Motors I'm building my own car... UPDATE - Stoneliegh 2013

[GreatOldOne]

Originally Posted by haggisathome

so longs your sure , when i was working in the garage . when ever we stripped a engine we all ways had to re hone the bores and replace the rings , as when you take the old pistons out you can never guarantee the rings will never be back in the same place and may lead to a drop in compression ...
and seeing as how its was all apart i was surprised you didnt replace the rings ! .. how many miles has the engine done ?


BTW i hope you don't think i am having a dig , i am only trying to help

Well, according to the clocks on the donor car, 130K. As for the rings, I was going to replace them. But the end gap and ring groove side gaps where well within tolerences (according to the Bently manual, in any case) - and then I saw the cost of replacing them all! As with anything BMW, a full set of rings = mucho expensivo.

So anyway, when I put the pistons back in, I ensured that the ring gaps didn't over lap one another and slid 'em back in. I don't think it'll be an issue - I'll check for compression once the head's back on. If I've got a problem, I'll replace the rings on the cylinder in question, and chalk it up to experience.

Oh - I know you're not trying to dig. Just stop swinging that pick-axe near me.

[GreatOldOne]

Another day, another raft of pics.

I put the oil drive bearing back in the block. This is just a slug of cast and turned aluminium that has a roller bearing pressed into it, that's retained by the freshly painted black plate. The bearing itself was pretty badly oxidised, and even after a hit with the wire brushes it looked crap. So the top end of the bearing (the upper portion that stands proud of the block) got a seeing to with the acid etch primer and some of the aluminium calliper paint).

The oil drive cog slips into that bearing, and takes the power from the intermediate shaft in the block down to the oil pump via a little drive shaft.



Here's all the bits that got bolted onto the front of the block - the water pump, the main timing sprocket, spacer and nose bolt (the one that gave me all the trouble a couple of weeks ago) and the intermediate drive sprocket - after they too received a coat of the ally paint. The timing belt tensioner was also put back on, as it engages into a detent in the water pump. You can also see the oil pump standing up from the bottom of the block.



Before putting the sump back on, the oil pump was put on, along with the oil return pipe thingy (Technical term - look it up. ). You can see the drive shaft for the pump running down into the block to the drive cog. Once that was on, the mating surface was cleaned up once more with some carb cleaner, and then a bead of hylomar was laid down and the cork sump gasket laid onto it.



The sump's mating surface got the same treatment.



Then the two where put together, and all the bolts where tightened down to the correct torque (all 23 of them!)



After the sump was on, the bellhousing plate was bolted back on. This part gives the bottom end of the engine the rounded profile that the lower part of the gearbox bell bolts onto.



And with that, that's pretty much the bottom end done.



The only thing that needs to be added on to the bottom now is the oil cooler take off plate, the crank breather tube (but that can't go on until the head is back on with the intake manifold, as it sits between them)

But the next job to do is start stripping down and cleaning the head. That's going to be a mucky job.

[Lord_A]

Totally awesome work there GOO, and quite a furious pace too

[Shadowed_fury]

Brilliant stuff!

[haggisathome]

looking good

[Reins]

Progress is that there has been no progress. I've been scouring the small adds for an E30 (325i) for the past couple of weeks, and nothing seems to be a) in my price range b) in my neighbourhood or c) driveable (due to lack of tax or MOT) or a combination of all three.

To bad that is the case I love those little E30 M3's I think they are the sexiest cars ever made. Good work, keep it up.

[Bindibadgi]

I live for updates on this more than any project logs!

[customh]

Tis fun to watch i must admit!!!

[crazydeep74]

WOW, amazing job Goo.

[Shadowed_fury]

Originally Posted by Bindibadgi

I live for updates on this more than any project logs!

You and me both

[Mortus]

Can i come around and watch ............... When she is finished can you film her starting up for the first time ...... i want to see it so badly........

[Jumeira_Johnny]

Hi GOO,

First, like everyone here, I think you are doing a great job. The job so far looks clean and tidy. Second, is there a Marlin forum or other non-factory website? For some reason my wife has read an article somewhere and this idea has peeked her interest. So naturaly, I have to slowly feed her information to bring her totaly onboard. But she is asking good questions that fall well outside the FAQs and the less BS I feed her the better.

Edit: Just found this thread.

