Das Race: My '97 M3/4/5

[Jake]

Got most of the way to pulling the head off of the car last night! Huge thanks to Joey and Kenny for helping un-bolt, drain, remove, label, and so on. And thanks to DJ for yelling random advice across the garage while working on the LS1 M3

Got the motor looking like this:



So as to what's left before the head can come off:

• Finish removing exhaust manifold bolts (got about a third of the way through last night)
  
• Remove coolant hose from rear of head
  
• Remove cam position sensor
  
• Remove head bolts

I think that's all I have to do. Going to try and knock more out after dinner tonight.

The cams look to be in really good shape. Not sure what's involved with pulling the lifters but DJ seems to know what to do so I'll probably JesusTakeTheWheel.mp3 on that one.

"Speak softly and carry a big camshaft." - Theodore Roosevelt

[Senor_Taylor]

Nice shaft, bro.

[V1GiLaNtE]

Bro, does your shaft even lift?

[Jake]

The head is off and at the machine shop! Mega thanks to DJ and Sean for helping (literally) with the heavy lifting, and to Sean for dropping it off at the shop since it's near his house and thus saved me a trip this morning.

Head is at Fairfax Auto Parts' machine shop. They did my Miata flywheel resurface back in the day, built Sean's Jeep motor, and seem to do good work. Nice guys on the phone, too. They are cleaning it up, pressure testing it, and going to mill it down if need be for flatness. I should have it back early next week, so... yay.

Cam trays and lifters (upside down):



In the meantime, I've ordered a new knock sensor - they are a bitch to replace if the intake manifold and head are on the car, so why not do it now - and plan on deleting the AC. The blower fan hardly works anyway, and it's not like I'm DDing the car on hot 100* summer days. According to the internets, I'll save about 43 lbs by removing the AC components.

She's headless!



Per DJ's recommendation, I cowboy'd the head removal and didn't drain the block, which means coolant went errywhere when pulling it. That's why the cylinders are full of the funky green stuff. I'm going to sop it up tonight, and once the car is back together, plan on doing a few oil changes in rapid succession with some cheap Walmart oil (or whatever is on big sale) to get whatever coolant snuck past the piston rings out of the bottom end.

Oh, and DJ has new exhaust manifold hardware so I guess I'm going to install that. So much "while you're in there" work but hey, I'd rather do this job once and spend a bit more/take a bit more time, vs. do several smaller jobs and curse the intake manifold each time I pull it.

Oops, one more thing. Got an M50 intake manifold from Felton while at VIR, so that's the manifold that is going on the car when this all goes back together. It'll flow 40% more air. Ballin.

[V1GiLaNtE]

Head is at Fairfax Auto Parts' machine shop. They did my Miata flywheel resurface back in the day, built Sean's Jeep motor, and seem to do good work. Nice guys on the phone, too.

I shop there frequently.. had not a clue they had a machine shop. These the same guys next to Hi-Tech Transmissions?

[Senor_Taylor]

Seeing that coolant pooled right there makes me really uncomfortable.

What's the reason for DJ's recommendation?

[Jake]

Head is at Fairfax Auto Parts' machine shop. They did my Miata flywheel resurface back in the day, built Sean's Jeep motor, and seem to do good work. Nice guys on the phone, too.

I shop there frequently.. had not a clue they had a machine shop. These the same guys next to Hi-Tech Transmissions?

Yeah, off of Pickett Road in Fairfax-ish. Kind of near BMW of Fairfax?

Seeing that coolant pooled right there makes me really uncomfortable.

What's the reason for DJ's recommendation?

Eh, time savings and when you pull the plug to drain the block, it makes a mess anyway. Just a different kind of mess. You have to do a few flushes of cheapo oil no matter what, to make sure things are clean, so if a bit of coolant makes it down the pistons, it'll get cleaned out before the car runs much as it is.

[SlimKlim]

Seeing that coolant pooled right there makes me really uncomfortable.

What's the reason for DJ's recommendation?

+1. I got mild chest tightness. As Jake says everything is getting thoroughly flushed, but still... that's just scary looking. hock:

[D_Eclipse9916]

Seeing that coolant pooled right there makes me really uncomfortable.

What's the reason for DJ's recommendation?

+1. I got mild chest tightness. As Jake says everything is getting thoroughly flushed, but still... that's just scary looking. hock:

He should have also been running water only..... :dunno:

My recommendation was that he didnt need to drain the "block plug" since they already drained everything else FYI. Not that you don't drain coolant at all. I told him he could cowboy it, no bad side effects aside from making a mess he has to clean up.

