After much delay while gathering parts and waiting for outside work to be done, it was finally time to begin reassembling the engine. The teardown was the easy part as I found out. There is really not much to turning a wrench lefty-loosy and pull parts off.

After disassembing the engine and getting a good rebuildable core, I took both to Headworks in Mayo and Hill Machine Headworks in Galway. These shops came recommended to me - I gathered that most of their work was done on larger engines and smaller engines were a piece of cake. Hill Machine informed me that he had a worklog of several weeks. That was not really a big deal so I said fine. Headworks had a similar story and it turned out to be a longer wait. A much longer wait as I found out. I made the mistake of saying, "take your time. I'm not in a big hurry." Well, he took it to heart and it was about six months before my head came back. Mind you, I'm not really complaining - I really wasn't in a big hurry. My advise on getting any outside work done is to set a timeline and call back often.

I am mostly satisfied with this phase of the project. It took a little longer than expected, but it was all worthwhile to hear that engine come to life. Next will come some tuning so I can pass an emissions test, then on to probably the brakes and some sheet metal work.

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Here is what the engine block looked like when it came back from the machine shop. They bored the block 0.010" oversize, magnafluxed the crank and rods, micropolished the crank journals, and pressed out the old pilot bearing. Overall, I'm very happy with the work they did.



As you can hopefully see in the photos, the bores have a nice crosshatch honing pattern (as they should). After cleaning any residual oil off the outside of the block, I sprayed on several coats of gloss black engine enamel to make it look nice. I also scrubbed out out all the oil passages with long brushes and cleaned out all the bolt holes with taps to ensure proper torque readings.



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Here is a shot of the engine partially together at this point, the crank and pistons were in, as well as the front cover and timing gear. I am sort of kicking myself for not taking enough pictures. It would have been difficult to be photographer and engine assembler at the same time, but that's life I guess. While I'm making excuses, let me make another -- after having lost my access to a digital camera last year, it has been much more of a hassle to document things.



Hey! That looks like the old clutch. Yep, it certainly is. When I started this, I was hoping to replace the clutch, and do something with the transmission whether it be rebuild or 5-speed conversion. As it turned out, the old components would have to go back in due to financial situations. The clutch actually has lots of life left in it, and the flywheel still has marks on it from the last time it was turned. As I recall from the last time I drove the car (two years ago?!?), the transmission was tired but shifted ok. I figure that when I get around to deal with the transmission issue, the clutch issue will be dealt with.

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About the only thing I did to the transmission is put it on the stand and do some very light maintenance. I cleaned up much of 23 years of dirt build-up, and changed the oil. While I had access, I changed some of the bushings for the shifter (knowing that it is impossible to get to while in the car), but I don't know if it helped at all. The shifter still feels as wobbly as it ever has.

I can't believe it! That's all the photos I have from assembling the engine. What a lame person I am. In summary, the block had to be bored oversize and I decided to get a set of Mahle 9.5:1 CR pistons. I replaced the oil pump (insurance!) and all the timing hardware. On the topside, I opted for the Korman 300 camshaft with Korman springs and rockers. The head machining and assembly was done by Hill Machine Headworks and all I had to do was set the valve lash, lube the cam, and bolt it to the block. I made sure to use plenty of oil on the pistons and crank, RTV gasket sealer where I need to, anti-sieze on critical bolts, and loc-tite on stuff that I wanted to stay put. Having done all that, it was time to put the engine back in the car.

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After months of making excuses, it was finally time to put the engine back into the car. While the engine was out, I took some time to clean and repaint the engine compartment. After all, I didn't really want to put a mostly shiny new engine into a grungy engine bay. I selected a two part basecoat-clearcoat paint system by PPG called Deltron 2000. The color is a metallic green that looks really nice. Yes, I know it's not a factory BMW color -- so sue me. Right now only the engine compartment is that color but eventually the entire car will match.





To replace the old rusted pedal box, I got a good workable one from a BMW list member. I cleared out some surface rust, coated the inside with some Eastwood Company Corollis, and the outside with Corollis and Hammerite. I will probably also get a replacement foam cover as well. Visible in one of the photos is the postive battery cable that was routed from the trunk along the transmission tunnel and throught the firewall.
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Here is the transmission mated to the engine and ready to go back in the car. I wanted to bolt on as much stuff as possible now while things were still accessable. I was a little ambitious with the exhaust. Even thought the Y-pipe is bolted on in this photo, I ended up having to remove it during the install. It almost worked, but we were just shy on clearance, and the pipe had to be removed while lowering the engine





After two long days of work, my brother and I started the 2002 at 5:20pm on Saturday January 23th. It was such a thrill to see and hear that motor run. After varying the running rpm for about 20 minutes, we dropped it back down to an idle speed and prepared to tune it up. I pulled out the timing gun and realized...doh! Relocating the battery to the trunk eliminated a place to plug in the timing gun! the next step will be to get an auxillary power distribution block in the engine compartment to plug in such things as required.