E36 328: In over my head!

I got my package today. That's really good since I didn't expect to get it until Tues or Wed, Pelican Parts is great!

But, I have more important things to do today than these items, most importantly, figure out the wiring. This is where I need the E36 wiring experts. I took pictures of the wiring, but not which connectors plug in where.

The wire that plugs into the connector on the left comes from a plug near the flywheel, but it's on the block. I need to take the manifold off so the experts can get a really good look at the connectors.

I now mysteriously can't find the wire that plugs into this part of the throttle body.

I also don't know which wire plugs into the bottom of the intake manifold here.

Here is the other item that I can't find a wire for. What is this?

My kid's wondering how much longer I'm going to be guessing on the wiring harness.

I'll take better pictures of the ends of the wiring harness so you guys have a better look at it and I know what one's you are talking about.

Unfortunately, my event had thunderstorms come through around the halfway mark and Air Flight Control shut us down for the day since the storms were not going to drift by. I also couldn't bring the good camera for any good pictures.

I had to find someone to co-drive with and I had to go 11 or 12 deep, so that's definitely not a good sign. I will probably have to spectate the next time this happens. I did drive Jeff's well prepped STC 91 Civic hatchback, and it was difficult. I still brake wayyy too hard when I enter corners, due to me moving between several vehicles. I also am not familiar with the driving style with a fast FWD car, so managing the understeer and working the tires to the max that I am able to is unusual for me. But I was able to be 4 seconds away from Jeff's time with a cone penalty on my time. The fast time of the day was around 43 seconds and mine was 48.7 +1. Jeff got a 46 and I believe that the average time was around 51 or 52 seconds. Another competitor did say that I could drive his Miata tomorrow so I'm really glad about that. This will be my 5th different Miata that I have driven.

When I got to the race yesterday, I had forgotten that I did drive Bill's Miata last season. But it was stock then, and now it has bilstein shocks, 1" drop lowering springs, and Direzza DZ101 tires. They're a UHP summer tire, so I didn't expect to set any blazing times. It definitely feels like a different car(and my 5th Miata driven). His friend Alex drove it too; it's fun for me to have a co-driver so you can really coach each other up on where to speed up and trying to find the perfect line. I also think that it builds up camaraderie, which is always good. Plus, at least I'm going to ride with a co-driver at least once, and riding along is always fun. Alex is more casual about autocrossing than I am, and that's good that the casual racers will come to most(or at least half) of the races we have. My best time was a 51.344 but I'm pretty sure I hit a cone. Alex's best time was somewhere in the 52s so he's driving much better than last season. I believe that all the other STR guys had Extreme Performance Summer tires so we were the last three drivers in the class, but that's okay. I brought my daughter along for the first time and she's 6 so she had to hang out in the timing trailer for most of the day. It was not too bad for her hanging out with all the old people. The day was still bad overall because two older gentlemen got heat stroke or another heat related health condition and had to be taken to the hospital. One of the men had to be taken early in the day, maybe around 8:45 AM and the other guy passed out around 2 PM. They needed to do CPR on him for around 5 minutes before the ambulance got there so that was very worrisome. His co-driver is in the background of the picture. So, remember to drink some more water before you go racing or anything else outside related this summer.

The passenger is one of the single marines that come out to volunteer to keep the event running. I like to at least give one a ride so they get more excitement out of the event. He told me that when they're students, they aren't allowed to buy a car.

Ok, here's where I need some expertise.

The top plug is what I'm highlighting. I'm not sure what it's purpose is but the wires come from there

to here. I'm certain that the long end connects to the end of the fuel line wiring here.

I'm not sure what can connect to the female side.

It's hard to tell from the orientation in the pic... but it looks like you are holding one of the following:

• the oil sender wire (2 prong, on the oil housing rear)
• the MAF wire (3 prong)
• the IAC motor (3 prong)
• the IAT wire (2 prong, underthe intake at the rear)
• the TPS wire (on the throttle body, 3 prong)
• if OBD-1 and 2 prong, could also be temp sender in head. (OBD-II uses a 4 wire round connector)

Some of these you can infer by the general location of the connector - there are only a couple you could actually mix up and they are usually far enough apart that the wires won't reach (except oil/water temp senders).

