My First Ever Build Thread: The Bronzit Beauty

[Ether-D]

Probably a valve cover gasket and rocker plugs doing a lot of the leaking. Easy job for a noob. Start there.

[GSJones]

In other news, I pulled out my hood latch and cleaned it up. It was crazy corroded and the actual latch could hardly even pivot. The mechanism that moves forward and back to release the latch was so stuck I started questioning whether it was supposed to actually move. But after removing all of the corrosion and playing with the moveable parts, I got everything working like new!



Looks so much better with a fully closed/latched hood.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[GSJones]

I'd like to preface this by reminding everyone I'm an extreme noob. That being said, I've been trying to diagnose what this could be for awhile. My engine, mostly the bottom, is covered in some type of gunk. I've smelled it, but to me it just doesn't smell like anything. I want to know what it is because it has me thinking there is/was a major leak of some kind. Anyway, I'll post pictures below. Fingers crossed this doesn't mean catastrophic damage has occurred...





I did my best to take pictures that thoroughly show what it looks like. It's probably something obvious, but I've done every combination of words in various searches and haven't gotten anything conclusive. Thanks for any help!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Ether-D]

Great post, Andy B. I agree entirely.

[GSJones]

If I were you (and I have been in your shoes before, staring at a project full of hopes and dreams, but facing unknown obstacles and resistance) I would do the following before even trying to drive the car:

1: buy the following parts:
- Bentley Manual
- New plugs
- New plug wires
- ignition cap
- ignition rotor
- fuel filter
- valve cover gasket
- temp sensor
- fuel pressure gauge
- compression tester

2. Test the compression on each cylinder.
3. If they are good, do a full ignition refresh, and install the new fuel filter and temp sensor.
4. Work your way through the fuel delivery system tests in the Bently Manual with your volt meter and fuel pressure gauge.
5. Adjust the valves and replace the valve cover gasket.
6. Once everything has been repaired/serviced to test good, fire up the car.
7. If you still have problems, you likely have a vacuum leak. You can replace every intake gasket for about $100 and a few hours. A new intake boot is $25. Honestly, you should just do them all, even if you DON'T have an intake leak.
8. Confirm your engine runs smooth as a kitten now.
9. BEFORE you drive it: Change the timing belt, water pump, and thermostat. Even if the PO says he just did it. Even if he has receipts. There could be a stamped pulley in there ready to fail. Some hack could have left the tension spring out and just guessed. They could have lied. If it breaks, your pulling your engine. Regardless, at this point, you are becoming pretty familiar with all of the parts that make the m20 tick. Why not go all the way and make sure everything is perfect.
10. Enjoy a fully serviced, reliable, awesome m20b25 that is now ready to provide you with many thousands of miles of trouble free performance.

All in all, you can knock out all of the work in a weekend if you hustle, or a couple weekends if you take your time. Rather than chasing a random problem, and risk becoming frustrated, or chasing your tail trying to get multiple potential problems resolved, you will now have a fairly thoroughly refreshed engine that shouldn't require any attention for a long time. The only major additional expenses I can imagine coming up in the process are needing a new AFM ($100 to get a refubished one, less for a used one), Fuel Injectors ($80 to get yours rebuilt), or a new O2 sensor ($75 new). I could argue to do the O2 sensor anyway, but you can safely ignore the other parts as long as they work.

Once that is done, thoroughly inspect the breaks, check for any loose joints or bushings, and make sure all of the lights work. Once you know you are safe, go enjoy driving the car.

Oh right, and put a new clutch in there at some point. Have fun with that job. :devil:

That was an amazing bit of info! I really appreciate the help. Literally gonna do exactly as you have suggested and I see no reason why it wouldn't be as good to go as you've suggested. Thanks again!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Andy.B]

If I were you (and I have been in your shoes before, staring at a project full of hopes and dreams, but facing unknown obstacles and resistance) I would do the following before even trying to drive the car:

1: buy the following parts:
- Bentley Manual
- New plugs
- New plug wires
- ignition cap
- ignition rotor
- fuel filter
- valve cover gasket
- temp sensor
- fuel pressure gauge
- compression tester

2. Test the compression on each cylinder.
3. If they are good, do a full ignition refresh, and install the new fuel filter and temp sensor.
4. Work your way through the fuel delivery system tests in the Bently Manual with your volt meter and fuel pressure gauge.
5. Adjust the valves and replace the valve cover gasket.
6. Once everything has been repaired/serviced to test good, fire up the car.
7. If you still have problems, you likely have a vacuum leak. You can replace every intake gasket for about $100 and a few hours. A new intake boot is $25. Honestly, you should just do them all, even if you DON'T have an intake leak.
8. Confirm your engine runs smooth as a kitten now.
9. BEFORE you drive it: Change the timing belt, water pump, and thermostat. Even if the PO says he just did it. Even if he has receipts. There could be a stamped pulley in there ready to fail. Some hack could have left the tension spring out and just guessed. They could have lied. If it breaks, your pulling your engine. Regardless, at this point, you are becoming pretty familiar with all of the parts that make the m20 tick. Why not go all the way and make sure everything is perfect.
10. Enjoy a fully serviced, reliable, awesome m20b25 that is now ready to provide you with many thousands of miles of trouble free performance.

