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Malachite M60 first drive! I blew it up.

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    Malachite M60 first drive! I blew it up.

    Finally got done with wet sanding the clear and other misc items. Spent a day sorting out bad electrics so I had working lights, then towed it to get the glass and exhaust installed. Took it for it's first drive. Didn't make it far because I had a wheel rubbing on a caliper. Quick return and a little more grinding and fixed that. Headed out for about a 15 minute drive. It did really well, sounded awesome with the race cat and 3" magnaflow. Didn't get on it hard, but I can tell it's going to be quick. Got back after about a 10 minute drive and parked it in the garage. Checked hoses, everything felt good, but fan was not kicking in. Decided to let it idle a couple minutes. Coolant overflow (I am using the original eta tic-tac shaped one) starts hissing. I had problem with the cap not wanting to tighten properly.... Lo, with the fan not on and the temp at about 3/4 on the guage it starts to boil over. Couldn't stop it with some more revs. Fan never came on, gauge never got to the red, but close. Praying I didn't roast it. Shortest lived M60 swap ever if I blew it up. Waited for it to cool, restarted for a about 20 seconds. Had a little missfire, but I noticed the spark plug well was totally full of coolant, so hoping thats the miss and not a blown head gasket.

    Why do we do this to ourselves? Lol. I loved it the 10 minutes I had it driving.
    1985 325e -> M60 swap project
    1983 GTV6
    1974 X1/9

    #2
    It's going to be fine. The coolant in the spark plug was likely from the tank spewing. There is no coolant gasket anywhere near the spark plugs, not even the head gasket. Glad you have it going, I've had mine in project status for 8 years. Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

    Comment


      #3
      Yes, coolant in the wells was from it puking. I suspect the cap for the coolant tank was defective, it is reluctant to tighten, it seems that when you get to tightening torque, it skips threads. Its interesting because when it boiled over, it was spraying out from the threads of the cap, not the overflow tube. I checked realOEM, an E34 540 cap is rated at 2 bar. The cap on the tictac is rated at 1.2 bar. I wonder if I need to go to an aftermarket tank with a higher rated cap to support the higher temps and pressure the M60 is going to run.

      Cleaned the plug wells, dried the coils and it fired up fine. Now I just need to figure out what to do to keep the cooling system from doing this again. I don't want to switch to the e34 tank because I will have to pull the crossover pipe on the back of the head.
      1985 325e -> M60 swap project
      1983 GTV6
      1974 X1/9

      Comment


        #4
        I’ve been using a Mercedes expansion tank with a 1.4 bar metal cap for the past 8 years on my m60. No issues. On my stock m20 race car with the late model reservoir, I went through 2-3 used reservoirs and caps, even a new OEM cap, and still had issues with them stripping out and overflowing. I think a new OEM reservoir/cap would be fine. 30+ years is a lot to ask from a cooling system component, especially one with plastic threads.
        85 325e m60b44 6 speed / 89 535i
        e30 restoration and V8 swap
        24 Hours of Lemons e30 build

        Comment


          #5
          The pill shaped expansion tank uses a unique cap, unlike the other cars. The late model cap "kinda" screws on, but doesn't seal properly.

          Cross reference:

          Early cap (early e30, e28, e24, e23 and z1): https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/partxref?q=17114379047

          Late cap (late e30, e36, e34): https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/partxref?q=17111742232
          john@m20guru.com
          Links:
          Transaction feedback: Here, here and here. Thanks :D

          Comment


            #6
            Got my new BMW cap to put on the Rock-Auto PRC special pill tank. FIts great, no stripping. Before filling everything up, I decided to check the fan switch. Immersed it in a pot of water, slowly heated it up. It's a 91C switch. Got the water eventually to 98C, switch never clicked. Took it out, put the mini torch to it, never clicked. So I think I had 2 things conspire against me here. My new temp switch was defective and my cooling tank cap was defective. Runaway situation once it got hot especially if I still had a little air in the system. The fan switch was a new Standard Motor unit, made in Italy. I run their stuff on my Italians, where there aren't alternatives so I didn't consider it a drawback. WIll be wiring in a switch now, along with a new Febi switch whever I decide I want to tear the cooling system apart again. Test drive #2 tonight after I grind a little more off the caliper that was rubbing.
            1985 325e -> M60 swap project
            1983 GTV6
            1974 X1/9

            Comment


              #7
              I tent to gravitate to the E36 318ti temp switch. Fits right in the radiator, and has a 91° low side. It is a bit on the pricey side for a temp switch, though.
              john@m20guru.com
              Links:
              Transaction feedback: Here, here and here. Thanks :D

