The Cart Before the Horse: Spec 3 Build

[Kaan]

passing is an art. its good to start learning them now! enjoy the different teaching styles... they will help.

[Senor_Taylor]

Safe to say the valve cover gasket was leaking fairly badly. Cleaned out the spark plug holes that we're full of oil and flaking from the paint/coating on the valve cover. Wire brushed the valve cover to get rid of any loose coating, cleaned the plugs and coils, and then tossed it all back together. The oil smoke on start got better and it runs a lot better, but not perfect. I'll swap plugs this weekend to see if that finishes the fix, if not, I'll find some extra coils and start switching them around. They all definitely need new lower boots.

Probably needs another oil change this weekend as well. Aiming to do more weight loss via loom thinning and sound deadening removal before VIR. Also ordered new DTC60s front and rear from OGRacing (our preferred safety equipment provider) so I'm excited to run pads that aren't mystery used pads for once.



Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

[Sijray21]

was that the original valve cover gasket/spark plug seals?

[Senor_Taylor]

was that the original valve cover gasket/spark plug seals?

I don't believe so. There was red RTV in there and I doubt that's factory. The car is nearing 200,000 miles so I'm not super surprised. However, they did kind of suddenly let go. I noticed no issues when I did plugs earlier this year. However, the car has been driven more than this than the past 5 combined.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

[SlimKlim]

I blame Jake

[Jake]

I blame Jake

I blame Paul, Rob and Simon, in that order

[D_Eclipse9916]

I blame Jake

I blame Paul, Rob and Simon, in that order

Orange/reddish looking RTV is a rookie mistake. Slap that shit back together with gray rtv or hondabond.

[Kaan]

HONDACHALLENGEbond! we hold motors together with that stuff.

[Senor_Taylor]

I put it back together with nothing but gasket. It can leak it all it wants out the sides, just don't want it in my spark plug Wells.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

[.RJ]

you should only need hondabond/yamabond/3bond/etc on the areas where there's a corner if you put it anywhere else it will leak

[NTIman]

you should only need hondabond/yamabond/3bond/etc on the areas where there's a corner if you put it anywhere else it will leak

This. And not much of it.

Definitely recommend cleaning any machined surfaces with scotchbrite and brake clean before reassembly in the future just to have a good clean mating surface.

[Senor_Taylor]

Yeah I cleaned everything with brakleen.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

[D_Eclipse9916]

you should only need hondabond/yamabond/3bond/etc on the areas where there's a corner if you put it anywhere else it will leak

It’s a BMW m5x, if you don’t use a little liquid gasket around the moons, transitions between front timing cover and head and yes the corners; it WILL leak pretty quickly. Doing a valve cover gasket job is one of the first things I always end up having to do on 90% of the m5x/s5x motors I have worked on.

---

you should only need hondabond/yamabond/3bond/etc on the areas where there's a corner if you put it anywhere else it will leak

This. And not much of it.

Definitely recommend cleaning any machined surfaces with scotchbrite and brake clean before reassembly in the future just to have a good clean mating surface.

Have you been around Taylor? Don’t let him near scotchbrite. The abrasive runs into crevices and into oil and can cause significant wear in the motor. You have to be really careful with scotchbrite.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Senor_Taylor]

It's true, I'm very ham fisted.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

[ScottyB]

The abrasive runs into crevices and into oil and can cause significant wear in the motor.

i can't even count the number of times i've read about driveway-fixit subaru guys trying to rebuild their blown-HG junkyard engines by scouring the deck/heads with scotchbrite to clean off the old HG and then acting surprised the engine is slapping/smoking a couple hundred miles later.

[Senor_Taylor]

Mileage: ~190,000

Replaced spark plug number 1 and that fixed the remaining misfire. The electrode was literally broken inside the spark plug and would fall "out" and rest on the grounding strap when the plug was inverted. This was likely due to me dropping the plug on the ground before reinstalling it when I did the valve cover gasket Ordered some new Hawk Pads from OG and hope to install them before VIR.

Car runs without issue now. I'll monitor the valve cover to see if my lack of RTV comes back to bite me. Changed the oil from 5w-50 to 5w-40 and that made my valvetrain tapping quiet down significantly. I'll switch to 10w-40 for the next oil change. Turned my attention to the wiring harness. I've done two small rounds of harness thinning, but still had a lot left to remove. I pulled out all wiring from the trunk that wasn't related to the tail lights or license plate lights. Removed the wire for the rear windows and lock, removed the wiring for the sensors that detect if the door is shut, removed the rear defrost wiring, front lock and mirror wiring, and then various wiring exposed under the dash for the radio, hvac, locks, windows, etc. Easily 5+ lbs of wire. I think I'm done until the dash comes out, which I may start after VIR.





I'll be able to get rid of the wire on the right side of the footwell once I delete my front window regulators.



Also bought a photo from PittRace

[ViPER1313]

I cleaned the Talons block with scrotchbrite pads and rotolock disks.... no issues. I was also smart enough to open the drain plug and dump 5 quarts of used oil down through the head/motor directly into a drain pan before running the car...

[*insertusernamehere*]

sexy

[Senor_Taylor]

sexy

[emoji4][emoji4][emoji4]

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

[ScottyB]

no joke that front wheel all tucked in and the inside juuuuust about to touch the apex curbing makes me moist. great shot.