feeling it's an ignition problem, probably fouled plugs.
While underneath, I noticed the aft half of the exhaust is new!! Someone was trying to keep this car nice.
Update!
I put my homebrew pressure bleeder on the clutch master reservoir and further bled the system. No real change. I jacked the front end up to full suspension extension, thinking it would aid any air in the slave to migrate forward toward the bleeder. More bleeding, this time with a helper working the pedal. Finally, I could see the slave actually working. Turns out it works well enough to start the car in gear without rolling, but doesn't disengage enough to put it into reverse with the engine running.
Now that I've driven it around a bit, I'll give it another bleed and see what happens.
Next, I started pulling spark plug wires one at a time to try and determine which cylinder was misfiring. #3 appeared to be the culprit. I removed the (very stubborn!) spark plug, and was somewhat disappointed to find it in relatively good condition. I reconnected it's wire and grounded it. When running, this plug sparked quite merrily. I reinstalled it with some high temp antiseize. I was getting very mild shocks through the wire's insulation itself. I think I might get a new wire set and plugs to eliminate those variables. I should also adjust or replace the points. ( I'll have to try and remember how to do that!)
Has anyone had any experience with the Pertronix breakerless ignition upgrade?
I poured about half a liter of ATF into the oil and took it out for a drive hoping some heat and high revs would loosen things up. A stuck ring, perhaps? It ran inconsistantly, almost refusing to hold an idle, misfiring. Even so, throttle response was excellent, and for a few brief moments it felt like all cylinders were firing and made good power. The clutch got better so I was able to slip it into first gear at a standstill without grinding. I'll probably still give it another bleed.
There was a clunking noise from the left rear over bumps that made me think of a loose shock mount, or something of the sort.
As a front wheel drive guy (I've autocross raced VW rabbits for years. Check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2NQQWPUyPw) I had a distinct feeling of being pushed along, rather than pulled along. Pretty cool!
Anyway, the alternator didn't come to life yet, even with several high rpm 1st gear stints. I notice the temp gauge and fuel gauge don't operate, so I bet there's a wiring issue in the dash. I need to acquire an ignition switch.
*UPDATE!*
The car doesn't run very well. I'm sure it's tune up related. After a chat with Carl at Bimmerdoc I learned that converting to fuel injection will, if anything, increase the value of these cars.
I have an 86 535i engine and F.I. system set aside, originally slated for stuffing into an '83 320i. With the recent acquisition of this sweet old CS, the 320i has fallen completely off the back burner. I'm hoping a friend of mine will buy it leaving this M30 3.5L engine with nowhere else to go but into the CS! Did I mention it's 5 speed? I just bought an '82 630i intake manifold and parts from ebay.
Apparently the 535i engine's intake manifold will not clear the brake booster.
I thought that I might remove the carb linkage and tuck the brake booster back against the firewall, but for $30, it's much easier to install an intake manifold that solves the problem!
I haven't yet determined if I can convert the 3.0L's distributor to motronic-compatible electronic, or if I can just put a pertronix into it and have the Motronic on fuel-delivery-only duties and not suffer any "phantom limb pain" from it's amputated ignition system.
When time and resources permit, I'll freshen up the 3.5L (or maybe use it as a core on a Metric Mechanic 3.7L engine?) and poke it in with the five speed.
By the way, the hydraulic clutch system is now working perfectly.
First priority is of course, to get the old honey running perfectly. I found a set of brand new Bosch H1/H4 headlights for it, so the upgrades begin shortly! Maybe I'll have it on the road for a short while before the driving season ends around here.
The mystery deepens with this car. Apparently, the junkyard acquired it from an impound!
*UPDATE*
Well, i've received the 630i intake manifold, minus the lower half and two injectors. Luckily, the ebay seller believes he has these parts and will send them out to me. Incidentally, he has loads of old 530 and 630 parts. I can foward you to him if you need anything.
Alternately, I saw a modified E28 M30 intake manifold. They had cut the lower outer corner off the plenum, and welded a plate on to clearance the brake booster. Clever... But... Would it cause the two adjacent runners to receive a different amount of air? hmmm... Is the difference in power (I've heard that the 535i manifolds flow better than the older style) worth the cost of modifications? Am I looking to squeeze every last ounce of power out of my car? I can answer the last question. "No." I want it to be powerful, fun and reliable, but I don't need it to be a rocketship. Just a fun cruiser with a bit of pull. The bigger displacement and fuel injection will take care of that nicely. The older style manifold was good enough for BMW engineers in the '70's, so it's good enough for me now!
Next order of business! I finally found a set of my (tied for first place) favourite OE wheels. The type 32. Staggered, 17x7.5 and 17x8.5. 5x120. I've asked in a post on page two of this thread what tire sizes everyone is running, to get an idea of what fits. It would be pretty nice to have a 225 on the front, and a 255 on the rear. One step at a time though.
Here they are!
More to come!
Thought I'd relay what is the beginning of hopefully a happy story.
