Spring Break: Bimmer Style

It’s that time of year again…Spring Break!  And we’ve had a parking lot full of bimmers here to soak up some sun and some service!  It’s been quite a busy week!  We’re hoping for nice weather tonight so that we can have a Cruise-In!  As with the past few weeks, it will be weather-permitting.

We always like to announce upcoming events as soon as we can.  Last year we had our first Swap Meet at the old shop, and it was a big success!  We’ve had tons of inquiries about having another one, and we’re happy to say that we’re partnering with Hoosier BMW CCA for our first Swap Meet at the new shop on Saturday, April 28th!   Another date to mark on the calendar is our annual Open House on Saturday, June 16th!   More details coming soon on both events!

Before we jump in to follow up last week’s 7-series cliffhanger, we’ll start with this 2002 BMW 540i.  She’s just one of the bimmers here for Spring Break!  An oil change, valve cover gasket, and new spark plugs were on the list for this 5-series:

And now to continue the story of the 1984 BMW 733i!  Get the backstory here, here, and here.  We left off last week with the installation of the water pump and lower timing cover.

The surface of the engine block needs to as clean as possible:

It is imperative that all debris and fluid (from cleaning the surface) is removed from inside the head bolt holes.  If fluid is left in them, it could hydraulically crack the block when the head bolts are installed.  Here Reggie cleans out the cylinders:

The shiny, newly rebuilt cylinder head!

The head gasket is installed prior to installing the cylinder head:

Reggie torques the cylinder head bolts to spec, following a specific pattern.  The manual for this bimmer said: “The cylinder head bolt torque is critical to proper engine operation.”

The timing chain is in proper position before Reggie installs the upper timing cover:

Next, the valves are adjusted:

 

 

The valve cover gasket is put in place…

 

…followed by the valve cover:

Reggie polishes and cleans the valve cover nuts to help finish the look of the engine bay:

Looking good so far!

The heater valve goes back in place:

Here’s a look at the exhaust manifold, which gets installed a little later:

 

The engine lifting bracket gets put into position:

More gaskets!  These are the intake manifold gaskets:

 

And then the intake manifold is installed:

 

Just a fun detail shot to keep you on your toes!

The thermostat housing, which, indeed does house the thermostat, is next to go in:

Reggie connects the throttle body to the intake manifold:

Remember that exhaust manifold we mentioned above?  Well, that bit goes beneath where Reggie is changing the spark plugs in this next image.  Kind of a tight spot, as you can see!

At this point, Reggie was just waiting to get the fuel injectors back from Linder Technical:

With just a few small items to button up under the hood, including a new radiator, Reggie moves on the replacing the exhaust:

The catalytic converter is no longer available from BMW, so we bought one from an aftermarket supplier, and, unfortunately, it needed quite a bit of modification to fit this bimmer.  The back half bolts right in.

Since most good sagas tend to have 3 parts, we’ll save the final reveal of this preserved 733i for next time!

Have a wonderful weekend and a Happy Easter!