316 - m52b28 / individual+

[Jason_323i]

Yes you adjust every thing, check you get the full pedal swing, full master cylinder travel. The move the basis bar to the middle and do the static test ie car in the air press the pedal as the as the fronts are rotated until they lock, the rears should lock at the same time adjust the rod lengths masters balance bar until this happens.

Watch the bar on thepedal as you push it i bet at the moment it goes at an angle pretty quick.

[nas80]

I bled them again and they feel a lot more sharper. I found that although it's bolted in pretty well there was still some flex. I fabricated another bracket out of 3mm steel and bolted it on the box on the right hand side and the other end goes into the scuttle bit near the washer i stuck a massive wide washer (think they are the ones you bolt the anti roll bar with) and bolted it down real tight.. This has now stopped all flexing!

Obp 0 Nas 1 - Oooshh!!!

So I checked the pedal action and the front master goes in first then the rear moves.. The thing is the rear seems to have a lot more movement at the clevis then the front? Is that because the rear master being a 0.7 is easier to push?

A quick drive up n down my street have shown that the fronts are defo now working more. I wound the bar as far forward as it goes and then back two turns.

I need to find a quiet place and do some emergency stops with a mate stood next to the road to watch how the car reacts from outside.

[drjim]

Wind it all the way forward then get a valve in the rear line too.

I got a valve from the start in case I had too much rear despite the bias box doing its best.

[nas80]

Thanks for all the advice chaps the brakes feel way better now.

I am going to fit the ds2500 and I'm sure that they will be even better

edit - just to clarify I don't get rears locking up.. maybe theres a difference in piston sizes from e30 rear clipers and golf ones Jim? Then again it could also be brand new pads and disks on the rear haven't bedded in yet?

[nas80]

Engine turned out to be a pup. It makes bad rattling noises. To say I'm annoyed is an understatement. Engine is coming out to make way for another.

Good job these engines are fairly cheap.

When I take this engine out I'll be rebuilding it with a 3.0 crank rod n pistons, ported n polished head, m3 cams and a whole lot of love. Then I'm going to bolt a turbo on and standalone (probably vems) then I'm going to travel all the way to Ireland and do a third gear burnout right on the lawn of the guy who sold me this dodgy engine.

That'll learn him.

[Jeroen]

Bad news, sorry to hear!

[drjim]

Engine turned out to be a pup. It makes bad rattling noises. To say I'm annoyed is an understatement. Engine is coming out to make way for another.

Good job these engines are fairly cheap.

When I take this engine out I'll be rebuilding it with a 3.0 crank rod n pistons, ported n polished head, m3 cams and a whole lot of love. Then I'm going to bolt a turbo on and standalone (probably vems) then I'm going to travel all the way to Ireland and do a third gear burnout right on the lawn of the guy who sold me this dodgy engine.

That'll learn him.

Are we at the point where you have to own and drive the donor? Seem to recall Jamie has had engine probs too.

[nas80]

That one was sorta jamies fault (his exuberance ended up with a spun bearing) so the engine he destroyed I replaced and helped him fit (in one day - very long day!) With minimal cost to him.

No such luck with the guy that sold me my engine though. He said that as it was a year or so since I bought it off him, that no refunds or gestures would be given.

I don't know if I can blame him totally. Lots of paranoid thoughts have been going on. What if my modified sump is to blame. What if my sump pickup gasket that I didn't replace is to blame. What if the oil pump just died from being stood. What if some foreign object went in the engine etc. Maybe the lifters are jammed and I need to do a hundred on the motorway to free em.

It sounds like a bag of spanners though and seems to be getting worse. The Oil pressure light comes on when it's warmed up but my oil pressure gauge reads just under 1 bar.

Suffice it to say I've seen vids of the new engine. It's has had a brand new head with new lifters and it's also been ported n polished and mls head gasket too.

[nas80]

I got the duff engine from a bimmerforums.co.UK member. It was out of an ac shintzer and I took the sump n ro Ker cover off and the engine is spotless inside. No gum.or carbon buildup. I have the full service history for it too.

I'll just never be so trusting again.

