Poor life choices - C4 content

Woo hoo! Good to hear!

I also like lists, and like you, I'm not always good at following them, but it is nice when you have a slew of tasks to do to slowly cross them off as they're completed.

Day-23(6-hours):

Happy New Year - E36 M3 just got real.

First off was the TPI intake...yeah I'll be switching to a carb. There's no berkeleying way I can get that jigsaw puzzle back together correctly.

Next I pulled the exhaust studs, which surprised me by going completely smoothly - though after the intake I wasn't complaining. Since my memory sucks I decided to tape the studs & bolts in order to make reassembly easier.

Peeking around the lifter valley I noticed a couple things that I have a hunch are related to the reason the engine is locked. On each side of the lifter valley by the #1 & 2 cylinders I noticed this:

It looks a bit like a mud wasp tube that's turned soggy from oil.

I also found this in one of the ports.

My hunch is some wasps flew up the exhaust, found a open valve, and made a nest inside.

That left me here for tonight. I have all the passenger side head bolts free except the one furthest back, and all the pushrods are out.

Hopefully tomorrow I can get the heads off & see what I find...

Damn... those little buggers get into everything.

Those center ports are exhaust for manifold heating and EGR, it's normal for them to be coked up on a higher mileage engine.

The junk in the valley, being under a coolant port, makes me think that's related to the gasket having a leak. A mud dauber would need to eat through the PCV valve or air filter to get inside the crankcase.

In reply to BrokenYugo:

Hmm...that's good to know - though I hope a possible coolant leak isn't a sign of other problems.

In reply to petegossett:

I don't think GM built a V6/V8 engine with intake gaskets that didn't eventually do that until the LS series came out. Unless it gets bad enough to milkshake the oil (noticeable coolant loss) and wipe out the bearings you're usually fine.

Here's a question - when switching to carb, do I want a single-plane or dual-plane manifold? Keep in mind this car will be used for autox with occasional street driving. From what I've been reading it sounds like dual-plane would be better, correct?

Yes. Performer rpm Air gap, vortec long block. That would be a riot in a lightened c4.

Keep vertical clearance in mind if you switch to carb. Intake plus carb plus air cleaner is usually too tall to close the hood without mods. The TPI setup makes good torque, I'd try to keep it for now and save the $ for your eventual LS swap. It's just lower manifold, runners, upper manifold, and fuel rails, I bet you've got it in you to put it back together.

In reply to conesare2seconds:

If I could confirm it was functional I'd likely keep it, but it seems like the car has been parked longer than the original 2.5-years I was told, and all the parts appear to be the 32-year-old OE ones. I know from other owners(bobzilla being one) that reviving a TPI is often a long-fought battle of frustration and expense, and since the long-term goal is an engine swap I'd rather take a quicker/cheaper/easier path to getting this running. Besides, the full TPI/ECU/distributor setup is worth $300-$400 - that would help with Challenge budgeting quite a bit.

Day-24(6-hours):

Off with its head(s)! Both heads appear to be in good condition, though I only thought to take a pic of the passenger side.

The cylinders, however, are a bit worse...

So tomorrow I'll try to pull the engine, or at least get ready to pull it. Then we'll see how the crank & bearings look, and try to hone out the cylinders.

Looks like it still has crosshatching in the bores, so it will be a good candidate for a cheap re ring job if there's no heavy pitting and you can manage to pound the pistons out.

Has anyone said Truck LS lately?

Good progress, keep it rolling and you'll have it running in no time.

In reply to BrokenYugo:

I'll try honing it after I have it on the stand & see if I can work them free. Keep your fingers crossed!

In reply to nocones:

Thanks! That was my initial(cheap) thought too, but I need all the accessories/mounts from a C5 in order to fit under the C4 hood, so I'll try to get this L98 going - albeit warmed over a bit - while I save up for a salvage C5.

I'm sad.

Stampie wrote: I'm sad.

Why be sad? Now he's got the opportunity to refresh the engine. It's a SBC, so it'll be dirt cheap. Also, since it's a SBC it'll be dirt cheap to add a load of power.

I second Dusterbd13's "vortec long block".

You gain roller cam, better heads, and one-piece rear main seal.

You will have to get the correct flex plate / flywheel for your trans.

Ian F wrote: In reply to pres589: A basic re-ring kit from Summit is $82.

Just a reminder.

At that price, I'd pull the engine and see if it can be salvaged... just for the experience.

Hey Pete, You Really need to try and clean as much of the rust from the cyl's.BEFORE trying to remove the pistons as poss. a dingle ball hone or large cyl hone,sand paper at the least.the stuff builds up on rings as you try to remove them and get stuck even more so. how's that lip at the top of the ring travel,Enough to catch your nail jus a little? then expect trouble getting past the ridge it will need smoothing out.don't go rent a ridge reamer just do it by hand,wait on boring till you have the piston/crank assy.in case you bore it.You can safely bore those blocks .060 but each oversize costs more, not much, but it's there.

In reply to GTXVette:

That's the plan. I have a cylinder hone I can run into the cylinders on the down-stroke, and I'll use some fine sandpaper for the other 4. But first I'm going to pull the main caps & at least a couple rod caps to make sure it's still cost-effective to rebuild this engine.

If you decide it's not rebuildable can I call dibs on the aluminum l98 heads?

Dusterbd13 wrote: If you decide it's not rebuildable can I call dibs on the aluminum l98 heads?

Are those heads really aluminum? They look iron to me.

I know the late 80s l98 had aluminum heads.

I ASSUME they all do. But....

In reply to Dusterbd13:

Aluminum heads did not come out on the l98 motor until late 1986