BMW e36 318 tds - modding thread

[AndrzejM]

One more thing regarding a kill switch in Berta. I needed to add 3 diodes to the setup because of electric noise (dirty power) that was messing up with my MPGuino

So actual diagrams are looking like below

Fuel cut off valve:

Starter:

[Shortie771]

Originally Posted by AndrzejM

There's no difference at all. You just need to cut some signal to kill the engine spark or fuel or maybe some sensor for example Piwoslaw in his Svetlana is cutting the cam position sensor to kill the engine. Starter you need to connect the same way I did.

Great! Thanks for the info, the kill switches have been hard for me to wrap my head around because of how many different ways I have seen them done and on all sorts of different engine types. This may be my next project. Either that or interior mirrors, cause those exterior parachutes are jacking up my airflow

[AndrzejM]

It's good to start with wiring diagrams of your car. Then you can decide if you should cut the fuel or spark to kill the engine.

[Piwoslaw]

Originally Posted by AndrzejM

It's good to start with wiring diagrams of your car. Then you can decide if you should cut the fuel or spark to kill the engine.

Or cut the signal from one of the sensors. As Andrzej mentioned, my kill switch is on the crankshaft position sensor, since the lack of this signal tells the ECU to turn the engine off. Manually forcing a kill (via fuel, injectors, or ignition) may cause some damage, and/or make the ECU throw a code, or even go into limp mode. Letting the ECU go through its own engine shutdown procedure seems to be safer in newer models, though also risks getting a code.

[McTimson]

Awesome work!

I just bought a 318ti here in the US, so it's a 1.9L gasoline engine. I mainly bought it because I love the style of it, but I'm hoping to get myself up to 40MPG or so. First off is bringing my MPGuino back into play - that instrument cluster mount is awesome, it looks stock. I'm definitely putting mine in the same spot.

[AndrzejM]

Thanks McTimson. And good luck with your 318ti, there's many things that you can do to improve her fuel efficiency.

[AndrzejM]

Berta is ready for a trip to Prague





I'm in Prague and for now I have more than a half of a tank. MPGuino shows 26.2km/l (61.63 MPG US), not bad ;-)

[Piwoslaw]

Impressive I would have painted the miniskirts so that they're not as visible. Watch out for rain

I see that you love your passenger side mirror too much to fold it

[AndrzejM]

I don't mind rednecks to stare at Berta, so I haven't masked anything. But as you probably know it's just a temporary "solution" to test if I'll see any gain from it. We'll see on next fill-up at the pump

Regarding mirror I haven't folded it because of two reasons. First, my inside RW mirror is not working well because of curvature of the Berta's body. I have to find another solution for RW mirror.
Second, when I'll finish my kammback I won't be using internal RW mirror at all, because there won't be any glass/lexan panel. So If I want to know what will be improvement from it I need to use both mirrors for now. But I'm thinking of much smaller external mirrors, for both sides.

[Piwoslaw]

Originally Posted by AndrzejM

I don't mind rednecks to stare at Berta, so I haven't masked anything.

The attention I had in mind was from the law enforcement rednecks

Originally Posted by AndrzejM

Regarding mirror I haven't folded it because of two reasons. [...]
Second, when I'll finish my kammback I won't be using internal RW mirror at all, because there won't be any glass/lexan panel. So If I want to know what will be improvement from it I need to use both mirrors for now. But I'm thinking of much smaller external mirrors, for both sides.

OK, that makes sense. I can't wait to see which mirrors you find, I'm thinking about something smaller to replace my passenger mirror.