Assembly

So, the re-assembly of the engine begins. I am really glad I chose to replace the rod bearings. Here is a photo of the #1 rod bearing. Note the damage -- probably caused by oil starvation. The damage is easy to feel with the tip of my finger. Luckily the crankshaft was not damaged. the majority of the damage is to the lower bearing. The upper bearing, which takes the load of each combustion event, shows some pitting. In my case the lower bearing shows considerably more damage (which is not technically wear).
This explains the knocking noise coming from the front of the engine at idle. So the rod bearings are in and torqued.

Over the weekend I had a local welder tack the VAC oil pan baffle in place so that this can be prevented on the future. Here is a photo of the installed baffle. Note that it is welded in at all three attachment points -- the stock baffle uses two pins and a single weld.

Here is a photo of my new (used) front sub-frame after the Turner Motorsport reinforcements were welded in. There are two, one that reinforces the metal where the motor-mount fasteners fit and the other reinforces the area around the first reinforcement. There were noticeable cracks in my original sub-frame which these reinforcements are designed to prevent. Also since this is from a later M3 it has threaded inserts that will allow the factory "X-brace" to be installed. Many drivers report a noticeable improvement in front-end grip after the addition of the X-brace.

My next event is July 11th at Pueblo Motorsports Park. I hope to have the engine back together and in the car by the end of this weekend. I need to put some miles on the motor and clutch before the event. I'm travelling to Philadelphia for the 4th of July holiday and return two days before the event.

Exhaust Valves

Here is a closeup of my fingers and an exhaust valve. It is really clean given the 130k miles on this car. The light grey material is carbon that has built up over time. If you look closely you can see that some of the carbon has broken off. A wire wheel will be used to remove all this before they are reinstalled in the head.

Disassembled Head

Here is the cylinder head almost fully disassembled. The valves, seals, springs, caps and keepers have been removed. It's almost ready to go the the machine shop to be milled so that the bottom is perfectly flat. The machinist will also machine the valve seats and valves so they flow and seal better.

Clutch, Flywheel and other bits

Splitting engine from transmission revealed that my Exxon Valdez-style oil leak was in fact a transmission input-shaft leak. It was so severe that the clutch was soaked an gear oil and must be replaced. This is an opportunity to upgrade to a lighter package and slightly improve acceleration.

After a bunch of research I chose a ~10 lb JB Racing Flywheel and Clutchmasters FX-100 Clutch kit. This combo weighs about 14 lbs, 12 Lbs lighter than the original combo. I originally planned to buy a kit from UUC as their Stage-1 and Stage-2 kits are a little less expensive but their sales department seems unable to return customers repeated calls, so I spent my money with VAC Motorsports instead.

In addition to the clutch/flywheel combo I also ordered a VAC oil pan baffle, ARP Head and Rod bolts and 24 valves worth of hardened valve keepers. This represents the final order -- I hope -- for the rebuild.

Die Cast cars

Ok, I'll admit it, I have a secret collection of model cars. I only collect one kind of car and in only one scale. I am totally obsessed by 1/18 scale BMW E30 M3 DTM race cars. I currently have 17 of them. Not all of them, but pretty close. I'm missing one of the two "Tic-Tac" cars and I don't have either of the BMW issued E30 M3 "Art Cars" -- mostly because they really aren't race cars.

There are only two companies that make these models (AutoArt and Minichamps) and April marked the Minichamps release of the the 1988 "Eifelrennen Nuerburgring" winner driven by Kurt Thiim. It the first new car in a couple of years.

I have a rule that I won't pay over $100 shipped for any car. The best deal I have found on-line is for about $120 shipped so I will keep shopping. E-Bay is a great source for these.

UPDATE June 23, 09: I bought a #31 (as above) for $95.45 shipped on eBay.