Shorty need some lovin'

[daniels635turbo]

Hows the car coming along?

[clarkitect]

Hows the car coming along?

Thanks for asking! It has been slow going - December is pretty busy - something every weekend - I have had limited garage time. Worked for a few hours Saturday though and made some progress.

Thanks to Nick for the offer of his crank holder, but I ended up making one up out of 1/4" steel plate and 1 1/2" tube. Worked like a champ! Getting this bolt off was one of my biggest worries on the job. Much time invested just contemplating this task. Kind of a waste because this made it pretty easy:


Here’s a crappy picture of the device in action.



Pretty heavy and probably overkill, but that bolt was tight! I was worried it would snap when it broke loose, but it was a gradual loosening. I should have put about a 15 degree bend on the plate to clear everything, but I ended up pulling the left Vanos solenoid because I didn't want to damage it.

After that it was pretty straightforward, just a matter of taking it slow and making sure I got all the bolts out before trying to man-handle the timing covers off the engine. Each time I pulled a cover, more bits of timing chain guide fell down. There is no plastic at all on the reversing (u-shaped) guide. Will need to pull the cover from the oil pump chain to make sure nothing is stuck down in there before reassembling.

Hopefully over Christmas weekend I can make some real progress. Need to spend several hours just cleaning gunk off of stuff. Looking for a cheap dishwaster to turn into a parts cleaner.

So here's some more pictures to look at:


All stripped down. Didn't damage the upper oil pan gasket.


No plastic at all left on this reversing guide.


Broke the nipple off of the throttle body mounting plate trying to pull the hose off. Super brittle. Anyone have a spare to sell? Looking at this picture it even looks like the manifold might have a slight crack in it.

Next steps will be getting the timing tools attached, and removing the chain to install the new guides. I have a Bentley but I found that it is not as helpful as the TIS I have been finding online. Probably need to find a CD to use. Lots of time spent researching the interwebs and this forum for the experiences of others. Thanks to all who have done this before and posted their insights.

[GSXRliterbikz]

Doh, I just threw away a whole intake. I probably have that plate if you need one though. I'll just need to look around.

[clarkitect]

Doh, I just threw away a whole intake. I probably have that plate if you need one though. I'll just need to look around.

I looked closer at the intake today at lunch and it looks fine, just some gunk on there. I think the nipple on the plate was broken previously and epoxied back on or something. So if you have the TB plate it would be a big help.

[sigtwenty]

I have a complete intake from an 00 sport.

[1badturboe38]

Are they better performance wise....

[daytonatrbo]

Are they better performance wise....

The sport? no.

The 00? only if you count having smaller runners to increase intake velocity at low RPM for better bottom end, but less top end.... yeah, I guess.


I still can't believe they didn't do dual intake runners on the m62.

[Houseboater]

I'll repeat myself as I have for years. Truth is 99% of the e38 for sale out there WILL need $2000 MINIMUM in parts cost within first 6 to 12 months of ownership.

I'd say that much could be spent in the first 6 to 12 HOURS of ownership... The cheapest part is the purchase, always.

[clarkitect]

I have a complete intake from an 00 sport.

Thanks Sig. PM me a price with shipping. All likelihood though I will just try to source the throttle body mounting plate.

Edit: Just bought on on Ebay for $19 shipped. That'll do.

Thanks and Merry Christmas to all you guys.

[IndyJoe1977]

I know my '97 740iL has been a labour of love so far. Paid $1800 for it with some known issues. Had receipts for upper engine work...chain guides, and a few other things I'm forgetting, in the last year or so. I took it on a 1300 mile round trip the day I bought it, and the driveline didn't miss a beat. As soon as I got back, new front struts, steering components from the gearbox out (not the gearbox, but all else), rear control arm bushings, and a couple other things. In the last month, the OSV, four tires, battery, and a traction strut, along with replacing the brake hoses with stainless pieces. I like the car, and right now, with all that, plus plugs, air filter, valve cover gaskets, and a couple other ancillary things, I'm in it for about $2400 in parts and labour. Ultimately, I don't consider that bad for 166,000 miles, V8, rear drive, and something that didn't have a lot of good upkeep to go with it. Oh...yeah, the power steering pressure hose, too.

[clarkitect]

Been slowly picking away at getting the guides done. Just ordered up a bunch more parts to do the valley pan, replace those front tans cooler hoses, new water pump, and finish putting things back together. Also have suspension parts to install. Was going to make a push to get it all done this weekend - I think I can do it all in a day and a half or so. Much time has been spent cleaning parts - everything is so greasy from the oil leaks. Valve cover gaskets were like hard plastic. They HAD to be original.

Did pull off the oil pump chain cover and found more guide bits and part of the oil separator. The plastic oil separator had separated itself from the metal fitting - the rubber connector had dried up and and fallen apart. Glad I pulled this to see what was in there.




