Subject: ///M5 S38 rebuild in progress Author: Gcracker : member since May, 2004 : 265 posts Posted on: 2006-02-03 10:48:15

For those that don't scan the other boards, I'm no longer waiting on my S38 rebuild! My cylinder head and cam-carrier are at the machine shop with four bent exhaust valves and a spent exhaust camshaft and oil-starved camshaft bearing (2nd from last) that totally spun itself to overheating. I originally contracted for a repair of the cam-carrier and the shaft, but now the machine shop owner has found a friend nearby that has a few of these heads "lying around" so I'll hopefully be getting a replacement carrier, shaft and cap(s).

I'm not exactly patient about it, but then again, my engine isn't going back in the car until everything is all set, including the new clutch w/ master/slaves.... injector cleaning and reconditioning at cruzinperformance, etc.
Luckily, my machine shop is happy to have me swing by and even watch while they do the work on my head. My plan as of right now is to have them test the springs to make sure they're still strong and then they'll recut the seats and valves, do seals, clean and powder-coat (color, maybe), and finally balance the crank.

The owner was originally planning to do (his usual) porting and polishing, but when he got the valves out and looked closely, he said they don't leav much room for improvement, unless he was to clean up a little at the intake where it bolts up, or match to the exhaust gaskets. I'm not that interested in that sort of thing, more of a refurb only. I want the engine to sparkle and purr, not be a science experiment.
One idea I had for the color scheme was to mimic the motorsport stripe with the two head-pieces and the block and keep the valve-cover black wrinkle... but I think it's hard to make it look good, and expensive to change if you get it wrong. If I don't do that, I'll probably just keep it stock, meaning bead blast all of the aluminum including the pan and throttles and clear-coat it with a red block and black valve-cover.

I'll keep you updated!

'88 M5 193k (Engine out)
'87 528e 211k "is" package (falling apart)

• ///M5 S38 rebuild in progress - Gcracker 2006-02-03 10:48:15 (1557 views)
  • Update: No 'friends' with cam trays lying around - Gcracker 2006-02-17 20:16:55 (602 views)
  • finally gettin something done on that thing Graham!! - Andrew Elmore 2006-02-03 11:15:14 (640 views)
    • Funny thing... - Gcracker 2006-02-03 15:26:32 (632 views)
      • i think the color scheme could look cool, but like you said, - Andrew Elmore 2006-02-03 18:20:05 (630 views)