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Read the WELCOME ALL BMWFANATICS post.
635 CSI - Restoring one - a blog.
- Thread starter skank
- Start date
S
scunick
Guest
Beautiful outcome!!!
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Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
Luis Malhou
///Member
mmmmm looks yummy, think the wheels look the business..
Sabretooth tiger
///Member
635_wes said:
Damn what a sad story, it looked hot.
Your car looks a beaut. Fantastic. And I'm impressed with the sprayjob. Wow, you're going to enjoy her. I just can't drive ine enough, and I promise you, you will never tire of driving her. These big coupes are just something else, and worth every penny you spend on them, even if your eyes squint like an Eskimo's in the bright African sunlight when you get the bills...
skank
New member
Ok! Update time. It's been nearly a year and in this time Helga has been treated to a large amount of TLC.
Shaun at Level 7 had her for a few months while I was wandering the Earth and did the following for her:
1. Fitted a Spitronics Venus management system
2. HID headlights
3. New center console and rear panels (Sourced at huge fkn cost from UK byt now that fkn bodged gear lock and hacked console is gone!)
4. Fitted new tail lights
5. New short shift fitted
6. Custom trigger wheel for Spitronics
7. Fitted new/old rebuilt instrument cluster
8. Repaired rear passenger window motors
9. Repaired front seats which were wobbly
10. Rewired the AC motor
So firstly thanks to Shaun for spending sooo much time on the car, he definitely billed me for less hours then actually spent!
As with all things old, fix one thing and you fuck up something else, sowith that in mind here are the results so far!
I'm not loving the Spitronics. The car was running like shit, overheating, kangarooing at low revs and over fueling, hunting idle when cold, reeked of petrol and was getting about 20l/100km. So I took her to a 2nd Dyno in Rosslyn on the advice of Spitronics themselves. The fueling was redone, settings changed etc. The result was ok. 193HP at the wheels in 40 degree heat at altitude was about right, no better than OEM though. Less kangaroo, no more overheating, slightly better economy. Now the idle hunts when warm and cold idle is fine
(More on tuning later)
The new HID headlights are great, Shaun did a great job of keeping the wiring looking OEM under the bonnet. Teh light pattern is still utter shite, it's just whiter and brighter! I will get new smileys/ Hellas at some point.
Interior looking much better, still a bit more to do. Pics to follow of course
New tail lights from MisterFixit in the USA, high power bulbs and resilvering of reflectors and rewiring to incorporate rear fogs in brake lights. apart from the first set getting lost by SAPO and taking 3 months to arrive (lesson learnt) the rear lights are fantastic. Saved my car this xmas from a massive pile up in the Karoo.
The Short-shift is great, so much better than the previous long shift only suitable for an Orangutan. I would recommend this to anyone with an older Bimmer. Much more engaging to drive.
I had the old cluster rebuilt with another because of leaky batteries and general shitness. Everything works now, except the rev counter is inaccurate which is fkn annoying, I suspect the coding plug is incorrect, the cluster used to rebuild was from an older car. Speed functions on the OBC work now, it was plugged into the wrong plug previously.
Now anyone who owns an old six has slow or non-working rear electric windows. The motors are shit, simple. Shaun being an innovative kinda guy pulled everything apart and built some E30 motors into the windows mechanisms, very clever and I now have working rear windows! :thumbs:
My AC is still a bag of shit. Shaun got the blower motor working after fighting with the maze of shit under the dash but the pig system still didn't want to work. I didn't give a chance to finish troubleshooting it as I needed to drive to Durban. Fail. Was sweating like a whore in church there and back! :'(
Fuel economy to Durban was shit. 13l/100km. on OEM Motronics I was getting 10l/100km. Basically one tank would get me to Durban.
Moving on...
Before xmas I asked Peter at Axis to service the car and adjust the valves before I embarked on a massive country wide tour. Peter is down the road from me and I thought this would be a quick and painless exercise.....Bzzzzzz Wrong!
After sticking his head under the bonnet Peter found a nest of problems, mostly leaking pipes and cracked things. Peter also identified a slight miss on the engine. So the following was done;
1. New inlet manifold, old one was cracked, cleaned
2. Liquids, oil filter etc.
3. Radiator pipes had the wrong clamps and were cutting/leaking
4. new manifold gaskets as was leaking
5. Front brake pads
6. Injectors were serviced and new o-rings
7. New fuel hoses
8. Thermostat cleaned and refaced
9. Throttle body cleaned and lubed
10. Valve clearances set
11. Radiator refitted
12. Heater valve by passed (Thank fuck! Car was blowing engine heat into footwell + no AC = Hell.)
13. Tons and Tons of rewiring
14. Fitted wheel covers (looking good)
I've probably forgotten a bunch of things but that's the majority.
