Pablo M

8 minutes ago, '76mintgrün'02 said:

Why not change the ball joints while you're under there?  

That, my friend, is a very good question!  In my head I wanted to do tie rods and ball joints together, as a separate project from the bushings (center link is new already).  I bought the bushings months ago and only doing it now while the car is down. 
But in retrospect I should have done it all now. I will replace them soon though. Just need a bit more cash flow lol. I have all the tools necessary so when time comes it’ll be easy enough. 

3 minutes ago, Mike Self said:

I changed out my right motor mount by loosening the mount brackets, then placing a short length of 2x4 atop a small scissors jack and lifted (gently and slowly!) on the oil pan, watching (from underneath as I cranked) to make sure the fan and radiator didn't get too amorous.

 

mike

The radiator is out, as is the head and distributor, so no clearance issues, which is another reason I thought it would be even easier. 
Only thing I’ll worry about is making sure the cam chain continues to maintain tension. I have it suspended from top of hood with a bungee cord (and I have a rod in place keeping the hood from falling). 
you can see what I mean here. Prop rod is on drivers side to allow working access on passenger side. 

20 minutes ago, Dudeland said:

I would give yourself a little bigger cam.   284, 292.  Nothing too unruly.  For the 95$ I feel it would be worth it. 

 

Unless what you are doing with it doesn't allow it. 

 

Regards 

8 minutes ago, '76mintgrün'02 said:

 

It is a Tii, so changing cams is a no-no.

Exactly why I went with a new stock camshaft. 

2 hours ago, Stevenc22 said:

You will need to lift the motor a little, but once up, changing the mount is a piece of cake. Might as well change both sides while at it.

I was planning on it. The driver/left side seemed easier. 

4 hours ago, uai said:

When you're off the ground they will collide with the radius arm. Depending on the length / rebound of your dampers this will be just tight or it might block the steering

That’s right. I noticed that and sent a photo to Ireland Engineering, who said it was correctly installed. I thought the one Allen head should probably go in from the top. 
This is it up in the air. I’m unsure what to do about it. 

Preparing the block for rebuilt head. 

Thread chased the head bolt holes. 

5 hours ago, Rob Zaeos said:

Replaced the door handle rubber and linkage grommets as well as lubed the window and lock mechanisms. Really improved the experience when opening closing and operating windows!

 

That’s satisfying!

I’m sorry for asking so many questions. I feel many of them are silly and easy, but they put my mind at ease. 
 

I have my head and exhaust manifold off the engine currently and looks like it would be easy to replace the motor mounts. 
Seems if I remove the two lower and one upper nut on mount, then unbolt the bracket from the block, I could remove the assembly without lifting the engine, or lifting it very little (with a jack and wood block). 
Seems better than lifting it further to clear the bracket bolted to the block. 
Seems too easy lol. Is it really that easy? Or is there something I don’t know about? Service manual hasn’t been super helpful on this one. 
 

Waiting on locating pins and gasket for the dizzy housing. Meantime prepping the block. Getting it pretty clean but there are some areas that show corrosion. The areas below the cylinders cleaned up pretty well but still show some corrosion. Feels smooth to the touch but catches a razor dragged across it. Seems to me it’s not a critical area. The area around the cylinders is good. What do you guys think? Safe or keep working it till I get it perfectly shiny? That may take a while. Pulling the motor and having the block decked would be the right thing to do, but not in the cards at this time. 
 

you can see it better here.  

I also chased the head bolt threads. That was definitely the right call. Thanks again. 

13 hours ago, tech71 said:

please do, I'm still trying to figure out what a "trailing link" is

Also, have you tried  rotating the front end through its steering travel with those non stock allen bolts installed at lower strut attach to make sure they clear the control arms? Pretty tight in there.

Do it with weight on wheels and off. 

The Allen head bolts clear the control arm cycling the steering from lock to lock on the ground. 

10 minutes ago, tech71 said:

please do, I'm still trying to figure out what a "trailing link" is

Also, have you tried  rotating the front end through its steering travel with those non stock allen bolts installed at lower strut attach to make sure they clear the control arms? Pretty tight in there.

Do it with weight on wheels and off. 

I was concerned about those allen head bolts (they're on the offset spacers from Ireland engineering, and cehcked with them that it was installed correctly. I will cycle the front end to make sure.

The trailing link is what the service manual calls the angled rod that goes from the control arm, at the outer end, forward to the chassis.

2 minutes ago, TobyB said:

The sleeve's too short.

Or you don't have a stop washer on the back.

The nut is supposed to compress the inner sleeve,

against the rear washer, leaving 

the whole assembly more- or- less free to rotate between

the sleeve and the bushing.

If it's a rubber bushing, the rubber flexes,

and if it's urethane, it slides.

 

Better pictures of where each 'tension rod' goes into 

the bushing would help.

 

t

 

I assembled it all back together the way it came out, and verified it with the shop manual diagram, so I'm fairly certain its all correct. its weird that right side the rear is long, the left side arm the front is long. I'll take photos when I get back to the garage.

This is very interesting. These look nothing like the bushings on my 72 tii lol. Mine are light green, and the two 'halves' of each bushing are actually joined together with a bit of rubber, so each bolt has only one peice, but they capture both sides of the bracket. Don't know if that makes sense. Instead of being 4 parts, its 2 parts, each part being two bushings connected by length of rubber. I googled this bushing and only images that come up are same as the ones above. I'll have to take a photo next time I'm over at the garage.

edit: here’s an old photo I had of the bushings. 