Took time to adjust the chain tension while I was in there. Took a few minutes to figure out where the adjuster was, but once I did it was cake.




Where it stands now:



Well I did a little more after that, but not a ton. Spent at least an hour cleaning the valve covers and plan to paint them tomorrow with VHT wrinkle black paint. Really slow going since I have never worked on one of these motors, and every step is a bit of a learning process. Some day I might be like GSXRLiterbikz and crank this stuff out over coffee. Not yet.

One thing that keeps me up at night is thinking I should take this opportunity to do the Vanos seals. Boy I really just want to get it buttoned up though. But I have the timing tools for another two weeks, and I could easily pull the upper covers off right now. I think I would just replace the seals in the Vanos units themselves, not pull the housings and deal with check valves that appear to be special order. I would have ordered them today if I thought I could get them by the weekend, but the holidays are messing with me. What to do, what to do...

[clarkitect]

More small steps yesterday - painted the valve covers with VHT Wrinkle Black paint. $7.49 total at Autozone. Bought online and picked up at the store - sadly the store 1/2 mile from my house didn't have it so I had to drive to Granville, NY. Nice drive though.

First de-greased the things, and sanded all the loose, rough original finish mostly down to bare metal, but not all.




Mounted them on boards to make them easy to move around while painting. Also taped off the parts under the plastic covers where the coils go. Figured this would make less work when installing and you won't see it anyway. If I chance my mind I still have enough to hit these parts later.




Painted four coats leaving time between each coat to dry slightly. I guess the key to this stuff wrinkling is the uneven drying between coats. If I do this again I will do only 3 coats and leave more time between coats. Some spots the paint looks a tad thick.




Took about an hour or so of drying next to the pellet stove to fully wrinkle, but pretty happy with the results. I know some folks have said the paint won't hold up on the magnesium since it tends to off-gas and lift the paint, but for the few hours and less than $8 investment, I thought I'd give it a shot. I consulted with forum member Jamos who did the same thing and has good results after 10k miles or so. Will post updates when I get to that point.

[GSXRliterbikz]

Did you still need that throttle plate? Stumbled across one in the garage last night and set it aside. If you want it, pm me your mailing address.

[clarkitect]

Did you still need that throttle plate? Stumbled across one in the garage last night and set it aside. If you want it, pm me your mailing address.

I picked one up so am all set. Thanks though!

[clarkitect]

Rebuilt Vanos sprockets with new Beisan seals.



Was surprisingly easy to do this job. Removing and replacing the o-ring and teflon seal was not at all difficult. Took maybe an hour, then another half hour to press the sprockets as outlined in the Biesan procedure. Was a little nervous squishing these things with a 3' breaker bar in my vise, but the vise held perfectly, and all seemed to go well. We will find out once I get this thing running again. Nothing on the schedule this weekend other than working on the car, so I should HOPEFULLY have it back on the road next week.

Once the engine is up and running I still need to change the rear ball joints and front control arms before the car is really ready. Had nice weather to work the past few weeks but it was super cold yesterday. Hopefully will be warmer in the garage this weekend.

Got the car back together to the point it was at before I decided to bit the bullet and do the Vanos. Took off work early yesterday to get to that point since the tools need to go back to Bimmertoolrental today. Blurry weather gnome in the garage says it was cold in there even with my little heater running.

[clarkitect]

Well, I followed every TIS i found, cleaned everything, replaced just about everything I removed, checked, double checked, and triple checked every nut bolt and screw. Put it all backed together, refilled the fluids and...


She cranked for a few seconds, then fired up. Quieted down after about five seconds. Runs like a champ! I can only hope a 180k M62 is plenty stout inside. Will be replacing some suspension components this week. That stuff is easy!


Sure was nice driving this car around today.

[GSXRliterbikz]

Nice. Scary noise for the first few seconds. Then just joy as it quiets up.

Good job.

[clarkitect]

Thanks man! Was a lot of work but this sort of thing is pretty much a hobby. Overall was pretty fun.

[kooljess]

Thanks man! Was a lot of work but this sort of thing is pretty much a hobby. Overall was pretty fun.

You are a brave man my brotha. Looking at your engine and started thinking to myself..."If I did this, how the heck am I going to put it back together". I am glad she is running again....

[Mike 91 318ic]

Nice work! Wish I had those skills as I would love to do mine before they go. Really like these cars but cannot justify spending 6k to have a shop do the job (rates are super high in BC Canada) mine only has 140k kms so if I get up to 200k+ Before they go I'll be happy. Again great job!

[machinemanjr]

OP,

I just finished exactly what you are doing over the weekend. I will tell you the check valves behind the VANOS oil distributor are available from the dealer. I found the best source for the check valves, oil distribution gaskets, and cam snout sealing rings (hidden by the oil distributor) was my local dealer's online parts portal. I paid $15 for each check valve (2 total) , 6 bucks for each gasket (2 total) and $6 for each sealing ring (three per intake cam).