All in all, you can knock out all of the work in a weekend if you hustle, or a couple weekends if you take your time. Rather than chasing a random problem, and risk becoming frustrated, or chasing your tail trying to get multiple potential problems resolved, you will now have a fairly thoroughly refreshed engine that shouldn't require any attention for a long time. The only major additional expenses I can imagine coming up in the process are needing a new AFM ($100 to get a refubished one, less for a used one), Fuel Injectors ($80 to get yours rebuilt), or a new O2 sensor ($75 new). I could argue to do the O2 sensor anyway, but you can safely ignore the other parts as long as they work.

Once that is done, thoroughly inspect the breaks, check for any loose joints or bushings, and make sure all of the lights work. Once you know you are safe, go enjoy driving the car.

Oh right, and put a new clutch in there at some point. Have fun with that job. :devil:

[GSJones]

So I ordered replacement relays and they arrived today. When I purchased the vehicle, it wouldn't crank, so the guy swapped relays and it cranked. He concluded that the fuel pump relay was bad. So that meant I still had a bad relay. I replaced them all and ran another stomp test. I got 1444, which apparently means I fixed the issue. She's SO close to cranking but it just won't catch. If the battery is completely gone, could this be the reason? Obviously, I'm jumping the vehicle to try cranking it. Anyone have any ideas/suggestions?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[KIRIEIW]

Nice pick up! Look's like it'll keep you busy for a little :D The second plug looks to be your brake pad wear sensor plug, is it on the drivers side? An ABS plug should be yellow. Also, I'd defiantly invest in a "Bentley Manual" if you haven't already. There's free copys online but the book in your hands is the way to go in my opinion. Lastly, be sure the timing belt doesn't need replacement! BMW recommends every 60k miles or 5 Years, whichever comes first.

[GSJones]

The square 12v accessory power probably has a broken clip on its side where it used to clip on to the side of the fuse box.



Don't give up on the car. It will pay off if you can get it back in action.

Yeah, I can definitely tell it's got some broken bits on it, so that would make sense. I definitely don't plan on giving up. Three separate 4 hour drives, one way, down to look at it/pick it up can't go to waste haha. Not to mention the pain in the ass it was to load up the car on a trailer with only my girlfriend's help while the car was continuously attempting to shut off. The hard part is deciding if I should focus on getting the M20 back to proper working condition, or if I should go with a swap. From what I can tell, the motor itself seems to be in great condition. Plus if I did swap, it would be very hard to make a decision. I wouldn't want to drop a ton of cash, but I also wouldn't want to go with anything that wouldn't be a noticeable upgrade. Decisions, decisions.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Ether-D]

The square 12v accessory power probably has a broken clip on its side where it used to clip on to the side of the fuse box.

Don't give up on the car. It will pay off if you can get it back in action.

[GSJones]

The square plug is a 12v for power. It just to add an extra accesory.
The 2nd small round plug might be for the abs.

Awesome, thanks for the help! ABS is overrated. I'm not sure why they're just loose like that, though.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[efficient]

The square plug is a 12v for power. It just to add an extra accesory.
The 2nd small round plug might be for the abs.

[GSJones]

Added some pictures to the intro so it's not so boring with all those dreaded words!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[GSJones]

So after a week of having it sit on a trailer at my girlfriend's parents' house, I finally got the chance to actually get it to my house today. It gets dark way too early, but I had a few minutes to really get a good look under the hood.

Bare with me, as this is really my first experience getting under the hood of a car. I have decent car knowledge, but my actual time under the hood is very lacking, so if I ask anything stupid, just call me an idiot nicely while still answering my questions.

Anyway, I found the two items pictured below:




They are both definitely able to "plug in" to something. My question is what, and if this is an issue. If I'm being stupid, I apologize in advance haha. I tried searching the numbers on them and got nothing helpful.

Read most of the 1st part just to see 4 pictures. -__-

Haha sorry. I'm much more of a writer than a photographer. But it's finally actually sitting at my house, so a whole mess of pictures on the way tomorrow.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[efficient]

Read most of the 1st part just to see 4 pictures. -__-