Project Armo "330i" M-tech 1

[Skarpa]

I continued taking apart the M52. The piston rings and ring landings seemed to be ok. Not that that matters so much anymore.



When removing the crankshaft I had to stop and curse for a moment. The rear main seal cover didn't have room to come off the crankshaft and the crankshaft couldn't come off with it.




Luckily just loosening up the engine stand attachment bolts was enough to create adequate space. The crankhaft seems to be allright and will be sold to someone in need.




Then I had a good look at the M54B30 rotating assembly. I've had it for years waiting on the shelf. The crankshaft seems to be pristine. The bearing journals might be polished. I can't remember any more. With the measuring tools at hand the journals seem to be in standard size and round. The previous owner has cleaned up three pistons but three of them had a pretty thick layer of carbon deposit. I scraped it off. The pistons, wrist pins and con rods seem to be alright in my eyes. I'll send them to an engine shop for more throughout cleaning, inspection and to have the topmost ring grooves widened for M52 nikasil block piston rings.



The picture is taken with a potato I found at the bottom of the fridge. It had already started to sprout which is probably the cause for the lousy picture quality. The crankshaft was missing the trigger ring. I bought one as well as a crankshaft position sensor to take measurements for drilling and milling the sensor position in the block. My block has a placement for the sensor in casting but it hasn't been machined. M52TU/M54 crankshaft sensor is more reliable than the M52 one and allows me to use a vibration damper without the trigger ring. I'll most likely use a new M54B30 damper. Ati super damper might be cool but with the shipping to Finland the cost is astronomical. After all, dampers are wearing parts and most of the failures I've seen have happened when 10+ year old engines with original dampers have been punished hard.



Lately I've tried to come up with comprehensive shopping list with everything I still need to purchase for the car, all the way down to the seals, screws, bolts, grommets and small plastic fixings. As a part of that project I had a look at the A/C lines and drew myself a diagram of the hardlines and hoses. All the hoses will of course be replaced. I'll probably reuse the hardlines and paint (or zinc plate) them. The evaporator, drier, condenser, expansion valve and pressure switch will be new. I'll use the Nissens 94958 generic condenser since it seems to be impossible to find a car-specific parallel flow condenser for E30 in Europe. Because of the generic nature of the condenser I may need to modify the car front frame a bit to accommodate the connections.

[jeenyus]

The ground effects are simply amazing. I've always looked back there and thought, man something to cover this up would be perfect. I want.

[Skarpa]

The ground effects are simply amazing. I've always looked back there and thought, man something to cover this up would be perfect. I want.

Thanks! I used the M3 parts and they fit the M-tech 1 okayish. Maybe facelift as well. But It wouldn't be too hard to create something similar fitting your car exactly. You could get away with pretty basic tools using thin PE plate, aluminum angle profile and pop rivets. Plus sheet metal nuts and nutserts for fixing the pieces to bumber and body.

[Skarpa]

I got the crankshaft sensor position done.


"If it looks stupid but it works, it might still be you're doing it wrong." The sensor position is a bit tricky because it's on slanted face so you can't use the oil pan flange for fixing the block. I put the block on it's end but because of the limitations of the mill I had to raise to block quite a bit. Otherwise I couldn't get the spindle low enough. I used the lathe tool holders for raising the block. I positioned to block so that the spindle points directly to crankshaft centerline when located at the sensor position.



I measured the sensor for the hole diameter and came to conclusion that the diameter for the sensor hole is 18,0 mm and for the O-ring indentation it's 21,5mm. I double checked the measurement from the head. The camshaft sensor seems to have the same dimensions apart from length. I drilled the O-ring indentation to a guessed depth and then straightened the flange face using face mill.





Next step was to adjust the sensor to correct distance from the trigger ring. For that I mounted the trigger ring on the crankshaft and placed the crankshaft in the block.


The correct air gap for the sensor is 0.55 mm. I of course had a lot more because I made sure I didn't go too deep when straightening the face.