[problemchild75]

Trustt me that was not my fault I've driven enough old and new cars to know what would cause a spun bearing. That engine was a pup. Fitting an exhaust just made it audible. I think the twin vanos e46 engine is the way forward now the e36 units are too few and far between. My next engine I will want to see and hear running 100 percent

[nas80]

Trustt me that was not my fault I've driven enough old and new cars to know what would cause a spun bearing. That engine was a pup. Fitting an exhaust just made it audible. I think the twin vanos e46 engine is the way forward now the e36 units are too few and far between. My next engine I will want to see and hear running 100 percent

Maybe it wasn't your fault, engine should be able to take some shit and it gave up. it doesn't matter now im glad we sorted it out, the new engine seems to be working ok, so id just leave it in until it dies.

The m54 also has the same lifter problems. And 2x the double Vanos there's more to cause greif, I'm defo on about rebuilding an engine. Zero miles and if it's done right will last a very long time. I might even have a spare head and block maybe ill rebuild that too if your interested? I know what your saying though M52s are generally getting old and a lot of them have led hard lives but yet people are wanting these and before when you could get one for £200 now your looking at £400.

[nas80]

ok update on this. bit difficult doing this post because I don't like to admit when I fail. but I figure maybe others can learn from my mistake.

it seems me blaming the previous owner of the engine may have been a bit short sighted. I have already txt him already to apologise for asking him if he had sold me a dodgy engine. he was cool about it.

When I had the sump modified it turns out the pickup pipe was the wrong length, its very close to the bottom of the pan, although it isn't touching it so some oil was getting round where was only a few mm of clearance when I needed a good 10mm. when I took the sump off I found tiny flecks of metal in the sump so I think I may have destroyed a bearing, if the US Spec cams are scored then I will be so , I will have to take them out to check them properly, im actually a bit scared to look lol.

You know for the last few days I haven't been myself, I cant seem to get rid of this disheartened feeling, I only get that when a mistake is made that I could have avoided. Before I put the engine in i should have measured the clearance. then I could have had it fixed before it came a problem.

Rest assured I have learnt a valuable and expensive lesson, always double check stuff you have had fabricated when it comes back. What I think happened is that the fabricator must of not lined up the spare oil pump I gave him very well or maybe his jig moved when he was welding?

This is the debris i found in the sump, there wasn't any bigger bits then this i think this is bearing material from the colour of the flecks.



modified pickup



I stuck a 10mm thick block of old claybar i had on the bottom



here's how it looked when i stuck the sump back on





So I went and bought another 2.8, this new engine has a ported and polished head with bigger valves and all the lifters are brand new, even has an MLS gasket on it. This cost the previous owner over £1500 (the lifters are about £20 each and there are 24 of them!). the dyno graph with a basic m50 intake and no other modifications show a healthy 237hp which is a good 20hp on top of what you normally would see with just the intake and a remap.

I'm going to fit this engine and at least try and enjoy my car this year, then in the winter comes ill take it out.

I have a spare 330ci block with a blown head gasket, ill remove the crank rods and pistons from that engine, fit that stuff with new bearings, pins, rings and mains into this damaged 2.8 block, use the ported and polished head on from the new engine, fit the us spec cams, m50 inlet (or maybe a custom alloy one) and the big bore throttle body, maybe ill end up with about 280 / 290hp?

Maybe your thinking perhaps it would have been easier just to stick an s50/54 in, maybe that's probably what it will have cost in the end. My thinking is that I want to retain the -50kg weight saving from the alloy block as it really does make a big difference to the handling in an e21, and I just want a fully rebuilt engine with 0 miles on it even if ill end up with near enough the same power as an s50.

[croma_man]

m50 become pricy as you open them up, as the S50 are more reliable, only the conrod bearings need attention...I also could easily buy already a S50 engine, the M20 eats up money like a b****

but yeah, here we are and finishing what we planned

[nas80]

yeah man, no point in doing things the easy way, theres no fun in that.

p.s saw your pic in the "your pic of the day" i was like - i should really be doing the same as chromoman, your a bad influence.

[Duracel79]

I had a similar decision, spend nearly £4.5k on building a fresh race M20B29 on TB's or putting in th S54.
Both would of needed drivetrain and axle work to hold together.

You know what I chose

Ben