The Adventure Begins (Again)

[bmwman91]

I am half way through stripping my M42 down to short-block status. I had originally planned to use this weekend to just do some simple replacements...vacuum & coolant hoses. A week ago the timing chain idler sprocket decided it didn't like having ball bearings anymore, and it sent them off to [somewhere] in my engine...hopefully the oil pan. The sprocket's bearing cage seems to be made of plastic (the new one is anyway), which sucks since the magnetic drain plug won't gather the remains, but maybe they won't be quite as dangerous to the oiling system as steel chunks. Maybe. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that all pieces will be removed when I pull the timing case & oil pans, and inspect the cam area.

So, my project for the weekend is now to replace all of the originally planned stuff, as well as basically every gasket on the front of the motor. All of the gaskets associated with the timing case & oil filter housing have been weeping oil for years, and since I had to get it all apart, I figured I may as well pull the timing case to repair stripped threads, replace the oil pressure regulator & replace the gasket behind it. All of the paper gaskets are getting coated with Permatex non-curing gasket sealer since that seems to be the only way that M42'ers have been able to stop leaks.

I am suspecting that the head gasket is leaking coolant by cylinder 4, on the upper / intake side. There is a line of coolant there right on the seam, although quite small. It could just as easily be from the heater core hose that was there (and sort of rotten), but the hose didn't seem to be leaky. Who knows. Has anyone else found this to be a spot that leaks? I don't get any coolant in my oil, and I don't smell coolant in the exhaust ever, so I am planning to just leave "this one" alone. I KNOW that if I pull the head, this will turn into a bore-&-stroke + MM performance head project, and I can't do that lol. All the money I have been saving is (supposed to be) for a down payment on a house!

Other than that, I haven't found any other "surprises"...YET! Any thoughts on other things I should check while in there? I am basically pulling & replacing everything on the motor, minus parts in the head & block. I'll get some progress pics up as the day progresses.

Also, the top of the tranny's bell housing is covered in oily gunk. There look to be 2 large bolts / allen plugs on the head that might be leaking. Any ideas on what those are?

[DesktopDave]

I'm looking forward to something similar for mine.  The engine leaks oil all the time.  Still, as long as it runs, I'm not inclined to tear it all apart.

I'd be tempted to drop the pans too, see if the fuel pump is OK, maybe replace the oil housing gasket & O-ring too.  And the dipstick o-rings, don't forget those!

I had no idea there was something on the back of the head.  M20's have the heater core connection bolted there, but that's on the driver's side of the M42 head.  Maybe it's a casting relief plug or knock-out of some kind?  I'd be willing to bet that BMW drilled the oil galleries through the back & plugged them with bolts.  RealOEM lists them as 'screw plugs,' with a 12x15.5mm seal (copper crush washer)?

I swear the longer I own this car the less I know about it!

[bmwman91]

I hear you. I have been driving E30 M42s for 11 years now and I learn something new every time I take something apart.

I rebuilt the entire fuel system a year or so ago, so I am good on the fuel pump. I spent a long time tracing electrical gremlins, and it seems like I finally got the fuel injection system perfectly dialed in. Then the stupid little timing sprocket blew up, 2 days later!

There SEEMS to be good news though. My magnetic drain plug had 6 ball bearings stuck to it, and I dug out 3 pieces of plastic that form all 360 degrees of a bearing race. There aren't any big pieces missing, thankfully. So, that is somewhat of a relief.

The upper oil pan is almost off. I will yank all the timing chain stuff out of the case & then pull the case. I'll align the cams & crank as best I can to TDC now, and dial them in prior to reassembly (as long as they are close enough now to avoid interference I am happy).

[bmwman91]

Well, I got everything completely disassembled and cleaned up today. Nothing was reassembled since I had promised myself that I would quit when the sun went down. I seem to recall making most of my mistakes in the past when it was night time and I was way too tired to be working on stuff.

I am really hoping to be able to get it all reassembled, properly & cleanly, in one day. I didn't really plan to kill my long weekend working on my car. My fiancee will probably hate my car even more now! I figured I'd be done in a day, but of course I couldn't JUST replace the one broken part. No, I had to go ripping out all the leaky gaskets & fixing things that didn't really need it lol. Oh well, such is the life of an E30 owner.

