Hey all,
Those who are on BAT from time to time may have seen my Golf Yellow CSI on BAT last year, ending as RNM. Well upon this result I worked with a few interested parties but nothing ever came to be, funny enough the deciding factor amongst nearly every person being that they didn't like the color enough, and no AC being another one. So I stored her through the Chicago winter and thought about what comes next. Reworking the body/paint was definitely not something that interested me, and retrofitting AC also being something a bit out of my desires. I discussed the car with friends and some fellow members, with most people pointing out one thing, the engine looked like S***. I agreed, lots of the metal components had an ugly grime to them that wasn't cleanable by typical detailing practices, and the rusty block poking out through the driver side wasn't very appealing either. On top of this as I began driving it more I began to notice the clutch slipping on higher rpm shifts.
So taking in all this information I devised my plan. It involved lot of research on here, a few nights of parts diagram hunting, a few Wallothnesch orders, the E12 5 speed swap that Ive been hoarding in my shed..... and some courage. And come the end of this past September, I embarked on an engine out refresh of my CSI as well as a 5 speed swap. Ive refreshed a few M30s and always enjoy them, so I decided to just yank the engine and give this CSI the pretty engine it deserves, and since the transmission was already coming out for a clutch replacement I decided to put one of my spare 5 speed swaps to use. Here is some pictures of my journey.
P.s: Im not after a concourse grade nut and bolt resto, simply satisfying my itch to work on BMWs and spruce this M30 up!
Here's a before: Lots of ugly aluminum!
And of course ugly block:
Opted for the hood on, nerve-racking over the fender pull due to lack of a 2 post. Read a few posts of members doing it this way. Actually went quite smooth.
If we are going this far, and with unknown service history, of course we are going to refresh the top end.
Cylinder head teardown:
(with a cameo from Steve Walker's M3)
While head is at machine shop getting resurfaced, valve job, and new valve stem seals, off with the rest of the parts to be vapor honed.
Before
upper timing cover completed, and then taken to machine shop to be resurfaced with the head
After: Nothing better than fresh vapor honed parts!
Block and bottom end had great compression(180psi across the board) and cylinder walls looked great, so I decided not to dive in here. Ive never owned or seen an M30 with a bad bottom end, I'm sure they exist but with my evidence I decided to run it as is. Block was of course freshened up and painted.
Now this part is interesting. Machine shop(one of the best in the area, a guy who has done M30s since they were new) called me and said that 2 of my intake valves were bent. Not bent in the conventional catastrophic way that you could see, however when they were on the grinder he noticed the noise was not uniform, and then took a look and found that these two weren't grinding evenly( see picture, if you look closely you can see the difference in the finish, one part being grinded, the other part having missed the machine, due to them being a bit warped. What a find! Never would have noticed by just looking at them. Car also didn't behave as though there was an issue. Perhaps I caused this when disassembling the head? Who knows. Grabbed some NOS valves off eBay and we were back in action. New valve stem seals from Germany, pressure checked and good to go!
My favorite part of a build, laying all the new, refinished, and fancy parts out!
Driveshaft shortened 3.75" and balanced by local driveline shop. SMF resurfaced, Sachs clutch kit, every seal necessary(not all pictured), and all my refinished parts. Looking good!
G265 Fully resealed:
Time for the reassembly!
And Voila, a fully resealed, refreshed top end, and beautified CSI engine!
....and a CSi awaiting to be reunited with its heart.
Going in! FWD E9 anyone??
5 speed installed. Coupe King mount kit to make things easy. Stock speedo cable worked fine. Using E12 clutch hydraulics, shifter assembly, and Guibo.
AND the finished result!
Back on the road, running better than ever, shifting through 5 gears, and looking good!
All that's left is to figure out a new exhaust bracket that works with the 5 speed( anyone have a 2800cs auto one?) and to replace the nasty washer fluid reservoir.
Enjoying the car while I still can before winter sets in here in Chicago and then I will plan to either relist the car this winter or in the spring. I love it but I have a Polaris CS that is going to be a passion project Ive always wanted to do and that will be my keeper E9. The projects are the fun part for me
I welcome and would appreciate any constructive criticism regarding my work as this was my first time taking on this project for an E9!
