My '02 is down and maybe out for the count, need some help!!

[Sac73'02]

I'm nearing the end of the road and I'm so close to having the car back on the road again but have run into this snag!!

Short story is; Car is in the shop for a head replacement due to the previous one cracking. I picked up and brought in a casting for a rebuild (thanks going out to Karl in Santa Cruz!). What I need to know is;

Say this cyl head (the donor) was reconditioned at some point in the past and the valve guides were replaced. Are there valve guides - BMW or otherwise - that could have been used at that time which is resulting in the inability to now use the proper BMW valve seals? Shop told me today that after doing a valve job on this head, and I believe during reassembly, that no BMW seals are fitting these guides.

For my own clarification, during a valve job the guides don't necessarily have to be replaced if found to be within spec, correct?

I thought I'd post this in the off chance someone might know of an instance wherein a certain guide (and as a result a certain seal) could be used on an M10 cyl head during a rebuild and shed some light on my predicament.

Thanks in advance!!

Joseph

Sac73'02

[Mike Self]

an E12 from a 73 for my 73; it had been overhauled sometime before the car made its final trip to the salvage yard so guides wer nearly new.

However, they would not accept the new style (as used on later M10 engines) valve stem seals. Since the new style seals do last much longer than the original style (the ones that wear and cause smoke on the overrun) the machine shop had to press out the perfectly good early style guides and install new ones of the later style. Suggest you do the same, and you won't have to worry about a smoking engine (at least from valve guides/seals for many thousands of miles)

cheers

mike