Rebuild Advice

[TickHaus]

Sorry if this is the wrong section or something, i'm 100% new to forum-ing haha.

So heres the long version:
My first car was a 1987 325ES, and i instantly fell in love with e30s,
that being said, i did not nearly appreciate that car enough.
A couple months back there was a really bad windstorm and as a result of
that and my ignorance of my tire tread level i ended up spinning it into a fire hydrant. And no water did not shoot up into the air, as it turns out video games have been lying to us this whole time. so instead of having the totaled car hauled to the crusher i towed it back to my dads house, where i spent a month or two harvesting parts from it. i was able to pull the engine, the interior, the entire rear subframe (no LSD crushing on my watch) and the wheels.
while i took everything and had it hauled off i needed a daily so i bought another E30. now, keep in mind that i made this purchase with the thought that i could just swap the engine over, so i bought an 84' 325E with a bent valve. at this point i have an M20 on a stand in my garage, and the worst-sounding E30 ever in my driveway, I can tell that this car is not going to last very long, it gets worse every day. Ive also been offered a very good deal on an S10 recently, so i think that will be my daily.

To get to the point,
My plan is to garage the 84, and focus on rebuilding this engine before i put it into a car. the biggest project ive ever done before this whole thing was a timing belt/water pump replacement, so this is a pretty ambitious undertaking for me, and i was just wondering if any of you have any thoughts or advice on the subject of the first-time rebuilding of an M20, or even just ideas about how i can really get to know this thing better.

Thanks

[Andy.B]

Regarding the engine rebuild: get a Bentley manual, and read through the relevant sections for rebuilding the engine. Then read them again. Then probably a third time.

Then make notes. Label everything as you take it apart. Put things in boxes or baggies. Be meticulous. Be careful. Work slowly.

When it comes to machine work, finds a place you trust. All shops are not created equal. Ask around. And even if you find the best shop in the world staffed by the worlds most experienced machinist, check everything yourself again.

And when you start to re assemble, plan out a step, gather what you need, do that step, then stop, check it over, and think about it before you move on. And then repeat. There is nothing more frustrating than having to go backwards because you missed something, or bring stressed because you aren't 100% sure you torqued that one but properly.

Rebuilding an engine is absolutely an attainable goal. It doesn't require a huge amount of money or a huge budget, but it requires an extreme attention to detail.

But the rewarding feeling of hearing an engine YOU BUILT rumble to life is incredible. There is honestly nothing else like the first time you drive a car that is moving under the power of an engine you assembled with your own hands.

[TickHaus]

thanks andy, just ordered the bentley, yeah i cant even imagine what its going to be like when its finished.