how dremel saved the christmas...

[static]

for some reason noone here ever mentioned that cam blocks don't fit on 24v'ed e30.
At least on mine the exhaust side didn't. Well after a bit surgery it did (pardon the pimp plastic bag :pimp:):



now onto taking those cams out


happy holiday everyone :drink:

[matt]

LOL!

I used tin snips on mine.

[surebimmer]

Nice. What cams are going in there?

[erik325i]

Strange, I didn't have any clearance issues with that cam lock tool when I replaced the cams on a customers '85 e30 with an m50tu

-Erik

[static]

Strange, I didn't have any clearance issues with that cam lock tool when I replaced the cams on a customers '85 e30 with an m50tu

-Erik

perhaps it's only on late models.

not sure about the cams yet, i was just planning to change to '96+ retainers, but seeing how these are pretty scored i might be rethinking.

[FredK]

hahaha! I guess a little Canadian ingenuity goes a long way! ;)

I did my retainer swap while the engine was out, so I didn't run into this issue. I have an extremely similar set of cam blocks.

Happy holidays to you too! Good luck with the retainer swap. I just finished a rod bearing R&R on Christmas Eve. :mrgreen:

[static]

hahaha! I guess a little Canadian ingenuity goes a long way! ;)

I did my retainer swap while the engine was out, so I didn't run into this issue. I have an extremely similar set of cam blocks.

Happy holidays to you too! Good luck with the retainer swap. I just finished a rod bearing R&R on Christmas Eve. :mrgreen:

Thanks Fred

cams are scored to sh*ts, perhaps engine was oil starved before i had it. What else would be a good idea to check seeing this scoring? bottom end bearings?
Compression was pretty good prior to disassembly.
Did you do your rod bearings with engine in-car?

[FredK]

M/S5x owners often find that the cams are scored when they are pulled. As long as they aren't SUPER scored, you should be fine. I'd check with an engine machinist and see what he says.

I'd leave the bottom end alone, and after getting everything back together and driving around for a while, get an engine oil analysis done. If you get any bearing materials back in the analysis, it's time to replace the bearings. However, M/S5x engines are known to have really robust bottom ends. I doubt anything is wrong with the bottom end.

I did a rod bearing swap while the engine was on a stand. I don't think it'd be too too hard to do it while the engine is in the car, but it's a tough job to do while upside-down.