I'd like to preclude this by saying I really hope that both the Mod's and other users leave this thread be and not take it down or take it too far off-topic. I'd really like to have this space as a place to document my build for others to see as well as keep track of everything I have done for myself. My other thread, although not hidden anylonger, is locked. So, I would really, seriously appreciate the banter/bashing/negative criticism be left at the door - this is merely somewhat of a journal - if you have a question or comment that doesn't fit on this page in terms of content, you can PM me and I will reply. Otherwise, I hope this proves useful to you guys! Thanks for checking it out!
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I am going to make a unified thread that will contain all progress on my engine build so others can follow. It has been expressed to me that people wish some of my other write-ups
were around, so I figure I can start by encapsulating this one.
First I'd like to thank Jay (multiplex) for hooking me up with all the tools, time, and facilities to do all this crazy **** and PT (turbojettamk4) for helping me store and sort
everything out. Secondly an employee at Jay's business, Jim, who has given advice and input based on his experience.
The Plan
The goal is to have a 8.3 - 8.4:1 CR M50 non vanos motor factory fresh or better. I already have the turbo setup alive and well, so now to extract as much power as possible I need a
low compression setup that is strong and fresh.
The Parts
Con Rod Bearing Set Std
Con Rod Bolts 53mm
Flywheel Bolt 12x50mm
Main Bearing Set Std
Oil Filter Kit Mahle
Oil Pressure Switch
Piston Ring Set Std 83.98mm
Timing Chain Guide Cam to Cam
Timing Chain Guide Crank to Ex. Cam
Timing Chain Guide Lower Crank Ex. Cam
Timing Chain Lower Crankshaft to Cam
Timing Chain Upper Cam to Cam
Valve Cover Grommet
Valve Stem Seal Set 7mm
Water Pump Plastic Impeller OE
ARP M50 Head Stud Kit
ARP M50 Main Stud Kit
VAC MLS Head Gasket 0.140"
Block/Lower Engine Gasket Set
Expansion Plug 45mm Freeze Plugs
Valve Cover Gasket
Spark Plug Hole Gasket
A detailed list can be viewed at This link.
-- Stock balanced pistons
-- Stock balanced rods
-- Stock polished crankshaft
All parts will be bead blasted or soda blasted. Majority of external parts will be powder coated, block powder coated or painted, head left alone.
Pics
Here is the motor, a '92 Non Vanos M50 from an E34 that had been wrecked. Purchased from a friend for $250 in Connecticut. Drove up and brought her home in the back of PT's truck:
We took it apart the night we got it home, and noticed how clean this engine was for being 200,000 miles deep in life and how there was no damage to any components. This engine had a
DIY turbo setup with a RRFPR and a T3/T04E in the former E34:
My parts were taken apart and stored in boxes/bags for about a 9 months - 1 year, until I could afford to start purchasing items to start rebuilding. Initially I only planned to do
rings and bearings and clean up the motor somewhat. Having met up with Jay and his convincing me/demonstration of how easy powdercoating is, I went nuts and decided to powder coat
anything/everything I could. Once I met Jim, a machinist at Jay's business, we went from doing a stock factory fresh rebuild to ARP head and main studs to fully balancing the bottom
end to polishing the crankshaft to god knows what else will come!
The first valve cover was done in a translucent gold finish:
It came out pretty well as you can see it looks great on the car:
But I had already powder coated a bunch of parts for this new motor and decided to do the other valve cover in silver, to match my parts. I got carried away with powder coating and
cleaning stuff but this is the end result:
Now that school is done (never more!) I took the time to focus on this engine as I really want to make power and push the thing to the limit once I have a fall back car. I ordered all
of the above parts in a couple phases, but the majority of the parts were collected about a month ago:
It was time to get serious with cleaning up the head and block so I could send them out to be machined.
We started with the cylinder head which looked like utter hell in as you can see in the very first pic in this thread, but after a couple hours of sodium blasting (again thanks to
Jays having every tool under the sun), I was able to get it super clean. The only downside, I will say, to using a soda blaster is that the soda gets EVERYWHERE inside the piece. So,
I have probably washed this head about... 4 - 5 times now. I am satisfied that it is clean, but yeah it's definitely annoying. Sand/bead blasting like we did with the other parts is
not an option because you cannot afford to alter the finish/dimension of the combustion chamber and as I have experienced and no matter what anyone tells you, bead blasting DOES
remove/alter material.
The cleaned up cylinder head looks like:
Quite awesome if you ask me.
