M10 Head Dismantle

[Brad Sindoni]

How's it going r3v friends? About two months ago I was getting some work done on my e30 at my mechanics shop while I noticed he had a m10 head just sitting there with a bunch of other old stock bmw parts. long story short I will post some of the things in a for sale add that I grabbed from the hoard of items. Anyways After seeing a few build threads on here of a few m10s and 2002s specifically (phreshkid) Ryan Dancos builds, I thought I would start here by building up this m10 motor and hopefully finding something I can put it in. It's a 1.8l and is stamped with an 83 so I'm assuming it came out of an 83. I started to mess with it today, and started to take it apart and ran into some trouble. All I got to was undoing those bolts that hold on the rocker arms, I took some pictures of how I have it right now, this is everything that it came with. Some what complete, I don't know what's salvageable so that's why I'm dismantling to see what is still good. If anyone can inform me on how to remove the rocker arms or anything in the pictures I would really appreciate it. I'm brand new to m10s and don't really know much except for basic knowledge. Also if anyone has any parts I can buy off you, pm me or let me know what you have! Thanks in advanced a lot guys.


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[TobyB]

That doesn't look so bad. You have a broken off bolt in one of the front cover holes,
and a few odd marks here and there, and odd washers under the cam hold- down
bolts, but overall it looks ok.

To get the rockers out, you need to remove the clips inside the 'non spring' side
of the rockers (slide one of the loose ones over, and you'll see what I mean- the
'thick washer' has a c- clip around the rocker shaft.
Then you loosen all the eccentrics, and start fussing the rockers back and forth as you turn
the cam to get pressure off of each in turn. You'll find one place where the intake rocker
shaft has no tension on it, and then you pull it out. Then it's easy to get the exhaust to
do the same, and out it will come, and you're home- free.
Be careful not to scrape the lash pads on the raw parts of the cam- sometimes there's
a lug on the cam that wants to gouge the rockers.
Also, don't bang on the ends of the rocker shafts very much- use something soft that covers
the entire face of the shaft. They are surprisingly soft, and if they mushroom, you NEVER get them out.
Ideally they slide right out, but usually (due to gunge, a slightly warped head, or both) they require
gentle, persistent persuasion. Also, the head around the bolts may be compressed down on them a bit.
Back- and- forth seems to work.

The alternate to this is to use the cam removal tool that opens all the rockers at once.
It's nice, quite expensive if you can even find one, and works great.

hth

t

[Brad Sindoni]

Thank you! That helps me out, I am going to give it a try and hopefully try to remove some of them, appreciate the help.

Brad

[Brad Sindoni]

Removed the rest of the bolts that were stuck in the rockers and pulled the center pieces out that go between the rocker and the bolts. I can move some of the rockers over to the left or right a bit depending what side the springs going but other then that I can't really figure out my next step in disassembling this
Also, I can't turn over the cam or anything internal, the rockers hardly move over


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[ThatOneEuroE30]

You need a special tool to remove the cam.

[Brad Sindoni]

You need a special tool to remove the cam.

Thank you for the information, did not know that. Probably best to have it done at a shop? What do you think?

[ThatOneEuroE30]

Thank you for the information, did not know that. Probably best to have it done at a shop? What do you think?

No you can do it your self you just gotta find someone with a tool. BMW made a tool to do it and then most guys have there own version that they made them selves

[TobyB]

Pull those little clips that you have exposed in your pic and try again.

You will need to slide one or maybe 2 rockers back against the springs as hard as you can.

It should work- I made 'the tool' but don't use it any more.

Keep fussing at it- it'll suddenly make sense.

hth

t

[Brad Sindoni]

Which clips? Which picture are you referring too?& If I pull it back it only goes so far before it hits the other rocker arm, does that make sense?

Pull those little clips that you have exposed in your pic and try again.

You will need to slide one or maybe 2 rockers back against the springs as hard as you can.

It should work- I made 'the tool' but don't use it any more.

Keep fussing at it- it'll suddenly make sense.

hth

t

[Brad Sindoni]

No you can do it your self you just gotta find someone with a tool. BMW made a tool to do it and then most guys have there own version that they made them selves

Makes sense, thank you!

Brad

[TobyB]

I was referring to the pic with your fingers pulling the rockers back- those little 'bits of wire'
wrapped around the shaft are clips that will pop off, and let the rockers move farther.

However, I realized that I'm using rocker clamps instead of the stock springs- I don't know
if you can move the rockers far enough to get them to clear the cam lobes with the
springs in there, and that's the key- you need to slide one rocker far enough 'off' the cam
so that that lobe doesn't contact the rocker and put pressure on it.

And yes, you'll have to roll the cam over and back to get this method to work.

If you decide to go the 'tool' route, make sure you don't clamp it down so far that
the valves hit each other on the far side and bend- did that once, felt stupid and
poorer afterwards...

t

[Brad Sindoni]

I was referring to the pic with your fingers pulling the rockers back- those little 'bits of wire'
wrapped around the shaft are clips that will pop off, and let the rockers move farther.

However, I realized that I'm using rocker clamps instead of the stock springs- I don't know
if you can move the rockers far enough to get them to clear the cam lobes with the
springs in there, and that's the key- you need to slide one rocker far enough 'off' the cam
so that that lobe doesn't contact the rocker and put pressure on it.

And yes, you'll have to roll the cam over and back to get this method to work.

If you decide to go the 'tool' route, make sure you don't clamp it down so far that
the valves hit each other on the far side and bend- did that once, felt stupid and
poorer afterwards...

t

Oh I see now! I didn't know the springs come off, I will have to try this next. If I went the tool route, what do I need for it? I preferably would like to do everything myself for the learning experience! I appreciate all the help so far!!

[Brad Sindoni]

I messed around with it a bit more today, the rocker arms won't go any further back because they hit each other being pulled back not allowing it to go all the way

[Smelser]

Slide the rockers over, remove the littleC clips. tiny metal, and let the rocker rest back naturally.
WHen you remove that platat the front of the head. spin the head around and drift those shafts out (thatthe rockers pivot on) that will allow the large springs and shafts to come free, then the cam just slides out.
Those shafts are replaceable with a new one from IE.

post #4 third pic, those littleclips that you show by sliding the rocker over, need to come off. then you can slide those shafts out the front after the plate in post 1 pic 5 shows. notice how that plate is sitting in a recess part of those shafts to lock them from spinning rotating orsliding out.



also, I need some cranks and otherspare M10 parts shipped to ontario canada if you have any cheap.