Boost Junky: 2nd Saga - M50-T Project

[Mike 1]

You sure? I could definitely clear 3" on the M10, and wouldn't have thought they (M50) were that much wider?

[bravo 35]

Looks good. Where's your windscreen wash bottle?

[Boost Junky 1]

You sure? I could definitely clear 3" on the M10, and wouldn't have thought they (M50) were that much wider?

Yea because of the shape of the turbo manifold aye Mike, makes things a bit tricky... not completly happy with the overall design in the manifold to be honnest but will have to work with it.

Looks good. Where's your windscreen wash bottle?

Cheers Graham... haha umm about that, I will be ordering one through work when the cars back from the tuners and ready to go for cert and wof. Will be running it from in the boot most likely

Thanks guys

Edited March 11, 2009 by Boost Junky

[320guy 0]

What about somthing like this for the washer bottle? Looks stock and fits nice. IIRC its out of a ford..

[Boost Junky 1]

Yea I could set it up like that would rather not have it in the engine bay at all haha. I can get all types of universal windscreen washer bottles, lengths of hose, washer motors etc through work so will suss that at wof time. To be honnest I am running out of room in the engine bay lol.

How does your car go 320guy? Presume you have finished?

[320guy 0]

Nah its not running yet. When are you going for a tune?

[Boost Junky 1]

Oh my bad haha how far away do you rekon? Well the head should be machined etc within the next two weeks slap her back together and then just gotta make the exhaust. So hopefully early April she will be tuned.

[Boost Junky 1]

My gosh things are slow atm. Not much to update really... Head is back from the machine shop.

Got it acid dipped, crack tested, hardness tested and pressure tested, valve stem seals replaced, valves race grinded to 35deg and seats 3 way grinded all to improve flow.. cost me $200 through a friend. Also replaced all the exhaust manifold studs.

Manifold has been bead blasted painted and just needs the flange face plained now. MLS headgasket arived about 3 weeks ago and have since orderded my ARP Headstuds, still havnt arrived... im begining to worry

Aside from that all my shocks and springs are gone as well as my wheels and spacers. Picked up my E36 5 Stud conversion from Ray 2 weekends ago, have the front offset bushes to sort castor issue. Hopefully have my new rims and spacers next week and suspension will all go back together then start saving for BC coilovers. Also addressed typical firewall rust issues while I had nothing better to do.

Sorry for such a brief update but will have pics up soon when things start going back together with a more thorough documentation

Luke

Edited April 8, 2009 by Boost Junky

[Boost Junky 1]

Ok so I have finally made some progress! As you all know I ordered a MLS Cometic Headgasket 0.140" and a set of ARP 2000 Headstuds which have finally arrived.

Before these could be installed the head had to be removed of course, which was done and as I mentioned in my last post I had it freshened up slightly, I also replaced all the exhaust manifold studs.

Before:

After:

After having the head overhauled I got to work on the block. With a glass scraper I scraped off as much old head gasket as possible, then resurfaced the block using a file covered with emery tape. To reduce the amount of crap going down the side of the pistons, I lined the bores with oil to catch as much debri as possible.

Before:

After:

I also cleaned as much oil out of the head bolt holes as possible using brake clean and a rag on the end of a piece of welding wire. If this procedure is ignored the left over oil in the bolt holes can hydraulic and cause the block to crack around the head bolts due to the pressure.

With everything ready to go back together the headbolts are ready to be installed, coated with assembly lube supplied with the studs they are wound into the block and tightened by hand with a hex key.

With the head studs in place the Cometic MLS gasket was then placed over the headbolts and down onto the block, this is the beauty of the ARP headstuds.. they help guide the head gasket and head itself precisely into position along with the locating dowels in the block. Unfortunately amongst the anticipation of things finally falling into place I forgot to take a photo of the headgasket in place, she took a bit of effort pressing over the factory locating dowels but after 5mins of frustration I managed to work the headgasket on. With the headgasket in place I then he-maned the head on as nobody was around to help lift it on.. what a strugle it was..

I then re-assembled the head, when doing this kind of work it kinda pays to focus and not get distracted or you may end up doing this...

Lifters Upside Down..

I ended up wasting roughly 4 hours stumped on why I could not bring the crank back to TDC once the cams were bolted down and locked at TDC. I finally gave up and sat down to research solutions on the net for 30mins and somehow it popped into my head that early in the day I had installed the lifters around the wrong way in turn holding the valves slightly too far open which prevented the pistons from being able to do a full cycle. After previously having the camshafts off 4 times I pulled them off one more time and set all the lifters around the correct way, this allowed me to the crank back to TDC.. Woops

Eventually I managed to get the head back together and the timing gears and chains into place, once this was done I cranked the motor over by hand at the crank pulley for two cycles to ensure there was no piston to valve contact.

Factory M50 Inlet & Exhaust Camshafts:

Head Assembled:

I also tested the exhaust manifold and cleaned it up while waiting for parts from the states. A friend of mine works for CooperHeat and had access to crack testings gear. We used to methods called MPI (Mag Particle Inspection) and DPI (Die Penetrant Inspection). We found three cracks in the manifold and had them repaired before bead blasting and painting the manifold with high temp paint.