I was wandering through a junkyard the other day, and spotted something that made my heart leap. A silver 1973 3.0CS!!
They'd had the smarts to move it to the "don't touch" section. I inquired about it, and was told that it was in limbo as there were no keys.
He went on to say that they had actually acquired a key blank for it, but two locksmiths ended up just scratching their heads over it before finally giving up.
I left, and over the following several days, I couldn't get the car out of my head!
I asked a local dealership about getting keys cut via the VIN number only to find that according to their system, this car's VIN number comes up as a 1990 325IS.
No dice.
Key blanks from the dealer were $30 with an unknown delivery time from Germany.
I found a couple key blanks on Ebay and ordered them up.
With permission, I removed the trunk lock cylinder and took it home. After careful disassembly, cleaning and inspection, I figured it all out. In the space of an AA battery, this lock cylinder had 20 parts!
The key blanks showed up and I set about carefully cutting the blanks.
It worked first try!!
I immediately jumped in the car and headed to the junkyard. My home made key opened the doors no problem, but didn't turn the ignition.
Again, with permission, I removed the ignition lock. This required some fairly major disassembly, but was straight forward enough.
Unfortunately, the ignition switch was missing, and bypassed with some crappy switches drilled into the lower aluminum cover of the steering column. (irritating!) (already I'm feeling possessive of this car, and it's not even mine yet!)
Back at home, more disassembly, (somewhat more complicated than the trunk lock) cleaning and inspection. It turns out that the ignition lock cylinder has one more tumbler added to the same pattern that the trunk/door locks use. Piece of cake! I cut one more dimple and put the lock back together.
Success again!
Next step is to return to the junkyard and negotiate purchase. Hopefully, they're reasonable, I'm just a blue collar guy.
If they're unreasonable, but still want the key, they can have it for $5000!!!
*update*
The dealer wants over $300 for the ignition switch, with an unknown delivery time from Germany.
:lol:
*update*
Went back to the wreckers today, grabbed a battery and hooked it up.
I flicked the mickey mouse homebrew ignition switch and pushed it's cousin, the mickey mouse homebrew starter button. The horn honked. Oops. Wrong mickey mouse homebrew button. Found the other mickey mouse homebrew button and pushed it. The engine turned over willingly. It felt as though one cylinder was trying to fire. I stabbed the gas pedal a couple times (twin carb) and noticed it had only about an inch of travel. I reached down and found that it was stuck at about 75%, and the plastic link to the metal rod was broken. I pulled the metal accelerator rod back to idle position and tried again. It fired up instantly, albeit with three bangs that sounded like two hammers being hit together. It settled into a relatively smooth idle.
The red light, which I believe had an "L" in it didn't go out. I'm not sure if that means charging or oil pressure. The light would come on with the "key" in the "on" position. I did have the driver door open at the time.
Anyone know what the red light is for?
I spoke with the yard owner and was asked for an offer. I said $2000. He said he'd sleep on it. I'll go back tomorrow, following the counter guy's advice, with cash in hand. Perhaps a nice fan of 50's waved under his nose might help persuade!
What is this light? Low oil pressure, low/no charging, something else?
Update!
When I arrived home yesterday morning, I was greeted by a really pretty face. The CS had arrived!
It was clouding over rapidly (Toronto has broken it's previous July rainfall record set back in 1980 this year!) so I set about getting it into the garage as fast as possible. I fired it up (starts sooo easily! what a beaut!) and depressed the clutch pedal. Wow, that feels smooth.... Too smooth. A quick check proved the clutch master cylinder to be bone dry.
With help from a pal, we shoved the car into the garage.
I peeled back the damp carpets and set a powerful fan blowing through the interior.
Good news: There aren't any huge holes in the foot wells
Bad news: There is some rust at the forward end of the driver rocker panel. Doesn't look too bad though.
Pics soon!
Update:
Today I tackled the sticky throttle linkage. After removing some pushrods, I found it was the bellcrank that's attached to the left hand engine mount bracket. I supported the engine with a padded jack and removed the bracket entirely. I the pivot was quite rusty, but luckily the bushings were in good shape. With some cleaning and greasing, it's now slick as-- er... Well, slick as grease!
I also filled the empty clutch master reservoir with DOT 3. I hope that's the right stuff. The cap didn't indicate. The slave cylinder looks as though it was recently replaced. The bleeder screw was new and shiny, and loosened off very easily! I allowed fluid to drain through until nice and clear, and slowly pumped the pedal and drained more fluid before finally closing the bleeder. The clutch still doesn't feel like it's working. I didn't have a helper to assist in bleeding, but now that I think of it, the pressure bleeding rig I made for VW brakes will probably fit. I'll maybe give it another shot tomorrow.
Does anyone know if the clutch master cylinder piston is directly connected to the pedal pushrod, so that when the pedal returns to resting position, it draws the piston out with it? OR does the piston rely solely on an internal return spring?
