MyE28.com

I've been quietly following your project eager to see it end successfully. Don't give up yet. Surely someone here skilled in these motors can help. I would if I knew what to do.

I'm very embarressed to say that I f****d up, again.
Timed it wrong, again.
I took the picture in bentley completely out of reference.
Completely my error......
This hurts big time....., not just my heart, but my ego as well...
This was a very expensive lesson...
I don't think I have the budget to press on.

I have lots of other parts for sale, but nothing is moving so I'm kinda stuck right now........
I need to sell some of my e23 and e30 stuff.

Oh man! I'm sorry to hear about all this. Don't feel all alone about the timing thing. The first time I was reading about cam timing this whole question about "Which vertical are we talking about?" came mind. Mine was only a thinking exercise so it was not nearly so painful. I can understand how the misunderstanding happened though.

Pickup another head from a forum member and wait until I get there. I'm moving to Raleigh in less than 3 weeks. I'll help you install the head and get this bitch running strong.

clongo wrote:Pickup another head from a forum member and wait until I get there. I'm moving to Raleigh in less than 3 weeks. I'll help you install the head and get this bitch running strong.

/\ This!

Damn

Expensive education....like the time I was trying to find TDC on cylinder #1 on my Fiat 1608cc DOHC engine by putting a long screwdriver in the the spark plug hole to see when it was at the highest position. Problem was created when I used the starter to turn over the engine......it jammed the screwdriver then broke it off in the cylinder.


We have all made stupid mistakes. Learn.......move on.

Duke wrote:Damn

Expensive education....like the time I was trying to find TDC on cylinder #1 on my Fiat 1608cc DOHC engine by putting a long screwdriver in the the spark plug hole to see when it was at the highest position. Problem was created when I used the starter to turn over the engine......it jammed the screwdriver then broke it off in the cylinder.


We have all made stupid mistakes. Learn.......move on.

Just don't hit me with the "slippery slope" saying.

My momma didn't raise a quiter. I'll figure the budget out and get it rolling somehow.
I owe it to myself and to my ride.
She has been good to me.
So since I've given her new lungs, and my as well do the heart too.
Just as long as the pistons aren't jacked to hell.

Thats the spirit

Pistons should be ok. I rebuild a head on a m20 last year that had 6 bent valves due the the PO's broken timing belt. The pistons had a few nicks but nothing to stop the show. This motor had been cranked over several times.

Nebraska_e28 wrote:Pistons should be ok. I rebuild a head on a m20 last year that had 6 bent valves due the the PO's broken timing belt. The pistons had a few nicks but nothing to stop the show. This motor had been cranked over several times.

My car ran for a total of about 45 seconds. Roughly 15 secs on three attemps. The tapping noise was rather loud so I know the pistons were getting a go smack.

grey ghost wrote:

Nebraska_e28 wrote:Pistons should be ok. I rebuild a head on a m20 last year that had 6 bent valves due the the PO's broken timing belt. The pistons had a few nicks but nothing to stop the show. This motor had been cranked over several times.

My car ran for a total of about 45 seconds. Roughly 15 secs on three attemps. The tapping noise was rather loud so I know the pistons were getting a go smack.

Pistons & possible intake valves should be OK, exhaust valves will probably look like this:

http://www.mye28.com/viewtopic.php?t=94786

Do it!!

So I have a replacement b34 head in route.
The plan is to do it right this time.
That should be easy since I know what the prblem was the last two tries.
Picking up a new head gasket and will give it another go this weekend.

grey ghost wrote:So I have a replacement b34 head in route.
The plan is to do it right this time.
That should be easy since I know what the prblem was the last two tries.
Picking up a new head gasket and will give it another go this weekend.

You'll love it when it's done.

Godspeed and good luck. Really there's nothing else I can say.

Glad to hear you stuck with it!

Me too. Keep us posted. Can hardly wait 'till that puppy fires up.

Just read through this entire thread.. what a ride. I wish I'd chimed in earlier regarding the timing, I had a sneaking suspicion you may have been misinterpreting the timing guide.. what a nightmare

I know you've had plenty of this along the way, but here's a little more empathetic(ish) encouragement. Granted it's got nothing on your calibre of setbacks but nevertheless..

I've just finished installing a de-turbo'd M106 into my RHD e28, which started off life as a 525e automatic. It was my daily driver, and the m20 packed up, so I was left deciding what to do with it, and after stumbling across a semi complete m106, decided to go for it. Did all the work myself, balls deep with very little in the way of m20 experience, and no m30 experience, but with a fair bit of confidence. Got the motor installed, with minimal tools on the floor of my garage. In between this, lost my job, and was clutching at straws to survive at times. Took me a year and a half. Triple checked everything through the build, and when I was confident enough to turn the key, It didn't start. Turns out, after about 8 hours work with a multimeter, i'd switched two of the large green wires in the c101, and thus the main relay wasn't getting juice. Then the starter seized. Then I had issues with the WAR chip. Then, it started, and ran. After finally thinking I had the car running and driving fine, it decided to periodically run beyond full rich, and would die on the road. I checked EVERYTHING. CTS was replaced, MAF swapped, chip swapped, stock ecu's swapped, FPR swapped.. you name it. Left me stranded on numerous occasions and it got to the point where I didn't even want to look at the thing. I was beyond over it, dead broke and ready set fire to it. Then, I sent it too a buddy of mine to do the manual TPS swap, and I got a phonecall. "I fixed it". Turns out there was a continuity error in the harness somewhere with the wires running from the CTS, which he found by mistake when he had the car running and bumped a wire causing it too misfire and run rich. I couldn't believe it.

