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/// The Stig's 1992 535i M Spec

thestig

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Heat Transfer

Today, it tured out, was the day for my Thermofan installation.

Some of the groundwork was laid on Friday night when Ari 'fabbed' up a fan clutch removal tool for me. The tool master provided excellent service at an outrageously low price. I thank him for his efforts. Cheers Bro.

An honorable mention goes to Reaper for cracking the nut on the fan clutch and bending Ari's 'spanner'. If you are afraid that you're going to break something, I have always found Reaper willing to help, his "back off only after you've hit something" attitude pays off more often than not.

You can see here the original viscous clutch driven unit and Ari's/Reaper's handiwork.
uc


There's plenty of space left for the Thermofan to be installed.
uc


Mounting the fan was suprisingly straight forward, though a little nerve wracking bending those fins out of the way for the nylon pins that hold it in place.
uc


Wiring was accomplished easily enough. Speed control is provided through, what I assume to be, PWM via the stock carbon canister loom. Power is sourced from the back of the starter motor contacts. I pulled the Motronic ECM from the engine bay and plugged it into the computer. After a few dozen clicks I had the ECM software configured to use the fan and the results written to the chip for all four tunes.
uc


The completed installation. I spent about 2 hours going through the obligatory M30 cooling system bleed ritual. I'll revisit it again over the next few days I am sure. At this stage all indications point to success!
uc
 
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thestig

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It would appear that, after all the "spirited driving" I have been doing of late, I am in need of a new set of brake pads.

uc


Lucky these have the "Wolverine Cold Noise Insulators", I don't know what I would do without them.
 
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thestig

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Oops!

So, after driving around for a week with my new thermo fan, I discover, when my car wouldn't start, that I had not plugged the alternator back in properly after fitting the fan.

So I have a substitute battery in the car now whilst I charge this monster (88DIN, 775CCA, 145min reserve capacity). Evidently all this was enough for 1200k's over 6 days with 25 starts, music invariably loud.

uc


I hope it doesn't fry my charger, it's sitting on 6 amps right now.
 
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stockies

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Thats a big goddamn battery...


Keep up the work and the pics mate, love reading your thread!
 

thestig

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This turned up from Japan today. Now begins the task of making it resemble the real thing.

uc


Shouldn't be too hard. Making it right hand drive whilst maintaining the interior detail will be the biggest challenge.

uc
 
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thestig

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Waterworld

This happened some time ago. Around 1st of November last year actually. Some of you might remember we had quite a bit of rain.

And it turns out that..........


When these two drainage holes underneath the box in the engine bay that houses vital electronics like the ECU.......
uc




Get clogged up with various bits of detritus, your car won't start. On account of your ECU being at the deep end of a swimming pool about 6 inches deep!
uc




But to my suprise, having pulled the ECU apart and drying it out with a hair dryer, the car started and functioned perfectly.
uc
 
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thestig

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Project Phoenix

So. In need of something to do as an excuse to avoid work, I have decided that it is time to begin the rebuild of the engine destined for forced induction. It has 240,000 on the clock and besides having a bad coil it ran really well. It is out of the donor car that provided the Getrag.

Here it is.... (well at least a digital representation of it)

uc
 
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Reaper

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This happened some time ago. Around 1st of November last year actually. Some of you might remember we had quite a bit of rain.

And it turns out that..........


When these two drainage holes underneath the box in the engine bay that houses vital electronics like the ECU.......
Waterworld01a.jpg




Get clogged up with various bits of detritus, your car won't start. On account of your ECU being at the deep end of a swimming pool about 6 inches deep!
Waterworld02a.jpg




But to my suprise, having pulled the ECU apart and drying it out with a hair dryer, the car started and functioned perfectly.
Waterworld03a.jpg

Good pickup that one. Whod'a thought the drain holes would have been blocked :thumbsup:
 
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Reaper

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Well it's not as if you can see them underneath all the waterproofing and such. :)

Putting automotive electronics in a swimming pool is a British trait not German. Of course there was always going to be a drain hole at the bottom :p
 
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