1991 BMW 325i Coupe - Build Thread - The end is in sight!

[MaksV]

boost? hell ya!

as far as oil return goes, just put it somewhere up high on the pan and make sure the bung will clear any pumps or brackets. and get a female threaded return. that way you can thread a barb in there or thread in a nice braided stainless line. or a plug for the time being.

what turbo plans do you have?

any one have pictures? Not really sure yet. The engine will get a turbo later in life.

[MaksV]

So I have not started with my job yet, so I am still kinda broke. So I will have to contain myself to cleaning and disassembling stuff for now as it at least seems to be cheaper. Also there is no real time line on thsi swap other then later in the summer so I feel pretty good now.

went to Alex's with a 50lbs bag of soda. Personally I think the power washer does wonders on its own as well. So I do not think I will use the soda again but you never know.

new oil pan:


valve cover - call me crazy, but I really like the way it looks now - clean but still old and scuffed, somehow it suits my cars mental image of itself.


cleaned these things up


got some new stuff in:

injector rebuild kit. Definintly should have bought from this guy the first go around. Everything is shipped very well wrapped and safe. And the price and CS can not be beat.



The infamous White325is trans brace


and 405 green lable

[MaksV]

Was going to pull the head today but when i got to storage I realized I had left my e sockets, and my fan tools at my parents house, so it gets to live to fight another day. Instead i decided to take off all the peripherals. and here again I was stymied in the end by the water pump pully fan clutch. :censor:

Any way here is what I accomplished:

what it looked like when i got there:


F*cking oil leaked everwhere. Great.


task 1 is to clean.

Now that that was done I decided to start pulling more stuff off. Starting with the hook.


then I found this thing. Any clues as to what it is? I guess it used to hold some wires or some shit.


Pulled the thermostat housing. Its already Al and not plastic. Anyone have a good reason why I should not reuse it? save myself 20 bucks?

and yay look at that. instead of buying a new gasket they used silicon. Super.



15 minutes with a razor


AC compressor is just held on by 4 scews - piece of cake


cant remove this without removing the crank. Cant remove the crank without pulling the WP pully. F*ck.


PS pump is also simple


time to take care of some random hoses that were cut anyway. I need to spend some time on RealOEM, to add these to my shopping list. Hate Junkyards...





Alternator comes off with the pully, and another long bolt


time to get the infamous oil filter housing off. There was so much damn dirt that I couldnt find the last bolt for a good 5 minutes.




Gasket was in pretty good shape. still had some flex to it so it was probably replaced at some point.


Decided that while I was here I would just yank the front cover off the head for funsies.


Locking up for the day...



My car was covered with soda from yesterdays sandblasting fun, so decided to stop by my buddies apartment building (free power washing stations), after washing the car I had an :idea: and went ahead and powerwashed the components too. Not as good as soda blashing but pretty damn effective.



Plans for tomorrow:

-Get all the bolts clean, and sorted.
-finish rebuilding the injectors
-get the tools i need
-head coming off this week.

[MaksV]

another 5 hour day down.

Question: How in the fuck do you remove the water pump. I thought you pull of the pulley, then you remove the 4 screws and then you simply slide it out. Or at least thats how it was on my e46. I did all that here, and the pump is still stuck in the block. Any ideas?

So today.

First I got around to cleaning the parts that were banging around in my trunk. Started with rebuilding the injectors, with the kit I got.





donesky.

Now to clean all the parts. first the oil pan bolts:



and then clean up the valve cover bolts, ground, nuts,


cleaned up the oil filter some



Al thermastat housing and parts


alternator and pulley, and bolt


PS p8ump


Shit, gonna have to clean that at some point.


Now I went to the storage facility to finally pull teh head and the rest of the pieces. With the right tools, this stubborn thing came off.


progress being made


off comes the crank pull, and teh thing that holds the compressor - not sure about actual name


down to the block. finally.


first gotta unscrew this tensioner, note bolt locations


then start to break the cam gears loose


tensioner and cam gears, and conecting chain off.



Main chain tensioner out



oil pump gear and nut off. going to replace with locking unit from Bimmerworld.


tried to get the WP out again, no dice


intake cam coming out



both cams gone


cam tray and lifters out - all the lifters pop well, so they are good. Time to get those bolts out of the head.


both trays


main chain guide


and the head is off. At first I was a bit sickened with what I saw...


This looks shitty - there is grease and junk in there. is this going to end badly?


and the head is just as bed, the valves are covered in grease type stuff...



Maybe everything will be ok. 2 minutes worth of rubbing with a dry towel.




5 hours worth of work. Done for the day, Now I gotta clean all this and figure out if I am gonna get any machine work done to the head. What do you guys thing? have the valves pulled and recut the valves and seats? or just clean it up and hope for the best?

















moving right along.

[MaksV]

So I cought a good break today. I cleaned the head up and went to my machine shop. Had my boy Archie take a look at the head and put it on the vacuum bench. After tapping the valves a bit with a hammer to get any stuff stuck between teh valve and the head(remember the engine is dirty as shit) he hooked up the vacuum.....................perfect on all 24 valves :thumbsup:




this made me super happy as it saves me time and money. We talked about it, cause I am planning on boost later, but he took a closer look and said to just leave it be. So tahts what I am gonna do.

If anyone needs machine work in the dallas area check them out . - Plano Automotive machine

Then I stopped by elliots to get the oil drain fitting., also got some cleaning supplies from the house. Need to collect my roloc pads and fitting from Alex and go attack the engine next.