8 hours ago, jgerock said:

Stick a socket into the dowel, then use pliers to twist it out.

Ok, I tried this again, with a little more nerve and did manage to get them out. Damaged but they’re out. New ones ordered. I feel silly, but was so freaked out about getting so far on the head rebuild only to mess something up at this point. Once I get those pins I can install my rebuilt head and see about starting the car! 
thank you. 

8 hours ago, SydneyTii said:

14 hours ago, Pablo M said:

Shiny bits:

 

What exhaust is that? 
looks very nice!!

It’s Ireland Engineering Stainless Steel exhaust system. Great price at $335 (early or late style). A very complete kit and easy to install. 

Stainless Steel Exhaust System – 2002 (EARLY STYLE) – Ireland Engineering | Racing & Performance Parts for BMW & MINI

WWW.IEMOTORSPORT.COM

---

Our full SIDE EXIT stainless steel exhaust system for the BMW 2002 (1969-mid/1974). This complete...

13 minutes ago, AceAndrew said:

Fun little project this weekend.

 

 

 

 

That looks amazing. 

2 hours ago, jgerock said:

Stick a socket into the dowel, then use pliers to twist it out.

That’s what I tried, with vice grips. Couldn’t get the pin to turn, the vice grip wasn’t getting a good bite. I guess it wouldn’t hurt for me to try again with regular channel locks. 

1 hour ago, Tommy said:

It's easier if you don't have to worry about ruining the old dowels.

Cheap, for sure. 
how do I get them out though? Honestly I’m afraid of damaging them trying  and not being able to get them out. Then being stuck.  
edit: or worse yet, crack the block trying to force it out. 
if there’s a technique for removing them, by damaging them beyond use, I’ll try it if it’s been done before. I just need to know. 

I’m trying to clean up the block in preparation for installing my rebuilt head. 
 

how do you take out the two locating pins without special tools? 
I’ve looked up ways on YouTube, and tried to put something inside it to keep it collapsing as I take a vice grip to it but there isn’t enough to really grab on to. 
Any other tricks? 
Or can I clean the block with them in place? I’ve already scraped the surface pretty smooth but need to take the Roloc bristle discs to it next. 
 

Locating pins are bottom left corner and upper right (between 1 and 2). 
 

(I’ve further cleaned the block and piston tops since this photo) 

Shiny bits:

getting ready to reinstall my rebuilt head, with some help. 

Putting my front end back together after installing new bushings. 
set the car down on the suspension so I could torque it all down. Before installing the trailing links, I checked to be sure they weren’t directional-checked the Haynes manual and visually compared them. Each end looks like the other. 
When I tightened them down the drivers side front nut sat down well below the hole for the cotter pin. There was a lot of threaded portion beyond the nut. Control arm side looked fine. 
On the passenger side the opposite happened. Control arm end snugged down further than the hope for cotter pin. Chassis end was fine. 

as far as I could tell the bushings went in the correct way in the correct holes. The two bushings are different sizes. The half bushings looked identical but the chassis one did have a front and rear half. 

What could I have done wrong? 
 

Every car I’ve had that I’ve modified heavily had become a problem. These days I like OEM plus. 

I’ll be hitting the rev limiter quite a bit in my planned use, at least within the life of this head. So I went with the 6500+rpm parts. The HD rockers were cheaper too. 
 

Head will be ready tomorrow! Shame I’ll be out of town. Picking it up Friday when I’m back and the real fun begins this weekend. 😁

Just now realizing I still need a head gasket and timing cover gaskets. I asked machinist if I needed a slightly thicker head gasket (I saw on IE website one 0.3mm thicker). He said yes, wouldn’t hurt. He IS going to deck the head, of course. 
Im not buying a gasket set as I have most gaskets new already. 

1 hour ago, Son of Marty said:

With a stock cam the hd springs only benefit will be to wear your cam out sooner the hd rockers are not needed, and yes new eccentrics and hardware would be money well spent, if your valve guides are still the stock 2002 ones ask your machinist to turn the top down to allow the new style seals.

Yes but the extra west is likely minimal and the benefit is no valve float at very high rpm (which I intend to do-track days). If machinist is taking the old ones out it might be cheaper just to buy later style valve guides and have him replace them. 

54 minutes ago, tech71 said:

No new rocker shafts? Are yours still good?

He told me what I needed and did not mention that so I have to assume no. I can ask him though, to be sure. 

Update! 
 

Head is good and can be rebuilt. 
Valve guides are good and don’t need replacing. 
Cam and rockers need replacing though, as do all the exhaust valves. 
 
So I’m thinking of replacing with stock new cam (Ireland Engineering), new HD rocker arms and retainers, new HD valve springs, exh valves and that’s it. 
 

Any opinions on that plan? Should I replace anything else in the head? 
do I also need the eccentrics, rocker shaft hardware, valve stem collets?

6 hours ago, 2002iii said:

I put the e30 junction base behind the brake booster right above the brake light switch. This way the factory positive cable from the starter will reach it.

 

I ran the cable up the drivers side inside, it fit nicely in the factory wiring channel. I used a factory hole I found in the firewall above the clutch pedal.

I was wondering if there was any built in way to hood the cable in place along the bottom edge of the passenger side. Sounds like the drivers side is the way to go. Thanks.