engine and drivetrain ahh... coolant leaks, fuel pump leaks, no spark... need help

[Guest Anonymous]

First off, got everything wired up this morning. Turns out after all my searching to find what was wrong and hour of troubleshooting and looking, I simply had 2 wires going to the starter reversed. Now my car turns on and the starter engages, but nothing...

First obvious problem I noticed was some fluid leaking. I traced it to this area, circled in red.

Thats the front of the intake manifold by the water neck. I'm hoping that its just that gasket. I'm pretty sure its water leaking so maybe the gasket around the water neck is messed up. Either way getting new gaskets on there shouldnt be a problem, I just have to order them from somewhere (no local bmw places). Any places in socal that carries gaskets and is quick on shipping?

Moving on... after sucking on the damn fuel lines for a while I finally drew up some fuel (into my mouth), and then to the fuelpump/filter. Now it's all hooked up and I know the fuel pump is working because it pumps out fuel when the engine is cranked. The problem is the fuel pump leaks just about as much fuel as it pumps. Someone emailed me a scan of the hanyes manual about the fuel pump, but I obviously have a differnt style pump because it's a different shape. Can someone tell me what pump I have and what rebuild kit I need to get to stop the leaking... or should I just toss the pos and throw an electric pump in the trunk. Also could someone please tell me where in the hell that spring that I'm holding goes.

Next... I droped a bolt down by my brake booster and while getting it I noticed not one but TWO more unknown hose fittings. One is below the brake booster, and looks to be a small metal nipple. The other is a tube coming from the same hole in teh firewall as the main fuel line, but this tube goes to the driverside engine wall and just ends. Both are circled in the pic... any ideas?

And last question... where is the best place to use a starter switch. I have a cheapo general starter switch i'd really like to use rather then haveing my gf in the drivers seat starting while I'm under the hood. I should be able to hook it up accross the terminals on the selinoid right?

You guys think I'm a complete dumbass yet? If not stay tuned cause I'm sure I'll be posting some more complete random stupid questions soon.

Here's how it looks so far. Notice the heavy duty red hose for the brake booster. It's not a true vacume hose but it's the best I could find. Guy at the parts store says it should work fine for the brake booster.

[Guest Anonymous]

Coolant leak:

When I installed my duals, the shoulder on the intake manifold was taller than the water neck and due to uneven pressure on the nut/washer, it leaked. Solution: I ground a thick washer into a "c" shape to only sit on the waterneck side to build up the height. Works great instead of grinding on new manifolds.

May also have to do with the gasket. Check that you removed the whole old gasket when you put on the new one.

Not sure bout the f-pump. I like my electric Facet.

www.jcwhitney.com lists several part #'s with varing pressures. I'd stick with one around 4 lbs or so, or a 6 and regulate it down.

The brake nipple is a bleed screw if I'm not mistaken, and the hose is the vent return from your gas tank via the canister under the rear deck.

starter... ? havn't hooked one up yet. If you have the orange plug on your drivers fender, you should be able to start it through there, but I'm not exactly sure which wires to cross. I'll check around on that one.

Red hoses will make you faster, no doubt. Just make sure it'll hold up to the heat and vaccume at the same time.

Looks damnfine sofar!

Best of luck with it,

Britt

[Guest Anonymous]

(nt)

[Guest Anonymous]

my water neck shoulder was much taller then the manifold, but I got it down to the exact same size. I used dial calipers and everything, the problem is the shoulder on the manifold is slanted. So I used the thicker part, but maybe now that it's compressed it's twisting or something. I think when I replace all the gaskets I'll grind down the shoulder on the manifold so it's square.

I'll probably throw an generic electric pump in the trunk with a 3 psi regulator mounted with the filter on the firewall, then I can run a strait line to the carb and get rid of most of that mess. Also I plan on just cutting a peice of aluminum to fit over the mechanical opening... do I need to do anything more to plug up that hole?

The guy at the parts store told me red would make it go fast too . But it was the only color they had, I even thought about spray painting it black but ahh f-it.

I have the orange plug thing by the drivers fender.

Someone know what to hook up where?

And finally, what store can I order from tomorrow that will have intake gaskets instock? I'd like to have them here asap so somewhere in socal would be best. (I live in AZ). Maybe call a bmw dealership in phx and have them send some up, but would they even have anything like that?

[Guest Anonymous]

BMW should have the intake gaskets, or most any bmw mail order shop in cali (lucky). make sure you get the gasket set that includes the gasket for the water neck/intake (as it's one gasket under there), not just 4 intake gaskets.

Still huntin up the starter stuff.

[Guest Anonymous]

GW, I had that same problem when I put on the manifold and it ended up being that I had a crack in my coolant neck. If you put on new gaskets when you installed this manifold, than do not worry about replacing them as they will be OK. To make sure your manifold and coolant neck match up, I used the polishing stone thing that connects to a drill/dremmell tool and just spin it over where the manifold and coolant neck meet (obviously you will need to remove the stud from the head but you can screw it back on after you get the 2 surfaces flush with each other). I ended up just removing my cracked coolant neck, putting on a new one, polishing the 2 surfaces together, and never had a problem again... no need to re-do the gaskets!! Make sure you gently tighten each side of the coolant neck little by little until it is fully tight. I think this is what caused mine to crack as I just tightened 1 side and then tightened the other. If you are in doubt, get a coolant system pressurizer and see if you get the leak after you add pressure. You will spot the crack in a second. With new gaskets, you should not have this leak due to faulty gaskets. Don't worry about using these gaskets again as long as you just replaced them (new) when you put on this manifold. -Peter

[Guest Anonymous]

If you end up getting an electric pump, get it from this website (2002Faq) as they carry the Weber pumps which are identicle to the fascet pumps that everyone likes. Being a weber item, you can bet it will be good quality and yes they are similarly priced.

But first hunt down what is causing that coolant leak as I initially thought it was my head gasket or manifold gaskets as the coolant neck worked perfectly on my down-draft manifold so how could it get damaged???? It is tough to see in that tight area so all I saw on my car was coolant pooling around the head-gasket area. I ended up learning that yes those coolant necks can crack (I can take a pic of mine if you want to see) and I think it is a common problem with them. If you used NEW gaskets than I would bet 99.999% that this is your problem. The only other thing it can be is a warped surface so remove the non-cracked coolant neck and lay it on top of a piece of FLAT glass/mirror. You will see any imperfections on the glass (glass is perfectly straight as long as you do not use a curved piece of glass). I can not say this enough... If you used NEW gaskets than the gaskets will not be your problem. Good luck with this. Keep us posted!! -Peter

[Guest Anonymous]

I hate living in teh sticks, so hard to get even the simple parts. So I think the leak is the gaskets (I'm hoping). Also I might put just a dab of the liquid gasket around the part where teh water neck and manifold meet, because there is a small gap there.

[Guest Anonymous]

early style fuel pump on it--generally fitted to the one bbl carb cars (pre-late 1972s--it uses a different pushrod from the later pumps, so if you swapped fuel pumps (later styles are sealed, no ring of screws holding the upper and lower halves together) you need to use the correct pushrod or the pump won't work. Also a worn pushrod or the pad on the pump it bears against can keep the pump from making a full stroke, thus not pumping enough fuel to keep the carb happy...

Cheers

Mike

[Guest Anonymous]

You don't have a check valve on your booster line. It would keep crap from getting blown down into the booster.

[Guest Anonymous]

underneath it.

Mine says purolator on the pretty stickered side and facet stamped in the housing.