[DesktopDave]

Oh well, such is the life of an E30 owner.

Too true.  Words of wisdom...maybe even a motto, eh?

While you're shopping for houses, consider the amount of space you'll need for spares & working area...I wish I'd have given it more though myself...

[bmwman91]

Basically, the garage / shop aspect is the only part of any property I really care about. The house itself just needs to be free of structural issues (termites, mold, additions were signed-off as CA-legal for earthquakes, etc). Plumbing/electrical/drywall/paint are all things I can deal with myself (not that I want to, but it isn't a perfect world).

Ideally, I would find a house with a detached 2-car garage, and a driveway/covered car port next to the house leading back to it (for my fiancee's car). Those are somewhat hard to come by around here though. I live about 7 minutes from my office (on a BIKE!) and basically anywhere I move I'll have to start commuting again. The city of Mountain View is completely unreasonable price-wise (an OK condo is ~$500k + $400/mo HOA fees). Single family homes are more or less impossible to find for less than $650k, and those are usually 1-car garage types on a small lot (4000-5000 sq.ft). This place can kiss my a** in that regard lol.

If I move a bit further south, I can get a 6000-10000 sq.ft lot with a nice house & detached garage for the price of a condo up here, and maybe a 45 minute commute each way during peak hours. I could probably bike once or twice a week too. Being able to get to work on a bike is somewhat of a priority since it makes me less dependent on the E30, which means I can take my sweet time tearing the motor down. My parents live down around where I was thinking of buying (and the E30 is at their place since they have a garage), so it would be nice to be able to visit them more easily (and use my dad's mill & lathe haha).

Anyway, I figure I will get the timing case & oil-related parts put back on today. Maybe I'll start on the coolant hoses. The heater core hoses are a giant bird's nest...I cannot figure out what is going on with them! There are feed/return lines connected by Tees & smaller lines, and some sort of thermostat. Maybe I'll just put that off until tomorrow! I'll post the pictures I took yesterday before I start working today (in a few hours). If I had my own garage, I would probably be pulling the motor & either completely rebuilding it, or dropping in a Metric Mechanic Rally 2100 engine. I bet it can pass SMOG.....

[bmwman91]

Progress...got the timing case back in, along with the oil pans & oil filter housing. I also put the timing chain & associated parts in, and made sure everything was set at TDC. So far so good. I am applying a non-curing Permatex gasket sealant to all paper gaskets & some oil-related metal O-rings. I am hoping that this will stop the motor from leaking oil so much.

Getting the timing case in was an unpleasant affair, as usual. I sprayed the paper gasket that goes between it & the block with an aerosol version of the gasket sealer so I could get a thinner, more even coating. The tricky bit is that you get ONE shot at putting the timing case on properly since the gasket sticks. I placed it on the block first & then worked on the timing case. I carefully used a floor jack to squish the profile gasket & get the case onto the nose. Initially I tried to do it without any shim, but the gasket was getting caught. By then, there was silicone RTV on the gasket & underside of the head, which I figured would lube things to some degree. I got a big sheet of 0.005" brass shim stock between the gasket & head & then used some very large wood clamps to get it in place. The bolts got it the rest of the way on. I removed the kidney grill & got some vise grips on the sheet & yanked it out. It crumpled a little, but the gasket was in place & I don't think that the head got scratched.

The real nuisance was that when we were tugging around trying to get the case positioned, it shook the motor & a good 4-5 ounces of coolant came spilling out of the water pump hole & down my nice new gasket! 99% of it ended up on the floor. At this point, I said screw it & just bolted the case on since it was half-stuck to the timing case already. I assume most of the coolant squeezed out, or into [somewhere], or got absorbed by the gasket. I am crossing my fingers on that one. This is the only real area of concern I have about things, but it seems reasonable to assume it will be OK. Good thing I sprayed it down with that coolant-proof sealant (I think)? Why oh why can't these things ever go together nicely?

I keep promising pictures. Well, it turns out that my old SD card reader does not like my SDHC card from my new camera. I'll post stuff eventually...sorry!