Picked it up that afternoon, uploaded a decent tune into the war chip, and it flies. Runs beautifully. It's the best low comp m30 i've ever driven, pulls better than some high comp ones i've driven. Driving home down the freeway from his workshop, I couldn't wipe the smile off my face.. all the shit that went wrong over the last year or so, i'd forgotten about, and was so excited and proud of what i'd achieved. Now i'm saving up cash to put the turbo stuff back on, and I know i'll run into snags along the way but that's what makes these projects so worth while. It's the shit times that make the best times so damn good.

I wish you the best of luck, and my only advice would be 'preventative maintenance'. If you're unsure, replace it or fix it, before it breaks. If it's beyond your budget, don't worry about taking a little longer to do it right, as it'll save you the heartache of having to do things time and time again, which is the most painful part of a build. Take your time, take breaks, find something to take your mind of it when shit turns thick, and most of all, find your silver lining.

Things are starting to turn in my favor.
I just received the replacement head from Nebreska e28 and I can't be more thankfull.
I just spoke with a machine shop and they are going to swap my b35 cam out of my damaged head, pressure test, clean and do everything need to get this head to like-new condition.
I'm dropping the head off at 6am tomorrow morning and he'll have it ready for me in 6 hours or so.
Whats so great about this is that the head guy at this shop is also a BMW enthusiast and I told him all my sorrows with this build.
Mind you this is not the same machine shop.
What makes it even better is that he is in need of a ton of parts that I have sitting in my garage collecting dust, so this will be labor for parts.
So the b35 cam I purchased won't go to waste.
With that said, I'm off to the garage to pull the head so I can drop them both off bright and eraly in the morning.

The sun has decided to come out and shine on me once again.
Thank you everyone for the all the words of advice and encouragement.......

This place is golden......

My spare head is going to a great cause. I'd rather see someone reap the benefits of that head rather than it sit around collecting dust.

OK. Here we go again. 3rd try at this.
Its been the timing each instance.
I'm so damn nervous and worried right now.
Hope I don't shit myself.........
At least I know what not to do.
I've had the head professionally cleaned, had the b35 cam install, had all the valves, seats and seals checked and the head it at 100% and ready to go.
If all goes well we'll hear her sing tomorrow.....

How does this look?
Cam sprocket bolt holes parallel and perpendicular to the block as in bentley with the sprocket dowel on the lower left.

\bump for anyone that can provide some insight here. This is out of my range of expertise.

That looks right to me. When you get it on the car, go one tooth back and one tooth forward and you will see when it's "right."

M. Holtmeier wrote:That looks right to me. When you get it on the car, go one tooth back and one tooth forward and you will see when it's "right."

By the time I got this I'd already had it almost put back together.
I spun the motor by hand many times and its extremely smooth.
Tooth to tooth is about 8mm. I looked and am pretty sure that a tooth either way would be one off.
But if you following this post you knoe I'm no expert.

But thanks..

Didn't get to start it today. I took my time and was helping a friend with some cosmetic work on his e34 at the same time.
Not to mention a dead battery.
Charging the battery over night and will be up early to finish it up.

In the name of everything that is holy, PLEASE get someone else over to your house for a second opinion on the timing before this head grenades too!!!

All you gotta do is make sure the #1 cam lobes are pointed down when the crank is at TDC. It isn't difficult! The lobes will look like this: /\

One will be pointed to 7 o'clock, and the other to 5 o'clock.

Kyle in NO wrote:In the name of everything that is holy, PLEASE get someone else over to your house for a second opinion on the timing before this head grenades too!!!

All you gotta do is make sure the #1 cam lobes are pointed down when the crank is at TDC. It isn't difficult! The lobes will look like this: /\

One will be pointed to 7 o'clock, and the other to 5 o'clock.

I got it K, that said with my fingers crossed.
I know what was wrong the two previous times.
But thanks for the concern.
Turning it by hand even feels different this time....
I wish it were that easy to get someone over here. If it was, that would have been done the first time.

Although I have you guys out there, I'm physically sailing this ship along.

Does anyone out there have skype. If so, we can open a chat line and I can bring my laptop down into the garage.
It can even be a conference call with many of us on one call with video.

If you are unfamiliar with skype, just go to skype.com and down load the application. You will need a webcam and a mic if your ps or laptop is not equipt.
Best of all its free......

If you lok for my on skype I'm grey5er.....

double check time. Time it to zero, take the head off and look at it. Check #1 piston to be tdc. And the valves to be pointed /\ (in reference to the angle of the piston). Am I right? Take a few pictures, you'll get more input.

Good luck.

The #1 cam lobes are 100% /\.
Cylinder #1 is 100% tdc.
Before I put the head on, I spun the motor to see how accurate the tdc mark on the vibration dampener was and it was right on.
I went foward and back and each time the piston was at tdc the mark was on.
Although I'm sure I have the timing correct this time, if it isn't, its only by a tooth so I shouldn't grenade the head again.