Little by little I milled off more material from the flange face and checked the sensor gap. Once I was happy with it I re-drilled the O-ring indentation to correct depth and made a small chamfer on the edge to make the installation easier. Then I drilled and tapped the hole for the retaining screw.





All in all, I'm happy with how the sensor position came out. It's a stroke of luck I had the newer style block with the sensor position included in the casting. I think this may not be the original block of the engine because casting marks in some other parts and the fact that the ECU was an older non-flashable model make me think this engine is from around '95. One of the older M52's. It's pretty easy to check, though. I have the original ecu for the engine and it has the vin number.

[88M3racer]

WOW ... impressive work.

[Skarpa]

WOW ... impressive work.

Thanks!

[Skarpa]

The pistons are being machined (ring grooves are widened for M52 nikasil rings), the bearings and piston rings have been ordered anf there's a big shipment of OEM parts coming from Germany. While waiting for all those to arrive I've been working on smaller stuff. The throttle body heating is obviously not combatible with the itbs and also not needed in a summer car so the fluid circulation needed to be blocked.



The thin pipe is for the throttle body heating. I cut it off and silver soldered a short allen screw to block it off. I didn't want to weld because the original seams are soldered and wouldn't like too much heat right next to them.



I proof tested the joint with pressure from the public water grid which is about 5 bars around here. Should have a high enough safety margin. I didn't want to use compressed air since the setup was pretty sketchy.



I blocked the connection in the head with an M12x1.5 plug. While there I added a temp sensor for the E30 dashboard. I also installed the studs for the intake and exhaust manifolds as well as the ones in the itb adapter and ITBs themselves. There were so many M7 studs that I bought a stud socket which made the installation a lot nicer than using double nuts.





S50 intake runners are supposed to have domed chrome nuts with integrated washers that cost about 6 bucks a piece. I have the nuts but in some of them the chrome is worn. I decided that regular domed nuts will be enough for this engine. In the end I installed the itb adapter to the head. Some of the nuts are in pretty tight spots and I had to look for a slimmer wrench to finish the job. Luckily the installation is kind of a one time deal.


The studs for the ITBs have domed nuts but I think I'll swap them for ones with integrated washers. They are in pretty tight spot to be fiddling with separate washers.

I also finished this project:

We have a parts washing machine at work but it's only used very rarely because of the time and energy it takes to heat up. Today we fired it up so I decided to take apart the half shafts and wash them at the same time. The joints felt a bit notchy when turning by hand but the parts didn't really seem all that worn. Mainly the ball cages have slightly worn spots where the balls sit. I'll see what they feel like after new grease.

E30 half shafts are not that expensive so you can ask if there was any sense in this but it's done now and I'm one experience richer. As for the body of the car, lately I haven't had much time to work on it but I've managed to do some tidying up and preparing for painting. Luckily I also remembered in time that I need to drill the holes for the A/C condense water drain.

[Skarpa]

I must say I'm impressed with the nikasil plating and all around manufacturing precision of engine parts in general. When the cylinders in 20 year old engine look like new and the new piston rings out of package have end gaps that are within +-0,05 mm in the middle of the spec you can't complain. (And yeah, I'm aware of the problems with nikasil and fuel with high sulphur content)

[Skarpa]

Christmas holiday is behind. Along the family stuff I had time for some tinkering. My brother delivered me a bunch of powder coated and yellow zinc passivated parts:







Stoked on that I immediately assembled the headlights.




The faded, silver painted trim rings with wiper stoppers made way for some shiny chrome. I bought the trim rings as E30 ones but they seem to be from E34 or some other model because the didn't quite fit. They lacked the slots for the small tabs in the lights so I had to make them.








Before christmas I got a lot of stuff I was waiting for so I got to assemble the oil pump among other things.






I also received the pistons and the con rods from the machine shop. All parts were inspected and the top piston ringe grooves were widened for 1,5mm rings. The top sleeves in the con rods were replaced because the old ones were a bit worn. I assembled the piston rings and con rods to pistons so next I'll be able to check the bearing clearances and assemble the bottom end.

