Trying to get my bearings!

This engine parts replacement business is taking more time than I thought A couple of problems I created myself so I'm actually to blame for most of the delays. New water pump and thermostat arrived and were duly put in place, something else to tick off. Sump gasket, inlet and exhaust gaskets arrived from BMW as well as new big end bearings so I could get on with the next stage.   

Water pump and thermostat in place.

I've put off doing anything with the bearings because the ARP bolts I ordered took longer to be delivered than expected. They arrived today BUT are the wrong ones! Will have to order them all over again! But anyway I decided to check the crankshaft as well as check the clearance of the new bearings.

New standard bearings for my M44 engine. The two on the top are old, showing slight wear. 

New torque wrenches, wrong ARP bolts, plastigauge.

Sump removed,  con rods 2 and 3 sticking up ready for bearing checks.I marked each con rod and bolt so as not to get them mixed up.

A small amount of Plastigauge placed across the face of the crankshaft ... 

 ... before bolting on the bearing and bearing cover and torquing to 20Nm and 70 degrees

Dave mentioned the tolerance for the M44 big-end bearings (conrod) is between 0,02 - 0,055mm. Mine, at least nr. 3 as you can see is 0,025 which is very little wear. I hope the other 3 are just as good.  

I'll clean this off with some WD40.

While waiting for the parts I continued to clean up the wiring. I intend to shorten the spark plug feed and ODB II connector as well as many others.

Unnecessarily long cables. I'll cut and splice them.

I'll continue with other parts of the car until the new ARP bolts arrive. I hope they don't take too long!

Engine cleanup

The mega job continues, a little bit everyday!Tried quite a few tips found on youtube on how to clean an engine, especially the cylinder head but in the end, as I want to do it in situe, I found the best way was with an slightly abrasive buffing disk attached to a drill.

First thing was to get the engine up on the stand. 

Easier to put the bracket on straight and as central as possible and then attach it to the stand.

It's quite stiff so "almost" no worry about spinning round by itself.

Decided to change the water pump and thermostat.

Easier to clean area behind too!

To help get the old water pump out one can screw in long (40mm) M6 bolts into the two threaded holes provided in the pump. By screwing them in they push against the housing and force the pump out. One can also use a small crowbar to gently lever out the pump.

Old and new pumps, the new one has a composite impeller.

One tip was soaking parts in diesel for a week - it didn't work!

Painted areas of rust on the block with rust converter. Then used black engine block paint.

It'll look better when all the bits are put back on again.

As mentioned the best way I found to clean aluminium parts was with a slightly abrasive buffing wheel.These engine mounts have come out pretty well. 

Mount for the alternator and belt tensioner was a bit fiddly to clean. Alternator needed just a wire brush and then a blast of compressed air. 

Time to spend a little time on the bulk head, wire wool and a polish.

In the next few days the thermostat, ARP bolts, clutch plate, gaskets etc. should be delivered. Then need to remove the sump to remove and check big end bearings before ordering new.