Month: January 2016

BMW diesel M57 and M57 N engine breather 3D printed

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When converting the BMW 6 cyl diesel into other cars the air box can be removed like this

How to cut a BMW M57 air box

How to cut a BMW M57 air box

If you are having a catch tank then the exit pipe for the crank case breather seen at the rear hanging down can be cut short and then blocked off in the round turret with a washer and two pop rivets, the hose to the catch tank comes out of the round lid,

DONT FORGET TO REMOVE THE BREATHER FILTER !!! use the swirl cyclone instead of the filter.

BMW part number BMW 11127799366

this fits inside the breather on top of the engine, it replaces the paper filter that always clogs up.

BUT what if you want it in a road car and still want to recycle the fumes from the crankcase well then such a problem arose in the latest conversion.

 

This is what we did.

cut the air box as in the picture then CAD a model of a converter to make the pipe run along the top of the exhaust manifold

 

looks like this in the CAD

 

CAD model of BMW crank case breather adapter

CAD model of BMW crank case breather adapter

 

then we have it 3D printed and it arrives 6 days later and fits perfect

Adapter fitted before painting

Adapter fitted before painting

 

the adapter bolts on , uses an big fat O ring to seal and 4 M4 bolts.

note : do not try to glue up the hole in the crank case breather the oil will get through…everytime

when the engine is in I will update with the pipes fitted.

 

 

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Testing 1.2.3 the Thermal image camera gets up to temperature

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while testing the FBH, (fuel burning heater) on the engine while it is still on the cradle in the workshop I thought it would be a good time to test my FLIR  Thermal imaging camera.

here’s some images of the test.

 

BMW diesel 6 cyl thermal image #1

BMW diesel 6 cyl thermal image #1, rear of the engine, the hotspot on the left is the header tank I used to feed the FBH

 

this is the turbo sode of the engine, you can see the block is were the most of the water jacket is.

This is the turbo side of the engine, you can see the block is were the most of the water jacket is.

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Categories: Ideas

You know you have a problem with OCD when …

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on the current vehicle  conversion , the spec requires  locking differentials with a air  compressor of the ARB style,

not wanting to stick the big ARB/Carling type switches in the dash panel like this

Standard fit ARB switch panel

Standard fit ARB switch panel

 

or even like this

 

A bit neater but still not OEM is it?

A bit neater but still not OEM is it?

so I decided that I would look into converting the OEM range rover switch that was no longer needed as we now have good old coil springs fitted.

Range Rover P38 AES air suspension switch

Range Rover P38 AES air suspension switch

 

now this switch is not just any old switch it is a electronic communication switch that talks to the BECM, so som mods had to be done,

A quick look inside and the wiring diagram showed promise

Simple little thing she is.

Simple little thing she is.

the buttons that are pressed by the rocker switch come out on pins 8 & 6, the button illumination is standard, so just need to control the LEDS.

 

the Idea is that the rocker switch will select what is on/off  of the  Air compressor/ rear diff lock or front diff lock, and also give an indication that the compressor is working via a simple feedback.

OFF

OFF

Compressor only, the LED will flash if the air tank is not up to pressure

Compressor only, the LED will flash if the air tank is not up to pressure

Compressor and rear diff

Compressor and rear diff

Compressor, rear and front diff locked

Compressor, rear and front diff locked

at any point when the compressor is ON and the tank pressure switch clicks in to engage the pump the Compressor LED will flash, this lets the driver know the compressor is working, over the years in Dakar the noise in the car and wearing helmets means its not possible to hear the compressor run, if a pipe to any diff fails the compressor runs constantly and burns out, result = no diffs locked = stuck or a bust diff, so this feature is really important for reliability.

 

so how does it work, I used a PIC16f628 microchip and a ULN2003a darlington transistor array, cut the track to the LEDs , soldered them inside the OE switch case and knocked some code up and in one night I had an Air locker diff control module that is OEM looking and fits perfect, and also easy to bodge/bi pass in the event of failure, which will never happen will it 🙂

 

This is the test wiring before the PIC chip is glued in

This is the test wiring before the PIC chip is glued in

 

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Categories: Car electrics