I did the guides and my u rail looked just like yours -- naked. I also did the valley pan, replaced the chains, rebuilt the VANOS oil distribution system, rebuilt the VANOS units, replaced all the various plastic stuff in the timing case, replaced rear coolant accumulator gaskets and heater core hoses, powder-coated the valve covers and had my injectors cleaned and balanced. I had Dr. VANOS rebuild mine (with Besian seals) and I regret that, $400 later, very poor communication and long shipping times but the car is perfectly quiet and runs like a top. So, glad to see you look like you're plugging along. Feel free to reach out if you get stuck. I literally finished my car up 36 hours ago.

Cheers,

[clarkitect]

You are a brave man my brotha. Looking at your engine and started thinking to myself..."If I did this, how the heck am I going to put it back together". I am glad she is running again....

Thanks man! The job actually is not that bad, but definitely involved and time consuming. A little nerve wracking when you are sitting in the car contemplating turning the key for the first time.

Nice work! Wish I had those skills as I would love to do mine before they go. Really like these cars but cannot justify spending 6k to have a shop do the job (rates are super high in BC Canada) mine only has 140k kms so if I get up to 200k+ Before they go I'll be happy. Again great job!

Thank you! Hey only 87k miles, I would think you’ll be OK for a while, but I guess you never know. I sure didn’t want to pay someone to do this job. Only one place around that works on BMW’s and I don’t know that they would do this job, they’d probably want to replace the whole engine. I contemplated doing just that, but I still would have done guides and everything else, so figured I’d stick with this engine. I just hope at 178k I’ll still be good for another 50k+.

Key is also having the right tools, the most important of which is internet access…

OP,

I just finished exactly what you are doing over the weekend. I will tell you the check valves behind the VANOS oil distributor are available from the dealer. I found the best source for the check valves, oil distribution gaskets, and cam snout sealing rings (hidden by the oil distributor) was my local dealer's online parts portal. I paid $15 for each check valve (2 total) , 6 bucks for each gasket (2 total) and $6 for each sealing ring (three per intake cam).

I did the guides and my u rail looked just like yours -- naked. I also did the valley pan, replaced the chains, rebuilt the VANOS oil distribution system, rebuilt the VANOS units, replaced all the various plastic stuff in the timing case, replaced rear coolant accumulator gaskets and heater core hoses, powder-coated the valve covers and had my injectors cleaned and balanced. I had Dr. VANOS rebuild mine (with Besian seals) and I regret that, $400 later, very poor communication and long shipping times but the car is perfectly quiet and runs like a top. So, glad to see you look like you're plugging along. Feel free to reach out if you get stuck. I literally finished my car up 36 hours ago.

Cheers,

Congratulations on finishing your job! Mine's a wrap too except for reinstalling the engine top cover and belly pan. Also need to top off the coolant again after the initial fill. Sure is a good feeling when it’s all done and the car starts with no check engine light.


You did some work I didn’t do – I didn’t go so far as to have my injectors cleaned and balanced, or have the VC powder coated, although I will see how the paint will hold up. I’m glad I didn’t spend the extra money on Dr. Vanos. Knowing how much work it is to rebuild them myself (like, 2 hours max), and $70 for the seals, pick tools, and shipping, I think their price is a little high. I did the valley pan, water pump, bunch of hoses, gaskets, etc.

I didn’t do the Vanos distribution system. I was ready to quit adding more jobs to the list so I skipped over it. It starts now with no rattle, and is quite at idle except for the injectors clicking away. Nearest dealer to me is 1 ½ hours north, so pretty much everything was purchased from FCP except the last minute VC gaskets I needed when I realized I ordered the wrong ones last month. Doh!

Hope your car runs great!

[clarkitect]

Well, here’s the finished motor. Runs fantastic but still need to change the fuel filter I think. At steady speed it tends to sort of hesitate a bit like it’s about to run out of fuel. Very subtle, but noticeable. I think I’ll start with the filter. Seems like a good bet it’s the one BMW installed when they built the car.
EDIT: It was not the fuel filter it was the torque converter. Changed trans fluid and problem has not come back in 50k miles.



Needs a good scrubbing under the hood but the front of the motor is spotless! Pretty happy with the valve covers I guess.

Here’s the winter set up.





Can't wait to go back to the summer set up. Except that I'll need new tires and have pretty much tapped my initial budget out at the moment. For Sigtwenty's information, it was more than $2k in parts so far!

[purplecty]

Great work! Looks awesome I love the hammered valve cover paint!

[clarkitect]

Great work! Looks awesome I love the hammered valve cover paint!

Thank you! Hopefully it'll hold up a while. After driving it for 3 hours or so yesterday you could smell it baking and hopefully curing.