Head is off, how far should I go?

[rennen]

Hi everyone. After pulling the head off of my totally stock 1991 318is to replace a faulty head gasket, I am hesitant to start reassembling everything until I figure out if I want to do any more work while it is all apart.

What simple mods do you think I should do while it's all apart?

Perhaps an injector swap while they are easy to access? Throttle body heater delete? (BTW is capping or looping better?) Wrapping the header in heat tape? Powedercoating?

Thanks
-Sal

[DesktopDave]

I'd do the injectors & hose mod, definitely.  I haven't done it yet but I'd do the loop, seems more permanent.  Maybe R&R all those gaskets on the front of the engine.  How'd you figure it was a bad gasket?

I'm not sure that heat wrap is a good idea unless you're boosted.  Powder coating the headers with ceramic....mmmm.  That's an idea.

[quinn11m20]

Hey Dave Can you afford new lifters and Cams? How about porting the head. Better flow means better HP.
As for Ceramic VS. Wrapping. I heard they are about the same in performance. I personally wrapped. There are a lot of other factors with that too. As for an injector upgrade, I did some research on our stock injectors and found out that they are quite sufficient. If my memory serves me right ours flow 170cc per min and are rated up to 43 psi. You would upgrade to 50 psi minimum for a turbo. Go to this web site http://www.rceng.com  and fill in the blanks. Very informative. Good luck.

[quinn11m20]

Sorry Dave I didn't read throughly, This post was actually meant for Rennen. I was sidetracked with Cheez-it's.

[rennen]

Hey guys, thanks for the suggestions and info.

I first knew it was a bad gasket from the white smoke in the exhuast. When I separated the exhaust manifold from the exhaust I noticed that the outlet for the middle two cylinders, 2, 3, were very oily and dirty. I pulled all the plugs to find out that cylinders 2, 3 were nasty greasy. I pulled the head figuring that I was going for a light rebuild anyways and there it was.. A plain as day blowout of the brittle gasket into cylinders 2 and 3. Funny enought 1 and 4 look like they were burning REALLY clean.

I too think that looping might be a better idea.

Any other ideas guys???

[monty23psk]

I would do timing chain items, all new gaskets, coolant plate delete. Then anything is maintence, replace with new or better, for example tstat or water pump, unless recently replaced. Also clean the injectors minimun & intake manfold.

[Hey-u]

I would do the ceramic coated header. I was so happy with the results that I did the intake manifold also. Here are pics of the header:
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[rennen]

Hey-U, those headers are gorgeous! What kind of results did you notice from them and how much did the ceramic set you back?

OK... So far I will;
-be replacing all the gaskets and cleaning everything up.
-cleaning the stock injectors and replacing them (after researching more I think they'll do fine for a daily driver)
-removing the throttle body heater plates and looping the cooling system.
-powedercoating the intake plenum and the valve cover.
-replacing the head gasket.
-and possibly ceramic coating the header.

Looks like I'll only be 400-500 dollars into the rebuild.

Anything else guys and gals?

-Sal

[quinn11m20]

Sounds like a good plan Rennen. Good luck with the project.

[Hey-u]

The header cost about $140. Can't say that it made a difference and I didn't do a temp test before /after. This winter I will install the ceramic coated intake manifold and delete the throttle body heater plate. If I can find another M42 in the summer I will hit the 2 cars with a heat gun and see what the difference is.