M21 Engine Rebuild

[z122643]

So, a number of years ago I helped a friend buy his 524td. It had originally been a barn find in Fresno. At the time he bought it had 180,000 on the clock, but the odometer stopped four years earlier. It was leaking a lot of oil and fuel. Fast forward to now and the oil leaking out is exceeding the input by him. Time for an engine rebuild!

I will be posting pictures as we work, there are a lot of mystery sensors. So far everyone and their kid sister has told us that we are completely insane!




"Custom" jack stands



"I ask you, who the F*&K loops the engine wiring harness through the intake flanges?!"








At TDC

[noddaduma]

Nice start! Keep us posted.

[z122643]

[z122643]

Well these should be fun for someone.

[Kopek130]

Dang so many photobucket accounts have been slammed.

I've managed to snag saving the page to pdf before it happened. Here it is here.

https://1drv.ms/b/s!Ar5iUNh_SbR27mKpw-4D8A70ep09

[z122643]

$400 to restore all my photos. Ransom-ware! FUCK THAT!

[Kopek130]

How's the rebuilding going? I'd love to do that to mine. Also post what brands of bearings you're buying!

[z122643]

Currently in the cleaning stage. I don't know if people want to see that ;v). As for bearings I will be using King bearings.

[z122643]

...and we're back. We had some work/life issues come up but we will start up the old engine project again.

Starting with a question. Anyone know how to remove the block heater?

[gadget73]

Lots of work, thanks for the pics.

Took a quick look in the manuals I have and I didn't see how the heater comes out. I want to say mine looks different than yours anyway. Wild guess, I'd expect an expansion plug situation, either the thing unscrews some to release or it has a bolt through the center to expand a rubber plug.

[z122643]

A lot of digging later

[gadget73]

hm, seems Ford neglected to put that bit in their manuals.

[z122643]

Sorry for the absence. We have been having trouble sourcing some parts. We had the stock pistons and rods on order with BMW but they back ordered them with no ETA... so I'll just have to make them myself.




Heat block finally out, the manually lied. It took some generous swings of a dead blow hammer to remove.



Time for a bath

[z122643]

So update, we are back on track after some issues. First we sourced original Mahle pistons out of Ukraine (don't ask), I replaced my wife with a dog, and I'm currently designing new connecting rods. Shouldn't be long now.

In the mean time we have baked and shot peened the block. He choose the color not me, though it might change based on his expression

[gadget73]

Please tell me that isn't Chevy Orange.

Looks nice though. Honestly less bland than the black paint job mine sports. Its black or its just a sheen of old diesel oil, not completely sure.

Why are you designing new con rods?

[z122643]

Please tell me that isn't Chevy Orange.

Looks nice though. Honestly less bland than the black paint job mine sports. Its black or its just a sheen of old diesel oil, not completely sure.

Why are you designing new con rods?

It is Chevy Orange . After inspecting the rods we found the bore parallelism out, the big end out of round, and PE bore oversized. It make sense to get new ones, and we the facilities to make new/better ones.

[gadget73]

good deal. What happened to that poor engine to make it so messed up, just lots of miles or was it abused?

mildly scared whats going on inside mine. Odometer says 195k. The car does not look like a nearly 200k mile car but I have nothing else to go by. It doesn't need oil between changes, so I suppose thats a good sign.

[z122643]

Update:

did a dye check on the head and it's cracked. It was cheaper to get a new head then repair the cracked head. Getting closer to assembly.

We want to send out the injection pump for a rebuild. Any suggestions where to send it?

[kingoftarmace2004]

where did you find the cracks? just outta curiosity? Thanks! -Paul

[z122643]

All the cracks were found between the intake and exhaust valve seats. Using a sonic thickness gauge we estimate they were up to .050" deep. Not great but would have still run for a long while.

[z122643]

Progress,

Captain obvious here, COVID sucks! Many delays later we were able to assemble the head. Sourced the new head from ECS, and intake/exhaust valves and rocker arms from Schmiedmann. The camshaft and all other seals/gaskets from BMW. As soon as equipment is available I will hone and deck the block. I also have to get the connecting rods made (because I can)

[gadget73]

Does the oil feed tube have pinholes in it so it works as a sprayer or is it just a tube? I honestly didn't check that out on mine when I had the cover off. Just wondering how the cam lobes are meant to lube on these.

[kingoftarmace2004]

the cam "sprayer" tube. has holes every cam lobe. it kinda just puts a stream over the lobe as it spins to give it some lubrication. I know you did not ask me, but hey. -Paul

[tig]

Subscribed! Love the orange.

[gadget73]

the cam "sprayer" tube. has holes every cam lobe. it kinda just puts a stream over the lobe as it spins to give it some lubrication. I know you did not ask me, but hey. -Paul

Answers is answers, I'm not picky who they come from. Thanks. Next time I happen to have the cover off mine I'll make sure the holes are clear.