[Skarpa]

While I was assembling the headlights and the pedal assembly my assistant started working on the plenum and the ITBs.


Since my assistants work consisted mostly of stuffing small parts in intake runners and having lego figures slide down the plenum's side I decided to give her a hand.




I still need to replace those ugly little hoses in the syncing measure points with proper rubber plugs and get the hoses for the idle control valve. The injectors are Volvo 373 cc units that I bought secondhand.



The seller was pretty sure the injectos were cleaned and checked but I decided to give them a flush just in case. I made a length of wire with a push button for operating the injector and put together an adapter for connecting the injector to spray bottle out of thin straw and a 5ml syringe.





I used CRC carb and egr cleaner for cleaning the injectors. I flushed them forwards and backwards and then did a final pass with WD40 to get out any remaining solvent because it might not be good for the innards of the injectors if left there for a long time. WD40 contains oil and something like cleaning petrol so it shouldn't be anything the injectors cant handle. Finally I replaced the filter baskets. I still need to get viton o-rings for the injectors. I have a few sets of O-rings but I have no idea if they are viton on NBR so I want to make sure I have O-rings that can handle E85.


A few years ago I did an overhaul for the HVAC unit otherwise but I left the original fan motor untouched. Now I had a better look at it and it is pretty worn out. The commutator is worn down close to nothing and the rest doesn't look too good either so I decided to replace the motor.


The fan blades needed to be swithed from the old motor to the new one. Getting them off was a bit difficult since I didn't have a suitable puller but eventually I got it done.


Before removing the fan blades I marked down their orientation in respect to each other to make sure I don't ruin the balancing. I should have measured the distance of the fans as well. When I installed the fans on the new motor I made sure the same amount of shaft was showing but it turned out the new motor had a shorter shaft so the blades ended up too close to each other and wouldn't fit. After backing them off a bit they were fine.

[Skarpa]

The body is primered on the underside. Off the shelf the gas tank had such a thin layer of paint that I'll repaint it as well.



I primered the body with a roller as I don't have a compressor at the garage yet. It's a bit less messy as well. But latest I'll need the compressor for applying the 3M undercoating. The engine received the B30 rotating assembly. I chekced the bearing clearances using plastigauge and everything was neatly in spec. Well, apart from one main bearing which appeared to have a lot smaller clearance than all the other even though it was still within spec. But that seemed to be because the bearing shell was not seated well. After remeasuring the clearance it was the same as in all the other main bearings.

[Skarpa]

A while ago I noticed that my E34 oilpan was missing the baffle plates from around the oil pump pickup. The previous owner has cut them off when removing the windage tray. Achiles Motorsport and VAC sell improved versions with trapdoor design. Of them, the Achilles version appears to be better design. However, the postage payment and customs sum up to hefty amount of money. Also I have this condition where I'm obsessed in making everything myself so I did my own copy or version of the Achilles baffle. First I made a cardboard template of the vertical plate and then produced a copy in aluminum.




Then I made a template of the horizontal plate and taped it in place to mark a hole for the oilpump pickup.


Final product ended up having quite a bit bigger hole because of hole saw wobbling and wandering but I don't think it will cause any problems.
[IMG][/IMG]

The trapdoors I made out of stainless steel hinges with the screw holes welded shut on one side. I considered using rubber flaps but then opted for the steel hinges because they last practically forever and I didn't need to pay attention to things like rubber type. The rubber flaps would probably provide tighter seal, though.


I replaced the hinge pins with bent steel wires that limit the opening of the flaps and ensure faster closing.


When all the parts had been prepared it was just a case of riveting everything together.




The baffle fits nicely in place. I'll have it welded there once I've done the breather oil return.


I may still wiiden the gao where the oil naturally flows back into the sump. Also as an afterthought, the bend in the horizontal plate forms an unnecessary shelf where some oil will sit. I made it to act as a stiffening element but it's likely useless because the baffle will be welded to the oilpan.

