Jesse Owens - Schwarz 323i

[marcuste]

Nice little car. Not sure if you have already done it but a bit of fuel works a treat at getting the glue off the metal that used to holds that sound deadening on. Amazing how heavy that crap is. Sorry to see the damage done by Skippy.

[Hooffenstein HD]

I've been wondering how accurate the water temperature gauge is in these cars, what temperature the marks represent and where it should sit in regular driving.


I've replaced the thermostat, removed the A/C condensor and aux fan and it still gets hot when copping a thrashing. During normal city driving it will sit at the half way mark, even sitting at traffic lights on a hot day it doesn't go much higher. When copping a beating it goes all the way up to 3/4 and beyond, so I will have to back off and keep the revs down for a couple of minutes. Is this normal, or should I think about getting a new radiator and water pump or at least try flushing the coolant system and maybe giving it another bleed?

[luke]

Does it have the little tiny 323i radiator? If so, I'd update it to a 325e radiator. Series 2 e30s (320i and 325i) had much bigger radiators than the series 1 models - but the outlets are around the wrong way for the 323i - the 325e has the larger radiator, but with the hoses round the right way (e28s 525e's are the same too).

You might also want to get the head gasket checked - maybe it has a small leak somewhere seeing as you some temp issues previously when the clutch fan lunched itself.

If you're running a 71 degree thermostat, your car should run just above 1/4 on the gauge. An 80 degree thermostat will put the temp at 1/2.

BMW says anything below red is "Normal" but I've never had an M20 yet that was 100% that got even close to 3/4 on the guage, so it is something that needs investigating.

[Hooffenstein HD]

I believe my thermostat is an 82 degree one, so half way seems about right then. Once my electric fan is shipped and installed, I'll see how it goes. If my information is correct, it shouldn't make much, if any difference at speed though so I guess there is other problems.

I tried to bleed the cooling system of air today and there was geysers coming out of the overflow bottle. I'm guessing this means there was quite a bit of air in there and hopefully doesn't mean my head gasket is blown. The heater still doesn't work properly and my girlfriend said she could feel air coming out of the bottom of the heater box on the passenger side so this could be where air is getting in?

[Hooffenstein HD]

There are two sensors in the thermostat housing that have been unplugged since the car was purchased. Never thought much of it since the temperature gauge works and it never seemed to overheat but now I'm starting to wonder what they are. Yes, I've looked on RealOEM. It did not seem very helpful at all.

It's got these two plugged in.


These two have always been disconnected.

[Hooffenstein HD]

I'm definitely an idiot. Instead of spending money to fix my cooling issues, I bought a racing bucket.

Genuine Momo Corse, to match my Momo Prototipo. Used but it's mint and was fairly cheap.

[marcuste]

I have no idea what those 2 disconnected sensors are. I don't remember them on my 323. The ones that are plugged in, the spade terminal is for the gauge, the bosch clip on plug is for the ecu coolant temp pickup.

I had issues in my first car, an e21 318i, with cooling. All it turned out to be was the radiator was clogged over the years and was flowing about 10-20% of its capacity. Had a radiator place clean it (more than just a blast in the inlets) and it fixed all my issues. Wasn't too badly priced either but I'm talking 10 years ago when things were cheap. I'd look at the radiator itself, and leave the thermostat as is. Using one too cool affects fuel efficiency.

[YorT]

Once I put an Electric pusher fan on, is it okay to remove the shroud for the factory clutch fan, or would that still be helpful even though it's on the wrong side?I am a sucker for simplistic looking engine bays, so really want to delete as much as possible.

There are two sensors in the thermostat housing that have been unplugged since the car was purchased. Never thought much of it since the temperature gauge works and it never seemed to overheat but now I'm starting to wonder what they are. Yes, I've looked on RealOEM. It did not seem very helpful at all.

It's got these two plugged in.....

Just looked at my engine, which is a later version i.e. 1985 engine and these two sensors are not present, however I do recall when I had my original engine that I definately had the larger sensor, this is used as part of the temp pick up for the cold start injector circuit, I think if the temp is over the set setting (its stamped on the brass part of the sensor) then it won't bring on the cold start injector or something like that.

As for the other one, not sure.

[luke]

The single blade connector in the top pic is your temp gauge - the blue connector (with the yellow plug) is the temp sensor for the EFI.

