Technical

Technical.

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Technical

Oxford Curry Meet 19/10/2003

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Technical


	*Thermostat Replacement.*

Ever since I have had my car, it has took a lot longer than most to warm up when the engine has started. Recently it has got
worse, and in some cases has took more than an hour of driving to get the temperature needle past the quarter mark! "Must
be a thermostat problem" I have thought to myself and carried on about my day. Ive now pulled my thumb out and gone and bought
a new one from ECP.Total costs for thermostat and gaskets £12.78, so not a bank breaker!Here is the procedure for changing
it, not a hard job and can be done in under a few hours, tea breaks permitting!This guide is for changing the thermostat on
a 6 cylinder engine, there are small differences with the 4 cylinder. I will post them up when I get the time!


	*Step 1.*

Remove the radiator cowling. Pop out the 2 plastic scews at either end, and remove the 4 metal screws. Pop off the air duct,
and then slide the whole thing towards the engine then up and out. Now you will be able to see the inside of your radiator.
The next step is to remove the fan.


	*Step 2.*

In order to remove the fan you must un-do the fan shield first as the whole unit must come out. Ther are 2 plastic poppers
on eack side pop these out.
To un-do the fan you must stop the water pump from turning. To do this you can use a special tool which hold the pump in place
but allows you to loosen the nut on the fan. If you havent got one of these, an adjustable spanner and a long screwdriver
will do. You need to brace the screwdriver in between the nuts of the pump to stop it turning, then with the spanner turn
the nut on the fan. These can be a little stubborn so a bit of elbow grease may be needed. Also, the nut on the fan has a
reverse thread on it to stop it coming off when the fan is turning. So in-order to loosen it, it must be turned clockwise.
Once you have removed the fan, it can be lifted out with the shield.


	*Step 3.*

Now you must drain the radiator(rad). Ive been told that you need to drain all of the coolant out, but you dont really need
to. Just enought to stop it leaking out of the rad pipes! I drained around 1.5 to 2 litres from mine.
In order to drain the rad, you must un-screw the rad cap(make sure the engine is cold, you dont want a jet of boiling coolant
hitting you in your grid now!), on 6 cyl engines you need to remove the bleed screw also. Then, get round the bottom with
a suitable container and un-do the blue screw at the bottom of the rad on the passenger side. Again, drain just enough so
it doesnt leak from the pipes when they are removed from the thermostat housing. However, if you feel the car is due for a
rad flush you could do this if you like, and change the coolant! After its drained take the coolant and put it inside where
bits cant fall in it!


	*Step 4.*

Now you must remove the rad pipe. These have screw tight collars on them. If you look down on your engine you can see 2, 1
on your left and 1 on your right. Un-do both of the collars on the right one and take it off. You should have drained enough
coolant to be able to take it off. For the one on your left only un-do the collar connected to the thermostat housing. Pull
this off and bend it round the side of the engine as there will be coolant in it. This will hold it in place! If your pipes
look a bit worn or frayed you could replace these, but they should be fine!


	*Step 5.*

Thermostat housing. This is easy enough to remove. You will need a 13mm socket and a 10mm socket. Simply un-do the bolts around
it, and it will pull out. Make sure you loosen the bolt on the retainer which holds the housing in place to remove it. This
not on the housing but above it. See the picture for details on where the bolts are and what sizes they are.
Turn the housing round, the rubber gasket will need replacing. Clean the housing and replace the gasket with the new one,
you should lubricate the gaskets with some anti-freeze to stop then drying out. Make sure the areas around the seal are especially
clean in-order to achieve the best seal!


	*Step 6.*

The thermostat should just pull out. Now you should take the oppurtunity to clean the block that was previously covered by
the housing. There will be a nasty build up of gunk where the seals were. Take a chisel and just scrape this away, and then
give it a good clean with some engine cleaner or turps of some sort and allow it to dry out. Again lubricate the gasket around
the new thermostat with some antifreeze and then pop it in. There should be an arrow or mark on the thermost, make sure this
is pointing strainght up in the middle of the hole when putting it in! Now its just a case of reversing the whole process
in order to put it back together!!


	*Finished!*

A relativley simple job. Make sure you use a torque wrench when putting the nuts back in. I was a bit over zealous with oneon
the thermostat housing and cracked it. Also, you can buy different temperatures of thermostats. The original one in my car
was 88 degrees, the one I replaced it with from ECP is 80 degrees. You can buy lower temperatures and higher temperatures.
This just means that it will either warm up quicker or slower depending on which one you put in, id suggest keeping it the
same as stock though.


	*The Offender.*

Now I know why the car was'nt heating up! No more chilly mornings going to work for me! And to think it has been like this
for a whole year. My advice would be to change this if you are changing your water pump, yet another problem with the E36!
If you have any comments to make or would like some more info on this this please e-mail me.


	*Cup Holder.*

Retro fit oddments tray.Sick of having nowhere to put your Mcflurry?
BM82.27.9.404.572 Now sold as one unit for the bargin price of £35 this simply fits in the gap where the front ashtray
sits,
a little bit of cutting required but can easily be fitted in 20 minutes!


	Coming soon: Armrest Fittment.


	*M3 Steering Wheel.*

1. Firstly you will have to remove these 3 screws from the back of the wheel. A small grubb posidrive screwdriver is needed. This will release the front fascia from the wheel! You can see each screw on each stem of the steering wheel.

Careful with the fascia as thery are spring loaded and the springs may drop out. Now carefully pull the fascia away and unplug the brown and black wire

2. Next grab yourself a good wrench, and a 16mm socket.

3. Using a good bit of strength and make sure the steering lock is on, remove this bolt from the steering wheel. This bolt holds it on to the steering column.

4. Make a note of the position of the wheel relative to that of the column, as you will need this to put the new wheel on. A small mark in the center is good with a pencil! Remove nut.

Recently fitted to my coupe is the M3 Sport steering wheel. The grip and feel is a lot more comfortable, and the wheel is smaller in size than the original item! Making manouvering a lot easier! And it looks nicer!

This is the non-airbag wheel so the procedure for fitting is different. So dont try this with an airbag model, cos you'll only blow your face off!

5. Take the steering wheel off.

6. Note the 3 silver screws on the back of the wheel.. There is a sleeve attached to the small column, if your M-tech wheel does not have it, you must swap it over from your existing wheel. To do this remove the 3 screws and swap. Its very obvious. I had already changed it by know, so I havent got a picture!

7. Fit the new wheel. The fascia of the M-tech wheel just pulls away easily. Do this then line up the new wheel with the pencil mark on the column you made earlier. Then replace the nut and tighten it back up.

8. Finally, reconnect the wires to the new fascia, to each corresponding colour. Brown and Black, this for the horn. Once done replace the fascia by pushing it on, and your sorted!


	*BMC Carbon Fibre Induction Kit.*

The new air System CDA ,it is a induction system , that came directly from BMC's experience in international racing.

The carbon box insulates the air filter from the heat within the engine compartment and this increases performance; because the air ducts bring fresh air directly from outside the car to dynamically increase the pressure in the air box.

This mean a better volumetric efficiency and better performance .

The carbon air box is very light & easy to fit using the supplied brackets & clamp , and has a very aggressive look. It is available in 2 versions. up to 1600 cc (CDA 1.6) and for bigger displacement (CDA 2.5) .


	*Big Bore Throttle Body Conversion.*