Dad and Daughter E30 project

[Todd Black 88]

http://www.bimmerheads.com/

Buy a complete rebuilt head here.

[Thizzelle]

for sure check all the valves, can even have chips on the shafts or excessive wear. Might as well replace them while you're there.
Good Luck
Check the DIY thread for a lot of helpful topics

[deutschman]

Keep in mind that the valves don't need to visibly bent to be broken. The moving parts in the head operate on tight tolerances and if something is a few thousandths off it can be bad.

[Massimo]

Well done good to see kids doing it right.

1. Get the greatest car in the world.
2. Do maintenance
3. Mod

Job well done, and a big thumbs up to the dad, not enough parents look after their kids and get them involved. Let alone teach them the value of a car and how they work.

As the others have side the pistons look fine but your exhaust valves are probably damaged.

[Kershaw]

as others have said, you definitely have bent valves. the shiny indent areas on the top of the pistons are where the valves impacted. without the impact, the valve reliefs (the indents) would be covered in carbon deposits still.

clean up the pistons, buy another used good cylinder head. (~$200.)

[Ether-D]

Yep, a lot of those exhaust valves are bent. Get a head from your local pull a part and rebuild it and hand lap the valves. I bet you and your Dad could do it. Just have it resurfaced at the machine shop. She'll run like a top.

Pistons also look fine to me. Just need cleaning.

[deutschman]

You can soak the tops of the pistons in a bit of diesel then hit them with some carburetor cleaner. Its ok to use a soft wire cup brush in a drill on the tops of the pistons. Rotate the crank so that the piston you want to clean is all the way up and then lightly wire brush it till all the carbon is gone and its nice and shiny again.
My pistons were just as dirty but they looked like this after a bit of cleaning. I think I got them a bit cleaner then this after I took the picture. That was a year ago now so I cant remember.

[Todd Black 88]

With the broken rocker, and the t-belt damage, I would almost gaurantee at least one bent valve.

Actually, looking at the block pics, it looks like all the exhaust valves hit the pistons. Not much damage on the pistons, so that's good, but you probably need a set of exhaust valves.

Have you checked to see if the crank turns over or is seized?

[Petunia]

Day 3:

We weren't planning on doing anything today but when my dad got home from work my dad decided to give it a go!

After soaking the exhaust manifold studs they finally broke loose. All we had to do was the lift the head off.





After looking at the pistons we think they are salvageable. What do you think? How do they look?























Look like there is no valve damage either! What do you think?








Looks like the next thing on our to-do list is to take the head to the machine shop and check it out and replace the worn parts.

Our next update will be in a few days; we have got a lot of parts to clean and paint.Thanks for commenting and wish us luck! See you soon:)

[slow325isedan]

Shes gonna be great at working on her own car one day! :)

[pilotskillse30]

This is a great thread. We need more of this in trying to keep the E30's alive.

Dad/mom and Son/Daughter projects are cool!

[rodrigo]

This is a great thread. We need more of this in trying to keep the E30's alive.

Dad/mom and Son/Daughter projects are cool!

[QUKBMER]

Nice to see daddy/daughter projects,my daughter is turning 15 this year and she want's a e30 just like her dad has too.;)

[stoja e30]

Welcome to the club, hope you realise you in it for the rest of your life ;)

[P.Kelly]

Congratulations on Petunia. I can only hope that my 7 year old daughter has your interest in working on cars when she is closer to your age. I just bought another E30 last fall. I'd be inclined to pass it down to her if she show's interest like yours.