The Little Motor That Keeps Breaking Part 2 (3? 4? 5?) - Long Story

[samurai7]

Keep the car as a project, buy a car that the fiancé likes. :)

[bmwman91]

Alrighty, I spent 45 minutes opening up the motor. Having a crank-locking tool really makes that 22mm crank damper bolt a piece of cake! So, what did I find? Was it the guide rail, like I had guessed?

Does anything look funny from this angle?


If nothing stood out, then how about from this angle?


Yeah, you may be noticing something above. Well, yeah here it is. Someone make a rage/FFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUU image macro for me, quick!


There was a pile of aluminum shavings up on the top of the lower cover, above the water pump. I guess the chain was milling away on something.


If you were wondering WHAT it was milling away on, then here is your answer!


So, here is where I am at. I am NOT repairing the motor. This is the second busted timing case, and the third mechanical failure in that general region. The motor has 220,200 miles on it, the previous owner (I got this in 2005 with 140,000 miles) mistreated it & wasn't great on maintenance, and I have been driving the dog shit out of the motor ever since then. It is well known that the thrust bearing on the crank is a weak spot, and I have no idea what condition that is in at this point, and I feel that it is at the end of its useful life without a full rebuild. The chassis is mostly free of issues, aside from some niggling cosmetic ones, so a new motor could get me another decade of use.

Although I have been super indecisive about what to do, I decided that I don't want to be a goober & drive a shiny new car around because that just isn't me. While I would gain some comfort from a new, reliable cookie-cutter vehicle, I just can't do it. Especially in this area, just about every 20-something with a tech job is cruising around in a sporty new car. While I am also a 20-something with a tech job, I prefer to keep a lower profile & maintain my grease-monkey status.

So, I am going to work with Metric Mechanic on something. My dream, for YEARS, has been a Rally 2100 motor with all of the options. It is a silly amount of money, but it is less than a new car, and I would have to hope that those motors are absolutely bomb-proof. Given that the rest of the chassis seems to be in good condition, a new motor could mean another decade of relatively pleasant ownership. How many folks here have MM motors, and what are your impressions of their reliability? It seems like durability & quality are their main focus, and everyone seems to regard them well. If I was to drop a silly amount of cash on a MM motor, I'd have to KNOW that I wouldn't need to do more than change the oil & maybe a hose or two for the next 100,000 miles. Sheer power is not my concern, and I am not considering motor swaps. 205HP in a 318iS chassis strikes me as the perfect amount of power. Being that I almost killed myself driving like an idiot back in 2005, I am over the idea of having "lots" of power. All that would get me is trouble! I also don't really participate in track events, but I would like to get back into autoX.

How about SMOG compliance? Going to 11 or 11.5:1 compression with an MM motor will increase the NOx emissions. By how much, I can't say. A fresh catalytic converter usually has me passing SMOG with damn near zero emissions (with a new cat, I was puffing out less emissions than my fiancee's 2003 Civic). I can't afford to get a fancy motor & then NOT pass CA SMOG lol.

Anyway, my fiancee is actually sort of supportive of me getting a built motor since it will make me happy. I haven't told her that a Rally 2100 w/ options will be $10k, and that I just might throw in a MM rebuilt transmission since I know that the input shaft on mine is dying anyway. Still, if I can get new-car reliability in my lovable old-car, I am OK with it. I am a frugal guy, and I live well beneath my means the majority of the time. I am a big saver. In truth, the whole reason I save is so that I am prepared for any times in life where I have trouble & need to be able to deal with it without doing any "creative financing" (loan sharks, borrowing from family, etc). Well, this is one of those times, so I am strongly considering going for an option that I have been wanting for a LONG time.

I am sort of hesitant to drive a car around with a motor that expensive. I would absolutely work out an insurance plan that covers every penny of added value since it could get crashed, or some asshole could steal & gut the car. While that is unlikely, you just never know. Where that person would sell the motor without someone noticing is another story, especially since I would have serial numbers engraved in all sorts of spots, but I want to be covered anyway.

I'll keep you guys posted on what happens. It is looking like I am not bailing on the E30 lifestyle though!

EDIT
The car gave me a clear sign that this motor was not to be repaired. I got a death cry from it. About 6 miles from home with the loose timing chain, the f***ing horn button on the steering wheel started sticking (needless to say, I was irate). So here I am driving down the highway, clattering & randomly honking like an imbecile. The car was giving me a message. "Get a new motor. Oh, and fix my left-side horn button kthx."

[Gerta]

^This. In sub'd and in for the win ... BMWman91 you are my hero.

[///M42 sport]

wow, Idk my m42 has been trouble free since i've owned it...approx 100k with >300k now. I just use as DD. Really no major failures. Although recently the spark plug descintegrated !!!

[nates 87 325is]

I don't know anything about MM. but why go with another m42 if you think they are poorly designed? Why not do a MM M20? (if there is such a thing) either way good luck with it all and I'm glad to see your keeping the e30.

[Dj Buttchug]

the second member here in the last few months thats posted with deflection wheel/ timing case domination.

sorry to hear about this. and good luck with the MM engine. If your plans fall through I have all the parts needed to fix that

[bmwman91]

^This. In sub'd and in for the win ... BMWman91 you are my hero.

Haha thanks. There will be a new thread when I decide on what to do, exactly.

wow, Idk my m42 has been trouble free since i've owned it...approx 100k with >300k now. I just use as DD. Really no major failures. Although recently the spark plug descintegrated !!!

I am envious. Truthfully, I would greatly prefer to have this motor running still, with no concerns about reliability, and putter along to 300k miles. My first 318iS was like that...the previous owner had babied it & it was in incredible shape. This one suffered from some neglect, and I still drove it like it was the first one. So, some of this is of my own doing.

Alas, this one crapped out. I bought a used timing case back in 2006 when the oil pump ate a chunk of metal, courtesy of the PO's neglect. Maybe it just wan't in great shape? Also, when the idler sprocket came apart last year, it is entirely possible that some damage was done to the timing case during that event. I think that the outer race was spinning against one of the cast ribs that supports the deflector wheel mount post. That's a textbook example of "stress concentration" and I don't doubt for a moment that it could have been the site from which a crack formed & propagated all the way around the mount post. It is a bummer, but at least the car didn't strand me out on 247 or 58 in the Mojave!

Here's the neat view on 247:

http://maps.google.com/?ll=34.724467,-116.990333&spn=0.034743,0.052314&t=h&z=15&layer=c&cbll=34.724467,-116.990333&panoid=q1UNQe_dzUSvMkBz3LHo1w&cbp=12,337.78,,0,4.5

And 58:

http://maps.google.com/?ll=35.011684,-117.906604&spn=0.017381,0.026157&t=h&z=16&layer=c&cbll=35.011684,-117.906604&panoid=Rua_t7qOI06LByWa4-iUhg&cbp=12,100.11,,0,-0.59

Instead, I got to this paradise when I first noticed the noise.

http://maps.google.com/?ll=35.98708,-119.958965&spn=0.001073,0.001635&t=h&z=20&layer=c&cbll=35.98708,-119.958965&panoid=pLEkVBeCtNLxFBMf6FedZw&cbp=12,354.83,,0,-1.33

[rjcaptsean]

LOL.. always cracks me up when the 'envirowackos' whine about our deserts "disappearing". Have they ever driven on a highway in the southwest USA?

[bmwman91]

OK, so for purposes of keeping costs under control, I sort of want to avoid replacing the tranny & diff. Neither really has anything wrong with it, and I happen to have a spare transmission, with 50000 less miles on it from 7 years ago when I wrecked the first E30. I am not sure if the crash damaged it or not, but that seems unlikely. The one on there now seems OK anyway. How much life can you get out of a Getrag 240 (particularly if you are looking at 205HP at the crank)? The fluid has been changed regularly. I assume that the small case 4.1:1 LSD I put in should be good forever?

I'll replace the two if there is good reason to worry about the longevity. As of now though, I haven't ever really seen people have problems with those two items unless they are running a lot of boost or an S5X motor swap.

[nando]

a G240 shouldn't have any problem. a 205hp M42 isn't going to be a torque beast.

My motor wasn't built by MM, but I use some of their components and build advice. it's been rock solid for about 70k now.

[bmwman91]

Thanks. What parts on a manual tranny usually wear out & break (assuming you aren't pushing crazy power)? I assume that synchros die, and maybe an occasional shaft bearing?

[nando]

synchros mainly. People who beat on their transmissions while shifting will break shifter forks and stuff, but if you drive normally it's not going to be a problem. especially if you rev match while you shift down, you'll make life easier on the transmission.

Another thing that will help (even though it reduces response) is keeping the stock dual mass flywheel. the flywheel will absorb a lot of shock, saving the transmission and drivetrain.

[bmwman91]

Well, I spent an hour on the phone with Jim R. over at Metric Mechanic. I have a quote on the way for a Rally 2100 M42 with all the options. Apparently their price list is a tad outdated, and the total cost is going to be about 20% higher than I expected. Once I get the quote, I'll think about it & then decide what to do. It is a lot of money, although way less than a new car. It sounds like I should be able to get hundreds of thousands of miles from the motor, and decades of trouble-free ownership. He also said that CA's 91 octane gas and SMOG test should not pose any issues for me. Man I hope that is true, because this doesn't strike me as something you can just return!

So, we shall see what happens. The price bugs me a little only because it is sort of above what I was prepared for, but I certainly don't think that it is unfair. Considering the amount of labor that goes into this, and that an M47 crank alone pushes $1500 these days, it is an expensive example of, "you get what you pay for." I know that if I do this, I'll like what I get. I've been cheap & saved for so long that I seem to have forgotten that the whole point of saving was to buy myself options when I needed them!