Crankshaft lock

[Jos]

Do you guys who have taken your front pulley/vibration damper off (the one with the BIG NUT) think this will hold alright:



Oh and holding the engine is a monster of an engine stand (amazing what you can do with a welder and some steelwork:))





Also have a prop for the other side of the engine so it can't tip over.

[Andy335Touring]

I take it your M30 was from an Auto ?

I've got to get my self a MIG welder again,they are so handy for knocking stuff up like your engine stand and crank holding bracket.The bracket looks strong enough,how thick is the metal ?

Have you cracked the big crank nut yet ?

I had to buy a 3/4 drive breaker bar and socket.I also had to slide a 4 foot piece of tubing over the breaker bar for some extra leverage.

My 1/2 breaker bar was What a bender !

I had the sump off so i could wedge the crank with a big bit of wood.

What job are you doing to the M30 ? New gaskets/oil seals ?

You can get a lower gasket set from ECP for about 25 quid that has the sump gasket,front and rear crank seals,timing cover gaskets,oil level sensor O ring,block to oil filter hosing gasket plus some other bits and bobs so it's good value compaired to going to a BMW dealer.Infact i think just the crank seals would be more than whole set from ECP.

If you want to take the lower timing chain cover off you will need a puller to remove the vibration damper hub from the crank.

This is the hub



We tried to remove the hub on Toby's car but it wouldn't come off,we even broke my puller trying to get it off !

[Jos]

Cheers for the reply Andy, yeah its from an auto.

That was welded using a 140A DC Arc welder, I prefer them to MiG as you have more current control (also have a scratch start TiG head for it)

The stand is 50*50 box 2mm thick, the plate is 6mm thick, same stuff on the crank lock.

I haven't cracked the nut yet, but I have a 36mm 3/4 drive socket and rachet for it, and a 12' cattle grid pole Hoping that will be enough with a little heat.

As for what needs done: Going to replace oil pump, water pump, timing chain, fit a tensioner and replace the front pulley with a toothed one for use with the pulse sensor (rather than the 2 gearbox sensors) Will probably do as much to the engine as I can without actually taking the crank out, so all seals will be done. Also replacing the flywheel (of course).

I have a puller somewhere although it's not in very good shape, last time we used it we had a 4' bar with a centre mount on it and we were using that to turn the hub puller, needless to say we bent the puller somewhat...
what about using a slide hammer?

[Andy335Touring]

With that welder and thickness of plate it should be plenty strong enough !

Toby priced up an oil pump and they so rarely fail that ECP and GSF don't sell them so you have to fork out some thing like 210 quid plus VAT from BMW !!!

I wanted to replace the lower timing chain sproket but the crank needs removing to do it i think ?

I also wanted to replace the big end bearings but i was out of money and i didn't have anouther car so i'd got to get it back on the road asap ! When i've scraped enough money together i want to get another M30 to work on so i can recondition the bottom end and then it's just a case of swapping the engines over so there will not be much down time.

I still have that hub (in the picture above) and a spare toothed vibration damper if you want it ?

[Jos]

Ԛ£210+vat ya say!

Stuff that!

Don't think I need to go as far as replacing the big ends, the engine has had a very easy life and was well looked after, the wear on the cam is next to nothing. Nice having the engine not in the car so I can do basically what I like to it, then transplant when ready.

Ideally I would like to have it running on an Emerald, with a turbo manifold without the turbo, just replace the turbo with a blank section for the time being. Would also like it on LPG but I don't know if they work with turbos, don't see any reason why not though.

Don't think you need to remove the crank to replace the lower sprocket, but it is an engine out job as you need room to swing a big hammer to get it back on lol.

I would love the toothed pulley, what do you want for it? I could pick it up when I am in Notts at the end of July, save posting large bits of steelwork:)

[Andy335Touring]

I would love the toothed pulley, what do you want for it? I could pick it up when I am in Notts at the end of July, save posting large bits of steelwork:)

How does 20 quid sound ?

I'm not sure how much they are worth TBH ?

Will you need the hub as well ?

[Jos]

I have no idea what they are worth either, I could ring the stealers and find out if you like, Ԛ£20 is fine by me as I am sure they are more than that new Just to annoy you a little: the 36mm nut came off off no problems, loosened the nut with 1 hand, although the hand was on the end of a 12' bar . The damper also came off dead easy. You musta been damn unlucky with Toby's.

The hub is the same part on both engines so I probably won't need it, will seperate them tomorrow.

Inital inspection looks like the chain is in perfect condition, as are the sprockets and tensioner. Overall the engine looks superb mechanically, rear crank oilseal is a leaking a little, but that's about it so far. Taking the sump off tomorrow so will get a look at the crank and the oilpump.