Engine detailing on a 3.0

[3.0CS]

I am doing a valve job on my 1974 3.0CS. In the process, we of course removed the head, but we took almost everything inside the engine bay off to clean, check for rust and fully repaint, add new decals, new noise suppresion material from Wurth, etc. We are still at that.

My question now is how to detail the engine properly.

I read that engine blocks were painted in semi-gloss black... which I am hoping is correct. I am also assuming that aluminum components are just plain (but please let me know otherwise).

What about engine hardware? Are the nuts and bolts galvanized? Were they done in silver or in golden color?

What about linkages, rods and ends? Oil dipstick?

Can anybody shed some light on these things?

I searched the list with no luck on these things, but if there is a link to the info, I would appreciate if somebody can post it.

Thanks,
victor

 

[Nicad]

I believe the aluminum parts are treated with clear Alodyne and the nuts bolts and brackets are Cad plated. You are correct about the Block being semi gloss Black.

 

[Honolulu]

and cad plating may be hard to come by as cadmium is "bad". New bolts better.

 

[3.0CS]

Yes, new bolts would probably look good, but they might not be easy to obtain (original, that is) and also, I am talking about hardware, supports, brackets, rods, etc, not only bolts.

So, when you say Cadmium, I take it that it is silver color.

Yes Cadmium is supposedly prohibited. What I regularly do is galvanizing in silver color and after a year or two it dulles (spelling?) or looses brightness and starts to look more grayish, like cadmium.

Thanks!

 

[HB Chris]

Original nuts and bolts were gold in color, known as gold iridite I think. Yellow cad was the preferred solution but yellow zinc will work. This place has all of the nuts and bolts you need but they are brighter than the originals which had a duller finish, still they will look very nice.

http://belmetric.com

Other items like carb linkages and the bell crank from the gas pedal were also gold. Oil dipstick handle should be red. The valve cover, intake manifolds, water divider and thermostat housing look very nice if tumbled then coated with a clear ceramic. Speedway here in Santa Ana does a great job. The cheaper solution is Eastwood's Alumablast paint but it will eventually be harder to keep clean, works good though but don't use on valve cover.

 

[Nicad]

Yes, new bolts would probably look good, but they might not be easy to obtain (original, that is) and also, I am talking about hardware, supports, brackets, rods, etc, not only bolts.

So, when you say Cadmium, I take it that it is silver color.

Yes Cadmium is supposedly prohibited. What I regularly do is galvanizing in silver color and after a year or two it dulles (spelling?) or looses brightness and starts to look more grayish, like cadmium.

Thanks!

We have a Cad plater in Toronto that does small custom orders. I plan to use them one day, but I am a bit panicked about identifying the bolts if I send them in to get plated in a single bucket. Luis might have some tips for organizing the incoming plated hardware.

http://www.mmplating.com

 

[deQuincey]

as per the explanations of others about the correct colours of engines the only thing i can add is a pic of the engine m30 on show at the bmw museum, here:

i am lucky enough to have a workshop in my town that does all types of plating, zinc, chrome, and so on, i am now using matt chrome finish in all the parts that i renew, it is a grey-yellow finish, not brilliant but satin-matt

the issue is that zinc or yellowzinc, AKA bichromat, is a weak treatment against rust, chrome is better, but as i do not like brilliant chrome bits on my engine this mattchrome is the perfect choice for me

as to the bolts and nuts, if possible buy them new, take care of the correct quality, 8.8, 10.9, 12.9,...etc

i have a huge warehouse closeby that keeps all this stuff ready for customers, the advantage of living in a industrial area



if you are not sure to get the correct quality just reuse the old pieces, unfortunately the selflocking nuts can not be reused

luis did a great job on this recently

 

[HB Chris]

Even BMW can get it wrong, I have never seen a gold tray/plate under the distributor, always black as far as I know.

 

[David]

Perhaps we can convince this person to take photos:

http://www.e9coupe.com/forum/showthread.php?t=14907

Sounds like it may be very original.

 

[Stefan]

Even BMW can get it wrong, I have never seen a gold tray/plate under the distributor, always black as far as I know.

Even I got a gold tray/plate under the distributor. In that case we are two. Me and BMW

(Shouldn't the oil dipstick been yellow?)

 

[phead82]

Pictures of this car might be incredibly helpful too:

http://sandiegobmw.wordpress.com/2008/08/25/bmw-of-the-week-1973-bmw-30cs-barn-find/

Patrick

 

[ccr2002]

My car

I've been meaning to get up close high res photos of my car and engine. I'll try again. But my car was owned by a bmw mechanic originally and I don't know if he ever changed anything from stock.

 

[Stevehose]

Yeah, they still have the wipers on backwards on the Turkis museum CS

Even BMW can get it wrong, I have never seen a gold tray/plate under the distributor, always black as far as I know.

 

[deQuincey]

Even I got a gold tray/plate under the distributor. In that case we are two. Me and BMW

(Shouldn't the oil dipstick been yellow?)

stfan, it can be red or yellow, different length of the dipstick, check the blue manual, it is explained there, mine was originally yellow too

 

[Stevehose]

+1 on yellow unless they changed to red later on

stfan, it can be red or yellow, different length of the dipstick, check the blue manual, it is explained there, mine was originally yellow too

 

[Sooner]

Color

Yes, yellow also

 

[3.0CS]

Thanks for your responses. So, consensus is: Golden tint hardware, black engine block and yellow or red oil dipstick (I will try to see if my car has any remains on the color, to do it the same way as I don't understand the difference or have the manual), plus a most probably black distributor base plate....

deQuincey's pic of the engine at the museum is fabulous, but it makes me ask a couple of questions:

Air filter: the pic shows a rather glossy gray with cadminized (or whatever finish) hardware or clips to close it shut, while the Ceylon 22,000 mile car would appear to have a satin gray with painted clips. How is it supposed to be?

Fan: the pic shows a black fan. My car, a 1974 CS, has a red one. Which is correct?

Thanks again for all the help,
victor

 

[DerSchwede]

The dipstick was red from the start up til BMW came with the improved oil pan about 71. Like DeQ says - it's all in the blue and orange books ;-)

Cheers
A

 

[DerSchwede]

The black fan on the picture from BMW is a later one with a viscous clutch. The latter came with a red fan about 75 (depending on the market) but the black fan was available way later (80ies). I don't think any carbed M30 came with a black fan.

 

[Stevehose]

Here are some more pics I took last summer. Like the others mention, don't take too much stock in what BMW has on display. Fan should be red, the air cleaner came either dark olive green (mine) or satin grey. Dipstick yellow unless they went red later in '74.