M44 Head Gasket on M42?

[bmwman91]

So I am reassembling my engine this weekend. The new head gasket fits fine and all, but it did seem to cover up a few holes. Anyway I checked the part number and it seems to be a head gasket for an M44. Will this work with the M42 block/head, or did oil and coolant passages get moved around? My assumption as to why I was given this gasket is that it is because this engine is bored out to 86.97mm and the M44 HG is for a slightly larger bore (85mm vs 84mm) than the M42 HG.

Silly me, I of course assembled the head and a couple of things before thinking to ask, but I am not proceeding any further until I figure this out. The only real difference that I can find is that it covers up the top 3 small holes between the cylinders. This is going based on part photos on Pelican Parts.

Thanks!

[Dj Buttchug]

it wont work. you have to use the m42 hg. you shouldnt have issues with overbore on a stock hg i wouldnt think especially with only a few mm difference in bore. For example I am running a 85mm overbore and I use a stock Hg with no issues.

Im almost 100% positive the m44 gasket will not work on an m42 engine. Oil passages changed between the two engines.

[bmwman91]

Yeah from looking at the imprints on the block in some pics I took when I pulled the head, the engine had an M44 gasket in there before. I'll circle the 3 small holes that it blocks. I assume that these don't do anything, because if they were oiling holes I think that the valve train would sieze lol. I put ~1000 miles on the engine and it was built with an M44 gasket then as far as I can tell. Warsteiner over on M42Club has a built M42 that he is using an M44 HG on too.

Here is the M42 gasket:
http://www.ecstuning.com/Search/11121721550/ES18248/

Here is the M44 gasket:
http://www.ecstuning.com/Search/11121433951/ES18139/

These are the holes that the gasket blocks:




Where is the main oil feed to the head? For the love of god don't tell me it is the top 3 little ones lol.

Here is the M44 gasket on the block:

[Dj Buttchug]

great pics for reference. waiting for someone else to chime in...? What are those holes for?

[jntar]

I'd ask the HQ Autosport guys. I remember one of them stating they ran the m44 gasket on their m42 turbo car with no problems.

[bmwman91]

great pics for reference. waiting for someone else to chime in...? What are those holes for?

That's what she said?

But yeah, I have NO idea what those holes are for. The M44 block and head do not have them. Now, I know that the later E36 M42's and the M44 have an oil check valve between the head and block, and I would ASSUME that it resides in the main oil galley/inlet for the head. My guess is that it is there to prevent the oil from draining back out of the lifters to that the car doesn't have nasty valve lash at start-up. It isn't really an issue with the E30 M42, although every now and then I would get a noisy start. I am blathering...the oil check valve is part #9 and it looks like it goes in one of the big holes on the exhaust side...which I thought were all oil drains.
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...60&hg=11&fg=10

If you look at the back of the head, there are a couple of screw plugs, and there is another one between the lifters for cylinders 2 and 3 on the exhaust side. They must be plugs for the main oil galleys that were bored, or SOMETHING. Anyone got an oil system schematic for the M42?

[Dj Buttchug]

I know for a fact those screw plugs on the back of the head ( or at least one of them) is in fact a oil port. Alot of guys going turbo will simply use this hole for a turbo oil feed.

[bmwman91]

I know for a fact those screw plugs on the back of the head ( or at least one of them) is in fact a oil port. Alot of guys going turbo will simply use this hole for a turbo oil feed.

Cool. From looking, the bigger plug seems to be more or less aligned with the 3 small holes on the exhaust side. There is another smaller plug which seems aligned with the 3 intake-side holes. Weird.

If the 3 top ones were in fact oil feeds, I would imagine that the intake cam would seize and/or the lifters would never stop making noise. Since I put 1000 miles on the last M44 HG it is probably OK. The intake cam lobes did get all chewed up, but that was thanks to the shitty break in oil I had in there combined with much higher lift and increased spring pressure.

Sorry if my pics stopped showing up. My web host seems to be down right now...WTF.

[bmwman91]

Found this old thread. Looks like a lot of M42 turbo guys use M44 HG's.

http://www.318ti.org/forum/showthread.php?t=31676

[jntar]

Found this old thread. Looks like a lot of M42 turbo guys use M44 HG's.

http://www.318ti.org/forum/showthread.php?t=31676

As I said earlier e30pq is one of the HQ Auto guys. I'd ask them their opinion on it.

[bmwman91]

As I said earlier e30pq is one of the HQ Auto guys. I'd ask them their opinion on it.

Thanks. I sent them a message asking about it.

[TobyB]

those are 'steam' holes for water. Your oil passage is the one that comes up a little to the right and above the center web between 2 & 3, where there is no oil return.
It aligns with that groove in the head that goes to the bolt hole that centers on the web.

dunno if the gasket will work, tho... probably will.

t

t

[bmwman91]

Nice, thanks for the clarification!

Quick one...if you look at the pic of the HG, you will see that it has some silver metal paint coating on it. Notice that said paint is chipped on the metal seal for cylinders 2 and 4 (the biggest chip is in the upper right of cylinder 4). Am I just being insanely paranoid, or should I be concerned? The paint is some sort of metal coating, probably aluminum based. The HG is under a hell of a lot of compression, and I'd imagine that the paint squishes/spreads a little since the metal seals really get crunched on.

The first HG had this stuff too (since I had to spend an hour scraping it all off of the block) and the pics of the block/head show that there was not any paint in locations where the metal seal was. There is no way that the HG was masked before, so the paint must have squeezed out or something, and there seemed to be a little build-up of it around the outside perimeter where the metal seal was.

Holy shit am I paranoid about this. Maybe it is just first-timer's syndrome or something...I know all sorts of people put way less care and attention into details with these projects and they usually end up fine. I guess that the two freak valve spring failures have me on edge now!