To be sure - a Bentley is your huckleberry. Find the wire color.

I'm not so sure which male end goes in here.

It's connected to the fuel rail.

I'm not so sure about this female end here.

It comes from the main harness.

I'm not sure about this female end, but it's distinctive so I should be able to find the right male end.

Also the top plug in pic 1 is the crank pos sensor aimed thru a hole in the block. It's a 3 wire plug that connects up behind the alternator.

The other, 2 wire things on the block are knock sensors. There are two (front/back).

I have a Haynes manual; they forgot to detail this part of engine installation.

Ok, thanks. I will also look up on yahoo(google sucks!) what all those sensors are to get more good looks at them.

If you don't have the Bentley, check your mail in a few minutes for a great deal on an electronic version.....

Also - the next time you pull the motor - don't unhook all the individual sensors. Unhook the couplers by the fuse box, unhook the wires in the pass side rear at the terminal block, unhook the O2(s) and ball them on top of the motor... pull the whole thing with the harness still on it.

As long as my burning oil was due to the valve cover gasket, I won't have to pull the motor for a while (unless I do a diesel swap). But, I can do it that way too.

I don't have much to update. I think I have the wiring harness all figured out, but I'm not so sure. Plus, if I have it wrong, I need to go back in there and correct it. I also can't bolt everything down since I'm waiting on the Evan's waterless coolant to arrive.

Small update now, my other car cut off while I was driving in my neighborhood to keep it running. It could be old gas or a fuel pump, but all the gauges looked ok. I won't be able to go to the auto-x race on the 29th. I don't know if I have the money to get it running, anyway. I did push the car maybe 3 or 4 tenths of a mile, which was a great workout!

This came in the mail yesterday.

I got two gallons of it actually; I also bought another gallon just in case. I put it in the block, then some regular coolant flowed out. I panicked for about 10 minutes, trying to think of a way to flush, pull, or suck out the regular coolant and looking around for something that I didn't have. Then I decided that if I just keep on pouring it in there until it all pours out, it should be good enough. So I set up my drain pan just for coolant, and I poured more in the block. I only poured a little more, and the regular coolant flowed out with some of the Evans coolant. Whew, that was close.

In reply to Mr_Clutch42:

You did take the plug out and drain the block (under the headers...) right?

I plugged up almost everything and attached the intake manifold and throttle body.

I forgot to mention that one time, I got my car back from my shop, and the car wouldn't start. They said to just rev it, and that got it to start. I looked it up and checked the code, and it was a crank position sensor. I looked one day, and it wasn't there. Since I'm an amateur, instead of taking it back to the shop to fix the crank position sensor they most likely broke, I bought one and bought a harness to get it connected. After I did, another sensor didn't have a place to be connected to the harness. I also almost filled the car with high mileage oil (for once). Hopefully, the site will fix the orientation of the picture.

Then, I grabbed the vacuum canister and placed it in position and plugged the vacuum lines to it. I'm not sure where all this stuff goes when companies create supercharger kits for this chassis.

I used the "tap" method to re-install the steering rack on the car, well, I tried to.

Instead of installing the steering rod to the car, then wedging the rack to the rod, I tapped the rod on the steering rack outside the car, then tapped both of them to the car, so I would have to force the steering rack in place.

Of course, I still had to force the rack into position, which takes wayyy too much effort, and why I still like pulling the engine better than installing a steering rack on this chassis. It was nice tapping the parts into position, though.

I also put anti-seize on the threads for the cooling fan, which was good because I put it on, then took it off to install the belts, then put it back on.

Since I never re-installed the front end of a car, it took me quite a large amount of time to get it assembled this far.

Of course, I put that cross bar in the wrong way so I had to take it off and put it on the right way.

Ta-da!!! The front end is put together! (except the fog lights)

I did keep on bolting stuff down and having to undo it to get other items in place.

I got the radiator back in with the fan shroud.

The majority of the front end is done. Now I need to get a transmission support bracket. I did check my favorite bmw forum and no one has one to sell.