Engine - before / after

[brodee]

just curious, how do you go about getting such good detail on the small lines and bmw logo, without spillover onto the rest of everything?

Spray the whole thing then go back over the raised parts with a sander, that's what I did with mine.

That's right... I painted the wrinkle and then let it sit overnight. Next day I hit it with an air sander with a 5" disc on it. Used 3 different grits and then hand sanded it with 420 on a block.

[bmwannabe]

how did you like taking off that intake manifold and putting it back on I did that shit in my garage in 20 degree weather, and it took me like 2 days.

[mgold]

how did you like taking off that intake manifold and putting it back on I did that shit in my garage in 20 degree weather, and it took me like 2 days.

Note to self... don't work on my car in 20 degree weather

[brodee]

how did you like taking off that intake manifold and putting it back on I did that shit in my garage in 20 degree weather, and it took me like 2 days.

It's not much fun. I could do it a lot quicker now of course since I know what all needs to come off.

I did it in 95 degree weather with about 85-90% humidity, nasty job.

Funny thing was the paint can says "Don't use in more than 75 degree temperature and no more than 50% humidity"

They might as well say "Don't use in Texas!"

[kylebes1]

put a s52 in there. Then rattle cans will be the least of your thoughts!

[brodee]

put a s52 in there. Then rattle cans will be the least of your thoughts!

That's the next project. Not an s52, but either an m50 or s50. If I do the m50 it will only be in there until I find a nice s50 and build it up. I really wish I had the 290hp s50 that was in my M3

[kylebes1]

y not an s52? the obd1 conversion is not that expensive- would say around 600 bucks.

[GaryE30]

Want to enlighten some of us who don't want to spend forever taking off the intake manifold? I really want to do this.

[brodee]

I wouldn't say I'm an expert by any means, but here's the tips I can give....

First take out the airbox and everything else working your way back to the throttle body. Then go ahead and drain the radiator to help make the job a little cleaner.

Once that's drained get a couple of about 1/2" bolts and have them ready. Then when you take the 2 water hoses off the bottom of the throttle body you can put the bolts in there quickly and clamp them down so the hoses can be moved all over without leaking too much on everything else.

Go ahead and remove the throttle body and move it back out of your way. The goal is to get as much room as possble to reach the bolts on the bottom side of the intake.

After the throttle body is out of the way take the water hose loose that runs across the side of the block below the intake ports, you can see it in this picture below.

I took it loose at the thermostat housing and the firewall just so I could push it out of the way and get to the bolts easier.

There are 12 nuts holding the intake on studs in the blcok. If you're going to do this message me and I'll send you the above picture in higher res so you can study where the nut locations are. I kept pulling off nuts and thinking the intake would come loose only to find I'd missed a couple. The 2 nuts closest to the firewall are the hardest just because the brake booster gets in the way, I used a long extension and put a u-joint on the socket to be able to get on it at an angle.

once you have all the nuts off there you need to start working the intake losse on the studs and watch for the breather tube that goes down to the crankcase from the bottom of the intake. This tube has a spring on the bottom and it just pulls loose on both ends.

once it's off if you're going to have it apart for a while then you might want to cover the intake ports to keep anything from dropping in there.

To put it back together make sure to remove all the old gaskets (yes you need to replace the gaskets, they are cheap) Put the new gaskets (5 of them) onto the studs and fit them flush up against the block. I put the breather tube back in on the bottom first. You'll need to hold the spring up and fit the end of the tube into the hold down there. Try to leave it a little loose so you can move it around and fit it into the intake. This was the toughest part for me, fitting the intake on the studs and getting the tube back in the hole in the bottom of it. If you get the intake on the edge of the studs and lift the opposite end up towards you then you can roll the tube back into place pretty easily, make sure the o-ring on there fits snuggly around the hole in the intake.

Bolt it back up evenly tightening in a pattern and then torque them to spec. From there it's just reversing everything else and getting it all back together.

There are a few connectors and vacuum hoses I left out but you will see them and just disconnect as needed and put some tape around them to label what they are if you think you'll forget.

Hope this helps a little. I did this on my '89 325is so I'm sure the eta and others will have slight differences. I think the biggest help is knowing where the nuts are (I guess it's always good advice to know where your nuts are )

[f u z z]

That looks awsome! Good job!

[bmwannabe]

How about getting taking that one cord off, i believe it connects to the fuel rail somehow, and connects under the manifold, i could never figure out how to take it off, i just left it attached.

[brodee]

How about getting taking that one cord off, i believe it connects to the fuel rail somehow, and connects under the manifold, i could never figure out how to take it off, i just left it attached.

Fuel rail has 2 onnectors on the front end. Just pull the wire clips loose and disconnect the wires. Then the electrical rail pops loose from connectors on each of the injectors. There is a wire from it that runs under the intake and to a round connecter mounted on a flange under the intake. Grab the bottom of this connecter under the bracket and twist itabout a quarter turn then the conenctor comes loose. I let the lower part hang down and pulled the upper part out with the fuel rail electrical piece. The fuel rail itelf has 4 10mm bolts holding it in place, you can get at these easier if you remove the valve cover.

That make any sense??

[M3fiftyseven]

Incredibly nice work. I would swear you just actually added a few hundred to the value of your car. NICE!