Right, so got Helga back from Peter with a much happier looking engine bay, car was running ok. After a bit of driving it became obvious that the slight miss was now a big miss and she was driving like a bag of shit. Rattly and down on power. I called Peter and we went to G&G Developments in Strydom Park to see what we could do with the Spitronics (3rd Dyno place)
After a couple days of faffing and doing a leak/compression test and making sure fueling and spark was spot on; the consensus is that there is either a sticky valve or piston ring on No.4. which is causing low compression build.
Helga Dyno'd at 136KW (185HP) at crank at 5500RPM, this is utter dogshit compared to the 186KW (240HP) at 6500RPM she was getting a couple months ago.
I can't believe it's a valve as the head was refurbed last year in the UK, but who knows? G&G dyno'd her and corrected a lean at the upper revs. They were unable to sort the hunting idle though. They also opined that Spitonics is a piece of shit. I am starting to agree with them, it still uses 'Main jet' and 'Idle jet' settings like a carb? Anyway...
Two steps forward one step back. If anyone has any idea as to WHY she's running like shit after correcting a ton of vacuum leaks I'm all ears!!!
Besides her running like shit, these drivetrains are bullet proof and I have just completed a 3500km journey through SA. This car is still an absolute pleasure on the open road at feels rock solid at 160kph. While driving through the Karoo at 40 degrees Celsius at 160 the temp gauge was dead center, I was sweating like a dog in China town though.
Still a massive list of things to fix, first and foremost this fecking miss and the Spitronics. This morning I will be plugging my laptop in and going for a drive, log the parameters and try sort it out my self seeing as no one else can!
I really love this car and really hate her too, she is such a beautiful lemon, but I will get her perfect.
Shaun, Peter, feel free to chime in if I've missed/forgotten anything.
Stay tuned for pics and some fkn AWESOME upgrades coming soon...
Rick.
Shaun at Level 7 had her for a few months while I was wandering the Earth and did the following for her:
1. Fitted a Spitronics Venus management system
2. HID headlights
3. New center console and rear panels (Sourced at huge fkn cost from UK byt now that fkn bodged gear lock and hacked console is gone!)
4. Fitted new tail lights
5. New short shift fitted
6. Custom trigger wheel for Spitronics
7. Fitted new/old rebuilt instrument cluster
8. Repaired rear passenger window motors
9. Repaired front seats which were wobbly
10. Rewired the AC motor
So firstly thanks to Shaun for spending sooo much time on the car, he definitely billed me for less hours then actually spent!
As with all things old, fix one thing and you fuck up something else, sowith that in mind here are the results so far!
I'm not loving the Spitronics. The car was running like shit, overheating, kangarooing at low revs and over fueling, hunting idle when cold, reeked of petrol and was getting about 20l/100km. So I took her to a 2nd Dyno in Rosslyn on the advice of Spitronics themselves. The fueling was redone, settings changed etc. The result was ok. 193HP at the wheels in 40 degree heat at altitude was about right, no better than OEM though. Less kangaroo, no more overheating, slightly better economy. Now the idle hunts when warm and cold idle is fine
(More on tuning later)The new HID headlights are great, Shaun did a great job of keeping the wiring looking OEM under the bonnet. Teh light pattern is still utter shite, it's just whiter and brighter!
I will get new smileys/ Hellas at some point.Interior looking much better, still a bit more to do. Pics to follow of course
New tail lights from MisterFixit in the USA, high power bulbs and resilvering of reflectors and rewiring to incorporate rear fogs in brake lights. apart from the first set getting lost by SAPO and taking 3 months to arrive (lesson learnt) the rear lights are fantastic. Saved my car this xmas from a massive pile up in the Karoo.
The Short-shift is great, so much better than the previous long shift only suitable for an Orangutan. I would recommend this to anyone with an older Bimmer. Much more engaging to drive.
I had the old cluster rebuilt with another because of leaky batteries and general shitness. Everything works now, except the rev counter is inaccurate which is fkn annoying, I suspect the coding plug is incorrect, the cluster used to rebuild was from an older car. Speed functions on the OBC work now, it was plugged into the wrong plug previously.
