B7's C2.7 Build - FINITO!!!!!!

[B7]

Trevor, Drop me a line if you want to sell the inlet & rocker cover please

No probs dave. I'm starting to strip the car tomorrow so they may even be off. the inside of the cam cover is as clean as the outside

[daimlerman]

Sure here goes

Cheers Bud!

Had the pleasure of seeing this cabbie a while back, it is just as immaculate as thos photos suggest,Trevor must have the patence of a saint to not only get it so clean but to keep it that way,especialy given the M20's habit of spreading oil mist everywhere..

[B7]

Right: Spent today on the actual car stripping out the engine bay ready to remove the engine. I am soooo lucky to have a nice dry large area to work over there. It's a fair distance to mothers so i have to remember all my tools but it's worth it. To give you some idea of the space I have to work in, heres where the car is stored in the winter and where the engine replacement will take place.



And I managed to get to this stage today so all I want to do now is whip the head off, remove the starter motor and she's ready to come out. I wimped out when the cold got the better of me I'm afraid.

Dave you have PM re the cam cover and inlet manifold.

[Bob_S]

looking very good there, this should be spot on with your meticulousness!!

[B7]

Just had another little cleaning excercise. The next big job is to clean the block but for now, I think this will do

[cliffybabe]

wire are for everything

Looking good trevor

[B7]

Tonight was spent stripping the head that Si has supplied. And very good it all looks too! I just hope this pressure tests okay. There is absolutley no signs of any failure coolant wise which to Si and I seems strange as PYF was using coolant. However as stated before this was a brand spanking new head supplied and fitted by BMW about 4 years ago. Si' still has the reciept which IIRC had a bottom line figure of just over 2 grand. Had about 60k up and is full of genuine BMW bits fitted at that time. It's date stamped the year 2000 which I reckon must be one of the latest castings out there. Every thread is as new, no helicoiling needed here

Here it is stipped and de greased. Needs a final clean up with thinners but this do for the pressure test:





Date stamp



And the only faults found so far are

Evidence of valves stem seals just starting to weep.



and an exhaust gasket leak on No.5




i'll take it in for a pressure test later in the week and if alls good, I'll have a very light skim to clean the face and reassemble using new valve seals and cam oil seal and ring.

I'm lovin it!!!!

[tomtomiS]

looking very good thus far Trev

[tomson]

Wow, what a clean engine bay!

[E30Gheko]

Here it is stipped and de greased. Needs a final clean up with thinners but this do for the pressure test:

Wow what a clean looking head! It's an inspiration mate. I really like the idea of creatin a minter. I removed the injectors from mine the other week and I noticed a lot of external crud around where they are housed.

What is the best way to clean the outside of my engine and remove crud that could find its way into all the exposed bits?

[SteSE]

ooo it's all shiney!

When you putting back together Trevor? You got much time off over Christmas?

Looks spanking mate,

[B7]

I'm off for the 2 weeks over xmas (I think!!!) and thats when the main build will take place. The reason is that as i say, Instead of getting socks and pants I'm be getting rod bolts, gaskets and oil pumps. I you know the rule. You can't open any of your presents till christmas day
We've got family down so I'll be grabbing a few hours here and there but to be honest. once I have all the parts, you can build one of these in an evening.

I will buy the head parts though if this tests okay. At least thats on job I can get done and out the way.

What is the best way to clean the outside of my engine and remove crud that could find its way into all the exposed bits?

The only way is to to strip it really and clean it by hand. You can degrease it and pressure wash it as we did si's and it makes a big difference but the only way to get it clinical is to strip it.

[Simon13]

Trev was there any wear/scoring on the mains on the camshaft, as the main bearings on the head look good. They seem to score badly on older heads that i've stripped.

Pillock for letting you have it if it's good but i suppose the 3 M20 heads i have will do! lol

The head was very clean to start with and v.quiet. The engine did smoke a wee bit round the ring so the stems might be my fault

[E30Gheko]

The only way is to to strip it really and clean it by hand. You can degrease it and pressure wash it as we did si's and it makes a big difference but the only way to get it clinical is to strip it.

OK are you talking top end only? I could probably cope with that but I don't reckon I'd like to start stripping the bottom down (just yet!).

[B7]

The only way is to to strip it really and clean it by hand. You can degrease it and pressure wash it as we did si's and it makes a big difference but the only way to get it clinical is to strip it.

OK are you talking top end only? I could probably cope with that but I don't reckon I'd like to start stripping the bottom down (just yet!).

The engine bay in general really. If it comes out easy, take it out, clean it and the space it was in then put it back. Makes the car so much nicer to work on.

This was mine when I bought it. I just couldn't stand it. I was straight on it!

[E30Gheko]

The engine bay in general really. If it comes out easy, take it out, clean it and the space it was in then put it back. Makes the car so much nicer to work on.

This was mine when I bought it. I just couldn't stand it. I was straight on it!

The more I think about it, it would be quite satisfying to drop the whole engine out, rebuild it, treat and respray the engine bay and then put it all back together.... but hey no one drops these out for fun and besides I'm missin a whole load of gear like an engine crane and ramps! Got me thinking tho!!

