New mechanic tool trouble (Fork tool for lifting rocker heads)

[Stand-in]

I recently have purchased a 1977 (produced q3 76) e21 in Chamonix color US version and am currently in the process of rebuilding the engine. The prior owner had died in the process of doing this and this car has been sitting in a garage for 13 years. Anyways with the engine half disassembled (luckily left covered in spilled engine oil, probably just gasket issues, so it has had no rusting; but so much cleaning to do!) I decided to start rebuilding the head. As I was beginning the process I quickly noticed that the manual says I require a specific tool to lift the rocker heads off of the cam shaft. It was labeled as a "fork tool" and I have had a hard time figuring out what its called. See attached image.

TLDR Cant figure out the name of this tool

[Stand-in]

I am going to try a crowbar, (but first I realized the book may have the name beyond the description). Anyways I will maybe grab some photos of the car while I am working on it just for posterity.

[Stand-in]

Ok so that was asinine, I checked the manual and it said that it had to be fabricated right after I stopped reading. : I need to find a solution looks like I might be able to grind a chisel or something down but I dont have precision drill presses or anything. So that as last option IG I should see if anyone has made some and is willing to sell it or what. Also I saw "iron maiden" custom tools online for this like what they use at BMW. Debating whether I should bite the ego bullet and let someone else rebuild the head or do it myself. (It has to be rebuilt because of a burnt valve that gave a 35psi reading for compression test, rest were 145 135 135 respectively(should clean up?))

[Jeroen]

Never removed the camshaft on a M10 but I did come across a possible workaround, just to give you an idea, I think it must be possible to make something out of wood or plastic that is a bit more reliable.
https://www.bmw2002faq.com/forums/topic ... cial-tool/

As for the burnt valve, remains to be seen how badly its burned. Often polishing/machining against the seat helps, sometimes the holes are too big and the valve requires replacement

[Stand-in]

Never removed the camshaft on a M10 but I did come across a possible workaround, just to give you an idea, I think it must be possible to make something out of wood or plastic that is a bit more reliable.
https://www.bmw2002faq.com/forums/topic ... cial-tool/

As for the burnt valve, remains to be seen how badly its burned. Often polishing/machining against the seat helps, sometimes the holes are too big and the valve requires replacement

Thanks for the help, I had not seen that method yet and yeah the valves may just need replacement; the engine has 360000 miles on it. But anyways I decided I am going to fab up the tool. I purchased 1/8 steel and I am going to make use of my schools manufacturing shop this afternoon, depending on how long it takes I may make more than the two or three I need. This build has been and will continue to be full of fun surprises; for instance I was scared that the body of the engine had water in it and it turned out that it was instead filed with oil up to the top of the main engine bolts. Guess I figured out why the thing is so damn dirty (prior owner removed the head with out removing the oil?)

Since I had not posted this yet I will add on another part to this saga. I let my buddy fab up the tool as I had not acquired the safety permissions to use the tool there, anyways he took to much off on some of them in the middle of the fork. Still two of the tools he made look good, and I hope the little bit of scuff on the rocker arms that I will make tomorrow will not in someway damage the rockers. Learning swiftly that buying used cars are a basket of surprises, especially ones that you are otherwise unfamiliar with or are prior to you molested. I may try the rag method.

[Jeroen]

Looking forward to further updates, good luck!

[Stand-in]

Ok so I removed the rocker head valve spring spacer part to gain extra clearance, and I placed a amount of fabric (off of my younger brothers worn out sweat pants, now the remainder keeps the cam safe from scratches),and I used the friend crafted ramshackle fork tool(s) that will probably be retired after I put it back together. Anyways I got the cam out; see attached photos.
A few points of note however if you attempt to craft the tools on your own go for 1 1/2 inch wide steel and a higherish grade than the cheap stuff at Homedepot as the teeth will bend if you try to use them by themselves, the only way it worked was that we made enough clearance with the fabric and the removed spacers to reduce the tension placed on the metal.


As the rocker heads can get out of the way of the valves I am going to just leave them there (I'm also a lazy sunofabitch). But the cam looks practically unworn, the diffrence between the polished rocker head line and the cam surface height was literally oil (and a small amount of metal) but it looks basically like just a broken in few thousand mile engine. Only bad part about this is that I just realized that my valve spring compressor does not reach the valve spring washer due to it being recessed about two inches bellow the seal, womp womp. So now I have more tool trouble. I will post the parts all cleaned up after I get some washing done. But I need to spend a few days acquiring the tool. In the mean time I may upload some photos of the whole car.
Final note to all of this. I sprayed some wd-40 in the head in the hopes that it would make moving things along better, idk if it did anything but the cam was quite loose after a little love tap on the back.

[Jeroen]

Yes! It's a start, and now the search continues for the next tool haha

[Stand-in]

It looks like the valve spring compressor is going to take a week to get here, in the mean time I am going to be acquiring replacement parts and removing non motor components in the engine bay as I want to degrease the inside. I also need to get the car in the garage to start working on patching some small surface rust in the crevice's but there is a mountain of old electronic stuff from my dads days working as a VJ at raves to move. At risk of doxing myself here is the car.

Right now I just keep a cover over it to shelter it from the rain, it is a little dirty from sitting in a garage for over 13 years.

[Jeroen]

Looks pretty clean and unmolested to me!

[Stand-in]

Just wait until I start working the engine bay, or the internal parts of the car, very much old man smell and gunk along with subtle mold. On the whole its brilliant, it just falls apart upon further inspection. Will highlight the minor problems, I only care because its about arresting them.

[mr edd]

i made a suitable tool to depress the rockers by cutting a slot in the end of a old 3/4 inch wood chisel with a grinder..