Upgraded oil pump piston + question

[colin86325]

My friend who is rebuilding my M42 after its epic failure, notified me that the the steel piston that used to wallow out the cast aluminum cylinder in the upper timing case has been updated. It's replaced with a plastic plunger/piston that won't cause as much wear against the more costly timing case.
So that's good to know, because the cheapest i could find a timing case was about $250. And i don't want to wear it out!

Also, I noticed that during the E36 production, the M42 block was fitted with an oil restrictor to prevent too much oil from being delivered to the head. Has anybody retrofitted one on an E30 engine?

[kowalski]

interesting. I'm not sure which "pin" your speaking of.

perhaps tomorrow I will go look and see what it is your talking about...

as for the oil restrictor, i don't think it would be a big deal to put into the e30 block, and they can't be more then a couple of bucks. so give it a shot.

[colin86325]

Oops, I meant to post this in the engine section, not the Off Topic section.


Parts 5 and 7 in the following picture are now plastic:
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=AF93&mospid=47305&btnr=11_0504&hg=11&fg=30

[tim_s]

yup, i run the plastic ones in mine. If I built an engine again, I'd use a new lower timing case anyway. I didn't when I built mine.

[rob_e30]

When I rebuilt my motor I used a new part from BMW for the oil puimp and it metal. I think that the oil restrictor you mention is actually a check valve, and I did retrofit my block to use it. It required drilling the block and modifying the rubber seal as I'm using a MLS gasket and the oil galley in the gasket was too small for the seal to fit in.

[colin86325]

When I rebuilt my motor I used a new part from BMW for the oil puimp and it metal. I think that the oil restrictor you mention is actually a check valve, and I did retrofit my block to use it. It required drilling the block and modifying the rubber seal as I'm using a MLS gasket and the oil galley in the gasket was too small for the seal to fit in.

Damn i wish i would've know that when my block was at the machinist. i would've retrofitted the check valve as well.
Or will the piece fit if I'm using an ordinary head gasket?