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[RayGun]

Planning to do head refurb, and piston rings on the 'eta'.
Bentley says "gotta take the engine out" Haynes says..."don't gotta.
but is more hassle."
I just 're-ringed' the daughters civic si with the engine in, and the
only real hassle was doing things laying on my back under the car.
Would like to know if anyone has tried it? and if they would do it
again, or hoist the engine out?
Many thanx all
Ray

[fbloogyudsr]

"RayGun" <rgunmunro@cogeco.ca> wrote

[Mr Fix It]

Unless the car has done a few miles on
an oil/coolant mix (blown head gasket) or
has been run on bad oil, i would be extremly
doubtfull that the bottom end would require any
maintenance, as its a very detuned, understressed eta!!

The shorter stroking 2.0 litre m20's tended to wear the
rings a bit, i overhauled the bottom end on a 115k 520i
engine a few years back and the rings had about 1mm worn
off them (the oil control ring was unworn).
My "spare" eta engine has been partially dismantled for
inspection ... i've removed number 5 piston (as this is always the
quickest wearing pot on the M20's due to normal
engine block flexing) ...the rings where identical to new ones!!

If you've got lowish compressions its almost certainly the valves.
I've just rebuilt my M30 head ... the car has gone from needing 1"
of throttle to pull away, to needing only 1/4" to pull away ... vastly
improved.

And if you want to leave most modern cars off the lights ... bung
on a 2 litre differential!!! Turns a boring cruiser into an M3 chasing
hot rod (well up to 30mph anyway).



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[RayGun]

Much good advice there....I keep the oil and filter pretty fresh...
5-6000 kilometers or so. my rational is that I get a little blue smoke
every now and then, and the engine has over 350k on it. I will do a
compression test for sure before I decide.
At any rate the head will come off for inspection / work, so I should
be able to tell a lot from there.
Many thanx for the input
Ray

Mr Fix It wrote:

[Mr Fix It]

Most probably worn or hardened valve stem oil seals.
If you can do a cold compression test, the normal readings
for a early uk model (11:1 compression) would be about 175psi.
If you get less than this, put a small amount of oil in the cylinder
and repeat ... if the result is the same, rings are ok .. valves
are leaking.
If it goes up more than 30 psi from your first test, the rings
are probably worn.

.... Or you could fit a early 323i head with seven bearing cam,
then remove the motronic system and replace it with l-jetronic.
The add a conventional distributor.
After a bit of tweaking around, you should end up with
between 165bhp-210bhp!!
(And no fuel economy).

--
Regards....
Steve
"RayGun" <rgunmunro@cogeco.ca> wrote in message
news:kIyld.9472$hp3.1046343@read2.cgocable.net...