Sparco bar issues. 56k beware

[peak]

I just got a new Sparco front bar and was doing a trial fit. The strut spacing does not seem to be a major problem, but, the bar hits the breather for the plenum. I intentionally posted big pics so you could see what I'm refering to. The bar needs to come down a couple of inches on the passenger side and about a half an inch on the drivers side. Any suggestions?






TIA

Damon in STL

[Bavarian3]

Looks kinda werid....

[HANDBLT]

That is not the stock breather hose? It is all out of whack!

Your not putting that bar on there till the plenum is modified.

T

[peak]

That is not the stock breather hose? It is all out of whack!

Thanks for the info. Uh...can you elaborate on the "It is all out of whack" part (LOL)? What part of the breather hose does not look stock? Michael's pic looks a bit different, but, I'm not sure how it's supposed to look.

Does the plenum look different than other's? The bar just seems to be way off on the height. Is the e30 and e30 M3 bar the same bar? Could this be from a different car? I have no clue what the deal is????

Damon in STL

[peak]

More pics.....




The car's build date is 7/22/86 (very early). Is the plenum different than others? The breather hose looks stock to me???

Damon in STL

[Hennarot M3]

The ETK actually does have a different part number listed for pre 2/87 production vehicles...interesting.

[UNHCLL]

Since it is a VERY early production car, you have a different intake plenum.

See how most intakes dont have the breather hose like yours that goes over the top of the engine? See the little pipe that sticks off the back of your plenum? Thats not common. Euro Import Car???




BTW, side note... we have the same interiors! --why i asked if its euro import.

[Mick]

Something very strange is afoot here. Either you have a very unique s14 or someone F-ed with it and swapped the plenum.

The berather hose is suppose to tun down to the oil seperator, not to the plenum. I have no idea what that much vacuum in the cam carrier would do, not to mention the possibility of the plenum sucking up oil, running lean...

The werid thing is that the ETK is showing that hose in the plenum diagram but it says it's not installed on the E30 M3.

[Mick]

oops, took a little too long to compose my post. That's interesting.

[Hennarot M3]

Mick-

The ETK does show that hose as being installed for cars produced up to 10/86.

[Bavarian3]

The engine pic I posted is 3/86 very early production...

[Bavarian3]

I bet you Chris is correct with the euro import, cloth seats on an E30 M3 in the US didn't happen, correct?

EDIT: I am looking at some european engines, and even they don't even have the same design... This is werid...

EDITII: Okay; so air is going into the TBs and into the vavle cover whhhhhhhhhat? Maybe to cool down the oil? Whos gonna solve it?

[ct_m3]

I've owned an early Euro import ( in the country 1/87) and the plenum was not designed like this....never seen it before.....

[Stan10]

I own a 12/86 production euro car and from the pictures I have of the engine it looks "normal"
Just for reference here's a picture of my engine:

[Jake]

Peak,

You have a very early production S14 which came without an oil separator. Crankcase venting is plumbed straight into the plenum on the ultra early M3's. Later engines got an oil separator mounted on the left hand side of the block under the throttle bodies.

The improved breather system on the later M3’s is plumbed off the valve cover (same as yours) but then turns down and goes to the oil separator and into the plenum at the fwd bottom right hand corner.

An oil separator is generally considered a good idea because without it your intake sees more oil than it normally should. This can lead to a reduction in octane rating and increase your chances of detonation.

Additionally, since you're burning all the oil pumped through the crank case breather system without the benefit of an oil separator ducting condensed oil residue back to your oil pan, you may find that you burn more oil than most S14's.

If I were you I'd consider a few options: 1) updating your set up to make use of the later oil separator system; or 2) installing a catch tank and capping off your plenum all together. You may be able to hack off enough of that old style plenum to make use of your Sparco strut brace in either case. Option 1 will be more costly while option 2 will be cheaper and much easier to implement.

Hope this helps,
Jake Larsen

P.S. Here’s a screen capture of the oil separator set up on the later M3’s.