S/w e36 build thread #1337 "The Diamond in the Rough"

[Granny Gold]

I like where this is headed

[Chuckdee]

well today I'm gonna gather the rest of the stuff i need in order to do the head gasket job. I need to stop by at the local bmw stealership for a cabin air filter (old one is dirty as fuck), coolant and a drain plug. Then get some new synthetic oil and oil filter, rent a torque wrench and grab some etorx bits for the head bolts. Not much of an update but it's something. I'll post more when I take off the head.

[Chuckdee]

So after a weekend of working on the car, it should be done by tonight. I'll post pics and a full update later on tonight.

[yurotrash]

Also try pelicanparts.com. keep up the effort!

[D&W]

i am so down for an update hit us up!!

[Chuckdee]

Also try pelicanparts.com. keep up the effort!

I <3 them! I bought a couple of things from them for the job.

i am so down for an update hit us up!!

Thanks man, I'm in love with your classy ass merc!

So last night, I was about to crank the car over until the water pump was leaking....BADLY! I'm assuming it's from me prying the pulley part of the pump and its not sealed along the shaft anymore. Upside to this is that I already bought a new one but I was thinking of sending it back because the stock one wouldn't come out and since I was gonna do a motor swap sometime next year, it wouldn't have matter. But now I have to dremel this one out and put in the new one in tonight. I'll update the thread with pics and a interesting story behind the whole HG replacement later on tonight or tomorrow.

[cobrawannabe]

Lower.






It.

[Chuckdee]

yes sir

new update: fell lazy last night to complete the job but the old water pump IS OUT!!! A 15 lbs hammer, dremel and a angle grinder made it possible. I'll put the new pump in tonight after work and finally get the car started and a full proper update is to follow.

[MikeG]

"How hard can it be?" Is my motto for approaching car work and damn near anything. Usually I end up finding out its not all that hard.
Keep at it man. Props

[Mark Ostrowski]

"How hard can it be?" Is my motto for approaching car work and damn near anything. Usually I end up finding out its not all that hard.
Keep at it man. Props

oh..because i approach it the same way, but then halfway through my motto becomes "Why did i do this"

[Chuckdee]

"How hard can it be?" Is my motto for approaching car work and damn near anything. Usually I end up finding out its not all that hard.
Keep at it man. Props

Exactly the way I feel!

oh..because i approach it the same way, but then halfway through my motto becomes "Why did i do this"

haha yeah sometimes i ask my self that too, but i know i can't turn back now so i have to finish the job.


So finally a REAL update:

As of friday night, the car was able to run....for the most part. Thursday night was a failure cause one the o rings for fuel injector went missing , so fuel kept pouring out and the car couldn't crank over, obviously. Also I got the new water pump in

Friday morning, went to the Dealership to give them $5 for a o-ring (didn't care about the price, just wanted my car to start finally), came home, fixed it on and started the car up. The next problem was that the car was making a loud ass clacking noise as if the pistons were hitting against the valves. Turned off the car immediately after i heard the noise. At this point, I was feeling pissed cause after all this work, I couldn't get the car to run right.

After taking a 4 hour nap, it clicked to me to check on the timing. Did some research and found out how to properly find Top Dead Center for the crank. Turns out my timing was way the fuck off! So after properly adjusting the cams at TDC, I started the car up again and BAM SUCCESS!! Finally, the car is running right, took it for a test drive around the neighborhood twice and everything checked out......except now i have no heat cause of a coolant outlet hose cracked on me So tuesday I shall replaced it. ON TO THE PICS:

After taking off the VC:


Dirty ass VC (which is soon to be painted)


my little "trick" to not loose timing chain's place on the cams







after fighting to take off the head for 45 mins:


head is finally out!


...everything seems fine here


.....and turns out everything WAS FINE !! The Head Gasket had no cracks/splits/openings, the head itself seemed fine as well (no cracks or visible warpage). But I still took it to a machine shop to get it checked out and after doing pressure test and cleaning it, they only found a small, barely noticeable leak (thus the yellow color in the test i did) but they said it's not even enough to cause damage. Long story short, I've done a head Gasket job for nothing and everything was fine to begin with

But while the head was out anyway, I still got it cleaned:


and I cleaned the pistons too:


...and minus well put the new gasket on



after installing the head, plugging up all of the connections and stuff back, I poured in the coolant and it was pouring back out of the pulley of the old water pump.

So after 2-3 hours of using a combination of a grinder and dremel and a 15 lbs hammer, I created cracks to break loose the old water pump



finally broke that shit off!!



old vs.new:


new pump in place:


and then finally the injector that was trolling me:


Oh I also forgot to mentioned that I picked this up to replace the muffler 2 weeks ago:


So after I replace the coolant outlet hose on tues and figure out why the car isn't giving me heat, I should be back on the streets cruising! Now that we've gotten the boring maintenance shit out of the way, now time to get onto the fun stuff

Mods I have lined up this month:
oem+ taillights
new kenwood radio
new foglights

.....stay tuned for more.

[IGOR989]

@Chuckdee

I love your chain timing trick, nice.

Im gonna ask you one more thing. How're you gonna paint the VC?

Cuz Im gonna sandblast my M50TÜ B25 this weekend, then aluminium premier coat it on the aluminium parts - engine head and oil pan. In the end Im gonna paint it with 800°C heat resistant black paint (engine head) and grey paint on the rest of the engine.

[Chuckdee]

Well the VC is metal so I can either polish it or paint it with some high temp spray paint from my local auto parts store. I was thinking about polishing the VC a while ago but i decided the motor isn't worthy of that lol, so I'm gonna paint it with the high temp spray paint.

[244Brick]

It was lame that your HG was okay and all that work for nothing, but at least you know its new now. Plus your power with be restored with the heads getting cleaned(maybe a little port polishing? o well), along with the new injector.

[Chuckdee]

It was lame that your HG was okay and all that work for nothing, but at least you know its new now. Plus your power with be restored with the heads getting cleaned(maybe a little port polishing? o well), along with the new injector.

Yeah I'm looking forward to seeing the new power, possibly better mpg's. I haven't floored it yet but I will try to tomorrow after replacing the coolant hose.