I have an E 30.

[Nader393]

Now I need to go deeper, and see what pistons are in there. Need to detach the headers before pulling the head. Luckily, I have Gerhard wrenches. They are the only thing that will reach around the tubes to undo the nuts.

[Nader393]

Finally got around to tearing into the engine in my car, to see what it actually has. It was advertised to me, and the previous owner(s) as a Metric Mechanics 2.9L engine. But despite upgrading it myself with over a $1K of bolt-on upgrades (IE long tube headers, and Miller MAF and chip), I only got stock horsepower on the chassis dyno. So lets's see...

First, address the pretty engine:


Hmm... stock rockers, and unsure about the cam till I extract and measure it:

[Nader393]

Found this:

[Nader393]

stock lift is definitely not 10.5mm. Also, you have to account for the valve adjustment, which changes as the engine warms up.

Really? Definitely? Why would you bother to respond, but not correct me by posting the actual stock lift?

[nando]

stock lift is definitely not 10.5mm. Also, you have to account for the valve adjustment, which changes as the engine warms up.

[Nader393]

Rocker arm looks like a 1.5 ratio. So the 7 mm lift I measured at the cam translates to 10.5 mm at the valve. Which seems more reasonable, and basically stock. I've also almost solved my cam duration measuring error.

I'm clumsily fumbling through this process in public. If I were smarter, I'd keep from posting until I had it all sorted. Scratch that; if I were smarter, I wouldn't be tearing an engine apart in my den.

[Nader393]

Ahh, never mind. I was measuring cam duration starting at 0.005" lift, not 0.05". Stupid accurate Starrett gauge threw me off. I need to remeasure...

[Nader393]

Finally got down to the camshaft. Set up shop in my den. This is what you do when the wife nags you to spend more time with the family; bring the projects indoors and in their faces. Who doesn't like the smell of used motor oil while watching T.V.?

Anyway, with my battered degree wheel and Boeing dial indicator (bought it from the Boeing factory when they sold surplus to the public about 10 years ago), I got some unexpected measurements.

Lift is only 6.5 mm (stock is 10.1 mm), but duration at 0.005" lift at the cam was Intake 140˚ and Exhaust 160˚, which at the crankshaft would be a whopping 280˚ and 320˚. Only marking on the cam is shown.

Does all this sound right? Small lift with long duration? Might need to post this in the general or engine section.

[Nader393]

The head, however, is still a mystery. I was told it was a Bimmerhead rebuild, but it lacks the identifying stamping that usually goes above the #6 exhaust on one of their performance builds. Bummer. I contacted Bimmerheads (very responsive and helpful, BTW), and Matt said their budget rebuilds don't have the stamp. So maybe it's one of those.

On the other hand, this head does have H.D. rockers. So who knows what this really is? And will it make any difference if I transplant it into my car's existing engine? Next step is I need to identify the cam. I'll also get the intake manifold off and see if I can identify any fancy smoothing/porting.

If one of the prior owners of this engine stumbles into this thread, I'd appreciate any info.

[Nader393]

I'm back. Now that my motorcycle and car racing season is over, I can turn my attention back to the e30. Finally got to tear into the spare engine that's been hiding in the back corner of my back corner shed. Tore it down to the block.
Wanted to see what I really have before transplanting parts.

Pistons look like they are off a 2.5 engine. Bore (84mm) and stroke (81mm) indicate 2.7L. So that's good, and consistent so far with what I've been told about it.

[Nader393]

That spare engine has been camping out in the back of my F-350 and under a tarp for the last few weeks. High time I get it some shelter. Here it is going into my shed.

This is an important step, because it means either of two things:
1. I start working on the car again to transfer the head and headers (and that sexy valve cover) to the existing bored/stroked short block and make it the best e30 it can be.
2. I let it sit in the shed until I die, to become a "barn-find" to someone in (hopefully) 40-50 years.

Stay tuned...

[nando]

In the end, the brakes are much, much better. I don't know how much of it is the different pads, versus having a fastened rear rotor. Still puzzled how that loose caliper didn't tear the dust shield apart when in squeezed down on the rotor the first time. Should have done this when I first got the car.

Hawk HPS are horrible IMO. I hated my brakes (and my wife was afraid to drive it) - I rebuilt the calipers, replaced the MC, replaced the rotors, bled, and rebled, and bled the brakes again.. Still no feel and a mushy pedal. Swapped out the HPS back to OE Pagids, and it was like magic!

Their real race pads are pretty good, but the HPS at the time were not really great for anything.

Nice build BTW!

[Nader393]

Hey, anyone else like KFC? Let's go get some...

[wworm]

OMG what is it with people. Same thing happened to me on the rear. When I went to unbolt the calipers on the left rear of the car there were no 7mm bolts at all, both gone.

I cant believe I drove that thing on the highway like that. I guess its better then the front ones being gone.

my car essentially lost brakes because I let a friend work on my car and they didnt install the guide pin properly. Was driving along and heard a "PING" and then went to slow down and the pedal just sank. Very scary moment.

[Staszek]

For some reason, I've never unbolted the wheels from this car. I've also been dealing with dull braking for the last two years. I finally got around to addressing that. My thought was that the prior owner who resto-modded this car in the first place (two owners ago before me) may have installed racing pads, because the brakes were slow to grab when cold, then better when hot. Not a good setup on a street car.

My first surprise was the wheel bolt torques. On almost every wheel, there was a mix of undertorqued (about 30 ft/lbs or so) and super-overtorqued (probably 120 ft/lbs) bolts. The tight ones weren't even rusted, someone intentionally cranked them down like that. Lucky the wheels aren't cracked.

My next surprise was that there were decent street pads installed; Hawk HPS. But the calipers were barely fastened, using an assorted mix of low strength, and galled screws. Biggest surprise was when I stuck that 7mm allen wrench into the driver rear caliper, and found that both glide pins were nonexistent. So the caliper was just hanging out in space. Crazy. Also (delightfully) surprised that O'reilly's keeps those glide pins in stock.

Did I mention before that this car was a loose mess when I got it? Under-torqued and missing fasteners throughout the steering and drivetrain. Knowing that, I should have checked the brakes sooner.

[ATTACH]121263[/ATTACH]

OMG what is it with people. Same thing happened to me on the rear. When I went to unbolt the calipers on the left rear of the car there were no 7mm bolts at all, both gone.

I cant believe I drove that thing on the highway like that. I guess its better then the front ones being gone.