FunkyLaneO

no more points and the stock coil is just fine.

Resistors work in either direction, doesn't matter which way it is oriented, there may be a bypass wire for starting or it may have been removed. If you are trying to figure out how it is currently configured you can unplug one side and turn the ignition switch on then test for power on either side of the resistor, if there is power then you just disconnected the coil side, if not then you just disconnected the input side. If you are wiring up your Pertronix you want to plug the red wire to the input side of the resistor so it receives the full 12+ volts.

Did you save the original jet holder when you swapped in the solenoid? if so then you can use that in place of the solenoid to test it's operation. If the solenoid is bad it is only a $15 part and the last one I bought had a 60 jet in it for that price. My test has always been that if it clicks then it works, I have never been able to see the actual plunger in the cutoff solenoid but it is usually installed when I am testing it.

Looks good but is it possible to display the location of the user again? it is helpful to know what part of the world people are in when you respond to their questions (like taking california emissions into account or offering someone a large part you don't want to ship)

put a switch on the wire going to the positive terminal of you coil, it wil crank all day long but not start. Disabling just the starter will allow a theif to bump start it.

Hmmm... when you set the timing does the ball bounce around? you may want to try swapping the distributor from the 75 and see if it makes a difference (make sure you hook up the vacuum to the vac advance side, that distributor should have both vac advance and retard, you can just leave the retard side unhooked) if you swap the entire engine the same advice about the vac advance/retard applies.

If you have removed the smog equipment from the 75 then everything should match up pretty well. I would keep the exhaust manifold from the 73 as the stock one on the 75 is only useful as a boat anchor (thermal reactor) A misfire is usually associated with the ignition so replacing the engine is probably overkill, I would start with a new cap/rotor/wires/plugs and set the timing with a timing light.

Not exactly correct, what that does is allows fuel to bypass the carb when you don't really need it, it is vacuum actuated. When you are doing a hard decelleration the engine is spinning really fast but not using any fuel to speak of, the pump is working pretty hard for nothing, the vacuum generated by a decelleration triggers the bypass valve to return gas to the tank. Once gas is in the carb the only way it should exit is through the engine. It is OK to remove that bypass valve and cap off the return line, the added pressure will not destroy the carb or the fuel pump.

My 74 has a vacuum retard as opposed to vacuum advance, not sure about what the automatics had though. You can leave the vacuum disconnected on these but they have a lot of mechanical advance (like 19.5 degrees and it comes on pretty early), without the smog equipment there is no way that I have found to hook up the vacuum and not have it run like crap, mine seems to run OK without the vacuum connected but runs better with the tii full mechanical distributor. the JFUD4 was stock on the 74 non-auto. chart located here: http://www.bmw2002faq.com/topic/65862-distributor-identification-chart/

Nice! that is tidy!

I am guessing they added the original nameplate in Germany before the car was assebmled, if this car was optioned for a ti after it arrived in Belgium then only the new VIN plate would reflect that? just guessing though. Obviously the shift light is not original and if it was a ti then there would be a tach, I think it would also be in Kilometers per hour so that may be why the cluster was swapped out and they ended up with what was available at the junkyard and that had a clock instead of a tach, once again just guessing.

That car was assembled in Belgium (don't worry all the parts came from Germany), they did that because it was cheaper to import the parts than to import the complete car (taxes on cars were apparently very high) That is why the two VIN plates. It could be a TI but the cluster has been replaced, photos from under the hood would tell us a whole lot more about the car.

Yup, and if you are swapping it out, reinforce the motor mount bracket on the new one before you put it in.

That is a good deal, Alan drinks cheap beer.

I think it is funny that the kid even knew what a Yugo was, they were all long gone before he was even born. Gotta give him credit for that at least.

If you have desmogged your 74 you can remove the entire bundle of wires and replace it with a single wire (plus an additional one if you have electric choke and/or idle shutoff valve) Remove the screw from the fuse box and lift it out, trace where the resistor wire plugs into the back of the box and unplug it, plug your new wire into the same spot and you are done.

That will work as a ground too, any place on the case will work. Also a tip, put a cap over the B+ (a piece of vacuum hose or vacuum cap works) so you don't start arc welding every time you bump it with a wrench while working on something else.

... or you can eliminate your distributor altogether and install a megajolt system. you need to describe exactly what you want to achieve, a points replacement or a true electronic ignition or something in between.

The only thing California cares about is the smog (which you will not pass with a header), there is no safety inspection. The exempt counties do require a smog check at change of ownership and I believe registering for the first time may be considered the same as change of ownership. Check here and contact the DMV for specifics, if it was a 49 state car I think it would have to conform to the 49 state standards which again yours will not, there is a visual inspection even if it passes the sniffer test and your header replaces a piece of the required smog equipment. http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/brochures/fast_facts/ffvr29.htm

I get so close to this, but there are a few hiccups: -i dont see a single black wire for terminal 50. I do see a thick black wire, BUT its also paired up with a thick red wire connect to the same spade. is this correct? -for terminal 15, is this two green wires (one thick, one thin) paired up into the one spade? I guess i could do the reverse approach and tell you guys what wires i do have under there: -THICK RED WIRE -THICK RED WIRE -PURPLE WIRE -light green wire with black stripe running down it -solid black wire paired up with red wire into same spade -two green wires (one thick one thin) paired up into same spade Thanks in advance for all your help. I've been working on cars for the last ten years, but I HATE electrical issues! If you look at the little diagram in the link I posted you can just match up the colors and you will be fine, it doesn't matter which green wire goes to which green terminal, same with the red. The oddball is the black and red spliced wires, that is not original to the best of my knowledge and may be your problem, try tracing where the red wire goes, is is separate from the bundle of original wires? It may be that an alarm starter kill relay was installed at some point and that wire was fiddled with. If it were original red would indicate unswitched power so it would not be attached directly to a black wire that usually indicates signal or momentary switched power. I would plug everything in but your starter wire and then turn the key to start and see if the headlights come on, it could be that you have a bad switch and we are barking up the wrong tree. If the lights come on then I would suspect the switch since nothing is connected to the terminal that supposed to control that.

it definitely sounds like you have the wires switched around, there are two green wires, it sounds like one of them is going to the correct terminal and the other is not, if the wire colors are wrong then you need to get out a test light and do some testing. on the switch: terminal 30 should be power in, two sets of wires (red) terminal 15 should be switched power out (green) terminal 50 should be starter (black) terminal R should be accessory (purple) terminal P should be the one that goes to your low beans and turn signals (single green wire) it sounds like the wire that should go to terminal P is somehow spliced to terminal 50 if your starter and lights both work at the same time. If the starter doesn't work then we know what the problem is, you have somehow lost the starter wire and plugged the single green wire into the terminal 50. look here: http://www.bmw2002faq.com/component/option,com_forum/Itemid,57/page,viewtopic/t,369913/start,0/postdays,0/postorder,asc/highlight,ignition%2Bswitch%2Bdiagram/

The EGR ones have ports that lead to the that opening at the back, you could grind them out and weld the holes shut I guess but that would be alot of work and all that localized heating and grinding I would worry about warpage and cracking during the process. Look inside one of them and you will see what I am talking about.

Easiest way to plug the EGR hole is to get a brass cap from Home Depot, the adapter that is fitted in there right now is a standard pipe thread, the threads on the manifold are not so finding a plug will be alot harder than finding a cap. But you should really replace your manifold with the correct one, that one will not flow as well as the Tii one because of the EGR plumbing built into it. It bolts up the same and looks the same externally but the big difference is internally where it counts. Yes, that will bolt up to your Tii and will work but your car will not run as well as it will with the correct manifold.

If it is pegging on full then the wire from your sender to your gauge is grounding somewhere, or your sender is bad. When the signal wire to your gauge receives 0 ohms resistance to ground it will go to full, when it receives greater than 75 ohms it will read empty. A bad ground to the gauge will cause it to read empty or be twitchy towards the empty position, yours reads full so that is not the issue. Next time it gets stuck on full unplug the wires from the sender, start with the short one (ground) and see if it drops to empty, if it does not then unplug the long one (signal) and then see if it drops, if it still does not then you have a problem with the signal wire (or potentially a bad gauge but they usually read empty when they die) Also make sure the sender is plugged in correctly, it will work both ways but the correct way is the ground should go to the tack welded tab on the top and the signal wire should go the the insulated tab, if your sender is grounding itself through other means then having it backwards will cause problems.

Find some paint that hasn't seen the light of day since new (like under the carpet or under the fusebox or under the dash) and color match that, if it hasn't faded or been exposed to alot of moisture then it should be just as it was originally.