FuturisticConcept Art BMW E36 with a V8 on a bottom dollar budget

[Jdesign]

So it looks like the Big Ducks brought me some motivation like I hoped. I pulled the rest of the motor apart and inspected the lifter. Looking again at cams, I would have to tear the front waterpump and everything off of the block (again) and I am not sure if I want to deal with that right now this late in the season. On top of that, this thing has roller lifters and I am having a hard time finding a cheap cam that comes with rollers  as well. Most of the cheap cam kits come with flat tappets. 

Good on the left, bad on the right.

I also got the overs on and mocked up. I plan on painting them and wanted the holes in them prior to paint. The fitment is 8/10, which is better than needed for this car.

[Jdesign]

I was going to install this as well, but its not deep enough and puts the steering wheel really far away from me so I will be selling it if anyone is interested.

[B C]

I have only recently discovered how nice it is to have the steering wheel close rto you after trying it out. I also have a Takata airbag recall to tend to. With enough luck I can get metal shards embedded in my chest, Tony Stark can hook me up with a chest-mount electromagnet and I can wear his extra Iron Man suit

Iron Patriot sucks.

[Jdesign]

Snap said:

I have only recently discovered how nice it is to have the steering wheel close rto you after trying it out. I also have a Takata airbag recall to tend to. With enough luck I can get metal shards embedded in my chest, Tony Stark can hook me up with a chest-mount electromagnet and I can wear his extra Iron Man suit

Iron Patriot sucks.

Funny you mention that. My civic had the Takata recall and I was just going to ignore it. But one day I was at my parents house watching the news and they were showing an accident of some girl who was killed due to the airbag and her car was the same as mine. I scheduled an appointment the next day.  

[Bassboy3313]

I just had a recall done for the takata passenger side airbag in my saabaru not too long ago.

[Jdesign]

Still have not found a good place to get cheap aluminum/aluminite/tin sheeting, If anyone has any suggestions, I am all ears.

[Bassboy3313]

Jdesign said:

Still have not found a good place to get cheap aluminum/aluminite/tin sheeting, If anyone has any suggestions, I am all ears.  

https://www.speedymetals.com/pc-1934-8374-002-5052-h32-aluminum-sheet.aspx

If you call to order, they can do any custom size sheet you'd like.

[Jdesign]

Bassboy3313 said:

https://www.speedymetals.com/pc-1934-8374-002-5052-h32-aluminum-sheet.aspx

If you call to order, they can do any custom size sheet you'd like.

I know a few guys that work there. I know where they get their material supplied from(so I can already beat their prices). I was looking more for scrap from someones work. I have a friend thats a sign maker and he grabbed some Dibond scraps for me so i think I have the window louvers covered, but nothing big enough for a splitter or diffuser.  I also was told from someone that Stoughton trailers has large amounts of scrap sheeting from making truck trailers that they just offer to employees. I just need to find a way to get my hands on some of that.

[Jdesign]

Uggh. Almost took a hammer and a blowtorch to all of the things last night. Needless to say, 4 hours, 3 exploded zip discs, a broken bolt, two broken drill bits, a broken tap, 2 cans of brake clean, two tubes of RTV, loads of assembly lube, and 4 broken pintle caps later I replaced half an intake manifold and one lifter. Life would be some much easier if the PO actually cared about what they were doing. Painting the over-fenders, the mirrors, and the rest of the engine components is the next (and hopefully less stressful) challenge. Anyways this is where I am at:

The motor is pretty gunked up inside just about everywhere I look. So once I have it all back together I plan on running full ATF and Marvel instead of oil for a few minutes to help clean the gummed up oil on the inside of this thing.

[B C]

V engines are so foreign to me

[jc43089]

I just went through a 5.8 truck engine from a 91 F250 and it blew me away the difference in quality of the castings, machining work, all of it seems like junk compared to the BMW designs lol.

[Jdesign]

Snap said:

V engines are so foreign to me

Same. I had to watch a tutorial to figure out what I was doing.

jc43089 said:

I just went through a 5.8 truck engine from a 91 F250 and it blew me away the difference in quality of the castings, machining work, all of it seems like junk compared to the BMW designs lol.

Oh for sure. American automotive engineering is certainly behind. I blame producing complete shit cars for years because mass profit.

[B C]

This book sheds a lot of light into why the domestic industry was/is the way it was/is https://www.amazon.com/Car-Guys-vs-Bean-Counters/dp/1591846226

plus Bob Lutz is THE MAN

[Jdesign]

Snap said:

This book sheds a lot of light into why the domestic industry was/is the way it was/is https://www.amazon.com/Car-Guys-vs-Bean-Counters/dp/1591846226

plus Bob Lutz is THE MAN

In all honesty though, I might try and get an audio book so I can listen to it.

[Jdesign]

Valve covers painted and CUZtuMiZEd by yours truly. I will be applying a transparent red over them to give them more depth soon.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

[Jdesign]

Decided to paint the valve covers on lunch. Not exactly what I had imagined due to the paint that I used. In the past when I have done this, I have used clear with  A few drops of paint to add color. This was straight out of the can. 

[jc43089]

Looks cool!  I like it.

[Jdesign]

jc43089 said:

Looks cool!  I like it.

Thanks! I like it too. Much better looking than corrosion and grime. I still havent decided what to do with the Intake manifold though..

I wish I could find a cheap set of these and have the stacks stick out the hood....

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ford-SB-260-289-302-Windsor-Downdraft-EFI-Stack-Intake-Manifold-System-/351988410748?hash=item51f424e97c:g:BKgAAOSwbopZRxqv&vxp=mtr

[HipMF]

Jdesign said:

Much better looking than corrosion and grime.

I was actually going to comment earlier that the patina on the valve covers looked really cool. The refinished version looks good too. Just depends what you're going for I guess.

[B C]

In the apocalypse, valve covers will be whittled from the wood that remains.

Those itb manifolds are priced well considering the price of some of the upgraded single throttle plenums

($600-$800)