I think those other connectors were used in the e21 (K-Jet system) - so your thermostat housing has been swapped at some point, and the e30 sensors added.
The thermostat housings do corrode out, so it's not uncommon to see the housing having been replaced. I doubt they're required for your car.

lol on the race seat Looks good and will match your wheel - but a new radiator might have been the better buy!

[Hooffenstein HD]

Thanks for the info, guys. I might have to swap the thermostat housing at some point to delete those unsightly plugs then.

Radiator would have probably been a better buy, so it is definitely coming soon, so will new timing belt, tensioner and waterpump.

Did a couple of random things to it today; swapped the fuel filter for a Ryco Z168. Since I was working from above I decided to delete the charcoal canister and coolant to throttle body lines to give myself a bit more room while I was in there. Bled the cooling system again. Went for a few laps of the block, then sat it on idle for around ten minutes, just to see how it may fair in traffic and the temperature did not rise above halfway.



Something that's been bugging me since the other night; is the steering feel of an E30. I never had a problem with it, until I had a good lot of fun driving my friends bone stock KE70(with ancient ~165/70/13's) while he was driving the 323i. The KE70 was outclassed in every single way but after getting back into the E30 I realized how much I detest power steering. Such a loose, disconnected feeling. The KE70 steering feel shits all over an E30, unfortunately. E36 rack + power steering delete will definitely be coming soon.

OTOH, my friend who has owned a few built Toyotas including an AW11 MR2 with a smallport 4AGE on 40mm bike carbs said the 323i feels like a race car. As they say, the grass is always greener.

[luke]

Thanks for the info, guys. I might have to swap the thermostat housing at some point to delete those unsightly plugs then.

If you head down to the wrecker, most housings had the 4 ports for sensors in them, just two were blanked off, so just grab the threaded blanking plugs to neaten it up.

Something that's been bugging me since the other night; is the steering feel of an E30. I never had a problem with it, until I had a good lot of fun driving my friends bone stock KE70(with ancient ~165/70/13's) while he was driving the 323i. The KE70 was outclassed in every single way but after getting back into the E30 I realized how much I detest power steering. Such a loose, disconnected feeling. The KE70 steering feel shits all over an E30, unfortunately. E36 rack + power steering delete will definitely be coming soon.

OTOH, my friend who has owned a few built Toyotas including an AW11 MR2 with a smallport 4AGE on 40mm bike carbs said the 323i feels like a race car. As they say, the grass is always greener.

Yeah - the slow steering rack in the e30 is a bit of a pain. What does a KE70 weigh though? The biggest things that makes cars feel more chuckable is light weight. My wife had a Datsun 1200 coupe for 10 years, and that car was the most fun thing to drive that we've had. At 730kg, 60hp was still enough to keep things relatively entertaining and you were having fun at very legal speeds. 110km/h in that thing felt more like 140 - 150km/h Still it handled like a billy cart ultimately (which with it's rear leaf springs, it kinda was!)

The biggest thing that tightened up the steering in my e30 was swapping out the rag disk in the steering linkage for an aluminium one, + the usual new bushes & control arms / ball joints in the front end.

[Hooffenstein HD]

A KE70 is around 900KG and with all the weight reduction I've done on the E30, it would be around 1020KG. The E30 still handled far better, I just don't like the really light feel of power steering. I like it stiff, baby

[Hooffenstein HD]

How much should I pay for a Bosch 070 fuel pump? Sprint Auto Parts can sell me a Goss GE034 for ~$130(Trade price) but I have no idea where to get a proper Bosch 070 from other than eBay. Not sure if I should trust eBay though.

Edit: Also, not too sure if Goss is a decent brand and I should just go ahead and get that.

[jamjars]

i replaced my e30 one with a goss from autopro, it worked fine, was quieter than the dying stock one, and ran fine for a year before i sold it.

i'm currently looking at doing the walbro 255 intank pump as i dont have an external like you

[Hooffenstein HD]

Yeah, did a bit of reading on Goss Fuel Pumps. Mostly on the Commodore forums but they don't seem too bad. I've been having stalling, hard start and no start issues that are becoming more and more frequent. I suspect the fuel pump, or fuel pump relay so I'll just get the Goss in the morning and see how it goes.