              Comment


                #8
                Only problem with the E36 switches is this is an early car, so I don't have those round pin connectors. Not sure where to get pins to hard wire them either. For not I have bypassed the coolant switch with a switch that I simply click on when sitting at a light. I'll run that setup until I drain the coolant again for some reason. It's running fairly well. I have a CEL still, after installing the O2 sensors. Revs hang really bad between shifts, which I HATE. I have a DUDMD chip in there, wondering if my VSS seignal is not getting to the DME. Brakes seem to be set up just about perfect. Need to drive a little more and do some tests on gravel to make sure the rears are locking under heavy application. Once thats all verified here in the next week or two, I'll stick the interior back in!
                1985 325e -> M60 swap project
                1983 GTV6
                1974 X1/9

                Comment


                  #9
                  I have to say, I've become a fan of just having the fans kick on with KO. relying on a temp switch is to risky. I've fight this on my Jeep for too long also. Decided just on with Key On is safer. Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Took another drive this PM. Developed a small coolant leak on the bottom hose, tightened that up. Now has a high idle, looking for vacuum leaks. Sounds awesome. Can't really use more than 3000 RPM aroud town or it just gets too wild. Tires are shitty shop rollers, will address that sooner than I had planned I think. Tomorrow I'll put on my secondary diff mount and maybe try a quick freeway blast. Brake bias is set up perfect. Haven't tried locking them on pavement, they only have 50 miles on them now probably, but my gravel alley I got all 4 to lock at just about the same pressure. Ordered some purple loctite 222 for the jam nuts on the bias bar and clevis nuts for the Wilwood pedals as they seem to walk off their sets really easily. Don't want to lose this setup. I'm going to have to take it somewhere with a rack to get aligned. Up in the air and on the ground there is too much change in geometry to do it with a string. On the ground, than big V8 has so much weight on the ground, without turntables it's a bitch to turn the tie rod out. Knock on wood, if things keep going well, I might start to put the interior back in. Enjoy it some this summer and fall, and then try and fix all the F'd up spots where I need to color sand some more. Still looks good in bright sun though!
                    1985 325e -> M60 swap project
                    1983 GTV6
                    1974 X1/9

                    Comment


                      #11
                      After sitting in hot sun for 10 hours and shrinking up, my trunk now looks like shit. I had some porosity in the primer and the base and clear have now adhered to it. Oh well. The worst spots on the car are the trunk and hood, easy to totally redo if I feel like it. Put gas in it for the first time, had a vent hose not fully synched up, giving some gas smell. Also noticed my idle was waaaay lower once filled with gas. That didn't seem right then put 2 and 2 together. Hanging revs, hunting idle, and now super low idle after gas. Bingo, I forgot to hook my fuel pressure regulator back up. I need the stupid BMW hose, there's no room between the PCV and the firewall to kink a bulk one around. More small BS every day. Also found my left rear outside subframe bolts were only hand tight. Remedied the rattle over bumps I had. The shop tires are definitely trash. 10 year old hard rubber. Gets very squirreley with only a little throttle in 2nd, and still dances a little on hard throttle in 3rd. This is going to be fun though once all this small BS is taken care of.
                      1985 325e -> M60 swap project
                      1983 GTV6
                      1974 X1/9

                      Comment


                        #12
                        91c temp switch car will suffer in traffic.Get a lower one like 85c and keep the stock thermostat, car will be in temp and coolent will be cooled and ready when thermostat opens, you be safe on an expense of some extra current draw.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Originally posted by ADEN View Post
                          91c temp switch car will suffer in traffic.Get a lower one like 85c and keep the stock thermostat, car will be in temp and coolent will be cooled and ready when thermostat opens, you be safe on an expense of some extra current draw.
                          I found an 82C switch, maybe I will give that a go.
                          1985 325e -> M60 swap project
                          1983 GTV6
                          1974 X1/9

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Now it's got a missfire. Totally disheartened with this thing. If I blew a head gasket the M60 might go in the junk pile and I'll put a LS in it. Or just part the fucker out.....
                            1985 325e -> M60 swap project
                            1983 GTV6
                            1974 X1/9

                            Comment


                              #15
                              And turns out, it was the coils shorting in coolant, again. Thought I had cleared it all out, but since antifreeze doesn't evaporate, everything that was on the walls of the galley ran back down into the plug wells again. Vac'd out more, blew more out with the air gun. Time to put the coil covers on in case I have another temperature excursion. Fixed the vacuum leaks, but revs are still hanging somewhat. Need to play with the Vehicle speed input some more. If that doesn't cure it, then it might be time for the old IAC restrictor plate trick.
                              1985 325e -> M60 swap project
                              1983 GTV6
                              1974 X1/9

                              Comment

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