Messages

1

Electrical / SI board batteries replaced with new spring terminals

« on: December 11, 2019, 08:21:49 AM »

I thought I would post my latest fix.  My original SI batteries are from 1991 so I figure they are overdue to fail.  I have read too many stories on forums about these leaking ad taking out the entire motherboard so I had the idea to wire up some half AA spring terminals to take the batteries out of the cluster entirely for safety and so nobody ever has to open up this thing again.  I already fixed my frozen odometer gears last year.   I replaced all lights (most with LEDs) and wired up battery holders. 

I (gently and slowly) pried the old batteries away from their tabs and soldered onto the battery tabs.  There is  just enough room on the left side of the gauge cluster to run the wires if you drill a small hole in the plastic to route them out.  My soldering is terrible but I was just paranoid about melting something on there that shouldn't be melted.  After I took this last photo I electrical taped them up some to the back so they wouldn't flop around.

Hopefully this idea helps someone.  If I had it all to do over I might use a smaller gauge wire and used a longer run so they could be swapped out from under the dash. 

2

General Topics / Re: The mess under the intake

« on: November 11, 2019, 08:42:03 AM »

I will pile on to this very useful old thread.  I just did the MUTI on my 91 vert (182k miles) and will throw in a photo. 

The plastic water pipe manifold on the side of the engine that I replaced was the most difficult part.  It took 3 tries to get it to seal and hold pressure.  I used the Uro version which may have contributed to the difficulty.  I added Toyota FIPG to the seal to finally get it to work and used a crowbar to apply gentle pressure.  I used a piece of blue silicone heater hose that was in-between the sizes of the manifold nipple and the engine block outlet.  I had to really stretch it over the manifold and used a small piece of leftover hose inside the engine end and FIPG to seal the end (I believe I had a leak here before this fix).  I also left the metal heater plates in place to keep the spacing the same and not put stretching pressure on the intake boot.

I recommend that you get a hold of a cooling system pressure tester (many auto parts stores rent these).  When I tested my system after final assembly (at 15psi) I found a leak from an improperly installed clamp on a hose going into the heater core.

I now have all the coolant hoses replaced (had to buy actual replacement hoses since they all have unique bends to them).   Also there is a recall fix, where they placed a safety valve on the hose from the engine and the heater core (sometime in the early 90s) this requires you to cut two of your new hoses in half to splice this device into it. I replaced all the rubber fuel lines too even though they looked fine.  I also while I had the intake off changed my injectors out to 4 pintle disk injectors Bosch Gen 3 (0 280 155 746).  These were exact drop in replacement and as I read on the forums they work perfectly.  My old ones were some of the crustiest parts I have pulled off the car.  I also added a oil catch can in-betwixt the valve cover PCV and the nipple on the bottom of the throttle body.  I am curious to see what that thing catches.  As a final I painted up the big aluminum parts since I had them off.

Hope this helps someone else with this job.  It was very easy compared to doing the timing case swap.  The colored diagram on here was printed and taped to my windshield during this entire project; that was great.

I will attach the photo of my silicone bypass hose and the almost finished product that shows my routing and location of my oil catch can (that it may help others).

3

Engine + Driveline / Timing case swap (without pulling the head)

« on: November 09, 2019, 10:13:14 AM »

I wanted to post my experience with the timing case swap (without pulling the head) in the hopes that it helps others as the numerous threads here helped me.  This is less how to (because there are already great threads on this) but more what I learned from doing this that I did not see on the instructions here.

I bought a 1995 timing case off of eBay and recently removed my old case and (time bomb) timing sprocket and replaced all the rails and timing system with (new parts) those of the 1995 M42.

Getting the old case off was a matter of removing all of the bolts (there are lots and they are difficult to see since they are black on black) and then shoving thin scrapers and flat head screwdrivers in between the case and block and gently applying leverage.  But putting the new case on was more involved.

I initially tried no shim.. then to a tough plastic sheet from a license plate as a shim in between the top case and the new case but this would become pinched and tear when I tried to remove it.  I then tried the thin piece of metal.  This when silicone lubed worked much better and with pressure from clamps and rubber mallets I very slowly got the case on and the rubber profile gasket to seat into place.  The large issue other than that was lining up the crank at the bottom so it fit through the oil pump hole perfectly; this took patience.

The big tip I would give is to use vice grips (at least 2) and a large screwdriver to clamp onto the thin metal when you remove it from the gasket mating surface.  This allows you to use a crowbar against the screwdriver to gently lever the metal out quite easily… I could not get the metal shim out any other way.

The other thing I did thanks to advice from the forum is to use Toyota FIPG for all of my big aluminum to aluminum gaskets.  My M42 is completely sealed with zero leaks.  I used standard gaskets for the complex surface between the new case and the block as well as the upper pan since it has iron on the block side and aluminum on the pan side… from what I have researched the differences in expansion rates make a standard gasket a better choice.

Now I have a bullet proof timing setup that I hope I can rack up the miles on.  I will try to post more photos or answer any questions.  There are some really good threads on here with good photos that helped me.

4

Engine + Driveline / Re: Thrust Bearing Replacment Require Machining?

« on: October 08, 2019, 09:24:21 PM »

So I just rolled in a full new thrust bearing on my 1991 E30 vert. I was worried about it needing to be machined or not being a direct replacement. I wrote to Pelican parts and they advised that it is drop in stock replacement requiring no modification.

The new full thrust bearing fit into the stock caps perfectly. However it was much more difficult to roll in than what YouTube videos make it out to be.

After I rolled out the old bearing the crank moved slightly forward towards the front of the car. This meant that the space for the shoulder of the bearing (thrust surface) was too small on front side. I had to push and tap on the main crank bolt to get the crank back in position to allow the thrust bearing edges to fit. Once this was lined up it rolled in easy.

I wish I had known this though, I got stuck on this for hours.

5

Engine + Driveline / Thrust Bearing Replacment Require Machining?

« on: July 06, 2019, 02:06:39 PM »

So I have the upper pan off of my 1991 M42 E30 as part of a timing case refresh and I was planning on replacing the half a thrust bearing with the other half.  I have been reading and searching the forum and the web for a couple of hours and cannot find a definitive answer to whether I can just replace the missing thrust bearing on the cap (or even roll in the other half too) or if the cap will require me to send it off for machining? 

Can anyone answer if I can just buy the BMW Main Bearing Set (Standard) - Glyco H 023/5 STD and plop it in without machining?  These are the only replacements listed so I wouldn't think they would require anything extra, but Metric Mechanic has a service listed "required on the 360° Main Bearings: Labor for machining Main Bearing Cap Lock Tang groove" which makes it sound like there is more to it.

Thanks.

6

Engine + Driveline / Re: m42 con rod bolts

« on: June 18, 2019, 05:27:42 PM »

I hate to revive such an old post.  But I have been debating this same issue.  My '91 E30 M42 Vert that I am considering refreshing the rod bearings on shows two sizes of bolt as stock everywhere I look... and the 47mm ones are about a quarter of the price of the 53mm bolts.  All the other parts I have been lining up has been easier.  Is this just a case of I have to wait till I pull them out and measure and then order that or should I be going with the "early" 47mm?  I am skeptical like the last poster.