Worlds longest Resto, my C2 2.7 19/3/18 Vent guage action

[bss325i]

4 months!

[Jon_Bmw]

Thanks G i'll have to get tinkering when Powelly has finished borrowing them

Today i phoned the guy who did the headwork originally on the now f*cked head. Hes turned it down as he is too busy for the next 4 months. hmmmmm not sure what to do as i don't know anyone else who can do this sort of work.

I guess there are other jobs to do on it but i'm not really interested in doing anything else bar the engine running in the engine bay. More patience!

What needs doing Simon? We have a good independent head guy based on site who is partial to folding.

[Simon13]

Slight reshaping of the combustion chambers to a hemi type rather than the stock swirl design. Inlet ports are just tickled and the exhaust ports are opened out a touch to match the gasket.

Are you still on the same number Jon? If so i'll give you a bell tomorrow

[Jon_Bmw]

Yeah. Give me a ring tomorrow mate. I think I am in a meeting at some point in the afternoon so I will call back if you call in that time.

[Royalratch]

A good fix for wobbly seats and to gain some rock solid stiffness is to drill a second hold in the tab that links seat back to base and fits second bolt there = 2 bolts is better than 1.

[Simon13]

Well the gears of progress are still moving people all be it in a slow fashion like normal






Check it out, the headwork has been done! hemi style chambers now ala Alpina stylee. We are back in business, kind of as my Dad STILL has the pistons. Only 6 months now but good things come to those who wait ya?

A massive thanks to jon bmw for sorting this out down at the engine room in the dark depths of the Janspeed workshops. I've forgot mateys name who did the work but a massive public thankyou for it. It looks a nicer job in my eyes to the last head

This head is fullyoverhauled in my eyes and ready to go now at last






The chaps at janspeed reckon this damaged head can be repaired! They said don't throw it away, but i keep shit like this anyway to remind you of your mistakes! Character building they call it. I'll keep it like they said to





Its quite dusty, you'd think it was alpine white not diamond black! Poor thing, she will rise from the ashes.

My wife just caught me talking to the car As you do if course

[sweep]

not loosing money sat there though is it?

[Jon_Bmw]

Bloody hell Simon. After you left I was telling Jason how nice the c2 was...I better not show him that photo!

Good to catch up. That head is saveable with a lot of time and some know how. Worse have been repaired(but they are normally irreplaceable items).

[Simon13]

Jason of course i'm good with faces not names is my excuse. Pete you've been knocking about with everett too much, sounds just like him.

It would be nice to get it mobile after nearly 8 years off the road

[B7]

Great to see this back in progress. Will be epic and many would have walked away by now. This car is in si's bloodstream. Like smack. He gets withdrawal if he has no hit once in a while.

[Simon13]

I was doing the cambelt on Robs e30 325i cab the other week got me going again! genuine 68k on it and it runs like a watch, beauty of an M20. I did the valve clearances and tightened them a touch, all you can hear now is the injectors. Not many M20s like that from the factory still

the cambelt has been on 4 years since Barry did it and its covered 2800 miles! I bet Trevs cab has done even less than that?

[B7]

It has Si. 600 miles and it's due for a belt. I need to get my mojo back for it.

[Simon13]

The last piece in the jigsaw is now here! Another set of Alpina pistons, these are originals not new as you can see. So thats it all parts are back here to do the rebuild no.2 bar a few gaskets all major parts are here

I'll be on a mission to MAKE the time now, but on holiday a week today so it won't be that quick lol

[bss325i]

[Speedtouch]

Best of luck this time around...

[Demlotcrew]

Ready for Gaydon?

[winx]

Second that!

[Simon13]

No chance on Gaydon! im going to try and get down to like 3 cars in our house for now. Could that happen? it would be a ghost town

I've been beating people away for the offers to buy my 525iX............................

[Simon13]

As promised i am making progress on this, here is the latest so far






The block ready to go again, all its had is a hone since its last use and another clean/degrease






Crank and shells, i bought new shells







Crank in and main end caps torqued down





A few other bits bolted on












genuine headgasket set, not ruinously expensive tbh, plus head bolts,cambelt etcfinding and laying out all the rest of the engine. I've got all the bits needed for reassembly now.