[Skarpa]

I finished fitting the AC condenser to the front of the car. It was a surprisingly laboursome job for such a small thing. I wanted to replace the original tube-and-fin condenser with a parallel flow one more suitable for R134A. It seemed impossible to find a model-specific one so I bought a universal condenser In as close to correct size as possible.



It's the same width and about one centimeter taller than the original. The connections point straight to the side whereas in the original they are brought in front of the condenser. I bought 90 degree connectors and measured that they should fit when I move the condenser as much to drivers side as possible. I cut off all the perforated plates from the condenser to make it more compact.



I detached the fixing strips from the top and the bottom of the old condenser. They could be riveted to the new one. The bottom strip fit almost as is but the top one required some modification because of the height difference. I moved the fan bracket down 10 mm and shortened the top brackets.



The drivers side bracket for the fan was integrated to the end of the old condenser so I cut it off and made flanges to bolt it on through the fins with M4 screws and nuts.





Then it was just the matter of riveting on the fixing strips and test fitting the fan.




Even though the condenser fit in place it was impossible to wiggle it into correct position so I trimmed down the flange next to the hood lock and tapped the front frame in a couple of places to have a bit more clearance. After that it fit nicely in place with the minimum of 2-3 mm of clearance all around.




Finally I gave the condenser a thin coat of black paint.



The fit would have been easier if I had modified the hose connections to match the original. I may still do it because even though the connectors fit, the top one points in kinda awkward direction and it may be difficult to find a good route for the hose from the compressor. Another option would be to make a hard line end for the hose with all the correct bends. That might be better for serviceability because currently it's possible to replace the condenser in a couple of hours if need be without needing to do any aluminum welding.

Assembling the engine has progressed as well. I installed a new M54B30 vibration damper and checked that the tdc marks were correct using a dial gauge. Before installing the head I took some measurements. There seems to be some disagreement whether the M52B28 combustion chamber volume is 34or 35 cc so I measured it myself. I used the tried and proved method of covering the combustion chamber with plexiglass sheet and filling it with oil through a small hole with a syringe to see how much oil it takes.




I got a number that's closer to 35 than 34 so I declare the volume to be 35 cc even though I think the official number is 34. This also served to check that my head is not excessively machined when straightening it. In addition to measuring the volume I also tried to measure the combustion chamber as well as possible to make a 3D model of it.





The plan is to have this (or rather half of it) 3D printed and insert actual valves in it. Then it will be easy to check clearances between the piston, head and the valves when figuring out the setup for the stage 2 engine. I'm planning to swap the cams for hotter ones and pumping up the compression ratio quite a bit. After taking the necessary measurements I installed the head on the engine. I've managed to bolt on a couple of other things as well.

[Skarpa]

The rear seat plans changed once more. Originally, some years ago, I tried to find an M3 rear seat for a reasonable price. Actually the guy I bought the front seats from, had alsl the rear seat but didn't want to sell it for some reason even though I tried to buy it several times. So I ended up making the E36 coupe/sedan hybrid seat. A couple of weeks ago I got a text saying the seat is finally for sale and for a pretty cheap price as well so I picked it up. The seat was pretty dirty after long storage but It's in good shape.





After vacuuming a careful washing with marseille soap the seat looked already very different.

In this pic it doesn't really show but the seat was originally red and it has been dyed black. The original color was showing through some small cracks so I used some leather dye for the cracks and gave the seat a coat of leather conditioner and after that It was looking very good.



I sold off the E36 seat. I'll need to cut off the brackets I made for it. They would be in the way of the M3 seat. I'll also need to make a fixing point for the seat belt locks in the middle for the two seater rear bench. I really go distances to prevent my project from ever being finished.

[dsm2002]

Regarding the oilbaffle, I have mocked up something that uses the stock E34 baffle. I have incorporated a baffle to stock oil under braking and uses rubber flaps like the BMW Motorsport baffles. I am considering cutting and slotting the stock baffles for oil return using the rubber flaps as well.