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    Another S52 Advice Thread...

    I've got my S52 torn down, I've found an engine builder that comes recommended by the local forum and a reputable independent BMW autoshop, and I'm ordering parts to Florida that I'll bring back to Canada in April. I've been planning this build for about six months and for the time being I'm only focusing on the engine, I'm going to worry about the swap into an E30 in the fall of 2017 (i.e. I'm not yet looking for advice on OBDI v. II, intake manifolds, etc.).

    The goal for the car is a common one I've found in my research - NA, reliable, no plans to track/autocross.

    So with that in mind, the purpose of this thread is to glean opex from the vast wealth of knowledge these forums possess to mitigate falling victim to common pitfalls. I also have a terrible case of "while you're in there-itis" - something I developed when rebuilding the engine from an '82 911SC - so let me know if there's something I haven't considered yet. Full disclosure: a lot of what I'm doing was inspired by that MotoIQ article so I know I'm not exactly blazing new trail here.

    Engine has 300,000km on the dial and low compression in cylinder 4. It came out of a goddamn catastrophe of an E36 that I don't even think was street legal - it lived on the track.

    Head

    - Dye pen inspect;
    - Resurface;
    - 3-angle valve job;
    - New valve seals, existing guides;
    - Supertech Springs (I've bought a used set /w Ti retainers that are within factory spec);
    - Polish cam journals and tray/cap bearing surfaces;
    - Refurb'd Dr. Vanos (not Stg. II);
    - New chains and guides/tensioners.

    The four rear-most exhaust cam journals are pretty badly scored - evidence of oil starvation on the track I believe - the polish is a temporary fix, eventually I'm going to swap out the cams/trays/caps for Schrick streets or equivalent. That's not for a while though.

    Block

    - Dye pen inspect;
    - Align-hone mains;
    - Bore/hone cylinders for 87mm 11.5:1 CR JE forged pistons;
    - New King Racing bearings (main and rod to be bought once all the machine work is done);
    - All new gaskets/seals;
    - Check main and head bolts for necking - reuse if viable;
    - EMP-Stewart water pump;
    - Refurbish the oil pump and wire the nut.

    Rotating Assembly

    - Keep existing rods and resize ends if machinist deems it necessary (unlikely), new ARP rod bolts;
    - Pistons as mentioned above (machinist to file-size rings during installation);
    - Polish crank journals, straighten, balance full assembly;

    I plan to use a 0.070 thickness (OEM) cut ring head gasket.

    SO... Am I missing anything? Am I doing anything wrong? If you made it this far, thanks for reading and thanks in advance for any advice you're able to provide.

    Previous:
    '82 911SC [sold]
    '11 WRX [murdered]
    '14 B8 S4 [Sold]

    #2
    i haven't finished putting it together, but i plan on installing an oil cooler on my s52.

    the oil filter housing was broken from the crashed Mroadster so i took the opportunity to buy an s54 filter housing and some AN lines, and plan on modding them to fit my stock e30 oil cooler. i also had to buy a conversion hose from achilles motorsport http://www.achillesmotorsports.com/V...11-am-vlch.htm

    bonus tip: using an arc asylum custom subframe will allow you to keep the stock s52 oil pan

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      #3
      Sounds like you're on the right track to build a potent and reliable s52. If you have the time, I'd disassemble and clean all of the lifters. With the high mileage chances are good they've built up some amount of varnish and are full of old nasty oil. Cleaning them out and priming them with new oil will greatly reduce any chance of lifter tick down the road. This was one trick I wish I had known when I built mine.

      If you're not going to be tracking/autoxing an oil cooler is not necessary. Even if you were, you probably wouldn't need it until you go pretty hard.

      Not sure if you have arp head bolts and main bolts (if you do, great check and reuse them as you mentioned), but if not, the oem bolts are torque to yield and must be replaced. Keep the old ones for your builder to use when checking tolerances.

      Try to use either elring or oem for all gaskets (or figure out who the OEM was that provided the original gasket/seal and buy that brand). Those are the only ones I've used which haven't leaked. Avoid victor reinz anything.

      Use curil-t to supplement all of the seals/gaskets. It's a non-hardening sealant made by elring specifically for engines, transmissions, turbos etc. Temp rated for -40C to 250C specifically for high internal pressure. Cures in 5-10 mins and is easy to clean up and to remove gaskets down the road. Also smells like candy. I use this exclusively and nothing leaks anymore. Use it on oil pan gasket, VC gasket, timing covers, rear main seal, front crank seal etc.

      Replace the 3 long torx head bolts (M6 I think) that bolt through the front of the head into the timing cover. They are weak and seem to lose strength with age/heat cycles, especially if they've ever been removed and torqued again improperly. I snapped one while using a torque wrench set to the appropriate values.

      Replace all of the M6 bolts used to bolt the timing covers. These also seem to get weak after time and especially after multiple removals and installs. Also snapped a couple of these using torque wrench with correct settings. I upgraded to 12.9 grade. They're cheap from mcmaster.

      Check/clean the oil squirters under the pistons.

      Not necessary, but if you have the "while you're in there-itis" like I do, get the whole rotating assembly balanced. Pressure plate->flywheel->crank->harmonic damper including having all the rods, pistons etc. weight matched.

      N52 exhaust studs are a bit shorter than the s52 studs which makes header removal/install a bit easier since you have less space int he e30 bay. They also have a torx head which makes the studs easy to install.


      And yes you should use an OBD1 IM and use OBD2 electronics :P
      '89 325i OBD2 S52 BUILD THREAD
      Shadetree30

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