The rods - i got another set of M52 ones of Barold, and pistons are being balanced, and then the task of measuring a few things first to make sure i can get this camshaft fitted and dialled so it runs properly

I need to measure my valve to piston clearance first with the piston at TDC with a DTI and then go from there. I need to have 2.5mm spare above the total valve lift of the cam for it to be safe so they have told me if i understand it right. TBH if this is ok which it should be, i'll get the machine shop to set the cam up, i'll just build up the head and the bottom end and let them have it.

[Speedtouch]

Looking good. Going for a Schrick cam again?

[Simon13]

its the same cam as used before

[Speedtouch]

Oh right; didn't you send it off to Schrick?

[reggid]

are you going to replace the pressed intermediate shaft gear?

[Simon13]

are you going to replace the pressed intermediate shaft gear?

Whats that?

[TPS]

Looking good Simon

[daimlerman]

are you going to replace the pressed intermediate shaft gear?

Whats that?

I think this is the gadget that drives the oil pump.

[Simon13]

oh ok, there wasn't any damage to any of this so i've re used it

[reggid]

was talking about one of these to replace the pressed metal looking one?

http://www.mye28.com/viewtopic.php?t=96958

http://www.mye28.com/viewtopic.php?t=113757

[Simon13]

Well i've never heard seen that before but i guess its an inexpensive thing to change for piece of mind thanks!

[bss325i]

I've never seen one of those fail.

[daimlerman]

Load from the oil pump must be next to bugger all,bit different on an E28 when the thing is winding a mechanical distributor as well.

Shaft runs in white metal bearings,IIRC,so BMW did not expect any problems.

[reggid]

It’s the timing belt tension that causes it to fail not the torsion loads to run the oilpump.

Have you seen how big the auxiliary shaft and its bearings are? Its approx. 8”a long about 1.5”a OD they did not skimp out.
This is because timing belt tension is bending the shaft and it sees millions of cycles which cause things to fatigue eventually.
The belt tension also bends the gear because the center of the belt is offset/overhanging from where the gear is bolted.
The pressed one is far too thin to survive a few rebuilds it just fatigues overtime. Don’t underestimate how much belt tension there is when the engine is running and how much torque/hp it takes to spin the valvetrain.
The belt tension is the preload that is set in when timing belt is installed plus the tension to run the valvetrain.
The little skinny oil pump drive shaft (inside the block running directly to the pump) only uses a tiny hex end shaft (6mm IIRC) because it’s truly torsion only.

[Simon13]

Right good and bad its never smooth, my rods are balanced up no problem



Nice picture, onto the pistons





They said they can't balance them because they've been done before and theres no where left on the pistons to take some meat off the balance them. You can see the differences between them in grams as its written on them. They reckon most decent factory pistons are balanced to a tolerance of 2-3 grams per set. They balance customer stuff to 0.3 gram difference max if not equal according to the scales.

So they said for what i want they wouldn't use my set i'd made up I'm now looking down the barrel of a new set which i guess i was all along. Now i can cough and buy a set of Alpina slugs and they will be the same 25 year technology pistons like i have and lots of money. Or for slightly cheaper they can measure up one of the originals and get me a custom set made up with all the added bonuses of todays tech like better spacing of pistons rings, forged, teflon coating, total seal rings, oil feed for the gudgeon pin, a little lighter. From the likes of JE or the machine shop i use are a UK distributor for Mahle. Who they reckon make the best pistons, but they are seriously slow/ un reliable timewise with their custom/race piston manufacter


I need to still assemble the bottom end and work out my exact TDC with a dti guage, my total valve lift and then my total valve to piston clearance. If i've less than 100-120 tho between the piston and the valve when its fully open then i'll need some deeper valve pockets on the pistons to get a safe clearance.

Good job i have cash monies from the e34 sale. This is turning into a seriously expensive mistake! Time and money wise

[Rodderz]

How much are original pistons? About £1200 is my guess?

[Andyboy]

A set of Salter digital scales, and do them yourself with a dremmel or just rub the base of the piston skirts down on some coarse emery and a sheet of glass. There will be somewhere you can shave off 3 grams surely..............? After all, the shittiest Bic biro weighs 6g.

3 grams is 4-5 peanuts!


Si, have you got a single Eta 2.7 piston? A mate needs one.