M30b34 E30 twin-screw supercharged muscle car

[Ether-D]

Nice riiiiight?

[Ether-D]

Alright. So should I buy the upper and lower gasket and seal set for $150 and just put this motor back together? Then rebuild it later if needed?

Or buy the Maxsil Piston kit from bavauto with rings for $584 and go ahead and have it bored and put all back together all new like?

The difference is basically a delayed project start time and more out of pocket on the upfront. If I go ahead and put her back together, then I can get to engineering the supercharger and get the ball rolling on the whole thing. But maybe have to re-buy the gaskets later if I need to rebuild.

If I have to buy pistons and have the block bored now, that will be mo money which means mo time before I can get to gettin', but it also means I won't have to do a rebuild later.

It helps me so much just typing this shit out. I think I'm gonna do the quick and dirty start plan. I wanna get some damn motor in a damn e30 already. If I need to do a ground-up rebuild later I will.

[Ether-D]

Also, anybody know off-hand if the m30 head bolts are re-useable?

edit: edit:

So I got my "full gasket set" in my cart at fcp euro with:
Head, valve cover, water pump, timing cover, exhaust, oil pan, intake, and thermostat housing gaskets
And cam, timing and rear main seals.
All for $110. That seems like a deal.
No drippy.

[bulldog30]

Also, anybody know off-hand if the m30 head bolts are re-useable?

they should be

[Andy.B]

Your plan sounds like my plan. I've replaced the consumables (spark plugs, manifold gaskets, hoses, etc) for my m30 swap, but haven't bothered pulling the head, or even separating the tranny from the engine. I know if I do I won't be able to leave well enough alone, and it will take months and thousands of dollars before I have it running, vs just rolling the dice, installing it as is, and then making repairs as needed.

As far as the head bolts being reusable, I can't say for sure, but I have not once heard of stock head bolts that were reusable.

[Ether-D]

Your plan sounds like my plan. I've replaced the consumables (spark plugs, manifold gaskets, hoses, etc) for my m30 swap, but haven't bothered pulling the head, or even separating the tranny from the engine. I know if I do I won't be able to leave well enough alone, and it will take months and thousands of dollars before I have it running, vs just rolling the dice, installing it as is, and then making repairs as needed.

As far as the head bolts being reusable, I can't say for sure, but I have not once heard of stock head bolts that were reusable.

^This. I can't bring myself to just drizzle it with gasket maker and put it back together. I must scrape and clean and replace. It's just so easy to do it now with the motor out than if I needed to later with the motor in the car. ANd for $146, I can part with that money for the feeling of newy-newness.

[Andy.B]

$146 IS less than I expected. I'm tempted to follow that path... but mostly I just need to get the car running again. The engine didn't appear to leak before, so I'll take my chances for now... fingers crossed.

[ThatOneEuroE30]

146 for head bolts? Might as well get arp studs

[sittingaaron]

No, his cart was full of other stuff. Pretty good price if you ask me.

[Ether-D]

Yeah no, the head bolts were only $36 of the $146.

New head bolts,
head, valve cover, water pump, timing cover, exhaust, oil pan, intake, and thermostat housing gaskets
And cam, timing and rear main seals.

[ThatOneEuroE30]

Ahh I looked back to see where the 146 came from but must have missed that post. That's good deal

[Ether-D]

^Werd.

K, so I've had some time to mess around in the shop today and I removed all of the pistons. 4 of them had the gaps in the rings within about 1/2 inch of each other. I was under the impression that they should be at opposite sides so as to reduce anything getting by them.

Irrrrrregardless, would it hurt, harm, or make no difference if I just took a hone to the cylinders? You know, just to get the old rings to bed-in all nice in their new orientations.

Where's Digger when you need him?

[slammin.e28]

M30 head bolts are reusable. They are not torque to yield like M20 bolts.

[Ether-D]

Awesome! Thank you Slammin'.

And I just did a rudimentary search on re-useing rings, and some say light hone and put em' back in and some say NO!!!!! So, fuck it, I'm gonna do a light hone and put them back. We'll know in a few months if it was the right thing to do.

[Ether-D]

So i got the loaner cylinder hone from O'reilly and I came home and boy am I glad I had a junk block laying around. It took about exactly 6 practice hones to get my technique down to semi regular and repeatable.

But I felt kinda comfortable with my results so I went ahead and went for the gold on the old b34 block. I gotta say, I'm pretty pleased with the results. It doesn't look as good as factory cross-hatching, it looks way better than some pics I've seen. You be the judges…

Before


After


Is it just gonna explode in a giant fireball? Place your bets!