[B7]

Trev was there any wear/scoring on the mains on the camshaft, as the main bearings on the head look good. They seem to score badly on older heads that i've stripped.

None whatsoever Si. I havn't cleaned the cam yet but theres no lips on the lopes and no scoring on the bearing surfaces. First to go would obviously be the running surface in the head as it's alloy but heres a couple of cropped shots of the cam bearings and theres no significant markings on it.

[Jesus325iTouring]

once I have all the parts, you can build one of these in an evening.

Are you talking about the whole engine Trev? In one evening? Thats the stuff of hero's

Top job

PS I like your runaround in the garage

[Simon13]

that aint cracked, should of kept it for my 2dr! hey ho

[B7]

once I have all the parts, you can build one of these in an evening.

Are you talking about the whole engine Trev? In one evening? Thats the stuff of hero's

Top job

PS I like your runaround in the garage

What muumys Micra? That thing has only got about 20k up. It's like a brand new one. 1.0 auto as well

[B7]

Okay. Heres a query for the M20 builders amongst you? The big end shells are currently genuine BMW. The number checks out on RealOEM as 44,75MM(+0,25) which is fine. Spoke to my machine shop today (he's currently got the head in for pressure testing) and he cannot supply anything other than standard sized shells. So that'll be another reciept from BMW's then.

However, I've checked the shells again and it has 2 numbers on it see below



Now the 1 284 851 checks out to be a red shell (end cap shell) on the following link and if you transpose the 851 to read 852 (1 284 852) it checks out to be a blue shell (con rod shell). Both shells came off of No.1 rod. Yet OEM states it should have one of each?

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do ... g=20&hl=15

But what do I order? 6 851's and 6 852's or 12 851's as appears to be fitted at the mo? 851's are half the price by the way. I'll strip the other 10 shells out tonight and check the others see if some of them are different.

Anyone got any idea?

[bss325i]

Have you spoke to Tee?

[B7]

Have you spoke to Tee?

Not yet. I reckon it should be upper shell blue and lower shell Red.

[cliffybabe]

Give Tee a bell, Or Iaintemple knows his way around a M20 head

[Simon13]

Cliffy this is the bottom end Trev i've got all the part numbers for big/main end shells i'll have a check

like i said the other night they are all supposed to be the same colour i think

[bss325i]

Give Tee a bell, Or Iaintemple knows his way around a M20 head

This is the engine from Tee's old green alpina C2 2.7. He rebuilt the engine while he had it. He sold the car to another BMW tech called Nigel (he's from Selsdon btw) and i bought it off him to frag.

When Tristan built the engine he had the head "worked" by someone how worked for Burton engineering. This i sold to March109.

I intended to freshen up this engine myself to use in my sport but the S50 came up. I wish kept it!

[cliffybabe]

ow right i didnt know its was his old c2

[B7]

Cliffy this is the bottom end Trev i've got all the part numbers for big/main end shells i'll have a check

like i said the other night they are all supposed to be the same colour i think

Cheers Si. They are all the same bearings fitted.

Thing thats confusing me on the OEM diagram is that they list 6 x No.5 Blur bearings shown in the conrod side and 6 x No.6 Reds in the end caps.

If they are all reds I'm laughing but if I need blues as well they are twice the price! I've just been searching the net and can't find a company that can supply +25's

[oguz327]

Great work Trevor, this will finish off the cab lovely!

[march109]

Give Tee a bell, Or Iaintemple knows his way around a M20 head

This is the engine from Tee's old green alpina C2 2.7. He rebuilt the engine while he had it. He sold the car to another BMW tech called Nigel (he's from Selsdon btw) and i bought it off him to frag.

When Tristan built the engine he had the head "worked" by someone how worked for Burton engineering. This i sold to March109.

I intended to freshen up this engine myself to use in my sport but the S50 came up. I wish kept it!

Barry the head is being put to good use. Along with a RD manifold.

[B7]

Okaaaay! Things have been a little slow on the engine front due to me ordering shed loads of parts and general other commitments.

However, I have now mixed and painted the new cam cover and inlet manifold to what hopefully, is a closer match to the original Alpina Grey. The old one always was a bit too light, nice but too light.

See what you think.

You're probably bored with the shots of how it was but purely as a comparison, heres the old and new back to back. first is old light grey, followed by new dark grey.




















heres another shot of the pair from a different angle.

[Simon13]

thats got be nearly on the money! Lovely as always

[E30BeemerLad]

shoot me, but I prefer the lighter ones

[daimlerman]

Looks splendid,Trevor!! Did you sort out the bearing shell issue? Seem to remember(and it's almost 3 years since I built mine!!) that top and bottom shells are a different shape,there is a notch in one that locates them? Important to get it right as there is an oil feed through the shell... reckon you ought to be buying a shiny HT exhaust manifold,though...

[m4xos]

Thats Clean!

A

i want that engine bay, what colour is the engine rocker cover and that??