I fired it up again. Boy, it starts so nicely! Even with a couple cylinders misfiring! I'll yank the plugs and have a look. I have a gut feeling it's an ignition problem, probably fouled plugs.
While underneath, I noticed the aft half of the exhaust is new!! Someone was trying to keep this car nice.
Update!
I put my homebrew pressure bleeder on the clutch master reservoir and further bled the system. No real change. I jacked the front end up to full suspension extension, thinking it would aid any air in the slave to migrate forward toward the bleeder. More bleeding, this time with a helper working the pedal. Finally, I could see the slave actually working. Turns out it works well enough to start the car in gear without rolling, but doesn't disengage enough to put it into reverse with the engine running.
Now that I've driven it around a bit, I'll give it another bleed and see what happens.
Next, I started pulling spark plug wires one at a time to try and determine which cylinder was misfiring. #3 appeared to be the culprit. I removed the (very stubborn!) spark plug, and was somewhat disappointed to find it in relatively good condition. I reconnected it's wire and grounded it. When running, this plug sparked quite merrily. I reinstalled it with some high temp antiseize. I was getting very mild shocks through the wire's insulation itself. I think I might get a new wire set and plugs to eliminate those variables. I should also adjust or replace the points. ( I'll have to try and remember how to do that!)
Has anyone had any experience with the Pertronix breakerless ignition upgrade?
I poured about half a liter of ATF into the oil and took it out for a drive hoping some heat and high revs would loosen things up. A stuck ring, perhaps? It ran inconsistantly, almost refusing to hold an idle, misfiring. Even so, throttle response was excellent, and for a few brief moments it felt like all cylinders were firing and made good power. The clutch got better so I was able to slip it into first gear at a standstill without grinding. I'll probably still give it another bleed.
There was a clunking noise from the left rear over bumps that made me think of a loose shock mount, or something of the sort.
As a front wheel drive guy (I've autocross raced VW rabbits for years. Check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2NQQWPUyPw) I had a distinct feeling of being pushed along, rather than pulled along. Pretty cool!
Anyway, the alternator didn't come to life yet, even with several high rpm 1st gear stints. I notice the temp gauge and fuel gauge don't operate, so I bet there's a wiring issue in the dash. I need to acquire an ignition switch.
*UPDATE!*
The car doesn't run very well. I'm sure it's tune up related. After a chat with Carl at Bimmerdoc I learned that converting to fuel injection will, if anything, increase the value of these cars.
I have an 86 535i engine and F.I. system set aside, originally slated for stuffing into an '83 320i. With the recent acquisition of this sweet old CS, the 320i has fallen completely off the back burner. I'm hoping a friend of mine will buy it leaving this M30 3.5L engine with nowhere else to go but into the CS! Did I mention it's 5 speed? I just bought an '82 630i intake manifold and parts from ebay.
Apparently the 535i engine's intake manifold will not clear the brake booster.
I thought that I might remove the carb linkage and tuck the brake booster back against the firewall, but for $30, it's much easier to install an intake manifold that solves the problem!
I haven't yet determined if I can convert the 3.0L's distributor to motronic-compatible electronic, or if I can just put a pertronix into it and have the Motronic on fuel-delivery-only duties and not suffer any "phantom limb pain" from it's amputated ignition system.
When time and resources permit, I'll freshen up the 3.5L (or maybe use it as a core on a Metric Mechanic 3.7L engine?) and poke it in with the five speed.
By the way, the hydraulic clutch system is now working perfectly.
First priority is of course, to get the old honey running perfectly. I found a set of brand new Bosch H1/H4 headlights for it, so the upgrades begin shortly! Maybe I'll have it on the road for a short while before the driving season ends around here.
The mystery deepens with this car. Apparently, the junkyard acquired it from an impound!
*UPDATE*
Well, i've received the 630i intake manifold, minus the lower half and two injectors. Luckily, the ebay seller believes he has these parts and will send them out to me. Incidentally, he has loads of old 530 and 630 parts. I can foward you to him if you need anything.
Alternately, I saw a modified E28 M30 intake manifold. They had cut the lower outer corner off the plenum, and welded a plate on to clearance the brake booster. Clever... But... Would it cause the two adjacent runners to receive a different amount of air? hmmm... Is the difference in power (I've heard that the 535i manifolds flow better than the older style) worth the cost of modifications? Am I looking to squeeze every last ounce of power out of my car? I can answer the last question. "No." I want it to be powerful, fun and reliable, but I don't need it to be a rocketship. Just a fun cruiser with a bit of pull. The bigger displacement and fuel injection will take care of that nicely. The older style manifold was good enough for BMW engineers in the '70's, so it's good enough for me now!
Next order of business! I finally found a set of my (tied for first place) favourite OE wheels. The type 32. Staggered, 17x7.5 and 17x8.5. 5x120. I've asked in a post on page two of this thread what tire sizes everyone is running, to get an idea of what fits. It would be pretty nice to have a 225 on the front, and a 255 on the rear. One step at a time though.
Here they are!
More to come!
