Wiring and More Wiring

After a delay due to vacation I was able to get some more done. This week I mounted the PCM into the pocket in the firewall where the BMW had the DME and trans computer located. I did this by modifying the BMW computer bracket and the GM computer bracket and attaching them together. I only had to trim the pocket opening slightly to get the PCM to slide into it's new home.

With the PCM located I began the work on integrating the GM wiring into the BMW. I spent hours and hours reading the BMW and LS1 wiring diagrams. After a lot of thought I decided to utilize all the BMW fuses and relays. I did make a few changes to make the wiring fit a little better. I took the BMW O2 relay and used it for the A/C relay. I then used the A/C relay and used it for the 3rd Fan relay. This reduced the # of wires going through the main connector from the engine wire harness. I also found that very few of the engine systems for the BMW actually had replaceable fuses (protected only by the main fuseable link) I am not satisfied with this and will be adding 5 additional fuses to protect the main power circuits feeding the motor systems.

Also done this week was to fabricate a shifter adapter to move the shift lever forward about 40mm. This moves the shift lever to center of the BMW shifter location.

The First Test fit of the engine

I was heading out of town for the week so not much was going to happen on this project for sometime. I decided it'd be fun to have the engine sitting in the car while I was gone. so thursday evening I loaded it in. It's a tight fit but it's in there. I didn't have the driverside header on but I do have it bolted to the engine and trans mounts and to the car. I also test fit the driveshaft I have and it fit perfect. Lots to do yet but it is looking like it is going to work out.

Installing the clutch and brake pedal

The pedal set from a manual BMW was given to me as a christmas present (my car was originally an automatic). I finally installed the clutch and brake pedal into the car this week. The nice thing about installing it was that the bracket that holds the pedals was the same for both the manual and the auto so I just had to transfer the pedals and the master clutch cyl to the car. Sometimes I don't know what BMW was thinking when they desiged some parts of the car. The clutch mater cyl inside the car and not in the engine bay?? Installing the pedals sounded pretty easy but installing the helper return spring proved to be challenging. I finally got it. I found the bracket to hold the other end of the clutch hard line is not on the car and it appears that the electrical connector for the clutch switch is not on the car either. Small stuff but it still has to be done. It would have been nicer to have a manual trans car to start with



.