[PDenbigh]

Nice work guys! It's gonna feel great when it's back together. Good call on all the "while you're in there" stuff!

[Jake]

Add a few more items to the "while you're in there" list, mostly because I'm an idiot.

So I went to work removing all the A/C components last night. Fairly straightforward, once you get the R134 purged by a trained, licensed specialist in a safe and environmentally-conscious manner.

I'm sitting there pulling hard lines and various bits. Everything is going swimmingly. I un-bolt the compressor (I think, whatever it is with the pulley on it) and it won't come off. My thought is not to check for another bolt, but rather "probably old gasket stuck, grab the mallet!" and I give it a few good taps.

Well, on the upswing of my last tap, I kinda got too vigorous. And I smacked the mallet against the timing chain guide. And it went *ping!* and a large chunk of it went flying across the garage as I explored the depths of my brain's knowledge of curse words.

So now I have been #blessed with the opportunity to remove the front timing case and replace the timing chain guides, timing case seals, and front main seal.

Already got the drive belt off, water pump removed, and crank pulley removed. Need to figure out how to remove the crank bolt as it's torqued to 300 ft-lbs. Should be easy enough if I can get that off. Just sucks that my mistake is costing $107 in parts and another night-after-work of labor.

Whatever, I guess it's all things that would eventually need replacing anyway. That's what I keep telling myself.

[WRXtranceformed]

Impressive DIYs here, man you guys go balls deep into your repairs. I would be so nervous that I would turn my engine into a pineapple grenade if I was racing it and rebuilding the powertrain myself. Of course after shredding my wrist on a dust guard when changing my old Tundra's oil, I don't turn many wrenches anymore unless it's super easy stuff.

[Jake]

Impressive DIYs here, man you guys go balls deep into your repairs. I would be so nervous that I would turn my engine into a pineapple grenade if I was racing it and rebuilding the powertrain myself. Of course after shredding my wrist on a dust guard when changing my old Tundra's oil, I don't turn many wrenches anymore unless it's super easy stuff.

It's just so easy to go down the rabbit hole of "well it's just a few more bolts" - I make a big deal out of bagging and labeling everything after not doing it in the past and running into difficulties during re-assembly. I labeled the wire that goes to the MAF, even though it's the only connector in the engine bay that is shaped that way and will only fit one thing. Just gotta make good habits. And when it's time to re-assemble, I'll lay out all my ziploc bags and grab what I need as I get to it.

If you think of these things as huge Lego sets (with some fluids in the way), they aren't bad to work on. I do have my fair share of small scars on my hands, but good gloves help (I use the thick latex gloves for disposable and OG Racing gloves if I'm doing things where I need more hand protection).

I've seen the shop bills and I can't afford to have anyone but me + friends do this kind of work. So, getting fingernails dirty is the only way to go...

[ScottyB]

Need to figure out how to remove the crank bolt as it's torqued to 300 ft-lbs.

one trick i've heard is to get your socket + breaker bar + additional pipe/cheater bar for max leverage, put it on the crank bolt, and snug it against the frame or ground depending on engine rotation. then jump in and bump the starter. the strength of the starter and gear reduction plus the speed of the impact should pop it loose enough that you can spin bolt the rest of the way off by hand turning the wrench.

no experience with this, YMMV, don't shoot your eye out

[Jake]

^^ Yeah, that sounds vaguely horrifying. Plus all the wiring is disconnected from the top end being removed. My friend Chris has a Snap-On cordless impact that has a bolt breakaway torque rating of 620 ft-lb so I'm hoping that'll do it. And if not, I know a guy who will let me borrow his air impact - we can use that with DJ's compressor.

[.RJ]

Jake, I've got an (air) 1/2" drive impact that will break it loose. Come get it tonight if you want.

Edit: why the hell doesnt DJ have air tools?

[Jake]

Jake, I've got an (air) 1/2" drive impact that will break it loose. Come get it tonight if you want.

Edit: why the hell doesnt DJ have air tools?

Baller. I'll pick it up Sunday evening or Monday after work if that's OK with you? I'm leaving town around 4 today.

[HAULN-SS]

I was wondering same question about air tools. I got an aircat 1400lb/ft impact for like 300$ and a compressor canbe had for like 250

[.RJ]

Jake, I've got an (air) 1/2" drive impact that will break it loose. Come get it tonight if you want.

Edit: why the hell doesnt DJ have air tools?

Baller. I'll pick it up Sunday evening or Monday after work if that's OK with you? I'm leaving town around 4 today.

Thats fine. Just sext me then.

[SlimKlim]

I got an aircat 1400lb/ft impact