At this point I was ready to go home. and when I got home I found 3 different keys in my mail box. Each of the "extra large mail boxes" (i live in an apt) had a nice big box of goodies for me :)




Steering rack

NVM50 Maf

NVM50 harness

Dungeon Motorsports Airbag steering rack conversion kit

[88SuperETABD]

hey man, just read every page/post, great build. Props to you doing all this on your own. I wish i knew electrical like you :) I'm ME. anyways, I have some m50 injectors in my trunk right now to go along with my cammed 2.7i and m30 AFM. Where did you get your "rebuild kit" and how much?

Btw, why didn't you powerwash your head instead of soaking it. Mine got way cleaner than yours by just powerwashing it. but i dont think mine was as dirty as yours.

[MaksV]

hey man, just read every page/post, great build. Props to you doing all this on your own. I wish i knew electrical like you :) I'm ME. anyways, I have some m50 injectors in my trunk right now to go along with my cammed 2.7i and m30 AFM. Where did you get your "rebuild kit" and how much?

Btw, why didn't you powerwash your head instead of soaking it. Mine got way cleaner than yours by just powerwashing it. but i dont think mine was as dirty as yours.

I assume you are refering to the M20 head. I didnt know better, I powerwashed the m50 head :)

as far as the injector rebuild kit - great quality, great price.

http://tradergreg.ecrater.com/p/6614558/fuel-injector-service-rebuild-kit-6

[MaksV]

Small update today. Start my internship Monday, so I have till the end of the week to get some stuff done.

Couple of points.

1. I cleaned it best i can but I am still considering if I want to spray this block. What do you guys think? is it worth trying to paint it in current condition? or is just a waste.

2. Placed my engine rebuild order with Steve Peterson @ BluntTech. I can not recommend this guy enough. The degree of customer service, knowledge, and patience, really makes this a one stop shop. Take your business here. www.blunttech.com

anyway on to todays events.

Getting started - 5 gallons of soapy water, 3lb sledge, roloc pad and adapter, and a drill to spin it. Should be a good day.


so a couple of sledge swings and this bad boy popped right out...



Damn this is dirty.


screwdriver + razor+soapy water+scotchbrite pad =


Roloc pad to the pistons - cleane(r)


back to the block




totally naked and waiting to be rebuilt


So what you guys think? try to paint it?

[MaksV]

So didnt get really a lot done today. Other then the fact I figured out how to put my head back together the right way. STrangly mindnumbing when you try to figure out how to time your engine again with the cams out. Anyway this guy has a great step by step here.

So not to make it sound like I am gay for steve bu you gotta give the guy props. I placed a large order yesterday around noon, for a bunch of random engine rebuild parts. first box came this morning while I was at work, second box should come tonight, and one straggler piece by the end of the week. How he does it, I dont know. and i didnt even pay for everthing till about 30 minutes ago.



Need parts - go to www.blunttech.com

anyway, now that the brown nosing is over. All I managed to do today is sell some stuff, and paint my valve cover. No great feat I know but it turned out well.











More coming soon.


second box and shaved flywheel came in :)

[88SuperETABD]

Thanks for the link. Ordering that right MeoW!
And Steve is the man, whenever I need ANY part, he always gets an e-mail from me :)

[MaksV]

Thanks for the link. Ordering that right MeoW!
And Steve is the man, whenever I need ANY part, he always gets an e-mail from me :)

no problem happy to help.

[djmoska]

mad mad respect on your built....cant wait to see it when its all done now, keeps us up to date

[MaksV]

mad mad respect on your built....cant wait to see it when its all done now, keeps us up to date

Thanks. :D



Today was a pretty shitty day. 100* outside, lots of rush our driving, plenty of dumb people, and lots of chemical solvents. Unfortunately when you are poor you end up spending a lot of time doing inglorious stuff like cleaning parts. Anyway enough bitching.

So dirty parts



cleaner parts


systematically cleaning parts is not just useful for the obvious benefit, but also helps you keep track of all your parts and where they go.


between this point and what came next there was a lot of annoying driving, yelling, and stupid shit. w/e

How to tap an oil pan for a turbo drain:

use a step bit and puta hole in the pan - preferably between bolts on the right side of the engine (as thats where the turbo goes.



Since the stuff I am using came from a hardware store it is NPT thread - that means you need an NPT tap, specifically 3/8"-18 tap. These are hard to find for some reason as no HD or Lowes carry them. I had to go to ACE, as my local elliots was out of these. A 45 minute trip for a $9 tap. Pain in the ass.



takes about 20 seconds to tap the hole



Teflon tape to prevent leak the piece is a 3/8" NPT adapter with non beveled thread.



screw it in with a wrench or socket


Locktite and put a nut on the back, probably overkill, but better safe then sorry. Now tighten it all down


and if you are poor and cant do a swap and a turbo at the same time, a 20 cent plug will fill the hole for now. Dont forget the Teflon tape again.



Donsky.

Came home to find these bad boys in the mailbox.

[djmoska]

Quick question...what kind of rims are those black ones????.....

DJMOSKA

[MaksV]

Quick question...what kind of rims are those black ones????.....

DJMOSKA

They are Rota Slip Streams et25 so they are from the e30 group buy, rather then the civic ones, sot hey fit perfect with no spacers.