BMW v8 engine coffee table project
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Yours looks amazing! I had this piece when I lived in Milwaukee. I turned it into a wine holder when I moved in with my girl and surprisingly she loves it. It is definitely a conversation starter.
I love the unfinished style, it goes with the look of your room. its good the girl liked it! (i am getting opposition)
Dan
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the other head is finished!
started on the cams. they are pretty dull and the lobes started rusting when the parts car sat around awhile. took about 1hr/cam to get every lobe polished up.
before
one lobe 100% finished. coke/metal polish + 000 steel wool + elbow grease
taped up ready for paint. will be gloss black.
Dan
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more parts painted
i'm getting way ahead of myself, but this project may involve a custom set of headers. laser cut/cnc/wood/pvc/copper pipe who knows?!
Dan
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well the original plan was to create a block out of wood and metal brackets since I didnt keep my block from the parts car. miraculously, i found a b40 block with broken bellhousing mount on ebay that was a local seller. after negotiating, i was able to do a trade+cash for my old auto transmission.
he was even available the same day so i went and snagged it last night
bonuses: its already been stripped and is super clean. also, it has a bunch of the covers/parts: valley pan, rear coolant cover, front idler sprocket, rear main seal.
i'm fairly sure, but hopefully the b30 heads and the b40 block have aligning holes for the head bolts.
Dan
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some college football (go wisconsin!) and v8 table saturday...thats the good stuff.
cam sprockets polished up, ready to be sent off to get plated.
Timing chain tensioners and oil separator tube cleaned and polished
So here you can see the giant chuck of the block 'ears' missing. someone definitely dropped the block on that corner when it was delivered to the guy i bought it from. here i've also started drilling holes for reshaping the area.
Basic shape cut out
Surface contoured to match the original machining and sanded smooth.
I actually really like the shape it created, it emphasizes the 'V' more on the back of the engine. I might just hack off the starter side to match.
also got the other bank of cams done. here they are installed with new hardware
Dan
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throttle body done!
i actually have a before photo, since when I took it apart i figured i'd never get it back together right without a reference.
before:
i fully disassembled, cleaned, and painted the housing. also got some new hardware, and a little polishing of the throttle plate.
Dan
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been busy so not much to update. however, the pile of stuff I sent off to be professional plated came back.
i had the cam sprockets, timing chain idler sprocket, and the head bolt spacers (which I will be using for the head bolts and intake manifold bolts) all yellow zinc plated. i love all the variations of color you get with zinc plating. yellows, reds, green, blues.
idler sprocket (reassembled on the idler.)
cam sprockets
head bolt spacers
Dan
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a place that was recommended to me when I refinished a set of style 5s and need the hardware zinc plated: Del's Plating Works in Houston, TX. They do really good work, and take small jobs, although the minimum order is like $55 + shipping, so it was like $70 to have this stuff done.
Dan
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Starting to look like earls build thread
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Starting to look like earls build thread
Just read through Earl's build. compliment accepted! I always want to fix my cars with that level of detail and cleanliness, but then i remember I'll drive it in the snow one time and all that effort will be for nothing.
Dan
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more stuff is in, time to start building again
the glass top pieces:
another pile of hardware.
from left to right: intake manifold nuts, copper exhaust manifold nuts, exhaust manifold studs, valley pan bolts.
did some 'machining'
Dan
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here's the design I came up with for holding the glass. these are 'splitter support struts' from fleabay. i had some other ideas like tubing running from the spark plug holes, or threaded rod from the head bolt holes, but this looked best.
Dan
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I like that better than supporting it with a piston to be honest. What was along the edge of the glass? Metal?
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Im guessing your living room stays pretty much the same temp year round, what oil are you going to use?
But really, great ingenuity and quality work going on here! Will you have some roundel drink coasters or something equivalently automotive related to place on it?
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thanks. mitch - the glass is just round beveled, no metal edge or anything. rian - definitely need to add something like that. roundel coasters are a great idea. maybe a model bmw that has the m60 engine (e31, de tomaso, b10 4.0). going to have some sort of etched or engraved plaque with the engine model/specs as well.
Dan
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Im guessing your living room stays pretty much the same temp year round, what oil are you going to use?
But really, great ingenuity and quality work going on here! Will you have some roundel drink coasters or something equivalently automotive related to place on it?
embroidered napkins
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