First engine restoration. (started: June 2006)

[chuncomunco]

I really didnt get involved with the 2002FAQ until recently and i thought it would be nice to describe my project that started this past summer.

It took a good 2 weeks to the pull the motor. It was a combination of procrastination, work, and differences in schedules with friends.

Once i got the motor out, i was soo excited that i spent literally from 8pm til 4am taking it apart. It wasnt long until i broke a couple bolts!!

I broke 2 from the waterpump, 1 or 2 from the timing cover, and basically all of the ones from the exhaust manifold. Jeeez, you should've saw the exhaust manifold, it was sooooo rusted that the heat shield was dangling on one bolt and thus rattles like a nut when the car is cruisin' at 3000 rpm!!

Then i started school at the beginning of september and i was only able to work on the engine on the weekends. So i spent that time purchasing replacement parts. You'll be amazed by how much i spent on parts. college students arent wealthy at all!!! but the otherside of me said, hey what the hell, i love this car to death.

I finally finished taking everything apart by the mid of october and had the block and head brought to the machine shop.

I went to Thomas Engine Rebuliders in Deer Park, NY. Awesome guy, he was a tremendous help, without him, i would've stopped the project and have it sent to some local garage to have it rebuilt.

He finished the head in a week. all i had him do was to check the head for cracks, pressure test, and replace the valves, valve springs, and rockers that i purchased from ireland. yes, the valves are stainless steel, they are cheaper than OEM. that came out to a good $500. I was like, ouch, the process was more expensive than i thought.

Then the block was finished about 2 weeks later. He bored / honed the block to fit my maxsils. they are 1.2mm oversized which is a rediculous amount! he had to hone the connecting rods to make them fit. the block was squared, pressure tested. The crankshaft was micro honed as well. That came out to a good $1000.

So now the block is sitting in the garage. I totally forgot to oil them to prevent rust, so i better do that soon. But this weekend i'm planning on fitting the piston rings and pistons into the block.

I'll keep you guys updated. promise. hahah.

[chuncomunco]

Today i got the crank shaft in. That crank shaft is heavy as hell, its comparable to the cylinder head! I got the main bearing caps on, torque them to 45 ft. lbs. and retorqued them just in case. I wanted to start fitting in the pistons, but i wasnt able to obtain any information about the piston ring gaps for the maxils.

I'm probably going to call Bavauto tuesday so i can continue the project.

[Dirt]

Great project. Thanks for posting this. What are you doing to balance the crank, pistons and rods? I'll be doing this early next year, so I'll definitely keep reading.

Pete

[chuncomunco]

I had the machine shop take care of that for me.

[chuncomunco]

After weeks of just plain stand still on the project, I finally got back into it yesterday. I was waiting for the Mobile Tradition parts diagram from Bavarian Autosport for over a month! I finally took action and went to my local dealership Habberstad BMW and asked if they can order it for me. To my surprise, the person said its impossible to obtain. I was in utter shock. All of a sudden he asked me, "how good are you with computers?", I said "not bad, alright I guess". He just gave me a copy of the most recent BMW ETK only dealerships are allowed to have. He just gave it to me for free! I couldnt be more happy. For those of you who don't know what the ETK is, its the electronic parts cataloge for all BMWs including mobile tradition!

Last night, I started putting the timing cover back up. Unfortunately, I forgot that I had broken on of the waterpump bolts, and i'm going to be at a stand still until I receive that part. I also need to look for a hub for the oil pump, I wasn't able to get the old hub off the existing oil pump.

[Dirt]

Awesome work. keep it up!

[chuncomunco]

I took some pictures yesterday. Hope you like them.

[chuncomunco]

I've been working on the car for the past 3 days. It's becoming a bit frustrating because i'm beginning to notice that i'm missing parts. I spent more time looking for parts than actually working on the car! lol.

I noticed I was missing the gasket for the rear main seal cover! I also spent a good amount going to home depot for bolts. I hope the frustration ends soon, i've made tons of trips to the my local dealership for parts. lol.

To Bavarian Autosport: I hope I receive those headers soon!! because i'm almost done.

[2761876]

looks great man. what compression pistons are they?

[chuncomunco]

I believe they are 9.5 to 1. I'm not sure, but im pretty sure they are stock compression ratios.

[chuncomunco]

Believe it or not, the restoration is comming to a conclusion. I spent 5 hours with a couple friends yesterday getting the engine back into the car! It was very tedious, but it is ever so awarding!

I just had the tow truck come today to ship the car off to my local garage. The garage is of BMW specialty, the shop is called THE LITTLE GARAGE, located at 456 W. Jericho Tpke, Huntington, NY. If you live on the island, definitely send you car their. Matthew Meng is the best mechanic i've ever had. Outstanding customer service. Usually when I drop off my car, i have no ride back, hes always nice enough to drop me off at my house! What mechanic does that for you??!!

One last thing, A big thanks to all the FAQ members for answering all my questions. This forum is priceless. This is the best community forum online and I have 100% support for it.

If you guys get a chance, get the new 2007 Calendar. Its worth every penny! And part of the donation goes to the FAQ!

[chuncomunco]

I just got the car back last week and it was running pretty well. Unfortunately by the end of the week, the head gasket began leaking. So its back to the mechanics again.

But it was a pleasure to drive for those past 4 days!

[bmw1602.com]

I just bought that head gasket,

what did you use on it prior to installation? what product? a spray etc....