The head just came back from the machine shop and was confirmed flat so all they did was barely touch the surface of the head - has some nice machining in it that is sure to give a
good seal. I am not sure whether or not I'll be using the copper head gasket spray but I have purchased it just in case so last minute I am not scouring trying to find something
ridiculous like that.
Here is the head back from the machine shop - doesn't look much different. You can see there are new valve seals installed:
excuse cell phone pics
Today [7/7/2007] was spent up at Jay's lapping the valves into the head. I am retaining all of the original valves because they are perfectly fine and straight and just needed to be
cleaned up of carbon. The intake valves were a BREEZE to clean. Brushed them right up and they came out as shiny as new. The exhaust valves, however, were very stubborn (as one can
expect). We had originally tried soda blasting them and I was only marginally successful with that. I have read that you can bead blast the valve face but I don't want to risk
destroying the valve surface. Wire brushed them again, and it proved to be quite adequate in cleaning. There is still some carbon on the lower stem/flute of the valve (backside) on
the exhaust but it's sure to be more than fine. I couldn't justify $270 in new exhaust valves (not even including intake valves) and I have talked to many people who said using them
over again is safe - if they were bent there'd be no question as to what would have to happen. I don't have the money to rock aftermarket Ferrea valves or anything like, and so the
stockies will have to do - I am sure I won't be disappointed. The guides are very long and provide good wear characteristics (if any wear!) and so I am content with the valvetrain
setup.
Here we are after having cleaned up the valves:
You can see the exhaust valves have some discoloration of carbon that was once there - its just discoloration now. The actual carbon (chalky definite surface substance) is all gone.
They are smooth to the touch and you can see the original machining grooves that are a characteristic of the surface.
After the valves were cleaned up, I lapped them into the seats using Permatex valve lapping compound - it was coarser than the Clover compound that Jay had which aided in the
swiftness of completion - but was definitely not overly coarse. I read that a nice mid grade like the compound I hard purchased was the best to use and had the original valve seats
been re-cut, then I should use a series of lapping compounds. Valves seat very nicely and cleanly and are sure to pose no leaks - the seats were in immaculate condition as it was
based on the pics earlier in the thread.
Here are the valve seat surfaces after being lapped:
****ty cell pic, but you can see the discolored flute of the valve, then a grey surface, and then a discolored section again. The grey section is where the valve seat meats the valve
and the compound is sandwiched between two said surfaces. Jay was pointing out, and I agree, it looks as though the factory did a really good job designing the head - the valve seat
area is quite wide and I have seen some VW and Honda heads which do not have nearly as much valve seat area.
After lapping everything we cleaned the head in a parts washer and washed all the valves off to insure no compound was left over. Cleanliness is godliness they say. We were going to
install the valvetrain but realized that a member on the forum has Jay's cam/valve install tool (cough jfdmas cough... just playing bro) so we have to wait. No big deal.
Current progress on the block is that it is still at the machine shop being wrapped up sometime early this next work week we think. The rods will be balanced to one another and the
crank polished/oil orifice polished so as to insure clean running through new bearings.
I just got back from Jay's to pay da' man. Motor looks really good - completely degreased via hot tank and such. Crank is cleaned up and Jim is going to polish the oil journals at
assembly time - Jim is offering to put it together and he's experienced so I am going to go ahead and have him do it. I will be stopping by to check out what gets done, so once I
start phase 2 (or 3?) of my car I can have an idea of good practice.
Anyway, here are the pics:
Crankshaft is all cleaned up/polished - jim is going to polish the oil journals even more to insure no catching on the new bearings.
Block after hot tank and hone (stock hone for 84mm pistons) - will be powdercoated a high shine/bright silver.
Rods, dynamically balanced to one another both ends with pins, to insure correct bob weights and all
Pistons all balanced in and soda blasted clean of 200k miles of carbon - check out the condition! (the dirty spots are from letting the piston air dry from being washed with water -
going to clean again jays part washer rather than water).
That's the update!
The pistons are now ceramic coated with TechLine Cerakote CBC1 coating - was fairly painless, though
getting it to spray through one of various guns was a challenge. One piston was either not aluminum oxide
blasted enough or had some oil still on it, and it had a small spot that bubbled, and is going to be re-coated.
Otherwise, they came out real well!
They had a slight little "lip" to the finish since they were masked then sprayed. Using a yellow scotchguard pad, the lip is
easily removed with very little rubbing (it isn't bonded to metal so it moves from the object).
Here is a pic with slight lip:
All cleaned up:
