Motor is finished! (for now)

[jrhone]

I had to post this because its a great day for the 02!  My engine was spitting oil and was using about a quart of oil every few hundred miles.  Smoked on deceleration and the cockpit smelled like burning oil.  The rear of my car also was hard to keep clean because of so much black soot collecting back there.  I had the top end redone a few years back to fix a major oil leak as well as put in a 292 cam and do new valves, rockers, valve springs etc...So I didn't want a complete rebuild...I wanted the engine to be strong and healthy and I didn't have the cash for a full on rebuild.  I talked to Ken Blasko and he came up with an alternative.  With the block still in the car, he pulled the head and pistons.  He checked the cylinders.  They were ok so he gave them a honing.  Then replaced bearings, rod and crank were ok.  Then came the pistons.  They were bad.  Ring landings were way out of spec so thats probably why the engine was spitting oil. The rings were not seating properly.  Found a set of 89.47mm pistons that were 9:5 to 1 compression (mine were probably 8.5:1) and Ken cleaned them up...he put the engine back together and then gave it a tune, set the curve and vacuum on the123/Tune distributor as well as other odds and ends around the car, like motor mount, guibo, shift plate bushings, etc..The car now is a completely different beast!  The power is smooth yet happy to rev to redline.  Idle is solid and no oil spitting at all.  I learned soooo much about these motors its crazy and I didn't even do the work!    Ken is a pleasure to work with and he explains things in a way that you understand and learn how it all works.  This is a big deal for me as since I have owned it the motor has never been this strong and solid.  6 years ago I dropped a used engine in it that served me well and I got probably over 100k miles out of it.  I now look forward to many many miles and years on this motor before its time to do a wild and hardcore build!  If you are in SoCal, and need some work done on your 02 dont hesitate to discuss it with Ken.

[tisalover]

1. Thanks for sharing the story, I completely understand. My old man used to say that oil is cheap. My first car was a 1600 with a 2000 Tilux motor in it, with 9.3 to 1 compression. With the 411 gears it was like shockingly happily fast. Your choice of 9.5 to 1 compression pistons is a beautiful thing. The motor you have built with a modern /excellent distributor and other factors is I believe, probably a complete blast with Great Street usable mid range to drive.  Bravo, and congratulations. It is completely the pur sang BMW 2002 experience. Keep on oversteering, I am with you on this one. You don't need a Wilder motor, the one you built is just great.                    You have chosen well., Peter

[worzella]

Great to hear! I have a special bond with your posts... as you can see by my picture below.. and I am just about to kick off the final big project of my 8 year revival... the motor rebuild. When it is all done and running finally, I may have to fly you out East to take some pix.. I love your work on the web site.

 

 

[fuzzyhead]

That is fantastic! Congrats.
I'm pretty much in the same shape that you started out in. My 2002 seems to be getting worse and worse the more I get other things fixed on it.

In the last month I've rebuilt the carb (still runs like crap), replaced the exhaust from manifold back, replaced the generator and voltage regulator.

Now I have a huge oil leak under the car. A month ago it was a small one. I am fed up with mine.

Very happy for you though. Great job and congrats again.

[Simeon]

7 hours ago, worzella said:

Great to hear! I have a special bond with your posts... as you can see by my picture below.. and I am just about to kick off the final big project of my 8 year revival... the motor rebuild. When it is all done and running finally, I may have to fly you out East to take some pix.. I love your work on the web site.

 

 

 

What's going on with the exhaust? Not planning the 'easy way out' I hope. 

[Simeon]

6 hours ago, fuzzyhead said:

That is fantastic! Congrats.
I'm pretty much in the same shape that you started out in. My 2002 seems to be getting worse and worse the more I get other things fixed on it.

In the last month I've rebuilt the carb (still runs like crap), replaced the exhaust from manifold back, replaced the generator and voltage regulator.

Now I have a huge oil leak under the car. A month ago it was a small one. I am fed up with mine.

Very happy for you though. Great job and congrats again.

 

It can be frustrating but eventually you will have run out of jobs to do and the car will move into the phase where it just needs maintenance and inspection. You only need to overcome 40 odd years of bad maintenance but you will get there. 

[jimk]

The leaky BMWs are exasperated by the fact that they do not evacuate the crankcase with a PCV system.  The blowby gasses are "pushed" out by more gasses.  That means there is a slight pressure above atmospheric in the crankcase.  So everything in there wants to flow to the outside, including the oil.  Any weak spot in the gaskets or seals drips.

[ray_]

3 hours ago, jimk said:

The leaky BMWs are exasperated by the fact that they do not evacuate the crankcase with a PCV system.  The blowby gasses are "pushed" out by more gasses.  That means there is a slight pressure above atmospheric in the crankcase.  So everything in there wants to flow to the outside, including the oil.  Any weak spot in the gaskets or seals drips.

 

Exacerbated too!

 

[jrhone]

19 hours ago, worzella said:

Great to hear! I have a special bond with your posts... as you can see by my picture below.. and I am just about to kick off the final big project of my 8 year revival... the motor rebuild. When it is all done and running finally, I may have to fly you out East to take some pix.. I love your work on the web site.

 

 

 

 

ANYTIME!!!  I'd love to do a shoot.  I'm having a blast with the new engine...I'm driving like a madman though...lol  Gotta slow down, but its so peppy and zippy.  

[worzella]

No - ha ha! I could not drive it much since it was in unsafe shape, so I at least fired up the motor for a while on the 

weekends when working on it. I vented the exhaust down the drive about 15 feet so I was not breathing all the crap.

 

Randy 

[NickVyse]

He did all that with the block still in the car? Sounds like harder work than pulling the engine! A strong m10 is a wonderful thing.