Thanks for reading,
Josh
Those who are on BAT from time to time may have seen my Golf Yellow CSI on BAT last year, ending as RNM. Well upon this result I worked with a few interested parties but nothing ever came to be, funny enough the deciding factor amongst nearly every person being that they didn't like the color enough, and no AC being another one. So I stored her through the Chicago winter and thought about what comes next. Reworking the body/paint was definitely not something that interested me, and retrofitting AC also being something a bit out of my desires. I discussed the car with friends and some fellow members, with most people pointing out one thing, the engine looked like S***. I agreed, lots of the metal components had an ugly grime to them that wasn't cleanable by typical detailing practices, and the rusty block poking out through the driver side wasn't very appealing either. On top of this as I began driving it more I began to notice the clutch slipping on higher rpm shifts.
So taking in all this information I devised my plan. It involved lot of research on here, a few nights of parts diagram hunting, a few Wallothnesch orders, the E12 5 speed swap that Ive been hoarding in my shed..... and some courage. And come the end of this past September, I embarked on an engine out refresh of my CSI as well as a 5 speed swap. Ive refreshed a few M30s and always enjoy them, so I decided to just yank the engine and give this CSI the pretty engine it deserves, and since the transmission was already coming out for a clutch replacement I decided to put one of my spare 5 speed swaps to use. Here is some pictures of my journey.
P.s: Im not after a concourse grade nut and bolt resto, simply satisfying my itch to work on BMWs and spruce this M30 up!
Here's a before: Lots of ugly aluminum!
And of course ugly block:
Opted for the hood on, nerve-racking over the fender pull due to lack of a 2 post. Read a few posts of members doing it this way. Actually went quite smooth.
If we are going this far, and with unknown service history, of course we are going to refresh the top end.
Cylinder head teardown:
(with a cameo from Steve Walker's M3)
While head is at machine shop getting resurfaced, valve job, and new valve stem seals, off with the rest of the parts to be vapor honed.
Before
upper timing cover completed, and then taken to machine shop to be resurfaced with the headAfter: Nothing better than fresh vapor honed parts!
Block and bottom end had great compression(180psi across the board) and cylinder walls looked great, so I decided not to dive in here. Ive never owned or seen an M30 with a bad bottom end, I'm sure they exist but with my evidence I decided to run it as is. Block was of course freshened up and painted.
Now this part is interesting. Machine shop(one of the best in the area, a guy who has done M30s since they were new) called me and said that 2 of my intake valves were bent. Not bent in the conventional catastrophic way that you could see, however when they were on the grinder he noticed the noise was not uniform, and then took a look and found that these two weren't grinding evenly( see picture, if you look closely you can see the difference in the finish, one part being grinded, the other part having missed the machine, due to them being a bit warped. What a find! Never would have noticed by just looking at them. Car also didn't behave as though there was an issue. Perhaps I caused this when disassembling the head? Who knows. Grabbed some NOS valves off eBay and we were back in action. New valve stem seals from Germany, pressure checked and good to go!
My favorite part of a build, laying all the new, refinished, and fancy parts out!
Driveshaft shortened 3.75" and balanced by local driveline shop. SMF resurfaced, Sachs clutch kit, every seal necessary(not all pictured), and all my refinished parts. Looking good!
G265 Fully resealed:
Time for the reassembly!
And Voila, a fully resealed, refreshed top end, and beautified CSI engine!
....and a CSi awaiting to be reunited with its heart.
Going in! FWD E9 anyone??
5 speed installed. Coupe King mount kit to make things easy. Stock speedo cable worked fine. Using E12 clutch hydraulics, shifter assembly, and Guibo.
AND the finished result!
Back on the road, running better than ever, shifting through 5 gears, and looking good!
All that's left is to figure out a new exhaust bracket that works with the 5 speed( anyone have a 2800cs auto one?) and to replace the nasty washer fluid reservoir.
Enjoying the car while I still can before winter sets in here in Chicago and then I will plan to either relist the car this winter or in the spring. I love it but I have a Polaris CS that is going to be a passion project Ive always wanted to do and that will be my keeper E9. The projects are the fun part for me
I welcome and would appreciate any constructive criticism regarding my work as this was my first time taking on this project for an E9!
Thanks for reading,
Josh
