Kalim's Garage Adventures

Originally Posted by cyberkaa

Whew, what a weekend. Finished Inspection II, VANOS profile and solenoid gasket replacement, and an angel eye install on jimmymoo's 2006 M3 ZCP.
The engine was noticeably smoother and quieter after the valve clearances were brought into spec.

Made some great progress on Leo's E30 2.7L stroker last night.
Installed the water pump, timed it, adjusted valve clearances, and wired the old style eta starter to the newer 'i' harness yesterday. It cranks, so we'll hopefully be finishing up the oil pan gasket, intake manifold, and cooling system sometime later this week in preparation for the first start.

We got the oil pan, intake manifold, and a few miscellaneous items back on the E30 stroker a few nights back, but we found a fuel leak at the injectors while priming the system, so we decided to call it a night.

Today, I brought over some 'i' injectors, new injector o-rings, and a late model fuel rail which works better with the late model injector harness. Priming showed no leaks.
We nervously cranked it and had a partial success. The engine would start and die soon after, or would bounce off the rev limiter with partial throttle, so we made a list of things to test over lunch and got to work soon after.
After reasoning that fuel and spark were probably ok, we diagnosed and replaced a bad airflow meter and plugged a vacuum leak from an unused port on the throttle body (also on the to-do list, which we hadn't checked in our excitement). Another crank and it fired right up!

We were running the car with open exhaust ports, which is deafeningly loud, but also amazing in the dark since the motor is shooting blue flames right out of the head.
It also helped us see that #2 was running a little weak, so there was more to it than just the coolness factor. A video does exist and I'll post it if Leo gets around to uploading it.

Originally Posted by cyberkaa

It also helped us see that #2 was running a little weak, so there was more to it than just the coolness factor.

Ok, that's totally an excuse.

Originally Posted by mkodama

Ok, that's totally an excuse.

Obviously.

Video of the E30 2.7 stroker:

Originally Posted by cyberkaa

Video of the E30 2.7 stroker:

Thats pretty sick

Dead jealous. Wish I had a garage. You know, I'm going to move into a garge. Stuff my apartment. All I need is a shower, sink, washing machine, a hammock, somewhere to plug my electonics in and somewhere to take a dump. Have I missed anything?

Originally Posted by zander271

Thats pretty sick

Thanks, man. Luckily we were in the middle of nowhere because that racket was loud enough to wake the dead!

Originally Posted by RayPooley

Dead jealous. Wish I had a garage. You know, I'm going to move into a garge. Stuff my apartment. All I need is a shower, sink, washing machine, a hammock, somewhere to plug my electonics in and somewhere to take a dump. Have I missed anything?

Haha. Sounds good to me!

This thread is so lackluster

Originally Posted by briangl92

This thread is so lackluster

That's cuz OP lacks lustre.

Good thread

Was out greasing up the lock cylinder in the M3 and figured out a cool, simple way to disable the steering wheel lock:

1. Remove lower steering column trim.
2. With key in position 1, insert pin and remove lock cylinder. Leave pin inserted for installation.
3. Look into the hole where the lock cylinder used to be and you'll see the locking shaft with a slot in it as well as the separate 2-toothed cylinder that surrounds it. Our goal is to reverse the 2-toothed cylinder.
4. Using flat-head screwdriver, turn locking shaft CCW towards position 0. The 2-toothed cylinder has a tab/key that keeps it in the locking shaft bore. Once it lines up with the 10 o'clock position, it'll slide right out. You'll notice that you probably can't quite turn the shaft CCW far enough to get it to line up, so...
5. Unclip ignition switch.
6. Turn locking shaft slightly CCW until key on 2-toothed cylinder lines up with notch and remove 2-toothed cylinder. You'll see a spring left behind it on the lock shaft.
7. Flip 2-toothed cylinder around so that the indentations that correspond to the back of the lock cylinder now face into the bore instead of outward.
8. Insert 2-toothed cylinder back into locking bore, using screwdriver to align the teeth onto the locking shaft. The tab/key will catch on the first groove (which is for the lock cylinder retainer) so be sure to insert all the way until the tab/key reaches the second groove farther in. Note that the wheel is now unlocked.
9. Rotate lock shaft and 2-toothed cylinder CW slightly to position 0 and install ignition switch.
10. With the lock shaft rotated to position 1 (slot roughly vertical), install lock cylinder.

A lot of words, but not much actual effort. I can do a proper DIY with pics if anyone needs clarification.

A couple of carbon black beauties in for some TLC:

Since people asked, DIY on how to disable the steering wheel lock:
http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=963009

Originally Posted by jimmymoo

What's that fluffy looking thing on the intake camshaft cylinder 1 in your picture? Is that a rag or something?

Originally Posted by RayPooley

What's that fluffy looking thing on the intake camshaft cylinder 1 in your picture? Is that a rag or something?

If you're referred to the blue thing, that's a shop towel. The black area is the rough cast portion of the camshaft.

Originally Posted by cyberkaa

If you're referred to the blue thing, that's a shop towel. The black area is the rough cast portion of the camshaft.

No. I know the blue things are towels. But there loks like something hairy in the cyl 1 camshaft area. Thought it was an oily rag. I mean I know why the blue towels are there but I was wondering why the oily rag? Just curious.

Originally Posted by cyberkaa

If you're referred to the blue thing, that's a shop towel. The black area is the rough cast portion of the camshaft.

Just had another look. Yes. I can see it now. Just my gozzy eyes. Just got up. Coffee next.

Originally Posted by RayPooley

No. I know the blue things are towels. But there loks like something hairy in the cyl 1 camshaft area. Thought it was an oily rag. I mean I know why the blue towels are there but I was wondering why the oily rag? Just curious.

I guess the rough part of the camshaft does look a little hairy in that lighting, haha.