[webbyman]

:O I've been following this from day one... And OMG Amazing work

I keep going on at my dad now, about building a kit car from an old doner :P

can't wait too see the finished result

[GreatOldOne]

Originally Posted by Jumeira_Johnny

Second, is there a Marlin forum or other non-factory website? For some reason my wife has read an article somewhere and this idea has peeked her interest. So naturaly, I have to slowly feed her information to bring her totaly onboard. But she is asking good questions that fall well outside the FAQs and the less BS I feed her the better.

There's several guys out there with build diaries - these are some of the better ones:

http://www.msportster.co.uk/
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/martinclan/

And there's also the Marlin owners club:

http://www.marlinownersclub.com/

No so much progress this week - I've done a bit more painting, that's about it. I've been busy helping my Mum move house this week/weekend, and I'm just about to go to Silverstone for a classic car racing meet...

I'll try and bung some piccies up tonight, If I'm not too knackered.

[dom_]

EEEEEKKKKKK UPDATE

/EXPLODE

[Bindibadgi]

Originally Posted by GreatOldOne

There's several guys out there with build diaries - these are some of the better ones:

http://www.msportster.co.uk/
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/martinclan/

And there's also the Marlin owners club:

http://www.marlinownersclub.com/

No so much progress this week - I've done a bit more painting, that's about it. I've been busy helping my Mum move house this week/weekend, and I'm just about to go to Silverstone for a classic car racing meet...

I'll try and bung some piccies up tonight, If I'm not too knackered.

Weekend?? but.. but.. BBQ w/e??? :|

[GreatOldOne]

Originally Posted by dom_

EEEEEKKKKKK UPDATE

/EXPLODE

'This is a staff announcement: Clean up on aisle 9, Clean up on aisle 9...'

You want an update? Ok. But only because it's you guys. Pics will have to wait until tonight though.

I've managed to finish the paint on the rocker cover - last you saw it it was completely black, but I've now finished rubbing back the paint on the raised BMW logo on the top. It looks awesome, IMHO - polished alu against black. It does still need a clear top coat to stop the logo from going manky, and as luck would have it my order from Frosts that arrived yesterday has a tin of hight temp lacquer in it.

I've also sprayed the handle of the dipstick red - it's original colour. Dunno how durable it will be, as the colour was on the metal handle and the rubberised plastic bung portion of it. I'm sure the paint will stay on the metal - but it may peel off the bung. We'll have to see.

I've also completely stripped the cylinder head. All of the rocker shafts, rockers, cam shaft, collets, springs & valves have been taken out, and each valve's component parts have been labelled up together in their own bags - so I know which one's which. I've also wipped out all the old valve stem seals, so that's left me with a bare casting.

That got a damn good seeing too last night - I de-carbed all the exhaust ports and got all the cack off the outside using some gunk. Then the whole thing got doused in carb cleaner to get all the baked on oil off. It's looking pretty spiffy.

I've now got to clean all of the valve gear in pretty much the same way, and then reseat and lap the valves. Then I can start rebuiliding the head.

Anyhoo - that's where I'm at. Like I said, I'll try and get some pics up tonight.

[dom_]

[GreatOldOne]

Here's the latest batch of pics, as promised:

The almost complete rocker cover - like I said before, all it needs is the lacquer applying:



The dipstick:


Before I could start cleaning the head, all of the bits needed to be removed first. You can see the camshaft, the two rocker shafts, the camshaft oil seal and the oil spray bar in the centre. All the bags in the carrier are the various ports valve / spring / rocker combos.


After that lot was removed, I could attack the bare head casting with the degreasant and my trusty brass brush. It was a pig decarbing the exhaust ports though, due to their shape - but I got the majority of it all off in the end. I'll probably do another pass on them before rebuilding, but so far the results are pretty good, IMO:




I laid the head gasket on, just to see what it'd look like:



Pointless, I know - You'll never see it anyway. But hey - At least I know I've got the right one and all the holes are in the right places!

When I got in from work tonight, I degreased all the shafts and the spray bar, cleaned up the oil seal carrier and replaced the seal and o-ring it contains. I've also started the laborious task of cleaning the valves up - doing them one at a time (as not to get them mixed up) is going to be a time consuming affair... I managed to get one done!

[Krikkit]

Great work GOO - the rocker cover's looking so very sweet.