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I'm positively fizzing. other than the ugly wheels... https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/other/listing/4072646458

Corinthian drive. Car sounds good.

Gorgeous! (Not the wheels)

Hit a big milestone over the weekend which I'm super excited about. Picking up where I left off, hung the engine up from the stand to install the rear main seal. All the bolts nice and clean and put a dab of high-temp thread sealer on the two big bolts to prevent those pesky leaks. The two small plugs on the front and rear also went in with the thread sealer. Also bashed in the new pilot bearing in anticipation. The shiny new sprocket arrived so I could box on with installing the chains and front cover. Bought a brand new set of iwis Racing chains. Not exactly sure what the difference is with the regular ones but at only a couple of dollars' difference, figured I might as well. The oil pump chain does seem to have a bit less slack to it but might be wishful thinking. Got a slotted oil pump nut from ECS Tuning that went on with a bit of blue thread sealer for good measure. For whatever reason, the safety wire included with the kit was stupidly short, so short that I really struggled tying it down properly and ended up making a total mess of it. You pay something like US$18 for a bloody nut and they cheap out on you with a couple of cents worth of wire... Had to go out to get a whole new roll of SS wire and had another go. Came out much better the second time around, and now have a spare 12.8m of wire left to no doubt satisfy a lifetime's worth of safety wire needs... 1st attempt Take two Front timing cover went on, as well as the crank pulley that I ended up just rattling on with an impact wrench. Quite a crude and probably not the ideal approach but really don't have access to or any leads on a torque wrench that would handle the required 410Nm. The impact wrench approach seems to have worked for quite a few people before so good enough for me. The crank pulley looked in good nick with no visual imperfections on the rubber ring on the back so was happy enough to reuse it after a good clean, with a brand new crank bolt of course. Gave the oil pan a final clean too and that went on next, with a brand new oil level sensor and a magnetic oil plug I'd inherited. Then onto the big one - the cylinder head install. This was the part I was the most nervous about so had to ask a mate around for some emotional support. First off, checked the sealing of the valves. Threaded in some old spark plugs and poured in some petrol, then blew compressed air into the intake and exhaust sides. No drop in the level and no bubbling from the compressed air so looked all good. Installed a pair of brand new dowel pins to the top of the block as I'd managed to mangle up the old two when removing them. Then the new standard size head gasket and cylinder head after a final clean. Having read through one too many an account of the threads stripping out and recommendations to preventatively timesert the block and whatnot, I was dreading this part of the whole project the most. Turns out I needn't have worried. Applied a light coating of oil to the new bolts so that they were covered but not dripping, then torqued down to 20Nm, 40Nm and two doses of 90 degrees, all in the correct sequence. All went much smoother than I would have imagined. The resistance on the bolts felt very consistent throughout and no funny creaking or squeaking at all. Don't mean to jinx it but looks a straight line to the finish from here on. Was a massive relief getting over this hurdle successfully, now just a matter of cleaning up the last bits and bolting everything together. Was so excited that was tempted to chuck an all-nighter and not show up to work on Monday but after a few celebratory drinks, exhaustion got the best of me. Will box on in the coming days. Still harboring hopes of getting the car up and running before the end of 2022 but will see how we go.

Had an ex-engine builder mate come round one evening with his set of micrometres to check over the bearing clearances. All seem to be sitting towards the upper end of the spec. Not ideal but she's also not a drag racer so happy enough. Main bearing clearances sat around 0.050-0.055mm - spec is 0.020-0.058mm. Con rods were around the same. Also rechecked them with plastigauge later on and all sat bang on 0.050mm. These are the piston rings I ended up using, as recommended previously, complete with M52TU-style bottom rings. Checked the ring end gaps with a feeler gauge and to my great relief no grinding was required. Spec is 0.20-0.40mm, both top rings were bang on 0.40mm in all 6 sets out of the box. The oil control rings were between 0.60-0.75mm but they're also a 3-piece instead of the stock 2-piece so probably fall under some other spec. Gave the block a last clean and blast through wish some compressed air, wiped down the bores and got to installing the crank. Bearings went in with a little coating of assembly lube. Sacrificed a brand new detailing brush to oil duties and painted a bit of oil on all the journals as well. Main caps went on and torqued to spec - 20Nm + 70 degrees. Made sure to remember to put the brace plates on the first time around after watching 50skid step on that rake. Piston rings got clocked to different sides and not to match oil openings, brushed on some oil onto the bores, piston & ring compressor and gently tapped the pistons in place. Caps torqued to the same spec as the main caps, with brand new oiled up bolts. All turns over beautifully without much effort. Happy to have gotten to this point. Called it a day at nearly 11pm on Wednesday with a great sense of accomplishment. Best sleep I had all week. Another weekend of wrenching ahead, hoping to get her up and running before Christmas ✌