Now anyone who owns an old six has slow or non-working rear electric windows. The motors are shit, simple. Shaun being an innovative kinda guy pulled everything apart and built some E30 motors into the windows mechanisms, very clever and I now have working rear windows! :thumbs:
My AC is still a bag of shit. Shaun got the blower motor working after fighting with the maze of shit under the dash but the pig system still didn't want to work. I didn't give a chance to finish troubleshooting it as I needed to drive to Durban. Fail. Was sweating like a whore in church there and back! :'(
Fuel economy to Durban was shit. 13l/100km. on OEM Motronics I was getting 10l/100km. Basically one tank would get me to Durban.
Moving on...
Before xmas I asked Peter at Axis to service the car and adjust the valves before I embarked on a massive country wide tour. Peter is down the road from me and I thought this would be a quick and painless exercise.....Bzzzzzz Wrong!
After sticking his head under the bonnet Peter found a nest of problems, mostly leaking pipes and cracked things. Peter also identified a slight miss on the engine. So the following was done;
1. New inlet manifold, old one was cracked, cleaned
2. Liquids, oil filter etc.
3. Radiator pipes had the wrong clamps and were cutting/leaking
4. new manifold gaskets as was leaking
5. Front brake pads
6. Injectors were serviced and new o-rings
7. New fuel hoses
8. Thermostat cleaned and refaced
9. Throttle body cleaned and lubed
10. Valve clearances set
11. Radiator refitted
12. Heater valve by passed (Thank fuck! Car was blowing engine heat into footwell + no AC = Hell.)
13. Tons and Tons of rewiring
14. Fitted wheel covers (looking good)
I've probably forgotten a bunch of things but that's the majority.
Right, so got Helga back from Peter with a much happier looking engine bay, car was running ok. After a bit of driving it became obvious that the slight miss was now a big miss and she was driving like a bag of shit. Rattly and down on power. I called Peter and we went to G&G Developments in Strydom Park to see what we could do with the Spitronics (3rd Dyno place)
After a couple days of faffing and doing a leak/compression test and making sure fueling and spark was spot on; the consensus is that there is either a sticky valve or piston ring on No.4. which is causing low compression build.
Helga Dyno'd at 136KW (185HP) at crank at 5500RPM, this is utter dogshit compared to the 186KW (240HP) at 6500RPM she was getting a couple months ago.
I can't believe it's a valve as the head was refurbed last year in the UK, but who knows? G&G dyno'd her and corrected a lean at the upper revs. They were unable to sort the hunting idle though. They also opined that Spitonics is a piece of shit. I am starting to agree with them, it still uses 'Main jet' and 'Idle jet' settings like a carb? Anyway...
Two steps forward one step back. If anyone has any idea as to WHY she's running like shit after correcting a ton of vacuum leaks I'm all ears!!!
Besides her running like shit, these drivetrains are bullet proof and I have just completed a 3500km journey through SA. This car is still an absolute pleasure on the open road at feels rock solid at 160kph. While driving through the Karoo at 40 degrees Celsius at 160 the temp gauge was dead center, I was sweating like a dog in China town though.
Still a massive list of things to fix, first and foremost this fecking miss and the Spitronics. This morning I will be plugging my laptop in and going for a drive, log the parameters and try sort it out my self seeing as no one else can!
I really love this car and really hate her too, she is such a beautiful lemon, but I will get her perfect.
Shaun, Peter, feel free to chime in if I've missed/forgotten anything.
Stay tuned for pics and some fkn AWESOME upgrades coming soon...
Rick.
SeeReverse
New member
Nic_s said:That looks brilliant :drool:
It's against the rules to post so little picks of such and awesome car :mmm:
+1 awesome ride!
Clownshoe
Active member
A lot of progress there...
what shortshift did you get? Was it a big job to fit?
Do you have the old instrument cluster. My speedo stopped working, hopefully I can fix it. But nice to know of a spare I can get bits off.
This might sound like a basic thing but is the idle position switch on the throttle correctly set? You should hear a click as it goes to idle and when the throttle moves up.
what shortshift did you get? Was it a big job to fit?
Do you have the old instrument cluster. My speedo stopped working, hopefully I can fix it. But nice to know of a spare I can get bits off.
This might sound like a basic thing but is the idle position switch on the throttle correctly set? You should hear a click as it goes to idle and when the throttle moves up.
