Joined the dark side

[fsmtnbiker]

The flywheel is one of my favorite parts. Really wakes the car up.

[tehwickerman]

drove the car for the first time tonight....

one thing led to another and I just ended up replacing the clutch, adding a lightweight (10.4 lb) flywheel, slave cylinder, etc.

now the car has a healthy list of mods and damn it's quick! love it so far... pics to come.

[tehwickerman]

i put a smaller scale gauge on and was getting around 15 psi at idle so i definitely don't think oil pressure is an issue.

that had me worried... got all the suspension put back together but of course the slave cylinder is bad and i forgot to order one so waiting on that to get here.

then it should finally be on the road, so excited!

[fsmtnbiker]

I generally see 8-12 psi at hot idle at 650-700rpm in a M50 family VANOS motor. At least 25 psi by 2000rpm when everything is hot.

Yours seems a little low at idle... But the running pressure looks fine.

[tehwickerman]

so after doing some research i found that the electric oil pressure gauge i have causes the oil light to stay on regardless of if the pressure is what it should be.

got a mechanical gauge on it and these were the results..

idle



at about 2,800 rpm



the car does seem to be idling a bit low because the intake elbow is cracked and is causing a vacuum leak.

everything looks good to me... pressure shoots right up with any application of throttle.

what do you guys think?

[fsmtnbiker]

Get a gauge on it and see. I've seen the stock sensor fail and indicate low oil pressure when it was actually fine.

I have an M12x1.5 to 1/8" NPT adapter, if you need it to tap the oil pressure gauge in.

[tehwickerman]

I didn't really look at the pickup tube I figured it would be fine since everything is new...

yes primed the pump.

thanks for the good wishes hah this is turning out to be more of a handful than i was hoping for but oh well... good learning experience.

[Cloudbase]

I have nothing to add, but I feel your frustration. Good luck man...

[Roland H]

Sounds like a leak somewhere... what was the condition of your pickup tube? Did you prime the pump?

[tehwickerman]

So the car is finally running but of course a new issue has come to haunt me...

low oil pressure at idle.

I can't remember if the oil light stayed on with the old oil pump but I'm pretty sure it didn't.... it seems weird to me that the new oil pump would fail but could this be a possibility?

of course the other possibility is rod bearings. i just don't get how it can be something mechanical with how well it runs/quiet it is. there are no odd noises anywhere.

going to put a mechanical gauge on it tomorrow to get an actual reading.

this is so frustrating!

[tehwickerman]

for anyone interested in how to get the crank bolt off without BMWs special "locking tool"



all clean



had to take it back off to prime the oil pump though... annoying.

this is done



powder coated



hoping for first start tomorrow... wish me luck!

[tehwickerman]

This is very true... It has a new radiator too but had the original plastic impeller water pump.

Seems overheating in the past definitely seems to have been the issue... the guides where literally so brittle I could snap them with my hands.

progress is good:

[fsmtnbiker]

I've never seen a broken guide in an M50-based motor unless it was done by someone removing/reinstalling the head.

However, I'm guessing if the head has been off, the car has gotten very hot at some point in it's life which will definitely make the guides more brittle.

Good luck with sealing the front cover.

[Roland H]

Ran into a couple bits where we had to get a bit crafty today but managed to get all the new guides/chained installed without head removal. I'm going to make a write up on how to do it in the near future.

I don't see how people can say the chains are for life... The chains yea maybe but all of my guides were so brittle it was absurd. The guides should definitely be replaced every 100k IMO.

The chains are good for 200-250k miles before they begin to stretch enough that it becomes an issue. The tensioners are good for 200k unless they are abused, but if you're in there, you might as well just replace them. I have replaced tensioners on an 88k mile motor before, but forgone them on a 219k motor. It all depends on condition.

[tehwickerman]

Ran into a couple bits where we had to get a bit crafty today but managed to get all the new guides/chained installed without head removal. I'm going to make a write up on how to do it in the near future.

I don't see how people can say the chains are for life... The chains yea maybe but all of my guides were so brittle it was absurd. The guides should definitely be replaced every 100k IMO.