MPI Testing:

The manifold is sprayed with a magnetic die, the magnet draws the die into the material and under a special black light you can see the cracks.

DPI Testing:

Because the wastegate flange was made from stainless and the rest of the manifold made of mild steel steam tube we decided to do an extra MPI test to double check there were no cracks where the stainless had been welded to the mild steel. The area to be inspected is sprayed with a special penetrant die and left for a period of time. The excess penetrant die is removed then a developer is applied which brings any cracks visible to the naked eye.

Manifold Bead Blasted:

Manifold Heat Painted:

I will be removing the manifold one more time to be heat wrapped and add a few braces to help support the weight of the its heavy construction. All that is left for me to do now is finish the exhaust off which we will be doing this weekend hopefully and I have a custom 3" muffler being made up from a local exhaust shop. My injectors are being setup and should be complete this week. Im using RX7 550cc Redtop injectors, which are the same impendance as the stock M50 injectors. So all I have left to do is install the injectors and setup my rising rate FPR then off to the tuner she goes! Exciting stuff for me!

I will keep you all posted on the final few stages that are left

Cheers, Luke

[e30plz 1]

Hellz yeah, Awesome Awesome Awesome.

[Mike 1]

Nice work, but I'm a bit worried about the surface smoothness of the block seeing as you only used emery tape? when I did mine I only cleaned of the old gasket and left it. I could be wrong but might be worth enquiring to cometic to see if they think it will be smooth enough to allow the gasket to seal properly. I'd just hate to see you do all this work then have to do it all again because of a minor oil leak at the HG.

[Boost Junky 1]

Nice work, but I'm a bit worried about the surface smoothness of the block seeing as you only used emery tape? when I did mine I only cleaned of the old gasket and left it. I could be wrong but might be worth enquiring to cometic to see if they think it will be smooth enough to allow the gasket to seal properly. I'd just hate to see you do all this work then have to do it all again because of a minor oil leak at the HG.

Yea I was abit sceptical about it myself but Dad assured me that it would be fine and thats what he used to use.. however this is comming from his experience of over 25years ago and things have probably changed since then. Suprisingly the blocks surface was still relatively smooth after I had finished and I have used emry tape in the past on other motors, I guess time will tell.. havnt found any leaks since it has been running.. worse comes to worse I will have to remove the head and redo the block. Thanks Mike, I hope it works out aye lol

[DRTDVL 0]

Your washer bottle problem.

A few pug guys stick their's in the skuttle plate area (under the black thing that covers the area wear there wipers are). Depending on space it might fit in there....

[Boost Junky 1]

Your washer bottle problem.

A few pug guys stick their's in the skuttle plate area (under the black thing that covers the area wear there wipers are). Depending on space it might fit in there....

Yea im just gonna mount a stainless one where the battery used to be behind the drivers side strut tower not sure how much room there is in the skuttle plate area on an E30 compared to a peugeot...

Edited April 28, 2009 by Boost Junky

[bmw_guy 0]

looks so intensely wicked! bet it goes even better! so tidy to.

I like very much

Nice work Luke

[OLLIE 26]

nice work. I was wondering why you didn't assemble the head on a bench before bolting it up to the block?

[CamB 48]

Nearly there!

Your washer bottle problem.

A few pug guys stick their's in the skuttle plate area (under the black thing that covers the area wear there wipers are). Depending on space it might fit in there....

As a completely unrelated aside, my 2002 will eventually feature the rear window washer reservoir and pump from a 309 GTI, haha. It's tiny, tall and skinny.

[byza213 1]

dude i see some wide good looking wheells in your sig go on?

[DRTDVL 0]

As a completely unrelated aside, my 2002 will eventually feature the rear window washer reservoir and pump from a 309 GTI, haha. It's tiny, tall and skinny.

Haha thats what i'm using in the 205 also as a washer bottle

[Boost Junky 1]

nice work. I was wondering why you didn't assemble the head on a bench before bolting it up to the block?

Cheers Ollie, the reason the head was not assembled on a bench is because it has to be bare to be able to access the head studs to do them up. The ARP Head studs are a 13mm nut which you cannot fit a socket down between the carriers.

Nearly there!

As a completely unrelated aside, my 2002 will eventually feature the rear window washer reservoir and pump from a 309 GTI, haha. It's tiny, tall and skinny.

Yea not far lol well that might be an option for me i priced up the stainless one today $290 retail make one for way less!

dude i see some wide good looking wheells in your sig go on?

Thats right byron a whole 10" on the rear and 9" on the front... oh and they are 17s

[Livi 0]

wwooooooowwwwww

now that will give the evo a run for its money :P

Nice work!! awesome progress! cant wait to see it in real life!!

[Boost Junky 1]

wwooooooowwwwww

now that will give the evo a run for its money :P

Nice work!! awesome progress! cant wait to see it in real life!!

Haha one prob liv... You have 2 extra wheels to get power to the ground, be interesting to see though

[Livi 0]

Haha one prob liv... You have 2 extra wheels to get power to the ground, be interesting to see though

I think it wil be a close one Luke Will be good fun !

[bravo 35]

You suck. Too much awesome.

[Boost Junky 1]

I think it wil be a close one Luke Will be good fun !

Haha maybe... just maybe livi

You suck. Too much awesome.

Lol likewise graham