ok: recap and some photos:http://ee1394.com/bmw/fotomat/060529/Hey, sorry to everybody for seemingly dropping off the face of the earth... it was a long, exhausting trip heading out and back, plus breaking down and the usual work getting the car sorted out.
I saved a lot of additonal stuff to be dealt with during / post swap, including a rebuilt tranny
(done literally around the corner from Thumper3ld in queens!),
a used 4.10 lsd (purchased from denis / dude8383) and a million other things that make sense to do when the engine is out.
quick thanks / answers:- twinpop, M42fan: thanks again for the shout-out when I was kinda in my darkest hour. If I ever break down again, I wanna do it in Western PA... yinz are truly great people.
- qship and e9nine: you guys have PM re: metric mechanic. Call them and the owner Jim Rowe will *happily* talk to you at *length* about anything BMW related. The man can spin a yarn... I'm buying shares of his phone company's stock.
- nickmpower: cost estimate re: the engine: it's around 1/2 of your guess, thereabouts. (I got a break on the price because I was the first!)
- various horsepower estimates etc: we timed the car on a g-tech, I posted our best run. Obviously it doesn't mean much compared to a dyno (I am getting to that soon).
- finally: sheepdog: THANK YOU very much for driving out and answering the various questions and generally providing moral support and friendship.
We are
extremely lucky to have a man such as yourself running our board. This guy is the real deal folks.
Some bitch hit my carOkay, so I have kind of been recovering from BMW overload, 10 missed days from work, and (at the end of this message, a real special announcement)... and to make matters worse:
I parked my car on the street after I got home, came out the next day and
SOMEONE HIT MY CAR!!! ...so I gotta get a new driver's side door and I'm really pissed about it. Totally crushed the door, the door handle, and god knows what else. It sucks, basically. What is wrong with people?!
We actually caught it on tape (there is a security camera on the bldg. next door) but the friggin angle was off so we couldn't get the plate #. We could, however, see her fat ass, talking on her cell phone, while she backs into my car. Big SUX. Where's CSI in real life??
general comments about metric mechanic:As I said before... they are truly GREAT PEOPLE. It's a family shop that truly made me feel like part of their family. All of the BMW and engine crap aside, it was a life altering thing. Jim Rowe is one of the most intelligent, interesting people I've ever met (this is saying a lot).
Getting out of NYC and into the midwest for a week or so changed my thinking about a lot of stuff, and Jim, his wife, his son, their guys Courtney and (the other Jim), and basically, the entire friggin' town of Richland, MO helped put things into a different focus. It was a great experience and all I can say is 'BIG THANKS!". Words can't really cover it.
Specifically about the BMW side... it's a great trip. The shop is totally informal; I had complete access to everything and worked alongside them on the installation and the various other stuff.
Jim's son Teddy and their guys Court and the other Jim (Mr. Kempner) really know their stuff and can basically do it all. I had complete access to everything I needed and I learned more in the 7 days than I knew rolling in (not saying much, lol).
It was a 100% positive, zero B/S thing. If you ever wanted to work with a family operation where it was all product quality and knowledge and zero marketing b/s, this is it. They won't kiss your ass, but I realized as I was leaving that they give their customers 100% access because they have absolutely nothing to hide professionally or personally. It's that cool.
Anyway, the engine itself is great. Without a dyno, obviously the numbers situation is an open discussion. I can say this... shifting at 7600 rpm is enough excitement for me. The car has the same balance, handling, everything, except that the power and acceleration is *intense* at 3500 to 7500+ rpms. This thing has a w-i-d-e power band. I had a chance to drive both and the experience at full-throttle is roughly comparable to a 3.2L E36 M3. ("roughly" ... I'm not saying it's a 3.2L E36 M3).
The camming is aggressive with a lot of overlap (at least 288 on the intake and slightly less on the exhaust) and my idle is now around around 1000 rpms... I may actually detune the engine a little as I spend a ton of time in traffic.
I had a magnaflow exhaust put on... it's way too friggin loud so I'm going to put a resonator on it. I had a 19 hour drive to 'get used to it' and it didn't help much. It is free flowing, however.
General notes:- the final displacement is around 2130 cc; the bore and stroke are almost exactly square and the pistons were set up to make it a non-interference engine.
- The head has 6mm valve stems, M50 lifters, and custom rods, pistons (wiseco) and wrist pins. The M50 lifters are interchangeable with stock, but hold a little more oil. Jim did EVERYTHING possible to reduce recpirocating mass and it really shows.
- The flywheel is a custom machined / lightened M20 flywheel... it drives fine and chatters a teeny bit at idle. I went with a sachs spring-loaded clutch. The lightened flywheel is a BIG MUST DO MOD. Jim can mail order the flywheels btw.
- I had an electric fan put in. Others have commented on it... just DO IT! I will dig up the various part #s for the fan and the relay. If you live in a cold weather climate with mild summers and no bumper to bumper traffic... my opinion, go ahead and remove the clutch fan thing.
- The tuning and AFM issues: this is going to be an ongoing thing. Right now, I'm running a stock chip with a raised idle and rev limit. Empirically, I've seen firsthand how lame the M42's stock partial throttle programming is, both in terms of A/F mgmt. and timing. Full throttle is actually pretty good.
Mark D'sylva was EXTREMELY HELPFUL (holy crap is he a nice guy) in getting me a chip that I could use to safely drive home, so he will probably be picking up the torch as far as getting the engine up to tune.
Obviously, you good M42 folks with ITB and MAF projects are also going to figure into this as well.
- the M42 has really tremendous exhaust headers. Be nice and have your exhaust headers bead-blasted and powdercoated people!
-project cost / benefit:Well, this is going to be tough. Ironically the June issue of GRM with the E30 DASC arrived the day I was leaving... so, the good news (for everyone but me and Tim_s) is that there's a bolt on M42 supercharger...! I would imagine it's a great mod... there's no getting around the great economics of it.
I can't really comment on the S50 swap from a technical standpoint, but my advice is this: if you want an S50, it comes free with every running E36 M3.
Maybe we can convince Zoso to do a writeup on the swap, as he owns both.
All I can say is I have no regrets... my trip was pretty... moving to say the least, and honestly, the engine at this point is more a souvenir of a great experience. But, having said all that... I have a brand new engine that makes great power and revs to forever, and the car is even more of a joy to drive. I always loved my M42 and well... I'll have it for a long, long time.
Final notes:Hopefully I will be able to get my (friggin) door fixed and get the thing on a dyno, tuned, and ready to roll in the next month. Having said that... the car is kinda the last thing on my mind right now because:
- I turned 35 last sunday (the 21st)
-
I proposed to my girlfriend and she said yes!link to my off topic thread:the once and future Mrs. Guibo:so, all's well that ends well...
it took all that to get my head straight and start to figure out love, life, and the M42.
